Disclaimer: I do not own the Vampire Diaries and never will, but I do own Charlene Davis and Megan Swann and any other characters I come up with.

Author's Note: Hope you love the updated version! :D

After arguing with Stefan for what seemed like forever, Charlene managed to convince him to let her check on her family. To make sure Vicki hadn't gotten to Jeremy yet. She quickly knocked on the door and Jeremy was the one to open it, surprised to see her.

"Charlie?"

Charlene sighed in relief. "You're okay!"

"Of course I am…why wouldn't I be?"

She shook her head. "Doesn't matter…I'm just glad you're okay, Jer."

"What are you doing here? Thought you left." Jeremy turned to head back towards the kitchen and Charlene tried to follow, but found herself unable to get in.

She pushed but it felt as if there was barrier there. "Um Jer?" she called. He ducked his head around the corner, staring at her oddly.

"What are still standing there for? Come in here."

Charlene tried again and this time, she was able to step inside. She was confused for a moment before she realized that she had to be invited in. Stupid vampire rules. Charlene shook her head as she followed Jeremy into the kitchen. She watched him, leaning against the doorway while he opened the fridge.

"Where's Elena?" Charlene asked, breaking the silence.

"She went to that Halloween party." He answered. Oh right, she had forgotten that was tonight.

Charlene crossed her arms across her chest. "Right…are…are you gonna go?"

He gave a shrug. "No."

"I would go, Jer…it might take your mind off of Vicki." Jeremy stopped and looked at her. "I heard about what happened…but it might be best to just…let her go…she needs help…and I don't think being with her right now would be the right thing to do…"

An angry look crossed Jeremy's face and Charlene winced at the sight. "What does that even mean, 'let her go'? Oh, okay, sure. Since we're such experts on letting people go, right?"

Charlene sighed heavily. "Jeremy, I don't want to fight. I'm just…I'm just trying to protect you…"

"I don't need protecting! Not from her!" He glared at Charlene.

"Jer…"

"Look." Jeremy took a deep breath and let it out, meeting his sister's eyes. "For months after mom and dad died, I felt like crap, 'nothing really even mattered' crap. Now, all of the sudden, I get these moments and things started feeling a little bit better, and Vicki was in every single of 'em. So, you may not see it, but trust me. Keeping me away from her is not for the best."

Before he could storm off, Charlene quickly spoke up. "I'm sorry…I know I don't have the right to tell you who you can't be around…and I know Vicki has been there for you since our parents died…but just because someone has been there for you, doesn't mean they're good for you…and Vicki isn't…you deserve so much more than you think, Jeremy Gilbert, and I hate that you don't see that. You're my little brother, Jer, and I'm always gonna be there to protect you, even if you don't feel like you need it." He didn't say anything as he finally stormed off to the stairs.

Charlene sighed, staring where her brother once was. She tried, but she wasn't going to give up. She couldn't let Vicki near her brother. Charlene returned to the boarding house a couple hours later with a large Halloween bag in her hands. She went into the room she was staring in for the time being and tossed the bag into the bed before rummaging through it.

"Charlene? What are you doing?" It was Stefan.

"I'm going to the Halloween party at school. Elena's there and I think Jeremy is too, I need to make sure they're safe."

"I don't think that's a good idea, Charlene. You can't be around a large group of people."

Charlene looked towards him immediately. "I'm not going to hurt anyone, Stefan." She snapped. "I can control myself…you saw how I was with Megan. I didn't hurt her."

"You could have…after what happened with Vicki."

"But I didn't." Charlene reminded him. "I couldn't do that to Megan. She's too important to me for me to even think about hurting her. And if you're really worried about me hurting someone, come with me. Even got you a costume since I knew you would argue with me about going." She tossed him a white shirt and leather jacket, which he caught looking bewithered. "You're going as the Fonz from Happy Days. I'll see you downstairs in thirty minutes. Okay? Good." She said quickly at the end so he couldn't protest before going into the bathroom with her own costume to change into it, leaving Stefan standing there.

Loud music and joyful laughter echoed as Megan stepped into the Halloween party, dressed in her costume. She decided to go as an Angel. It was actually the one she wore to last year's Halloween party. There wasn't any time to pick out another costume, considering all the craziness that was happening.

Megan looked around for Bonnie and Caroline. They weren't that hard to find as she spotted them dressed in witches' costumes, standing behind a black caldron where kids were taking candy out of it. She gave a smile as she headed over there.

"Hey guys." Megan greeted, stopping in front of them. "Nice costumes."

Caroline beamed. "Thanks! It was my idea." She stated proudly.

Bonnie rolled her eyes but smiled. "You look good too, sis. But isn't that last year's costume?"

She nodded and shrugged. "Yeah, but whatever, I rather pick the same costume, then figure out a new one to wear."

Her sister just nodded as Tyler Lockwood came up to the three of them with a wide grin, holding onto a couple drinks.

"Cider for the ladies." He announced, grin widening as he handed them over. "It's the Lockwood special."

Megan made a face at that, remembering what happened the last time she had the famous Lockwood special. She had a headache for days.

"I think I'll pass." Megan said as she shoved her drink back into Tyler's hand. "After what happened last time, I swore I would have drink another one of those."

"Same here." Bonnie agreed, but she kept her drink. "Last year I was hung over until Thanksgiving."

"Lightweights." Caroline teased as she rolled her eyes. "I am going to drink until someone is hot enough to make out with."

Tyler smirked. "Sounds like a place."

The blonde grinned and they clicked their cups together. Megan shook her head. Wow, if she didn't know any better Caroline and Tyler would be great together.

"I'll see you guys later." Megan spoke, changing the subject. "Have you seen Elena?" the question was directed towards Bonnie.

"Yeah, she's with Matt. Last time I saw her, they went that way." Her sister pointed and Megan nodded.

"Okay, thanks." With that, she went off to find Elena and Matt.

Sitting on a booth in the Mystic Grill sat Mr. Richard Lockwood, who was dressed as Gatsby from the book the Great Gatsby, and Mrs. Carole Lockwood dressed as Daisy Buchanan from the same book.

"How many martinis have you had?" Richard questioned as he watched his wife take a sip of her drink.

"Oh don't start with me," Carole warned as she took the stick of olives out of her drink.

"Can we go now? We're late for the Halloween party, let's go," Richard said taking a drink of his drink.

"You go right ahead," Carole told her husband, a little annoyed. "I would like to finish my drink."

She sat down the olives as her husband put his drink down and left the booth. A sound from behind her caused Carole to turn around and she saw the man that Caroline Forbes had taken to the Founder's party. His name was Damon if she remembered correct. He held up his drink to her in greeting with a sexy smile on his face. Carole bit back a smile as she faced forward again taking another sip of her drink. She looked up and saw Damon. Her eyes followed his movements until he was sitting across from her.

"Let me guess, Daisy Buchanan," Damon guessed with a smirk. "I love a good "Gatsby" look."

"I've met you before," Carole told him. "Aren't you Caroline Forbes' boyfriend?"

"Ah she had a school girl crush on me. It was cute but I had to let her down easy."

"It's Damon, right?" Carole asked, hoping that she remembered his name right.

"Ah you remember," Damon said in reply.

"Well you have a face that's hard to forget," Carole flirted. "What's your last name Damon?"

Damon hesitated for a moment before finally replying, "Salvatore."

"Salvatore?" Carole repeated surprised.

Damon nodded, "Mm hmm."

"Are you any relation to Zach?" Carole asked.

"He's my uncle." Damon leaned forward looking deep in Carole's eyes trying to compel her, "How do you know Zach?" But too bad for him to compulsion didn't work.

"Is something wrong?" Carole questioned, confused.

"Yeah. I think I got something in my eye." Not showing it on his face, Damon was surprised that the compulsion didn't work.

"Well, I know Zach from the founder's council," Carole answered. "You know the Salvatore's were one of the town's original settlers."

Finally, Damon saw the bracelet on her wrist, releasing then why the compulsion didn't work. "Yeah they were." He said. "I wasn't aware that Zach was a member. I just recently moved back home and haven't really had a chance to meet many of his friends."

"Well, will you tell him to return my calls? I've left several messages."

"Zach went out of town for a bit," Damon said quickly coming up with an excuse. He quieted down his voice as he leaned towards her. "But if it's about the vervain…"

Carole looked surprised, "You know about the vervain."

"Well I am a Salvatore," Damon said like it was obvious. "Of course I do."

"Of course." Carole agreed with a smile.

"Mmm." Damon held up his drink with a smirk. "Cheers."

They clicked glasses as Damon gestured to the bartender to get them more drinks.

After searching for what seemed like forever, Megan finally found Elena and Matt, and Jeremy was with them too. Something that surprised her, considering she thought he would still be searching for Vicki.

"Megan." Elena greeted her with a bright smile as she came up to the three of them. She was dressed her last year's costume and so was Matt, making Megan laugh.

"I see you two had the same idea as I did." She said, amused.

Elena giggled. "Yeah, I didn't know I was going until an hour ago. I didn't know Jeremy was coming though. He said Charlene convinced him to come."

"Oh…" Charlene must have convinced Stefan to let her go see Jeremy. "Did you see her?"

She shook her head. "No, I had already left for the party when she came. I'm just glad that she's back. I was worried about her."

"Well, that's good." Megan nodded before changing the subject, turning towards Jeremy. "Decided not to dress up?"

He just scowled as he went off, disappearing into the crowd. Megan stared, confused.

"What did I say?"

"Just ignore him." Elena assured her. "He's just upset he hasn't seen Vicki yet."

This made her stop. "Wait, what? She's here?"

Of course she was!

"I got to go!" Megan said loudly, hurrying off and ignoring Elena calling her name. She had to find Vicki before she hurt Jeremy, or anyone else!

As soon as they got to Halloween party, Charlene and Stefan went their separate ways to find Vicki, hopefully before anything happened.

Charlene searched through the crowd, trying to ignore all the beating hearts in the room as best as she could. She kept telling herself not to cause a scene and that she could control herself from doing anything to hurt someone. But… the sound of blood pumping through the air was almost too much to bare.

Charlene held her breath, trying not to smell the air. She knew if she did she would lose control. Before she could even think about doing that, Charlene bumped into Megan.

"Charlene!" Her best friend sounded relived to see her, which surprised her considering what had happened earlier but it was a good surprise. "Vicki…she's here!"

Immediately, the blonde grabbed Megan by the shoulders. "Where is she?"

"I don't know! I haven't found her, but she dressed up as a vampire." Megan explained, trying and failing to stay calm. "And Char…Jeremy's here."

Her body froze at those. No. The one time he would listen to her, it had to be today of all days.

"We got to find her before she finds Jeremy." Charlene finally said before grabbing Megan's hand and they started running. If Vicki found Jeremy first, Charlene would never forgive herself.

Vicki wandered into the school with a large crowd around her. As she walked through the crowd and bumped into people, she couldn't help but stare at all the bare necks. A hunger unimaginable filled her and a pounding headache overcame her and she forced herself not to do something that she would regret.

Then out of nowhere, she was whisked away out of the room and found herself face to face with the person she was trying to avoid. Stefan Salvatore.

"What? Are you follow me now?" Vicki questioned, annoyed.

"You didn't give me much of a choice." Stefan answered seriously.

Vicki headed to the door but Stefan quickly stood in front of it, blocking her from the one way that she could leave. "Let me out of here!" She demanded angrily, glaring at him.

"You shouldn't be here Vicki, crowds like this makes it even harder for you to keep yourself under control." Stefan warned.

"I'm fine." Vicki said, trying to sound as convincing as she could.

It didn't work on Stefan. "Really?"

Vicki nodded. "Mm-hmm."

"No headache? Your stomach's not screaming at you? You're not feeling lightheaded or anxious or cranky like if someone looks at you the wrong way you could just rip their head off?" Stefan said question after question, ignoring Vicki as her nostrils flared at him. "Do you wanna know what that's called? It's called hunger and it's only gonna get worse and worse every minute that you pretend like it's not controlling you."

Vicki shook her head in disbelief, trying to think of a way to get out of this room.

Damon was now sitting next to Mrs. Lockwood so they could talk without someone hearing them. "So, you need vervain?" he questioned, making sure he heard her right.

"Yes." Carole answered in a quiet voice. "My husband and I only have left what his parents left him." She started to use hand gestures as she continued, "And Zach had promised that he could supply us with more."

"Well I talk to him all the time, so why don't I just ask him?" Damon suggested, taking a drink.

"Hmm." She hummed as she took a sip of her drink as well.

Damon sat down his drink. "How much do you need? I mean, how many people, you think."

"Well, there's our children of course,"

"Of course."

"And, um, family, friends…and everyone on the counsel," Carole told him, taking another drink as Damon looked at her intensely.

"The counsel?" he questioned.

"Zach knows how many," Carole answered. She laughed, "But I am so late…my husband is not going to be happy with me." She laughed again as she took another long drink before sitting it down.

"Are you happy with your husband?" Damon asked intensely.

"You're flirting with me." Carole pointed out with a smile.

"Well, you flirted with me first."

"True." Carole agreed. Both of them laughed.

"Let me escort you to the school." Damon offered as Carole took another drink. "It's not safe out there alone. I mean, I've seen 10 vampires tonight."

Carole giggled, knowing he was joking. "Heh, well if only the real ones were easy to find."

"How's the search going?"

"Oh, we had the founder's party and anyone who arrived during the day was eliminated as a subject."

"Oh." Well, that was good to know. Damon smirked to himself.

Carole nodded. "And all the rest were just dead ends." She took one final drink and sat it down before slowly getting up to her feet. "So, I got to go."

"Okay." With that, the two left the Grill. Damon smirked to himself the whole way, happy because of all the information he got.

Megan quickly followed behind Charlene as they searched for Vicki. Her best friend frantically looked around.

"Where could she be at?!" she exclaimed, freaking out in a very un-Charlene way. She was always the calm one, but not this time.

"We'll find her, Char." Megan tried to assure her friend, turning her around to face her. "She's not gonna hurt, Jeremy."

Before the blonde could even say anything, Stefan showed up, holding onto Vicki tightly by the arm.

"Stefan!" Charlene cried out in relief, actually pulling him into a hug.

When she pulled back from the hug, he stared at her. "What's the matter?"

"Nothing now, I'm just glad you found her before she found Jeremy." Charlene responded, glaring at Vicki. The brunette simply glared back at her.

"Yeah, we were worried." Megan added, looking awkward as Stefan turned his gaze to her.

Just then, Elena and Matt showed up. Vicki's brother eyed Stefan, seeing his tight grip on his sister's arm.

"What's going on?" Matt questioned as Elena watched on, confused.

Stefan tried to smile reassuringly. "Hey, um, everything's fine."

Obviously seeing her chance, Vicki tore her arm from Stefan's tight grip. "I told you to quit bothering me!"

"Vicki." Charlene hissed, her eyes starting to change a bit as anger built up inside of her at Vicki for doing that. Elena noticed and her eyes widened at bit. Charlene noticed her reaction, causing her to rein in her anger as her eyes went back to normal.

Vicki ignored her. "Matty, he won't leave me alone." She told her brother, putting as much fright as she could in her voice.

"You need to back off, man." Matt said forcefully, glaring at Stefan as he took a step forward.

Megan quickly grabbed onto his arm as she tried to pull him back. "Matt, stop. It's okay."

"No, it's not!" Matt barked angrily, tearing his arm out of her grip. "What the hell is your problem?!"

Before Stefan could say anything, Charlene interrupted. "Stefan! She's gone!" She took off running and Megan was about to follow but Elena grabbed onto her.

"Megan, what's going on?" she demanded.

Megan tried to pull her arm away. "I'm sorry, but I can't explain! Not now!" she managed to get her arm out of Elena's grip, then she took off running after Charlene.

Charlene pushed through the crowd, ignoring the protests coming from her fellow students. She ignored every one of them as she searched for Vicki once again. She was so angry that the brunette got away again and she almost gave away her secret to Elena after her eyes changed. Charlene swore to God if Vicki hurt Jeremy the girl was going to regret it. She felt someone grab her arm and she whirled around, preparing for a fight but she relaxed when she saw that it was Megan.

"Megan, don't scare me like that." Charlene said, sighing.

"Sorry. I want to help you find Vicki."

Her eyes softened at her best friend. "Thank you…and Megan…I'm sorry about what happened."

"Forget about it." Megan told her. "You were only trying to protect your brother." She grabbed her hand. "Now come on, let's find Vicki…together."

Charlene smiled in response, squeezing Megan's hand. Together, hand in hand, they ran off to find Vicki.

They ran all the way to where the buses were held at the school. That was when they heard a scream. A very familiar scream.

"Jeremy!" Charlene's eyes widened. Instead of using human speed, she used her vampire speed instead. She needed to if she was going to save Jeremy.

She managed to grab a wooden board to use as a stake as she appeared just in time to see Vicki attacking Jeremy.

"Vicki! Get the fuck away from him!" Charlene roared, her face immediately changing, fangs growing.

Vicki tossed Jeremy roughly off to the side and zoomed over to her. Charlene did the same but Vicki managed to grab her first, throwing her into a pile of garbage.

Since she wasn't human, it didn't even hurt and Charlene jumped up to her feet. She snarled at Vicki as she ran towards her, stake at the ready.

"Charlene!"

Elena crying out her name distracted Charlene and Vicki managed to grab the stake, using it to stab the blonde in the stomach. Charlene cried out in pain as she tumbled to her knees.

"No!" Elena screamed in horror.

Stefan and Megan showed up.

"Charlene!" her best friend exclaimed in terror.

"Stefan, get Elena, Jeremy, and Megan out of here!" Charlene managed to say as she managed to stand to her feet and pulled the stake out of her stomach, blood dripping from the wood. She wasn't going to let her family get hurt, including Megan.

Charlene dropped the stake on the ground and zoomed at Vicki on final time. This time, she was quick enough. Vicki's eyes widened as Charlene shoved her hand into the girl's chest, gripping her heart. Everyone else was in shock.

"Vicki!" Jeremy roared as he tried to run towards them, but Stefan grabbed a hold of him before he could.

Charlene ignored the stares of the people around her as she locked eyes with Vicki's wide eyes. "I warned you what would happen if you hurt my brother…" she said coldly. With those words, she twisted Vicki's heart and roughly pulled it out of her chest.

Holding onto Vicki's bloody heart, Charlene watched as she started to grey and fell back into the ground, dead.

She didn't feel bad for killing Vicki at first…then she turned around and looked at Elena and Jeremy, who looked horrified and so scared.

The weight of what she had done hit Charlene hard. Her eyes welled with tears and she wailed in horror as she fell to her knees next to Vicki's broken body, burying her face into her hands while she cried heavily. Once she calmed down as much as she could, Charlene lifted her head back up, tears still streaming down her face.

"Get them out of here." She choked out before she turned away, ignoring the screams of Elena demanding what was going on.

Stefan and Megan pulled them away, leaving Charlene alone with Vicki's dead body.

Charlene felt like she stayed there forever. She couldn't believe what she did. She killed someone else…and not just anyone…she killed Vicki…Jeremy's girlfriend…Matt's sister…

The emotions got to her again and Charlene cried again, ducking her head. Just then, she heard a familiar voice.

"You should go. I got this."

Damon.

Charlene got angry immediately as she stood up to her feet, a glare on her face. "This is all your fault!" she snarled. "If you hadn't changed Vicki, didn't change me, none of this would be happening!"

Of course, he didn't even care and that made her angrier. "You confuse me for someone with remorse. Besides, I wasn't the one that killed her. That was all you."

She knew it was true, but she didn't need to hear it, especially from him. So, she tried to slap him. Since he was older than her, he was quicker and was able to stop her.

Damon gripped onto her hand tightly and pulled her towards him. Charlene struggled a bit but it was no use. He was so close to her she could feel his breath on her face.

"None of this matters to me." He gritted out. "None of it."

Charlene finally was able to pull herself out of Damon's grip. "It matters, Damon, and you know it!" she snapped. "But you don't want to admit to yourself because that would mean you care and that you're not the monster you say you are!" With those last words, Charlene slapped him right across the face and stormed off, leaving him standing there.

Charlene returned home and found Megan sitting on the porch with Stefan. Her best friend stood up at the sight of her. Then she did something that surprised her, Megan went over and hugged her. She pulled back from the hug, her eyes sad.

"I'm so sorry." She apologized.

Charlene forced a smile and nodded before changing the subject. She didn't deserve any type of forgiveness.

"Where's Elena and Jeremy?"

"In the house."

Charlene nodded again as she went inside and headed upstairs, going towards Jeremy's room, figuring her siblings were in there.

Sure enough, they were and they were sitting on the bed, holding onto one another. They looked up when Charlene came inside the room.

Elena tightened her grip on Jeremy. "What's going on Charlene?" she demanded.

Charlene stayed silent for a moment. "I know you have questions…but I can't answer them…" Before Elena could snap at her, she turned towards Jeremy, who wasn't even looking at her. "I'm so sorry about Vicki…but she hurt you…and she was going to kill me…it needed to be done before she hurt anyone else…"

He stayed silent, sniffing as he finally looked at her. He was so heartbroken, his eyes shined with tears and it hurt Charlene so much to see her brother like this.

"I don't understand…I know what I saw…but I don't understand…" he managed to say through his tears. "And…Vicki…she's dead…and you…you killed her."

Charlene welled with tears at his words. "I know…and I'm so, so sorry…"

"Make it stop…it hurts…" he sobbed and Elena hugged her to him as she tried to shush while Charlene watched with the tears now streaming down her face. "Why does everybody have to die on me?"

At those words, Charlene couldn't help herself now as she went over to the bed and took him from Elena, gathering her little brother into her arms. "Jeremy…"

He sobbed again as he buried her face into Charlene's chest. As they hugged, the blonde looked over at her sister and their eyes met. Elena tried to stay angry but her face finally crumbled and she cried too while she joined in one the hug. They sobbed together.

Megan sat with Stefan in solemn silence, her mind trying to wrap around what happened. Vicki was dead and Charlene killed her. She knew her best friend had killed someone before but watching it first hand was a horrible experience.

Finally, after what seemed like forever, Charlene finally stepped out of the house with Elena right behind her.

Megan stood up immediately as she went over to the two sisters with Stefan right behind her.

"How's he doing?" she asked instantly.

Charlene smiled weakly. "He's a mess…" she said quietly. "I don't blame him at all…I did a horrible thing. And I'm sorry." The apology was directed towards Stefan. "But I can't let him go through this again…he's just a kid…"

"Charlene, what can I do?" Stefan asked, stepping forward. "I…what can I do to help? I'll do anything."

"Can you make him forget?" Charlene asked immediately.

"Char…"

"I…I can't do it…if I could…I wouldn't ask. I don't know how he'll ever get passed this. I just want him to forget everything that happened."

Stefan gave a sigh. "If I did, there's no guarantee that it would work…because of who I am. Because of how I live. I don't have the ability to do it right."

"I can do it." Damon's voice sounded, causing everyone to turn and look at him as he walked onto the porch. He stared at Charlene. "If this is what you want…I'll do it."

"It's what I want."

"Are you sure, Char?" Megan questioned as the blonde looked over at her and nodded softly.

"I'm sure. Elena?" Charlene looked towards her sister, wanting her approval.

Though she had no idea what her sister was talking about, Elena nodded. "Yes…I don't want him to remember any of this either…"

With that, Charlene turned towards Damon. "Do it."

"What do you want him to know?"

"I want you to tell him that Vicki left town and she's not coming back." Charlene's voice shook as more tears filled her eyes. "That he shouldn't look for her or worry about her. He's gonna miss her, but he knows it's for the best."

He nodded and went inside without another word. Charlene and Elena went off to the side as the blonde started to explain things to her younger sister. This left Stefan and Megan to each other.

Megan sighed as she sat down next to Stefan. "You know…sometimes I wish I could forget everything too…forget about vampires…forget about everything that has happened since I found about who you were…and forget about you…" When those words left her lips, she felt better about finally letting that be known and she glanced over at Stefan, who stared at her guiltily. "But…you know what…I don't really want to…" Surprise crossed his face at that. "I don't want to forget about how I feel about you…"

Stefan opened his mouth to say something but was interrupted by Damon stepping out of the house.

"Its done." He announced.

Charlene gave a quick nod before heading inside with Elena right behind her.

Giving Stefan one last look, Megan went inside with her friends, not wanting to be away from them after what happened.

TBC...

In...

162 Candles, Part 1