I have not abandoned this fic! I'm just a crazy busy grad student/composition instructor who is very bad at managing her time, and whenever I get stressed, I get Writer's Block. With my thesis looming, that means I'm in a near-constant state of stress. Also, when I started writing this chapter, I was trying too hard to force the characters to behave in certain ways, which served to make the Writer's Block even worse. But I always find that new canon equals fresh inspiration, so you can thank the start of season six for me finally being able to get something written. Which brings me to...
Important note about the previous chapters: Thanks to the 1994 flashbacks in canon S6, I was finally able to put the last missing piece of Damon and Stefan's backstory in place. I have gone through this entire fic and tweaked and added details to include what happened in 1994. The most significant change is in chapter 5, when Damon, humanity switch newly and painfully in the "on" position for the first time since '58, is about to kill Zach for trying to kill him and shooting Elena by mistake. I added a few paragraphs about Damon killing Zach's pregnant girlfriend there. And since Damon actually killed at least 11 people total (I watched those flashbacks carefully and counted), this is kind of a huge deal for the town of Mystic Falls. It means that in 1994, eleven people were killed by a vampire in one day, and the vampire was never caught. Which makes the Council stuff in S1 so much cooler, and is very useful for this fic. I was a little worried before that Richard's reactions to Grayson's obstinacy were a little too dramatic, but now that I've got the 1994 backstory, it makes perfect sense. In Richard's mind, Grayson is preventing the Council from getting ahead of another 1994-style massacre out of simple pettiness.
Now for a recap, since it's been so long between updates: Bonnie ran into Matt looking for Vicki at the Grill, and when she touched his arm, she saw a vision of Vicki's body and a dark figure who turned into a wolf. Jeremy has grown so suspicious of what his family is up to that he rigged up an eavesdropping system so that he could listen in on Elena and Damon, who then proceeded to have a very candid conversation about vampires. Elena is eagerly awaiting her next dreamsharing experience with Damon, because she wants to see the past through his eyes. Vicki's body has been found. She appears to be the victim of a vampire attack, and several Council members are meeting in the hospital morgue to discuss what to do next.
Monday, June 29
Jeremy remained frozen in his desk chair long after the voices on the other end of the phone line fell silent. His first instinct would have been to think that Damon was a weirdo liar freak who had suckered his sister in. The only problem with this idea was that the strange things that had been going on around him lately made much more sense if it was all true. Jenna had been acting nervous and jumpy after dark because she knew there might be vampires out there. They weren't supposed to invite Stefan Salvatore into the house because he was a vampire. It was obviously too late to take the same precaution with Damon, but it seemed that his mom and dad were working with Damon for something anyway.
And then there was the stuff with the Mayor. He'd been angry at Jeremy's dad for not being cooperative about something that would help them hunt down the vampires. Which meant that other people in town knew about this, too. This thought brought something the Mayor had said to the surface of Jeremy's mind.
"Last time, eleven people died before we even knew one was in town."
Jeremy hadn't really given those words much thought before, but now it fit, just like everything else did. His heart beating faster, he poked the "escape" key on his computer to bring it out of sleep mode. The twenty or so seconds it took for the screen to wake up and the mouse to become responsive had never seemed longer to him. He wiggled the mouse frantically. At last, the cursor unlocked. He opened a new Google tab and typed in "11 killed mystic falls." The first result was an archived newspaper article from 1994 with the title "Eleven Bodies Found in Woods Outside Mystic Falls, Virginia."
Jeremy clicked on the link at once and read through the article so fast that it barely made any sense to him. Phrases jumped out, though: "…near the Salvatore Boarding House…," "…a massacre of this magnitude is unlikely to be the work of animals…." This was enough to convince him that one or both of the Salvatore brothers was to blame for those deaths. It was too big of a coincidence for anything else to be true. He kept reading. "…These aren't the first mysterious deaths to plague Mystic Falls…." This line sent him immediately back to Google, but he couldn't find anything else. He'd just have to look in the library or City Hall tomorrow. Elena was in the library practically every day; he could get a ride with her.
With a jolt, Jeremy remembered that one of the mass-murdering monsters was currently in his sister's bedroom. He started to get up from his chair, intent on checking to make sure she was okay, but then sat back down. He couldn't just go barging in there. He needed a plan. And if Damon and his parents were working together, then he could probably afford to wait and find out more before confronting him.
X
Elena squinted into the sunlight, the glare of which momentarily obscured her surroundings. When her eyes adjusted, everything still seemed over-bright, but she saw that she was standing in front of a large, elegant southern mansion. She looked down at herself and realized that she was dressed in a pale blue full-skirted dress with delicate white lace accents and long sleeves that were puffy at the elbows but snugly gathered at the shoulders and wrists. The neckline was nearly off-the-shoulder and came to a shallow V just below the top of her cleavage. She reached up to feel her hair. It seemed to be done up in some kind of elaborate bun, a few loose curls trailing from it.
She turned around, taking in more of her surroundings. There didn't appear to be anyone else around. "Damon?" she called uncertainly. He'd been right next to her in the '20s dream, so he must be somewhere in this one. No one answered, and Damon didn't pop out of nowhere at her like she was half-expecting him to, but she did hear what sounded like laughter in the distance. Intrigued, she followed it around the side of the mansion. It grew louder, and when she reached the rear of the building, she saw two boys romping around in a hedge maze while a woman in a dress similar to her own watched, laughing along with them. She had curly black hair that was pinned in a kind of half-up style.
"Hello?" said Elena tentatively. The woman turned to look at her, and Elena couldn't help staring. She had the exact same clear, piercing blue eyes as Damon. Her nose was the same, too, and she had the same smile.
"Damon, dear, come here and introduce us to your friend."
The smaller boy, who had wavy, light brown hair, had just succeeded in tackling the larger, dark-haired one, and let out a yell of triumph. "Stefan, get off!" said the dark-haired one. "Come meet Miss Elena."
Elena watched in slight puzzlement as he scrambled to his feet and jogged over to the woman, the smaller boy following close behind him.
"Damon?" said Elena under her breath. He looked different from the Damon she knew. Younger, certainly, and only as tall as her. His hair fell almost past his ears and was curly like his mother's, and his cheeks were rosy from the exertion of roughhousing with Stefan. She looked at Stefan, who was peering shyly at her from behind his brother. He was small and skinny, one side of his suspenders had come loose, and he had smears of dirt all over his face. He and Damon were both barefooted, and the pair of them looked like they'd fallen out of something by Mark Twain.
"Mother, Stefan, meet Miss Elena Gilbert," said Damon. "Miss Elena, this is my mother, Lily Salvatore." Lily dropped a perfect curtsey, which Elena imitated as best she could. "And my baby brother, Stefan," Damon concluded. He ruffled Stefan's hair as he said his name.
Stefan scowled and smacked at his hand. "I'm not a baby! I'm nine years old!" he said. Elena counted at least two gaps where his adult teeth were still growing in.
"That may be so, darling, but you'll always be my baby," said Lily, bending to pull her indignant son into her arms for a smothering hug. He tried to squirm away, but she caught hold of one of his hands and began to lead him towards the mansion. "Now come along; I'm sure Miss Elena wants Damon to show her around. We don't want to be in the way."
"But I can help!" Stefan protested. "I won the wrestling match; why do I have to be the one who goes inside?"
Elena couldn't suppress a giggle. Little Stefan was adorable. He reminded her a bit of Jeremy a few years ago.
"Come, Miss Elena," said Damon. He seized her hand and, as if they had no time to lose, practically dragged her off towards the hedge maze.
Elena spent the rest of the brilliantly sunny day with teenage Damon. He showed her all his favorite places on the Salvatore property, from the best climbing tree to his mother's rose garden to the stables, which contained Obsidian, his gorgeous black mare. She was very round, and Damon explained excitedly that she would deliver a foal within a couple of months, and he was going to help Stefan train it and raise it as his own horse.
Later in the afternoon, he led her back to the mansion to give her a tour. He showed her the sitting room, the dining room, the conservatory, and even risked the ire of the cook to show her the kitchen, where he sneaked a handful of hard candies from a jar before hastily fleeing with Elena in tow. However, there was one door on the ground floor that he led her past without comment. Elena looked back at it as he moved on towards the stairs. It was just an ordinary door, but something about it made the hairs on the back of her neck stand up. But once they reached the second floor and he showed her the rest of the rooms, she put the closed door out of her thoughts.
She was in heaven. She'd always loved the way the pre-Civil War South had looked in paintings and old photographs—with a mother who co-chaired the town's historical society, she'd had the opportunity to see many of them. She loved old things, especially architecture and clothing. Still, she doubted it would've meant quite as much to her if the tour guide had been anyone else, and yet Damon himself was so different from the version she knew in the waking world that he was like a completely separate person. It seemed that she was seeing him as he had actually been at this age, rather than her Damon from 2009 dressed in his 1850s clothes. This Damon's eyes were bright, not with cunning and (sometimes crude) wit, but with youthful eagerness and delight. This was a Damon who had not spent a century and a half at odds with his brother, starved for love and friendship; he was hopeful, innocent, and shielded from all that would harm him by a mother who treasured him.
Once it had grown dark outside, Damon helped Elena clamber out of one of the attic windows and up onto the flat part of the mansion's roof. There, they laid down parallel to each other with their heads in the square of each other's shoulders. The view of the stars was breathtaking. So many more of them were visible here than she was used to that it was almost like they were actually in space. An arm of the Milky Way arced out above their heads, all creamy lights and dusty violet and blue veins. Elena lay there, feeling extremely peaceful as Damon pointed out all the constellations he knew (and a few that he and Stefan had invented).
"Is something wrong, Miss Elena?" said Damon. She started and looked at him. He had propped himself up on his elbow and was watching her with his brow slightly furrowed. "I hope I haven't bored you."
"No, of course not," she said, smiling and sitting up next to him. "I've had a wonderful time here."
He beamed at her in relief, and she felt her breath catch in her chest. It was suddenly a struggle to hold back tears. As much as she'd loved everything he'd shown her, she hadn't realized the significance of it until just now. She had granted Damon access to her dreams without a second thought, eager to see what he could show her. What hadn't occurred to her until now was that it meant just as much to him as it did to her. This dream—it was so much more than just a vision of an era before her time. Damon had taken her into his own memories, back to a time when all had still been right and good in his world. These memories must be so precious to him, and he had chosen to share them with her. She knew, somehow, that he had never done that with anyone before.
X
"We can catch the vampire responsible for this," said Mayor Lockwood. He held up the newly assembled Gilbert device. "I have the compass. It's just a shame I didn't have it a few days ago. Maybe we could've stopped this from happening."
Grayson was barely listening to these barbed comments. He stared at the mangled throat of Vicki Donovan. His wife and her mother being best friends, he had known this girl her whole life. Hell, he had even taken over Kelly's prenatal checkups when her insurance with her regular OB/GYN had dropped her, because that had been back before he started his private practice, when he still worked at Mystic Falls General. He could remember handing Vicki to Kelly after the nurses had cleaned her off and he'd taken her measurements. Twenty-one inches long, eight pounds two ounces, and equipped with quite a healthy pair of lungs. And now, not even eighteen years later, she was dead. Killed. By a vampire, it seemed. Grayson had made the deal with the Salvatores only grudgingly, but he had expected them to hold to it. Had his misplaced confidence in the honor of fiends cost Vicki her life?
Or, was there another vampire in town who was to blame? Perhaps one who was searching for the Petrova doppelgänger… He forced that thought away for the moment. He and Miranda could begin planning for that possibility as soon as he got home. Before he did anything else, he needed to find out whether or not Vicki's killer had been a Salvatore.
"We should organize a hunt," said Logan Fell. "If we don't act quickly, this could happen again." He gestured at Vicki's neck. "I guess we should be grateful it's just one body this time instead of eleven, but that could change if we don't move fast."
"I think we should wait until morning," said Liz. "The sun will give us an advantage." She swallowed, and her stern expression faltered. "Besides, I have to go break the news to Kelly and Matt tonight."
"I can alert more of the Council members in the meantime," said Logan. "For all we know, there could be more than one of them, so we'll need strength in numbers." He looked at Brian. "The station is going to want to do a story on this for tomorrow morning. What are you putting in the report for cause of death?"
"Animal attack," said Brian.
"She was found on the side of the road near the woods, so it's not too much of a stretch," said Liz. "Especially since we're only dealing with one victim this time."
The group began to break apart. Brian, Liz, Logan, and the Lockwoods led the way out of the room, discussing tactics, but before Grayson could follow, Meredith's voice stopped him. "Grayson," she said. He turned to find her watching him earnestly. "Can I talk to you?"
"Of course," he said.
She waited until the door had closed behind the others before speaking again. "Look, I know I haven't been asking questions about where you've been getting that blood. I know you, and I trust you. But I think I deserve some answers." She lowered her voice. "Is the vampire whose blood we've been using to heal our patients the one who did this?"
"I don't know," Grayson sighed, running a hand through his hair. "I only know of two vampires in town, and they both swore not to kill while they're here." Meredith looked skeptical at this, so he elaborated. "I wouldn't go so far as to say that I trust them to respect human life, but I do trust them to look after their own interests. They don't seem stupid enough to leave a messy kill like this when no other vampires are known to be in town."
"Why would they swear not to kill? And why are they just handing over samples of their blood? What are they getting out of this?"
Grayson grimaced. "You know all the stories about the burning of Fell's church in 1865?"
"Do you really need to ask? I am a Fell," said Meredith, raising an eyebrow.
"Well, the vampires didn't burn like we thought. They've been sealed in a tomb beneath it ever since. Weak and starving, but alive."
"And these two vampires you're dealing with—they're trying to free the others?"
"Not all of them. Just one. I'm helping them open the tomb so that I can dispose of the rest. When they get the one they're after, they'll leave."
Meredith considered Grayson for a moment. "What happens when the compass leads the Council straight to them?" she asked.
"We've taken care of that," he said. "They won't be able to find them with that compass."
"But what if you're wrong, and they did do this?"
"I'm hoping we can prove that it wasn't them," said Grayson.
"Why, so you can tell the Council they're innocent?" Meredith scoffed. "They won't care; vampires are vampires."
"The proof wouldn't be for the Council, it would be for me. If they did do it, then they've violated the terms of our deal, and I'll stake them both. If it wasn't them, then we need to get ready for what could be a much bigger threat."
"How are we supposed to get proof?" said Meredith. "I'm not exactly a forensics expert."
"Make a cast of Vicki's wounds. I'll try to get you some bite samples to compare it to."
"Fine," said Meredith. "But if it turns out they are innocent, I don't want to be a silent partner anymore. You're going to introduce me to them."
X
When Jeremy and Elena came down for breakfast the next morning, it was to find all three adults sitting at the kitchen table, their expressions grave.
"What's going on?" said Elena. Did they find out that Damon spent the night in my room? she wondered anxiously. He had been gone when she woke up, but they might've checked at any point during the night and seen him there.
"Both of you should sit down," said Miranda gently. Her voice quavered, and Elena exchanged a worried glance with her brother as they took their seats. Miranda opened her mouth to speak again, shut it, and clutched Grayson's hand on the table. He squeezed back, then looked from Elena to Jeremy and back again.
"Last night, Vicki Donovan was found dead near one of the forest roads," he said.
Elena clapped her hands to her mouth.
There was a full ten second pause. Jeremy was the first to break it, his face white as a sheet and his fingers clenched so tight around the edge of the table that the nails were completely colorless. "What happened to her?" he asked.
"The report from the sheriff's office says it looked like she was attacked by some kind of animal while she was walking home after dark on Sunday night."
"Are they sure about that?" said Jeremy, his voice building tension with every word.
"Yes, based on the report."
All Elena could think about was how the last time she and Vicki had crossed paths, she'd called the older girl a gold-digging slut, then barely blinked an eye when Damon compelled her to go clean toilets. But she was startled from these miserable thoughts when Jeremy jumped up from his chair and bolted out of the kitchen. Jenna and Miranda called after him, but they could hear him moving up the staircase now, and then the resounding slam of his bedroom door.
"What was that about?" said Jenna, half-rising as though to follow him.
"Jeremy had a crush on Vicki," said Elena. She looked at her parents. "Was it really an animal that killed her?"
"No," said Grayson. "The Council is convinced it was a vampire."
Elena frowned. "Then there are more of them in town now?" she asked.
"Not that we know of," said Miranda.
Elena's eyes widened as what they were all thinking dawned on her. "Damon and Stefan didn't do this," she said leaning forward imploringly.
"How can you be so sure?" said Grayson.
"Because Stefan doesn't drink human blood, and Damon…," she trailed off. She didn't want them to think Damon could be behind this, but she also didn't want them to know that the reason she knew he wasn't was that she'd spent that whole night curled up with him on his couch. "What time of night was Vicki killed?" she asked.
"About ten o'clock Sunday night," said Grayson, looking at her with his brow furrowed.
"Sunday was Damon's birthday," Elena began, hoping she sounded convincing (she saw Jenna tense up out of the corner of her eye and carefully avoided looking at her). "Before I went to Bonnie's to sleep over, I bought some party hats and cupcakes and went over to the boarding house to give Damon a little birthday party. It was after ten when I left, and he and Stefan were both there the whole time."
"You threw Damon a birthday party?" said Miranda, looking perplexed.
"While we were at the lake house, I found a letter his and Stefan's mother wrote to Agatha Gilbert when Damon was four years old. It was really sweet, so I thought he should have it." She tried to sound nonchalant, but she could feel her cheeks burning under the stares of her parents and aunt.
"You've been spending a lot of time with them?" said Grayson.
"Not a lot," said Elena quickly. "But they're my friends." She paused for a second. She had said it without really thinking, and as much as she wished she could give Damon a different label, she and Stefan were friends now, even if he still made her feel a little awkward. "They don't really have friends," she went on, "so we hang out sometimes. Not nearly as often as I hang out with Bonnie and Caroline." She looked from her mom to her dad and back again. "Am I in trouble?" she asked in a small voice. "You're working with them anyway, so I thought it would be okay."
They immediately looked less stern. "No, sweetie, you're not in trouble," said Miranda. "We'd just prefer it if you let us know beforehand when you're going to be hanging out with them."
"Okay," said Elena.
Grayson glanced at his watch. "Do you need to go yet?" he asked Miranda.
"Go where?" said Elena.
"I'm heading over to visit Kelly this morning. God knows she'll need a friend right about now."
Elena instantly felt guilty. She'd gotten so focused on defending Damon and Stefan from suspicion that she'd forgotten about Vicki. And Matt—what was he going through right now? His sister was dead. She tried to imagine how she would feel if something happened to Jeremy. The mere thought of it seemed to turn her insides to stone. "Can I come with you?" she asked. "I want to be there for Matt."
"Of course," said Miranda. "Eat some breakfast first; I'll tell you when I'm ready to leave."
X
After Jeremy had slammed his door behind him, he merely stood there for a few minutes, breathing deeply. This couldn't be happening. Four days ago, when he had last seen her, Vicki had been smiling and happy. Now, she was dead. He'd been planning on going to the Grill after her shift started, having finally mustered up the courage to see her again after giving her that drawing. Now, he doubted he'd ever want to go to the Grill again.
His sketchbook was still sitting on his desk. He walked over to it and looked at the new drawing. It was another one of Vicki. He'd wanted to capture the way she'd looked at the town picnic by the lake two summers ago. She'd worn a green spaghetti strap top, frayed denim shorts, and flip-flops, her skin had been tan, and she'd put her hair up in a messy bun. Jeremy had seen her before that day, of course—his mom was best friends with her mom and his sister was best friends with her brother—but that was the first time he'd really noticed how beautiful she was, and when she'd laughed at some stupid joke he made, that was it. He'd been in love with her ever since.
In a sudden fury, Jeremy flung the sketchbook to the floor. Hot tears blurred his vision and escaped down his cheeks. He tried to stop them, but that only made them fall faster. He sank to the floor next to his bed and cried. It was a long time before he stopped.
X
When Damon got back to the boarding house, it was to find Stefan standing in the entrance hall, looking just as grumpy and judgmental as when he'd left.
"Where were you last night?" Stefan asked.
"Why, Mom, did I break curfew?" said Damon, rolling his eyes.
"If Elena's aunt was that upset about her sleeping over here, then how exactly is it an improvement for you to spend the night there?"
"You seem to be laboring under the delusion that I give a rat's ass what Elena's aunt thinks," said Damon. "And for that matter, why do you care so much about where I'm spending my nights? I've been out more often than not since we've both been back in Mystic Falls, but this is the first time I get the interrogation. Consistency makes self-righteousness more credible, Stefan."
"I care because if you keep going like this, Elena's going to get hurt," said Stefan, glaring.
Damon scowled at him. "Are you really back to that? I would never hurt Elena, and I will kill anyone or anything else that tries to."
"I didn't mean physically," said Stefan. "I know that you'd risk your life for her, and I'm glad you have someone like her as a friend."
Damon was slightly taken aback. He could tell that Stefan meant every word. "So then what's the problem?" he asked, confused and exasperated.
"The problem is that I don't think you realize how deeply she cares for you. You need to establish some boundaries in your friendship with her if you don't want to break her heart when you leave with Katherine."
Damon had no idea how to respond to this, but thankfully, he was spared the trouble of trying by the sound of knocking. Frowning, he spun around and opened the door he'd closed only a minute before.
"Mrs. Lockwood! This is a nice surprise," he said, masking his bafflement at Stefan's mandate under a heavy layer of charm.
"Please, Damon, call me Carol," said the Mayor's wife with a girlish smile.
"Well, then, Carol," said Damon with a roguish smirk (he could practically hear the annoyed look on Stefan's face, but before he could step aside to introduce him to her just to annoy him even more, Stefan had already sped off somewhere out of sight and human hearing range), "to what do I owe the pleasure of your visit?"
"Actually," she said, her smile fading a little, "I was hoping you might have some of that vervain ready by now."
"Why, did something happen?" he said.
"Unfortunately, yes," said Carol. "Last night, the body of a local girl was found off the side of the road across town. The news report will say it was an animal attack, but that's just to keep everyone calm."
"You think it was vampires," said Damon.
"I don't know about vampires, plural, but even one of them would be bad news. The Council is preparing to do a search, so some vervain would really come in handy."
"Of course," said Damon. "I'll go get some boxed up for you, if you just want to wait in the parlor." He stepped back and ushered her inside.
"I really can't thank you enough for this," said Carol as she followed him inside. "Although…with Zach out of town, if you want to be part of the Council, you can just say the word, and I'll talk to Richard about it."
"I think I'd like that," said Damon humbly. "Anything I can do to help."
She took a seat on the sofa, smiling graciously at him. "Richard and I are hosting the traditional Mystic Falls Fourth of July party at our home, and we've decided to dedicate it to that poor girl and her family. You and your brother are welcome to attend. There'll be a private Council meeting before the fireworks."
Damon smiled. "I'll be there," he said. And with that, he left the room. She'd fallen for his Responsible Citizen act hook, line, and sinker, and now he had an invitation to the Lockwood mansion and an in to the Council. It was probably for the best that someone other than Grayson could get him that position. The less obvious his connection to the Gilberts was, the better it would be for everyone, especially considering the antipathy between Grayson and the Mayor.
When he reached the vervain room, he was completely unsurprised to find Stefan waiting for him. "Was it you?" he said.
"Was what me?" said Damon, snatching up the thick elbow-length gloves from the end of the table and pulling them on.
"The dead girl Mrs. Lockwood just told you about," said Stefan.
"Please, Stefan," said Damon, picking up a hefty pair of gardening scissors and beginning to prune off sizeable pieces of the vervain plants. "We already established where I was last night. I'm not the one without an alibi here."
"You know I didn't do it!" said Stefan heatedly.
"I know," said Damon. "I was just showing you how annoying it is to be accused without evidence. But if it's true she was killed by a vampire, then we have company." He met Stefan's troubled gaze across the table. "And just in case our company decided to make a plus one out of that girl, do you want to be the one to run damage control at the morgue, or should I?"
Stefan grimaced. "You do it. I'm just supposed to be the naïve kid brother, right? I'd look more out of place. Besides, I can't compel my way out of awkward questions as well as you."
This last sentence had a hint of accusation to it, but Damon only smirked. "Oh, but we can fix that. If you want me to show you how to eat people without losing it, Stef, all you have to do is ask."
Stefan's glare was back. "Just give 'Carol' the vervain and get out of here."
Damon clicked his tongue in mock disappointment. "You know, the first step to recovery is admitting you have a problem." He dumped all his vervain clippings into a plastic-lined cardboard box, closed the top, shucked the gloves, and left the room with the box tucked under his arm before Stefan could say another word.
X
Elena spent most of the drive to Matt's house afraid that he wouldn't want to see her, but she was still resolved to try to offer whatever comfort she could. When they arrived, she and her mom had barely shut the car doors behind them before Kelly came flying out of the house and flung herself into Miranda's arms. The sight of Kelly sobbing into her mom's neck so hard that she could barely breathe was enough to bring tears to Elena's eyes. Then Matt appeared in the doorway, and when he saw Elena, his face crumpled and his chest heaved. Elena ran up the steps and threw her arms around him. They both broke down crying, and Matt hugged her so tight that it hurt, but she didn't let go. In that moment, nothing—not their breakup, not the hurt and drama that had followed it—nothing mattered except that her oldest friend had lost his sister, and he needed her.
Eventually, the four of them made it inside. Miranda and Kelly remained in the living room, but Elena and Matt retreated to his bedroom. They sat on the edge of Matt's twin bed, clutching each other's hands. Elena stared anxiously at Matt while Matt stared at the floor.
"I'm so sorry, Matt," Elena managed after a few moments of silence.
"I know," he said. "I'm glad you came."
"Vicki and I didn't get along very well," said Elena quietly. Matt looked around at her, his brow furrowed. "She hated me for breaking up with you, but all that means is that she was a good sister. She knew how good you are and that you deserve the best." Elena's lip trembled. "She loved you so much."
Matt's eyes shone with tears again. "I know my sister wasn't the easiest person to get along with. She had her drug problems and she hung out with the wrong crowd all the time, and she was never a very good student, but my whole life, well, we never knew our dad, and Mom, when she's here, she's usually too drunk or too distracted by her latest boyfriend to be a mom, so it was always me and Vicki taking care of each other. And now, I'll…I'll never have that again."
"Oh, God, Matt," said Elena. "We don't have to talk about this if you don't—"
"No, I need to talk about her," he insisted, though his voice was cracking. "And it's pretty much not going to happen with anyone but you. Can you imagine me having this conversation with Tyler?"
Elena let out a squeaky little laugh. "Okay, tell me about Vicki."
"The last time I saw her was in the middle of the day on Sunday. Mom was passed out on the couch 'cause she partied too hard on Saturday, so it was pretty much a normal weekend. I cooked some Ramen for me and Vicki, and she told me about stupid customers at the Grill, and I told her about stupid swimmers at the pool, and we laughed and ate our crappy food." He almost smiled at the memory. "Then she went in her room, and she was in there a long time, but when she came out, she was wearing her favorite outfit and she'd done her hair and makeup really pretty. She said she had a date and she seemed so excited, but she wouldn't tell us who the guy was. And then she left, and that was it. I spent all day yesterday looking for her, and then Sheriff Forbes showed up in the middle of the night to tell us that they found Vicki off the side of the road just a mile away from home, and that she was killed by a wild animal on Sunday night and had just been lying there for a whole twenty-four hours."
Elena couldn't think of anything to say. Fresh tears were streaming down her cheeks at the pain in Matt's voice.
"I just," he said, "what kind of guy would make her that excited to spend time with him, and then just let something like that happen to her, and then not even tell the people who love her? Why was she alone?"
"She didn't call you?" said Elena.
"No!" said Matt in bleak frustration. "And that's the other thing. If it was a bad date and she wanted to come home, she would've called me. She's done it before. All night, I was trying to work it out in my head, but it doesn't make sense. If the guy left her out there alone, she would've called me to come pick her up, but supposedly something came out of the woods and attacked her before she could hit my button on her speed dial?"
"Are you saying you don't think it was an animal attack?" said Elena.
"I don't know," said Matt. "I mean, Sheriff Forbes wouldn't have said it was an animal attack if she thought there was some crazy serial killer out there, but I just want to find out who she was with before it happened. Maybe tomorrow we'll turn on the news and find out that they found the guy's body somewhere in the woods."
X
A suspicion ignited in the tiny part of Jeremy's brain that wasn't consumed by misery at Vicki's death, and it lit up the rest like a spark on dry grass. He leapt up from the floor and flung himself into his desk chair, pounded the "escape" key, and tried to think how he should go about getting his questions answered. He couldn't just Google "vampires." He'd run into all kinds of TV shows, books, and movies long before anything he could trust as fact. Instead, he typed in "vampire chat room," thinking he'd probably get farther if he could access and filter answers in real time.
The first one he pulled up looked like a middle school girl's Myspace page threw up on it and was full of usernames like "SparkleVampForever," "IcequeenSnowdragon," and "Mrs_Cullen_264," so he closed it and went back for the second. This one was more of a minimalist goth affair, which Jeremy felt was a vast improvement. He opened the live chat link and typed in "LostBoyJer" as his username.
LostBoyJer: anyone online?
WatcherDalton42: hey
ChosenOne371: sup
BrideofDracula: hi
LostBoyJer: I need information about how to kill vampires.
BrideofDracula: you can't kill what's already dead.
WatcherDalton42: CALL BUFFY!
Jeremy rolled his eyes.
LostBoyJer: serious answers only, please.
SemperFi: There are five ways.
LostBoyJer: tell me.
SemperFi: Direct sunlight, decapitation, wooden stake to the heart, removal of the heart, and fire.
LostBoyJer: thanks.
SemperFi: You got vampires where you live?
LostBoyJer: yeah, and there was an "animal attack."
SemperFi: Need help?
Jeremy stared at those two words, feeling uneasy. He saw that "SemperFi" was typing again, but he closed the window before the new comment could appear. He already had the info he needed, anyway. He stood up and walked to the door of his room. "Hello?" he called loudly. Nobody answered. His dad would be at work by now, and it seemed that everyone else had gone out. After waiting a few more seconds just to be sure, he began to look around his bedroom for a likely weapon. His sports bag was lying at the foot of his bed where he'd left it after coming home from the batting cages the previous day, and his old wooden baseball bat was poking out. He seized it, then headed for Elena's room. He retrieved his cell phone from beneath her nightstand and was about to head out when he saw that her car keys were sitting on her dresser. A grim smile spread over his face. Just because he had no license, it didn't mean he didn't know how to drive, and this would make things much easier than riding his bike.
X
Elena and Matt remained in a sad but comfortable silence for a long time. Before either of them broke it, they heard the distant sound of the doorbell. They exchanged a glance and got up to see who it was. Matt hadn't let go of Elena's hand, and she made no effort to pull it away.
Out in the living room, Kelly was sitting on the couch, her face in her hands, and Miranda had gotten up to open the door. It was Mrs. Lockwood. "Miranda, hi," she said. "I just wanted to come by and offer my condolences to Kelly and Matt."
Something in her tone rang false in Elena's ears. She wondered how many more people would come to bother Matt and his mom for the sake of appearances.
Miranda didn't offer Mrs. Lockwood any reply; she merely walked back over to Kelly and sat beside her. Mrs. Lockwood edged into the room.
"Is Tyler with you?" said Matt.
Mrs. Lockwood looked at him, and for a moment, her sympathetic expression became genuine. "No, Matt. I'm sorry. I should've thought to ask him if he wanted to come with me."
"It's okay," Matt mumbled.
"I'll let him know you'd like to see him."
Matt nodded. He moved to sit down on his mom's other side, and Elena squeezed onto the remaining space at the end of the couch next to him, which left Mrs. Lockwood to take the loveseat by herself.
"It was nice of you to come," said Kelly. Her voice was croaky and devoid of any emotion.
"It was the least I could do," said Mrs. Lockwood. She paused for a second, then asked, "When are you having the funeral?"
"Friday," said Kelly. "It's just going to be us and close friends."
"Of course," said Mrs. Lockwood. Elena noticed that her smile was once again entirely fake. She felt a flicker of dislike in the pit of her stomach, and she squeezed Matt's hand tighter.
There was a very awkward silence. Matt and Kelly were both staring down at the coffee table, but Elena was watching her mom, who was glowering steadily at Mrs. Lockwood, who was doing a very good job of pretending not to notice.
"I'm sure you know about the Fourth of July party Richard and I will be hosting on Saturday," said Mrs. Lockwood.
Elena had no idea why she would mention this, but it looked like her mom had a guess, because her glare went from unfriendly to outraged.
"We thought we could dedicate the party to Vicki's memory," Mrs. Lockwood went on when Kelly didn't reply.
"Carol, I don't think this is the right moment for this," said Miranda. Her voice was so tight that it sounded as though her vocal cords might snap.
"No, it's fine," said Kelly dully. "Do whatever the hell you want. If you really cared so much about my daughter, then go ahead and throw a party for her."
"Mom," said Matt quietly.
"It'll be a lovely celebration of her life," said Carol, somehow managing to keep that smile in place. The tension was almost too much for Elena to stand.
"Yeah, because getting mauled to death by a mountain lion at age seventeen is really something to celebrate," said Kelly under her breath. Matt winced and Miranda put a hand on Kelly's shoulder.
"Well," said Carol, clearly pretending not to have heard that last comment, "I should get back." She rose from her seat.
"Great idea," said Miranda, standing up too and ushering her quickly to the door. "For heaven's sake," she hissed once Mrs. Lockwood was gone. "I knew that woman was tactless, but to choose a day like this to grace you with her presence when she's never so much as spoken to you before…"
Kelly gave a brittle smile. "It's okay, Miranda. You and Grayson are the only people in this town who've ever given a damn about me, but if she wants to pretend otherwise, nothing's gonna stop her from doing it."
X
Meredith Fell hadn't worked with a dead body since cadaver dissection in med school, but she knew enough to figure out very quickly that Vicki Donovan had not been killed by vampires. Lividity had set in all over her back—which shouldn't be possible if a vampire had drained her blood to the point of death. And there were plenty of other dark bruises across her body.
But even though these signs pointed away from a vampire attack, Meredith decided she'd make a cast of the neck wound anyway. Just as she had finished applying it, the morgue door opened. She looked around, hoping it wasn't Brian, but not really expecting it to be anyone else. She was stunned, therefore, to see a ridiculously hot twenty-something guy she'd never seen before striding towards her.
It took a second for her to stop gaping and realize that he was wearing neither scrubs, lab coat, nor nametag, and she frowned. "Are you supposed to be here? This area is for hospital personnel only."
The guy squinted appraisingly at her, his eyes flitting to her own nametag and back to her face. "Dr. Fell," he said. "As in the same Dr. Fell who was Grayson Gilbert's protégé?"
"Yeah…?" said Meredith.
"So you're the one Grayson's been sharing my blood samples with," he said. "Neat."
Meredith took an involuntary step backward, her eyes wide. "You're the—" She checked unnecessarily to make sure they were the only ones in the room.
"Vampire?" he finished in a conspiratorial whisper, flaring his eyes at her. "Yeah, that'd be me. Damon Salvatore. Pleased to meet you."
"Damon Salvatore—you mean, the one who supposedly died in 1865?"
Damon rolled his eyes. "Can we skip the revisionist history lesson?" He looked down at Vicki's body. "This the vampire attack victim?"
"Yeah," said Meredith, shaking herself and trying to regain her focus. "But I'm not sure that's what actually happened."
"What makes you say that?" said Damon.
"For one thing, this body definitely was not drained of blood," said Meredith. "But the cast of the bite wound is done setting now. Once I take it off, you might be able to see for yourself." She tugged a little at the cuffs of her gloves, then carefully began to peel the cast away from Vicki's neck.
"Why are you going to all this extra trouble?" said Damon. "The Council's already out on their vamp hunt; they seem pretty confident that they know what happened here."
"Yeah, well, none of them would particularly care which vampire is behind it. Grayson and I, on the other hand, would prefer that it not be you or the other vampire we know about."
"That would be my brother Stefan. And no, we didn't do this."
"Then let's find out who did," said Meredith as the cast came free.
They both frowned down at the piece of plaster she was holding.
"Okay, either this vampire is in hilariously dire need of an orthodontist, or those aren't even bite marks," said Damon.
X
Stefan was getting ready to head into the woods to hunt when he heard gravel crunch in the driveway. He frowned and walked towards the door. Damon's Camaro had a much louder engine than whatever vehicle had just pulled up, so it must belong to someone else. He waited at the end of the entrance hall, arms folded, leaning against the wall, listening to the sound of a car door creaking open, then slamming shut, followed by footsteps moving towards the house. When the footsteps reached the door, there was a pause. Stefan waited for the person on the other side to knock, but instead, the door slowly opened wide enough for someone to slip inside, which the intruder did, revealing himself to be an extremely shifty-looking teenage boy who was clutching a jagged wooden object that resembled the former handle of a baseball bat.
Stefan raised his eyebrows. "Can I help you?" he said.
The boy jumped so hard that he nearly pulled the door shut on himself, but he recovered from his surprise quickly. "Are you Stefan Salvatore?" he demanded, his expression contorting in anger and accusation.
"Yes," said Stefan, nonplussed. "Who are you?"
"I'm the guy who's here to kill the vampire who murdered Vicki Donovan."
"Oh," said Stefan. "Then, uh, you have the wrong house."
"Don't lie!" the kid shouted, brandishing the broken baseball bat. "I know it was either you or your brother!"
"What would give you that idea?" said Stefan. He mainly felt incredulous that this child, who clearly knew what he was, would be so brazen and reckless as to accuse him to his face of murdering someone, but there was a small part of him that wondered if he'd been too quick to believe that Damon hadn't been behind it.
"My parents warned me about you," said the boy, "and last night, I heard Damon telling my sister that he likes to 'play possum' out on country roads in the middle of the night, and guess where Vicki's body was found?"
"You're Jeremy Gilbert," said Stefan, standing up straight.
Surprise flickered over the kid's face, but he didn't lower the makeshift stake. "How do you know that?"
"Because Elena's mentioned her brother a few times," said Stefan, "and I know Damon spent last night in her room, so unless you're a very skilled stalker, the only way you could've overheard their conversation is if you live in the same house." He looked at the stake. "Do you really think you're going to use that on me?"
"If you're the one who killed Vicki," said Jeremy, "or if Damon did it and you try to stop me from using it on him."
In the blink of an eye, Stefan vamp-sped to Jeremy, snatched the stake out of his hand, and resumed his position, tossing the stake up in the air and catching it. Jeremy's mouth fell open in shock, and for the first time, he looked afraid. Stefan sighed. "You don't know what the hell you're doing, kid," he said. "It takes a vampire less than a second to kill a human, but you thought you'd just creep in here and stake whoever was home? You're lucky my brother and I aren't the ones who killed that girl, because if we had, there'd be nothing to stop us from killing you too."
Jeremy stared at him. After a few seconds, he seemed to accept the truth of Stefan's words. "That girl's name was Vicki," he said. He still sounded angry, but it was an anger born of grief; the fight had gone out of him. His shoulders slumped, and he looked much smaller.
"Damon's trying to find out what happened to her," said Stefan. "If there's another vampire in this town, they won't be able to hide for long."
Jeremy swallowed hard. "I want to know everything you find out," he said.
"Why not just ask your parents? Whatever Damon learns, he'll tell your dad."
"Nobody in my family tells me anything," said Jeremy bitterly. "And you can't tell them I was here," he added, shooting Stefan a threatening look.
"Fine, I'll tell you what we find out about Vicki," said Stefan. "But the second I think you're planning to do something stupid with that knowledge, I'm ratting you out to your parents. Got it?"
X
Grayson had just finished up his final appointment before lunch break when Damon and Meredith came bursting into his office. Before he could react to their presence, Meredith had withdrawn something from her purse and slammed it down on his examination table.
"Before you ask, no, it wasn't me or Stefan," said Damon.
"It wasn't even vampires," said Meredith, shooting him a look.
Grayson stared at the object and realized that it was the wound cast he'd asked her to make. He frowned and picked it up, looking at the many irregular peaks and valleys. "If teeth didn't make these wounds, then what did?" he asked.
From her pocket, Meredith pulled a small plastic bag containing a gritty substance, which she held out to Grayson. "This was what I found when I swabbed the wound."
Grayson rubbed the bag back and forth between his fingers and thumb. "It looks like dirt," he said.
"It is," said Meredith. "In fact, it's just like the dirt I clean out of wounds made by rocks and gravel. I don't know which body Brian was looking at, because he clearly didn't look very hard at Vicki's. If the neck wound was what killed her, then there would've been more bruising around it and definitely more blood loss."
"You mean her blood wasn't drained?" said Grayson, his frown deepening.
"No. And I checked her other injuries. There was blood in her right ear from a skull fracture, and her neck was broken. And she has bruises and scrapes all over her body, a broken leg, and a dislocated elbow."
"Then what do you think happened?" said Grayson, looking at her intently.
"Considering that she was found next to the road, we think she either fell or got thrown out of a moving vehicle, which killed her, and then someone made it look like a vampire did it," said Damon.
"But only the Council knows about vampires," Grayson argued. However, he fell silent as the full impact of what they were telling him sank in. "And only a Council member would know that our Sheriff and medical examiner would both assume a body with a neck wound means vampires, especially when we're already on high alert after Zach's warning."
"Exactly," said Meredith, while Damon muttered irritably about Zach.
"I'm afraid it's even worse than that," said a new voice from the door. Grayson and Meredith both jumped, and all three of them looked around. Sheila Bennett was standing on the threshold, looking grave.
"What do you mean, Grandma Witch?" said Damon.
"Witch?" repeated Meredith blankly.
"Later," said Grayson. "What is it, Sheila?"
"The killer might not have been a vampire, but he wasn't a human either." Sheila's eyes fell on Meredith, and she hesitated for a second, but evidently she thought she could trust her, because she went on, "Yesterday, my granddaughter ran into Matt Donovan. When she touched his arm, she saw a vision of a wolf standing over his sister's body."
"It couldn't have been a wolf," said Meredith. She held up the wound cast for Sheila to see. "These wounds weren't made by fangs or claws, and they were made after she died."
Sheila shook her head. "The kind of wolf I'm talking about only has fangs and claws one night a month, and that night won't be until a week from now."
Grayson's eyes went very wide. This was something neither his ancestors' journals, his time with the Augustine society, nor his many years of training had prepared him for.
"Come on," said Damon, who was clearly less convinced, "Baby Witch barely even has powers yet. We're supposed to just take her word for it when she starts blaming a creature that doesn't even exist?"
"Bonnie's vision was real," said Sheila with a hint of menace. "There's a werewolf in Mystic Falls."
X
Elena and Miranda got home shortly before lunchtime. Jeremy was sitting in the living room, playing X-Box games, but as soon as they walked in, he turned the TV off. Elena went over and sat down by him. "You okay, Jer?" she asked.
"I'm fine," he said in a gruff voice that told her he absolutely was not fine. She tried to reach for his hand to give it a squeeze, but he stood up suddenly. "Can we go to the library?" he asked.
"Uh, sure," said Elena, surprised. It wasn't that Jeremy never checked books out from the library, but this seemed like a weird moment to want to. "Do you want to find more anatomy books for your drawings?"
"No," he said. "I just need something to distract me. The games aren't cutting it." He gestured vaguely at the X-Box.
Elena felt a rush of sympathy. "Of course," she said. "I'll just run and grab my keys."
X
One of Laura Fitzgerald's favorite things about working as secretary to Dr. Gilbert was the long lunch breaks he always gave her. Lately, she'd been using them to make regular, short trips out of Mystic Falls to Mrs. Flowers' bed and breakfast a few miles up the highway.
Today, when she entered the old house, which was a beautiful example of classic Southern architecture, she found the kind old Mrs. Flowers setting the dining room table for four. Julia Smith, one of the librarians at the Mystic Falls public library, was already there. Mrs. Flowers smiled when she saw Laura, and gestured to Laura's usual seat, then bustled into the kitchen. A moment later, Logan Fell arrived and took one of the two remaining seats. The three of them sat silently, waiting. Mrs. Flowers reappeared with a mouthwatering homemade chicken pot pie, which she placed on the table. After cutting slices for each of them and loading them onto their plates, she left the room.
"So, what news do you have for me today?" came a voice from the hall, and a teenage girl with long, wavy black hair, layers of dark, loose-fitting clothing, and several heavy rings on her fingers emerged from the hall and took the last remaining seat at the table.
"There's been a vampire attack in town," said Logan Fell, his voice robotic and his expression blank. "A girl, Vicki Donovan, was found dead with her neck torn open. The Founder's Council has spent all morning searching for vampires using the Gilbert compass."
The girl looked surprised and her eyes briefly flashed red. "The compass? Did you find any vampires?"
"Not yet, but we won't stop looking until we find them."
"Yeah, I'm pretty sure the Salvatore boys are one step ahead of you," said the girl with contempt. "Anything else, Logan?"
"Not so far, but you'll be the first to know."
"How about you, Miss Julia?"
"Elena Gilbert and her brother came to the library right before my shift ended."
"Her brother?" said the girl. "He's never come with her before. What did he want?"
"After Elena went to her usual spot, Jeremy came up to the desk to ask me where he could find information about animal attacks in Mystic Falls. He kept checking to make sure Elena was still in the Young Adult section."
The girl raised an eyebrow. "So he knows about vampires now. This could be interesting. I might have to switch targets. Damon keeps that raven on Elena even when he's not with her, and Stefan's on guard duty too. She'd be hard to grab. Jeremy could be easier to get close to without one of them spotting me." She looked at Laura. "And you?"
"Vicki Donovan wasn't killed by vampires," said Laura automatically.
"Oh, really?" said the girl. "Then who killed her?"
"Grayson Gilbert, Meredith Fell, and Damon Salvatore believe she was killed by a Council member who tried to make it look like a vampire did it. Sheila Bennett believes it was a werewolf."
The girl's face lost its calm, calculating expression. For the first time since Laura had met her, she looked alarmed. But it passed quickly. "Mayor Lockwood is the only potential werewolf on the Council," she said, her smooth brow furrowing slightly. "If that was his first kill, then things are either about to get very interesting or very complicated." She looked around at the three of them. "Okay, enjoy your lunch. What are you going to do when you leave?"
"We're going to forget we came here," they chorused.
"And what are your assignments?" asked the girl.
"Keep track of the Council's movements," said Logan.
"Spy on Dr. Gilbert's conversations with or pertaining to vampires and witches," said Laura.
"Find a pattern in Elena Gilbert's library attendance," said Julia.
"And Jeremy's, now," said the girl.
"And Jeremy's," Julia repeated.
There is a lot more to the scene where Jeremy explores vampire chat rooms than meets the eye. I would love to hear your thoughts and theories about it (also, brownie points to the reviewer who finds the most Easter eggs). I hope it was clear who the girl in the last scene is. It occurs to me that there might be some confusion, but I think the description of her outfit should make it pretty clear who she is. Anyway, I really enjoyed writing Miranda vs. Carol. I hope you all liked Elena's dream of teenage Damon and Mama Salvatore. These shared dreams won't be stopping anytime soon. They aren't just here for fluff, either. I dropped a hint of something deeper lurking there, and that's definitely going to become important later. Matt and Elena's scenes made me cry. I feel so bad for Matt. He's so wonderful, and he's hurting so much. At least Vicki died human in this, so there's no chance of her ever getting sucked into oblivion or getting manipulated into doing Esther's dirty work like in canon.