A/N: Okay so I've combined Family Ties & You're Undead to Me into this one chapter because YUTM ended up being really short but I still felt it was super important to have it in there. YUTM starts after Elena's first diary entry. It's a little...different and I hope you all like the way I've written it. Don't worry if you don't because this will probably be the only one that's ever written that way because it. was. hard.
I do not own the Vampire Diaries, if I did I'd be writing season 6 instead of this! On with the show.

Family Ties & You're Undead to Me

I decide to start the day off right and fuck with my baby bro's mind a little bit. I can't tell you how fun being able to dream walk is, one of the little tricks I learnt whilst locked in a cell but we'll get to that I'm sure. It's so easy to fuck with Stefan's head – major pitfall of his diet.

"Why would you cover your tracks?" he asks when I've told him that I captured a wild beast and led the police away from vampires. Or the council I should say. It is Mystic Falls after all.

Well Stefan, I'm not sure how exactly to answer that question anymore. So I tell him a partial truth "I'm just having way too much fun here with you and Elena" he retaliates with nonsense about the vervain, note to self: find out where he got that. But as I told him the vervain keeps me out of her head. Maybe that's not my target. But I think my target is something that rhymes with head.

A stab in the gut to Stefan for being a dick and my work here is done. What? He ruined my John Varvatos. Again.

I'm with my own perky little cheerleader now, she talks sooo much, asks way too many questions and reads atrocious books but regardless she is proving exceptionally useful so I'll keep her around, for now. I've 'convinced' Caroline to take me to the Founder's Party tonight and when she's finally finished obsessing over her dress I head home to get ready.

My brother seriously thinks I'm an idiot. Does he think I can't smell the vervain in the drink? Still I play along for a while until I bore of the charade – I make reference to the night Stefan escorted Katherine to the original Founder's ball; it truly was hell to watch and I did leave early. What he doesn't know is that she sent me away that night; compelled me to leave. Katherine didn't compel me very often but she did that night.

"Oh well, here's to history repeating itself" I say before pouring his vervain laced alcohol on the floor. The look on his face is priceless. Time to go.

Getting my invite into the Lockwood mansion was more than simple although the term 'boyfriend' grates on my nerves a little.

Elena. She walks in on my brother's arm looking...beautiful. Of course. I'm a fraction jealous as he leans in and speaks to her, dropping a kiss on her cheek but shhh! Don't tell. I avoid them for a while until I overhear my name, followed by my brother's. Ah. The original guest registry. I decide now is my time to make nice and rescue Stef from a potentially uncomfortable situation.

Barbie plays her role perfectly, distracting Stefan and leaving me alone with Elena. I apologise to her for the attempted kiss the other night and give her a brief Salvatore history lesson. She says she's sorry and that she can't get in the middle of Stefan and me. She hopes we can work it out and she's so fucking sincere I feel like I'm losing parts of myself. It surprises me as much as anyone else when I reply "I hope so too" andsomewhere inside me, that is true.

We walk back to Stefan and Caroline and Elena asks him to dance and again I'm hit with jealousy so intense that I literally have to breathe it out. Why am I even forcing myself to watch this? Oh yes because she's fucking beautiful. Even though I know it's so much more than that. I just don't want to look too closely at that.

I overhear parts of Elena's fight with my brother; Stefan tells her that I'm trying to turn her against him and she replies saying that it's working. Wow. This really is going to be easier than I thought...maybe now I can swoop in and steal his girl...for a while.

Or. Not.

Elena intercepts me on the stairs catching me off guard when she pushes me that I actually step back. Fuck. Fucking Caroline. That was not how I wanted that to happen. But she's so...feisty. Even after finding something out about me she still comes and confronts me and she wasn't even scared. She should be. Not that I really want her to be. Sort of.

Where is Caroline? It's time for her to die.

Or. Not.

Just. Nothing is going my way today.

A no good very bad day; been having those a lot recently.

Vervain. Stefan. Cellar. Crystal gone. Fuck. Darkness is my friend.

Dear Diary,
I asked Stefan to join me as my date to the Founders party and he agreed but he also said that "the Salvatores don't get invited anymore" what does that mean? Why not?

"Tonight's going to be a good night" I said to Bonnie. Yeah, famous last words, good job Elena.

It all started off well enough, Damon apologised to me for the other night and explained why he is the way he is; when he told me about the battle of Willow Creek and what happened to his ancestors it sounded so...personal. Almost like it had happened to him.

"Doesn't it always come down to the love of a woman?" he said and there's such a sadness in his eyes but still that ever present cheeky glint and I STILL feel that sense of déjà-vu when I look into his eyes. It's the oddest feeling really, maybe I knew him in a past life or something!

I ended up getting into a fight with Stefan, he won't tell me anything! I feel like he is hiding things from me and he won't open up to me. I tried to force him into it, into saying SOMETHING but he just turned it around on Damon. As if it was his fault – is this what Stefan does?

But then...something is GOING on. Caroline has BITE marks and bruises ALL over her. It's obviously Damon. What is wrong with him? Who is he? How can he be so...sincere and open and...beautiful and also be so completely different?

Why is Stefan protecting him? He's 'handling' it? What does that even mean? And he didn't seem surprised. Is this just what Damon does? And Stefan is okay with that?

There is SOMETHING going on and I'm beginning to get really tired of not knowing. Stefan says he 'needs' me to trust him but it's not just something I can magically hand over. I'm GOING to find out what's going on diary.
Elena

"Hello darkness my old friend"

Cellar. Darkness. Stefan. No ring. Weak. 3 days. Trapped. Desiccate. Mummify. Vervain. Re-evaluate. 50 years. Didn't have to be this way. Darkness.

Zach. Vervain. Not family. No family. Shutting down. Grandfather. Joseph. I killed him. Unlock the door. Stefan. Weak. Darkness.

Darkness. Caroline. Help. Crow. Darkness. Stefan. Bad guy. Elena. Truth. Lies. Walk away. Darkness. Crow. Caroline. Help me.

Caroline. Crow. Here. She's here. Thank you god. Cellar. Weak. Compulsion. Open the damn door. NOW. Please sweet Jesus open the fucking door. Zach. Dead. Caroline...need blood. Now. Weak. Sun. FUCK. OUCH. Crow. Blood. Better. Ish.

Need my ring. Fucking Stefan...going to KILL him. Slowly. Maybe shove him in the basement, leave him to desiccate and steal his girl. Sounds like a fucking plan. Thank god the suns gone down. Watch out folks, Damon's back.

Twist of fate that it's the same girl from before. Vicky her name is. Not anymore. Dead her name is now.

Dear Diary,
Damon is gone and he's not coming back Stefan said, Caroline was upset. "This is a good thing Caroline" I told her and I'm almost convinced. But there is a part of me that feels otherwise.

His sincerity. His eyes. His emotions. The lies.

I don't know...there's a part of me that feels like I can't judge the situation without knowing the whole story and the problem is nobody is telling me the whole story. Stefan won't answer anything, what is he hiding from me?

Even after dinner, it was great and I feel like we connected more and I want so much to make things right but every instinct in my body is telling me to be careful. What you don't know CAN hurt you. There's something more I just know it...his face...I'm so sure. I was so sure...something changed and I'm GOING to find out what's going on.

"You haven't aged a day". June 1953. Stefan and Damon Salvatore. Animal attack. Tragedy. Nephew. Stefan.

I am not a believer. People are born. They grow old, they die.

No magic. No mysticism. No immortality. Nothing that defies rational thought. People are supposed to be who they say they are and not lie or hide their true selves.

Not possible. Not a believer. I can't be.

But how can I deny what's right in front of me?

Never gets old. Never gets hurt. Changes in ways that can't be explained. Girls bitten. Bodies drained of blood...vampire.
Elena

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