The rest of the summer went by pretty nicely for everyone.

Rachel got closer to Caroline and if they weren't best friends, they were friendly and hung out together. Caroline had tried to include Rachel in her group of friends but it hadn't been a success. Caroline had to divid her time between Bonnie and Elena and Rachel.

Elena had openly given Rachel the cold shoulder and if the young Salvatore girl didn't understand the reason behind it, she didn't care that much.

Bonnie Bennett didn't really seem to know how to act around Rachel but was still nice enough, polite. Rachel guessed that since the Bennett women were witches, Bonnie might get a vibe from her and since she wasn't trained yet, the young Bennett couldn't identify what it was. Rachel made a mental note to ask her father to take her to Sheila Bennett, Bonnie's grandmother, to introduce herself.

Tyler didn't stop his flirting, even when he was openly dating Vicky Donovan. Rachel didn't really mind since it was good for her ego to see someone so interested in her but she made sure he knew she wasn't really interested in anything but friendship right now. He understood and she was officially his first 'girl' friend...for now... He wasn't known to give up! Especially since rachel seemed to be slowly falling for his charms.

Matt, Vicky's brother, was nice to Rachel and she felt he had friend potential if he hadn't been so hung up on Elena and willing to do anything to please the little Gilbert.

.

When she celebrated her 17th birthday, Damon had for his daughter a big barbecue where he invited all their new friends from the council and their family. It allowed her to get to know April Young. The girl was nice enough and if she didn't go to a boarding school somewhere, Rachel thought that they could have been good friends.

RAchel was very exited because in one year, she would officially be a hybrid and would stop growing older. In one year she would finally have her forever with her father, she would be able to do spells and a lot of other things... Especially since Sheila Bennet had agreed to help train her when the time came!

"Uncle Zack!" Rachel exclaimed when the human Salvatore arrived as she jumped in his arms, not paying attention to Stefan who was by his side.

Zack had introduced them quickly once but Rachel ignored her real uncle as much as possible… She knew that her father had good reasons for wanting him gone and away from her.

"Happy birthday Rachel!" Zack said as he handed her a little wrapped box.

That day, Rachel received a lot of gifts. Most of them were gift certificates to several stores in town but she also got some cd's, dvd's, books and jewellery from her father. She had a lot of fun but she couldn't help but be nervous.

"Are you sure you want to do this tonight daddy?" She asked him.

Indeed, Damon had decided he would appear as Damon without the bracelet at the Boarding house (as vampire Damon) to try and get Stefan to leave town.

"Rachel honey, school is going to be starting soon and I'd like him gone before you have to be in all his classes!" Damon replied.

"But he's your brother… Don't you want him around? Don't you want to give him another chance?" Rachel asked him.

"You're my priority Rachel, you know that!" Damon said as he kissed her forehead and took the bracelet off before leaving the house.

.

When he arrived at the Boarding house, Damon knew that Zack was pretending to be asleep (or busy). He knew what was going to happen and didn't mind.

Damon decided to change into a crow and annoy his brother in that form for a while.

Stefan was weak…and slow…

Damon changed back and after beating up his brother a bit her threw him outside, managing to take his ring off in the process.

"What the hell Damon?" Stefan asked.

"What are you doing here Stefan? Got tired of drinking Bambi blood and you decided you wanted Katherine's look alike to be your first victim in this town?" Damon asked.

"Stay away from Elena Damon!" Stefan growled.

"Are you trying to scare me? Be serious Stefan, you're far from being a threat to me! I'm too strong for you!" Damon replied with an amused chuckled as he avoided the stake Stefan had thrown his way.

"Can't you just leave me alone?" Stefan asked, looking like a child throwing a tantrum.

"Of course I can Brother, just leave town and I'll leave you alone!" Damon suggested.

"I'm not leaving town Damon! This is my home too! Why would I leave?"

"Because I want you gone!" Damon growled.

"Why is it so important to you? You want to be free to kill innocent people?" Stefan yelled.

"Uncle Damon isn't like that anymore! He drinks from blood bags only and is in perfect control of everything, unlike you!" Zack said from behind them both.

"Don't you start with me Zack, you owe me some respect, I'm your elder!" Stefan growled.

"Don't get involved Zack, it could be dangerous!" Damon warned.

"Oh, so you're trying to act like the nice brother now?" Stefan said in a surprised tone.

"He's not acting Uncle Stefan and I called him! I want you out of the house! I want you out of my house and my town!" Zack said bravely.

"Oh come on! He's helping you for now and he'll end up killing you!" Stefan replied.

"I'm not the one with an habit of killing family members Stefan! Remember dad? He definitely wasn't the last Salvatore you killed!" Damon reminded his little brother.

Stefan had walked close to Zack and the man was standing next to Damon.

"You're crazy Zack… You probably forgot to take your vervain or something!" Stefan said as he took a stake out and, planning to stake his big brother and get him out of his life for good, pushed his arm forward.

Damon hadn't seen anything since he was too busy telling Zack to go back inside where he would be safe.

Zack saw it coming and jumped in between the brothers to save Damon.

"NO!" Damon yelled as Stefan made his usual guilty face and fell on his knees saying "No, no, no… What have I done?!" over and over again.

"Why did you do that?" Damon asked.

"She…needs…you…" were Zack's last words.

"What did he mean by that?" Stefan asked curiously.

"That's none of your problem! You're going to pay for this Stefan, I swear I'll make you pay for this!" Damon said as he took his phone out and added: "If you don't want the founders to know you're a vampire I suggest you go back inside and pretend to be asleep while I cover this up! or better yet: leave town!" Damon snapped as Stefan ran inside.

Damon was on automatic. He put the bracelet back on and called Liz. He told her that Zack called him because he saw a vampire running around the house. He had arrived too late. Liz said she was on her way. Rachel…he needed to tell Rachel… He decided to wait until everything was dealt with.

.

Damon walked back in the house to see Rachel asleep on the couch. She had been watching TV, waiting for him. he took her in his arms, thinking of carrying her in her bed when she woke up.

"Daddy, you're back!" She exclaimed with a bright smile until she saw his face.

"What's going on daddy?" She asked him.

"Something happened…" he didn't know how to tell her.

"What happened? Are you sad because you ended up killing Stefan?" She asked him, worried.

"No, I didn't kill Stefan… We were fighting and Zack decided to come and let Stefan know that he didn't want him around… He ended up taking a stake meant for me…" Damon explained as best as he could.

"Oh no! But he's going to be fine right?" She asked.

"Honey… The stake went into his heart… He's dead!" Damon replied as his daughter fell in his arms and cried.

She cried herself to sleep. It was the first time she actually lost anyone and she hated it. She was really sad and Damon hated that Stefan had brought her this amount of sadness. If he hadn't been his brother, he would have killed him already…

I guess I don't have to tell you what's coming in the next chapter...

Rachel will sing a song at the funeral...

What did you think of this chapter?

Please review!

Thanks for following me,I love all of you, especially my reviewers.

Lorelei Candice Black