A/N: Season 3, here we go! The eighteenth chapter for the Gilbert twins' 18th birthday! Coincidence? I already starting to hate Elena in this season and it's not healthy! Haha, thank you for waiting so here goes! As usual, I only own Vanessa and Cassandra, and the Original Ada!

Chapter 18: Broken Glass

Vampires like me had the ability to turn the emotion off. The grief, the self-hatred, the denial, the rage, all these poisoning feelings were eating me. I could always turn it off, but…I can't. What happened when a vampire turned his emotions off? I was afraid I would not care about my family, about love, about everything that made me human.

So how do you go on with your life after so many deaths? By pretending that it never happened. Well, that worked.

"Rise and shine, sweetheart!" I shouted enthusiastically as I pulled up the curtains in Jeremy's room. He groaned as the sunlight hit him and I grinned. I couldn't imagine my life without the daylight necklace. I looked at Jeremy who had pulled up the cover and jumped on top of him, successfully waking him up.

"Early! Bad!" he groaned and I rolled my eyes as he attempted to shake me off.

"It's not early," I told him, rolling over him and he groaned at the pressure of my weight. "You're late for work. Matt just called," I said, and he groaned again.

"I hate you," he mumbled as I kicked him off the bed, laughing.

"Chop-chop!" I snapped my fingers as I walked out of his room.

"Well, maybe he'll fire me," Jeremy muttered grudgingly, probably thinking that I wouldn't hear him. But I did, and I just laughed.

"Aim high!" I said mockingly, giving him a thumbs-up, not missing the eye roll that he gave me.

"What are you doing?" I heard Elena asked from the kitchen.

"Just shopping for the party you're trying to bail out on," I heard Caroline replied and I gave Elena an evil grin as I entered the kitchen.

"I never said yes in the first place," Elena said, deadpanned.

"Vanessa did," Caroline countered and Elena gave me a scolding look for saying 'yes'.

"What? It's my birthday too," I said with a smirk and Elena sighed.

"Exactly! And this would be your first time celebrating it with Vanessa after she…well, died," Caroline told, trying to persuade Elena. "Oh, and my mom wants you to call her," Caroline said and I straightened up, all the playfulness disappeared in the air.

"Did she find something?" Elena asked in a serious tone and Alaric looked up.

"An animal attack in Memphis, It's the third one this week in Tennessee," Caroline told.

"And you're sure it's a vampire?" Elena asked.

"Yes," Caroline said.

"Doesn't mean it's Klaus," I countered as I helped Alaric with the coffee maker. I caught Elena glared at me from the corner of my eye and ignored it.

"Doesn't mean it's not," Elena shot back and I held up my hands. "I'll call her later," Elena said.

"Well call her on her cell," Caroline said.

"Tell her thank you for her help," Elena said and Caroline hummed.

"Alright. Well, I gotta go. I'll see you in a bit," Caroline told.

"Oh, Caroline wait, just...keep tonight small. Please," Elena pleaded and I laughed.

"Make it big, Care!" I called out and heard Caroline laughed.

"Wear something pretty," she sang to Elena and Elena hung up.

"Seriously?" Elena asked me and I shrugged.

"We used to love big parties, right?" I asked and Elena bit her lower lip guiltily, knowing what I meant. Everything was different now. It seemed very impossible to turn everything back like before. She let out a sigh and looked into my blue eyes. Her brown eyes seemed so sad, hollow even.

"Used to," she said bitterly and I pursed my lips, not wanting to argue with her.

"Was that uh…Stefan news?" Alaric asked as he made up the couch.

"Could be more Klaus victims," Elena said.

"What if those were Stefan's?" I asked her and she looked at me, shocked by my question.

"Stefan-Stefan wouldn't do that," Elena argued, shaking her head. I looked away. I could still remember Stefan's face as he drank the blood bags. Vampires craved blood, yes. But Stefan wasn't just craving for that beautiful deep red liquid. It was more than that.

"You certain Stefan's still with him?" Alaric asked.

"Easy to be certain when the alternative is that he's dead," Elena replied and we fell into silence.

"Uh…are you sure you're still okay on the couch?" I asked Ric, changing the topic.

"Yeah, yeah. I'm good," he said and I nodded, although knowing he was lying.

"Because you spent half the summer on it," Elena reasoned. "If you need your own bedroom?"

"Eh, sleeping in your dead parent's room or my dead...girlfriend's room. Nah," he said and I sighed. Of course he had to bring that up.

"Okay," Elena said.

"Got it," I continued and I followed her out of the kitchen.

"Hey, you two," Alaric suddenly called us and we turned around, in sync. "Happy birthday," he said and Elena and I looked at each other before smiling.

"Thanks," we chorused.

Elena had gone over to Salvatore's to give Damon the lead while I headed to the Grill to check up on Jeremy.

"Vanessa?" Jeremy asked questioningly and I raised my eyebrow at him.

"What's up?" I asked.

"You were just at the back," he said and I frowned at him. Cassandra couldn't be here, could she?

"What?" I asked, asking him to explain.

"Um, nothing. I have to…" he said, showing me the little notebook to take orders. I wanted to ask more but instead I gave him a grin.

"Work hard!" I said, patting him at the back. I craned my neck, searching for any blond girls but their faces weren't identical to mine. I scowled, wondering what did she want from me. I was about to go over to the bar when Elena texted me. She asked me to check on the new lead at the Memphis and took her there as well. I let out a humorless chuckle as I called her.

"You're seriously crazy," I said as soon as she picked up.

"Damon said he'll check it out. But I need to be sure…"

"Elena," I called her name sternly. "He said he'll check it out, he'll check it out."

"Please? It has been a while since we had a lead," she pleaded and I sighed. Elena was always so good at getting whatever she wanted because of her damn sweet voice and puppy eyes.

"Where are you?" I asked.

"I'm heading to the Grill. Are you still there?" she asked and I smirked as an idea popped up in my mind.

"Yep. Come and pick me up," I told her as I left the Grill.

"Whoa!" Alaric let out a surprise gasp as I appeared suddenly in front of their car. I gave Damon a sweet smirk as he glared at me angrily.

"Up for a road trip?" I asked them smugly as I opened the back seat door. Damon let out a low growl before continuing driving. We'd finally reached at a big house and I heard Damon's phone rang. He ignored the call which I assumed must be from Elena. I had turned my phone off ages ago.

"Elena?" Ric asked. "I don't know why you two just don't come clean and tell her where we are," he said, glancing at both Damon and I.

"Because Andie said this was a half lead and I don't want to get her hopes up," Damon replied.

"Besides, if this was really Klaus, Elena should stay as far away as possible," I told and Ric nodded in agreement. We stood there for a moment in front of the big house, noticing the unusual silence.

"It's quiet," Ric commented.

"Too quiet," I mumbled and Damon led the way to the house. He opened the door and tried to step inside. "Oh yeah," he said as he walked inside. I followed him and Alaric closed the door behind us, making a creaking sound.

"I feel like we're in horror movies," I said quietly and saw Damon rolled his eyes at me. There were blood on the walls and on the floor as we walked to the living room and I let out a surprised gasp at the two bloodied and dead women staring lifelessly at the TV. They were sitting on a couch, as if they were still alive.

"Seriously?" Damon asked me and I shot him a glare, defending my jumpiness at the two bodies.

"What? They crept me out," I snapped defensively, walking over to the couch. Just because I kill human every now and then, it didn't mean I wasn't easily scared. I grimaced at the two women and tried to hide my disgust. In my entire life, I'd never seen anything like this.

Alaric groaned at the gory sight. "Vampire for sure."

"Stefan for sure," Damon corrected and I raised a questioning eyebrow at him.

"Come again?" I asked.

"It's his signature; there's a reason they call him the ripper. Feeds so hard he blacks out and rips them apart, but then when he's done, he feels remorse. It's the damnest thing," Damon said as he kicked one of the dead woman's leg. "He put the bodies back together," he told and kicked the leg again.

I took a step back when the head fell off from the body and down to the floor.

"Stefan did this?" Alaric questioned in disbelief as I stared at the woman's head. Her lifeless eyes stared right back at me.

"Definitely Stefan," Damon confirmed with a sigh.

Damon burned the house down, covering Klaus's and Stefan's tracks. But not before we found out that someone who was living in there was a werewolf. So Klaus was hunting werewolves, but why?

Then I remembered what Elijah had said. Elijah, a sad thought mixed with anger came into my mind and I pushed it away. Elijah did mention that Klaus would want to build an army of hybrids. But I supposed werewolves were hard to come by.

So when his army was built, Stefan would come back home? Hopefully.

I was doing my hair when Jeremy entered my room. I gave him a small smile as he walked towards me.

"I remembered last year. Elena couldn't even get out from her room. All she did was cry," Jeremy said and I stared at him in wonder at how grown up he seemed to be.

"We've come a long way," I said. "It's been a little more than a year…but a lot had happened," I said, biting back a sigh.

"Anyway, happy birthday," Jeremy said, handing me a dark blue journal with a white ribbon on it.

"You know I don't do journals," I said with a light smile and flipped the pages inside.

"Yeah, I know," he told me. Inside the book were sketches, drawings of me. There were Elena, Jeremy, Jenna and basically everyone too.

"You drew these?" I asked and he shrugged, a little embarrassed.

"We kinda have a long summer…" he trailed off and I smirked. Then I noticed how the cover seemed to have worn out a little. It wasn't new. This was supposed to be my last year's birthday present…I felt my heart clenched, moved by the gesture.

"This…is beautiful," I said, looking up at Jeremy. I then noticed a drawing of me in one of the pages. It wasn't a portrait, it was more of a cartoon like the ones in Marvel comics. My hair was curled and flowed down my back, thick and heavy. She had a leather jacket, and she also had my daylight necklace. But what caught my attention was my face.

It was my vampire face.

"I knew you'll like this one," he said with a grin and I looked at him, not knowing what to say.

"You…you have no idea what this means to me," I told him softly and he looked at me in the eye.

"It means I love you," he said and opened his arms, offering a hug. I rolled my eyes and smiled widely, as I hugged him. I remembered the last time we hugged. He died that day and I thought I had lost myself. I couldn't imagine my life without my little human brother. I tightened my hug and sighed happily.

"I love you too. Thank you," I said, kissing his cheek and he groaned. I laughed, patting his cheek slightly.

"Hey!" Caroline ran up to me and hugged me. I hugged her back, not really questioning how she got this party going so great. "Do you love it?" she asked excitedly and I grinned.

"Yep, very much," I told her and she smiled.

"I missed this," she said, handing me a glass with whatever alcohol inside it.

"Normal life?" I asked, taking a sip. Bourbon.

"Pretty much," she shrugged. Silence hung over us, as we remembered the time when everything was normal. Both of us were humans, we partied, drank, and everything was perfectly normal.

"There's Elena," I said, pointing at my sister's direction. She was wearing a white dress, while I wore a red dress. It kind of symbolized that she was the angel while I was the devil. Not that I mind, though. It was my idea after all. She walked hand in hand with Damon and I pursed my lips. I was not in any way jealous, but now that Stefan wasn't here, the two of them had been getting really close.

"Ugh," Caroline groaned at the sight. "I really hope Stefan comes back soon. I hate watching the two of them together," she muttered, sipping on the drink. I smirked but said nothing else as we walked towards them.

"You like? Don't answer that," Caroline said and I laughed.

"This is keeping it small?" Elena asked and Caroline just smiled.

"Give her some credit," I said, smiling. "It's a great party."

Elena laughed and turned to us. "What are we drinking?" She asked and Caroline held up her hand for her to take. We walked to the one of the rooms hand in hand and came across Matt. I saw Jeremy's smoking weed and rolled my eyes. I thought he quit?

"Oh, the Stoner Den. Buzz kill," Caroline muttered.

"Hey guys," Matt said, walking up to us with a big grin.

"Matt, hey!" Elena smiled and Matt kissed her cheek, earning a surprise gasp from Elena. He didn't even spare Caroline a glance as he turned to me. I hugged him and he smiled at me.

"Happy birthday, you two," he said.

"Thank you," Elena and I said.

"He hates me," Caroline muttered once Matt had left. "His hatred of me, has driven him to drugs!"

"He doesn't hate you, he hates that he's not with you," Elena tried to soothe Caroline and I snorted.

"Yeah right. He hates you," I told her seriously and Caroline gaped at me.

"Vanessa!" she hit me in the arm and I laughed.

"People hate me because I tell them the truth," I said, shrugging.

"Is that Jeremy?" Elena asked in disbelief.

"Yep," I said and shook my head at her face. "Leave him alone," I scolded Elena and she sighed, shaking her head at me.

"Thank you," Elena said as she handed Caroline her drink before walking off.

"I'm gonna go talk to Jeremy," I said and Caroline pursed her lips sourly, didn't like to be left alone. "What's up?" I asked my little brother, plopping down on the couch across him.

"Nothing," he said and I rolled my eyes.

"Come on, I'm not Elena," I said with a wink and he gave me a small laugh. "What's bothering you?" I asked him seriously and he sighed, contemplated whether to tell me or not.

"I've been seeing things," he finally said after a while. I raised an eyebrow at him.

"Things like…?" I watched as he sighed before shaking his head. "Oh come on! I hate it when you do this!" I groaned.

"You know Bonnie brought me back from death? I've been seeing…"

"Ghosts?" I guessed and he nodded silently. "Like…Jenna?" I asked him carefully and he shook his head.

"No, not Jenna," he said and glanced around him.

"Well, are they…here?" I asked warily and he laughed at me.

"I'm just messing with you," he said and I glared at him.

"Come on, Jer. I know when you're lying or not," I said and he stared at the floor blankly for a moment.

"I've been seeing Anna…and Vicki," he finally said and I leaned back against the chair.

"Right," I said slowly and he sighed at my skeptical face. "What do they want from you?" I asked.

"How do you know they want something from me?" he asked me curiously and I shrugged.

"Do they?" I asked and he shook his head.

"I don't know. But it's messing with my head," he said with a sigh and I smiled grimly at him.

"Well, we certainly can't ask Bonnie," I pointed it out and bit my lower lip. "I'll try to do what I can. If there's anything you need, just ask me. Alright?"

"Yeah, sure," Jeremy said and I nodded, biting back a sigh. So my twin sister was crazy trying to find her boyfriend who wasn't himself anymore and my little brother was seeing his dead ex-girlfriends. Charming.

But I was free of troubles. I smirked slightly and finished my drink before going over to join a beer pong and just enjoyed the rest of the night. It was my birthday after all. What harm would I get from doing all these normal things?

"Nessie?" Elena's small voice asked and I looked over my shoulder. I was on my bed, admiring Jeremy's sketches.

"Yeah?" I wonder what she needed early in the morning.

"Stefan…he called me," she said and I looked at her, surprised.

"He called you?" I asked, trying to hide my doubts. "What did he say?"

"Yes, he didn't say anything though. But it was him," she said certainly and I pursed my lips. I'd seen the bodies that Stefan left and I wasn't sure if it was right for Elena to search for him. As far as I know, Damon had tried to convince Elena to give up. But Stefan called her. He still loves her.

"Please?" Elena asked and I raked a hand through my hair.

"Have you told Damon?" I asked.

"Yes, he…he didn't want to," she said sadly and I sighed.

"Go get Alaric," I told. "And meet me at the Grill." Walking down the stairs, I pulled my hair up and called for Tyler. Klaus was tracking werewolves and Tyler was our best shot. Tyler and I talked with each other for a while, catching up. He had been spending a lot of his summer with Caroline and I usually spent it alone.

"There she is," I said when Elena arrived. "Alright," I said. "Tell her what you told me."

"A lot of us like to keep to ourselves for the full moon, chain ourselves up. But there are some werewolves that like to gather in places where they don't have to do that, where they can enjoy it," Tyler explained shortly.

"What kind of places?" Elena asked, interested.

"Mountains, state parks, deserts, that kind of stuff," Tyler answered.

"Anywhere in Tennessee?" Elena asked.

"Yeah, here. Give me your phone. I'll try to pull up a map," Tyler said and Elena handed her phone over.

"Thanks, Ty. I know it's asking a lot," Elena said.

"As Caroline likes to remind me, Stefan's in this mess because I bit Damon. I figure I owe you one. Have you talked to her today?"

"I thought she went home with you," I said coolly and Tyler shot me a look. "Was it supposed to be a secret?" I asked innocently and laughed.

"Here, that's your best bet," Tyler said giving Elena her phone back.

"Thanks," I said and he nodded. We met up with Alaric who looked like he wanted nothing to do with this. And so was I.

"Did you get anything?" he asked.

"How do you feel about a little hike through the Smoky Mountains?" Elena asked.

"You wanna hunt down a pack of werewolves on a full moon?" Alaric asked and Elena crossed her arms.

"We'll be out of there before the moon is full. If you don't come with me, I'm going by myself. What? You're the one who told me that I could handle things on my own now," she said pointedly and I remembered that Ric had moved out of the house.

"Yea, I meant like frozen dinners and SATs," he countered, annoyed.

"I need you to stay to watch over Jeremy," Elena said to me and I narrowed my eyes at her.

"What? And left you hunting for Ripper-Stefan alone? Really? Are you stupid or delusional?" I snapped at her and saw her eyes flickered with hurt.

"One bite from a werewolf and you'll die," Elena argued and I rolled my eyes at her attempt trying to protect me.

"I can take care of myself," I growled lowly, feeling my blood boiled in anger. I saw Elena's face flashed with fear and felt my fangs brushed my lower lip. I took a deep breath, trying to calm myself and chugged on Alaric's drink.

"I know that," Elena said carefully and I glared at her before sauntering out of the Grill. My breaths were heavy and short, my eyes flaring with anger. I had no idea why I was being so angry. I couldn't stand her. I couldn't stand her at all. I caught a sight of a girl, she was in my English class and I wanted to rip her throat out.

"Snap out of it!" I scolded myself and went back to my house before I killed anyone. It was empty, literally and metaphorically. I walked slowly to my dresser, where there was a photo of my parents with us. Jeremy was the one who took the picture and I remembered him groaning whenever we wanted a picture with him. Elena and I were fifteen, I supposed. My long blond hair was tied in a high ponytail, while Elena let her brown hair down. She was wearing a purple, long sleeve shirt with jeans and sneakers while I wore a light pink dress with flats. We were so different from each other.

Too different.

I didn't know what made me snap at Elena like that but I just couldn't stand her anymore. Weren't we in this mess because of her? And I just hate how she wanted to rescue Stefan and tried to be the hero when back at home she would play with Damon. I loathed her for playing the two brothers like that. They deserved better.

I jumped when the lamp crashed down the floor and frowned. What the hell? I brought the lamp back on the bedside table and sat on the bed. Something fell down the floor and glass was shattered and I became alarmed.

"Who's there?" I called out dumbly, like the people in the horror movie. But this was real, and I readied myself for an attack. A vampire? No, I would've felt their presence and they needed to be invited in. It was a frame that I hung near the door and pieces of the glass shattered around it. I picked it up and turned it over and felt my heart stopped beating.

It was a picture of me, laughing. The cracked glass made it seemed like my face was cracked, and I couldn't brush off the feeling that something bad was going to happen.

To me.

Sure enough, that night I got a phone call from my death angel.

"Hello?" I asked at the unknown number, wondering if it was Stefan. But the voice on the other line was a female and sounded like my sister. Except she wasn't.

"Miss me?" Katherine asked and I rolled my eyes. She chuckled softly, as if she can see me rolling my eyes at her.

"Go to hell, Katherine," I snarled, not really in the mood for this.

"Wait. I need a favor," she said urgently and I sighed.

"Why in the hell would I help you?" I asked her.

"What if this favor includes getting Stefan back?" she said cunningly and I could see her smirk.

"I'm listening," I said with a sigh.

"I need you to be my dearest sister again," she told me and my eyes narrowed into slits. I was speechless for a few seconds, before I finally found my voice again.

"You're crazy. You're crazier than Elena," I told her, raking my hair and releasing it from the messy bun.

"Please, I beg you," she said and I bit my lower lip. Katherine hardly begged. So it must be important. And we could get Stefan back.

"What do you want me to do?" I asked tiredly.

"Klaus. I need to find out what Klaus did to my sister. Please, Vanessa," she begged and I shut my eyes in annoyance.

"You want me…to fool Klaus?" I asked her slowly and she sighed.

"Yes. You go and talk to Klaus, distract him long enough so your sister can talk to Stefan."

"How do you…expect me to ask Klaus?" I asked her, frowning. "'Hey Klaus, I got amnesia. Can you tell me what exactly did you do to me back in the 30's? Please, I'm begging you.' Huh, Katherine?" I asked her snidely and she sighed.

"Just go there and have a nice chit chat with him. I'm sure he'll mention something," she told me. "They are in Chicago."

"You owe me an eternity," I said.

"I owe you one," she said firmly and I rolled my eyes.

"I'm gonna need something from your sister," I said.

"I'll call you tomorrow," she told me and hung up. I sighed and looked up to the mirror and pursed my lips. I remembered seeing Cassandra, and tried to remember everything about her.

"You have to admit, I was good. What gave me away?" I asked Elijah. He seemed to ignore me for a moment, but then I saw his brown eyes wandering far away, lost in memories.

"Cassandra never called him by Klaus," Elijah finally said after a while. "She always called him Niklaus. No matter how many times my brother told her not to," he explained.

"Why is that?" I asked and he looked at me calculatingly. Trying to see if I could be trusted.

"I don't know," he admitted.

"Only Klaus knows," I said, realizing something. There was something going on between Cassandra and Klaus. A secret that only the two of them know. "Well, not for long," I said aloud.

I fixed my eyes to the mirror, gazing at the blue eyes that belonged to me, but seeing someone else. I imagined they were his eyes and let my lips smiled softly. "Hello Niklaus," I said under my breath, and an eerie feeling crept up on me. That voice sounded so similar to my own, but so different as if it was hers.

I slipped back into Vanessa, and smirked.

"Let's hope Klaus isn't like Elijah," I said lightly, and felt myself laughed, although there was nothing funny at all.