What would you guys say if I murdered Katherine? Just a quick thought. This is probably the shortest chapter I have written and probably the shortest I ever WILL write. If I continued on to the next checkpoint of the story, I'd be here all day and it's almost half past nine at night and I still need to get cracking on my homework. Ugh. At least I have Art tomorrow, yay!

Thank you so much to the people who have the decency to slow down and write a review. It means everything to me and I hope you like this chapter, you make me want to write perfectly.

Enjoy!

Perfectly Imbalanced

A week after Cordelia had returned, she seemed to be going back to her old self. She still disappeared to go places which made Cliona a little edgy at first but she let it go. She still wore scarves, which was odd enough. Cliona didn't want to push Cordelia for anything, especially so soon.

Kyle didn't say anything either, which Cliona was grateful for. He carried on normally around her.
So obviously, Cliona was delighted to find out that Cordelia's mother was coming over. But once she had fully processed the fact that it was Cordelia's mother, she totally lost it. This meant that she would be kicked out of her own house.

The fact that Jean was even going to be in the vicinity turned Cliona's stomach. Jean Graham was a woman that liked to insult you every chance she got and was one of the reasons that Cordelia had been so persistent in leaving her home in the first place. Cliona wasn't looking forward to her visit in the very least.

In order to avoid her, she decided to go to the Grill, Cordelia was going to wind up being forced into showing her mother the shop anyway and if the worst came to the worst, Cliona wouldn't mind bending the rules and allowing Kyle run the shop and use the register. That was how much Cliona hated Jean Graham.

Damon wasn't there when Cliona sat down and ordered her drink. It felt a little odd, but she didn't have that long to wait.

"Well well, what have we got here?"

"I was kicked out of my own house. Be nice"

"Ouch, I knew that you wouldn't be the nicest person to fight with, but this is getting ridiculous"

"It's not that. I'm talking to Cordelia, her mother is in town"

"Wow, what did she do to make you forgive her, did she grovel?"

"She admitted she was wrong after coming back in tears after some guy attacked her"

"What?" Damon asked, one hundred percent serious.

"She said something about, him looking at her in the eyes and attacking her and that he broke things"

"Did she say anything else?"

Cliona felt like she needed to tell him that Cordelia had stabbed this guy with a piece of wood, but instead she shook her head and looked down at her glass.

"A lot sure can happen in a week" Damon murmured before taking a drink.

"You're telling me" Cliona replied, a little sorrowfully. She sat up straight and cleared her throat before asking, "So what about you? Anything interesting? A new novel perhaps?"

000

"You have a lot of pictures"

"I got bored during the week, so I decided to unpack a bit. I wanted the pictures up first"

"I like this one" Damon pointed to a black and white picture of a forest. The pair was standing in Cliona's hallway, observing the many pictures that Cliona had taken through the years.

"That was taken when I was sixteen"

"Seriously?"

"Yep, on my first proper camera which I still have, somewhere around here"

"What about this one" Damon pointed to a picture of a river, reeds moving in the river. The picture seemed to be taken from behind a barrier and land could be seen across the river.

"That was taken on my phone and photo-shopped…I was fourteen or fifteen"

"Always had a knack for it I see. I still don't see why you didn't just open a photography place here"

"Maybe, some day. If Cordelia gets a life without me and I have the money"

"You'd be a fool to waste your talent"

"I don't waste it. I take pictures, as you can see. And there are weddings and stuff like that."

"Ever look into magazines and newspapers?"

"Magazines are fake and planned, I prefer objects and the spur of the moment…I'm not a fan of people, especially models. They all get really bitchy" Cliona replied, standing next to Damon with her arms crossed.

"Yeah, people suck"

Cliona chuckled in agreement, "You have no idea"

"So where is your Nut Job?"

"Trying to flaunt success in her mothers face and keep her far away from the house for as long as possible."

"Well, I take it that her mother will be staying the night"

Cliona sighed in defeat, "I'd sleep in the forest before I'd share a house with that woman"

Damon looked as if he was going to say something smart when the sound of the front door opening was heard. The sound of heels against the wooden floor echoed throughout the house along with the voices of their owners. The two that had been looking at the pictures turned around to see the newcomers, their arms still crossed.

"But you could have at least looked into them."

"Yes well not all of us can…oh, hi. I didn't expect you to be here"

Cordelia looked at the pair, a little bit of shock in her eyes until she looked at Cliona, who was seeing the obvious looks of pleading and desperation. Cordelia had entered with a smaller woman with shorter blonde hair than her and more defined cheekbones. She seemed to have a relationship with fake tan and still had a thing for the colour white. She was like an older and more elegant version of Cordelia.

"Oh Cleo dear! How lovely it is to see you. My, have you put on some weight?"

Cliona fought the urge to roll her eyes at the fact that Cordelia's mother had once again gotten her name wrong and also still lacked in a mental 'thought-filter'. Thinking about the older woman's faults had her forgetting the fact that she had just been insulted in front of a guy that she had brought home and had also been infiltrating her mind when she wasn't around him.

"Mother!" Cordelia cried, feeling embarrassed for her friend.

"Nice to see you too, Jean" Cliona replied as if she had been unaffected.

"So what are you doing at home? Feeling too tired to go to the shop and work, thought you'd leave Cordelia to do all the work?"

"We have other employee's Jean" Cliona replied, taking every ounce of willpower she had not to say it through grinded teeth. She knew where this was heading so she thought it best to leave before the storm decided to start up. She turned to Damon and asked "Want to go somewhere else...Let these two catch up?"

"Sure"

000

"What a bitch"

"Yeah...and then she went and told her whole circle. In front of her!" Cliona replied, her speech slurred.

"You two lead an incredibly random life, between hermaphrodite cats and mothers that go and say something like that!"

"It's not as bad as the time I accidentally told Jean to fuck off" Cliona grinned into her drink, the sentence making Damon nearly choke on his own as he took a sip.

"What? How did that happen? I mean, can you really call it an accident?"

"Cordelia has this thing about playing rough, and I think she got it from Jean. But one day we were by the docks, back when I was a teenager. And someone yanked my hair or poked me, I can't remember, whatever. And I said 'fuck off' loudly because I thought it was Cordelia, but, when I turned around..."

"Ooooh"

"Yep"

"God that woman sounds evil. And I've known evil women, trust me"

"Ex?"

"Oh, yeah"

"Well any ex of yours must be a complete bitch anyway, 'cos you're all kinds of awesome"

This earned Cliona a smirk in her direction from the love of her compliment and the entertainment of her drunkenness.

"So what will you do tonight then? If you refuse to go anywhere near Satan's Wife...and I highly doubt you'll want that with the hangover you'll have tomorrow."

"I won't have a hangover, which only happens when I'm completely smashed, I'm only tipsy"

"Yeah well either way, you'll want to avoid her"

"Stop figuring me out so well!"

"Well stop making it easy!"

"Well stop... making me make it easy"

"Okay that was just a terrible comeback"

"I know, right?"

"I'm surprised you're friend isn't the one drinking, seeing as she's the one related to her"

"Oh Cordelia isn't big with alcohol after something happened years ago"

Damon raised his eyebrow at Cliona questioningly. Cliona's eyes widened, realising what she had just said and rushing to fix her mistake, "No. I wasn't supposed to say that. Sorry I can't say anymore, I'm a vault. I keep my friends secrets, and I don't talk behind their backs, that's why I left home, because everyone liked to talk about everyone"

"And have you reached that conclusion yet? About us being friends?" Damon asked, not being totally serious.

"Sure, why not. Let's just give that a go"

"Oh joy, someone new to spill their secrets"

"Maybe some other time"

"So you have secrets then"

"I just have things that I don't like to talk about, don't necessarily class them as secrets." Cliona replied simply, flagging down the barman for a glass of water. Damon watched her and thought about what she had said, his brow furrowed in contemplation of what that might be as he leaned against the counter.

"Thank you" Cliona said to the man behind the bar as he put her water down in front of her before walking off to attend to another customer.

"Well at least give me a clue"

"I don't think so"

"Psycho Ex?"

"Nope"

"Illness?"

"Nope"

"Deformed limb?"

"I was born with a crooked finger, it's no secret and I carry it around with pride" Cliona replied, holding up her pinkie finger on her right hand, which was slightly bent inwards.

"Criminal history?"

"Nope, never been caught" Cliona smirked in response.

Damon had to smirk at her response, "Hm, family skeletons?"

Cliona didn't say anything this time, only dropped her smirk and looked down at her glass. Damon noticed her change in attitude straight away and decided to take a different approach in getting information out of her. "I know that feeling, never got along with my father"

"And there is some more mutual ground on which we stand"

"That ground seems to be getting bigger, don't ya think?" sarcasm laced Damon's voice, which made Cliona smirk. She enjoyed his sarcasm. She found it extremely funny. "Look, why don't you crash at mine tonight, we've got too many free rooms and my brother will probably be with Elena for most of the night and I highly doubt you'd want to go near a motel here, they suck."

"I don't know" Cliona said unsurely.

"Oh come on, what are friends for?" came the answering smirk.

000

"Wow"

"I never grow tired of people reactions when they walk in"

"I'd hate to be the cleaner"

"Well, it's only two guys here, and we don't stay in a lot so there isn't that much time to mess it up."

"Are you sure your brother won't mind?"

"Well he's usually the saint around here, so once you tell him about Satan's Wife, he'll practically be asking you if you need anything every five minutes"

"Lucky, usually my brother would sit around all day like a sloth"

"What about the half one?"

"I don't know, never really met him"

"You've never met your brother?" Damon asked in disbelief, as he watched Cliona wander over towards the book shelves and sift along the many volumes with ease, "Nope"

"How did you get away with that?"

"Easy, just refuse to see the kid's mother"

"Okay now you lost me"

"I might tell you the story some time"

Damon gave her an odd look. He knew that he could make her tell him the truth but he found her reactions interesting and actually quiet unpredictable, he wanted to see if he could make her talk without any sort of compulsions. "Come on; better show you to your room"

"You could easily rent this place out or turn it into a lodge of some sort. You'd make a killing"

"Yeah, put the motels out of business"

Cliona giggle in response, "Yeah, and that shall be your first step towards world domination"

They had reached the top of the stairs now and were facing each other.

"That's not a bad idea, might have to make you my Vice President or something" Damon smirked down at her.

"Oh, the ideas. The power will just get to my head" Cliona cried dramatically, placing a hand to her forehead, "However will I cope?"

"Here we are" Damon said, bring them back to reality and opening a door down that hall towards the left.

Cliona walked in and held back a gasp. The decor of the room followed the rest of the house with its dark wooden furnishings and four poster bed. At the other end of the room was a large window which took up most of the wall and a window-seat.

"I hope that everything will be to your liking?" Damon mocked a butler.

Cliona gave him a sarcastic grin and said, "I'll just have to survive somehow."

000

Cliona was fast asleep by the time Stefan got home, only to be greeted by his older brother sitting by the fire with his usual bourbon in hand. But something felt off this time, as usual as it was to come home to find Damon this way. Something in the air was different, he could sense it. And that's when he heard it, a heart beat. Coming from upstairs. There was a slow, healthy heart beat coming from upstairs.

Stefan looked up, as if he had X-Ray vision and could see who was up there.

"Don't worry, she won't be any trouble" Damon called from the couch, his eyes not leaving the fire.

"I thought that we were over this, they aren't your puppets. We don't want a repeat of Vicky, especially now with everything going on"

"She isn't compelled and I haven't touched her, if anything, I'm helping her"

"What are you talking about?"

"Well she is temporarily avoiding her house and we couldn't leave her in a motel now could we? I mean, have you watched any of those cleaning programmes on TV? Not to mention anyone could easily walk in without an invitation."Damon replied with ease, even though he knew that anyone could easily walk into this house too, with the exception that he and Stefan were there.

"I'm serious Damon, what is going on?"

Damon let his smirk drop as he put down his glass with a sigh on a nearby table and stood up to face his younger brother.

"Everything is under control, she doesn't know anything and even if she found out, she can be compelled. No big deal" Damon shrugged.

"Yes it is a big deal! Because she is going to need to be given vervain unless you want someone like Katherine to get to her!"

"Okay, seriously? Dude, you said that she was immune to the stuff, and Katherine has no motive to touch Cliona anyway. Katherine only targets people we supposedly care about, like you and Elena, whom I may also add is still alive. I don't feel anything for this chick; I'm just doing something nice, am I not allowed to do a good deed?" Damon asked mockingly as he walked past Stefan to go upstairs.

"You don't do favours Damon, unless you're after something in return" Stefan called out, making his brother hesitate, before finally going upstairs, leaving Stefan alone to contemplate what was going on, the very thing that Damon had been doing just moments before he'd arrived.

000

"Aren't you supposed to be in work?" Damon asked, walking into the kitchen to see the houses new temporary resident sitting at the table with a bowl of cereal and a newspaper.

"Aren't you supposed to be drinking whiskey?" came the retort.

"Touché"

"I'm not a morning person so ignore me. I have a day off"

"You seriously get those? I always tagged you as the pushover that did nothing but work" Damon leaned against the counter top, his arms folded.

"Five days a week, and two of them can be half days...no wait, I own the place, so any day could be a half day"

"But unlucky for you, you're responsible which means that you won't take a short cut"

"Hiring that Kyle kid was enough excitement, but he's alright to have around"

"Yeah, I know his dad, met him a few times"

"Really?"

"Yeah Ryan Sterling, stupid name if you ask me"

Cliona sniggered from behind her paper, unable to say anything accept, "I heard he was supposed to be a right twat"

"Mweh, he's just one of those 'by the book' guys, you know?"

"Boring"

"My thoughts exactly" Damon smirked over to the newspaper.

"And this paper is boring too, does anything happen in this town apart from rabid animals on the loose?"

"Not really, no. Sorry to disappoint"

"It's okay. I have to go now anyway. I have some things that need sorting, like the house, while Cordelia and Jean aren't there, one less thing for her to complain about. Might see you later" Cliona said, folding her paper and leaving it on the table, before walking out of the room, calling "See ya".

Damon looked after her, an odd look in his face. It was weird have a normal person in the house, almost incomprehensible. He went over to the table and looked down at the headlines to see if there was anything worth reading, and what he got was much more than he had bargained for. Cliona hadn't been too far off the marker when she had said 'rapid animal'. There had been another animal attack.

000

"We are never going to be free of these things!"

"Calm down Ryan"

"No Liz, I won't. They need to be stopped once and for all. I thought we made sure of that when John Gilbert got that device"

"More could have come along since then, and if you won't control yourself I'll have Sheriff Forbes make sure that you are escorted from here" Mrs Lockwood said, trying to bring some control back to the council meeting.

"But what are we to do in the meantime while those demons are out there? What about our kids?" Cecile asked concern etched on her face, making Damon want to roll his eyes at her. Pathetic.

"We have made sure that the drinks and food at the Mystic Grill will now be served with vervain, giving your children any types of jewellery with vervain in them or spiking their food with it would be advisable"

Everyone around the table nodded in agreement, except Damon who wasn't held under scrutiny because everyone else at the table had children.

"There is also one other topic of discussion which I would like to bring up" Mrs Lockwood said, an awkward look on her face.

"What is it Carol?" Sheriff Forbes asked, her brow furrowed in worry.

"In a few weeks there will be a new election. I will also be stepping down from the head of the council if my husband's successor is aware of...what we are here for"

No one said anything. No one liked bringing up the Mayor in front of her, as much of an asshole as he was. The loss was still raw to her, and it was obvious to everyone. No one wanted to ask a question, it was a mystery about where she would live, the Lockwood's owned the mansion and they had even owned the land one hundred years previously but it was a Mayors house, the new Mayor of the town would need a big house wouldn't he, or she? It was interesting to see how things would play out.

Life in Mystic Falls was like a book, where everyone was dying to read the next chapter.

"So have we got any leads on this new string of animal attacks?" Ryan asked, preventing any uncomfortable silences from happening.

"Not yet" Sheriff Forbes replied in her serious police voice "All we know is that they are new to town, so finding them is probably going to be the hardest thing we can do, seeing as they may not expect us to know anything, especially if we are passing it off as an animal attack"

Damon held back a snort; vampires knew that they were known, it was no secret. It'd probably be all up to him again, like Lexi and Logan, who would have been an easy enough kill if it weren't for the fact that Ana had known about Katherine the entire time.

"Things would be so much easier if we just had that Gilbert device again"

"Yes well, John is dead so we don't know where it is, or what it even looks like for that matter. That information was never given. It's is a secret which was taken to the grave" Damon's eyes flashed up to Carol, who had spoken. That device should have been destroyed, it had almost gotten him caught and not only that but the woman's husband had been the one to learn the truth about him just before he died, oh and it was also the reason he had been killed too. Damon wouldn't have been surprised if Elena and Jeremy had buried John with his precious device. No one in Mystic Falls would have the guts to dig up a man's grave, especially not John Gilbert's...except, of course, Damon himself.

"Any idea as to how we find this thing?" Cecile snapped at Liz, her chubby face turning bright red as she did so and hit the table with her fist.

"Look, there will be another party soon, so we'll push it up to a day time party to see who to suspect, we are also looking into any newcomers into town, and any suspicious behaviour"

"You should look into those new girls that opened that shop" Cecile said matter of factly, "That blonde is out every night and you ever see her outside in the middle of the day, always indoors. They sell all witchy things in that shop. They aren't normal. I'm telling you that something is going on!"

"Cecile please, I've seen those girls, the brunette goes out all the time and the blonde just likes to go out to enjoy herself and get to know the place. And there is no proof of anything supernatural going on in that shop." Liz tried to reason from across the table. Carol's eyes jumping back and forth, from the head of the table, between the two bickering women.

"They sell strange herbs and books on numerology and aura's and stuff like that. There is even a poster of the devil on one of those poster racks!"

"It's what the kids are buying these days. They are merely making their living. These people don't know anything about our town, so until then leave them alone!" Liz ordered, her voice rising. She glanced at Carol who immediately took the side of the Sheriff.

"I'm sorry Cecile, but unless you can prove anything going on in that shop, you are to leave well enough alone"

"Ryan, your son works there. Are you aware of that?"

"Kid has to make his money somewhere. It makes him responsible and gets him out of the house. Teaches him about life and values. He's been in a better mood and it'll give him a taste of working life for when he leaves school, it'd look good on college forms and I'm sorry Cecile but I'm not going to pull him out of that job"

"But he can work at the Grill"

"The only space available is behind the bar and I'm not allowing my son near all of that alcohol" Mr Sterling snapped, ending Cecile's protest. He had had enough and he wasn't going to take anymore of it. Kyle had been well behaved for the first time in a while and he had seemed clean. Ryan didn't want his son drinking or anything like that, but little did he know Kyle was just after figuring out a new place to smoke, even if he had cut down.

"They must have done something to him to make him so well behaved" Cecile said, facing Carol.

It was at this point that Damon had to roll his eyes and interject, "If I may, the kid is turning around now because he liked the shop and the owners. They get along well and wouldn't you prefer him to like an adult and talk to them rather than cut off all connection and get lost into a world of drug abuse? No you wouldn't. So I think, Cecile, you should just do as Liz here says, and drop it"

Cecile had a look of pure shock, which quickly turned to one of outrage, on her face as she looked around at everyone. "What is wrong with you people? I'm going to prove it! I'll show all of you!" she nearly screeched as she stood up quickly, knocking over her chair in the process. She didn't look back as she grabbed her handbag and swung it over her shoulder before walking out of the room in a huff.

Everyone watched her as she left. Most of them knowing that she wouldn't give up. But all of them, dreading it.

000

"Here's to the embarrassing moment when a guy can cook and you can't" Damon teased Cliona while raising his glass of red wine.

"Oh shut up"

"You might want to watch yourself, I could evict you"

"Yeah, why did you even offer anyway? You hardly know me. I could be a crazy stalker that kills your cat and practises Satanism when you aren't around" Cliona said sarcastically, as she leaned against the kitchen island.

"A friend in need, and all that jazz."Damon replied, stirring the pot of pasta sauce with a wooden spoon.

"How do you cook?" Cliona asked, deciding on just firing questions.

"How do you not?"

"I asked first"

"You usually do" Damon smirked over his shoulder to see a frowning Cliona, making him frown himself. "I told you that I had other hobbies apart from drinking. I just...don't do it a lot."

"Yeah, only when a woman is around" Cliona replied, before taking a swig of her wine.

"Yeah well, time for you to tell me why you don't cook"

"Because I...it was like conforming. We had to choose between cooking classes and metalwork classes. So I went for the boy's class"

"So I can make sure that you're fed, while you can make sure that my car engine is perfect?"

"Yep"

"We are just perfectly imbalanced"

"I wasn't the only girl...even though the only other girl in the class with me was only there in order to escape the clutches of the cookery teacher." Cliona said dramatically, waving her arm about as if to demonstrate a point before taking another swig of the wine.

"Well make yourself useful and get cutting those peppers. Never too late to learn"

Cliona huffed and picked up the kitchen knife to begin cutting.

"I bet this means that I'll have to teach you about car maintenance" she said sarcastically, cutting into a red pepper.

"I'll survive"

"You'd be surprised at the amount of guys that can't say that"

"You said the exact same thing about people speaking Irish in Ireland"

"Well they're all in the same boat then, aren't they?"

"Must be one hell of a boat"

"Oh it is," Cliona said sarcastically, finding the current vegetable being chopped a little difficult, "It rocks and jolts and many people fall out and nearly drown"

Damon laughed at her choice of words as he faced the pots, his back to her. They both laughed until Cliona let out a hiss and gasped. Damon looked over to see what had happened, only to see Cliona walking towards him, holding her finger, "Got a bandage anywhere?"

Damon looked down at her hand to see red blood oozing from her finger, the same blood that he had seen the night in her room when she had fallen down in her drunken state. He stared at the blood on her finger, the red liquid acting like a siren calling a sailor to his doom.

"Oh my God, are you okay?"

Damon could feel his eyes changing and quickly rubbed at them, turning around so he wouldn't have to face her.

"Your eyes"

"Just got something in it, sorry blood makes me...weird"

"It's okay. You're not the first person I've come across"

"Bandages are under the sink"

He didn't turn around until he knew he had his eyes under control and his fangs had retracted. Cliona was just turning off the tap and ripping open one of the bandage wrappers when he looked over.

That had been a close one.

So think about that Katherine question. Because there could be a major plot twist with her if you let me kill her. I plan on letting a good few people die actually. If you have any questions don't hesitate to ask. This is also going to be based after the whole Klaus thing. I want my own drama, not the original from the series. It's just easier that way and I rather OC's doing stuff, that way I don't have to worry that much about getting into character. I hope I have Damon written well enough, he's fun to write.

Review!

Skitz ;)