With nothing else to do, I sat on my bed with what I had found in my mother's room the night before. Looking at the covers of the three books first, I discovered that they were grimoires. One obviously belonged to my adoptive mother, as it was a traveller's grimoire. The other two grimoires must have belonged to my actual mother, as one said 'LaRue' on it while the other said 'Bennett'. Setting them aside for later, I picked up the thick envelope and saw my name written in cursive. Opening it, I found two letters inside. Putting down the second, I began to read the first.
"My dear Evangeline. If you're reading this, it means that I have died somehow. I'm sorry. I know a letter isn't the way to explain anything, but you have a right to know either way. I wanted to write this just in case you're father decided not to tell you anything right away, or if he died as well. I'm a witch sweetheart. In case you didn't know this either: witches, vampires, werewolves, travelers, and ghosts all exist. You see, I happen to come from two powerful bloodlines. On my mother's side is the LaRue family, and on my father's is the Bennett family.
"When I had found out I was pregnant with you, I was so excited! I thought you were going to be perfect, and I still do. I had daydreams about teaching you about where you come from and how to do magic as well, but it seems that I wasn't able to. For that I am sorry, but recently, something has changed. You're not a witch sweetheart. I can feel it. You don't have the aura or power of one. I don't know what you are, but I still love you either way.
"Now, since I can't tell you in person, I'm going to tell you a story about our distant ancestors. Her name was Qetsiyah. The Bennett witch line actually descends from her distantly. You see, she was a powerful witch from about 2000 years ago who fell in love with another powerful witch named Silas. They were to be married. From her love, she created the first immortality spell. However, on the day of their wedding, Silas went missing along with the two goblets that held the immortality spell. Qetsiyah was furious because when she found him, he was with her handmaiden, Amara. Silas had tricked her into believing his love was for her, when it was truly for Amara. Stricken with rage, Qetsiyah killed Amara and dessicated Silas. Wanting to punish him even more, Qetsiyah intricately hid his body where no one could find it and placed the cure for immortality with him.
"Many witches believe this to just be a tale passed through generations with no truth behind it, but know that they are wrong. This story is as real as the both of us. I tell you this now because there may be a time where you run into a few hunters who call themself 'The Brotherhood of the Five'. They are a group of hunters who have blessed with supernatural abilities by a dying witch who was a descendent of Qetsiyah. They were gifted these abilities in order to fulfill Qetsiyah's wish. She wanted them to cure and kill Silas. To help find him, they had markings on their bodies that would serve as a map to where he was hidden. These markings are called the 'Hunter's Mark'. Along with their new abilities and markings, they gained the ability to curse whoever should kill them. 'The Hunter's Curse', which is what it became to be called, drove the person so mad, that they would end their own life.
"You're probably wondering why I'm bothering to tell her all of this, aren't you? Well, I tell you this now because I want you to be very cautious of anyone who seems to fit into these categories. As much as I would like for you to be hidden away from the supernatural world, it is only a matter of time before it can not be helped. So I tell you, steer clear of any of The Five, and stay far away from anything involving Silas. Know that I love you. -Your Mother, Aurora Salvatore"
I couldn't help but begin to tear up as I read the letter from my mother, my actual mother. To find out that she specifically wrote a letter to me, and that she loved me as well, made my heart swell. Getting ahold of myself, I wiped my tears and picked up the second letter.
"Hey baby girl. This is your father here. Well, I didn't really know what to write for you, so I may have snuck a look at your mother's letter. I'm going to start with, 'I'm sorry'. I am sorry. I really am. I know you're probably very angry at me for giving you away. I need you to know that I did it because I figured you would be safer that way. Mystic Falls is filled with the supernatural, almost as though it were a magnet. I figured that the best way to keep you safe was to give you to a family that could protect you better than I could. With your mother gone, it tore me apart to have to lose you as well, but I felt that it was for the best.
"Now, this part I kind of stole from your mother. It's the whole 'reveal your secret that no one else could tell you' speech. You see, I did some digging on the story that your mother told you in her letter. Turns out, that Silas guy she mentioned, the Salvatores happen to be very distant descendants of his. Cool, huh? Also, now that you are already shocked from that, I'm going to tell you about my mother. You see, you may or may not know this, but she doesn't exist in any government documents or records at all. This is because she isn't human.
"You see, no one else believes her but me. I don't know why, well it might be all of the strange books she has, but I believe your grandmother when she tells me that she's not human, but a faerie. And yes, I did spell that right. Apparently, and I laugh to myself because I finally know something your mother didn't, faeries exist within an invisible sanctuary that they have made for themselves. Only those of their blood can see through the illusions. Now, before you start questioning my sanity for believing her when others obviously did not, know that my mother had no other children besides myself. Also, she mentioned that this trait is only passed down through the females in the family. My brother, Zach, has a different mother of his own before you question that as well.
"If you ever find yourself back in Mystic Falls, and I'm not there to greet you, I want you to go to the Salvatore boarding house, get into my room somehow, and look underneath the floor in my closet. In there are two old books that belonged to your grandmother and were passed down through generations. I love you baby girl. -Ethan Salvatore.
"P.S. The key to my room, along with the key to open the floor in the closet, are hidden in a small hole that's underneath the third stair on the staircase."
Reading my father's letter, tears freely fell down my cheeks. His words of love and his apology healed a piece of my heart that believed he didn't care for me at all. I also couldn't help but laugh at his humorous words. It wasn't until I calmed down though, that I realized what he had revealed to me.
With the thoughts spinning in my mind, I quickly found the keys he mentioned and ran from room to room until I finally found the one that was locked. Taking a breath to brace myself, I unlocked the door and pushed it open. The room was unique with everything a different color of the rainbow. I couldn't help but smile as I saw it. Looking around, my eyes landed on the closet. While it opened easily, I noticed how much of a disorganized mess it was. With wide eyed, I shoved my hands underneath the mess of the floor until I felt the cold keyhole on the floor. Shoving everything off of it, I unlocked it and lifted it open. Inside were two extremely thick and dusty books. Carefully picking them up, I dusted them off and carried them into my room after closing everything.
Once inside my room again, I sat back down on my bed and picked up the book that was on the top. Seeing that there was nothing written on the cover, I opened it and saw blank pages. I was confused for a few moments before I saw words begin to appear in gold. My eyes widened in amazement as I saw that every page was now filled. Looking at the inside of the cover, I saw that it seemed to be either instructions or a guide. I decided to read it.
"Only those with the blood of the fae can read this book. To all others, the pages will seem to be blank. Inside contains the language of our people for young fae to learn, known as Faelish. Thanks to the magic of our people, the book will hold the translations for our language from whatever language native to the reader. If their blood runs true, the ways to say all will be natural."
I skimmed through the book and saw the alphabet, along with specific translations and grammar rules. I decided to try a word to test if the book was right or not.
"Hmm, how about 'friend'" Scanning the pages, I found it and read it. "Zshtirwécrm."
I smiled to myself as the pronunciation of the complicated looking word came easily to me. Putting the book down before I got too into it, I picked up the other to see what it was. Unlike the other, it said 'Buchan' on the cover. Opening it, I once again had to wait a few moments for the words to appear in gold. On the first page was a list of names written in cursive. However, the rest of the pages were still blank, so I decided to read the inside of the cover to understand why.
"Only those with the blood of the fae can read this book. To all others, the pages will seem to be blank. Inside contains the magic of our people for all fae to learn. This is the book of the royal family who have descended from Mavis herself, and only those of royal blood can own this book. Each owner must sign their name in blood on the first page in the language native to them in order to gain access to all that is inside. The signature must be of the name given to them at birth, regardless of any name changes since then. If not of royal blood, the signature will disappear and the book will be locked until found by another."
Biting my lip, I grabbed a thin and unused eyeliner brush from my makeup bag and a small knife from the kitchen. When I was sitting back on my bed, I took a deep breath before poking a small hole in my palm with the knife. When enough blood swelled out, I gathered it on the eyeliner brush and signed my name as 'Evangeline Salvatore' on the line that appeared underneath the name 'Allina Buchan', who I assumed to be my grandmother. Once I was done, the blood shone gold and stuck to the page as the others before it. Feeling a warmth come from the cover, I closed the book and noticed the cover now said 'Salvatore' instead of 'Buchan' like before.
Looking through the rest of the pages, I saw that everything was written in Faelish, so I put it down with a pout and picked up the other book to learn it.
Looking around Mystic Falls High School, I felt as misplaced as I did when at the beginning of the year after I had first transferred. Without Rebekah, I realized that there weren't many people I considered friends or even knew.
"Eva!" I jumped as I was broken out of my thoughts by Matt calling my name.
Looking around in confusion, I finally noticed him standing with Jeremy as he placed a few boxes into the back of a car. Seeing him wave me over, I bit my lip and hesitated before finally walking over to him.
I smiled up at him as I stopped in front of him. "Hey, Matt." I noticed Jeremy doing everything he could to ignore me.
"Hey. I, uh, heard about what happened." He gave me a small smile back and looked at me sympathetically. "With your mom and stuff. How are you holding up?"
I as taken by surprised since I hadn't realized anyone would know about what happened to me. "Oh, um, I'm not really sure, actually. I might be still in shock I guess."
"Yeah, sorry if I seemed a bit forward. I was just worried." He looked embarrassed.
My eyebrows furrowed in confusion. "How did you find out, anyway?"
"Oh, Caroline's helped her mother with fixing everything up in the paperwork and stuff. She mentioned it to me last night." There was a slight awkward silence.
"Wait, what happened?" The silence was broken by Jeremy voicing his confusion.
Not wanting to go into details, I gave him a shortened version. "My mother tried to kill me."
"What?" This made his eyes widen. "Why?"
"Let's just say she's not very… fond… of vampires." I said bitterly.
"Well, what if she tried again?" It seems as though Jeremy's ill feelings towards myself were temporarily forgotten as he questioned me.
"She can't." I frowned, not wanting to talk about it anymore. "She's dead."
"So, uh, I heard you're living with the Salvatores now." Matt quickly changed the subject.
I nodded. "Yeah, Damon offered at the hospital. He did it for Stefan apparently. It was accepted pretty quickly since he's my closest living relative. Well, sort of living."
I then looked back at the boxes in the car. "Anyways, what are these for?"
"They're paper lanterns. The student council made them for after the Memorial. We light them up in honor of all the dead."Jeremy explained as we walked towards where the rest of the boxes were.
I frowned "Nobody thought fire might be a little inappropriate?"
Jeremy scoffed. "Yeah, I wouldn't make that crack in front of Elena."
"Crack?"I was confused about what he meant, but I went ignored.
"How is she?" Matt asked Jeremy.
He frowned. "I guess she's fine, considering."
"If there's anything I can do, you know, short of giving her a ride, you'll let me know, right? I'm only alive because she told Stefan to save me first. She's a vampire because of me, so I'd like to pay it back or forward or whatever." I looked up at Matt to see him looking incredibly guilty.
Jeremy nodded."Yeah."
Matt then turned to me."You wanna help?"
I glanced at Jeremy to see if he was opposed, but he seemed to not care. "Uhh, sure."I helped them grab a few boxes, and we walked back to the car.
While we were walking, we were approached by a girl with black hair and crystal blue eye who seemed to be around Jeremy's age. "Jeremy?"When he looked at her confused, she continued."Picture an emo pixie cut and braces."
He seemed shocked. "April?"
She smiled. "Yeah."
Jeremy put the box down and walked towards her. "You look great!"He turned towards Matt."You remember April? Elena used to…"
Matt interrupted him before he could finish. "Elena used to babysit you. Yeah, I remember."
"Yeah, before I got shipped off to boarding school by my dad." She then looked at me."Since we obviously don't know each other, I'm April."
I gave her a smile."I'm Eva."
Just then, Jeremy spoke up. "Your dad. Oh my God, I am so sorry about your dad."
She seemed a bit awkward. "Thank you. I guess. I sort of don't know how to answer when people say that."
"Your dad was Pastor Young, right?" Matt realized.
She nodded. "He had the faulty gas line."
Matt looked down awkwardly, and I decided to fill the silence."Yeah, that was… unfortunate."
"Sorry, I haven't figured out what to say about that yet either. Wow, I am being a freak. Um… I'm just, you know, not much for grief, I guess. I have to go register or something, I think."She quickly walked away with Matt, Jeremy, and myself watching her awkwardly.
Later on that day, when I was finally back at the boarding house, I decided to take advantage of the empty house by plugging in my speakers inside of the bathroom in my room and playing music loudly. With the music playing, I filled up the bath with bubbles and relaxed myself. Once I was finished, I decided to keep the music playing, as I wrapped a towel around myself and walked into my room to get dressed. While looking through my clothes, though, I felt the peaceful mood I was in begin to fade once I stumbled upon a picture of myself and my "mother". Frowning, I placed it on my bed and got dressed after putting on some anti-infection cream over my cuts that were now scabbed over.
Picking up the picture, I left my room and looked all over the house for a lighter. Unable to find one, I walked into the kitchen and turned on the stove. Once the fire was lit, I held the picture over it until it began to burn. I couldn't help but stare at it as the flames overtook it. When the picture was almost fully burned, it was taken from me gently.
I looked to see that it was Stefan who had taken it, put it out, and disposed of it. When he came to stand in front of me, I looked up at him and felt tears begin to pool in my eyes. Through the blur of the tears, I could vaguely make out Stefan frowning before he pulled me into his arms, where I proceeded to break down as the tears fell and sobs escaped my mouth.
After what felt like an hour later, I calmed down enough to pull away.
Taking a deep breath, I wiped my face and looked back up at Stefan. "Thank you. I guess I needed that."
"Anytime. Listen, I know I haven't shown it due to everything and all, but you are family."After slight hesitation, he leaned down and kissed the top of my head.
"That sounds… nice."He smiled at my response, and I couldn't help but give a small smile in return.
My phone then began to ring at that moment. When I pulled it out of my pocket, I saw that it was Rebekah. As I answer it, Stefan leaves the kitchen, and I head back up to my room.
I wondered why she was calling. "Rebekah! Is everything okay?"
"Where are you right now?" She sounded impatient, yet excited.
I put away the cream for my cuts that I had left on my bed. "I'm at the Salvatore's, why?"
There was a short pause. "What the hell are you doing there?"
"Well, according to Sheriff Forbes, I had to be placed under guardianship since I'm not eighteen yet and family would be the best option. Damon happened to overhear, so he placed me under him." I sat down.
She huffed. "Well I'll come over and get you, then we can go compel someone to get that undone."
I bit my lip as I hesitated. "Actually, I don't really mind it here. It's not so bad."
There was another pause. "Did you forget that Damon almost killed you?!"
I frowned. "No, but that's not gonna happen again."
"Why are you defending them? After everything they've done!" She was almost screaming into the phone now.
"Rebekah, calm down! I'm not defending anything that they have done, I'm just telling you that being here is not as bad as it may seem. Rebekah, I have a chance to get to know some of my only living family. The bridge with Damon may be burnt, but Stefan and I are making progress." I pleaded with her to understand.
Unfortunately, she didn't listen to my pleas. "I can't believe you! You're just like the rest of them! Well, enjoy your family, Eva. You deserve them!"
With that said, Rebekah hung up, and I looked at my phone in disbelief and sadness.
I jumped as the front door slammed open and looked to see Caroline carrying an injured Tyler in.
"What the hell happened to him?!" I stood up from the couch.
Caroline answered as Stefan walked over to them. "Some guy shot him with wooden bullets!"
Stefan has her place Tyler on the floor before he looks towards me. "Can you go into the kitchen and get the metal tongs."
With a nod, I hurry to the kitchen and grab them. As soon as I handed them to him, he started using them to pull out wooden bullets from his chest.
"Please tell me that's the last one." Caroline was standing nearby, worried.
"These were specially carved; the length, the width. If you were a normal vampire, you'd be dead."Stefan was inspecting a bullet carefully, before he placed it in a glass of alcohol to clean it off.
Tyler grunted. "This guy knew what he was doing. His gloves must have been steeped in vervain. He was looking for a vampire and he didn't hesitate for a second when he found one."
"These etchings…."Stefan began to observe the bullet again, and when he touched it, it burned him.
As I take a closer look at the markings, I couldn't help but feel a sense of familiarity.
Caroline became even more worried. "Are the bullets spelled?"
Stefan, on the other hand, was confused. "I don't know. They're something."
I kneeled down next to Stefan in thought. "I've seen these before."
"Do you remember where?" I looked up to see all of their eyes on me.
I frowned since I couldn't remember. "Not exactly. I think Rebekah may have showed it to me before, but I can't place it. I do know that it's very old, though."
Caroline groaned loudly. "We can't just ask Rebekah about this. She won't tell us."
"She'll tell me."I frowned when I remembered our argument. "Or at least she would have. She isn't exactly happy with me at the moment."
Caroline furrowed her brows in confusion."Why not? You guys are like always together."
I bit my lip before deciding that telling her wouldn't bring any harm. "She's upset that I'm here with Stefan and Damon. I think she feels betrayed or something. So, she wouldn't answer me if I ask."
"But we can ask Bonnie." As soon as he finished speaking, he picked up the bullet and headed out the door.
"Uhh, guys?" Caroline and I both turned to look at Tyler as he spoke up. "I think Stefan missed a few."
Our eyes widened as we looked over him and found three more lodged in him. Passing the tongs to Caroline, I watched as she picked them out, causing him to cry out in pain.
When she was finished, she turned to me. "Are you going to the memorial?"
I shrugged. "Well, I didn't really know anyone, so I wasn't planning on going."
"You don't have to. It's just to pay respect. Come on, you shouldn't be here alone." She smiled brightly at me.
I bit my lip in thought. "Alright, I guess."
"Great." She smiled then turned back to Tyler. "I'm going to help her get cleaned up and ready. You should do the same."
As Tyler, Caroline, and I walked into the church, I couldn't help but feel slightly out of place. Luckily, we quickly sat down next to each other. Glancing around, I noticed Matt and Jeremy a few rows from us.
I turned to Tyler as a thought came to mind. "Are you sure you should be here after what happened?"
He looked at me with determination in his eyes. "I'm not going to let some hunter keep me from being here and paying respects."
Stefansuddenly stopped next to us. "What are you doing here, Tyler?"
"Being sensitive to the community's loss." Tyler didn't bother looking at him.
I looked at Stefan to see disbelief written all over his face. "With a hunter out to get you?"
Tyler sighed. "As I just told Eva, I'm not letting a hunter stop me from where I'm supposed to be."
Caroline chose then to input herself into the conversation."Also, if he shows his face, I'm gonna kick his ass."
Instead of continuing to argue with them, Stefan walked away and moved down a row. As Mayor Lockwood stood at the podium to prepare to start the memorial, he sat down.
"Before we begin the Mass, we'd like to open the floor to anyone who would like to share a memory about our late friends on the Town Council. I know that April Young wanted to say a few words about her dad. April? April, are you still here, honey?"She looked around but didn't seem to be able to find her anywhere. "Is there anyone else who would like to share a recollection or a memory about Pastor Young?"
No one got up for a moment. Finally, Elena stood up as no one else would. When she did, though, I noticed that Caroline seemed to be worried.
Mayor Lockwood welcomed her warmly. "Come on up, Elena."
Elena proceeded to walk up to the podium shakily. At the moment, I heard the doors to the church open up and looked to see Damon walking him, I turned back around to see that Elena was almost to the podium.
When she finally reached it, she looked at everyone nervously. "I uh, when I talked to April earlier she was kind of nervous about coming up to speak. And now that I'm up here, I'm kind of nervous too."
She paused as he gripped the sides of the podium. After a short moment, she began again.
"The worst day of loving someone is the day that you lose them."Elena stopped again, and I noticed she began to look around for something.
I glanced Stefan, Tyler, Damon, and Caroline all doing the same. I became confused but figured it was something only they were able to know due to being vampires.
Caroline turned to Tyler. "Do you smell that?"
Tyler nodded. "Blood."
My eyes widened. "What?!"
I looked back at the podium to see that Elena started to breathe heavily.
Caroline them turned to me. "Don't move or turn around. Damon says there's a trap."
"I um…"She began to breathe in and out heavily.
Before anything could happen, though, Stefan went up to the podium and wrapped his arm around her. "It's okay, it's okay. I got you, I got you." He lead Elena off the stage and back into the row next to Matt.
The priest took over and went over to the podium. "Please turn to page forty two in your hymn book. Let us join together in a song."
Everyone in the room stood up and began to sing. Shortly into the song, I noticed Tyler's attention on something else. Following his line of vision, I realized he was staring at Matt holding Elena. I didn't understand why he would be so focused on them at first, but then I realized she was most likely feeding on him due to her meltdown over the smell of blood.
Looking away from them, I noticed Tyler had gotten up and moved passed Caroline. I stared, confused, as he walked up the aisle. Suddenly, he stops and the podium and everyone turned to look at him.
"Excuse me. I just wanted to say a few words about Pastor Young." Everyone sat back down. "Back in first grade, I was a brat who couldn't be bothered with team sports. Didn't care much about anything that didn't affect me. But he was the one who made me understand how important it is to be part of a team; a community. Of giving yourself up for the sake of…"
Before he could continue, a gunshot was heard, and Tyler fell to the floor. All at once, everyone started to scream as they ducked into the aisles and rushed out of the church. As everyone does this, Damon makes his way out with the crowd calmly. Panicking, I decided to follow Caroline as she rushed towards Tyler. We get to him around the same time Mayor Lockwood does. I also vaguely notice Elena come towards Tyler as well.
The Mayor was distressed. "Oh my God."
Caroline kneeled next to Tyler and ripped out the wooden stake he was shot with just as Stefan rushed into the stage and stood next to Elena.
Tyler then started coughing."I'm gonna kill that bastard."
"Damon's way ahead of you. Stay here, I have to help him."Stefan started to leave, but Elena grabbed his hand to stop him.
"What about April?" From her concern, I realized it must have been April's blood that they smelled earlier.
"I got it. Go." Stefan left after reassurance from Caroline.
Mayor Lockwood took out her phone."I have to call an ambulance."
Caroline shook her head."No, he's fine."
I turned as I saw movement and noticed Elena walking away.
"The whole town just watched you get shot. I'm calling an ambulance."Frustrated and upset, the Mayor left.
Just then, Caroline looked up and saw that Elena was gone. "Elena."
"She left."I shrugged as we both got up.
She sighed. "Let's go find April, then."
I nodded and followed her as she headed up the stairs of the church. I didn't bother questioning how she knew where to go since I figured she just followed the smell of blood.
Once we got to the balcony, the first thing I noticed was April gagged up and bleeding. Then, I noticed how Elena seemed to get here at the same time as us as well.
"April!"Elena rushed over to her, but stopped when she sees the blood on her.
She then suddenly rushed towards April to feed off her. Luckily, Caroline was able to interfere in time by grabbing Elena.
Caroline stared into Elena's eyes. "She's not dead, but if you feed on her you will kill her!"
"Let go of me!"Elena tried to fight Caroline off.
Caroline shook her. "Look at her! Look at her, Elena! It's April. April Young. She's not a warm body for you to feed on. She's your friend."
Elena slowly started to turn back to normal as Caroline's words got through to her. Seeing this, Caroline slowly released her.
"She's an orphan. Just like you. She's scared. Just like you were." Caroline then bites her wrist and feeds April her blood.
April gasps and looks at Caroline once she healed. "Please, don't hurt me. Please."
"No one's gonna hurt you. No one's gonna hurt you." Caroline stood up and looked towards Elena. "She needs you. You can make her forget all of this."
"Why did he do this?" Seeing that they were both ignoring April at the moment, I went over to her to comfort her until they compel her to forget what happened.
Elena shook her head. "No, I, I can't, Caroline. You have to do it."
Caroline wouldn't take no for an answer. "No. The only way you're going to learn is if you do it yourself."
"No, I can't."
"Yes, you can. You just need to believe what you're telling her. Okay?" Caroline finally seemed to convince Elena as she nodded.
Hesitating, Elena kneeled down next to April and me. She gently touches her shoulder to get her attention.
"April, listen to me." April shakily looked at Elena. "Everything's gonna be okay. You're gonna get through this. Just like I got through it."
You heard Elena begin to compel April. "I'm going to help you. I promise."
You looked up at April to see her with a blank look on her face. "I'm gonna be okay. You're gonna help me."
Elena looked up at Caroline once she finished and smile. Caroline smiled back in encouragement. "You watched the funeral from up here so that you could grieve alone. It was a beautiful service. People said really nice things."
April smiled dreamily.
I was in the car with Damon since Caroline wanted to be with Tyler for a while longer and she was my ride to the service. There was a slight awkward silence, but it was manageable thankfully. We were currently headed to the high school since Stefan texted him for us to meet everyone there when we were halfway to the house. Once we got there, we got out of the car. Damon walked over towards Bonnie, who was also getting out of her car.
"What are we doing here?" Damon sounded annoyed.
Bonnie shrugged. "I don't know. Ask Stefan."
I looked around and spotted Caroline, Eva, Stefan, Elena, Matt, and Jeremy sitting at the tables outside of the school. I trailed behind Bonnie and Damon as we approach them. I noticed that Stefan had some paper lanterns in his hands.
Damon huffed. "Stefan, what are we doing?"
"We're finishing the memorial we didn't get to have earlier." Stefan handed Elena a lantern. "We need to start healing, Damon. We've all lost so much, especially recently. I think we're numb to it. We push it away, we make a joke out of it, ignore how we feel. We've never just let ourselves grieve."
Damon rolled his eyes."So, you're lighting lanterns?"
Stefan nodded."Yeah. Yeah, we need to do this."
Damon became aggravated. "What we need to do is find out who this hunter is and what he knows about the death of the Council. We have more important things to be doing right now than this."
"Not tonight, we don't." Damon scoffed at Stefan's words."This is for my uncle Zach and my friend Lexi and for Alaric."Stefan lit the lantern, then handed the lighter to Matt.
"This is for Vicki."Matt lit his lantern, then Caroline got up and took the lighter from him.
"This is for my dad. And Tyler's." She lit her lantern.
Jeremy got up and took the lighter from Caroline. He looked at Elena. "This is for our parents."He then looked at Matt."For Vicki. Anna. Jenna. And Alaric."
He lit his lantern and looked up at Damon. He tried to hand him the lighter but Damon refused it.
"No way. I'm not doing that." Damon left.
Jeremy instead handed the lighter to Bonnie, then. She took a lantern out of the box and took the lighter from Jeremy. She got up to stand next to Caroline. "This is for my Grams."
Caroline then surprised me by pulling me up next to her, and giving me a lantern. Bonnie passes me the lighter almost right after. I hesitated slightly before looking up to see almost everyone smiling at me for reassurance.
"This is for my mom because even if she tried to kill me, she was my mom and the one who raise me. This is also for my real mom and dad. For everything they did for me and everything they never got to do." A tear slipped out as I lit the lantern.
Stefan then looked at Elena. She got up and stood next to him. Without any hesitation, I held out the lighter, and she took it. She lit the lantern. "This um, is for my mom, my dad, Jenna, everyone that you've all lost, everyone that this town has lost. And for me, I guess."
Elena stepped forward and released her lantern. One at a time, we all began to release our lanterns as well. We watch them as they float off into the night sky. It was then that I decided it was time I moved on from Chloe Emerson for good.