A/N: Thank you so much for the amazing response to The Return yesterday! And thanks to the guests who review – I like to reply personally to all of my reviews but as I can't do that with guests this will have to suffice. THANK YOU! Unfortunately this chapter is as far as I've gotten so I'm going to need to spend a day or two writing now before you get the next instalment but I promise to try and not keep you waiting for too long!
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Brave New World

"But every night I burn
Waiting for my only friend
Every night I burn
Waiting for the world to end"

So I have a new mission: find out what the Lockwood kid is, keep my mind off everything else and hopefully prevent myself from making another epic mistake as well.

My first stop: tea with Mrs. Mayor. Only, I suppose she's not really Mrs. Mayor anymore, damn I'm going to have to come up with a new nickname. "I'll be acting as interim mayor until the elections" oh well then. Mrs. Mayor it is I guess. "I'm going to need someone to spearhead the council. I'd like that person to be you." Of course you would. How's that for irony? So perfect, so poetic. "As a founding family member it's something that's very close to me" or more importantly, as a vampire.

The kid and Mason get back while we're having tea so I tune into their conversation "...get angry, typically over nothing. I'm an angry guy, it just amplifies and I go off. I go blind with rage. All I know is I lose myself, for that time I become something else" Tyler tells his uncle and while that was...enlightening but what? What does he become? What is he?

I'm back at home pondering these things when Stefan comes in. I offer him a drink but he "just ate" – "Aren't you worried that one day all the forest animals are gonna band together and bite back? I mean, surely they talk?" Honestly I don't know how he does it. All that fur. Yuk!

"I'm just happy that's a blood bag and not a sorority girl supplying your dinner" oh I get it. He's worried I'm gonna go off the rails. Again.

"I like this. You walking on eggshells around me cause you think I'm gonna explode. It's very...suspenseful" no faith in me my brother. Nope. I have decided to start learning from my mistakes. A big step in the life of Damon Salvatore.

"Have you heard from Katherine?" God, why do I even need to hear her name? Nope, don't wanna talk about her; let's discuss more interesting things instead.

"I think the Lockwood's have a family secret, they're not vampires, they're something else" – "Is this your new obsession?" yes, would you prefer the old Damon back brother? Actually he probably would, what with him being worried I'm going to steal his girl and all.

"We haven't seen the last of Katherine" again? Really? "You do know that, right?" Me? I'd happily go the rest of eternity without seeing the little bitch again, but he is right. She's here for something, wants something. Regardless;

"She came back to profess her undying eternal love for you. So...I'm gonna let you deal with her" and have fun with that brother. She's his problem now, not mine. I have wasted more than enough time dealing with her.

"Cause I have more important things to do, like explode" or...find out the Lockwood family secret shame. Nice talking to you Stefan, as ever.

There's a school carnival tonight and I spot Jeremy Gilbert. In the flesh, "so good to see you alive" he has no idea how much I mean that.

Really Gilbert? Threatening me? Honestly, I just killed him. Learn something people! Okay, fine, lesson time.

Ah the classic choke hold, always works well in lessons. "This is what we're not gonna do, we're not gonna walk around like we're invincible when it's this easy for me to end you" I grab his special little come back to life ring and toss it at him. It might seem harsh but the kid needs to learn. Oddly enough given that I actually did kill him I am by far not the most dangerous creature around here that could end him and acting like a little brat isn't going to help anything.

I'm watching the Mayor's kid in the arm wrestling contest when Stefan finds me and accuses me of lurking, nope, I am observing. Tyler wins for the 3rd time in a row. "He's got strength...enter the uncle" I tell Stefan and we watch as Mason defeats Tyler in less than 5 seconds. Definitely super strength.

"Who wants to go next?" ooh, ooh, Stefan does! "Stefan wants a go" knock 'em dead brother.

"My brother over there thinks I can beat you" Stefan says as he sits down. No you're a fucking vampire. I know you can beat him.

Or. Not.

What the hell Stefan? "You didn't put in any effort at all" – "yeah actually, I did" huh? Wait, no. That's not supposed to happen. "Come with me" I lead Stefan away from the freakishly strong Lockwood's and he tells me it was "more than human if that makes any sense" which no, it doesn't. It makes no sense. At all. "What the hell are they?" I demand to know, as if he has any idea.

"Ooh. Maybe they're um...ninja turtles" Not funny. "Or no...Zombies, werewolves" seriously he picks now to try and find a funny bone? This is serious god dammit. Why am I the only one who seems to understand that?

I decide to manufacture a little scrap between Tyler and a carnival worker, "that Tyler kid is incapable of walking away from a fight. Let's see who intervenes – maybe it's the ambiguously supernatural mystery uncle" and maybe now I can get some answers.

I'm walking down the corridor and. Caroline. "Hey Blondie" she looks...kinda pissed, odd.

"I remember" sorry come again? What do you remember? I do not have time for childish games.

"I remember how you manipulated me, you pushed me around, abused me" well now, I wouldn't go that far. "Erased my memories, fed on me" I do not know where this is coming from but I don't like it. Not one bit.

"You're crazy" – "The memories have been coming back" Nope. Not Possible.

"You can't remember – it's impossible...I mean, unless you were..." oh god no.

"I have a message from Katherine" shit. "She said Game On" shit. Shit. Shit. This. Is. Shit.

Barbie shoves me to the floor and yep, she is fully vamped up. "You suck". Yes. Yes I do, thank you for pointing that out.

Fucking Katherine, what is she up to? Whatever it is I don't have time to figure it out right now, I'm going to have to kill Vampire Barbie, for real. Not cool. Jesus. Can we not just have one day, just one day with no fucking drama?

Need to find Elena. Right Now.

"Elena" – "What do you want Damon?" oh, words. Well it's better than the silence I anticipated. "I know I'm the last person you wanna see right now but I need you to come with me" – "Whatever it is I'm not interested" – Okay, maybe I need to be a little bit clearer – "Yeah. I need you to come with me right now Elena" yep that worked. Let's go find Stefan.

So, remember what I said about learning from my mistakes? This is step one. Vampire Barbie has to die, that girl will not make it as a vampire. I made a mistake with Vicki so this is me...learning from that.

I fill Elena and Stefan in on what's going on but they seem more concerned with what games Katherine is up to than anything else, "Katherine is a manipulative nasty little slut" and that basically clears that up, and clears up any confusion anyone might have regarding my feelings for said nasty little slut. Can we focus on the problem at hand now please?

"We have to find her" my brother states the obvious as usual. "Yep. And kill her" – "You're not gonna kill Caroline" Elena says, yeah totally didn't see that coming a mile away.

"Need I remind you of a tragic little story of a girl named Vicki Donovan? Caroline of all people will not make it as a vampire" come on, "we all know how this story ends" – "It's not an option Damon" oh god please don't cry, I've had just about as much teen drama as I can handle tonight and I cannot bear it when she cries. I know, let's put the focus on Saint Stefan for a minute.

"Your silence is deafening Stefan" there see? Stefan knows the truth. "We're not gonna kill her" oh god not you too.

"It's the only way" I tell Elena as she storms out, I guess I'll have to do the dirty work alone then, as usual.

Wood, pointy, yep; that'll do nicely. Found her! She's killed the carnival guy I compelled earlier, sucks to be him. I do feel kinda sorry for her but it's like...a mercy killing, she'll never make it.

Jesus, Stefan. He knows it's the only way and I tell him so, again. Why won't he just admit it, why does he always have to play the martyr role? "It's not gonna happen tonight" he says as he leads Caroline away.

Well. I beg to differ. I grab the stake again and rush for Caroline.

Fucking. Elena. Christ. Oh god I think my brain just died. She is insane. Thank god I have super reflexes or we'd have a dead-dead girlfriend on our hands.

"Damon she's my friend" and then she looks at me with those big doe eyes that I can't bloody resist and I'm lost. So fucking lost for this girl.

"Whatever happens, it's on you" I tell her. Oh great, judgy's joined the party. And my brain is on fire. Ah. Stop it.

"I told you what would happen if anyone else got hurt" she says, but Christ I didn't do it, for a change. It wasn't me! Please stop.

"Bonnie it wasn't his fault" right Elena, thank you, that's what I said! Oh...fire. Shit.

"Bonnie stop it" what is she doing? Why is she defending me? Oh fuck and I'm on fire. Dammit put it out!

"Bonnie stop it you're gonna kill him" I don't know why she's trying to save me again but Christ Elena please make her stop.

Ho-lee shit...wow. Did she just...yep. She jumped over a wall of fire. To save me; again. Even though I just kinda killed her brother.

"Why did you stop me?" the little witch demands. Yeah that's what I'd like to know, not that I'm complaining. What's that...4 times now?

'Kay, now that I'm no longer...burning, I have a body to bury and a houseful of alcohol calling my name.

Or. Not.

Bloody Jeremy Gilbert. "You don't lock your front door" great, thanks for the reminder. I'll be sure to rectify my mistakes in future. He's spiked my bourbon with vervain "so I could stake you" he explains. Kinda brave, stupid, but brave. Apparently it runs in the family.

"My father hated vampires. My uncle too, they were absolute. They knew exactly what they stood for. I figure maybe I should too – at least stand for something" bloody Gilbert's and their family legacy bullshit.

"Look I don't do the big brother thing very well. Sorry I don't have any milk and cookies to offer you" – "Dick" – yeah. I know. I got a list of people a mile long telling me that. But. "Wait" I'm changing, right?

Allow me to tell you a little story baby Gilbert. "My father hated vampires too..."

Dear Diary,
God all I wanted was one day, just one normal day, with no drama, no Damon, no problems...just one simple high-school day in the life of a teenage girl, but of course nothing can be that easy.

Caroline is a vampire. Apparently Katherine turned her after Damon used his blood to heal her. And then Bonnie tried to kill Damon.

And yes, I'm really angry with him right now, I don't want to deal with him right now, I don't even really want to see him right now but I still can't let him die. And Bonnie was being irrational, it wasn't his fault! Damon tried to do a good thing, he tried to save Caroline, in a way he did save Caroline, it wasn't his fault.

And then Bonnie was burning him, he was on fire and I was terrified, it seems so irrational, why should I even care so much? But I can't deny that I do, I had to jump through the fire to get her to stop, I was so afraid she wasn't going to, I was so afraid that he was going to die.

It doesn't seem to matter that I'm angry at him; the facts are that Damon has become important to me, and I don't want to lose him, not like that. I don't want to be his friend right now, but I can't let him die.

And I know that things are just going to get worse from now on, Damon thinks there's something going on with the Lockwood's, one of my best friends is a vampire because Katherine is playing stupid games and nobody knows why or what she's going to do next, but I can't help but feel that it's just the beginning.
Elena