She felt horrible.
That wasn't what she expected to feel after reading her aunt's research on what she was and how she could do the things she could do.
She had read all night and had fallen asleep in the wee hours of the morning. But she had hardly slept. Her eyes had shut themselves but she was aware of everything. She knew that she was lying in her bed, she was aware of the breaths she was taking and she was even aware of the air in the room.
There was a pounding in her head worse than any hangover.

Jacqueline lay in her bed, not wanting to get up.
She could feel the sunlight on her face but she kept her eyes closed. Maybe it was late in the morning.
But she couldn't lay in bed forever.
Slowly, she forced herself up. Her head was spinning and she was nauseous. With every breath she took the feeling of nausea became stronger.
She got of the bed and headed towards her bathroom.

Jacqueline stood in front of the mirror, her hands resting on the counter. She yawned, but stifled it halfway when she almost puked her guts out.
The woman in the mirror looked exactly how she felt like: hell.
Why did she feel this way?
She had expected to feel…liberated, free.
Now all she had were more questions.

How in the fucking world could someone be half-angel?

"Are you serious?" Alaric asked, genuinely shocked.

"Why would I joke about something like that?" Jacqueline relaxed into the couch.
They were currently in Alaric's apartment.
Jacqueline couldn't keep it to herself, she had to tell him.
When she'd finally brought herself to make a sound, she'd called Alaric and told him that she had to meet him, that it was urgent.

"Half-angel? I haven't even heard of angels being real. How?" Alaric shook his head.
Jacqueline didn't blame him. She herself was not ready to accept it. She was normal. She had had a family; her mom, grandparents, aunt and uncle. She went through her teens like everyone else did. She fell in love with the wrong guys. She went to college; got a degree and now she had a job.
But then she couldn't tell herself…not everyone moved things with their mind, not everyone could sense what others were feeling.
And then there was the big missing piece to her puzzle; where was her Dad? Who was he? And now more importantly: what was he?

When Jacqueline didn't reply, Alaric continued, "But seeing that your aunt's research is almost always accurate, we shouldn't take it lightly."
He reached for the big leather-bound book on the coffee table and flipped through the pages.
Most of it was in Latin but he could see his ex-wife's handwriting on the margins.

"That book says angels were created to protect humans from vampires and werewolves and the like," Jacqueline said, looking at nothing in particular.

"But that could only mean your father was an angel."

Jacqueline turned her gaze to Alaric, "I know. Apparently angels can mess with minds…create and delete memories. It's only possible that he did that to my Mom."
She couldn't help but let the frown on her face become deeper.
Why would he do that?

"Can angels—"

"Apparently, they can. They have human bodies when they are on earth, supposedly because seeing an angel in its true form could prove fatal."

Alaric just looked at her with raised eyebrows. He couldn't really find the words to say.
What could they do about it anyways?
She seemed, after all, to be born that way. Moreover, there was no one in town who they could trust with that information.
"What all can you do?"
That just came out of his mouth.

"I don't know," Jacqueline tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, "I'm just half an angel."

"But you do have telekinetic powers."

"I do," she nodded, "I can also tell how people are feeling…not read minds or anything 'cause that would be creepy but I see people's auras when I want to and their feelings show."

"I didn't know that," Alaric placed the book back down on the table.

"Of course you didn't."
Her gaze turned blank again.
"What do we do?"

Alaric sighed.
"Nothing. Let's try to keep this a secret."

"Yeah."

Alaric now sat next to Jacqueline on the couch and put his arm around her shoulders.
"Come on. We'll deal with it."

"I know but—"

"No buts. The Historical Society has organized a volunteer picnic today and I signed you up."
Jacqueline narrowed her eyes at him.
He just held up his arms in surrender.
"It's a new town. You should be meeting people, doing nothing to do with the supernatural remember?"

Jacqueline rolled her eyes and faked a laugh, "How am I to do something non-supernatural when I seem to be supernatural."

Alaric patted her back.
"No excuses."

She couldn't believe she had missed that.
'…I signed you up.'
Singular. One. Just her.
That meant that it was just her driving to the site of the new public park.
It's gonna be fun, she told herself.
Mystic Falls seemed to be the kind of town that always had some occasion for people or other. Maybe she'd meet new people; people that weren't always plotting deaths.
With that hope in her mind, she exited her car after parking it.

The site was beautiful.
The woods surrounding it gave it a sense of comfort. The grass was green and lush, she smell the freshness in the air. A smile crept up on her face. The children ran about, acting busy. The adults were actually busy.
When she heard the sound of running water, she realized that there was a stream that flowed close by.
This was healthy. This was what she was supposed to do.

"Hey! Jacqueline!"
And this was what she hoped she wouldn't have to do.
She turned at the sound of the regrettably familiar voice.

"Hey Mason."

Mason Lockwood walked up to her with a smile. Jacqueline returned one and prayed that it didn't look as fake as it was.
"So, volunteering?"

"Yeah," she chuckled, "Rick signed me up."

"Come on, I'll introduce you to some people."
Jacqueline didn't know if she felt grateful or if she wanted to drown herself in the stream.
But she had to meet people, didn't she? If she wanted to have a life in the town, she'd have to know people.

The first person Mason introduced her to was his sister-in-law and the town's mayor, Mayor Lockwood. She was a tall, middle-aged woman with dark hair and dark eyes. The way she carried herself clearly showed that she was a woman of power.
"Jacqueline Flemming," Jacqueline introduced herself as she held out her hand for the older woman to shake.

"Carol Lockwood," Mayor Lockwood shook her hand, "Welcome to Mystic Falls. You've made a good choice."
Jacqueline nodded in agreement; though not the safest, Mystic Falls was alluring in a way that no other place Jacqueline had been to was. It had just pulled her in and almost wrapped her in warmth almost like a blanket. She loved Mystic Falls.

In a few minutes, she found herself helping with the cleaning. She smiled at strangers and introduced herself to people who spoke to her.
It was the most amount of time Jacqueline had spent outdoors in a long, long while.
The job was exhausting but she liked it. It was nice, being a part of something.
Her day was looking good.

She didn't know how much time had passed but Jacqueline was now starting to get tired. She dumped her latest load of garbage into a garbage can and made her way towards a table which had a stock of bottles on it. Grabbing a bottle, she took the lid off.
"You look happy."

"A moment ago, yeah I was," she said, not masking her disappointment.
She didn't even turn to face him.

"Oh, come on, you were secretly hoping you'd meet me," the vampire stood beside her.

"You have a very high opinion of yourself, don't you?"
Jacqueline looked up at him and of course he looked smug.

"Is that a bad thing?"

"Of course not."
She had nothing to say. Arguing with him was useless.
She couldn't let him get to her, could she?
Now that his new hobby seemed to be bothering her; she chose not to argue. But she really hoped that he would go away.

Jacqueline turned away from Damon, only to see his brother walking towards them.
She couldn't help but roll her eyes.
Stefan seemed to be okay. He was nicer and seemed more…human but no, she didn't want to have a nice chat with the Salvatore brothers.
Jacqueline genuinely tried to smile at the younger Salvatore but she was quite sure that it looked like she had swallowed a moth.
Stefan just smiled at her politely. Stefan was so much more polite too.

"Will you stop provoking him?" Stefan addressed his brother.

"I'm trying to call a truce," Damon replied.

"Wasn't that—"
Stefan couldn't complete his sentence due to the intervention of one of the girls at the lemonade sale.

"Would you like some lemonade?"

Jacqueline gladly accepted and surprisingly, so did Damon.
Jacqueline took a sip and felt the sweet and tart taste fill her mouth.
Soon after which Damon began to choke on the lemonade.
She quickly placed her cup down at began rubbing Damon's back, although she wasn't sure if it would help. Why would a vampire be choking anyways?
She got the answer soon enough.

"Vervain," Damon said in a hoarse whisper.

Jacqueline closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Her day went downhill from then.

Jacqueline wanted to head home.
She thought she had had enough for a day and longed for the comfort of just being at home. She wanted to kick off her shoes and jump into bed at stay there.
It had been a great day. She had actually been meeting new people and she had made quite a few acquaintances, which was great. She'd almost forgotten about the research.
But then the Salvatore brothers happened.
She wanted to go home but there was this feeling in her gut. A feeling that told her something wasn't right.
A feeling that made her walk away from her car and towards the woods.

She walked cautiously through the woods; she couldn't hear the noise from the nearby park. The woods had a different air than the rest of the place. It wasn't cold but Jacqueline felt the hair at the back of her neck standing up, her arms were covered in goose bumps.
The sound of the twigs breaking was too loud and crisp.
I shouldn't be here; she said that to herself about a hundred times.
She didn't know where she was going. Why was she going anywhere?

Her heart almost jumped to her mouth when she heard leaves rustling in the distance. She wanted to turn back but then she realized that she didn't know the way. She was scared.
She stopped beside a tall tree, her breath growing ragged. She closed her eyes and tried to calm her breathing.

"Jacqueline?"
Jacqueline's eyes shot open at the soft, cautious voice. Relief washed over her as her eyes met those of Elena Gilbert's.

"Elena," Jacqueline couldn't help but let a sigh of relief escape her lips, "and Caroline."
The blonde vampire looked at her in confusion.

"What are you doing here?" Caroline asked.

"I don't know," Jacqueline said simply, "What are the two of you doing here?"
Elena hesitated.
"Something is wrong."

"Sheriff Forbes knows," Elena said in a low voice, obviously worried.

"She doesn't only know, Elena," Caroline put in, "she's gonna kill them."

Jacqueline's eye brows furrowed. The 'them' were probably the Salvatores.
"You should probably go," Elena said to Jacqueline, clearly not wanting to have that conversation.

"I'm coming."
Jacqueline crossed her arms.
Elena sighed.

"Oh, come on!" Caroline started walking ahead, "We're not having this conversation now. Come along everybody."
Elena started after her friend and Jacqueline followed.
She didn't know why she did. She didn't know why she was going with them or why she wanted to.
She didn't owe the Salvatore brothers anything. Hell, she didn't even think they could do anything. Caroline was the only one who could do any damage and the officials were sure to be able to fight one vampire.
But maybe, a small part of her said, maybe I can help.

The three girls walked through the woods quickly and in no time, they were at the entrance of the ruins of the old Lockwood property.
Jacqueline once again couldn't help but be awestruck at the little secrets that the town held.

Caroline abruptly stopped walking.
"She's going to kill them."

Elena's breath caught in her throat, "Why are you stopping? We need to stop her!"

"She'll find out about me," said the blonde vampire in exasperation.
She was conflicted, Jacqueline could tell but Jacqueline couldn't do anything about it.

Elena didn't say a word, she just entered the ruins.
…and Jacqueline followed.
As expected, it was dark and bleak inside the ruins. The two girls tried their best to not make noise but failed. A gate creaked loudly as they passed by it.
Both their hearts started beating fast, of course someone had heard it.
Inevitably, a deputy started towards them.

Jacqueline couldn't hear anything but the pounding of her heart in her chest. Everything stopped for a second and before she knew what she was doing, her right hand lifted itself and the deputy went flying towards the wall. She heard a small crack as the deputy's back hit the stone wall.
Elena looked at her with her mouth open but Jacqueline's face betrayed no emotion.
"What are the two of you doing here?" Sheriff Forbes' face was a mask of pure shock.
There was another noise behind them.
"Who else is with you?"
In a blur, Caroline entered the cell.
Jacqueline took a deep breath and looked away from the sight taking place in front of her.

Jacqueline's hands were shaking as she sat beside Caroline at the entrance of the cell.
The dead bodies of the two deputies lay on the ground; Damon was feeding from one of them.
She looked at Sheriff Forbes and could feel the woman's pain. She'd spent her life trying to keep people safe from vampires and now her daughter was one of them.

Caroline was trying to convince her mother to keep it a secret but Sheriff Forbes wouldn't budge from her ideals. Deep down Caroline knew her mother wouldn't ever help the kind of creature she had become but that meant death for her mother; and she couldn't lose her mother.

"Relax guys, no one is killing anybody," Damon said. But his actions showed otherwise; he had Sheriff Forbes in his grip. But slowly he released her, "You're my friend."

It would be an understatement if Jacqueline said she was glad to be out of the woods. She headed towards her car.
This day was supposed to be nice. Healthy.
Of course, that wasn't to be.
She wanted to go home, she wanted to lie down and not get up again and she decided she'd do exactly that.
She unlocked her car and was about to enter when, "I saw all of it."
Her heart skipped beat.

"What do you mean?" she turned to see Damon. His expression wasn't as playful as it always was.

"I saw what you did."
In a flash, he was in front of her. He grabbed her wrist.
"What are you, Jacqueline Flemming?"

"That is none of your business."
With much effort, Jacqueline freed herself from his grip and got into her car.

Author's Note:

Here you go. Sorry for the laaaaate update.

Things in school are hectic and since it's my last year in school, I want to take in every moment.

Also...the thing with Kris' lawsuit...I doubt if anyone knows what I'm talking about but God, it's taking a toll on me. I don't know when I grew so attached to EXO but turns out I did and I feel horrible and scared. I don't want things to fall apart for them. I do support Kris and whatever he is doing.

To any EXO fans that may read this: Let's stick together, okay? We are one. Let's support them as a whole because 6+6=1, right?
Galaxy oppa is our style, ne?
And let's try to keep calm and stop ourselves from spreading false rumours, speculations and assumptions.

To other readers: Yes, I probably need to sort out my priorities. And it's okay if you're judging me right now. Haha...
-sigh-