You're Undead To Me - Part 2

Victoria worked hard with Stefan and Zach for the next few hours, game-planning what to do with Damon throughout the next few days as he finished his desiccation process. Victoria offered to babysit Damon with Zach the next day, while Stefan went to the Sexy Suds Car Wash. Caroline had tried hard to get Victoria to attend, saying once again that the world needed to see her "otherworldly" legs. Victoria had been able to tamper down her enthusiasm by using her "break up" with Damon as an excuse, and that had been more than enough for Caroline to back off. Now that she was free, she would be able to keep an eye on Damon and Zach. She liked Zach, liked how down-to-earth and realistic he was. He understood the struggles of the vampires and it was clear that he cared deeply for his great-great-something uncle. Him and Stefan had a good bond and Victoria knew how tough it was for loved ones to stay alive in that cursed town.

It was then that Victoria decided that Zach Salvatore would be the first she would save.

Stefan had glanced at the clock at one point and had started spewing out Italian words (Victoria figured they were curse words by how wide Zach's eyes got and how high his eyebrows rose). Stefan had grabbed Victoria's hand, yelling a quick goodbye to Zach, before dragging them both to his little red Coupe. He drove quickly to the Grill, though still respecting Victoria's reservations about being in a car. As soon as they were at the Grill, he parked and jumped out, rushing into the restaurant. Victoria decided it would be safer to wait it out, sitting in the car for a few minutes before stepping out. However, the moment she did that, Elena came striding out of the Grill, glancing backwards towards the door with confusion and sadness.

Victoria picked her way carefully up to the sidewalk, hurrying to stand beside a car that wasn't Stefan's. Elena spotted her beside a silver Honda and jogged lightly over to her. "Hey Tori."

"Hey Elena," Victoria greeted. She gestured towards the Grill and decided to play the innocent and dumb card, as if she had no idea what had actually happened in the Grill just then. "Everything alright? You seem a little bit troubled."

"Just stupid Stefan stuff," Elena grumbled, shaking her head. "I'd rather not talk about it." Victoria remained quiet. She knew Elena. Some days, Elena would say she didn't want to talk and then would word vomit. Other days, when she said it, she would mean it. Victoria figured it was the former in this situation. She counted down quietly from five, and when she reached the awkward space after one, Elena blurted out, "Have you noticed anything odd about Stefan?"

"I think both Salvatore guys are weirdos, so I think you're going to need to be a little more specific," Victoria said, partially joking and partially honest. She would never understand how both brothers would stab each other in the back to be with a woman, and so they were forever labeled as weirdos in her mind. "Is he doing something different with his hair?"

"It doesn't have to do with his hair," Elena huffed, rolling his eyes. "And I'm being serious!"

"I am too, Elena," Victoria retorted. "I can't tell you if anything is weird if you're not giving me specifics on what areas of Stefan you think are being weird."

"Ok, so do you have a minute to chat?" Elena asked.

Victoria glanced at the time on her phone and bit her lower lip. She was cutting it a little close. She sent a quick text to Vicki telling her that she was running a little late and she would be around as soon as possible. Victoria then looked up and nodded. Elena grabbed her hand and dragged her to one of the outdoor tables, forcing her to sit down with her.

"Ok, so I've been noticing these little weird things about Stefan ever since he came here," Elena began, her hand gestures getting more and more expressive. "So, like, at first, he was just always around. Nothing too weird; but then, at the bonfire, when I was talking to him, his eyes got dark and I just thought he was feeling sick. But the same thing has happened multiple times since then." His bloodlust. He's having a hard time controlling it around her. "Then, like, he's really hesitant to enter other people's houses for the first time. I thought it was just a Southern gentleman thing, you know, the whole 'Never enter a house unless you've been given express permission' manners thing. But it's like, to a whole new extreme." Vampires cannot enter a house without express permission, unless the person who owns the house is dead.

Verbally, Victoria commented, "I think I've noticed the dark eyes thing, but that was like once and Stefan looked stressed as hell. As for the entering a house thing, I'm pretty sure Stefan is the politest guy you will ever find." Well, besides Elijah Mikaelson, but he's not coming around for a while.

"There's more, though," Elena argued. "At the tailgating, you got punched, right? Down to the ground. Stefan stepped in to get Tyler away from both you and Jeremy. Jeremy got up and swiped at Tyler with a broken beer bottle and ended up cutting Stefan's hand. I saw it get cut and I saw the blood. When I ran to him, though, he was perfectly fine. Said it wasn't his. Then he went straight to you." Vampires have enhanced healing. "A-And then, just now, this old guy in the Grill starts talking to him like he knows him. Like they've met before. He's got to be seventy years old and Stefan said he hasn't been around Mystic Falls since he was young. Like, how would that guy even know him? Stefan doesn't just have 'one of those faces', you know?"

"It's common among older folks to mistake identities," Victoria offered up. "There could have been a relative of his who looked just like him who lived around here." Read fine print: Silas. "Maybe he knew him?"

"The guy clearly knew his name; he said Stefan Salvatore."

"Well, we already know that he and his brother were both named after the original Salvatore brothers in 1865," Victoria explained. "Who's to say that there wasn't a long standing tradition where family members would name their children Damon or Stefan? Keep the Damon Salvatore and Stefan Salvatore name-game going?"

"You said you talked with him about his history. Is that the case?"

"First off, it's been a while since we've had that conversation and a lot has happened since then, including me hitting my head rather aggressively, so I would say anything I say regarding his family's history might not be one hundred percent accurate," Victoria defended, holding her hands up in the 'don't shoot' position. "Secondly, I primarily focused on the original Salvatore brothers; not the rest of the family history. I wouldn't know." She glanced at her phone and winced at the time again. "Listen, Elena, I really, and I do mean this honestly, want to talk to you about this, but I promised Vicki I would hang out with her tonight and it's been such a long time since we've talked properly."

Elena sighed, but nodded. She leaned back in her chair and just stared numbly at the table in front of her. "That's alright. I'll figure out what's really happening. It's just trippy, you know?"

"Well, considering I've never been in a relationship," Victoria teased, sticking her tongue out playfully towards Elena.

"But Caroline said you and Damon had been dating?"

Victoria grunted and rolled her eyes. "Damon wishes we were dating, and I'm sure he told Caroline that we were. No, Damon and I...had a relationship, but it wasn't a romantic one. Or platonic either. More like a partnership; an allyship? I didn't stab him, he didn't choke me, sort of thing. We got along pretty good until the party. Then, we had an argument and he left." Victoria shrugged. "I didn't feel great about it for a while, hence the three days staying home. I...yeah. It was just...not a great time, but I am not going to dump those problems onto you. I have to go find Vicki. I'll see you later, Elena."

"Are you going to be at the car wash tomorrow?" she called out as Victoria began to walk away.

Victoria replied, "Nope! Got to babysit for a friend!"

Elena seemed confused and Victoria couldn't help but laugh as she ducked into the Grill. She was immediately met by the sad puppy dog eyes of Stefan Salvatore and couldn't help but give him an overexaggerated puppy dog frown. "Aw. Another fight with Elena?"

"As if you don't know," Stefan grumbled, flopping over into one of the booths dramatically. Victoria took a seat on the opposite side, her legs sitting on the outside of the booth, crossed. "One stranger. One stranger was all it took to completely wreck my chances with her."

"He's a nice guy, it's not his fault that he wasn't aware of your age," Victoria retorted gently, reaching over to gently shove Stefan's shoulder. She loved the code words she used to talk to him about vampire stuff without fully revealing vampire stuff. It made their conversations so much more entertaining.

"Well, since you obviously knew that was going to happen, given you didn't come in immediately after me," Stefan continued, giving her the stink eye. "That also means you know what I'm supposed to do afterwards to get back into her good graces."

"Why, yes, Mr. Salvatore, I do," Victoria replied in a mock Southern belle accent. He snorted and rolled his eyes, but a smile did show up on his mouth. Victoria counted that a success. "You're going to need to call on all of your Italian heritage for this. Make her dinner. Favorite meal is Chicken Parmesan, which I know you can do. Tonight, at her house; get Jeremy in on the plan to help you out. You need to tell her what you can. She's getting suspicious of you and if you reveal just enough of the 'non-essential' information, like favorite movie, color, what the hell the drama with Katherine is about without revealing when it actually happened, then she'll be satisfied and won't go digging."

Well, that wasn't necessarily true, but Victoria didn't know the space-time continuum consequences of delaying Elena's revelation of vampires, so she thought it would be safe to keep that event approaching like normal.

"Chicken Parmesan," Stefan breathed, nodding his head. His smile widened a little. "Alright, I can do that. Thanks, Victoria!" He leapt to his feet and raced out of the Grill, at a normal human speed, mind you.

Victoria laughed as he left, shaking her head in amusement. He could be as adorable as a puppy sometimes. It was rather entertaining to watch.

"Oooh, is someone developing a little crush?"

Victoria whipped her head around and gawked incredulously at Vicki, who stood where Stefan had just stood, leaning against the table with a smirk. "Vicki!"

"I'm just saying it as I see it," Vicki snorted, moving to sit down across from Victoria. The girls both got themselves comfortable before Vicki continued. "Like, seriously, Victoria. The eyes you give him sometimes are ridiculous. Like, I'm going to get a cavity at how sweet the whole exchange is."

"Well, you must be high or something, because there is nothing happening between the two of us that is not a good, solid, platonic friendship," Victoria stated, leaning back against the booth to solidify her point.

Vicki frowned at Victoria. "I'm serious, Blankie. You two seem to click really well, unlike how he is with Elena."

"Stefan and Elena had such strong chemistry, what do you mean?" Victoria defended them, sitting up straighter in her seat.

"In the last few weeks, I've only seen a few moments where the two of them are actually happy together," Vicki said with a snort. "They never notice me because I always stand off to the side, but I see it. He's not very forthcoming and she refuses to just be around him without knowing everything about him. Sometimes, guys have secrets for a reason and you just need to let them have that. Elena doesn't get that. You do, though."

"Before you get it into your mind that Stefan and me are a perfect match compared to him and Elena, let's stop that train before it even leaves the station," Victoria interrupted, holding up a finger to emphasize her point. "There is nothing going on between us. Stefan and I, it's never going to happen."

"You could have said, 'It will never happen', which shows that you don't want it to happen, but you said 'it is never going to happen', which implies that you subconsciously want it to happen!" Vicki squealed, pointing her finger at Victoria happily and clapping like a deranged seal.

Victoria's mouth dropped open in shock as she took a moment to process what Vicki had just said. After a moment, she narrowed her eyes at the teen. "You're hanging out at the Gilberts' house too much; you're absorbing Jenna Sommers' knowledge through osmosis."

Vicki giggled, flipping her hair behind her shoulder dramatically. "You're just jealous that I'm getting smarter than you."

"Yeah, in your dreams, Kid," snickered Victoria, sticking her tongue out playfully. "Now come on, you said on the phone that you had a good week. What's that all about?"

Victoria wandered down into the basement of the Salvatore's house, a fluffy pillow and blanket combo in one arm, and a copy of The Count of Monte Cristo in the other. She took all the twists and turns until she reached the hallway that held Damon's prison cell. Stefan stood at Damon's door, looking down upon his older brother with a conflicted expression. Victoria couldn't help but frown. It was hard to watch a loved one pass away, even if they were a pain in the ass.

"I bet you're feeling pretty good about yourself, aren't you?" Damon whispered. He couldn't speak louder than a whisper now. It sounded as though all of his words pained him, like his lungs were being shredded while he tried to speak. Victoria hated it, but she knew it was necessary. If he was going to act like the villain, then they were going to be forced to treat him like it.

Victoria sat her pillow down onto the ground as Stefan said to his brother, "Not particularly." He glanced over at Victoria who nodded, silently stating that she was feeling the same way.

He made his choice. Now we have to make ours.

She plopped down onto the pillow and set her book to the side to properly tuck the blanket down around her legs. She then reached out and snatched up her book, placing it on her lap as she waited for Stefan's and Damon's conversation to conclude.

"You won. You got the bad guy, the villain," Damon breathed. "Now nothing can come between you and Elena. Except the truth. The lies will catch up to you, Stefan. As long as you keep lying to yourself about what you are."

"That's the beauty of you in there and me out here...I can walk away."

Stefan turned away from his brother, perhaps for the last time, to go to the car wash. The younger Salvatore paused by Victoria, kneeling down so the two of them were eye-level. "Are you sure that you're okay being here, doing this?"

"I'm fine, Stefan," Victoria reassured the vampire. "My mom and the girls have all been convinced that I am helping someone babysit a rather unruly child," she threw a glance towards Damon's cell when she heard him scoff from inside of it, "and that I will be missing the sexy suds car wash as a result of it. A tragedy, but it's for a good cause." She giggled at that as she looked back towards Stefan. "He's on his death bed, Stefan. Well, to be more politically correct, his desiccation bed. He shouldn't be alone. And plus, I'll have Zach here with me. We have him covered."

"If you're sure..." He still sounded really unsure.

Victoria leaned forward and rested her hand on the propped up knee. Her thumb rubbed the material of his jeans gently as she said, "Trust me, Stefan. I will watch over him and Zach. Nothing will happen."

"Is that your word as a Seer?"

"For the last time, not a Seer," huffed Victoria, shaking her head. "And no, because I don't know how this will result now that I've inserted myself into the equation. I'm also human and I can't be expected to remember everything. But I am saying that as a friend. I've got this. Now go out there and woo your lady!"

Stefan laughed as he stood up, brushing off his jeans. "Okay, okay. Have fun."

"We will," Victoria snickered as she waved Stefan away.

Her friend left the basement, leaving Victoria and Damon in silence. She shifted on her pillow, getting more comfortable, and opened up The Count of Monte Cristo to the first page. As soon as her eyes reached the first word, Damon piped up, "Don't you hate it?"

Victoria sighed and closed her book. She had the strangest suspicion that she wasn't going to be reading anytime soon. "Hate what, Damon?" She would humor him, just for the sake that he was in immeasurable pain that she would never experience.

"Watching Stefan fawn over Elena?"

Victoria snorted, shaking her head in exasperation. "Why would I hate watching Stefan with his girlfriend? I mean, if anything, I'm rejoicing. Elena deserves a good guy after what she's been through." Victoria frowned. "Shoot. I wanted to ask him how dinner went."

"For someone who knows a lot about others, you seem rather clueless about yourself," Damon commented, letting out a chuckle that eventually turned into fits of coughing.

She groaned as she realized the hidden implication of his words. She threw her head back against the stones and squeezed her eyes shut as she hissed, "If you are implying that I have feelings for Stefan..."

"I am not implying, I am stating," Damon corrected her.

Victoria rose up to her feet, setting her book and blanket down on the ground. "I am not having this conversation with you. I will be back later."

"Seriously?" she heard Damon ask her incredulously as she sashayed her way out of the basement.

She took the stairs two at a time until she reached the super special secret door. She pushed it open just as Zach stepped up to it. They both let out little frightened noises and Victoria paused in her door-opening just in time to prevent the door from smacking into the tray of food Zach held in his hands.

"Zach!" Victoria gasped, gripping onto the door tightly. She let out a large breath and looked at Zach with wide eyes. "What the hell are you doing?"

"Coming to bring you some food!" Zach replied, shrugging his shoulders with an overexaggerated sense of fear. "I wasn't expecting you to give me a freaking heart attack!"

Faintly, from the echoes of the hallways below her, Victoria could swear that she heard Damon laughing. She turned down the stairs and shouted, "Shut up, Damon!" before looking back towards Zach. In a calmer tone, she added, "Sorry. I probably should have announced that I was leaving the basement. Thank you for bringing me some food. Would you like to join me in the living room? Chat and eat?"

"That sounds great," Zach agreed. He took a step back so Victoria could exit the basement. She shut the door and the two migrated to the couches. Victoria sat down on the couch and Zach sat beside her, leaving a decent amount of space between the two of them. He set the tray of food on the table and Victoria was able to see just what he had prepared for her. There were delicious looking sandwiches (were those ham and cheddar cheese slices? Oooh!) and little Ritz crackers and there were two glasses of orange juice sitting on the tray as well.

"This looks delicious," Victoria mused, reaching forward to grab one of the sandwiches. Zach thanked her and she took a large bite. The sandwich basically melted in her mouth and she moaned. "Ok, I take it back, this is one of the best sandwiches I've ever had in my entire life."

"You're too kind," Zach laughed, grabbing one of the sandwiches as well.

The two of them munched in silence, just enjoying the company of each other. Victoria didn't mind. Sometimes, she welcomed the silence. It was nice to not have to fill it, to just sit and exist. She had a feeling that those moments would be rare for her indeed.

After she had finished her second sandwich and him his third, Zach said, "You care a lot about Stefan and Damon."

Victoria brushed stray crumbs off of her lap and curled her legs up underneath her. She leaned against the back of the couch and turned to look at Zach thoughtfully. "Yeah, I do."

"You haven't known them for very long. Well, if what Stefan says about you is true, you've known of them, but you haven't known them."

"I understand what you're saying," Victoria laughed. Zach smiled at her. "And yeah, it's...crazy, honestly. The amount of times that Damon's tried to kill me would make one think that I should be running for the hills."

"And yet you stay. Why is that?"

"To be honest, for the past week I've been asking myself the same question," Victoria answered him honestly. She glanced down at her lap, where her fingers were picking at the seam of her jeans. "And only yesterday did I finally find an answer."

"What was the answer?"

"Damon doesn't know where he fits in this world, in this new society, without Katherine," Victoria responded. "One of the open roles to play is the villain, so that's what he does. He says mean things, he kills people, he tries to kill people, in my case. He makes death threats and rude jokes because that's what he feels like a villain would do. Now don't get me wrong, this is not me pardoning anything he does. As I've told him, as long as he acts the villain, I will treat him like the villain. But that's the thing...Damon's not the villain. I've seen worse men then him before, men who haven't tried killing me. Damon is just lost. He's broken and he believes that he can never be fixed. When someone becomes broken, they will use the sharpest part of themselves to protect their heart, mind, and soul, from getting even more damaged. That's just what Damon's doing now."

"That is beautifully philosophical," Zach commented and Victoria blushed under his kind words.

"Thanks, Zach. Matt, this guy I know from high school, he's on the football team with Stefan, he said that I used to have this saying before the accident. 'Everyone's lost in the darkness. It's not my fault I decide to bring a flashlight while you bring a blindfold'."

"You choose to actively search for that person who is lost and broken to try and heal them while others just play the easy card of 'they're insane' or 'they will never change'," Zach restated, and Victoria nodded in confirmation. "Wow. And I thought Uncle Stefan was wise."

Victoria laughed, nodding in agreement. "I know, right? Pre-accident me was pretty smart."

"Uncle Stefan explained that a bit when he was giving me the run-down of yourself, which I find so...odd."

"I really don't understand it all that much myself, either," Victoria confided. "What I do know is that I was in a car accident. The car accident apparently happened in this universe too, and that was the Gilbert car crash last spring. It starts to get really mind-boggling the more you try and think about it, so for the moment, I've been keeping the 'how I got here' on the back burner. There have been a few more pressing concerns." She pointed down at the ground, signaling the little guest they had in the basement. Zach gave a hum, acknowledging Victoria's point. "Actually, Zach, I have a quick favor to ask you."

Zach raised an eyebrow in amusement. "We've only known each other officially for two days, Victoria. Don't you think it's a little early to be asking for favors?"

Victoria did the mature thing and stuck her tongue out at him. "Shut up, Zach. Listen, you wouldn't happen to have some sort of room in this house that has a large mirror or mirrors that has a decent amount of space?"

"That's...oddly specific."

"I've been charged with choreographing a dance piece for my dance class at school, and I've been hitting a dead end because there are no good Halloween-ish songs in 2009," Victoria grumbled, folding her arms across her chest. "They all come out in like, three to six years! I don't have three to six years to wait for a kick ass Halloween song. I have one month."

"So a dance studio room?" Zach interrupted, and Victoria nodded. "Actually, while we don't have a room that's specific designated for that, we have a guest bedroom with a large mirror by the door. All you would have to do is move a couple of things out of the way and you should have a space that's a decent size."

"Great! Would you mind helping me with that?"

"Not a problem."

One person cannot be expected to hold the entire world on their shoulders. None of them are Atlas, the mythical Titan who literally had to do that. That's ridiculous. And just as one person cannot be expected to hold the entire world on their shoulders, so should one person not be expected to remember every single freaking detail of a TV show that spans eight seasons and has two spin-offs, who each have five and three seasons of their own show, respectively. That would be crazy and impossible. That's too much information and knowledge to try and store into one body.

That was the excuse that Victoria was going to use on Stefan the moment she spotted a flash of blonde hair out of the corner of her eye.

She had spent most of the morning and afternoon up in the bedroom, trying to flush out a semblance of an idea for her dance routine. Spoiler alert: it didn't go very well. There was no songs that really sparked her interest and the little moves she had been able to pull out of the far recesses of her brain didn't bring out her passion for dancing. Maybe it was the setting, maybe it was the timing, or maybe it was the style of dance she was expected to perform. Victoria didn't know; what she did know was the afternoon had been anything but productive. She had taken a couple of breaks to check up on Zach and Damon (who was doing well and who was not, respectively), but as soon as she was sure they were alive, she would be back up to the room to keep dancing.

It was in the middle of a pirouette, actually, that Victoria noticed the streak of blonde hair entering the boarding house. That sudden shock caused Victoria to stumble out of her spin, collapsing awkwardly onto the floor. Her heart was pounding in her chest as her mind brought forth the episode information.

The crystal and Caroline. Victoria had totally forgotten about the crystal from the Founder's Ball. The super special one that Emily Bennett used to seal Katherine up in the tomb. The one that Damon must have dropped when Noble tackled him off of her, and as a result, the one that Caroline must have found. Damn it! Victoria hadn't even considered Caroline as a factor into that whole situation's equation. She had just figured that since Caroline wasn't being used by Damon, she wouldn't play a role in the story anymore until it was necessary. She should have known that the teenager would have found the crystal. She probably went looking for me and heard about the commotion me and Damon caused. That would have led her to the woods and then to where the crystal was. Double damn it!

Victoria leapt out of her crouch and went flying towards the door. She had to get to the basement before Caroline did. Screw the bargain Victoria had established with Damon; he was so hungry at that point he probably would think Victoria would be a decent meal, despite the whole 'your blood is disgusting' thing. She slipped into the hallway and took the stairs two at a time (which is rather dangerous and she was close to slipping multiple times. Would not recommend). She made it to the bottom just as she saw Caroline, still clad in her bikini, enter the basement.

"Zach! Basement, now!" Victoria shouted, hitting the ground running. She reached the basement door in record time, just as Zach came dashing out of the kitchen behind her. She swung the door open and raced down the steps, panting the whole way. Caroline was nowhere to be seen and Victoria strained her senses to try and pick up any clue on how much farther Caroline was in front of them. Oh, to be a vampire...

Victoria slid around one of the corners, spotting the hallway with her blanket, pillow, and forgotten literary classic on the floor. At the end of the hallway, Caroline stood in front of the steel door, her fingers on the latch that would let Damon out. Faintly, Victoria could hear Damon whispering, "You're gonna open the door. You're gonna open the door."

"Caroline, no!" Victoria shrieked, launching herself at the blonde. She was too late though.

The next few seconds were a blur.

The latch on the door was pulled back, letting Damon out of the room. Victoria reached Caroline just in time to spin her around and into the position that Victoria had previously been in. With quick, panicked breaths, she screamed, "Get out of here now!" Caroline then turned around and broke out into a dead sprint the way they had just come.

Damon was out of his cage in seconds and Zach sprung forward to grab him. Damon was weak, but he wasn't that weak. In one quick move, he was out of Zach's grip and his hands were wrapped around Zach's jaw. A twist, and Zach's neck was snapped, sending him to the ground. Victoria screamed, "No!", reaching a hand out towards Zach as his body dropped to the ground.

She didn't have time to mourn or worry about her friend's great-something nephew. A second later, Victoria found herself out of the basement and in the living room, pinned on the coffee table by none other than Damon. His skin was pasty and he seemed sick. Like, physically sick, which was unheard of since vampires couldn't get sicknesses (lucky them). His eyes were wide and he looked crazed. His hands were wrapped tightly around Victoria's wrists, pinning them up above her head. He straddled her, making her unable to squirm her way out from underneath him. In any other situation, it would be an extremely sexy and awkward moment for Victoria.

In this situation, all she was worried about was not dying.

"Damon, let me go!" Victoria shouted, yanking her arms down desperately. His grip was too tight, though, and he made them even tighter at her struggling. She let out a cry as she physically felt her bones grind on each other. Any tighter and he would snap her wrists like twigs. "Damon!"

"You betrayed me, Victoria," Damon growled. His veins got darker and darker and his eyes turned a terrifying shade of red. His canines dropped, revealing his fangs. Victoria shivered at the sight of them, her mind drawing a blank. She was going to die. This was it. "And because of that, I'm not going to feel any regret by doing this."

He ducked his hand down towards her neck and for one second, nothing happened. Victoria laid pinned underneath him, and all she could feel was his hot breaths on her neck, his nose dragging along her pulse.

A moment after that, it was as if someone had lit her blood on fire.

Victoria screamed as she felt Damon's fangs puncture her neck. It was unnatural, it was horrifying, it was painful. She could feel her blood being sucked away in dramatic gulps and Victoria writhed underneath him. She needed to get away. Victoria needed to live. Damon squeezed her wrists tighter and another hot white pain hit Victoria's wrists. She let out a strangled sob as the pains from her neck and wrists made her dizzy. It was getting harder to pay attention to the world. She could feel Damon's chest rumble, and it sounded like a happy noise.

Victoria weakly kicked at Damon. Surprise, surprise, it didn't do much. But, Damon did unlatch himself from her neck, licking his lips and sitting up. He missed so much blood...her blood. It coated his lips, his jaw, and even down his neck. His collarbone was decorated in her red life juice and he was panting, his eyes glossed over. He looked high. He let go of her wrists, but she couldn't find the strength to pull them away from their current position.

"Your blood may taste like a sewage pipe, but when you've had nothing for days," Damon purred, swiping his thumb across his chin. With the blood he picked up, he brought his thumb up to his lips and sucked the appendage until all of her blood was gone. "You begin to taste like cotton candy, Mama Bear."

Victoria couldn't speak to him. One, because she didn't want to. And two, because her mouth felt like it was filled with cotton. She knew that she was lying against the hard coffee table, but her body felt like it was floating in a river. Bobbing on the tide and drifting along the warm water. Victoria could also feel the wound on her neck, the blood that was still trickling down, staining her shirt and ruining it. Which sucked, because she really liked that shirt. Oh can it, Victoria. You're probably about to die; a shirt is the least of your worries.

Damon pursed his lips and leaned over her, sniffing her once. A frown came to his face. Victoria wished she could recoil out of disgust, but she couldn't feel her body at all. Damon's nose brushed against the bite marks and Victoria let out a small whimper of pain. She tried to wiggle away from Damon, but he grabbed her chin roughly, holding her in place. Damon pulled away from her, his chest rumbling as he observed her. He jerked her head so she was facing him. "You truly do intrigue me, Victoria. I'm sorry it had to be this way."

Damon stepped off of her and the coffee table, moving to stand on the floor right beside her. As he moved off of her, it felt like his physical weight had been replaced by an emotional weight. She should have been relieved to see Damon leave. He was a psychopath who had tried to kill her and was going to succeed in only a few more minutes, once she died of blood loss. And yeah, she said it. Died. Because she was dying. Victoria knew that and could recognize the signs. She couldn't see anything correctly, everything was beginning to blur. Sounds were beginning to distort and dark spots were beginning to appear in her vision. Her pulse was loud in her ears and she could hear it beginning to slow down. Damon had taken too much blood from her. He didn't drain her dry like he occasionally did, but he had taken enough.

It is also important to note that Victoria knew Damon wasn't going to feed her any of his blood. He didn't care. He was too high off of her blood.

Victoria was going to die.

And if she was going to die, she didn't want to do it alone.

With a strength that Victoria didn't even realize she possessed, she pulled one of her arms down from above her. Her wrist screamed in a mind-numbing pain and Victoria did her best to mentally section off that portion of her brain. She reached her hand out wearily towards Damon. Damon looked at her hand, what little she could see of his face showing that he didn't seem to care. He looked towards her, then back towards her hand, and knocked it away from his body. He hit just at her wrist and Victoria let out a weak sob as her arm flopped onto her stomach. She didn't have the strength to try and pick it back up. Tears filled what little vision she had left.

Damon kneeled beside the coffee table, leaning down so his breath was hot against her ear. With a sneer, he hissed, "You were wrong, Mama Bear. I didn't put myself as the villain. I was written as the villain." As an afternote, he added, "See you in hell."

With that, Damon rose to his feet, turned around, and walked out of Victoria's line of sight.

Victoria drew in a sharp breath, moaning as the pain in her wrists and neck flared up. She was too tired to move. She couldn't speak. She couldn't do anything. Her phone was still upstairs, connected to the speaker she had brought with her from home. Stefan was going to return home from the car wash after a great day with Elena, only to find her dead body lying lifeless on his living room's coffee table. That would be a crappy way to end the day. And then, on top of her, he would have to explain to Caroline and Kelly that she had died. That sounded like it would suck.

At least I saved Caroline from being attacked, Victoria cried to herself. Her tears followed the natural path of gravity, sliding down her cheekbones and intermingling with the blood on her neck. The pain was so much and she could feel her eyelids beginning to flutter close. But... She took another shaky breath as all of her senses began to fizzle out. But at least I saved Zach.

"You want me to do what?" Stefan asked incredulously, blinking his eyes in confusion as he drove himself and Victoria to the boarding house. Victoria sighed, shaking her head. She had spent the entire drive from her house to his, for her special babysitting day, trying to figure out the best way to ask him her special request without causing any spoilers. She needed a back up plan in case things went...sideways. Which they shouldn't. But you never knew, especially since Victoria's mind had been like an avalanche of thoughts. The words on her Book of Knowledge seemed to float around so she had just given up trying to read it and instead, focused on primary memory. Which wasn't doing good. Victoria felt like she was missing something...something big. And it had something to do with Damon. Which wasn't good, because she swore that she wasn't going to let Damon out of the house; not if she could help it.

"I need you to slip some of your blood to Zach," Victoria stated for the second time since they had left her house. "The best way would be like in a drink; maybe bourbon, since your family has a weird craving for that sort of thing?"

"Zach's healed since yesterday. I checked him out this morning myself; all of his bruises are gone."

"I'd rather be safe than sorry, Stefan," Victoria pleaded. "And, ugh...I can't really say anything more than that. Spoiler. So please, Stefan, I need you to trust me on this. Plus, it's Damon, and you said so yourself yesterday: who knows what will happen with him?"

"Okay, now that's really creepy. Is there any conversation I can have that you won't know about already?"

"Of course! But if it applies to the storyline that I know of, then probably not," Victoria admitted. "Most of the time, if you're talking about me, then no, I will have no idea because I wasn't originally a part of the storyline. Anything else...just assume yes. Anyways, will you do it?"

Stefan was silent for a moment and Victoria was really sure that he was about to say no to the whole plan. Which would have been fair, honestly. He didn't have to trust Victoria's extremely odd request. Plus, he knew Zach better than she did. He could be like Bill Forbes, someone who refuses to become a vampire. But in the unfortunate case that she wasn't able to stop Damon from escaping (though just exactly how he escaped from the cell was evading her), and subsequently, from snapping Zach's neck, she wanted him to have a choice over whether he lived or died.

The silence between them stretched on until Stefan pulled into the boarding house's driveway. It wasn't until he parked the car that he said in a quiet and controlled voice, "Alright."

Victoria was on him like prey. "Alright? Alright what?"

"Alright," Stefan said again, turning to look at her. "I'll give Zach some of my blood. But!" He added once he noticed the rising joy on Victoria's face. "I'll only do it after I tell him that I would like him to take my blood as a precautionary. That way, he can choose for himself if he wants to take it."

"But what if he says he doesn't want it?" Victoria demanded.

"Then you'll have to deal with that. You can't force someone's choice, Victoria. But you asked me to trust you, so I'm going to ask that you trust me. He'll take it." He paused for a moment. "What about you?"

"What about me?"

"Should I feed you some of my blood too?"

Victoria couldn't help shriveling up her nose at the thought of drinking vampire blood. "Don't worry about me. Even if Damon escapes, which I'm saying once again I will make sure he doesn't, he wouldn't kill me. He needs me too much."

Stefan didn't look as convinced, but nodded, silently stating that he was going to respect her wishes.

Minutes later, Victoria watched as Zach willingly took a cup of vampire blood-laced bourbon from his great-something uncle and downed it in one quick gulp.

A/N: You guys are such a bad influence. This chapter was supposed to come out on Saturday, but y'all made me so excited that I couldn't wait until then to post it! If we fall behind on chapters, I blame you all.

So good news!: I got my second job and I've been doing some training days and they've been going really well. I've wanted this job for such a long time and it's been really fun! It shouldn't influence my posting schedule, so we should be all good with that.

And oh, by the way: how do y'all say the name of this story? I realized the other day that you can honestly say it one of two ways: 1. (Immor)-(tawhl)-(lis) or 2. (Immortal)-(lis). Which way do you say it?

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} (3): Sciave, Guest, ArganRose

Team Vilijah {Victoria/Elijah} (8): guest, Guest, SoraLover987142, insert name here XD, sammyleann, Orange keys 25, LoyalElijahFangirl, Hinata Megumi, A. G Herz

Team Klatoria {Victoria/Klaus} (1): Tayla141

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

TEAM KLATORIA: "Can You Hold Me?" by NF feat. Britt Nicole

New Followers!: jenniferchase2402, SilviaAlt, Skadya, bowling101, ourlovestory221

New Favoriters!: SilviaAlt, mrs- morgan 35

I love reading all of your guys' usernames, some of them are so entertaining (like bowling101. XD) or adorable (like ourlovestory221).

Onto reviews (we got a lot, so hang tight)!:

anon: I totally get what you're saying about Caroline. I think it's important to remember that all characters are flawed (cuz we all be human, even if we be vampires as well) and so Caroline's going to do stupid stuff. All of them are (just wait until you see some of the stupid things I got Victoria doing in later chapters). None of them can be perfect. As for Victoria, I think at the time it was easier for Victoria, in the middle of her emotional state, to just go along with what Caroline was saying rather than try and dispute it. She does dispute the rumors that she and Damon were dating in this chapter, which adds to the whole pathological liar vibe without actually coming right out and saying it. Victoria got complacent with Damon, and well, look where that got her.

sammyleann: Awww, don't feel bad about that! Being close friends with a parent is awesome (you two have a whole Victoria/Kelly friend goals thing happening). AWWWWW! That is so cute. Thank you so much! Hello sammyleann's dad, thanks for being about the Immortalis fandom! They really do have a great relationship, and I can totally see it becoming a close friendship or sibling bond; he aggravates her enough to definitely have the older brother - younger sister routine down.

Tayla141: Thank you! Your point has been added!

CarlaPA: If you're asking for love triangle, then it might be a possibility (I'm being very secretive when it comes to anything romantic with Victoria cuz I want it all to be a surprise). However, I am not going to make Victoria be in more than one relationship at one particular time.

DBZFAN45: THANK YOU SO MUCH! Awww, I love it when you guys say how much you love Victoria. Makes me feel like she's an actual person. Oh my gosh, it totally was like a Step Up routine. I didn't even think about that (my favorite Step Up movie is Step Up 3 and no one can change my mind). For the redemption arc, maybe, maybe not ;). Oh my word, Klaroline was such a slow burn and then it wasn't even like satisfied in the end. The biggest goof on the entire show, I swear, besides killing off Enzo and ruining all chances for Bonenzo. And Batman Beyond is amazing. So good. I love it so much that I actually bought all three seasons in like a collector's pack XD.

ArganRose: Aww, thank you! That's very sweet of you and thank you for taking a chance on this story! Your point has been added.

Hinata Megumi: #Thank you!

Sting3: Thank you! I'm hoping to never get tired of this story because I have such big plans for it!

Guest (1): What? Thank you so much! He is such a sweetheart, and like a cute puppy. I'm looking forward to Victoria's dynamics with the Mikaelsons too (I can tell you that her and Kol's relationship will be different from other OC-insert stories, but I can't exactly tell you why that is ;) ). Yeah, Damon is gonna be held accountable. I will say that until the day that I die (keep in mind though he will be redeemed). You will still get the trio of girls in Legacies (and then some ;) ), but the parents are gonna be switched up a little. My week did go well, thank you!

LoyalElijahFangirl: I keep saying this, but thank you! She is a very compassionate soul and I think compassion and mercy (and not like mercy from killing someone, but actually true mercy) are things that are forgotten a lot on TVD. Yeah, just to talk XD. I can tell you that Raphael does make an appearance in the next chapter! And it didn't occur to me about Stefan having vampire-life long friends while Damon had none either until you mentioned it. Yeah, I would love to see Victoria's relationship with Damon transform into something that is similar to Stefan's and Lexi's relationship (but will it become something more, I cannot say). Aww thank you! Trust me: Season 1 in this story is gonna be unlike any Season 1 you've ever seen.

Guest (2): Yep, Shipping Wars! If you guess correctly, then you'll earn yourself a cookie (you must provide your own cookie; BecomingFearless1F is not liable to provide any cookies for reviewers who may guess correctly in the Shipping Wars) ;)

guest (3): Right? I honestly don't know of any really good Stefan/OC stories on Fanfiction (if you know of any, lemme know).

A.G Herz: Oooh, you slipped in just as I was about to post this chapter! You've been added to the points (kind of crazy how the character who hasn't even made an appearance yet is the one that everyone ships with her). Oh my gosh, that is totally what their relationship reminds me of. Hmm, I wonder... ;p.

Thank you all so much, we had 16 reviews. 16 reviews in four days, y'all. That is unheard of when it comes to my stories, so thank you so much! I really hope you all enjoy this chapter and I will see you hopefully next week!

Stay safe and stay healthy!

BecomingFearless1F