Disclaimer: I do not own the Vampire Diaries or any of it's characters...

Unbearable Infuriation

The room was twisting and turning, churning his stomach and forcing vomit to spill out of his mouth. His nose wrinkled when the smell hit him, the revolting scent almost making him vomit again. He wrenched his eyelids open and discovered the throw-up covered him from his dirt crusted t-shirt to his bare feet. He looked around and spotted a jug of beer in the corner. He reached until he could pick it up, then guzzled it down, immune to the taste after all these years.

Every inch of him was miserable. The door to the bar's single bathroom slammed open, crushing his foot in the process. He rolled his eyes up to the man standing there, staring at him as if he pitied him.

"Mmmason! What an honest pleasure to see you today!" Nathan spurted out.

"Dude, you really need to get a life." Mason said, perfectly serious.

Nathan widened his eyes, then grinned. "How can I get a life, when I'm dead?" Then, he went into a fit of chuckles. "You know… because I'm dead and life…" He continued chuckling.

Mason kicked him in his mouth, shooting blood everywhere.

"What the-"

"Look," Mason started. "I've gotten word that a certain somebody you love so dearly has returned to this area. Now, I don't want you to go ballistic when you hear this, because you'll just get your sensitive heartbroken again, but I knew you'd hear the rumors soon. I'm being you're friend in saying that you're a heartbroken loser that needed to get over himself 150 years ago, so don't take it the wrong way."

Nathan didn't hear a word he said after he spoke of the visitor that he loved. "Who?" He stood up, then staggered to the door, slipping on the vomit and crashing into the toilet.

Mason took one look at him, shook his head, and as he was walking away, said. "Katherine's in Mystic Falls."

The noise of the priest speaking was becoming more and more distant as Elena looked out onto the graves. She's been there before, at the cemetery, many times so she knew each shape of the headstones surrounding her parents grave. And since she didn't want to think about all the things that happened recently, she started to memorize the names on the headstones as the funeral service continued. She always hoped she wouldn't see another relative or friend being inserted into the ground near her parents' corpses until she was middle-aged or something.

Though she didn't even really like her biological father, John, the look he gave her as he was dying in their kitchen was unbearable. He looked so scared of dying, and the blood that covered everything also caused Elena to pity him.

She continued staring at the graves, then she looked up to see Damon staring at her intently. She blushed, then looked at the coffin that John now took residence in. Stefan and Damon were only there to protect her in case Katherine decided to attack her at the funeral. Both brothers didn't particularly like John, but they would do anything to protect Elena.

After the service was over, Stefan held her to his chest in comfort. Though that's anything but what she felt. She felt guilty in his arms, queasy almost. She didn't understand it though. It must have been the sick feeling she was recently feeling all the time after the Founder's Day disaster. Or it could've been that Damon was talking and flirting with her nonstop since then, dying for Stefan to feel even more jealous than he was - which was pretty hard to do these days.

"Are you all right, Elena? We don't have to go to the Grill if you don't want to…" Stefan whispered.

Elena stepped out of his arms and shook her head. "No, I should go. Relax for a minute, and Jenna and Jeremy are going. I can't leave them alone with John's old college friends."

He nodded, then tilted her head up and brought his mouth down to hers.

Warmth shot through her veins, as usual, but that underlying nauseous feeling swirled in her stomach. She broke away from the kiss subtly and walked back to her car, completely confused.

She drove Stefan to the Grill, with Damon in the backseat. It was completely packed with people, with not one seat available. So they went to the bar, Damon ordering a scotch while Stefan stroked her hair. He was still trying to comfort her, but she wasn't really sad or grieving. He must have known that something was off between them lately.

Caroline came up to them at the bar and started talking to Stefan, leaving Elena to sit there with Damon.

"Come on, Elena - cheer up! I mean John's finally dead, this is a celebration."

"Ugh, I was recently told that he was my father and before that I always saw him as my uncle. His death is not a celebration." Elena retorted.

"Look me in the eye and tell me that you liked him, even a little." Damon stared at her, but she couldn't say the words. "See? The man was wicked and the irony is that now he's dead by his puppeteer's hands."

"What do you mean?"

"Katherine was one of the reason's he did bad things, right? So because of her, in both realistically and that he had it coming because he was going bad, he died."

"Okay… Sometime you think too much Damon." She lowered her voice. "And most of the time you don't think enough."

"Hey-"

"Hey, you guys didn't get a seat?" Caroline cut in before Damon could finish.

Elena smiled and shook her head.

"Well you can sit with me. My mom went off to work and Matt's busing tables here. And since it's packed I haven't talked to him since."

"Uh…" Elena looked over at Stefan, who nodded. "Sure, why not? Are you coming, Damon?"

Damon glanced over at the three of them, shook his head with a grimace, and went back to his drink.

While walking to Caroline's table, though, Tyler bumped into Matt, who was lugging a full container of dishes and cups. Tyler didn't even try to catch the container before it crashed on the ground, glass flying everywhere. Stefan pushed Elena behind him to block the glass, and even Damon came over to see what happened. Tyler shrugged and began walking away before Matt grabbed his shoulder and pulled him back.

Caroline shifted in the middle of them and moved her arms, palms up, to each of the boys chests. Tyler ignored Caroline's defense and swung out at Matt. Instead of hitting him, though, he struck Caroline, sending her sprawling onto the ground with blood pouring from her nose.

Matt dropped down beside her, brushing her hair from her face, shocked. Elena knew he was extra protective around her lately because of her concussion, especially around Tyler. This must have been his greatest fear. After the shock wore off, Matt jumped up to look around for Tyler, but he already left.

Stefan was about to go after him, but Elena held him in place. If Tyler was becoming violently angry because of the simplest situations, then anything Stefan would say or do could set him off. The best thing any of them could do is let him cool down before tomorrow, which was the first day of school. If he starts any more fights, especially at school, there could be problems. Especially because he was expected to be the next mayor as of his father's death.

Elena knew he couldn't hold his erratic anger for long, though.

A woman with spiky magenta hair and bright blue eyes stared at the altercation from behind one of the restaurant's dark corners. She almost smiled. It was some of her best work, intensifying his emotions. Though this was only meant as a distraction for her supervisor, she took great pleasure in twisting people into unrecognizable individuals.

This werewolf was pretty easy to make angry, though. His emotions were already going crazy from the transformation that must have been coming soon for him.

Anyway, the Coven would be proud of Lila's work, maybe even supplying her with a bonus. She was barely coping with just this job, but the other witches said this work was a priority. Lila really didn't mind, though. Getting paid to curse people and throw towns into hysteria was a win-win situation.

She was wandering around, looking for something to snack on. All of this planning was really heightening her appetite. Katherine strolled by, seeing a young man come out of the Grill hastily. She followed him around to the next corner, but he kept staying clear of the alleys.

She kept her distance from him, but she just wanted to feed quickly. She could hear his heart beat in time with his steps, the blood flowing through his neck. And she could smell him, his sweet fragrance wafted around her like a drug. After he was walked at least a mile to his house, did she comprehend something. She recognized the mayor's house and realized the boy she was following must have been the mayor's son.

She grasped this lucky moment of hers, knowing if she killed the boy, the Council would panic. It would be truly ironic that the 'animal' that was killing so many people in this town would accidentally find and feed from the people who created such rumors' children.

Katherine saw him pause, hands grasping his own head, as in pain. He punched one of the nearby trees, and so she seized the moment. She sped up to him, bending his head back harshly, and sunk her teeth deep within his neck.