AN: Thanks blueberry24 and KyaraSalvatore for your reviews. This is another chapter. I am not so sure if you will enjoy reading it. I wasn't in a good mood when I wrote it, so. But I am still hoping that you will like it. Let's get you to the story.

Chapter 7: First Failure

It was almost dark outside when I entered the Grill. The beginning of an eventful night. I was actually looking for Jenna at the Grill. Of course I knew I would find her there and I did. I found her at the bar with Kelly and Damon, just like I expected. They were drinking their asses off. Seeing the sight before my eyes I understood that I was currently living the episode 'There goes the neighborhood'.

I sighed and shook my head inwardly to myself knowing what would soon start happening in Mystic Falls. After getting my thoughts together again, I walked up to Jenna. I wanted to let her know that I won't be home tonight so that she wouldn't worry about me. I don't exactly know when I realized this that I can't be so careless and not give a damn about it, if someone is genuinely worrying about me. I even felt guilty for my previous behavior. However I feel that it's not entirely my fault that I was so ignorant of people's concern for me. In my real life no one cared about me. I had learned to live on my own and without anyone by my side. But things are changed in this world. Here people care about me. Jenna cares about me. She cares about my other two siblings as well. She gave up her own life, her wishes and dreams, just to take care of us.

Even though I am from another world where we were not related but in this world she is my aunt. And I should be grateful to her for what she was doing for me and my family. And I am thankful to her because it kind of makes me happy in a way to know that there is someone who gives a damn about me. The feeling was obviously foreign to me but heart warming nonetheless. So, I have decided not to put her through hell ever again, like I did when I was on the road trip with Damon. I can not treat her like crap as if she doesn't matter to me and I won't.

"Hey Jenna!" I called her when I walked up to the group. She was absolutely shocked and looked ashamed as well that I was seeing her like that, in her drunken state, I mean.

"Jacq, um...what are you...doing here?" She stammered in the whole sentence. I couldn't help but smile inwardly.

"Relax Jenna, I just came here to tell you that, I am not going home tonight. I am staying over at a friend's. So, don't think I went missing. Okay." She nodded without asking anything as I said that. The thing I liked most about Jenna was that she doesn't hover. Having a young guardian looking after you sure has its advantages.

"So, I will see you tomorrow then." I said and gave her a hug which surprised her but she seemed to like it and returned my hug warmly.

"Be careful. Call me if you need anything." I nodded to that with a smile. Kelly was totally avoiding me. Well it was inevitable after what I said to her however Damon was looking suspiciously at me. I of course pretended that I never felt his gaze on me. But inwardly it was having a strong affect on me.

"Okay bye" saying that I walked away from them. But on my way out of the Grill when I glanced at the pool table I saw Stefan, Elena, Matt and Caroline over there. They were playing pool and having fun. I remembered their double date vividly. Like it happened in the show it seemed that the four of them were having a really good time except Caroline looked a little gloomy. And I couldn't imagine why. There was no need for me to mind in their date so I started walking towards the exit again. But right then Caroline saw me.

"Jacq!" She called for me. I stopped in my track and looked back. Caroline walked up to me quickly.

"Could we have a talk for a minute?" asked Caroline. I nodded to her and we walked a little further from the crowd. Any human we knew wouldn't hear us where we were standing but I knew that Damon and Stefan could hear us clearly if they decide to eavesdrop in our conversation.

"Is everything okay, Caroline?" I asked wondering what she has to talk about to me.

"No Jacq, everything is not okay." I frowned in confusion at her as she said that.

"Why? What happened?" I was really clueless for the first time.

"You told me at the party that Elena asked you for my car keys. But when I asked her she said she didn't ask for it. Why did you lie to me Jacq? And what did you do with my car?"

Oh crap! I thought Caroline would never mention that to anyone. But of course I was wrong. I wanted to smack my own head at the moment. This is Caroline, of course she would talk about it. And she had no one else but Elena to ask about it. What if Elena suspects me now? I should have thought about it before. Shit! what am I supposed to do now? What can I tell her? I needed to come up with a believable lie immediately. I looked at the pool table from the corner of my eyes and saw Stefan looking at us with a worried look on his face. I needed to say something to Caroline soon otherwise she won't let it go and get more suspicious. But at the moment I couldn't come up with anything. My brain cells weren't working like I wanted it to. But thankfully suddenly an idea clicked in my mind and I fought off the smirk that wanted to appear on my face instantly.

"Actually Care, it wasn't Elena who asked me for your car keys. It was Stefan. He asked me not to tell you that it was him. I don't really know why he wanted your car in the first place and I have no idea what he did with it? I am not even suppose to say this to you that it was him." Caroline frowned in confusion.

"It doesn't make any sense" said Caroline more to herself and I nodded at that immediately.

"I know. But if you want any answer, I suggest you ask Stefan about it. And please don't tell him that I told you."

Now it's Stefan's job to give her an explanation. And I don't need to worry my head off about it anymore. I glanced back at Stefan who was gaping at me with a shocked expression on his face. I shrugged my shoulders at him with an innocent look on my face that only he noticed. I really wanted to burst out laughing that moment because it made Stefan not only roll his eyes at me but an expression covered his face that said 'I am screwed' very loud and clearly.

It's not everyday that someone other than Damon could get Stefan into trouble. And now that my job is well done, I wondered what he is gonna say to Caroline now. Because she won't let it go until she got a satisfying answer. Maybe, Stefan would just compel her to forget about it. I saw Stefan shaking his head to himself and then looked away from me before Elena could notice that he was looking over at us and he and I were practically having a silent communication with our gestures. When Stefan looked away I glanced at the bar unknowingly and found Damon smirking at me with an impressed look on his face. I smirked back and focused back on a still confused Caroline who was lost in her own thoughts at the moment.

"So, you guys are on a double date today?" I asked to take her mind off of the car issue for a while. Caroline blushed a little and nodded her head.

"Actually, I kind of confronted Matt about his mother's behavior with me yesterday, so now he is making it up to me." I felt bad knowing that Caroline and Matt would never end up together. And poor Matt will be all alone in the end of the day. But now that I am here, I might do something about it when the right time comes.

"Okay, enjoy your evening Caroline. I will see you later" saying that I started to walk away when Caroline stopped me again.

"Um...I forgot to tell you something,... Tyler was looking for you earlier." My eye brows shot up instantly as Caroline said that. I really didn't want her to know that I have anything to do with Tyler. She would immediately assume it's something cheesy and romantic and the news will be all over the town in no time. All the more reasons for me to want Caroline become a vampire sooner. She is much better as a vampire.

"Oh, okay." I said with a shrug of my shoulders making it look like I didn't really give it a damn and it's nothing important. However it still made Caroline interested.

"Is something happening between you two?" She narrowed her eyes at me in a suspicious way as she asked me that. I couldn't help but roll my eyes mentally at her. I really hated nosy attitude and I have valid reasons for that.

"No, not yet, we are just friends. I have been busy with some stuffs, and didn't really get a chance to talk to him lately." I said in a matter of fact tone of voice. However Caroline gave out a frustrated sigh hearing that.

"Jacq, why do you even talk to him? You know he is a dick, right." A lecture from Caroline was the last thing I wanted that evening.

"He is a dick to you guys because you don't really give him a chance to be otherwise. He is nice with me and I consider him my friend. And you know it better than anyone else Caroline that I don't like it when someone says something bad about my friend." That shut her up completely. She surely remembered how I stood up for her when Mrs. Donovan insulted her.

"I am sorry Jacq... I just. I am sorry for saying that." I nodded accepting her apology. Suddenly I felt an urge to glance back at the bar once again. When I looked over there I saw Damon flirting with Kelly openly. It seemed that he wasn't paying a bit attention to our conversation that time. But I knew better. Damon was just pretending. I sighed to myself inwardly and looked back at Caroline.

"Tell Tyler I will talk to him later, if you see him again" saying that to her I finally walked out of the Grill.

It took me a little time to arrive at the legendary Wickery bridge where several months ago my supposed parents died in a car accident. The wood that was used to build this bridge was from white oak tree. The only thing that can kill an original vampire. I had a couple of things on my mind at the moment. I planned to check the entire bridge at first for any loose piece of wood. After retrieving wood from the bridge, I would make some fine sharp stakes out of it and hide them somewhere safe.

Even though the originals aren't suppose to appear before season three timeline but still I wanted to have enough white oak stake in my possession, just in case I can't make any later. I had thought that I would be able to do everything I planned on doing on my own from collecting woods to making stakes out of it. But I realized it soon enough that it was not my field. I needed someone expert in this job, someone like Alaric. He could do it easily, of course he could. But we were still not close enough yet. I can't ask him to do anything for me right now. I can't even ask him for help in this matter. Not to mention all the questions he would ask if I go to him. Questions that I cannot answer him, not now at least.

I gave up on trying to do the work myself after trying for what felt like an entire day when I spent only two hours. I was completely exhausted when I had finally decided to give up. But my mind was being restless obviously. I found myself pacing on the bridge soon enough. I was thinking of everything that could get me this job done. I couldn't help but feel frustrated. I absolutely loathed failure. And I hate it more when I can't do anything about it. When I plan to do something I want it done no matter what. That's how I am. I know that I don't need to rush in this. The originals won't come anytime soon. But I wanted to secure some weapons against them as soon as possible but now I have to wait. Another thing I hate.

When I got tired of pacing too, at last I gave up on the whole thing until I can think of another way to get it done. I sat on the railing of the bridge helplessly and with a very pissed off and unsatisfied mind. This is the first time I failed to do something. And I am not happy about it. After some time, I started wondering about what must be happening with everyone else to take my mind off of the failure. I knew that tonight two tomb vampires are going to attack Stefan and Damon when they would be alone at the boarding house. Maybe it has already happened by now. They would kill one but the other one would escape. His name is Frederick. I recalled from the show. That would be the beginning of tomb vampire problems. As I kept thinking suddenly out of no where fog started to surround me just like it happens in horror movies. However instead of getting freaked out, I rolled my eyes to this.

"Lame." I muttered under my breath while shaking my head to myself. I looked down at my hands and found several small cuts on it. Reminding me of all the worthless efforts. I better clean them up before I get infection in them. But I couldn't concentrate on my hands for another minute because Suddenly wind blew my hair quite mysteriously.

"Knock it off Damon." I snapped immediately. I was already in a bad mood and definitely didn't need Damon to annoy me at that moment.

"You are such a buzz-kill, Jacq." He appeared right in front of me out of nowhere which didn't startled me a bit.

"Not my fault you can't do anything better than this." I said smugly making Damon narrow his eyes at me.

"Don't tempt me." He said in a threatening tone of voice which made me roll my eyes and smirk at him. Well, I guess my mood has just started to get better.

"What are you doing here?" I asked wanting to know because Damon wasn't supposed to be here.

"I am the one who should ask this. I thought you said you were going over to a friend's house" said Damon doing the eye thing with me. But that wasn't going to make me tell him the truth.

"Yeah, I was. Changed my mind." I said and shrugged my shoulders at him nonchalantly. Damon scoffed sarcastically at that.

"You shouldn't lie so much. People won't believe you when you will say the truth one day" said Damon and I snorted at that.

"Really? You above all people are going to give me a lecture about lying now." He glared at me instantly.

"What's that supposed to mean? I never lie to anyone." Damon defended himself right away making me arch up an eye brow at him. "Okay, maybe sometimes but not as much as you." I rolled my eyes to that. Right then I noticed his eyes fell on my hands and before I could hide them, Damon grabbed my hands with his and looked at it carefully.

"What happened?" He asked sounding serious this time.

"Nothing." I pulled my hands away from his. Damon didn't say anything but stood very close to me. He was staring at me with calculating eyes. He was so close to me that I could kiss him any moment if I wanted to which I definitely wanted to do but can't really do it now, can I? The situation was getting really uncomfortable for me. It was getting too intense for my liking. I needed to lighten it up.

"What are you really doing here, Damon? I thought you would be having fun with Mrs. Kelly Donovan. The way you two were getting close at the bar, some action was ensured tonight, what happened?" I knew what happened but still I thought it would be funny asking Damon about it. He sighed out dramatically.

"Well, her son walked in on us when we just started making out." The way Damon said it, I couldn't help but feel disgusted. And didn't really bother to hide it.

"Seriously Damon, don't you have any taste? I mean I understand you are desperate all the time and she was just a one night stand but still, her? She is twice your physical age." Damon grinned wickedly at me. Not feeling offended a bit.

"You seem jealous to me Jacq." I scoffed at that while rolling my eyes at Damon.

"You are really drunk tonight. I am just disgusted with your taste in women, that's all." Suddenly Damon came closer to my face again. He was just an inch apart. My heart beat increased immediately much to my disliking.

"You are a real mystery Jacqueline. I think I know you but then I don't really have any idea who you are?" said Damon with intense tone of voice. I didn't know exactly how long we were in that position but when he pulled away from me, increasing the distance between us, we both exhaled deep breaths that we were holding this whole time. I spoke up after a moment.

"I don't get it Damon. Why are you here? Why do you seek me? You shouldn't even notice me. I am so insignificant compared to you. Why do you even bother with my existence?" I didn't know where that came from or why I said that but I just did. And I really wanted to take it back, all of it. Because it made the silence between us more awkward and uncomfortable. Damon just stood there as if thinking something deep. Finally he spoke up which felt like after hours of silence.

"I don't know why Jacq. I really don't know." Well whatever it was working between us for a while now, it was obviously not love. Because Damon still wasn't over Katherine. And I don't think he would lust over me. Maybe it was just friendship for him and nothing else. Honestly I didn't know what it is for me either. I didn't know what is it that's growing between us with passing time.

"Unless you are planning on staying over the bridge all night, I suggest you go home" said Damon breaking the silence thankfully. I nodded right away and hopped off the bridge railing. It's easy when Damon is all cocky and sarcastic. I know how to deal with that. But intense Damon makes me nervous as well. I started walking towards home as I didn't have any ride with me. I thought I was going home alone but in a blink of an eye, Damon was by my side.

"I am walking with you" said Damon and I shrugged my shoulders. I kept walking not minding his company at all.

"Any vampire situation?" I asked skeptically to ease the tension between us and fill up the silence.

"The tomb vampires got out and now they want to take over the town. Two of them attacked us at the boarding house already. Stefan managed to kill one" said Damon in one breath. I smirked hearing all these things.

"That sounds like fun. What are you planning to do about it?" I asked nonchalantly ignoring his curious stare at me.

"Nothing, what can I possibly do about it?" Damon asked in return. He expected me to give him a lecture but I just nodded.

"True."

"Are you still on vervain?" Damon suddenly asked out of nowhere but I nodded anyway.

"I drink vervain, wear it. Always keep some with me. Why?" I said with confidence. Damon seemed impressed with that.

"Smart."

Soon, we arrived at my home sweet home, the Gilbert house. Damon and I stopped in front of each other on the porch. "Good night Damon." I waved at him and he just gave me a nod. That was his way of saying good night, I guess. Damon left and I entered the house. However when I got inside the house, no one else was there but I found an extremely happy looking Jeremy. And he got a cut on his palm. I figured immediately that Jeremy has finally found out about Anna being a vampire. And with figuring that out, I also realized that we are gonna have to have a talk tonight about vampire issues. So when everyone was sleeping I went into Jeremy's bedroom. He was wide wake like I expected. Anna must have already been here and left when she heard me coming.

"Hey Jeremy, can we talk?" I asked. Though it was way past mid night but Jeremy motioned for me to come in.

"Yeah sure." I sat on his bed beside him. I took his hand in mine and pointed at the cut.

"What happened?" I asked with calm tone of voice.

"Just a scratch, don't worry about it." I sighed out heavily as I received an expected answer from Jeremy. God, this talk is definitely not going to be easy.

"Jeremy, I know you found out about vampires already. They do exist." Jeremy got shocked at my blunt confession.

"You know too, how do you know?" asked Jeremy as if he couldn't believe what he just heard.

"I read the same journal as you did. Only I believed in it Jeremy and I could see right through everything around us." I hoped he would believe me.

"Why didn't you tell me before?" His voice held accusation this time.

"I wanted you to find out about it on your own, like I did. Would it be fun if I had just dropped the bomb on you?" I said with an innocent look on my face. Jeremy laughed at that, clearly not mad anymore.

"Thank god, now I have someone to talk to" said Jeremy. I nodded, relieved that I didn't screw up anything with Jeremy like Elena did moreover it seemed I deepened our relation my confessing my knowledge about vampires.

"Do you know Anna is a vampire?" asked Jeremy and I nodded again.

"I know and I like her too. You tell her that when you meet her again" saying that I got up to leave which confused Jeremy.

"Wait, where are you going? I have so many questions." I looked fondly at him that really came from inside.

"Think of it as a quest Jeremy. Find answers to your questions on your own." I winked at him and left his room to get back to mine. There I saw a very familiar crow sitting outside my window. I rolled my eyes. Damon and his creepy tricks. I turned off the lights and went to bed ignoring the creature's stare at me. Tomorrow will be a very long day for me. A very long day.

AN: I am on my knees and I am pleading to you guys, review, review review. And if that doesn't work, No reviews, no updates.