**Chapter thirty two**

The right to care

*Damon*

Damon quickly started to dig a hole at the spot Hailey pointed out. Stefan joined him, and soon, a deep hole was starting form. He was glad to be getting this over as fast as possible; the sooner they got over the whole Victoria situation, the better.

Elena and Hailey stood at a wall a few feet away from them, watching them. He watched the green-eyed girl out of the corner of his eye. She looked lost in thought. The sight of her made him think about their argument half an hour earlier. She wanted to "expand" her powers, and the thought terrified him.

He didn't know what Victoria did to go crazy; if she was just born that way, or if her powers drove her that way. But he knew two things; one, when Victoria was 15, and he was 19, she wasn't crazy, she was just a pretty girl with unique eyes who aimed to be a future homemaker of America like every other girl in his town. She wasn't crazy, not then.

The second thing he knew was power. He knew that too much of it could be dangerous, though that didn't stop people from going after it. That's why he figured that Victoria went insane "expanding" her powers like Hailey wanted to. She dove too deep into her abilities, and all that power drove her insane.

He remembered a few weeks ago, when Hailey was crying in his bed because she was afraid that she would go crazy like Victoria. He had promised her that he wouldn't let her go crazy, and he had the intention to keep that promise. He wouldn't let her end up like Victoria, no matter what he had to do to stop it. Because deep down, he knew that history might be repeating itself. Hailey was on Victoria's exact same path, one that didn't end pleasantly.

The thought of Hailey dying made him feel sick to his stomach, made him feel like his world was ending, like the thought always did. He cared almost too much whether Hailey lived or died. But the thing was, he lost that right.

He knew it too. He lost the right to care about Hailey in general when he broke her heart. But that didn't stop him. They were "friends" now, and friends cared about each other. Though he knew in his subconscious that the way he cared about Hailey was complete opposite of how friends cared for each other. As if God had read Damon's mind, and decided to toy with him. A mouthwatering and unfortunately familiar smell hit the air.

Damon froze, and so did Stefan, as they both reveled in the scent. It took Damon half a second to realize what was happening, as he tried to clear his head of the fog the smell of the most appetizing blood caused him. Then two things happened at once.

"Hailey!" Elena shrieked, as she ran over to where Hailey was doubled over, covering the stab wound in her stomach.

But Hailey wasn't there, at least not mentally. She fell to the ground, and her blank green eyes stared up. You would have thought she was dead if it wasn't for her deep, ragged breathing. Suddenly, her body started convulsing as if she was being stabbed. Blood started pouring out of the stab wounds in her stomach. But despite this, Hailey gave no sign she even felt them.

"Victoria." Damon said, breaking out of the spell the horrifying scene in front of him put him in. "She's reliving Victoria's death."

Damon had no idea how to snap her out of it, but even if he did, it was too late. Her wounds were too bad and she was losing blood by the second. There was only one thing he could do to save her.

Without really even thinking, Damon appeared next to Hailey and pulled her to him. Then he bit his wrist and put it to her mouth in one motion. The vampire blood flowed down Hailey's throat and almost instantly started healing her wounds. Elena gave a stifled sob of relief, as Hailey's eyes barely flickered as she came back from her flashback. Damon held her gaze for what seemed like hours but was really seconds. Then Hailey passed out.

*Hailey*

I felt like a mummy.

I was wrapped up tight in my blanket, I could barely move. My eyes flickered around my room where the afternoon sunlight was lighting everything up. I managed to unravel myself from my blankets, and stood up. It felt like I had jelly legs, and I leaned against my bed for support. Yesterday's memories filtered into my mind, and I could almost feel the invisible knife in my stomach again. But then it went away. I sighed, and closed my eyes. I felt gross; covered in dirt, dust and dry blood. I needed a shower badly.

I walked to the bathroom, as I felt like I was forgetting something. It was really bothering me; it was the feeling like you knew something, but couldn't think of it, like it was on the tip of your tongue. It felt really important too. I took a long shower, just leaning against the shower wall as the hot water poured down on me. Showers were an amazing place to think.

Suddenly, it hit me. I gasped, and smacked my head on the wall. I rubbed the spot while a big grin overcame my face. I finally remembered it. It wasn't even really a vision, just a disembodied voice in my head saying "To expand your powers, you must look back into your bloodline. Your bloodline is the key, she is the key." I knew what it meant, what the "key" was, And I felt stupid for not thinking of it before.

The key was Victoria.

I got out of the shower, and walked to my closet, with just a towel wrapped around me. had just put on my bra and underwear, when a voice from behind me made me jump.

"You know, you wouldn't make a bad stripper."

I let out a small shriek band grabbed my towel to cover my half-naked body. Damon chuckled and smirked, from where he was lying casually on my bed.

"I like the bra too." he added, looking at my lacy red bra that so thankfully blocked my boobs from his eyes. "How come I never got to see it?"

"Damon! why couldn't you have let me know you were here before I got naked?" I asked him, annoyed, as I pulled on my shorts.

"Where's the fun in that?" he asked, his stupid smirk super-glued onto his face.

"You don't get to see me naked anymore, Damon!" I exclaimed.

"Please, Hailey, I wasn't even looking. Besides, I've seen it all before." he said, and I flicked my hand at a pillow to make it smack him.

I finished getting dressed, then sat cross-legged on my bed facing Damon. "How are you feeling?" he asked me, concerned.

"A little sore in my stomach, but I did get stabbed 19 times so it's expected." I said, braiding my hair.

"Speaking of our misadventure yesterday, I brought something I thought would cheer you up a bit." he said, then pulled a familiar jeweled box out of his jacket.

"You got it?" I asked, shocked that he managed to snag it while I was choking on my own blood.

"'Course I did." he said, "I didn't want your almost-death to be in vain."

I opened the box, and was immediately filled with the same feeling I got when I looked at the knife in my first flashback. But it was multiplied a hundred times. It was a feeling of attraction, obsession, and power wrapped up in one. But at the same time I was afraid of the knife.

"Can you feel it?" I whispered, my eyes not leaving the knife.

"Feel what?" Damon asked, looking from me and the dagger.

"The… power. You honestly can't sense it?" I asked him, breaking my gaze with the knife to look up at him.

Damon shrugged, before lying back down on my bed. "Must be a crazy psychic girl thing." he said.

I smiled slightly, before saying, "I don't think I'm psychic Damon."

He raised his eyebrows. "Why? You lost your powers? honestly, that would suck because you're kind of important if we ever want to win this cold war against the tomb vamps."

I shook my head, and my braid whipped against my back. "No, I have my powers. But, I don't think I'm psychic. I've been calling myself that because of my visions, but there's obviously more to my powers than just visions. I don 't think that I'm psychic."

"Then what are you?" he asked.

"I don't know. I'm not a witch, I know that for sure, because then I'd be casting spells like no tomorrow." I said, looking back down at the knife.

Damon smirked. "'with great power comes great responsibility.'" he quoted from Star Wars, and I rolled my eyes at him.

"Damon, name one time in your life-human or vampire- when you've ever been responsible." I asked, while thinking of a time that I've ever been responsible. I couldn't think of any.

"Hey, I'm not the one with the badass super powers. I don't have to be responsible. But why does it matter what your title is? You have the powers, that's really all that matters." Damon said.

I nodded, knowing he was right, then I stretched out at the foot of the bed. Everything was quiet for a few minutes, as I stared at the knife. I noticed that there was some dried blood on it. Victoria's blood.

"I know one good thing that's come out of this." Damon said, shifting his weight so that we were face to face, The knife between us.

"What's that?" I asked absentmindedly.

"We don't have to worry about you wanting to expand your powers anymore." He said cheerfully.

I raised an eyebrow. "Who said anything about that?" I asked.

Damon looked surprised. "You're not really telling me that you're still planning to dig deeper into the whole Victoria mess when you almost died from a flashback?"

"Actually, I am. And I have a game plan too." I said stubbornly.

Damon sighed exasperatedly and closed his eye before gesturing me to continue.

"Victoria. Victoria's the key to expanding my powers." I said proudly, with a grin on my face.

"Oh, well, now that Victoria's involved in your plan, I see no way it could go wrong. It's not like she hasn't almost killed you in the past or anything." he said sarcastically.

I frowned at him. "What's the big deal? This could actually help us." I argued, sitting up.

Damon sat up too. "I've told you before, Hailey. It's too dangerous. And the fact that you can even consider doingit is shocking."

"And I told you before, Damon. I'm willing to take the risk." I argued.

"Well, I'm not." he said, standing up.

I stood up too, and crossed my arms over my chest. He was a lot taller than me, but I could still see his icy blue eyes glaring down at me. I returned the glare.

"It's not your decision to make, Damon." I said defiantly.

"If you actually think I'm just going to sit around and watch you kill yourself, you're in for the surprise of a lifetime." he said.

"I'm not killing myself, Damon! I'm not going to go crazy! I'm not Victoria!" I shouted.

"Then stop acting like it!"

His tone and his words both made me freeze with shock. Damon used my silence to his advantage.

"You keep saying that you're not Victoria, that you're not going to go insane like her, but do you even realize that Victoria used to be like you before she got her powers? She was a normal teenage girl. Her powers drove her like that, Hailey. you're going to let them do the same to you, but I'm not going to watch you let that happen." he said, looking down at me with miserable eyes, like I was already on my deathbed. My temper flared.

"What gives you the right, Damon? You don't get to care whether I live or die! You don't. And you really don't get to try and stop me from expanding my powers if it could save us all." I said with cold fury in my voice. I turned my back to him.

"Do you know what's really depressing?" Damon asked in a whisper, like my words physically knocked the breath out of him. "You know it too. You know deep down that the path you're on right now will end in your death. But you're still doing it. I may not get to care whether you live or die Hailey, but you should."

I turned around to face Damon, but he was gone. I took a shaky breath; I didn't know why, but his words made me want to cry. Because I did know, deep down, that he was right.

I didn't know what made me get out the box of candles from under my bed and light them in a large circle. Almost as if I was being controlled like a puppet, I sat down in the circle with my legs crossed, and closed my eyes. Then I focused my thoughts.

Victoria, help me.

I felt light headed for less than a second, then I opened my eyes. I wasn't in my room anymore. I was in a large, open field with the bright sun shining down on. There was a light breeze. I wasn't alone in the field. A girl around my age was walking towards me. Instinctively, I stood up and went to meet her.

We met in the middle, and the girl grinned at me. "Hello, Hailey. I am so glad that we finally get to meet."

It was like looking in a mirror.

Victoria Ellis grinned at me, wearing the clothes she died in. I could faintly see blood stains in the front.

"Uh, hi." I said, weirded out. It was just too damn freaky for me.

"You wanted my help?" she asked, sitting down and patted the spot next to her.

Slowly, I sat down next to her. "You heard me?" I asked.

"Of course I did. You really think I wouldn't be listening out for the next generation?" she asked me with a raised eyebrow.

I slowly nodded, and she smiled at me. God, were my ears really that big?

"What do you need, Hailey?" she asked.

I gulped. "I-I need to know how to expand my powers." I said.

"Ah." she said, turning away from me. "Well, that's easy."

"What do I need to do?" I asked immediately.

"Let me in."

My eyebrows furrowed. "What do you mean?" I asked, confused.

"Let me in your body, Hailey. Let me help you. I know what to do, and together we'll make you a perfect weapon. A weapon that can defend all of her friends." She said, smiling like it was the perfect plan.

I considered her words. It made sense, but I was still a little wary to share my body with my suicidal ghost clone.

She held out her hand. "Let me help you, Hailey." she repeated.

I took a deep breath. and then with newfound determination, I grasped her hand.

It was like I got caught in a tornado. I was being whirled around, and felt like something was forcing itself inside me. Everything stopped suddenly. I tried to open my eyes, but I couldn't.

Slowly, my eyes opened and I peered up at my ceiling. I felt my mouth pull into a smile, but I wasn't making it do that.

I -or my body- stood up, and walked over to the mirror hanging on my wall. I stared at my reflection grinning at me, with wild eyes. What the hell's going on?

My hand went out to brush my bangs out of my face, and at the same time my voice rang out loud and clear with disdain, "Goodness, why did you put holes in your ears? And why do you have ink stains on your arm?"

I suddenly realized what was happening. Victoria was possessing me.

"You little bitch." I said.

It was strange, my lips didn't move, but mirror Hailey's did. I felt my lips pull up into a sick little grin.

"Language, my little Hailey." Victoria said.

"What are you doing?" I asked, and watched in amazement as my mirror image's lips moved to the words and then glared at myself/Victoria. God, this was confusing.

"I'm going to help you, Hailey." she said, as she turned away from the mirror.

"What does that mean?" I demanded.

Victoria's lips pulled up into a smile.

"I'm doing the world a favor, Hailey. I'm ending the Ellis curse. After I've had my fun having a body again, I'm going to kill you."

~LMF~

A/N: Victoria- what a crazy bitch. Oh, and this story got past 200 reviews today. Yay! Cyber hugs all around :D thank you to everyone who's reviewed. It means a lot.

Thank you to: HawthorneTree, SomebodyWhoCares, Carrie9586, myblacktears, jacquline, and AubreySalvatore for reviewing!

Reviews are inspiring :)

~Abby!