Chapter 15-

Unknown 2009

Atticus Shane had a sinking feeling in his chest. He felt like something bad was about to happen, but his wife kept reassuring him everything would be fine. With each day it got worse, and he was feeling distracted. One day before leaving for work he saw a small package delivered. In it was a note and a small ring and three necklaces.

Give the ring to your son and put the necklaces on yourself and family.

Do not take the ring off your son ever.

Never remove the necklaces.

See you soon.

Shane knew that a message and package like this was too cryptic even for him, but he did as instructed. He slipped the ring on his son's finger, disguising it as a random gift and did the same for his wife's necklace. After doing so the bad feeling in his chest lightened.

Down the line he would be more thankful for the necklaces and bracelets than he thought possible.

May 23, 2009

So… What do you want to know? Who am I now? Have my morals changed? What could possibly have happened in three years, you may wonder. Truthfully… nothing much.

Ever since that day when I told Kelly she was a succubus I've been helping her get her feeding under control, teaching her how to hunt and trying to see if she had any more abilities. So far, she has the need to feed on sexual energy and allure but not anymore. My guess was her blood is very diluted and that's why she didn't get any more of her succubus traits. If I had to guess, Vicki also got the allure, enhanced looks but none of the feeding for which I was thankful. Same goes for Matt which makes sense considering how all the girls flock to him.

I had found a balance between being a protector and being a person. I did miss out on the later parties and have had to cancel one too many times because of early warnings from animals but I was there for every birthday, every happy moment and every time they cried. I was a sister, a friend and person before anything else and I had to learn that early on or I wouldn't be who I was today.

I still kept up with my exercise with Sheila, even if I didn't need them because it was nice to just be around her.

And my powers? Well… let's just say that though I didn't get more abilities, they were stronger than I could imagine. They had grown to their full potential and even though I knew there was supposed to be more I couldn't access it. It is frustrating. I didn't know my limit and that scared me a bit but not having all the powers I should scared me even more. When would the time come before my regular abilities failed me when I needed them most. Hopefully not tonight because I had things to do.

From the signals I was getting there were about 4 Feral's, my new name for the vampires coming after me, heading to where the biggest food source would be which was of course the bonfire. My black on black would help keep me hidden in the darkness while also making it easy to ignore blood stains after I washed them.

I slid my stakes into my thigh holsters. As time went on, I really only needed these two and learned to not lose them. I never did find the one I had dropped the second night I went hunting. The council were pretty quiet about it from what I could tell but it was the least of my worries. As long as they never knew about me and didn't cause me problems, we were cool.

The only other thing I did keep as a weapon was a whip that I had modified. It was very versatile and worked well with me. It was my version of Blade's sword, just maybe a touch better.

I was headed out the back and made my way on foot. I was even faster than I had been in previous years. It took only a minute to meet the vampires and they were together. I never had a group show up before, they usually came but were separate. They were changing but I wonder how much luck a group of vamps would have against me.

I flung my whip out and watched it wrap around the neck of the feral on the left end. The feral immediately tried to get it off but the tugging made the whip activate its spikes. The feral howled into the night and I hoped that it didn't alert the kids at the bonfire.

The other three turned around and caught sight of me. Their target changed from the easy feast to me, the witch holding one of their own.

"Who's next?" I smirked tugging at the vampire to drag him to me. Each came running and I never stopped smirking.

"Well, that was fast." I looked at each body on the ground, lifeless. I did routine as usual and left the quickly burning bodies to turn to ash along with my stakes. They had gotten more or less destroyed by me being super aggressive and were rendered useless. I wanted the fight to last longer but oh well, they're dead and I probably had time to catch a little bit of the bonfire.

By the time I got there it was still in full swing. Everybody was either toasty from the fire or from the ever-flowing beer and liquor.

"MAVY!" Caroline yelled coming right at me. Soon as I was in arms reach, she was hanging off of me like a sloth. "Mavy, I'm so happy you could make it."

"Honeybee, how much did you have?" I slung my arm around her waist, and she basically led me to our group sans Elena and Matt. I saw them across from us looking distant from each other even though they were supposedly in a relationship. I waved at them, but they gave me the barest nod of recognition while they were deep into their conversation.

I took the offered water from Vicky and smiled at her mindfulness. She always remembered, drunk or not, that I was not a fan of indulging in alcohol or drugs. It made me feel out of place more times than I'd like to admit but my friends never judged me for it so that kept me strong from the peer pressure of everyone else.

I returned my attention to Elena and Matt whose faces changed. "What's going on with them?" I asked like I didn't already know.

Bonnie sighed. "Just a conflict of interest."

"That conflict has been upgraded to an argument." I pointed out.

Vicky ran worried hands through her hair. "I really hope they don't get hurt. And most of all, I don't get involved."

"Sucks being the friend and sister, doesn't it?" Tyler winced. "I do not envy your position."

"Nobody does." Caroline agreed.

"Well, they were friends before this and once it passes over, they'll be friends again. We just have to give them time." I told them. My eyes were still on the couple, and I saw Elena look defeated and walk away.

I turned back to my friends, giving them all hugs. "I'm gonna go check on Elena and then head home. See you later." They all said their respective goodbyes. I walked up to Matt and gave him a hug.

"You gonna be ok?"

He squeezed me harder before releasing me and giving me that pretty boy smile. "I'll be fine."

With his reassurance, I walked after Elena, staying further back and eventually walked alongside her through the shadows of the trees.

I keep thinking that I should have kept her and Matt apart. Would I have been doing them a favor? Honestly, I don't think I could have. Elena was popular and a teenage girl, Matt was the same. They wanted that cheesy high school, football, cheerleader, childhood friend romance that they thought would work for them. The only thing is I know it would work for Matt. It suited Matt but Elena wanted more, and she realized that dating Matt. I may have interfered in their lives more than I should have but never would I keep my friends from feeling. I had one rule that I would only keep them from making stupid choices.

Eventually I saw Elena slow down and about to hang up and knew it was time for me to come out of the shadows. Sorry Damon, you're just going to have to wait a while.

"El Bell." I called from behind her. She turned around with a grateful smile and I pulled her into a hug. "You ok?" I said looking over her shoulder to see that Damon wasn't here. I had no doubt he saw her, but he would never approach her until I said so.

"No." I patted her back. "It's just Matt has these plans and everything in its place and I…" She pulled away, running a hand down her face.

"You don't want that." I nodded in understanding.

"Does that make me a bad person? That I don't want that but then again, I don't know what I want?" She asked tearfully.

I took her hands from her face and held them in mine. "El Bell, I'm not here to judge. I'm not here to direct your life" much "I'm here to listen and be your friend and his when he calls for me."

Tears started slipping down her cheeks and I used my sleeve to wipe them away as they kept coming. "Mav, I don't know what to do. I don't want to hurt him."

"I know but you'll hurt him more if you keep stringing him along. It's good to date and figure it out. It's not a bad thing. And best of all you got to date your friend who was probably the best first you could have had." I lifted her head to look at my eyes. I smiled as softly as I could. "He was your friend first Elena, remember that. No matter what he's going to be there for you, and he'll understand."

A car started honking, ending our moment.

The scene was set.

Miranda and Grayson saw me with Elena and offered me a ride home. Usually, I would decline but I wasn't out here for just one reason. Somewhere along the years I made up my mind. It didn't feel right in my spirit, but I loved Elena. That's what all choices came down to, who you were doing it for and how you felt about them.

I got in the car and tuned everything out. I focused on my core and was preparing my body. I kept it flowing from my legs to my arms to my lungs. I closed my eyes.

The car veered off the bridge.

For a moment we were airborne, and all my current concern was on Elena. Our hands were gripped together tightly, her fearing for my life and I just trying to reassure myself that we would be ok.

That I would make us be ok.

SPLASH!

Shit, this was not going as planned. Of course, Elena was freaking out and Grayson was trying to get out, but something was wrong. The car was filled up too fast. It was weighted, pressing on whatever parts that the air hadn't claimed.

"Maverick, Elena. Everything's going to be ok." He tried soothing us, well, his daughter.

First things first, get Elena and I unstuck. I gripped onto her seat belt and broke it, then I did mine.

"Mr. Gilbert, stop." He ignored me. He kept pulling on the door, but I knew it wouldn't budge, not with his strength. "Stop!" I ordered. He turned sharply at me, his lips pulling back in a snarl.

"Maverick, I am trying-"

"I know what you're trying, and it won't work so stop." I got out of my seat and broke his seat belt as well. He looked astounded at me but thankfully kept quiet.

"Elena, Mr. Gilbert, I'm going to need you to hold your breath." They did as I said, and I turned my attention back to my door.

I pulled my legs back and put some really concentrated magic at the soles of my feet and filled my lungs with it. I kicked powerfully and the door opened, water rushed in, taking away what little air was left.

The onslaught of more water made me slightly disoriented. Elena was going into panic again, so I took her head in my hands and put my lips to hers. I released some of the magic I stored into my lungs and watched her eyes fall peacefully. I pulled away when she was fully knocked out.

I pulled her after me out of the car then hooked my hand around her waist for better support. It was hard for me swimming with dead weight, but I blamed it on the pressure water. It shouldn't be this heavy and when I was out of this, I would figure out why.

Halfway to the surface I saw Stefan.

Thank you for showing up. It's not like I was the one doing most of the hero work. I'm happy he was distracted by Elena so he couldn't see me rolling my eyes.

I quickly put her in his arms and motioned for him to go. He delayed still looking concerned for me, but I turned away and headed back for the Gilbert parents.

I got there and motioned for Grayson to come out of the door I had open but wondered why he had not earlier. I quickly realized the problem when he pointed down to his leg. It was stuck, probably broken, between the door and his seat.

I gripped the door handle and pulled but it wouldn't budge. I put magic behind it, and it still wouldn't budge. I was getting worried. I kept pulling and pulling but it wouldn't open. Each time I pulled the water would push down on me, squeezing the saved air and magic from my lungs. I even tried to go through the open door, but the element blocked my entry. To get in would be a fight of magic I was quickly running out of to keep me alive and strengthen my body.

I pulled my head back up to Grayson shamefully and shook it.

'I'm sorry.' I mouthed.

He nodded his head looking at his wife peacefully smiling with her eyes closed. He looked back at me, resigned to his fate. 'It's ok.'

No. No it's not. I kept pulling on the door trying to get it to budge. When life started fading from Grayson's eyes I resorted to banging. I screamed. I cried.

NO! No no no no no! Please let me save him. Please! I can't let Elena lose her father!

My pleas were not heard by the element surrounding me. It didn't care. Right now, it was working on someone else's will or maybe its own.

I'm sorry Grayson. I'm sorry Miranda.

I'm so sorry.

A five day wait and I hope I made it worth it. This took time because I was struggling to know what to do. This just came to mind and it exploded within me.

If you're mad that I cut Damon and Elena's scene, sucks. I have no use for it and I wanted a bit more of a friend scene. This just felt more right. Also, dates will only be up for important plotlines still pertinent to our story.

Another thing is we hit over 3,000 views! YAY! Thank you as always because I mostly write now to give everybody something different to read and change the show. I did promise more of a mix of real-life actor traits and book traits and that will be here soon so don't worry.

The new version of Wild-Light is up and the next chapter will be up shortly after this.

R&R is you want and suggest something. It's always good to get an outside view that's different and refreshing from what you had in mind in the first place.

Until next time- BigSmallWonder