Sorry for the wait, lovely readers. Scholarships are time consuming in the extreme.

Previously on The Vampire Diaries:

I shot up from beneath the bathwater, gasping for air. I wiped the water from my face, brushing my hair back. I looked to the sink for reassurance; sure enough, the necklace that Giuseppe had given me as a wedding gift, the same one that had been spelled by a witch to protect me from the sun, was resting on the marble. I quickly toweled myself off, put on a tank-top and shorts, and secured the necklace around my neck. I had rarely taken it off in the past century and a half, and I wasn't going to change that now.

I was completely relaxed. I had no worries. My mind and body were at ease as I lay down on the soft grass covered hillside. I could hear the soft chirping of the birds above and the soft rustle of grass as I folded my hands beneath my head. I sighed, opening my eyes and stared at the sky. The clouds were mesmerizing. Almost absently, I touched my neck for reassurance that my necklace was in place; I felt nothing. I gasped, jerking upright and looking down. Sure enough, my necklace was nowhere to be seen. But I wasn't burning…Why wasn't I burning?

The grass rustled again, just to my left. I looked over, curiosity shocking me out of my confusion. A tiny blue jay was hopping around in the grass. Apparently, curiosity had gotten the best of it as well; it hopped closer and closer with a soft 'chirp' every now and then. I stretched out my hand but the bird didn't stop. It hopped right up into my palm; I smiled, softly stroking it with two fingers.

Then, with its black beady eyes, it looked straight at me, opened its beak wide before tilting back its head and letting out a horrible…ringing sound? The bird was ri—

I sat straight up in bed, my hand automatically feeling for my necklace (it was there, thank God) before I nearly smashed my cell phone to stop its incessant ringing. "What?" I barked; I may be a vampire, but that doesn't mean that I like to be woken up at two o'clock in the morning.

"Hey, B." Silas. So not what I needed right now.

"Silas," I growled, "please enlighten me as to why you've decided to call me at this ungodly hour."

He laughed nervously, "Right. Um…" He spoke in almost a whisper; a very excited whisper. "I got it."

I waited. Nothing. "Silas, I'm not Edward Cullen; you're going to have to tell me what 'it' is."

He whispered again, "Mathias' amulet! You know, the one that we were looking for before you bailed on me…" Mathias Orwell, a witch, had hired me two weeks ago to find his amulet, offering me a fifty thousand dollar bonus if I agreed to work with his idiot brother, Silas.

"Before I bailed on—" There was no point in my continuing; Silas had a one-track mind, so it would be best for me to keep him on the subject of the amulet; the case that we'd been working on before he stole my car and left me for dead. To be honest, I was a bit surprised that he'd managed to find it in between the twelve beers a day that he seemed to drink and the most recent case of Grand Theft Auto. "Where are you?"

"Mystic Falls."

"Here? You're here? Why are you here?" I hissed as I tried to get dressed one-handed.

"Thought I'd return your car. I know, I know…I shouldn't have ever taken it in the first place, but seriously B, you have a sweet ride." He whistled low in appreciation before continuing, "How are you by the way? You didn't look so good when I left."

I was going to kill him. I was going to wrap my hands around his throat and squeeze it until his head popped off. "I'm fine." I said through gritted teeth. "No thanks to you…" I added under my breath.

"Where are you staying?" He asked.

"The Mystic B&B."

"I'm pulling up now." He said cheerfully before hanging up on me.

I was barely able to keep from throwing my phone out the window before pulling on my shoe and practically running down the stairs. I threw the door open and was greeted by Silas, who had a manic smile on his face and his arms wide out as if he was waiting for a hug. I threw my arms out as well and as he went to meet me, I smiled. My arm shot out like lightening, my fingers wrapping around his throat as I propelled him back so that he was pressed up against my car. "Hello, Silas."

"Hey, B." He croaked, still smiling, "You gonna let me go?"

I chuckled humorlessly, "I'll think about it…" I ran my free hand over the roof of my car; a black 1975 Charger. Silas was finally starting to panic, clawing at my hand, swatting at my arm. "Oh stop." I rolled my eyes, "After that little stunt you pulled, you're lucky I'm not scooping your eyes out with a spoon." I spat, letting my aspect wash over me; my senses heightened as blood flooded my eyes. "Where are my keys?" I asked impatiently.

"P-Pocket." He rasped, slowly reaching down into his left jean pocket and revealing my keys with a shaking hand.

I stepped closer to Silas, my face less than an inch from his as I said my next words, "Can you hear your heart beating?" I licked my lips, "I can. Makes the blood all hot and spicy…" Silas whimpered.

Silas' heartbeat was making his blood very tempting; I hadn't fed in almost three days… I inhaled; his blood smelled of cinnamon and burnt sugar… I couldn't resist. I bared my fangs, holding Silas back with one hand and his head to the side with the other before I sank my fangs deep into his neck. I drank deeply, savoring the taste of fear in his blood. He screamed, or tried to after I covered his mouth with my hand. Just as I felt his strength ebbing, I pulled back. Pure fear was the only emotion that decorated his face. That made me feel a little better, or maybe it was the blood. I took my index finger, scoring it on one of my fangs before smearing the blood all over his wound. I released him, licking the blood off of my finger before growling for good measure. Silas whimpered again. "You tell your brother that if he ever so much as breathes my name again, I'll make him watch while I put his intestines on a stick, savvy?" Silas clenched his eyes shut, trying to shrink away from me. I shoved him away, "Now go before I change my mind." Silas ran away without another look back.

I sighed, closing my eyes while I tried to get a handle on my rage. I was still on edge from my fight with Katherine. Hell, I was royally screwed up… In the past week, I'd nearly died twice and I found out that my dead husband and his brother were still alive.

Out of nowhere, I found myself thinking of the dead girl in the hospital. What had Katherine told her that I hadn't heard? Why had Katherine smothered her? Why didn't she just rip the girl's throat out? That was very odd… "Oh my God." I said aloud, realizing why Katherine had smothered her. She'd turned the girl.

I threw the door of the Charger open, nearly ripping it right off of the hinges and raced off for the hospital. I'd barely taken the keys out of the ignition before I ran through the hospital doors at vampire speed. Blurring past the few night nurses, I headed straight for the girl's room.

Her blond curls lay soft against the pillow as her chest rose steadily up and down. She was alive, not dead which meant that the girl was already in transition. Katherine turned her and left her. Like me, the girl would have no instruction, no idea what has happening to her… I couldn't help but sympathize with her; she was alone like me. There would be no one to teach her…

I sat down quietly in the hideous green mesh chair at her bedside, careful not to wake her. I glanced down at her admission bracelet; it read 'Caroline Forbes.' I softly stroked her hair, "Don't worry, Caroline. I'm going to help you…"

Once again, I'm terribly sorry for the wait. R&R please.