Disclaimer: Ahem, though I do so hate to repeat myself: I don't own the magnificently created Vampire Diaries [or any of it's beautiful characters (meaning Damon... sigh)]

Uncomplicated Lies

Katherine took one taste of his blood, and almost gagged. His scent was so pure and addictive, but his blood tasted like muddy water. It was thin and watery almost. She threw him away, just not to vomit on him. After spitting out every drop from her mouth, she grabbed the boy, who was making a weak attempt at escaping, and covered his mouth with her hand.

He must have been some kind of werewolf or something - the taste didn't make her weak, only gag, so it wasn't vervaine. Of course, if the boy's father was the mayor - that probably meant he was a Lockwood. And the Lockwood's had a genetic trait of becoming werewolves.

The problem was she couldn't think of what she should do with him: killing him by sucking him dry would make her sick and killing him by breaking his neck wouldn't show the Council it was her who did it. So she did what was reasonable - made the punctures in his neck more recognizable, and then threw him into a nearby tree. The trunk was thick enough to do some damage, but he wouldn't be killed. He also could recollect what happened to him, letting the Council know what happened.

The sound of his skull slamming into the bark was only a dull thud - he seemed to have a hard head, so there would be minimal damage. And no one would come see what happened until morning when they realized he didn't come home.

She turned away from the boy's limp body and went back to the town square to have the meal she was still hungry for.

Elena woke to the bittersweet sound of her alarm clock buzzing. The light coming from the window threw her off - it was way too early to get up. It looked like the sun didn't even rise yet. Even though she was still half asleep, she lugged herself out of bed, got a quick shower, got dressed, and stomped down the stairs to the kitchen.

Jeremy was there, eating toast and watching TV from the counter. She bit her lip as she passed him, refusing to say 'good morning'. She knew she was not helping the situation by making their relationship any tenser than it was in the first place, but his lies were so much worse than hers.

The first time Stefan came over her house since Founder's Day, about a week after it; he could smell blood in the house which led to Jeremy's room. Jeremy was keeping bags of blood in his mini-fridge, making it apparent that he was turned. After she confronted him, he told her everything.

She still wasn't ready to forgive him for it, but knew there was absolutely no way to reverse what happened. And he was now a new vampire, making him dangerous to everyone at school. Of course, Elena begged him not to go to school for a couple of months, but he refused even though she reminded him he'd turn out like Vicki, harming the ones he cared about.

She dumped cereal and splashed some milk into a bowl, staring at the TV. She wasn't actually watching it as the newscasters talked on and on, because her mind was a million miles away. Thinking about Stefan and Damon and Jeremy and Jenna. How was she supposed to tell Jenna that she (her brother-in-law's brother's daughter/boyfriend's ex-wife's daughter) was dating a vampire and that her nephew was a vampire? She ran through all of the expressions Jenna would show if Elena told her that - confusion, disbelief, worry that Elena was crazy. She couldn't tell her yet.

As she was thinking that, Jenna walked into the kitchen and sighed. "Looks like there's another animal attack. I thought they already caught the animal."

Elena followed her gaze back to the TV and saw that there was indeed another attack. Then the reporter showed a picture of the two victims - Elena's English teacher and Tyler Lockwood.

She jogged up the stairs to her backpack and rummaged through until she found her cell phone, holding down speed dial number two.

"Elena?" Stefan's voice said after the second ring."What's wrong?"

"Stefan, there was another animal attack-"

"We know. We're getting on it right now."

"She killed Tyler?"

"No, she only injured him. He's in the hospital with a mild concussion. Look, Elena, I don't know if you should go to school today, it's not safe-"

"If Jeremy's going, then I'm going."

He sighed. "Okay, just be careful on the way and I'll meet you there."

She nodded, and then realized he couldn't see her. "Okay."

"I love you."

She rolled her eyes. "I love you too, Stefan. Good-bye."

After hanging up, she tossed the phone onto her bed and lay down next to it. What a great start to my senior year.

After looking everywhere for Bonnie and Caroline in the halls, Elena gave up and went to homeroom. She looked across the room from her seat to find Bonnie, who was staring at the new teacher in the front of the room, looking puzzled. Elena followed her gaze to see the teacher looked like she was twenty-five. Mystic Falls High School, though, never hires teachers younger than forty.

Elena watched at the teacher in confusion, and as if feeling her gaze, the teacher looked up from her desk at fixed her stare right at Elena. Her almond-shaped eyes were piercing blue, and as she took off her hat, Elena was shocked to find she must have dyed her hair a deep magenta. She could hear her classmate's excitement that their new teacher was probably laid-back, but it was only background noise to her erratic heartbeat. She didn't understand why, even as she looked away from the teacher, fear coursed through her.

The teacher scrawled her name onto the board in all caps, which read: LILA CAVANAUGH. As the bell was ringing, she turned from the board to stare at the papers on the desk in front of her.

"Hello, I am your new English teacher, seeing that your former teacher was eaten by an animal. You pronounce my name as LIE-la CAV-eh-naw, but to you I am Miss Cavanaugh, nothing else."

As Miss Cavanaugh droned on about English Literature, Elena spaced out into her thoughts again.

Later, after finishing her homework after school (which was torture because who gets homework on their first day?), she remembered that she had forgotten to meet Stefan before school that morning. So after dinner, around seven, Elena jumped into her car and drove to the boarding house.

Pulling up to the mansion, she saw that his bedroom light was on and paced to the door. She quietly stepped up the stairs, trying to surprise him, when she saw his door was open.

He was laying on his bed, with his arms spread across the pillows. Straddling him was what seemed to be herself, with her hands on his chest and lips molded into his.

Elena backed away from the door and crept down the stairs slowly, unshed tears stinging her eyes. Tears of anger, though, because how could Stefan not recognize that the girl kissing him wasn't herself but Katherine?

She threw the front door open and sped down the steps, slamming directly into Damon. One look at her told him something was wrong. She tried to wipe her expression off and seem mildly surprised, but it wasn't helping that Damon was staring at her so intimately, so prodding that her chest felt like it was about to cave in from the pressure.

She couldn't swallow her tears passed the giant lump that formed in her throat, sending stinging prickles up and down her raw throat. Only after Damon stroked the edge of her cheek, murmuring her name, did she give in, collapsing into his chest. He smoothed out and stroked her dark curls before slipping his callused hands on her back. After mumbling about how everything was alright, he gave in and said something about deciding to do something more useful.

Elena could feel him lift her off of the ground bridal-style, could smell the clean scent of his dark gray tee, and could hear his steps as he slowly walked to her car and buckled her into the passenger seat; though her thoughts were on how empty her heartfelt - not because of Stefan's mistake, but because of her lack of concern. Because she didn't feel anything besides a mild hurt.

She glanced out the window to see they were pulling into her driveway. The house looked deserted - all of the lights were off - meaning Jenna and Jeremy were probably out. Unless, of course, Jeremy thought the prototypical vampire's actions was the way to go…

Damon was about to help her out of the SUV, but she only waved him off. They stepped up the front porch stairs and opened the unlocked door, but before Damon could lead her up the stairs to her room, she led him to the living room. Plunking down on top of the plush sofa, she caught his probing gaze as he sat next to her.

He was still staring at her deeply when he threw his arms around her and snuggled closer to her.

"Well… Isn't this - cozy?"

She shook her head, but was secretly relieved to hear the lighthearted Damon again.

"So," He crossed his right foot over his left and shifted into a more comfortable position. "What happened?"

She looked over at him, meeting his piercing blue-eyed gaze, and gave in once again. She told him everything, from the fear of Miss Cavanaugh to the disappointment and hurt Stefan brought. It was like she couldn't stand it anymore, couldn't stand anything. She felt weak and vulnerable as she told him her fears about Jeremy and Jenna, but she couldn't stop her mouth from spilling out each secret she's kept from Stefan and her friends.

After finishing the entirely too long monologue of hers, he just shook his head, muttering. "Well, I didn't mean what happened in the last three months, but whatever."

She hung her head and sighed, hurt he couldn't be serious.

He shook his head, looking over at her expression and seeing how defeated she was. She felt his gaze on her and looked up to see his completely serious expression and how his gaze lingered on her lips. Her mind blanked out, losing all thoughts and guilt at what she was doing.

She was leaning toward her boyfriend's brother, eyes closed and lips parted in expectation as he leaned forward in response.

A/N: Hey you guys, thanks for reviewing and all that jazz... More reviews would help my... ahem, creativity in creating this story so (please) review!