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

Emerald Coast, One year ago…

Finishing up his drink, Mason sat it back down on the bar and smiled at the bartender. "Alright Carlos. That's it for me." He pulled out a couple of bills of his wallet and settled it down on the bar.

"Goodnight Mason."

He waved goodbye before he headed outside, missing his friend Jimmy watching his every move. He shot back his drink then followed Mason.

Not knowing he was being followed, he walked down the busy street without a care in the world. It didn't last long as his name was called out.

"Mason!"

He turned around, spotting Jimmy heading his way with intent. Before he could even say anything, his friend shoved him roughly. Mason looked at him taken aback and grabbed onto Jimmy's shoulders, trying to calm him down.

"Hey Jimmy, easy." Mason tried. "Let's get you home." He tried to lead him away before things got out of hand.

Jimmy jerked away from him. "Screw you!" He shoved Mason again. "I know about you and Marla!"

"What are you talking about?" Mason asked bewithered before he shook his head. "You've had too much to drink."

Nothing seemed to talk him down as Jimmy jumped at him, grabbing and strangling Mason by the neck.

Managing to shove his friend away from him, Mason started to yell at him, hopefully to get through to him this time, "Dude! What's up?! It's me, Mason! I'm not messing with Marla. You know that!"

A crowd was beginning to form as Jimmy punched Mason right in the face, making him stumble back. Mason managed to shake it off as he started towards his friend even though in retrospect, it probably wasn't good idea.

"You don't want to do this buddy." Mason told him calmly.

"I'll kill you!" Jimmy shouted as he charged at Mason and picked him up, throwing him to the ground only to kick him multiple times in the stomach.

One of the times, Mason managed to grab onto his friend's arm and pushed Jimmy away, but his friend charged at him again. He caught him, tossing his body over his shoulder, and carrying him off. Then he tossed Jimmy on the floor hard. Hard enough where Jimmy's head made a sickening, deafening sound.

Breathing heavily, Mason straightened up and waited for his friend to get up, but it never came. His eyes widened horrified as he kneeled in front of Jimmy's body.

"Jimmy?" Mason shook his friend, but there was no response at all. "Jimmy?" Again, there was nothing…

Present…

"Wait…" Tyler started as two Lockwoods sat in the living room together while his uncle told him the story of how he triggered the curse. "The guy died? You killed him?"

"He kept coming at me." Mason protested. "He got in his head that I was sleeping with his girlfriend."

"Were you?"

"No. No, I wouldn't do that, he was my friend. He was drunk and attacked me. It was self-defense."

Tyler looked down at his lap for a moment before looking back up at Mason. "And it triggered the curse."

Mason nodded with sigh. "On every full moon, I lose control. If I don't sedate myself and chain my self down, I'll kill anything in my path." He regarded Tyler seriously. "You have to be careful. All it takes is an accident, car wreck. Any death at your hands and you'll have a lifetime of this. You don't want it, Tyler, trust me." At his nephew's nod, he reminded Tyler of something, "Alright. Where's the moonstone? A deal's a deal. I answered your questions."

"Um, yeah, I'm not sure but I'm guessing it's here." Tyler went over to his dad's safe, moving the chair that was covering it. "My dad, he was very kooky about his hiding spots, but I figured out most of them out over the years." Kneeling down, he opened the safe up. "It's all yours." Mason started looking through the case as Tyler stood up and crossed his arms over chest. "Are you gonna tell me what's so important about this rock or what?"

"I told you, it's just something I want. Sentimental value."

"Yeah, I'm not really buying that." Tyler said bluntly. "Why do you really want it?"

Mason stopped searching when he didn't see the moonstone in there. "Do you know what it is or not?"

"No, I figured it was in here, man." Tyler shrugged, and Mason narrowed his eyes at his nephew, not sure if he should believe him or not.

Megan stood in the Gilbert bathroom, talking with Jeremy surprisingly. She had spent the night here since she was going with Charlene and Elena to the Historical Society Volunteer Picnic, but the sisters were already downstairs. Not surprisingly, Megan always took the longest in the bathroom, compared to the two of them.

But anyway, she was updating Jeremy on what had been going on only because he asked after spotting Megan in the bathroom.

"I can't believe Tyler Lockwood is a werewolf." He said in awe after she finished.

"I never said Tyler was one." Megan reminded him, putting on her lipstick. "Only that Mason was, so Tyler being one is still a question mark."

"It should be enough easy for us to figure it out."

"Ah no! Don't even think about it." Megan warned, turning around to face him. "I was only telling you just to let you know, not to get involved in it."

"My definition of being in this family, I'm involved." Jeremy lifted up his hand, showing off his ring.

Megan sighed, knowing he had a point. "Jeremy, your sisters would kill me…"

"Wait." He paused. "What are you saying?"

"All I'm saying is do what you want to do, but if you get in trouble with Charlene and Elena, I knew nothing." Megan held up her hands in surrender as she started to leave the bathroom.

"Uh thanks." Jeremy said slowly, unable to believe what occurred.

"Yeah, yeah, don't say I didn't do anything for you." Megan said before entering Charlene's bedroom. She opened Charlene's closet to borrow something. When she found it, she closed the door and she turned around only to jump when she spotted Stefan standing next to Charlene's bed.

"Sorry." Her boyfriend apologized. "I didn't mean to scare you."

Megan didn't care about that as she was too happy to see him. Grinning in excitement, she closed the door and practically skipped over to him, throwing her arms around him as she kissed him deeply. She smiled when he returned the kiss and they shared multiple kisses afterwards. Finally pulling away for real, Megan smiled at him brightly.

"Hey there." She said happily.

"Hi." Stefan smiled back at her, cupping her face in his hands, and kissing her again.

Megan missed him so much, especially his kisses. She reluctantly broke apart from the kiss, but she stayed close to him, not wanting to let him go as if he would disappear if she did.

"I know this…" Megan gestured between her and Stefan. "Is the right thing to do. It still doesn't feel right. We never fight so it's so hard to pretend to be mad at you…" She pouted up at him.

He chuckled, brushing the pout away with his thumb. "I know, I hate it just as much as you do." He told her. "But like you said, it's the right thing to do. If Demetria thinks that we are fighting, then she will think she's winning, and it keeps her from following through with her threats."

Megan huffed at the good points he was making. "Doesn't make this situation any less hard, Stefan. Neither is the fact I have to lie to Charlene about all of this and add that with Caroline reporting everything back to Demetria…it's all just…" she trailed off, knowing that Stefan would know what she was saying."

"Hey." Stefan's hands slid to her shoulders in a reassuring way. Megan relaxed at his touch. "Everything's going to be okay. Yes, we have to keep up this ruse for a little while, but it's the best way to keep Demetria from hurting anybody, hurting you."

Megan said nothing for a moment. "I'm just…worried." She admitted. "Worried if we're not careful that all of this could become real and not fake anymore…that's the last thing I want to happen. Promise me that won't happen?" She looked up at Stefan with pleading eyes.

"I promise…hey, how about this? Today when we're fighting, if I say, 'I can't do this anymore, Elena,' what I'll really mean is that I love you." Stefan suggested.

Megan smiled, liking the idea. "Our own code words? Sounds good to me. I'll have one too." She said, thinking about it for a moment. "If I say, 'whatever you say, Stefan,' I'll really mean that I love you too."

He nodded with his own smile, and Megan leaned in to kiss him. She just hoped everything worked out in the end.

Caroline walked into the foyer of her house, surprised to see her mom not in uniform and sitting down boxes in front of the door. "Are you off today?"

Liz sat down another box with sigh, looking over at Caroline and giving her a look. "The Historical Society Volunteer Picnic is today." She reminded her daughter. "You're the one who signed me up."

The blonde vampire crossed her arms over her chest. "I know. I just assumed you'd bale."

"No. I'm gonna spend the whole day with my daughter."

Caroline made a face as she gave her mother a fake smile. "You're gonna pretend to be a mother?" She scoffed in disbelief.

"I'll bring my gun if it gets rough." Liz joked with a smile before it fell and she stepped towards Caroline, letting out a sigh and giving her daughter a pleading look. "Come on, give me one day. I've been buried in work mode. I've barely seen you."

"Well, be warned. I'm in a mood." Caroline told her, turning around to leave.

"Goodie for me." Liz said sarcastically. Then she said, making her daughter whirl around back to face her, "What was Megan doing here last night?"

"Megan wasn't here…" Caroline trailed off to clear her throat. "Yes um…Megan was here. She just needed to talk. Her and Stefan are going through a rough patch."

Liz smiled sympathetically, then changed the subject to what she had been wondering for a couple weeks now. "Is everything okay with you?"

"I'm fine." Caroline responded rather shortly, making her mom frown.

"It's just lately you seem…different."

"I'm not different, I'm fine."

Liz's frown deepened. "I know you don't think I notice these things, but I do." She told her softly. "What's going on with you?"

In response, Caroline acted in the best way she knew how when it involved her mother. By being a bitch to her.

"You know, there's pretending to be a mother and then there's reality." Caroline snipped. "Let's not push our luck, okay?" With that, she left the room, leaving Liz staring after her.

Charlene walked around the park where the picnic was being held with Elena by her side. Megan was elsewhere, avoiding Stefan.

The blonde couldn't wrap her mind around the fact her best friend was fighting with her boyfriend. They never fought. Charlene knew Megan, and knew there was something else going on. When she tried to mention it to her friend, Megan froze and made up some excuse to get away from her. It was weird to say the least.

Whatever was going on, hopefully Megan would tell her eventually.

While they walked, Carol Lockwood's voice sounded in the background as she gave a speech to the crowd surrounding her. Charlene barely paid attention it and it completely dissipated when she noticed Mason Lockwood taking out boxes from his truck.

"I'm going over to talk to Mason." She told Elena.

"Really? Is that what flirting is called these days?" Elena teased, and Charlene rolled her eyes at her playfully.

"I'm really just going over there talk, Lena."

"Sure, let's just go with that." Elena said sarcastically before smiling, "Go right ahead, I'm gonna go find Caroline. Have fun talking to Mason."

She put an emphasis on 'talking' teasingly only for Charlene to roll her eyes at her again. Elena winked at her and gave her a hug before taking a leave.

Charlene fixed her hair and checked her face with the compact mirror she had in her pocket. This was one of those times she was grateful that the myths of vampires not having a reflection weren't real. After she was confident she looked okay, Charlene sashayed her way over to him.

"You know…" she started, getting Mason's attention as he turned around to look at her. "I never thought watching someone take out boxes from their truck could look so sexy but watching you is changing my mind."

"Oh really?" Mason asked, looking at her amused.

Charlene fluttered her eyelashes flirtingly. "Really. I could watch you do this all day."

"What's stopping you?"

"Well…" Charlene tapped her chin in thought. "I could but I did volunteer to help with other things. I can't just watch you; people might get jealous."

Mason grinned. "You got a point there, but it would be worth it." He flirted, leaning in close to her.

"Mm, well maybe after this is over, we could take this flirting other places, like at the Grill?" Charlene suggested with a wink.

"I definitely wouldn't complain about that."

Charlene grinned back. "I would hope not." She opened her mouth to continue with the flirting, but was interrupted by Stefan coming up to her and Mason.

"What's going on here?" he asked, looking between Charlene and Mason.

Charlene brushed it off. "Not much."

"You must be Stefan, right?" Mason said, crossing his arms. "The other Salvatore."

"The nice one. The one offering an apology."

Charlene frowned at this and now her turn to look between the two men. What did Stefan have to apologize for? Her frown deepened when she realized why he had to. Damon must have done something. Charlene groaned to herself. What did he do? She crossed her arms and stood there, listening to Stefan and Mason as they continued their conversation.

"Not interested." Mason said shortly.

Stefan sighed. "Look, my brother acted impulsively." Charlene snorted at this.

"When doesn't he…" she mumbled, rolling her eyes but Stefan ignored her statement as Mason rolled his eyes in response to what the youngest Salvatore said.

"You think?" He scoffed.

Stefan tried again, "If you and Damon keep at each other's throats, somebody innocent is going to get hurt and I don't want that. You have family here so I can't imagine you'd want that either. So, what do you say we just quit the whole alpha male fighting thing and call a truce?"

"I made that same offer to your brother. He turned it down with a knife."

"He did what?!" Charlene's mouth dropped. She knew Damon was desperate, but not desperate enough to attack a werewolf and think he could get away with it. She eyed with Mason with concern. "Are you okay?"

Mason waved off her concern while Stefan frowned, looking at her. "It takes more than just a knife to kill a werewolf." He told her. "But thanks for the concern." He gave her a brief smile.

She nodded. Stefan frowned at her again but didn't say anything as he turned to look at Mason.

"He made a mistake." Stefan told him. "I'm here to make sure that neither one of you make another one."

"Tell your brother to watch his back." Mason threatened, trying to move past the younger Salvatore but he caught his arm before he could get far.

Stefan stepped closer to him, and Charlene tensed up a bit, hopefully she didn't have to stop a fight. "Well, I'm guessing that he only has to worry about that during a full moon." He pointed out, tightening his grip a bit on Mason's arm. "Otherwise, you're not as strong, am I right? Or you would have killed Damon by now. There's one of you and two of us. I think you're the one who needs to watch his back."

It was Mason's turn to step closer and Charlene quickly went in between them, chuckling nervously as she put her hands on their chest, pushing them away from each other. "Let's not do this here. There's people around." She reminded them just in case they forgot. Then she looked at Mason. "Look, you can trust Stefan. If he says Damon won't make the same mistake again, he won't, okay?"

Mason looked like he didn't believe her, but he still stepped back, letting Charlene's hand fall away from his chest. The blonde sighed in relief.

"If he comes at me…" Mason trailed off.

"He won't." Stefan reassured.

He nodded sharply before picking up a box, but he didn't leave just yet as he smiled down at Charlene. "I'll see you later for our date?"

He called it a date… Charlene giggled girlishly, unable to help it. "Yeah, sounds good, Mase."

Mason smiled again before he left. The blonde sighed as she stared after him dreamily, forgetting Stefan was still standing there until he spoke.

"What was that all about?"

Charlene turned to him. "I asked him out and he said yes." She admitted. At the concerned look on Stefan's face, she shook her head at it. "I wouldn't worry about it. It's just one date, Stef."

"You're actually going out with him?" Damon asked in disbelief, appearing beside Stefan.

"Not that it's any of your business, but yes." Charlene shrugged. Then she scowled at him. "By the way, what were you thinking attacking Mason like that? You're lucky that Stefan made a deal on your behalf."

At this, Damon scowled at his brother. "Seriously?"

"After what you did last night, I had to. We need peace."

"I don't want peace." Damon groaned, and Charlene shook her head at him.

"Consider it opposite day."

Damon rolled his eyes. "Stefan, please tell me you don't seriously think a hand shake just solved our problems."

"No." Stefan said, "Actually I think that the first chance Mason Lockwood gets, he's gonna drive a stake through your heart and then through mine, all because you took it upon yourself to try to kill him. So, thank you, because we don't have enough problems." He shook his head at Damon before he took off.

"He has a point." Charlene said after he was gone, turning towards Damon. "That was really stupid of you to do something like that. You could have been hurt." She couldn't help but concern from seeping into her voice. "So please, just try and play nice." That was all she said on the subject before she left too so she could catch up with Megan, Caroline, and Elena.

TBC...

In...

Kill or Be Killed, Part 2...

Yep, you're seeing right, another new chapter! :D I've just been in the writing mood this weekend and it's been great. :) Actually starting the last part of the episode right now, so you might actually get another chapter tonight. If not tonight, definitely tomorrow. Anyway, until next time!