Lost Girls - Part 1

The moment that Stefan arrived home, he knew that something terrible had happened. He could sense it in the air; there was a smell of something sweet and sticky coming from the living room, something that smelled too delicious for words to even begin to describe. His vampiric features rose to the surface before he could even try to stop them. Stefan licked his lips and then physically growled in reaction to himself. What was he doing? What was giving him such a strong reaction? And why did he feel like the world was ending?

Stefan strode down the hall, calling out, "Victoria! Zach! I'm home!" He didn't get a response from either of them. Which didn't mean anything bad, but it also didn't bode well. He entered the living room and that was when he stumbled to a halt. He had found the smell; it was so strong that Stefan had to breathe through his mouth. Which was hard when his mouth couldn't stop watering.

Blood. There was blood everywhere. It spilled out on the coffee table and the hardwood floors underneath, creating a morbid outline of where a person had once laid. There was no body in sight, but the blood smelled delectable. It was the best thing he had ever smelled and Stefan could feel his fangs dropping at the idea of licking up what blood was left over. It looked old, like it had been there since the early afternoon. Even though it had to be half a day old, the smell of it resembled a mythical dessert, like ambrosia.

Stefan slammed his jaw closed, ignoring the terrible ache in his gums, and stepped away from the blood. He needed to be strong and he needed his head clear. There was a ridiculous amount of blood on the coffee table. No one should have had blood in the house; Zach and Victoria weren't vampires and the only vampire there was currently locked up in the basement...

Stefan's eyes widened in distress. Damon was a vampire, and once upon a time, he had mentioned how Victoria's blood smelled delicious...

"Victoria!" Stefan shouted in fear. He sped towards the basement door and took the steps two at a time. In the blink of an eye, he was skidding to a stop in front of Damon's cell door.

But Damon wasn't inside of the cell. It was empty, bar the vervain plants. And another familiar body.

"Zach," Stefan breathed in disbelief, his brow furrowing. Stefan's legs felt weak and he fell to his knees, looking upon his great-nephew in shock. Zach looked weak and his skin was clammy, sweat pooling at his temples and dripping down his face like a river. Zach sat against the stone wall, his hands wrapped up in metal chains and anchored towards the wall.

His great-nephew wearily opened his eyes, blinking a few times. There was a noticeable look of recognition when he spotted Stefan. In a weak voice, he breathed, "Uncle Stefan..."

Stefan crawled aggressively towards Zach and grabbed the edges of manacles. With two quick tugs, they were each pulled out of the wall. Zach's arms fell limply to his sides and Zach made a noise of complaint. Stefan looped Zach's arm over his head and he helped his great-nephew stand. Together, with slow deliberate steps, Stefan helped Zach out of the cage and down the hallway. Victoria's blanket, pillow, and book were still sitting in the hallway, so Stefan helped Zach sit down and he broke the shackles on his wrists. Stefan tossed the chains away and grabbed Victoria's blanket, lying it down on Zach's lap. Zach leaned weakly against the wall, his breathing beginning to even out now that he was away from the room with the vervain.

"Damon killed you." It wasn't a question; given Zach's terrible reaction to the vervain, it was obvious that he wasn't just a normal human anymore. "Zach, what happened? Where's Victoria? Is she alright?"

It took Zach a moment before he could murmur, "Girl came down to the house and then the basement. Blonde. I-I think Victoria called her Caroline?"

Caroline Forbes. Somehow, Damon must have established a mental connection with her sometime before his imprisonment and called out to her. It wasn't unheard of, just rare. Stefan nodded and gestured for Zach to continue.

"Victoria and I tried to stop him. Next thing I knew, D-Damon was snapping my neck," Zach huffed, shaking his head. "I-I woke up maybe two hours later? Damon was in a different part of the house...I think he was tearing up the place looking for his ring. I-I went upstairs...trying to find some animal blood I have stored in the fridge..." Zach trailed off and to Stefan's surprise, there were tears forming in the older man's face. "I-I got to the living room and saw blood. So much blood. All of across the table. No body. B-But it smelled so damn good..."

"You drank the blood," Stefan stated, and Zach nodded. "Zach, this is very important: what did the blood taste like?"

"It was disgusting, Uncle Stefan," Zach whimpered, shifting on his pillow. His skin was beginning to become a healthier color, but the distress of the day's events were still evident on his face. "I-It was like eating dirt, but I-I was so thirsty that I-I didn't care. I drank as much as I could and t-then Damon found me. He didn't expect me to be alive. He dragged me to the cell and chained me up. Said he would deal with me later. And then he left."

Stefan just sat there. His brain couldn't process what Zach had just said. He couldn't believe it. He just couldn't. Damon was a monster, but he liked Victoria well enough. There was no way that he would have fed from her.

But Stefan also didn't know anyone else who had blood that smelled like liquid divinity but tasted like shit. And there was only one person he knew like that.

Victoria.

Damon had fed from Victoria, and rather aggressively at that.

There was no way she could have survived an attack like that. Given how much blood was left over from Zach's feeding, Victoria surely bled to death. But if she was dead, then why didn't Damon just leave her on the coffee table? Like a little welcome home gift for Stefan to walk in on?

"Do you know where Damon went?" Stefan demanded. Zach shook his head. Stefan swore and rose to his feet. "Zach, I need you to stay here. I don't know anywhere else that you'll be safe when the sun comes up."

"If Damon comes back here, there's no guarantee that I'll see you again," Zach murmured, his eyelids droopily. He seemed exhausted. Stefan gritted his teeth. He wanted Zach safe from Damon, but he needed to find Victoria. He needed to know if she was dead or alive. And what he would have to say to her mother.

"There aren't any witches in Mystic Falls that I know of who can give you a daylight ring," Stefan cursed under his breath. "Damn it, Zach, I don't know what I'm supposed to do!"

"Grab a stake and go hunting," Zach snapped. Stefan's eyes widened slightly at the sudden ferocity in his great-nephew's voice. "You find Damon and you make him pay for what he did to Victoria."

Stefan couldn't help but comment, "You seem very emotionally attached to her and you've only hung out with her for a day."

"She'll do that to you." Zach shifted uncomfortably on the ground. "Uncle Stefan, you were gone for the whole day. How did Damon not find the ring?"

"That was another Victoria moment," Stefan admitted, sitting back on his heels. "After she asked me to feed you the blood, she told me that I had to hide the ring outside of the house. It's stashed away where our house in 1865 used to be."

"Good place, good memories. Damon won't think to look there," Zach breathed. His eyes were lightly shut now. "I-I think I'm going to sleep now."

"I'll be back for you in a few hours and we'll decide what to do later, ok?" Stefan promised. Zach gave a nod; it was faint, but Stefan saw it. "Push comes to shove, we'll find an old abandoned building and I'll keep you there with some blood bags until we can find a witch to make you a daylight ring."

Zach didn't respond, but Stefan checked his breathing and relaxed marginally when he found Zach to be asleep.

Stefan didn't waste any time. He jumped to his feet and ran out of the basement. He took the stairs three at a time until he got to his room. Inside, he raced to his shelf and pulled out a decorative box from beside the books. He flipped open the lid and grabbed the pre-sharpened stake that lived in the box. He gripped the stake tightly in his fingers and led the wood roll around in his fist.

He kept the stake for many reasons. As a reminder that though he was immortal, he could still die. A threat against Damon should he ever step out too far. But most importantly, it served as a reminder that even something that gives life can take it away. Trees provided oxygen for every living creature on Earth, and yet when whittled down, it could kill the strongest creatures.

Stefan flipped around and ran down the stairs and towards the front door. It was time to finish things. Stefan was going to find out what happened to Victoria or die trying.

He really hoped for the former.

Stefan whipped open the front door and faltered when he saw Elena standing right in front of him. He didn't bother to hide his confused expression over why the hell she was at his house at that time of night, and she didn't bother to hide her slightly frightened, slightly angered, and slightly confused face. Stefan had seen that face before. She knew. She knew everything.

Shit.

"What are you?" Elena demanded. Her fists were clenched by her side and her shoulders were tensed. She looked extremely uncomfortable and was shifting back and forth on her heels. Stefan could hear her heartbeat going crazy. "What are you?"

Stefan dropped his shoulders in defeat as he looked deeply into Elena's eyes. "You know."

"No, I don't," she instantly tried to deny.

"Yes, you do," Stefan said again, stepping forward and out of the door. "Or you wouldn't be here."

"It's not possible," Elena insisted. "It can't be!" The panic was starting to rise in her voice and Stefan's hand tightened around the stake. He couldn't leave her panicking. Victoria was important, but making sure that his, Damon's, and now Zach's cover wasn't blown was more important. Sorry, Victoria...

"Everything you know, and every belief that you have, is about to change," Stefan murmured as he watched her sadly. Everything he worked for, everything that he had accomplished in the last few weeks were all for naught. Elena had learned about him and his secret. In some ways, it did bring him a sense of relief. Now he had more people he could potentially talk to about his life, his full life. Not just Zach and Victoria. "Are you ready for that?"

Elena was silent for a moment before she demanded, "What are you?"

Stefan took a deep breath and let it out. Time for the truth. The absolute truth, and nothing but the truth. Forgive me, Elena... "I'm a vampire."

Elena let out a shaky gasp and took a few steps backwards, her eyes widening as the truth sunk in. Her heartbeat was faster, if that was even physically possible. Her whole body shook and her eyes started to water from fear. Stefan hadn't wanted that response. He hadn't wanted any of this, but it seemed inevitable.

Elena whispered in a fearful voice, "I shouldn't have come."

"No, please," Stefan pleaded. Elena turned around and made for her car. Stefan couldn't let her leave. Not like this.

He ran past her and ended up in front of her car before she got even close. She let out a squeak of terror and began to backpedal immediately. "No. No! How did you do that?"

"Please don't be afraid of me," Stefan begged, striding towards her. He grabbed her arm to keep her from moving and Elena gasped.

She struggled against him, trying to yank her arm out of his grasp. It was futile. "Let me go."

"No, Elena, there's things that you have to know and understand," Stefan stated, but Elena kept on her shaking her head, saying "Let me go!" over and over again. "Elena, please."

Elena jerked her arm back suddenly, taking Stefan by surprise. Once her arm was free, she ran to her car and didn't stop until she was inside and driving off.

Well, so much for a normal night.

Stefan subtly climbed into Elena's room through the window, watching as she sat on her bed panicking. Panicking about him and the things he had told her. The little dark part of him kept whispering, Well, she did want to know the truth about you. And this is it: you are a blood-sucking demon.

"Elena," Stefan breathed, and Elena's head whipped around. Her heart rate picked up and her eyes widened with fear. She stifled a scream and ran towards the door. Stefan raced over and caught the door just as she got it open. He slammed it shut and carefully pinned Elena against the door so she couldn't move. She started to cry and Stefan felt like his heart was about to get ripped out of his chest. "I would never hurt you. You're safe with me." Damn it, he could really use reassurance from Victoria right about now that everything would turn out alright.

"All those animal attacks," Elena cried, flipping around to glare at him angrily. "Those people who died..."

"No. That was Damon!" Stefan corrected.

Elena's brow furrowed. "Damon?"

"Yes," Stefan confirmed, nodding his head. "I don't drink human blood. That's not how I choose to survive, but Damon does! I'll explain everything to you, but I-I have to take care of something right now and it could be a matter of life or death for people I care a lot about. I beg you, Elena, do not tell anybody."

"How can you ask me that?" Elena huffed, shaking her head. "How can you ask me to keep something this big from the people I care about?"

"Because you knowing this is dangerous for so many reasons," Stefan insisted. He leaned forward a little and didn't bother to hide the wince when Elena stepped back, her body hitting the door. "You can hate me, but I need you to trust me."

"Just go," Elena whimpered. "Just go, please. Go. If you mean me no harm, then you'll go."

Stefan's heart felt like it was torn into pieces. He hadn't wanted this. He would never want this. He made sure to tell Elena that too before he sped out of Elena's room and onto her front porch.

He cursed and felt like kicking something, but he wasn't in control of his strength and would probably leave a large hole if he did. Stefan dropped off the porch and onto the front lawn, making his way away from Elena's house. If he concentrated hard enough, he could hear her faint cries and it felt like hot knives being stabbed through his heart.

As if his current situation wasn't bad enough. Not only did he have to worry about Damon massacring the town to spite Stefan, finding Zach a place to hide so Damon wouldn't kill him again for the second time, and if Victoria was alive or not, he had to deal with the emotional trauma of Elena being scared of him.

Stefan let out a verbal growl and his fists clenched at his sides. His dark thoughts were interrupted by the ringing of a cell phone.

Stefan grabbed his phone and checked the number. It was unknown, some number that he didn't know and didn't have in his phone. He considered briefly hanging up on it, but figured it might be something important.

He clicked answer and said into the device, "Hello?"

"I want my ring."

Damon. Stefan gritted his teeth as his rage reached astronomical heights.

"Where are you?" Stefan demanded, starting to pace on the sidewalk outside of Elena's house.

"I'm at the sizzler. I had the buffet. Where's my ring?"

"I don't have it," Stefan snapped. "Where are you? What have you done?" Why did you attack Victoria?

"No, what have you done?" Damon hissed back. "You're the one that locked me in the basement and starved me, so whatever I've done, and whoever I'm sucked dry, is on you, buddy."

"Yeah, like Victoria?" Stefan shouted, stopping his pacing. His whole body was vibrating and he was having a hard time not letting his vampiric features show. All he wanted to do was rip Damon's throat out with his teeth. Let him see how it felt to be bled dry. "I've seen the living room, Damon."

"Oh goodie, I was hoping that would be a good enough message. How should I decorate her grave? She seemed to like red roses, if I remember correctly." There was a muffled noise on Damon's side of the phone, but Stefan could barely hear it from how angry he was. He had only one sentence repeating over and over again in his head:

DamonkilledVictoriaDamonkilledVictoriaDamonkilledVictoria

"You're being careless. How many more animal attacks is this town gonna believe, huh?" Stefan shouted. "How many parents are going to lose their children because you can't control yourself?"

"I know how to cover my tracks, Stefan," Damon grunted. "Where's my ring?"

"I gave it to Victoria to hide," Stefan lied. If he was being truthful, it would be the other way around. Victoria had given him the ring to hide outside of the house. "Probably shouldn't have killed her."

There was silence across the line and for a minute, Stefan thought that Damon actually believed him. Then, Damon started to laugh. "Ah, you almost got me there. Now, where is it?"

Stefan gritted his teeth harder. Seriously? He hadn't taken the bait? Stefan thought that would have a shoe-in. "I'll get it back, but I need time."

"What, did you FedEx it to Rome? Where is it? I want my ring, Stefan, or my next stop's Elena's."

Stefan barked, "I already want you dead for what you did to Victoria. Don't give me another reason to make it happen."

"Don't give me another reason to rip you apart," Damon snarled. He paused, then added, "But here. I'll give you another incentive for returning my ring to me." There was a shuffling noise from the other line and something that sounded like grunting. Damon's voice sounded distant as he ordered, "Speak."

"What is going on, Damon?" Stefan demanded. He was done with his brother's bullshit.

"Stefan?"

A weak, feminine voice. One that Stefan thought he would never hear again. His knees felt weak and Stefan stumbled to the ground, catching him on the concrete before faceplanting. But she was dead. She was dead. Damon had basically said that he had killed her. Unless...

"Victoria?"

Victoria didn't stop the tears that came to her eyes when she heard Stefan's beautiful voice on the other side of the line. She found herself nodding as tears slid down her cheeks. "Y-Yes, Stefan, yes, it's me, it's Victoria."

"B-But how...?" Stefan gasped. Victoria could picture his gobsmacked expression. His voice softened dramatically and he whispered, "Tori...your blood..."

"It's a long story, one that I'm sure Damon won't let me sit down and tell you about right now," Victoria interrupted. She sniffled and rubbed her eyes with a closed fist. "B-But I can tell you that I'm not a vampire." She heard Stefan give a large sigh of relief. She smiled, despite the tears that continued to fall from her eyes. "Stefan, I'm so glad to hear your voice."

"I'm glad to hear your voice too, Tori," Stefan murmured on the other line. "Tori, what do I do?"

"Elena came over?"

There was a quiet 'mhmm' of confirmation from Stefan.

"She'll text or call you later and ask you to meet up tomorrow at the Grill. Explain things to her. All of it," Victoria urged. She glanced back towards Damon, who seemed to be getting rather impatient. He made a chopping motion towards her and she winced. "Damon's getting impatient, Stefan, and I'd rather not get any farther on his bad side then I am right now. Be Frodo, Stefan. Be Frodo."

She hung up the phone immediately afterwards and tried to settle the anxious pang in her heart. She handed the phone back towards Damon, who crushed the metal into bits with his fist. He tossed the chunks away and proceeded to start dragging the different dead bodies into one large pile. Victoria closed her fists together and pressed them against her lips, watching in terrified silence from her perch on the Salvatore crypt's steps.

"Frodo Baggins," Damon said after a moment, leaning down to snatch up a bottle of liquor. It still had some of the drink left in it, so he took a quick swig before beginning to dump it on the dead bodies. "The one gifted the One True Ring by his Uncle Bilbo, tasked to deliver the ring to Mordor." He glanced over at her with a smirk. "I've read Lord Of The Rings."

Victoria didn't say anything. Her eyes were glued to the bodies.

It had been only a few days since she had last thought about Jesse, the boy who had died of a drug overdose and had been tossed into a dumpster to rot. It had been even longer since she had had a hallucination where she had seen his body (that being on her first day at Mystic Falls High). But the sight of all of those stoners, dead with vampire bites all in their necks, brought the memory right back. It was irrational to think she could have stopped Damon, that she could have changed the plot of the show. It didn't work that way. The show would continue; sure, she could change a few things, such as saving Zach's life or making sure Caroline didn't get abused by Damon, but it was like destiny: some events were fixed points. Points she couldn't change even if she tried.

And she had tried to save the stoners. Tried pleading with Damon that he didn't need to feed anymore, that he had gotten enough from her. He didn't see things that way. And they had all been slaughtered like pigs.

She would know. She was forced to watch all of it happen in real time.

Fingers snapped in front of her face and Victoria flinched. She looked up towards Damon, who was suddenly at her side. He was looking down at her, a frown on his face. "C'mon, Mama Bear, even you have to admit that that was clever."

"Why did you save me?"

The question had been bugging Victoria since she woke up. Woke up not on the coffee table, but actually on Damon's bed, swaddled in bedsheets with a clean towel on the bedside table. She had still been wearing the clothes she had had on when he attacked her, but her shirt had been exchanged with a black t-shirt that she recognized as Damon's. The whole situation had boggled her mind. Her wrists didn't hurt, her neck was puncture free, which meant that he had given her vampire blood. He had saved her.

"Why did you save me?" Victoria repeated, staring hard into Damon's eyes.

He looked away and walked off, digging his hands into one of the dead bodies' jackets. Victoria remembered this part. He was searching for some sort of match or lighter so he could burn the bodies. His attempt at hiding the fact that vampires had returned to Mystic Falls. A rather poor one, if Victoria had any say.

"A spur of the moment decision, really," Damon commented. He didn't look her in the eye, not when he found a pack of matches and not when he lit the match and dropped it onto the bodies. "I don't mind your company and I know I can make you help me."

"Through manipulation," Victoria huffed lightly, her nose scrunching up at the smell of dead bodies. It was taking all of her willpower not to gag. She hated the smell of dead bodies. Of rotting flesh in general. Or burning flesh. She covered her mouth and nose with one hand and looked back towards Damon. "Call me crazy, but I don't think you're telling me the truth, Damon."

"Rule number one when it comes to me, Mama Bear, is that I'm always lying."

Victoria scoffed. "You're no Doctor of Gallifrey, Damon. At least he didn't try to kill his allies."

Damon whirled around, his eyes flashing dangerously in the darkness. "And no self-respecting person who claims that they're wanting to help would backstab their partner!"

"You haven't seen the things that I have, Damon!" Victoria yelled, leaping to her feet. She dropped her hand away from her face, wincing momentarily at the strong stench. Ugh, it was rancid. "I was protecting the people that I love!"

Damon was in front of her in a flash, pushing her up against the doors to the crypt. He didn't try to choke her; he simply overwhelmed her senses. Everywhere she looked, everywhere she felt, it was all Damon. Victoria squeaked and felt herself beginning to shake. He leaned over her, dropping his head down as he hissed dangerously low, "And I was trying to find the love of my life, Victoria. Not that I expect you to understand what that feels like."

Victoria didn't have much room where she was standing, but she definitely had enough room to reach up and slap Damon right across the face. And so she did.

Damon allowed it, and once there was an evident red mark on Damon's face (that healed in the blink of an eye), he turned to look at her. His eyes were blank and expressionless. And that scared Victoria. It scared her a lot.

"That was a stupid thing to do, Victoria," Damon growled, dropping the use of her nickname.

Victoria readied herself for some sort of sharp pain, but it never came. In fact, something else happened. Something she had completely forgotten about in her argument with Damon.

There was a pained gasp of air coming from beyond the pile of burning bodies. It was weak and feeble and the person in question sounded delirious from the pain. Damon's eyebrows rose high and he took a step back from Victoria, looking over his shoulder towards the noise. Victoria let out a subtle breath when his gaze wasn't on her. Damon commented, "Huh. You just don't wanna die, do you?"

Before either of them knew it, Victoria's hand grabbed Damon's wrist. Bare skin on bare skin. It was the first time she had initiated a touch that wasn't hurtful. Damon's head snapped back towards her, looking down at his wrist and then back at her. He seemed confused at why she had stopped him.

"If you ever want us to reconcile our relationship," Victoria stated. She put as much honesty as she could into her words. "If you ever want a hope that we even can, then please: let me save her."

Damon looked her in the eyes. The emotions in his icy-blue orbs were hidden from Victoria. She couldn't tell what he was thinking, what he was feeling, so she tried to portray how she felt. The fear, the utter want and need to save her. The desperation that she couldn't hide.

It seemed to pay off, as Damon stepped off to the side. Victoria dashed down the steps, tripping her own feet as she did so. She corrected herself and dodged the piles of burning bodies, heading straight towards the body that laid on the far side of the clearing, directly across from the Salvatore crypt.

Victoria fell to her knees and skidded to a stop beside Vicki's body. She grabbed the hem of her own shirt (more correctly, Damon's shirt) and ripped a portion of the bottom off. She heard Damon whine behind her, but she pointedly ignored him. She crumpled the shorn off shirt into a ball and pressed it tightly against Vicki's bleeding throat.

The girl whimpered at the pressure and Victoria gently shushed her, brushing her hair out of face with delicate fingers. "I know, Vicki, I know, but I need you to breathe, okay? Just take deep breaths and focus on getting better, you're alright." Vicki seemed to calm at the sound of Victoria's voice, although she was still wiggling around some.

Victoria kept the pressure on Vicki's neck and glanced around the rest of the girl's body, trying to see if there was anywhere else that needed immediate attention. Besides the general scrapes of being dropped onto the ground and the ridiculous amount of alcohol that was on her, Vicki seemed alright bar the giant massacre that was her neck. Vicki whined again and Victoria shushed her again, using her free hand to thread her fingers through the teen girl's hair.

When Victoria and Damon had arrived at the graveyard, she had tried to plead for everyone's lives. Seeing Vicki there had made her disappointed, as she had hoped the teen girl would take her advice to stop using. Damon had made her stand just outside of the light from their fires. He said that he was going to kill them, and that if she tried to physically interfere with him at all, he would hurt others. So she had stood in the shadows, tears streaming down her face as she listened to the sounds of Vicki struggling against Damon, as the two of them were out of her line of sight. And she didn't think she would regret anything more.

"I'm so sorry, Vicki," Victoria murmured, tears coming to her eyes. She let out a shaky gasp, and shook her head to try and stop the tears. "I-I should have done more and I should have fought him b-but...I just couldn't. I was just so tired and there is probably nothing I will regret more in my life, so please, fight for me. Fight for yourself. Be the one who is able to stand against him."

"That doesn't sound very peaceful, Mama Bear."

Victoria ignored Damon's comment and used her hand that was petting Vicki's hair to wipe away her tears. She gulped and stated in the calmest tone she could use, "She's dying, Damon. She needs a hospital."

"No hospital."

"Well, then she needs blood," Victoria snapped, whipping her head around to face him. She froze momentarily when she spotted the same dark look as earlier. She turned her head back around slowly, focusing on Vicki's face. Vicki was friendly and familiar. "Damon, she's like my sister. I-I can't just let her die."

"You seemed pretty alright with just standing there as I fed from her."

"Damn it, Damon, will you just shut up?" Victoria shrieked, her fists clenching so tightly that her knuckles started to turn white. "I get it; I betrayed you and now you're punishing me. Using manipulation to make my life a living hell so that way you can get reunited with your supposed long lost love so you can ride off into the sunset." She glared at Damon, who seemed slightly startled at the ferocity in her eyes. "Well let me tell you something, Damon. Something that you don't know. I've dealt with manipulation before, for the last three years of my life. No matter what you say will ever come close to what I've had to endure, and guess what? I made it through that. So go ahead and try to break me. It'll just be so much sweeter when you realize you made a mistake."

"So I guess there goes us trying to mend our relationship?" Damon huffed, folding his arms angrily across his chest.

"It would be easier if you weren't such an asshole," Victoria snapped. "But no, you have to kill innocents, harm and probably kill someone I hold very close and dear, and then blame it all on me."

There was a moment of silence and Victoria honestly didn't know what was going to happen next. It wasn't until Damon growled, "Stay here. Don't try to leave", and actually left that she felt her body sagging in on itself. She could hear Damon stomping off into the distance and she bit her lower lip to resist the urge to cry. Again. Ugh, she was so done with crying all the time. All she wanted was Vicki to be alright, and her bed, and her mom, and Caroline, and Stefan. Probably all in the order.

Victoria shifted where she was kneeling, wincing at the stabbing sensation she felt from the twigs and sticks of the cemetery. She readjusted her grip on the blood-soaked t-shirt ball on Vicki's neck. She pulled the ball off for a moment, just to see how bad the damage was, and winced. It wasn't great. Damon hadn't been gentle when he had attacked her. Victoria snorted. Damon was never gentle.

But...that wasn't true. Not necessarily. Damon had been gentle with her when he had dropped her off at Stefan's football tryouts. He had wanted her to get help, so she could deal with the trauma of what Elena had said to her. Of course, he proceeded to muck up what little comfort he had given her by being a douche, but that moment had still been there. The moments that he had come to visit her while she had been in the hospital. The roses. And, of course, at the Founder's Ball, before everything went to hell in a hand basket, he had been kind and sweet and flirty there. Who knew that in only a short hour or so, everything would shatter on the ground?

A shadow loomed over Vicki and herself, blocking the light from the burning bodies bonfire. Ugh, speaking of which...Victoria crinkled her nose against the smell. It was possibly the grossest thing she had ever smelled. She was doing her best not to panic, because it was all-too-familiar to the smell of Jesse's poor decaying body in the dumpster. She shook her head. She didn't need to be thinking of such things, especially with the crap that was having to deal with now.

Victoria looked up, putting on her best glare as she expected to see Damon hovering over her, ready to deliver more marching orders.

Except it wasn't Damon.

It was Raphael.

Tears sprung to her eyes before she could stop them and she whimpered out a rather pathetic, "Thank you". Raphael's face was grim, but he still nodded and knelt down beside Victoria. His eyes took in Vicki's weakened shape and he reached out and grabbed Vicki's wrist, checking her pulse. His frown deepened even more.

"She is dying."

"I-I know, and I can't stop it," Victoria whispered, sniffling. She aggressively wiped her tears away and her throat began to ache from the sobs she was trying to keep down. "I can't stop it and I should have done more but I couldn't because I was just so scared and I-I..."

She was cut off when she felt a strong hand touch her hair. She froze, not understanding what was happening. She felt the warm appendage pull back the curtain of her hair, the hand moving to cup the back of her neck. A rush of needed warmth hit her and she found herself leaning into the touch, closing her eyes weakly as Victoria just felt herself be comforted. She didn't bother trying to find the person behind the hand, because she just knew. "Noble."

The hand squeezed her lightly, and Victoria knew that she had been right.

"I-I don't know what to do," Victoria began again, this time much calmer than she had been. She opened her eyes. Victoria gestured weakly towards Vicki, whose breathing had begun to be lighter than before, which was not a good sign. "I-I can't physically save her, there's nothing I can do. Damon won't feed her blood just yet and...if you feed her blood, then Damon will know you two had been here and he might try to kill her again."

"She would be a vampire," Raphael pointed out, not unkindly, but rather factually. He was silent for a moment, his head turning to observe Victoria's face. He added a second afterwards, "But you don't want her to be."

"It will kill her," Victoria whispered fearfully. She blinked fast and took a shaky breath. "I-I can't let that happen."

"What would you have us do?" Raphael asked her, glancing up behind her head towards Noble.

Victoria shook her head. "That's the problem...I don't know! I just don't know!" A terrified sob erupted from her throat and her arms began to shake as all the emotions began to bubble out of her. The fear, the stress, the sadness, the anger. Every negative emotion that had been bubbling in her stomach for weeks on end came pouring out in her cries. Her fingers ached from how hard she was clenching the bloodied shirt rag against Vicki's neck.

The hand on her neck shifted until there was a physical chest pressed against Victoria's back. A tanned, beautiful, strong hand reached into her view and rested itself gently on top of hers, the hand holding the rag. The tanned hand was connected to a strong and well developed forearm. Victoria felt her heart flutter a little. Noble began to gently pry her fingers from the clothe, and Victoria resisted him, whispering, "No, no, no, no, no, no." Noble's other hand, which had moved to wrap itself around her torso, squeezed her gently, telling her to calm down. Raphael moved quickly to Vicki's other side, taking the rag from Victoria's shaking fingers. Victoria made a noise of distress and Raphael shushed her, pressing the rag against Vicki's neck. Now that Victoria wasn't holding onto the shirt, Noble dragged her back and out of her kneeling position. She couldn't see what he was doing, obviously, but he was calm and careful with his movements. Once he was situated on the ground, Noble pulled Victoria into his lap, her back pressed against his chest. His arms wrapped around the front of her and his bare skin touched the portion of her stomach that was showing due to the ripped shirt. Victoria felt herself flush a ridiculous color. Call her a prude, but it wasn't like she had ever been in such close contact with a member of the male species before. It was so special and felt so intimate. It also felt like Victoria was missing out on a secret. Noble and Raphael acted like they knew so much about her, when she knew very little about them. It was frustrating.

Noble's thumb, which had begun to gently stroke her side soothingly, brought her out of her thoughts. She felt a nose nuzzle itself into her hair and Victoria knew that her heart had skipped a beat at least once. She felt his lips press themselves gently against the crown of her head and she felt them moving, as if he was saying a sentence to her that she couldn't hear.

Raphael snorted across Vicki, looking like he was one step away from bursting a seam from laughter. Victoria felt Noble lean his head away from her and she could probably guess that he was glaring at Raphael, based on Raphael's response, "She is new to this, our dear acquaintance. You must approach this slowly." It was then that Victoria realized she had been brought back from the edge of a panic attack.

Some sort of silent reply from Noble and Raphael rolled his eyes. "Whatever you say." He looked towards Victoria, the amusement dropping from his eyes. "Ms. LeBlanc, your friend is fading. It is now or never."

Damn it. Damn it all. What should she do? Should she let Vicki die so she wouldn't be turned into a vampire, or should she still try to save Vicki?

Hell, Victoria knew what needed to be done. What should have been done since the beginning.

"Save her. Please...just save her."

"As you wish."

A/N: Bad influences. All of you. I was supposed to post this in a week, but of course, you all made me too excited and I just had to post it to see your guys' feedback! We got some Protective!Stefan, Raphael and Noble, and Zach's still alive! Whoo! (kind of). And as some of you have mentioned, yes, technically Zach should be remember Sarah. That will be discussed a little later (the compelling wears off at different times).

We have hit over 10k+ views, with over 100+ reviews, 137 Followers, and 98 Favoriters and y'all, this story got placed into a community on Fanfiction! "Falling into a MovieTV ShowGameBookCartoon" (aka when an OC falls into their favorite fandom). Thanks whoever suggested that this story gets in there! Go and check it out; lemme know if there's any good stories in there that I should give a read.

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} (2.5): insert name here XD, SoraLover987142, sammyleann's dad, TikiKiki

Team Datoria/Viamon {Victoria/Damon} (3): Sciave, Guest, ArganRose

Team Vilijah {Victoria/Elijah} (9): guest, Guest, SoraLover987142, insert name here XD, sammyleann, Orange keys 25, LoyalElijahFangirl, Hinata Megumi, A. G Herz, Aryabloodlust

Team Klatoria {Victoria/Klaus} (1.5): Tayla141, TikiKiki

Team Koltoria {Victoria/Kol} (1): DreamerPop

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

TEAM KOLTORIA: "Dear Future Husband" by Meghan Trainor

New Followers!: pixieanne123, grapejuice101, UltimateEchoEcho217, The Witchy Writer, Sandra Torres1, GinryuFox, karenc0r, avidreader00, mandymaria28,

New Favoriters!: grapejuice101, UltimateEchoEcho217, The Witchy Writer, GinryuFox, karenc0r, Damon-akira-serpentard, TikiKiki

Welcome everyone!

Onto PMs and reviews (once again, there is a lot)!:

AngelColdHeart: Hey! You weren't bothering me at all! At the moment, I am not accepting any fic requests, as I am working really hard to make this one the best that it can be. This story will probably take me a reaaaaaally long time, so I don't anticipate being able to accept any fic requests in the nearby future. Sorry about that!

Guest (1): Surprise! Victoria is okay! Yeah, it was kind of my intention to make Damon unlikable, but then to give him a major redemption arc. I honestly believe next chapter might change your mind on Damon (not this one, Ch15, but the next one, Ch16). You're right, it isn't easily forgivable and Damon is going to have to work his butt off if he ever wants a chance to be close with Victoria ever again.

DreamerPop: Hey! So, I put your vote in, because I'm putting in votes with anybody she gets shipped with. Just so you're aware, I am actually keeping Kol out of the serious Victoria relationships category. Mostly because I have someone else in mind for him and I think y'all are going to really like that relationship, but that won't come for a couple of seasons so you're gonna have to be reaaaally patient ;)

Guest (2): Thank you so much! Is this the direction you were thinking?

insert name here XD: I listened to it! Not exactly my jam, but it was still pretty good! I totally forgot that there was a band called The Vamps XD.

Hinata Megumi: Hello! It's good to read your reviews again! No prob, I'm weird too. Oh trust me, nothing you can possibly come up with will even begin to be close to how this story ends. I am going to throw some many cliffhangers and plot twists at you that you won't know what is happening.

DBZFAN45: Well, it's not tomorrow, but it's definitely earlier than a week, so tada! And yeah, we did get some Ripper!Stefan in this chapter; not a lot, but you could see it under the surface. Oh yeah, Vicki is a huge Stetoria shipper. And your theory about Damon caring about Victoria in his own twisted way is true; you'll see more about that in the next chapter. She is very stubborn; I didn't really think about that until I read your review. It's like the song "Don't Give Up On Me" by Andy Grammer. She's going to do what it takes to help him, because she's a good person. Hmm, yes, who can tell? ;) Oh just you wait. There's going to be more than "You abused my best friend, die Damon Salvatore!" going on through Caroline's head if she becomes a vampire. There's even more drama that I'm personally adding in. Hmm, I'll think about that Pearl thing.

sammyleann: Yes, you did bring up a good point (a point I totally didn't think about when I wrote this chapter). It will be discussed in following chapters, but we're not there just yet :)

LoyalElijahFangirl: I don't know why, but I just instinctively knew that this review was yours, even without your sign off XD. Thank you so much. Jenna's education is a bit of a throw away; she talks about it a lot and never gets to use it. And since Vicki has never had any good female role models, I like to think that Jenna, Kelly, and Victoria are good substitutes for her mom. #SaveOurVicki. And surprise, Victoria's not turned, just healed. Really, you didn't see Zach turning? I guess I can understand that (he does seem against vampires in Mystic Falls) but I also see him as a man who values choice. Oh trust me, sweetheart, there is going to be plenty of trauma for Victoria. I do a lot of it. Nothing happened to Damon just yet, but you'll learn more later. I love seeing reviewers insights to the actual characters for the show and for Victoria, because it really helps me understand their characters better too, so thank you for what you wrote about Elena! I really do like your reviews!

Lime: Aww thank you (I say that a lot)! I never really understood the hype of Damon; since watching the TV show, I was hooked on Stefan from the start. I'm sorry, Elijah will always do it for me (though I can understand the appeal, because have you seen Kol? Mhmm). Keep calm; nothing too freaky. Their relationship will be wholesome, but in a different way. That's all I can say without revealing too much. Yep, our sweet girls from Legacies will be appearing, again, with slightly switched up parents (and I can say that there just might be...oh, you know...other children around too ;) ). As I told an earlier reviewer, I think he really values choice. Stefan gave him a choice, and an opportunity to have a choice. Zach values that, and so he said yes. Does that make sense? Also, I didn't even realize there was a third way to say the title, but yeah, I guess you're right XD. Interesting! I'm keeping a majority of the ships close to the canon ones. I can say there are some ships that will be totally left field, but I'm really excited for those ones! Yeah, we'll get Klaroline, but that's the only solid canon-ship that I can confirm. Try to confirm any of the other ones, and I'll end up giving away who Victoria ends up with! And I think your nickname is really nice! Ooh! And thank you! I had my first evening shift last night and it went pretty well! I'm going back again tonight for more training.

: This is not the end of the story, sorry if there was any confusion! This story will be going on for a very, very, very long time.

Aryabloodlust: Awwwwww! Damon is a pain, I can agree with you on that. Your vote has been added. Aw, thank you! I love the Vilijah anthem. It's so good. Anything Sam Tinnesz is, honestly.

TikiKiki: Your votes have been added. Yeah, they really do have that friendship vibe. Thank you so much! That is so sweet of you to do so. I know this story is pretty long for how little episodes we've covered, but I like my stories to be really in depth.

If you've made it this far, congratulations. This episode will be 3 parts, and I have Part 2 finished with Part 3 on the way. As of right now, I think I will end up updating on Friday. If not, check back in next Sunday.

Please feel free to leave a comment, question, concern, or conspiracy theory in the reviews. I love reading from y'all and they really do make my day.

Until next time, stay healthy and stay safe!

BecomingFearless1F