It had been a few days. I managed to convince Caroline that Rachel had swine. Of course that led to its own problem or the girl bringing over various foods for her to eat. I was a bit surprised that she even knew how to cook before I remembered that she lived with her mom who wasn't always home for dinner, so I supposed she had to. And it was actually pretty good. She did eventually go to her dad's house though. Eventually we would have to find a way to tell her the truth, but we didn't need to do that yet.
Of course, Rachel wasn't the only one having problems. Stefan had drank some of Elena's blood and he seemed to be struggling not to drink more or something. According to Damon, (which I realize isn't the best source) he had problems with drinking blood, which Damon seemed to think came from resisting it so much. Rachel and I were planning to go to school when we heard loud music coming from his room. He was inside doing pullups on the rafters. Did we not have any exercise equipment? I supposed none of us really needed to exercise. I was wearing a pink top with a leather jacket and a black and pink striped miniskirt. Rachel was wearing a leather jacket of her own with a white blouse and denim pleated miniskirt.
"Mind turning that up?" Damon asked. He had a glass of blood in his hand. "It's not annoying yet."
"Sorry." Stefan replied before Damon turned it off and he jumped down.
"Are you coming to school?" I asked him. Like Rachel, he had taken some time off. He didn't answer and just started to do pushups. Was this supposed to help him resist blood or something?
"Aw, come on. Just drink already." Damon said as he held the glass closer to him. I was going to say that it didn't seem like a good idea. "This self-detox isn't good for anyone."
"Would you get that away from me?" Stefan requested.
"How long did it take to stop last time?" Damon challenged. The good news is that it did seem to be temporary at least.
"I'll be fine. I just need some time." Stefan retorted.
"I don't get it you don't have to kill to survive. That's what blood bags are for." Damon remarked. That was not what they were for, unless the idea was invented by a vampire.
"Actually, they're for transfusions." I commented.
"I've been trying to get the town off vampires and that's not easy with a whole tomb of them." Damon declared. I couldn't help but wonder if they were paying him for that or it was just a volunteer thing.
"How is that going?" Rachel questioned. I mean they seemed to be more at ease since no one was getting attacked anymore.
"Well it won't go well if you don't have your strength." Damon pointed out. Why was he pressing this so much? "There's nothing wrong with partaking from a healthy diet of human blood from a blood bank. You're not actually killing anyone."
"I have my reasons." Stefan declared.
"Oh what are these holier than thou reasons?" Damon said before he set the glass down, It was at that point that I figured that Stefan wasn't coming and Rachel and I started to leave. We then came across Damon holding the glass again.
"You're a dick." Rachel told him before we headed to my car and drove to school.
When we got to school, we were met by Elena. The first thing that she did was give Rachel a hug.
"So how are you doing?" The brunette asked her.
"I'm better." Rachel said. I wasn't sure if I believed it but she said that she wanted to be here.
"Is Caroline still baking for you?" Elena questioned. Did she not know that she had left? It seemed like something that she should know.
"No, she went to her dad's. Damon might have killed her if she brought over another casserole." I replied. I was joking. Elena looked at me funny. "That was a joke. I would never let him do that. So…what's new with you?"
"My Uncle John is in town." She stated.
"You have an uncle?" I replied in surprise. Rachel had gone off to her locker.
"Yeah, he's kind of the black sheep of the family." She explained. "He's also an ass. I don't know if I know anyone who likes him to be honest. But every now and then you have to deal with visiting relatives."
"I don't really." I pointed out before I went to class.
At lunch, I found out that Kelsey wanted to talk to me. I wasn't sure what she wanted to talk about.
"So I saw that Rachel is back in school. How's she doing?" She asked.
"She says she's good. I don't think I believe her but she said that she wanted to come here." I declared.
"I wish I could help more but even though I lived on a college campus, I never knew anyone who was raped before." She declared.
"It's okay. You don't need the answers for everything." I remarked. "How are you doing?"
"Well I have to say that experience was a little bit exhilarating." She admitted. "I don't wanted to become a vampire hunter or anything, but it didn't feel nearly as strange as it should have."
"I find it a little hard to believe that there's no school tomorrow." I admitted.
"Well it's a special occasion." She pointed out.,
"It's not Founder's Day." I argued. "It's the first day of the month-long celebration. It's a little weird."
"I don't make the rules and I thought you would be thrilled about not having school." She pointed out.
"I don't know what to do." I admitted. "I haven't been a teenager in such a long time."
I would probably stay home or something. There really wasn't much to do in a town where everything thinks you're a teenager.
After school, Rachel and I went home and found that Damon was there.
"We have a problem." He said. I did not like the sound of that. "Your girlfriend's uncle is on the Founder's Council and he's smarter than the rest of them."
Who was he talking about? Kelsey? Elena? I mean Elena did just mention an uncle.
"She's not my girlfriend," I remarked before realizing that wasn't the main part of that statement. "So what did he say?"
"He's been tracking vampires out of town and he may or may not know about me and Stefan." He declared.
"Well we're going to have to find out what he knows then." I declared. I was still a little hung up on the fact that he said Elena was my girlfriend though. "Where's Stefan?"
"He went over to see Elena." Damon declared.
"Well what are we going to do for dinner then?" I inquired. "Do we still have some of that food Caroline made?"
"No, I threw it out." He replied.
"That's rude." Rachel commented.
"Do you think I care?" He stated before he walked away. I sighed. It seemed like we were going to the Grill then.
When we got to the Grill, we were greeted at our table by…Matt.
"I'm surprised that you're here." I commented.
"Well I need to move on with my life." He stated. "Plus, I need tomorrow off to go to the party, so I'm here tonight." He stated.
"I didn't think that was something that you would do." I admitted.
"Well the mayor personally invited us, so we kind of have to go." He replied. I was going to say that I felt guilty for it, but I really didn't anymore. While it was my fault Vicki was dead, she had brought it on herself. I wasn't going to tell him that, but it was true. "So what can I get you to drink?"
You know I wasn't sure if he was on vervain or not because I wasn't sure who all Elena had given it to, but then I remembered that he wasn't old enough to serve us alcohol and I didn't want to get him in trouble.
"We'll both have milk." I stated.
The following day, Elena had called me and Damon over because she wanted to talk about something. She didn't say what it was but she said it was important. Stefan had taken Rachel shopping with him, which was good because we needed food. Elena let us in.
"What's going on?" I asked. She shushed us because Jeremy was in the living room eating cereal.
"No, Elena, I will not go to your bedroom with you." Damon declared. I could practically hear her rolling her eyes as she dragged him. We did go to her room and there was definitely something different about it.
"What happened there?" Damon asked. It seemed that he also noticed the crack in the wall and the shelf that was out of place.
"Nothing." She lied. It was not very convincing. Damon then got on her bed and grabbed her teddy bear.
"So did you know that your uncle has been cozying up with the Founder's Council?" Damon asked.
"Perfect. What else can go wrong?" She asked. "So, I'm worried about Stefan."
I had a feeling that was why she called us. It also made sense why she also called Damon. I was also worried, but Damon said that he would get back to normal soon. I just hoped that it was sooner rather than later.
"How is he?" I asked. Maybe he said some things to her that he hadn't said to me.
"He said that everything's okay, but he's clearly struggling." She replied. "How long is it going to take before he's back to normal?"
"A few days give or take." Damon answered.
"It's been a few days." I pointed out.
"Give then. What's the big deal?" He asked us.
"He's not himself Damon." Elena said as he handed her the bear.
"Well maybe his problem is he's spent too much time not being himself." He said as he started to rummage through her underwear drawer. I quickly pushed him away from that.
"Please don't make me sorry for asking." She declared.
"It is what it is, Elena." Damon remarked. "The Stefan you two know is Good Behavior Stefan, Rein It In Stefan, but if you think there's not another part to this then you clearly haven't been paying attention."
"Stefan isn't you." She argued.
"He doesn't want to be me, but that doesn't mean that deep down he's not." Damon countered. Why did I feel that there was more to this than what Damon had told me? He then walked out of the room.
"So do you want to hang out?" I questioned.
"I can't." She replied. "I have some things that I need to talk Jeremy about. Sorry."
Well I supposed that meant that I didn't have anything to do until the party started. Well Rachel would get back before then we would be able to get ready together.
"So how was shopping with Stefan." I asked.
"It was kind of therapeutic. I couldn't really think of anything else because I had to focus getting what we need." She answered. She was wearing a white satin dress that she showed a bit of cleavage. It was probably too much, but it wasn't exactly the easiest time finding dresses for her.
"You know you don't have to do this." I told her as I put on my dress. It was pink with black lace and transparent sleeves. "Caroline's not even going to be there."
"I don't want to be the only person in town not going to this thing." She remarked. She probably wouldn't be the only person. "I'll be fine."
So the four of us went to the party. Stefan kind of seemed like he was drunk. Well it was one way to deal with the cravings but it was probably not the right way.
"I shouldn't be here." He said as he tried to back away.
"Sure you should." Damon remarked. "It's a party for the Founding Families and that includes us."
"I thought you hated everyone." Stefan remarked.
"Oh I still do, but I love that they love me." Damon replied as we headed inside.
"I'm gonna try to find Elena." Stefan stated.
"Don't embarrass me, you three." Damon remarked. You know I couldn't help but wonder if anything actually would embarrass him. I would say there probably wasn't.
I decided to go out to the dancefloor with Rachel. It didn't take long to confirm that Stefan was indeed drunk. Granted, I probably wanted something to drink myself, but I would probably have to be less obvious about it. Rachel decided to go and grab something that I wasn't quite sure what it was. Drinking could probably help with her trauma too, but it didn't seem like it was the best idea. Maybe I should just let them have fun. I walked over to Elena around the same time that Stefan did. She did look really pretty in her dress.
"Hey." Stefan slurred.
"Are you drunk?" She asked.
"I know it's weird but it helps with the cravings." Stefan explained. "This is temporary. I promise. Now please dance with your alcoholic vampire boyfriend."
"I usually have to beg you to dance." She pointed out.
"That was sober me." Stefan declared.
"I don't think we can dance to this." Elena remarked. They were playing some of the most droll elevator music that I had ever heard. Who thought that was a good idea.
"Well we'll just have to change the music then." Stefan said before he went over to the DJ.
"That's not going to work." Matt's Mom declared. "I tried to bribe him with 20 bucks and a blowjob but he wouldn't budge. He said Mrs. Lockwood had strict control over the music.
"Stefan can be very persuasive." I remarked as he saw him compel the man. At that point, the music picked up and he came over to dance with her.
"Well I guess we're dancing together then," I replied as I took Elena to the dancefloor. I couldn't help it. I wanted to have fun too and Stefan still didn't seem to know what happened between me and Elena.
We started to dance for a while and I was having the most fun that I had had at a party since I had gotten back here and then included an actual school dance. It was probably because there weren't any high points of drama and even more so that I was actually dancing. I wondered where Rachel was because I wanted to be having fun with her as well, just not in that well. Anyway, Elena grabbed me and spun me, but she spun me a little too hard because I crashed into this guy. Had I seen him somewhere before?
"Sorry, I'm a bit clumsy." I apologized.
"Then get off the dancefloor." He replied.
"Don't talk to her like that." Kelsey interrupted. She was wearing a blue long-sleeved dress with her hair in a braid. She looked really pretty as well. I had to say, I did not expect her to be defending my honor like that.
"Fuck off, Dyke." He replied. At that point, I noticed a look of pure rage in Kelsey's eyes. She looked like she legitimately wanted to kill him. However, before she could do anything else, Stefan came over to us.
"That's no way to talk to a later." He said before he grabbed the guy. "I think you should apologize."
The guy did apologize but Stefan probably should have compelled him to mean it as well. Kelsey and I walked off.
"Okay, what is wrong with Stefan?" She asked.
"I don't know." I replied as I noticed that I had found Rachel. She was passed out on the couch. I would have to remember to go back for her. "Damon said that he gets kind of weird when he has human blood. I know it looks really bad but it's supposed to be temporary. So can you watch over her for a few minutes. I don't want anyone else to find her."
"Sure." Kelsey agreed before I went to find Damon.
I found him near the balcony.
"So how is it going?" I asked.
"Pretty good except for Jeremy Gilbert sticking his nose where it doesn't belong when it comes to Vicki's death." Damon stated. "I thought you compelled him to move on."
"I did, but there weren't exactly any instructions on what to do if her body was found." I spat. I had to make sure that I wasn't too loud.
At that point, the two of us were interrupted by someone walking over to the balcony. I hadn't seen him before, but from the way he was dressed, I was pretty sure that I knew exactly who he was.
"We didn't get a chance to meet at the meeting before. It's Damon, right?" He asked.
"Yes, it's a pleasure to meet you, John." Damon replied.
"And you're Brandy, Elena's friend." He added.
"Yeah." I replied. There was just something about this guy.
"Well I must say that you look very pretty tonight." He commented. It was still kind of creepy, though not in a lecherous way. "I haven't seen a look like that since the 80s. You know I forgot how fun this town could be."
"When was the last time that you were here?" I asked.
"Oh it hasn't been, my brother's funeral." He commented. You know it was a little surprising that the courts had chosen Jenna to watch over Elena and Jeremy because he seemed to be more capable of taking care of children. Maybe they thought Jenna would be better since she was a woman? "So what do you think Damon? This vampire problem seems pretty real."
"I don't really know what you're talking about." Damon replied. They weren't supposed to discuss council business around non-council members.
"Well I think it's like 1864 all over again, but you two already know about that, don't you?" He responded. Did he think that I was Damon's sister too?
"Why are you telling us this?" Damon inquired.
"I just thought that I would get the introductions out of the way." He remarked. You know he was oddly confident about this.
"You know we could kill you, but you're probably on vervain, so there isn't much point to trying that." Damon noted.
"I know." John declared. At that point, Damon looked around, snapped John's neck and threw him over the balcony.
"Are you out of your mind?" I asked.
"It'll look like he fell. We can't have someone like around." Damon pointed out. While that was true, there was another problem.
"Well I have to go tell Elena that you killed her uncle." I replied.
I went to find her and I was having a little bit of trouble with it to be honest. At that point, the mayor said that they were going to ring a bell to kick off the festivities and called for John…and he actually walked up there. I then looked at his hand and noticed he had a ring that looked just like Mr. Saltzman's. Well that had made things even worse. I saw Kelsey.
"Hey, look at his wrist." I told her.
"That ring looks just like Alaric's." She noted.
"And it's not a coincidence because I just saw Damon kill him." I whispered. "Wait, where's Rachel?"
"She got up and left on her own. She said that she wasn't going to drive, so I decided to just let her go." Kelsey explained. I just hoped that she wasn't going to drunk dial Caroline. She hadn't ever done anything like that before, but she wasn't the same as when we first got here.
I decided the best to do would be to find Damon get out of here. So much for there not being drama. At least I wouldn't have tell Elena that Damon killed John now. Well I wouldn't have to tell her that he had permanently killed him. I saw Damon and Alaric talking to John by his car.
"Heading home early?" Damon asked him. I had a feeling this wouldn't go well.
"I never like to be the last one to leave a party." John answered. "Are you here to kill me again, or are you going to have Mr. Saltzman do you dirty work for you?"
"So you obviously know who I am." Mr. Saltzman said. How did he know so much?
"Alaric Saltzman, the high school history teacher with a secret." John stated.
"You seem to know a lot for someone who just got to town." Damon commented.
"My knowledge goes far beyond anything that you know." John remarked. "So in case you want to steal my ring and kill me, my knowledge will go straight to the council, including the tragic tale of the Salvatores and their return to Mystic Falls."
"How did you get that ring?" I asked.
"I inherited one, Dear Brandy, my brother Gray the other. This was his. I wouldn't have given mine to Isobel if I had known she was going to give it to another guy." John explained. And now he knew Isobel too.
"How do you know Isobel?" Damon asked.
"Who do you think sent her to you when she wanted to become a vampire?" John asked him. How many bombshells was he going to drop?
"You sent her?" Damon asked in surprise.
"Who did you think it was? Katherine Pierce?" John inquired.
"How do you know about Katherine?" Damon questioned.
"How do I know anything?" John retorted.
"What do you want?" I asked.
"So many questions. It was a pleasure meeting you, Ric. Isobel told me so much about you." John declared before he walked away.
"What the fuck was that?" I asked aloud.
I decided to go home and that was where I found Rachel in our room and she was crying a little. I walked over to her and hugged her.
"What's wrong?" I asked.
"I thought I had things under control but then I came across this guy in the parking lot when I leaving. He reminded me of Frederick. So I killed him." She cried. I wondered if it was the same guy from the dancefloor.
"Oh." I replied.
"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry." She stated.
"Rachel, it's going to be okay. You're going to get through this." I remarked as I held her tight. I knew I probably couldn't let Caroline see her like this, even though it might actually help to be around her. Rachel was hurting and I needed to make sure that she got better. "Let's get some sleep."
So Rachel is going through some things. How will Brandy deal with both Stefan and Rachel's issues? Plus there's also John to deal with. Please don't forget to review.