Immortalis Chapter 13: You're Undead To Me - Part 1, a vampire diaries fanfic

You're Undead To Me - Part 1

I hate you

I hate myself

How could you?

Damn it, Damon.

How could you?

Why?

Damn it...

Stefan watched as Damon began to stir. His older brother's movements were lethargic and slow, as if every move he made caused him a great deal of pain. Oh wait, it did. And Stefan felt little, to no, remorse about it. Damon was a problem that needed to be dealt with. He threatened to expose both himself and Stefan to the world as vampires, he killed multiple innocents who were just trying to live their normal, everyday lives, and worse of all, he hurt Victoria. Again.

Stefan wasn't going to let him get away with that.

"Where is my ring?" Damon rasped from inside his cell, his fingers searching the hand that used to hold his ring. The ring that Stefan had taken off of him the moment he had found Damon's temporarily dead body in the woods.

"Won't be needing it anymore." The ring was stashed away in his closest, hidden behind some old family photos that he knew Damon would never search through.

"How long have I been here?"

"Three days," Stefan replied. Three long, tiring, exhausting days. Days where he had to skip school to ensure that Damon would be receiving the "proper" care that he needed. Days where he had had little to no radio contact with Victoria. After day two, Stefan had called Kelly, wanting to know if he could drop by the house to check up on her. Kelly's response was that 'Victoria does not want to see any Salvatore brother right now. I can take a message but it would probably be best to leave her be. Something happened at the party and she's not handling it too well'.

Yeah, Stefan knew what happened at the party. Damon happened.

"What are you doing to me?" Damon said. His breathing sounded painful. Stefan couldn't find it in his heart to care.

"During the dark ages when a vampire's actions threatened to expose or bring harm upon the entire race, they would face judgment. They sought to reeducate them rather than to punish them," Stefan explained, watching as his brother feebly dragged himself to the wall. With pained grunts, Damon hoisted himself into an upright position. He leaned heavily against the walls and his breathing suggested that the desiccation process was moving right along at a nice, steady speed.

"You know what will happen if I don't -" Damon began, pausing to lick his dried out lips. They were cracked and torn and broken, "- feed on blood."

"You'll grow weaker and weaker," Stefan stated. He did know and that was exactly what he intended to have happen to Damon. "Eventually you won't be able to move or speak. In a week, your skin will desiccate, and you'll mummify. A living corpse. Unable to hurt anyone. Ever." The last part came out more of a hiss, but it still got his point across.

"Sounds like someone's upset," Damon still managed to snark and Stefan's hands rolled up into fists. He gritted his teeth and tried his best to calm down his anger. He didn't need Damon knowing that he was getting a good reaction out of him. "Are you upset about the sweet little Mama Bear?"

"Ever since you've arrived here, Damon, you have just made her life more of a mess than it already is," snapped Stefan. "Can you imagine the position she's in right now? She has no idea why she's here, how's she here. She can't remember any of her friends from childhood and on top of that, she has a homicidal vampire maniac who is intent on choking her out at any moment he can! So yeah, Damon, I am upset. You've hurt Victoria for the last time. No more."

"You may be scary," Damon rasped, shaking his head slightly. It was more of a tilting of the head to each side, but Stefan understood what motion his desiccating brother was trying to represent. "Acting all tough and boyfriend-like to Mama Bear., which you should be careful about, because Elena's gonna get mad about that...but you don't have anything on the two guys I saw with her that night."

Stefan's brow furrowed in confusion. "What guys? There weren't any footprints around that clearing besides yours and Victoria's. No other scents either."

"They're good," Damon sighed, his head flopping to rest on one of his shoulders. He licked his lips again. "So what, you're just going to leave me in the basement, forever?"

Stefan let Damon's abrupt conversation changer slide. "I've injected you with enough vervain to keep you weak. Once your circulation stops, I'll move you to the family crypt, and then in fifty years, we can reevaluate."

"I'm stronger than you think," Damon spat back.

"You always have been," Stefan confessed. "But you're not stronger than the vervain. And we both know it. I'm sorry. Didn't have to be this way."

Stefan turned away from the basement door, marching out and up the stairs. He stopped by the main living room, grabbing his bag that was sitting neatly by one of the chairs and headed to the kitchen. Stefan wanted to stop by Zach before heading out to school. He threw his bag's strap over his shoulder as he entered the small, but quaint kitchen that Zach was occupying.

"He's awake. He's weak, but it's probably best to stay out of the basement," Stefan said in lieu of a greeting. Zach, who was currently spreading jam on his slice of toast, nodded his head. "He's Damon. I'm not sure how dangerous he still might be."

Zach hummed in agreement and noticed Stefan's bag. In a slightly exasperated tone, his great-great-great-whatever nephew asked, "You're going to school?"

"Came here to live a life," Stefan insisted, adjusting the strap on his shoulder. "It's about time I get back to that. And Elena, if she's still speaking to me."

Elena.

Stefan had let what Victoria would call a "crappy message" to Elena, explaining that he needed to take care of a few things and that he would be gone for a little bit, but he would be back as soon as possible. He hated lying to her. To see the distrust in her eyes as she searched desperately for something to learn about him. But what could he say that wasn't somehow tied to his true nature? The nature of a vampire?

At least he had Victoria, who just knew. She understood everything that Stefan said, knowing exactly what he meant and the meaning behind what he meant. He liked to think it was their friendship, which was growing stronger and stronger with each passing day. But then again, it could just be do to her foreknowledge (Stefan had been working really hard not to call it her "Seer powers" because that's what it seemed like!).

Or, well, to be quite honest, at least he had had Victoria. The radio silence of the last three days hadn't really reassured him that everything was alright between the two of them. He wasn't Damon, and he would never claim to be in his life, so he didn't really understand why Victoria was choosing to "ghost" (is that the proper terminology for this time period? Stefan didn't know) him.

"Why haven't you called her?" Zach asked, and Stefan was about to open his mouth to explain how he had tried, but Kelly had redirected him, when he realized that Zach was talking about Elena, not Victoria. He wasn't actually sure Zach had ever met Victoria.

"What am I supposed to do? Feed her another lie?" Stefan grumbled. "I hate lying to her, Zach. I'm not good at it. She already thinks I'm hiding something."

"Why haven't you asked that Victoria girl to help you out then? Use Elena's friend to help you convince Elena that you've just been busy?"

"One, I hate lying to Elena, as I've just stated," Stefan rebuked. "And two, I am not going to use Victoria like that. She's been used by Damon for weeks now and I'm not just going to turn into him to her just to get Elena to trust me. I can do that other ways. And three, she's not talking to me. Hasn't spoken, texted, or said anything to anyone else about me in three days, since she went home from the party."

"Did she ever explain to you what happened?"

"Nothing beyond 'Damon's out in the woods, neck snapped' and 'I can't say anything without giving a spoiler'," Stefan huffed, shaking his head.

When Victoria had been recovering from her hospital visit (the second time, not the first time), Stefan had requested that he be allowed to bring Zach into the loop when it came to her and her foreknowledge. Victoria had been a little reluctant at first, but then agreed to it. It helped that Zach didn't really go many places and talk to others; Zach was probably Stefan's closest confidante, bar Lexi and Victoria. It was helpful when they needed to have conversations that included Victoria.

"It sounds like you really need to keep an eye out for her," Zach said after a small moment of silence. He took a bite of his food and swallowed before continuing, "Something happened that night, Stefan. Something between her and Damon. Now, I'm not saying it's anything bad..."

"But we don't know if it's anything good either," Stefan finished for him. Zach nodded. "Yeah, I figured as much too."

"You came here because you wanted to live as normal a life as you could," Zach told him. "The lying, the 'I-don't-know-what's-happening's...you knew they were going to be a part of it."

"Yeah...I know."

The first time that Stefan saw Victoria that day, it was from afar. She had entered beside Caroline and a few other cheerleaders that he recognized from football practice. Victoria stuck close to Caroline's side and didn't say much, sticking to Caroline's shadow as the blonde rambled on about some 'sexy suds car wash' that was happening the next day. She kept her eyes down and she didn't smile. It was unusual and downright disturbing to Stefan. He was walking up on Elena and Bonnie when he happened to overhear their conversation.

"Is that Tori?" Elena sniffed, shaking her head as she observed the two girls. "I thought you said she wasn't coming to school today."

"I'm guessing Kelly managed to convince her somehow," Bonnie hummed, her gaze trained on Victoria and Caroline as well.

Stefan took that moment to walk up, saying, "Hey", as his form of greeting. Elena turned and gave him a hard, well-trained look. She wasn't happy. Bonnie looked immediately uncomfortable and glanced between the two of them, plus the two girls down the way.

"Hey. You know, I gotta go...be somewhere right now." She disappeared rather quickly after that.

"I'm so sorry I haven't called," Stefan whispered to Elena. She was taking calculated breaths, trying to keep her temper. Her heartbeat was running rampant in her chest though. The sound was so pulsing and so enticing. Stefan clutched onto his bag's strap just a little tighter to control his urges.

"No worries. I'll live."

"I was dealing with Damon." Weak excuse, as Elena was not a fan of Damon, but it was the truth, nonetheless.

"And did you...deal with Damon?" Elena asked slowly, looking him straight in the eyes.

Stefan nodded. "Yes. Yeah."

"For four days?"

Stefan winced. Had it been four or three days since the party? He hadn't gotten much sleep within the last week. He'd been too busy staying up and making sure that Damon wasn't going to escape from his prison sentence before he had paid up for his dues. He reached up and rubbed his eyes wearily. "You have every right to be upset with me. But can I explain it all to you, please?"

Elena had a moment of silence in which she caught her lower lip with her teeth. Stefan felt the sudden urge to kiss her, but he needed her to be clear-headed when she gave her reply. When Stefan was beginning to feel ancy, that was when she spoke, "Sure. When?"

"I gotta be home after school, but the Grill, around four o'clock?" Stefan suggested.

Elena nodded and her beautiful smile came to her lips. "Ok."

"Thanks."

"Stefan!"

Caroline's voice cut through the moment he and Elena were having and Stefan lifted his head to see the blonde approaching him quickly, Victoria now gone from all sight. He quickly glanced down the hallways both ways; she had really just upped and vanished.

"Where is Damon?" Caroline snapped, her arms folded across her chest angrily. "He has some serious apologizing to do."

"Apologizing?" Stefan repeated, blinking his eyes. "I-I'm sorry, but what is it that Damon is apologizing for?" He glanced towards Elena to see if she knew, but Elena just shrugged. She didn't know what was going on either.

"Oh right, as if you don't know," Caroline sneered. Stefan continued to look at her confusedly. He knew that Damon had done something to Victoria on the night of the Founder's Ball, but since she refused to say anything to him past that night, he honestly didn't have a clue as to what Caroline was talking about. Caroline seemed to pick up on that, as she dropped her arms and her face became softer. In a more gentle tone, she asked, "Do you know?"

"No, Caroline, I don't," Stefan answered honestly, shaking his head. "I've been trying to reach Victoria for the past few days now and I keep getting redirected. Either to her voicemail or to Kelly who says that she doesn't want to talk to 'any Salvatore brother'." Dropping his voice to get his point across, he asked her seriously, "Caroline, what happened?"

"Damon broke up with Victoria."

Elena gasped in disbelief, her eyes wide in shock. Stefan just felt numb. "I-I had no idea the two of them were dating."

"Yeah, well, Damon told me that they were trying to keep it on the down low since this was Victoria's first boyfriend and they didn't want to spoil that," Caroline revealed, immediately falling into her gossip-sharing persona. "My guess is sparks began to fly when they met at the bonfire. Fast forward to the ball, she told me that she got into a fight with Damon there at the party. Called it quits with him right on the spot. She got a ride home with someone else. Ever since then, she's really been deep into the sadness of it all. I think she misses him, but lemme tell you, she is better off without him. Something about him just gives me the creeps."

"Caroline," Stefan interrupted. His body went into 'fix-it' mode. He needed to make sure there were no rumors floating around about Caroline's story. He knew Victoria and Damon weren't dating. They had the most hate-hate-can kind of tolerate relationship he had ever seen, and that included his own relationship with his brother. He didn't want the fallout of Damon to ruin Victoria's life either. "Can we maybe keep that piece of gossip to ourselves? I don't want it spreading around the rumor mill. I'd like to talk with Victoria for myself before anything else happens."

"Of course," Caroline said, nodding her head. "I wasn't planning on talking about it outside of the little friend group until Victoria gave me the thumbs-up."

"That's good," Stefan hummed. "And Caroline, he's gone. Damon's not coming back."

Caroline seemed pleased by that little piece of news and flounced off to continue promoting the car wash. Stefan walked Elena to her first class, trying his hardest to listen to her as she talked. However, his mind was continually wandering off to think about Victoria.

He almost up and ran to Biology when it came time for the class. He wasn't worried about the homework (Mrs. Landstrom seemed to have lightened up majorly in the days that he had been busy with Damon), which meant that he could focus on Victoria. He took a seat at their shared desk and waited for her to show up.

And waited.

And then, waited some more.

Soon, Mrs. Landstrom walked into the room and started the class up, still pointedly ignoring Stefan. And Victoria wasn't there.

His concern was starting to reach astronomical levels.

Biology finished, she wasn't there.

Come History, Victoria wasn't there either. He looked at Bonnie and Elena with concern and two of them seemed as equally concerned.

After school was finished, Stefan made the quickest pit stop at the gymnasium. He remembered Victoria mentioning during their homework sessions that she was expected to choreograph some sort of Halloween dance. When he first heard this news, he thought that her teachers were being ridiculous. And yet, somehow Victoria had healed miraculously (he wasn't allowed to ask how) and she was able to dance again. She was an excellent dancer, from the little that he was able to dance with her at the Founder's Ball.

He ducked his head into the gym and spotted Victoria on the far side, her back to him as she stared at the large mirrors in front of her. Stefan could spot himself in the reflection, but the door he was hidden partially behind was situated in the far corner of the mirrors. Victoria wouldn't spot him unless she tried.

She had changed out of her normal school clothes, now clothed in black leggings, a red spaghetti strap tank top with an off-the-shoulder loose crop top colored gray. Her hair was shoved up into a loose ponytail and she had multiple baby hairs poking out, tickling the sides of her face. She wore black slightly heeled shoes.

Victoria took a deep breath and walked up to the radio, hitting play on the music. It was some song that Stefan remembered hearing once, but he had never found any particular interest in it. Victoria jogged backwards lightly, until she reached a point that she deemed appropriate. As the lyrics started, sung by some raspy female singer, Victoria began to move.

And Stefan was just entranced.

He had known she was a good dancer. Both she had said it, many people around her had said it, and he had witnessed it. But it was completely different to see her dancing by herself. She was engaged like nothing he had ever seen before. Victoria's movements were fluid, each move an extension of her body. She flicked her arms out, spinning like a top. Her legs were straight, pointed at the ground, and then the wall, and then up to the ceiling as her upper body remained upright as well. Victoria's eyes fluttered close part way through the dance and she added more speed, more intensity, to her dancing. An aggressive turn here, a strong kick there. It was like watching poetry in motion.

Victoria finished the dance by spinning to a close, her turns becoming more and more slow until she was completely still. Her arms were poised high above her head, elbows slightly bent as if she was absorbing all the imaginary applause from a roaring crowd.

Stefan found himself clapping, awed and inspired by the performance he had just seen. Victoria jumped and flipped around, eyes wide in alarm. Her posture relaxed when she realized who it was. However, the next moment, her eyes widened again in alarm and she dashed towards her phone. She took one look at it before throwing it into her bag. Victoria picked up her bag and came sprinting at Stefan.

He stepped out of the doorway, holding the door open for her. He was about to ask what was going on when Victoria grabbed his hand and yelled, "We need to go to the boarding house right now!"

Victoria clung tightly to Stefan as he vampire-sped them through the town, taking backroads and a shortcut through the forest so they wouldn't be spotted by civilians. What the hell was this man thinking? He was supposed to be at the boarding house. Because at the boarding house, he was supposed to stop Damon from choking Zach and forcing him to open the door to spare his life, which would inevitably kill him too. He wasn't supposed to come looking for her!

"Almost there!" Stefan shouted. Victoria squeezed his neck tighter as a response, as she couldn't well nod against the high air current. She was being held piggy-back style, as that was the quickest and easiest way for Stefan to bring her along for the ride. She tried to block out how Twilight it was of them.

The last three days had been troublesome for her. Victoria had awoken the morning after the party feeling dejected and tired and sad. She tried playing it off to her mom that she was simply PMSing (which Victoria had still managed to avoid during her time at Mystic Falls, but she knew it was coming and it was coming soon). Kelly didn't take that bait, however. After a few minutes of prying and poking, Victoria confessed to getting into an argument with Damon. A terrible one that involved a lot of yelling between the two of them, and now Damon had left Mystic Falls. And for some reason, Victoria felt terrible about it.

Kelly's first reaction was to grab Victoria and pull her into a hug. Which set off her waterworks again. Her next reaction (after soothing Victoria from another crying session) was to allow Victoria the time she needed to recuperate.

Victoria didn't tell Kelly that Damon was her attacker, nor did she tell her the truth behind the Founder's Ball. She just couldn't. Her mother was an innocent civilian; Victoria wasn't going to tell Kelly anything about the supernatural world until she was positive that it was vital for Kelly's safety.

Victoria was brought out of her mind when Stefan skidded to a stop in front of the boarding house. Victoria quickly untangled herself from his back, still dressed in her retro 2009 dance outfit and character shoes, and ran for the door. Stefan followed her at human speed, obviously not understanding what was happening. His eyes widened the moment he stepped through the doorframe. Victoria wasn't a vampire, but she knew he was hearing Zach Salvatore's choking noises coming from the basement. Stefan was gone in a flash and Victoria was running at a dead sprint towards the secret compartment door that would lead to the basement. She tossed her bag to the side, ignoring at it landed heavily against one of the couches. She took the steps two at a time and did her best to bring up a mental image of the basement. She made only one wrong turn before she found Zach on the floor, coughing and Stefan standing tall, glaring through the metal slot in the door. Victoria could hear rasping wheezes coming from the other side of the door and she had to bite her tongue to stop herself from making a noise.

She hated Damon. Hated what he did to her. What he had done to Vicki and Leah. What he had tried to do to Caroline before she stopped him. But hell...she wasn't sure anyone should be allowed to starve to desiccation.

"Keep it up, Damon. The more energy you expend, the faster you'll go," snapped Stefan, before stepping backwards to help Zach up.

That snapped Victoria out of her silent trance and she rushed to Zach's other side. She grabbed his arm and helped to pull him, steadying him against her body. She wrapped his arm around her shoulder, making sure he had a solid grip on her. As the Mystic Falls Resident Genius on Getting Choked Out By Damon Salvatore, Victoria knew the aftershocks of a choking session could take a while to get used to.

"S-Sorry, Uncle Stefan," Zach stammered, coughing and reaching up to rub his throat. An action that Victoria was all too familiar with. "I-I just need to say g-goodbye."

"No foul," Stefan answered. His eyes scanned down Zach's body, narrowed slightly in concentration. "Okay, good news is that your vitals all seem normal. You'll have bruising around your throat, but that's nothing a little vampire blood couldn't handle."

"Alright, what's the bad news then?" Zach rasped.

"Well, that would be that my blood can't fix that lovely face of yours," Stefan teased, reaching over to nudge Zach's shoulder. Zach rolled his eyes and Victoria couldn't help but giggle.

This drew Zach's attention over to her, who properly took a moment to look her over. Not in a flirty sense, but more analytical, like a threat assessment. "You must be Victoria LeBlanc, am I right?"

"You're right," Victoria confirmed. She patted the hand around her shoulders as a gesture of hello, forgoing an attempt at a handshake. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Salvatore."

"Please, just call me Zach."

"M-Mama Bear?"

Those two words caused Victoria to freeze and she knew her heart skipped a beat. She hadn't heard his voice in days and it had been such a pained relief. It was relaxing knowing that he couldn't hurt her, or her friends or her mother. But at the same time, as she mentioned to Stefan days ago, Damon was like fungus. He grew on you. And despite the fact that Victoria wanted to stake him ninety-three percent of the time, she enjoyed the time they spent together. She enjoyed the humor that the two of them brought forth in each other. Damon was the one who made her laugh the most, besides Kelly. Stefan tended to make her blush or smile or calm down, but Damon was the one who thought of her as a partner despite the many death threats. He was intrigued by her.

Suffice to say, all of that could be dumbed down to it hurt her heart to hear him say his nickname for her.

"Damon, leave it be," Stefan growled, his voice loud with warning.

Damon continued on though, and Victoria could imagine the small, weak, and pained smirk on his lips. "Two heartbeats, Stefan." He took a long breath here before he continued, "One is Zach. The other is different. Faster, more panicked. Who else in your group knows about this place except her?"

"Let me talk to him," Victoria suddenly interjected, looking towards Zach and Stefan. Both Salvatore men gave her a look that yelled she was crazy, but she shook her head. She needed the closure. In a way. "I'll be fine. Please. Just like, five minutes."

Stefan looked at her hard and she started to do her best impression of puppy dog eyes. He sighed in exasperation and moaned, "Alright. If he does anything, make a loud noise. I'll be listening for it. Once you're done, come upstairs to the living room."

Victoria smiled brightly, nodded, and helped to transfer Zach's body weight onto Stefan. The younger Salvatore brother helped his great-nephew down the hall, occasionally glancing backwards towards Victoria. She gave him a thumbs-up to let him know she'd be alright, and then he rounded one of the corners and disappeared.

Victoria turned around slowly, taking a moment to center herself, before she approached the door. She made sure she stayed a good distance away, but just enough that she could peer into the room. Damon had drug himself back towards the far wall. He was sweating, his skin an ashy gray color, and he looked badly dehydrated. She squeezed her hands together. She could not crumble and she could not break. That was not fair to Stefan and it wasn't fair to Zach.

"W-Why are you here, Mama Bear?" Damon wheezed. His head was lolled to one side and Victoria couldn't tell if his eyes were open just barely or if they were closed completely. "C-Come to gloat?"

"Am I the person who does that?" Victoria asked. Her voice came out softer than she anticipated. She moved from holding her hands together to folding her arms across her chest. Like there was another barrier separating him from her. "I don't gloat, Damon. That's more your style."

"Can't say you're wrong," was his reply. "But you didn't a-answer the first question."

"I'm here because I was at school, dealing with some terrible teenager issues by expressing myself through dance, when I finished and saw your brother had been watching me the entire time. I then remembered that in this episode, you would try to get Zach to open the door by choking him. Stefan hadn't left immediately after school and I was worried that he would miss the time and you would actually end up killing Zach. Spoiler alert, Damon: no one likes being choked."

"Really? That wasn't a turn on for you?" Damon snorted, coughing hard after he was finished speaking.

"I'm not going to talk to you if you keep on being a little brat," Victoria snapped, standing up straighter. "I am taking time out of my day to visit you, time that I honestly should be using to catch up on the homework I missed because I stayed home, and all you do is try to push me away."

Victoria moved to turn away, but Damon's weak "Wait" caused her to stop. She looked back through the door and sighed, shaking her head. She mumbled, knowing he would hear her, "Damon, aggression doesn't solve anything. Shutting people out, manipulating people...these just cause enemies, they don't help the hero. They hinder him."

"A-Are you saying I'm a h-hero?" Damon stammered, taking a shaky deep breath.

"I don't believe you're the villain, Damon," Victoria answered. At the base of her soul, she did believe that. But sometimes it was hard to believe that on the surface. "I believe you paint yourself as the villain because you just don't know where you fit into this crazy story of life. You assign yourself a bad part because then, at least, you'll have a part. You won't be wandering around in confusion." She stopped and shook her head. "But if you keep painting yourself as a villain, then no one will trust you. You won't have allies, or partners, or lovers, or friends, or family because no one will feel safe around you." Victoria licked her lips as she felt tears spring up in her eyes. She took a shaky breath and used the heels of her palms to aggressively rub her eyes. "I don't feel safe around you. And for some stupid ass reason, I want to. Which is stupid, because I know you and I've seen the terrible things you've done, and yet, despite all of that, I just have this stupid feeling that you are a good man underneath it all. It's kind of pathetic, honestly."

"It's...not pathetic," Damon hissed, licking his lips. He looked so thirsty. Victoria hated to see him that way. She hated to see anyone like that. "You're...good person."

"Thanks, Damon."

"N-No problem."

Victoria shifted awkwardly on her feet, letting out a large sigh. "I guess that's all that I needed to say."

"Did you know this would happen?" Damon asked, moving his head so he was peering through the gap. He would only see part of her face, but it seemed like his eyes shone a little brighter.

Victoria nodded. "It wasn't supposed to happen exactly this way, but yeah, I did."

"We were...partners."

"I know," Victoria sighed. "But as long as you're painting yourself as the villain, I'm going to have to treat you like the villain. You're out of control, reactive, and dangerous. You have a goal in mind and as long as you are trying to achieve that goal, no one is safe. Best solution is to take you out of the equation for a while."

"I just...want to see her...again."

"Here's a hint for you to ponder in your captivity, Damon," Victoria said. "Hints are the little clues I like to give Stefan, clues that are not going to cause the whole space-time continuum to collapse. Here's my first hint for you, and it's not going to be the last one I give you, I know that: think about Katherine. Is she worth it? If you find her, then what? If you don't, then what? You need to live your life for yourself. Nobody else; not Stefan, not Katherine, just Damon." She took a step back and turned to face down the hallway. After a moment of silence, she whispered, "Bye Damon."

"Bye Mama Bear."

Victoria gritted her teeth to try and swallow down her emotions as she rushed away from the basement. She took the stairs two at a time, reaching the top step and the door quickly. She stepped to the other side, closed the door, and leaned her body wearily against it.

"Victoria?"

Stefan. Victoria lifted her face and saw Stefan standing just a few feet away from her, looking at her with his patented concerned face. She sniffed and used a hand to wipe away the unshed tears in her eyes. His frown deepened and he took a step forward, lifting a hand to gently brush his fingertips against her cheek. Their eyes connected and Victoria found herself getting lost in their wonderful shade of green.

Before anything else could happen, though, a sharp ringing brought them out of the little trance they were both in. Victoria stepped away from Stefan's hand, rubbing her eyes again, and headed to her bag, unzipping it. She pulled out her ringing phone and frowned thoughtfully at the unknown number that appeared.

She answered it and said, "This is Victoria LeBlanc. Who's calling?"

"Only your favorite person in the whole world, that's who."

A smile broke out on Victoria's face and she giggled, "Vicki! How'd you get my number?"

"Stole it from Jeremy."

"How'd he get my number?" Victoria asked, scrunching her brow in confusion.

"Oh, he definitely got it from Elena. I think it's kind of like a ritual; in order to get your new number, we have to steal it." Victoria couldn't help but laugh at that mental imagery. If only Vicki knew how much that was true for a lot of people... "Anyways, I know it's been a couple of days since we've seen each other last, and I was wondering if you'd like to go to the Grill and maybe get some cheeseburgers and catch each other up on our lives."

"Ugh, that sounds amazing," Victoria breathed, nodding her head rapidly. "I would absolutely love that. I have had a crappy few days."

"Well, I've had an amazing few days and I want to tell you all about them," Vicki laughed. "Grill, let's say...four or fiveish? It depends on when I can get off. Life has been a pain in my ass with Robert at the wheel."

"I'll try and be there by four and we can just wait and see?" Victoria suggested. Vicki made a verbal noise of affirmation and Victoria smiled. "Cool. I'll see you then."

"See you soon, Blankie."

"In a while, Vicki."

A/N: 100k+ words, 8k+ views, 119 Followers, 85 Favoriters, and 75 reviews. I can't honestly thank you guys enough. I think this story is one of my personal favorites I've ever written and to see you guys so invested in this story really pushes and motivates me. Your reviews are usually longer than "Good story" and that's so incredible to me. So again, thank you.

Haha, that all being said, I really like to be ahead on chapters, and I'm not really right now, and I'm about to potentially pick up a 2nd job, so I believe that I'm going to switch to once a week updates for a little while. They will be on Saturdays, hopefully between 3pm and 5pm, and then when I go back to twice a week, we'll do them on Wednesday/Saturday, yeah? Cool!

THE SHIPPING WARS! (feel free to keep on voting; 1 full point for one ship, two half points for two separate ships. Half pointers will be italicized):

Team Stetoria {Victoria/Stefan} (2): insert name here XD, SoraLover987142, sammyleann's dad

Team Datoria/Viamon {Victoria/Damon} (2): Sciave, Guest

Team Vilijah {Victoria/Elijah} (6): guest, Guest, SoraLover987142, insert name here XD, sammyleann, Orange keys 25, LoyalElijahFangirl

If it so pleases any of you, I have found theme songs for each of the ships that I feel really connects with the characters involved in the ships, so please feel free to listen to them to get in the mood; if you have any song recommendations for the ships, please leave a review. Maybe we'll have our own playlist!:

TEAM STETORIA: "Unconditionally" by Katy Perry (the acoustic version)

TEAM DATORIA/VIAMON: "Animals (Epic Trailer Version)" by J2

TEAM VILIJAH: "Be Here For You" by Sam Tinnesz

New Followers!: Lady Ravenclaw Black

New Favoriters!: Saida Bagadzieva, Lady Ravenclaw Black, KimmyWSmith

Welcome y'all!

Onto reviews!:

Guest (1): Thank you for reading this story that you had just found that day! It means a lot to me. Thanks for taking a chance on a not completed story :)

sammyleann: Your dad's a fan? I gave him his own point vote cuz I just find that so cool!

Orange keys 25: Aw thank you! I really liked it too.

Guest (2): I know, right? I did realize when I wrote that last chapter that I needed to find something impactful that would make Caroline pissed at Damon when she transformed, so I decided that yeah, Caroline going into "You hurt my best friend? Aw heck no" would be a good substitute. He won't be ignored or disregarded, and he will face the consequences. However, I would like to say that I believe everyone can be redeemed and Damon won't be portrayed as a bad guy for the entire series. He will understand that what he has done (and what he could have done) was wrong and will eventually be repentant because of that. A lot of people are hoping that Noble is Elijah, but I'm not telling!

LoyalElijahFangirl: This was probably one of my favorite reviews for the last chapter. Like, honestly, thank you. I've worked so hard on Victoria's character development and last chapter I was really worried that I didn't do it enough justice. Like, I was editing things into the chapter last minute cuz I felt like they were needed, so it's really helpful to hear that you saw growth in her. Yep, I'm trying my best to make y'all confused at who she's gonna end up with. Oh! What I meant by multiple relationships is that Victoria's not going to be in a polyamorous relationship (dating two or more guys at the same time). That's not what I see for her. And yeah, I can totally see her dating other guys before getting to whoever she'll end up with, but I think she needs to work on herself a little bit more before she puts herself out there in the dating pool.

DBZFAN45: Mhmm, the LeBlancs are a Founding Family! I decided to throw that in because it'll make Victoria's life so much easier when she's naturally invited to events because she's from a founding family, etc. I love having her make staking jokes. It's so much fun (and let's be honest, the pocket and purse industry are in on it together to keep money rolling) and I thought that adding the phone and stake to her shoes would be funny as well. Yeah, she was definitely getting complacent and giving him undeserving sympathy. She sees the good in every person and I think that can be a downfall at some points.

Guest (3): Solid and to the point. I like it!

Jalissa12213: I like your detective skills. I can neither confirm nor deny your revelations, as that could leak some plot points out. However, what I can confirm to you is that no, Victoria is not going to end up being a werewolf later on. As for the hybrid...kind of sort of? You'll understand as the chapters move on, but you won't get a definite answer for a while, for both questions.

A. G Herz: Oh my gosh, thank you so much! That is so sweet of you, and it was over 97k+ words too! I'm so glad that you decided to read this! So, does that mean I can put you down as a Vilijah shipper too? Thank you for supporting Victoria!

You guys are literally the sweetest. Thank you so much and I hope you enjoy this chapter.

Please leave a comment, question, concern, conspiracy theory, or vote in the Shipping Wars! They really make my day to see them all.

Until next time, stay safe and stay healthy!

BecomingFearless1F