**Chapter nine**

Vampires

*Hailey*

I stared at my wall, feeling as if I were a statue. I could faintly hear Elena talking through the phone on my floor, but I couldn't move. All that I could think about was that I had predicted Carly's death, and in my vision no animal brutally attacked her. It was a person.

Hell, if I were drunk enough I'd say that it was a vampire. But vampires aren't real. But I move things with my mind, and predict the future. I'm not supposed to be real either.

I groaned, running my hands over my face. I was so torn and confused and scared.

"The families will pay for what they did to us."

I just happened to be a founding family member.

It was eight as I continued pacing in my room, arguing with myself. Ellie was watching me, looking amused and worried for my health at the same time. Sometimes I scared myself, acting like she was a person instead of a cat.

It could just have been some crazy sick person, who broke out of the mental hospital. Which is where I'm going if anyone heard me arguing with myself.

But on one hand, maybe vampires are real. Maybe they're pissed off at my town, and want to kill the founding families.

Maybe it was just some crazy who killed Carly, and I was so drunk I imagined the biting.

They said on the news that there was bite marks, though.

I probably imagined that, too.

I sighed loudly, I was going crazy. I had to stop arguing with myself.

Suddenly, I heard a loud crashing noise. i opened my eyes to see a long crack in my wall, from the ceiling to my floor.

I took a deep breath- I was going to destroy my room if I didn't calm down. I needed to get out of my room, out of my mind. I considered getting drunk, but two nights in a row was bad, even for me. So instead, I decided I would go to Elena's. I could get my car back too.

It wasn't smart, walking alone at night when there may or may not be a crazy man- or vampire- running around killing founding family members. But I sprinted the entire time, and had my hands ready if someone tried to attack.

When I reached Elena's front porch, I knocked on the door, then took breaths, feeling like I might pass out from lack of oxygen.

"Hailey?"

I looked up at Jenna, and tried to smile but it came out as a grimace.

"Hey…. Jus-just give me sec to breathe, kay? I said, leaning against the house for support.

"Did you run here?" Jenna asked, her eyes widening.

I nodded my head, closing my eyes. "I think… I think my lung is going to burst." I gasped out.

"Hailey Ellis! Are you not aware that there is an animal that just killed running around? You could have died!" Jenna exclaimed, helping me into the house.

"That's why I ran." I smirked slightly, lying down on the couch.

"Well, Elena's not here. She went to Stefan's, I think." Jenna said, giving me a glass of water.

After chugging the water, I felt better. But my heart was still hammering. "She didn't happen to leave my car keys, did she?"

Jenna gave me my keys, and I felt slightly better having my car back. "I'm gonna go find Elena." I told Jenna, before driving to the Salvatore boarding house.

I didn't want to be alone at that moment, alone with my thoughts. And I knew that if I couldn't find Elena, that my next stop would be the bar.

I pulled to a stop in front of the boarding house. Getting out, I heard yelling come from the house. I walked to the door and knocked on it. If Elena wasn't here, I could hang out with Damon. I'd even get to know Stefan some more, and threaten to hunt him down and kill him if he hurt Elena.

When no one answered, I opened the door and walked in.

"Hello?" I called, looking for anyone, but the house seemed to be empty.

"Hailey?"

I looked to the left and saw Elena with her arms over her chest, looking angry and hurt.

"Hey, I went to your-"I started to say, but she cut me off.

"Were you with Damon today?"

I froze at her question. Like I really needed this to happen right now.

"Wow, this isn't the right house. I'm sorry miss, I'll be going now." I turned to run out the door, but Elena grabbed my arm.

"You said you were going to stay away from him!" she said, her brown eyes narrowed at me.

"Actually, I said no such thing. You just assumed." I pointed out, but she just glared at me.

"What do I have to do to prove to you Damon is dangerous?" she exclaimed, and I was annoyed with the tall, blue eyed man.

"He told you?" I asked, crossing my arms over my chest.

"He had to." Elena muttered.

I bit my lip and sighed. Elena and i had been best friends since birth. I couldn't throw that away. "I'm sorry, Lena." I said, thinking fast. "I'll stay away from him. I promise."

She looked up at me and raised an eyebrow. "You promise?" she asked.

Please don't make me pinky promise, I thought as I nodded my head. Pinky promises were sacred between us- if she made me promise, I really would have to stay away.

Thankfully, she didn't, just slowly smiled at me. I hugged her, feeling slightly guilty. "Did you want to hang out?" she asked the anger and hurt fading from her brown eyes.

"Actually, I think I'm just gonna go home. I'm really tired." I lied, backing towards the door.

"Oh, okay. Just don't get drunk, okay?" she joked, picking up on my strange behavior.

I nodded, and then left the house. I found it hard to look Elena in the eyes, Because I had every intention on breaking the promise I just made.

I didn't sleep very well that night.

*Damon*

As he walked into his house, his mind kept going back to the kiss he just received from Hailey. It was a surprise, and Damon liked to think that he wasn't easy to surprise.

Still, it was a good thing. He liked Hailey, and he liked having her around. The kissing just made her that much more fun, especially because kissing usually leaded to sex. Damon chose to ignore the fireworks that went off when she kissed him- fireworks that hadn't gone off for him since he had kissed Katherine.

"What did you do, Damon?"

Damon looked up to see his brother glaring at him like he had killed somebody. Elena was behind him wearing the same expression. But Damon hadn't killed anybody since Boston, almost four months ago.

"I don't know, but I'm sure you'll tell me, Stefan." Damon said, smirking slightly. If this was about Hailey, Damon was going to snap his brother's neck. That conversation was a very boring one.

"You killed Carly Fell." Elena said, glaring at him. Damon raised his eyebrows.

"Never heard of her- but she sounds hot." He said, taking off his jacket and acting like his brother and his brother's girlfriend weren't accusing him of murder.

"She's dead." Stefan said bluntly.

"Sucks for her." Damon shot back.

Damon hadn't killed this Fell girl; he had been with Hailey all day. There wouldn't be any time to kill her.

"Just admit that you killed her." Elena demanded, her judgy little eyes narrowed at him.

Damon rolled his. "Hate to spoil all of your fun, but I didn't kill anybody." Damon said, already bored with this conversation.

"Prove it." Stefan asked, crossing his arms over his chest.

"Fine," Damon said, and without thinking, he added, "I was with Hailey all day. You can ask her yourself."

Damon turned to Elena who looked hurt. "What, Elena? Didn't your best friend tell you?" he said, smirking. He was tempted to add that she kissed him, but then Hailey might never forgive him. And strangely, he cared if Hailey was mad at him or not.

Just then, he heard a car pull to a stop in front of their house. Smirking, he said, "Seems like she's here now. As much fun as it would be to watch the fight that is bound to happen…" Damon walked right past Elena and Stefan, and up to his room.

When he was alone, he frowned to himself. If he didn't kill Carly Fell, who did?

A/N: thank you to: aireagle92, Carrie9596, vdemily, and shannathebold for reviewing!

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