"Where's the damn bottle opener?!" I was searching through the drawers in Ric's apartment looking for something that I could open a bottle of wine with.

"Second drawer on the left," Katerina answers. "I'm not exactly sure why Ric has one. He usually spends time at the bar with Damon."

"Don't talk to me about Damon Salvatore," I say sharply.

"I see Damon's gotten under your skin," Katerina notes.

"No, he has not," I try to keep myself composed. "He's a bastard who tried to kill me and I'm still pissed."

"He's tried to kill me probably a dozen times," she replies. "And I always managed to forgive him."

"That's because he's in love with you," I say, placing the bottle opener in the cork top of the wine.

"Not anymore," Katerina sighs. "He's so lost in Elena Gilbert that it's not even funny."

I finally got the top off of the wine. Turning my back for a second to retrieve a wine glass, I saw Katerina put a few drops of vervain in the bottle of wine.

So, she wanted to play games, did she? Well, two could play at that.

I turned back to Katerina, pretending that I didn't see anything, proceeding to pour the wine, acting oblivious.

I pick up the glass and act like I'm about to take a sip, gauging Katerina's reaction. She looked expectant.

"How stupid do think I am, Katerina?" I ask menacingly, pouring the contents of the glass into the sink. "Don 't think I didn't see you pour vervain into the wine. Don't even try to deny it."

Katerina was speechless.

"What were going to do anyway?" I ask, morbidly curious. "Poison me and make a getaway? It's not like you could leave, you're compelled to stay here."

She didn't say anything because she knew I was right.

"You ruined a perfectly good bottle of wine," I sigh. "What am I going to do with you Katerina?"

"Kill me," she says, no emotion in her voice.

I start to smile, and walk around the counter. Breaking off a leg from a nearby stool, I continue towards her and raise the stake, so it's positioned just above her heart.

She looked expectant. I knew she would rather die than face Klaus. I didn't blame her; I'd wanna die too if I'd done what she had.

At the last minute, I plunge the improvised stake into her stomach and twist. She lets out a yelp of pain.

"I'm not going to kill you because that would be too easy," I whisper in her ear. "I'd rather see you die at the hands of my uncle."

Just then there's a knock on the door. I look over at the door and then back at Katerina.

"You'll have to pull that out yourself," I say, looking pointedly at the chunk of wood embedded into her stomach. "Because I'm getting the door."

I walk over to the door and open it. Damon Salvatore was leaning against the doorjamb.

"Oh look," I fake excitement. "The one person who I don't want to see."

"Just admit that you think I'm attractive," he smirks. "I know you wanna sleep with me."

He was right about the attractive part. He had such gorgeous blue eyes. I loved men with dark hair and light eyes.

"Oh, yeah," I say, sarcasm coloring my tone. "Because that is so what I'm thinking."

We stand there for a few seconds, judging each other silently.

"What are you doing here?" I finally ask.

"I just came to drop something off," he answers.

"Oh," something clicked in my head. "You're the one whose give Katerina the vervain."

"How did you…" he trails off.

"She tried to slip some into my wine," I answer. "She's lucky I can't kill her."

He nods his head, mouth a thin line. He didn't like seeing me anymore than I saw him.

"By the way, I have something for you," I say, and rush back into the apartment, grabbing a bottle of bourbon and handing it to him.

"What's this?" Damon asks, stunned.

"A little peace offering," I shrug. "Go ahead, taste it. It's really good. Very smooth."

He looks at me suspiciously, but opens the top and sniffs it. Lifting the bottle to his mouth, he takes a sip.

He almost immediately spits it out and starts coughing.

"You laced it with vervain?" he asks in disbelief, still coughing.

"Now we're even," I slam the door in his face.

I turn around to see Katerina studying me.

"I'm sensing some sexual tension going on between you two," she says, smirking.

"Oh, shut up Katerina!" I almost yell. "You're lucky I can't kill you."

"Can't say I blame you," Katerina continues, ignoring my outburst. "Damon Salvatore is very sexy. Especially with those ice blue eyes."

I had had enough of Katerina. I stomp over to where she's sitting.

"Maybe next time when I say 'don't talk to me about Damon Salvatore,'" I sneer. "You'll listen, you doppelgänger bitch."

Before she can react, I snap her neck, making her fall out of the stool and onto the floor.

Then there's another knock on the door. It better not be Damon Salvatore again.

I march over to the door and swing it open.

It was Greta Martin.

"Greta," I say, taken off guard. "You're early. I thought Klaus' body wasn't supposed to be here until tomorrow."

"It was," she answers. "But you know how Klaus is. Always impatient."

"Tell me about it," I sigh. "He was complaining about everything."

She smiles.

"Greta," I began. "There's something you need to know."

She looks at me, waiting for me to go on.

"Luka and your dad are dead," I break the news to her as sympathetic as I can.

She seemed unfazed.

"Oh well," she shrugged.

"You don't care?" I ask in disbelief.

"Not really," Greta answers. "I hadn't seen them in over a year."

"But they were your family," I point out.

"It doesn't matter," she says simply, and walks past me into the apartment. A few others follow her, carrying luggage and a huge wooden box. No doubt what was in that.

I suddenly began to feel weird. All I knew, was that I had to get out of there. I had to find my father.

I drove all over town looking for Elijah. I checked his apartment, I checked both the Gilbert and Salvatore houses. I even looked at the Mystic Grill. He was nowhere to be found.

The Lockwood's, something whispered in my head.

I slammed my foot down on the accelerator and raced towards the Lockwood's. When I pull into the driveway, Elena is pulling out.

I wave and she gives me a quizzical look.

I ignore her and get out of the car, slamming the door in the process.

When I get up to the door, it takes all I have not to start banging on it.

"C'mon," I say impatiently. "Answer the damn-"

"Hello, Aria," Mayor Lockwood greets me. "What a pleasant surprise."

"Hi, Mrs. Lockwood," I smile. "Is there any chance that Elijah is here?"

Our cover story was that I was Elijah's much younger sister who had come to Virginia to help him write his book.

"Yes he is," she answers. "He's out back. Would you like to come in?"

"Yes, please," I'm still smiling. "Thank you."

Mrs. Lockwood leads me to the backdoors and opens them for me.

"It was great seeing you, Aria," she says.

"You too, Mrs. Lockwood," I reply, and start towards the pond where my father was sitting, without looking back at her.

I was pretty sure that I should've compelled her to let me in and forget I was here. I was also certain that she had no idea that my father and I were vampires.

I'm halfway to the bench that Elijah is sitting at when he looks up and sees me.

"Aria?" he asks. "What are you doing here?"

"I just needed to see you," I answer truthfully, tears threatening to fall.

"What's wrong?" Elijah questions, worried now.

I just shake my head.

He sits me down on the bench and then sits beside me.

"Klaus' body is in Mystic Falls," I answer.

"Is that why you're upset?"

I shake my head.

"Then what is it?" he asks.

I take a deep breath.

"Greta Martin," I reply. "I told her that her brother and father were dead and she looked at me as if she didn't care." The tears had started welling up and falling down onto my cheeks and I lay my head on my father's shoulder. "I don't understand how she could feel that way about her family. I know that we don't have the best father-daughter relationship, but I would care if something happened to you."

He wraps his arms around me and kisses my head, murmuring reassurances to me.

I may be a vampire, but family was still very important to me.

"Aria," he says. "I know I don't show it as much as I should, but you're my daughter and I love you. I always have."

"When Greta told me that, I just had to get out of there," I explain. "I had to find you because I could never brush off my feelings for my family."

"I know," my father answers. "I taught you well."

"You did," I nod. "You taught me how to keep my humanity intact and how to make it vanish when the situation demanded it."

"Yes," he says. "I sometimes wish that I could've stayed and raised you with your mother. I've regretted leaving you and her."

"Mom got eighteen years with me," I answer. "She was always telling me how much I reminded her of you. I miss her sometimes, but I'm grateful that I still have one parent to turn to when I need one."

"I'm always here if you need me," Elijah reminds me.

"I know," I smile.

Sorry it took me so long to update, things have been really crazy lately.

I hope you enjoy!

And as always, please continue to read and review :)