Antrakt - Where On Earth Is Victoria LeBlanc? - Part 1
One week.
It had been one whole week since Damon Salvatore had last seen Victoria LeBlanc. One whole week since he had seen her tearstained face, her eyes laced with confusion on why he had saved her from the stupid reporter Council member. One whole week since he had gotten his ring back from Stefan successfully. One whole week since anyone had last seen Victoria LeBlanc and Vicki Donovan.
Damon knew that Victoria was a rather impressive person; it took guts to stab him in the neck with a pencil. He knew that she was an influential component in the lives of her and Stefan's friends. But, if Damon was being honest (which didn't happen all that often), he hadn't anticipated just how big of a role she played in her friends' lives.
The day after Victoria and Vicki had gone missing (also the day that Damon and Stefan had agreed for a momentary truce, which was fraught with death threats and general disgusting remarks), Stefan had gone to Kelly to see what the damage control would be like. According to his baby brother, Kelly had been livid with anger and worry. She was scared out of her wits, wondering where her baby girl was and why she hadn't come home. Stefan had to come up with a lie on the spot and say that he hadn't seen Victoria either. He mentioned seeing her at the Gilbert house the night she went missing, and that had sent the two of them on a "mission" to figure out who had last seen Victoria. After countless interrogations, Kelly went to the station and filed a missing person's report for her daughter (Stefan said that nowadays they traditionally wait forty-eight hours before filing a missing person's report; Kelly had "persuaded" them to do it faster); she had seen Matt there filing one for Vicki, who had also subsequently dropped off the face of the planet as well.
Loads and loads of people showed up for the search party. They split into two large groups: one would check the city and the other, the woods. The half that checked the woods scoured them for the girls, trying to find clues as to where they were. Stefan and Damon had used some of their 'stronger' senses to try and pinpoint the girls' scents, but had been unable to smell much of anything. They then led an even smaller group of people (the group consisting of Bonnie, the cheerleader from Elena Gilbert's party, Elena, her brother Jeremy, Matt, Caroline, the blonde who had helped to free him and who had been his original target; all thoroughly compelled to forget those moments in the boarding house ever happened, Kelly, and Tyler Lockwood, who Damon was resisting the strong urge to punch) towards the old cemetery; Elena knew that that had been where Stefan and Victoria had gone the night she disappeared, and it had been the place that she had directed Damon towards when he had visited her house.
Surprise, surprise, their search around the tombs started out fruitless. They didn't find anything remotely useful, until they had heard Caroline's cries of "I have something!" from across the clearing. She held in her hands the silver anklet that Victoria always wore, and Kelly's eyes shone with tears as she confessed to the group that that had been Victoria's, a gift from her mother that she hadn't taken off since the night of the bonfire.
The anklet, though a few days diluted, still held Victoria's scent strong. There was no distinct smell on the anklet, but Damon knew full well that vervain didn't carry a scent. But surprisingly enough, Stefan had been able to hold the anklet just fine without any pain or burning. So Damon's previous theory of the anklet being soaked in vervain and it being the reason why he couldn't compel Victoria was out the window.
The discovery of Victoria's anklet helped renew the efforts from the group. Though they didn't find anything else to really help them know what had happened and where she was, their spirits hadn't been crushed. In the eve of twilight, Stefan, Damon, and the newly-turned Zach (who was still wary of Damon) met up at the Salvatore crypt and tried tracking Victoria again using the anklet.
It didn't so anything new. They reached a point in the woods when Victoria's scent just dropped off. The same thing had happened when Damon and Stefan had chased after Vicki and Victoria that night. Using their senses, they reached a certain point in the woods when everything just turned silent. They weren't able to hear anything, they couldn't smell Vicki or Victoria, and no matter how many times they doubled back, it came up with the same results. The same thing happened when Stefan, Damon, and Zach tried to hunt for Victoria.
Zach was obsessive with trying to find Victoria. On day five of Victoria being missing, Damon had confronted his great-nephew in the boarding house's kitchen. He had wanted to know why Zach was so determined to find Victoria; sure, the two of them had spent time together when they were guarding him, but it wasn't like she was his child. Zach had shoved him and said that he hadn't gotten the opportunity to care for his child, a child that Damon knew all about. Zach said he wasn't about to let another parent lose their child because of Damon's lack of control. Damon punched him in retaliation for shoving him, before leaving to lock himself up in his room until his anger had calmed down.
By day seven, it was obvious to Damon that Stefan and Zach were losing hope. Stefan, the poster child for hope. He was losing hope. And for some reason, despite the fact that Damon loved to see his younger brother in agony, he didn't enjoy the reason Stefan was fretting. Because that reason made Damon fret too.
Damon glanced down at his drink and swirled the bourbon inside of his glass. He sighed and lifted the glass to his lips, taking a long sip and letting the alcohol rush down his throat. The Mystic Grill was bustling with people, and most ignored him. Some stopped and stared (which he was used too, obviously. He had looked into a mirror), but for the most part, people just walked by him as if he was a fly on the wall.
There was a tap on his shoulder and Damon had half a mind to ignore the person, but as soon as he came to the decision that he was just going to ignore, they tapped again, and this time more incessantly. He flipped his head to look over his shoulder lazily, and he straightened his posture unknowingly when he saw that it was Kelly LeBlanc.
She had seen better days; it was his first time seeing her up close since the night of the Founder's Ball. There were dark lines under her eyes and her cheeks looked more sunken in than usual. Damon subtly sniffed and physically winced. She didn't smell fantastic either. Had she even been showering? She wore ratted sweatpants and an old workout shirt that really should have been thrown out. Her hair was flat against her head and looked greasy. Damon felt the need to wipe his fingers on a napkin just looking at her. Verbally, he commented, "You ain't looking too hot, Kelly-Beans."
"Did you have something to do with my daughter's disappearance?" Kelly demanded, her voice wobbling dangerously. Her whole body looked as though she could collapse at any minute. Damon raised an eyebrow quizzically at her, his body at the ready to catch her if she fainted.
Damon shook his head. "I've been searching for her tirelessly with my brother and uncle for a week, Kelly. If I had something to do with her disappearance, don't you think that I would be keeping my distance away from search parties?"
Kelly took a step towards him, her jaw clenched tightly. She poked a finger into Damon's chest and he hissed at the impact. For a human, she was pretty strong. She spat in a quiet whisper, "I know for a fact that you two weren't dating. I'm not an idiot, Damon. I can connect the dots; she was at your house the day before the bruises on her neck got worse. Stefan doesn't seem like the type to choke teenage girls out."
"And I do?" Damon asked indignantly.
"Serial killer does come to mind when I look at you," Kelly hissed. "I trust my baby girl; if she was gracing you with her presence, then that means that she trusted you on some subconscious level, despite all the shit you must have put her through. Now we're going to make a few things clear: if I find out that you were responsible for her disappearance, my threat from that phone call the day she went missing? It will come true."
Damon swallowed heavily. Yeah, he hadn't forgotten that phone call. She had been a little too serious for him. "Kelly, I don't know what else I'm supposed to. We've searched almost everywhere in the woods and I know that nobody in the town has heard from her."
Kelly rolled her eyes and took a step back. Her legs wobbled a little and Damon jumped out of his seat, grabbing her arms with his hands. Their bare skin touched and Kelly tensed up, her eyes widening slightly. For a moment, it almost looked as if she was looking through Damon. Straight through him. Seeing something that wasn't there.
The look was gone a moment later, and Kelly shook her head, blinking a little. "Whoa, deja vu. Sorry about that."
"Does that happen often?"
Kelly smirked, the closest thing that Damon had seen to a smile in the past week from anybody. "More than I would care for." She gently pried Damon's hands off of her arms and looked him straight in the eyes. There was a curious twinkle in her dark orbs. "You care for my daughter?"
"Is this the shovel talk?" Damon blurted out.
"You care for her, but you don't know just how yet," Kelly finalized, and Damon couldn't help but nod slightly. He would never admit that to anybody else, but he didn't want Victoria lost. He wanted her found so he could figure out why he was feeling so different recently. "You need to search the woods."
"Kelly-Beans, I literally just told you that the Salvatore boys have searched the woods many, many times since she went missing -"
"- Search them again, Damon. You'll find her. I believe in you."
And with that, Kelly turned without saying goodbye and wobbled out of the Mystic Grill, leaving Damon standing by the bar in dazed silence. What the hell had just happened?
"Why the hell am I doing this?" Damon grumbled, picking his way through the underbrush. He growled out loud when a tree branch accidently whacked him in the face and he could hear Stefan behind him doing his best not to snicker. "I will take this tree branch and show it up your ass if you keep on laughing."
"I know there's not many things that scare you, Damon, but Victoria's mom? Seriously?" Stefan couldn't help but chuckle, stepping up from behind his brother. Zach appeared on the other side, silent but in the faint light, Damon could see his great-nephew's shoulders moving as he tried to keep from verbally laughing. "Kelly LeBlanc is a sweetheart. And she makes some pretty great hot chocolate."
"She was always nice to me whenever we spoke," Zach mentioned, doing his best to sound normal. "Granted, it wasn't very often as we ran in different cliques at school."
"Has Kelly lived her entire life here?" Stefan asked curiously as the three Salvatore men continued their trek through the woods. "As in, Mystic Falls?"
"I believe so. I remember hearing a poem that she wrote during our sophomore year that talked about her life being abandoned in an orphanage. She wrote about her mother, who helped her realize who she was and who helped her embrace being different from the rest of her classmates," Zach regaled. A small smile came to his face and he chuckled. "It was some pretty powerful stuff. Those LeBlanc women are not to be messed with."
Damon found himself reaching up to rub his throat, remembering the burning feeling of a pencil being shoved in there. There was no more wood in there now (the pencil hadn't snapped, thank goodness, otherwise he would've spent the entire day clawing out chunks of wood from his neck) but he could still feel the ghostly sensation of watching Victoria blame him for something he, for once, didn't commit. It was an odd sensation.
"So Kelly just told you that Victoria is supposed to be out here somewhere?" Stefan questioned his brother for what felt like the fifteenth million time.
Damon shook his head with an eye roll and dropped his hand away from his throat. He began to pull away from the other members of his family, saying as he walked, "She just mentioned that I needed to check the woods again and that I would find her. That woman's all kinds of crazy, it seems, when it comes to her daughter."
"Victoria's a good person," Zach butted in. "I understand being crazy about a kid who's just that...good."
"Eloquent words as usual, Zachy-boy," Damon grunted. "Gah, I'm hungry. Did you pack any humans in that survival backpack of yours, Zach?"
He didn't even have to turn around to see Zach's disgusted face. It was no surprise to him that his great-nephew had taken to the Stefan Salvatore Bunny Rabbit Diet (trademark pending). Zach never really had the guts to attack innocent humans, and he had been a wildlife hunter before being turned. Still, it was fun to poke at his great-nephew's and little brother's dieting plan.
"Knock it off, Damon," Stefan huffed. "If you're that hungry, go hunting for some deer. There's a flock that usually rest just a few miles north of here."
"I don't fur in between my teeth, Stefan," Damon snorted, flipping around to look at his little brother. He crossed his arms and raised an eyebrow. "Do you understand how hard it is to floss around my canines?"
"Yep, because I do it every night," Stefan shot back. "And if Stefan Salvatore can do it and Damon Salvatore can't...?"
Damon growled. He hated the way that sounded. Stefan was not going to outdo him in anything, and if that meant he had to get a fill-up with Bambi in order to beat out his brother, then so be it. He pointed dramatically at his brother and gave him the darkest glare that he could manage on an empty stomach. "Keep your eyes open. I'll be back soon."
With that, Damon flipped around and began to run from his brother and nephew. His feet pounded against the forest floor and the sound his fast pace made sounded like thunder. Damon narrowed his mind and focused only on his senses. He let all the sights, sounds, smells, tastes, and feelings of the forest overwhelm. He was no longer Damon Salvatore, but a hunter. A predator. A lion lurking in the bushes, waiting to pounce and make some unsuspecting adorable forest animal his next meal.
Damon slid to a stop at the crest of the hill. The hill was tall and overlooked a large section of the woods outside of Mystic Falls. He was far from the town now; so much so, in fact, that the only light he could see was the light from the moon up above. The area was quieter than the one he had previously been in with Stefan and Zach. More...peaceful. Peaceful was a good word. Damon's gaze followed the pale moonbeams down to the valley below his hill. There was a clearing section off in the middle, sitting right next to a small body of water. Too big to be a pond and too small to be a lake, but somewhere right in the good middle. In the clearing beside the body of water was a herd of about six to seven deer. There was a handful of does and fawns, with only one or two bucks. The bucks were big, though, and Damon's mouth watered at the thought of draining them dry. Sure, he'd have to put up with fur between his teeth, but it might honestly be worth it.
Damon picked his way down the hill, moving as quick as he could without disturbing his prey. His speed helped him to avoid all of the twigs that would give away his position as he bounded down the hill. Damon came to a stop just at the edge of the clearing. He crouched down, his body poised to pounce and hidden deep within the shadows. The two bucks were standing close to him, their heads dipped gracefully as they munched on grass underneath them. Damon allowed his fangs to drop and he shifted his weight, ready to spring once the deer were properly distracted.
One shift, a blink, and Damon flung himself at the nearest buck.
A loud crack filled the otherwise silent night. And it wasn't from Damon, nor was it from one of the bucks. Damon skidded to a halt, his body tense as he tried to narrow down the sound. The deer, now unfortunately alerted to his presence and probably greatly disturbed by his monstrous appearance, all jumped and fled into the bushes. Damon swore loudly as he watched his prey slip away, but he brought his mind back to the twig. That hadn't been an animal. No animal stepping on a branch would have made a noise that loud.
He used his hearing, blocking out the sounds of squirrels racing along trees or birds settling in their nests for the night. He focused on where the sound had originated from and tried to look for the tell-tale sign of a...
There.
It was a heartbeat, a heartbeat that was too fast for a calm and relaxed animal, but too slow to be an animal that had just finished running.
It was human.
Damon's mouth turned into a sadistic grin. Stefan hadn't told him directly that he wasn't allowed to snack from a human, just that deer were in this general area. Damon's stomach ached at the thought of being able to fill it with human blood instead of Bambi. He let out a growl of desire. Oh yes, some poor old hiker was going to feel his hunger.
Damon sprinted towards the noise, using his vampiric speed to launch him even further and faster. The hiker must have heard him, because they began to run. He could tell from their quick footsteps. He had to give them some credit; the hiker was pretty agile. But they would not be faster than him.
Damon dodged fallen trees and trees that grew at an odd angle, catching up to the human in no time. He didn't get a clear visual on them; his eyesight, while pretty spectacular in the darkness, was not perfect and the moonlight was hard to come by in this section of the woods. The human ducked around trees and stumbled blindly; they didn't have any lights with them and it was obvious that they couldn't see that well. Perfect for him.
Damon let out an animalistic growl of hunger and launched himself, his arms moving to wrap themselves around the hiker's body. The hiker made no sound as Damon took the two of them down to the ground. The hiker's body was thin, lean. It took him less than a second to get the person pinned under his arms. Or should he say 'her' under his arms. Oh yes, the hiker was definitely female. The hair, long, greasy, and matted in places, tickled the edges of his hands and he couldn't help but chuckle. It'd been a while since he had had some decent female human before.
"Nothing against you, sweetheart," Damon murmured lowly, leaning down to whisper into her ear. The girl didn't move and she didn't make a sound. Odd. "But you just happen to be below me on the food chain, and I'm pretty hungry."
Damon quickly brushed back the girl's hair and bit down on her throat, letting his fangs slip into her artery located right there. He sucked in a mouthful of blood.
And promptly spat it back out onto the dirt beside her head.
Damon sat up straight, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand. Holy crap, that stuff was nasty. It was like her blood was rotten, vile. A supernatural throw up, one could say. "Damn girl, that's disgusting..."
It hit him like a baseball to the head. Disgusting blood. Random girl in the woods, not a sound coming from her mouth, running away, no light.
Damon lifted his hips off of the girl enough that he could grab her shoulders and flip her around. And just as he did so, the moon managed to slip past leaves and shine directly onto the two of them.
And underneath him, shivering like a scared little cub, was Victoria LeBlanc.
Her eyes were filled with crystal tears and her shoulders were heaving underneath his touch. Her eyes were filled with fear and terror. Her hands, which had been pinned underneath her, now planted themselves against his chest, weakly pushing against him. Her hair was flat, lifeless, and looked worse than Kelly's. And the smell...the gorgeous smell of her blood only did a little to disguise how awful she smelled. Like she hadn't bathed in a week.
And her body...
She had cuts and open wounds everywhere. Victoria hadn't changed out of her dress, the same one that he had last seen her in. Bloodstains dotted the dress; some smelled a week old (perhaps from Logan Fell), others smelled fresh (Damon didn't want to think about what that meant). There was a large bite mark on her neck, mirroring the mark that Damon had just left her on accident. It trickled blood and Damon urged himself to calm down and relax. He didn't need to eat Victoria, not after he had just found her. But the bite marks and the cuts that hadn't healed wasn't the thing that bothered him the most.
It was the fact that she was skinny. And not like "Oh, I'm just naturally born this way" kind of skinny. She seemed like she hadn't eaten since he had last seen her. Her skin was tight against her bones and Damon could see how much her collarbone stuck out. Much more than it had before.
All of his observations happened in less than a second. The moment that Victoria looked him in the eyes, her whole body relaxed. The terror and fear in her eyes dissipated and it left Damon with an odd feeling in his chest. Tears were streaming down her cheeks now, following the curve of her blood and intermingling with the blood from his and the other mark. But these weren't tears of sadness or fear. They were tears of joy.
Yeah, now Damon definitely had an odd feeling in his chest.
Victoria mouthed, "Damon." Just his name and Damon felt like collapsing.
Kelly had been right. All he needed to do was check the woods again. Now, how she had known that he would find Victoria again was a question for a different day.
All that mattered was that Victoria was there and that she was alive.
"Victoria," Damon breathed, partially in disbelief. Victoria shivered underneath him and he lowered himself down, letting his body help to warm hers up. "Is this really you?"
Victoria moved her hands up his chest, so they were wrapped around his neck. With teary, tired eyes she nodded frantically. Damon let out a large breath of relief, his head dropping down so his forehead was resting against hers, closing his eyes. Victoria tensed a little underneath him, but she didn't try to struggle away and he didn't find the will power to move.
The two of them laid there for what felt like eternity, just reveling in each other's presence. In reality, it was probably only a few seconds before Damon felt Victoria tapping the crook of his neck. Damon opened his eyes and moved his forehead back a little so he could see her whole face. "Yeah?"
"Help me," Victoria mouthed, once again saying the sentence in silence. This was immediately followed by Victoria's eyes rolling into the back of her head. She passed out.
And Damon panicked.
The moment that Stefan was forced to watch Vicki carrying Victoria away helplessly was one of the hardest moments of his entire life. And believe him, he's had some really shitty moments. But seeing Victoria, someone who had been thrown into his world not by her own choice, forced to interact with creatures that could kill her on a whim, disappearing right before his eyes...that hurt Stefan in ways that he hadn't anticipated.
The week following Victoria's disappearance had been tough. Rough. An experience he never wished on anyone. It was an unnatural feeling too. In all the years that Stefan had been around since he had been turned by Katherine's blood, the number of human friends he had had were able to be counted on one hand. And while he would consider the bond between them as 'friends', he had never truly cared deeply about them. They were just there, people to help him pass the time. It was hard, getting connected to someone when you ultimately knew you were going to outlive them.
But then he came to Mystic Falls. He came back to his hometown, a place that he had thought he would never return to, and he met so many people who helped him believe in friendship. In love. Elena, Caroline, Bonnie, Matt, Kelly...hell, even Jeremy, Vicki, and Tyler helped him to truly understand what it felt like to be human again. And, of course, Victoria. She just understood. She accepted him as the man he once was and the man he currently was. To her, there was no difference. He simply was Stefan Salvatore, a good man with awesome hero hair (her words, not his).
So to not know what was happening to her, where she was, if she was even alive, kept Stefan searching constantly. He didn't know how many calls he ignored from Elena during the week. Elena had called their relationship quits as soon as Stefan had returned from the graveyard. At the time, Elena didn't seem to question where Victoria was (it was odd, that Stefan and Victoria went into the creepy woods together and only Stefan came back out). The pain in his heart was great, but he had pushed down all of his feelings and forced himself to think about Victoria. About tracking her, about finding out where she was and why Vicki had taken her.
Vicki seemed to go against vampire instinct; it was odd. The moment that Victoria had been pulled to the ground by Logan Fell and she had developed open cuts with blood, Stefan had forced himself to hold his breath. He had began struggling instantly because his base instinct told him to pin Victoria and suck her blood until she was nothing but a dry corpse. Maybe that was the Ripper in him, but he knew that Damon was sending her looks as he was searching Stefan's pockets for his daylight ring. So for Vicki to simply grab Victoria, not bite her immediately, and instead whisk her away was unnatural and odd. And very worrisome.
That all being said, watching Victoria being stolen away was a hard moment. One of the worst in his life as he could do nothing to stop Vicki, still hurt by the wooden bullet.
A close second to that moment would be that exact moment, him in the woods with Zach by his side, hearing Damon's voice echoing across the winds in a terrified call of "Stefan!".
He was immediately put on high alert and he flipped around, Zach falling in line beside him as Damon came skidding to a halt a few feet away from them. And in his arms...
Oh no...
"Victoria!" Stefan gasped, breaking line with Zach to rush to his brother's side. The intoxicating smell of her blood hit him like a sledgehammer and Stefan staggered back, gagging lightly. He could feel his fangs wanting to drop, the desperate ache in his teeth telling him to feed. Zach didn't seem to have as bad of a reaction, but even Zach was gritting his teeth. Stefan flashed away, keeping distance between him and Victoria. Victoria's limp body. "Damon, what the hell?"
"I found her running in the woods," Damon panted, adjusting his grip on Victoria's body. Her head lolled against his shoulder and Stefan could see her body tense up momentarily before relaxing again. "Stefan, something happened to her. She isn't accepting my blood."
"She doesn't like vampire blood," Stefan replied automatically, sounding more breathy than usual. He twisted away so he didn't have to see them, and that did help his bloodlust momentarily. "She won't accept it unless absolutely necessary."
"That's not what I mean, Stefan!" Damon snapped angrily, and Stefan flipped around, glaring at his older brother. His glare softened when he saw that Damon's anger was mostly fueled by fear. He could tell by the way he tightened his grip on Victoria; not enough to hurt her, but just enough to keep her from being taken out of his arms. "I fed her my blood, Stefan, after she passed out. Her body isn't healing."
Crap.
Shit.
That wasn't good.
Thankfully, Zach seemed to understand the level of stress and worry the two brothers were about to unleash on each other and stepped in. He raised his voice, just enough that he could be heard over the two brothers' tumbling thoughts. "Damon, you need to take her to the hospital. Her body isn't accepting the blood because it doesn't have the energy to do so. Just listen to her heartbeat; it's not strong. It's acceptable, but it won't do much unless her body starts to naturally heal. Then your blood will kick in."
Damon must have been really dazed by the whole experience, because in response to Zach's orders, all he did was nod and disappear in a flash. Zach turned to Stefan, who was now able to breathe properly because Victoria's intoxicating scent was gone. "Uncle Stefan, I need you to go to Kelly and pick her up and take her to the hospital."
"What are you going to do?" Stefan asked, furrowing his brow in confusion.
"Well, one, I can't go to the hospital this freshly turned," Zach grunted, shaking his head. "I barely withstood what just happened now. The only reason I didn't jump on Victoria was I remembered how nasty her blood tastes. That knocked me off my blood craving, but the moment I step into a hospital where I know there are weak patients whose blood will taste good? I might go full Ripper."
"Yeah, don't do that."
"Of course. And two, the sun's about to come up and we still haven't found somebody to make me a daylight ring," Zach commented, glancing up worriedly towards the sky. Stefan followed his gaze upwards, and frowned. The light was beginning to lighten up the dark sky. They maybe had a half an hour before Zach would have to be indoors. "I, personally, don't want to die a week after I've died, so I need to head home."
"Okay," Stefan said, letting out even, deep breaths. He nodded, letting the panic from seeing Victoria's weakened body drain out of him. "Okay, yeah. I'll call you once I have news."
Stefan kept his goodbyes to his nephew brief, running straight for the entrance of the woods, where his little Coupe was kept. Damon's Camaro was gone, which meant that Damon had taken the car to the hospital. Stefan slipped into his car and drove straight towards Kelly's house, breaking almost every speed limit that he could.
Kelly LeBlanc seemed confused when she opened her front door and found Stefan standing on her porch. Kelly glanced tiredly behind her; Stefan assumed she was looking towards a clock. Kelly looked back at Stefan, and her eyes quickly scanned his body in confusion. "Stefan?" She let out a yawn, which she covered politely with her hand. "Gah, sorry about that. Stefan, what are you doing here at this time of night? Or morning, I guess." She yawned again.
"I'm sorry for waking you up, Ms. LeBlanc, but I drove here as fast as I could because you needed to hear this," Stefan said. "Kelly, we found Victoria. She's alive."
The pure, unadulterated look of relief, happiness, joy, and love in Kelly's eyes at Stefan's news. That was the kind of look that Stefan hoped someone would have on their face for him. It was beautiful and breathtaking and when Kelly smiled, Stefan had to smile with her.
"She's alive?" Kelly whispered, and there was a tiny voice crack in the middle of her sentence made Stefan nod frantically.
"She's alive," he confirmed and Kelly clapped two hands over her mouth, her eyes instantly filling with tears. "But Kelly, you need to understand that she's alive...but she's not in perfect health. Damon was the one who ran into her. She looked like she had been attacked."
"Another animal attack?" Kelly asked questioning, her brows furrowing in distress. "B-But...didn't the sheriff and her men hunt the cougar down? I-I remember hearing that your uncle was a part of the hunting squad."
"I-I don't know, Kelly, I don't know, but I do know what I saw. She was attacked and she's severely malnourished. She hasn't been eating well. Damon's taking her to the hospital right now. They're probably already there. I came to get you."
"Let me grab my bag," was Kelly's only response. Kelly disappeared for a moment and returned the next, holding a large duffle bag over her shoulder. Stefan reached forward and grabbed the bag from her, and she nodded at him thankfully.
Stefan opened the passenger side door for Kelly before tossing her duffle bag into the trunk of his Coupe. He moved to the driver's side and slipped in, turning the car on and pulling out of the LeBlanc driveway.
As he drove down the street, pushing the limits on the speed limit, because damn it! his friend was possibly dying in the hospital!, Kelly blurted out, "Stefan, be honest with me: is she going to be okay?"
Stefan's grip tightened on the steering wheel as he answered honestly, "If I have anything to say about it, Kelly, she's going to live a long and healthy life."
Stefan listened as Kelly let out a sigh of relief. "Thank you, Stefan. You're very sweet. But please, I'm not fragile. I've literally just lasted a week thinking the worst happened to my baby girl. I need to know: how is she? Really?"
Stefan tried his best to keep his tone even and level, but he was sure he failed as he said to Kelly, "I don't know, Kelly. I genuinely don't know."
"Where is she?" Kelly demanded the moment she and Stefan entered the hospital lobby. The receptionist ladies gave her a sad look, as if they were trying to reassure her. But no one was talking and Kelly wasn't about to let them just sideline her. Damn it, her baby girl had been missing for a week. Sure, she looked probably as bad as her daughter did, given Stefan's brief description of Victoria, but that didn't give them the right to just brush her off. "I won't repeat this again: where is my daughter?"
"Mrs. LeBlanc?" she heard a voice interrupt. Kelly whipped around and her eyes narrowed as she caught the speaking voice. It was a different doctor, a man that she didn't recognize. He had short-shaven black hair on his head, warm brown eyes, and his nationality seemed to be somewhere from the Middle East. He tilted his head to one side. "Are you Victoria LeBlanc's mother?"
"Yes, I am," Kelly said, changing her direction so she was marching towards him. Stefan Salvatore fell into step behind her, keeping quiet. It was a good move; Kelly was on a rampage and she wasn't about to let anyone stop her. "And it's just Ms. LeBlanc, not Mrs."
"Divorced?" the doctor asked questioningly and Kelly's hands tightened into fists.
"Never married," Kelly snapped, her teeth clicking audibly together as she snapped her jaw shut.
The doctor hummed and looked down at his clipboard, scribbling something down. "I see. And do you happen to know if Victoria's father will be joining us here tonight?"
"Her father is currently indisposed, so no, he will not be joining us," Kelly snapped. She gestured wildly with her hands. "Where is my daughter? When can I see her?"
"What did you say your name was again?"
"I didn't," Kelly retorted. "But for the record, my name is Kelly LeBlanc. Now once again, where is my daughter?"
"Kelly, do you think of yourself as a capable parent?"
"Excuse me?" Stefan interrupted, taking a step so he was side by side with Kelly. His posture radiated silent fury as he leveled a glare at the doctor. Kelly was more taken aback to say anything. "What did you just ask her?"
"Who might you be?"
"I'm Stefan Salvatore. Why would you ask Ms. LeBlanc that?"
"I am simply doing my job," the doctor replied, not at all apologetically. A disgusted shiver raced down Kelly's spine as she observed the doctor. The doctor turned his gaze away from Stefan and back onto her. Kelly squared her shoulders and stood taller, looking at the man with a hard, steely gaze. He would not see how much his questions hurt her. "Now, Kelly -"
"- It's Ms. LeBlanc to you -"
"- Victoria's files say that this isn't her first trip to the hospital recently," the doctor explained, glancing down at his clipboard before nodding his head in confirmation. "Since her accident, she's also been admitted due to head trauma; and we did notice that there was significant bruising around her throat." He looked back up at Kelly and she couldn't help but flinch. That look in his eyes was pure evil. "Now I would hate to assume, but the police report does not report Mr. Lockwood hurting your daughter in that way, which can only lead to one explanation."
"I suggest you watch what you are about to say," Kelly hissed, narrowing her eyes dangerously at the doctor in front of her. She took two bold steps forward, pushing past Stefan to be closer to the doctor. "I have never laid a hand on my daughter. She is my child, mine."
"But she's not."
It was as if the doctor had slapped her. She staggered back and took a shaky breath. Her right hand moved up to grip her shirt right above her heart. She could feel it pounding against her chest. The room started to get fuzzy. She didn't need an attack right now! "I may not have given birth to her, Sir, but I raised her, I fed her, I loved her through every tantrum, every heartbreak, every worry and missed homework assignment. She is my daughter, in every way besides biological."
"I hope you realize, Kelly, that I will need to report this as child negligence to the state," the doctor continued, as if everything Kelly had just said went over him. Kelly began to shake. He couldn't do that. Kelly was so close to finally having her baby girl back in her arms. He just couldn't! "While Victoria is close to being of legal age, she is still under your care and responsibility."
Kelly opened her mouth to yell at him, to plead and say that it wasn't fair and that she was a good mom and that she messed up, but she never got the chance.
Stefan Salvatore was in front of the doctor in a heartbeat. From her side one moment to the doctor's the next. He is very fast, she thought to herself. In a low, controlled voice, Stefan said, "You will apologize to Kelly for ever implying that she would hurt Victoria and that she is a bad mother. You will refrain from asking questions and saying anything that directly makes Kelly uncomfortable. After that, you will take us to find Victoria and you will be the best doctor that she deserves to have. Afterwards, you will leave us alone and become the best doctor that you can be, okay?"
"Okay," the male doctor replied.
"What's your name?"
"Doctor Jeremiah Nicholson."
"Doctor Nicholson, I believe you have something you wanted to say to Kelly."
The doctor, now apparently named Nicholson, stepped past Stefan to say to Kelly, "Ms. LeBlanc, I apologize heavily for every implying that you would hurt your daughter. I can see that you love and care for her very much. You are the epitome of a fantastic mother. I do hope you may accept my apologies. Now, allow me to escort you and Mr. Salvatore to where your daughter is currently staying."
Dr. Nicholson turned and began to walk off. Kelly simply took a few steps forward and looked at Stefan curiously, her shoulders shaking slightly as the adrenaline from the conversation died down.
"How did you convince him to be so nice to me?" she questioned lightly.
Stefan shrugged. "My uncle calls it the 'Salvatore charm'. Damon and I used it like crazy when we were kids to get our ways. Drove my uncle crazy whenever we would visit."
Kelly couldn't help but snort at that. Yeah, right. When Stefan looked at her worriedly, she just rolled her eyes at Stefan and repeated out loud, "Yeah, right Stefan." Stefan's eyes widened almost comically, and she looked at him. What was that reaction for? She added, "You, I can believe. Damon, not really. I mean have you seen him? He's not even that pretty."
She rolled her eyes and marched off towards the back of Dr. Nicholson, calling back towards Stefan, "You're the prettier one!"
A/N: Imma be honest, my lovelies, I absolutely despise this chapter, so I hope you guys will like it better than I do. It's an original chapter so it was an original pain in the behind to write, cuz I had to come up with allll of it. But, I hoped you all enjoyed. I'm about to head into Tech Week for my show which means that my time is going to get filled up reeeeal quick. The next chapter's posting might be wonky, so just stay tuned and I'll try and have it up around Sunday-ish, hopefully? Halloween! I'm so excited. What are y'all dressing up as?
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, sammyleann's dad, TikiKiki
Team Datoria/Viamon {Victoria/Damon} (3): Sciave, Guest, ArganRose
Team Vilijah {Victoria/Elijah} (12.5): guest, Guest, SoraLover987142, insert name here XD, sammyleann, Orange keys 25, LoyalElijahFangirl, Hinata Megumi, A. G Herz, Aryabloodlust, ferallahey, AngelColdHeart, BlueDragibus
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!: BlueDragibus, Angel-Peyr, Maistyria, naseem-miah97
New Favoriters!: SakuraPheonix13, BlueDragibus
Welcome everyone!
Onto reviews!:
LoyalElijahFangirl: I definitely feel like Victoria's presence will change how many characters react in certain situations, and how Vicki behaves as a vampire is one of those (and oh dang, I totally forgot about Matt. That'll be explained in later chapters so I don't have to go back and edit that XD). That's really sweet of you, thank you! Yeah, they definitely will. TRAUMA, whoo! Your analysis of Victoria really does make sense; I mean, she didn't have the most perfect relationship with the Vanacores and I think that really screwed up her perception of relationships and trust. Fluff or trauma? Which will succeed? Damon is very possessive, and that definitely comes from his crappy childhood (all of the VD characters' problems come from crappy childhoods). Mhmm. Throwing in something new that no one understands. It'll add some spice. I can tell you that it's not going to be an angel plotline (I actually haven't read the Vampire Diaries books, I have the first one I need to read, so we aren't going to go down that road). In Hebrew culture, Raphael is believed to be one of the three main Archangels of the Lord, in total, it being Michael, Gabriel, and Raphael. Maybe this chapter helps you or confuses you even more about the Mama Kelly situations. My job has been going better (I'm opening the store for the first time by myself today, so hopefully that goes good).
DBZFAN45: Oh my gosh, it totally is like Deadpool's hitlist. I didn't think about that XD. Aww, I love those Stetoria moments. They're so cute! Well tada! You predicted it correctly that we would see a Brother Team Up! As I mentioned in the review above, maybe this chapter helps you or confuses you even more about the Mama Kelly supernatural situations. 2nd Review!: I love this little conversations you write up, they're so cute! I love that "I believe the term you are looking for is OMG". That's one of my favorite lines ever. Elijah honestly has some bombing lines.
Guest: Does this chapter confuses you on the anklet situation? I hope it does, cause that's the goal!
BlueDragibus: Hello! Welcome to my story-land! Thank you so much! Aww, shucks. I'm blushing. Oh trust me, if you want a story that has fluff and trauma, this will be the story for you. A lot of people are hoping Noble is Elijah. Rationally, it makes sense, but I'm keeping Noble's identity a super secret, kind of like who Victoria's going to end up with. Makes things more interesting for the readers. Another #TeamVilijah shipper! Congrats! Thank you!
Y'all have been so ridiculously kind to this story (we've almost surpassed 15k+ views. Like...what?! That's awesome! And almost 150+ reviews. That's so cool, just 18 off!)
I hope you all have a great day. Remember to eat well, get lots of sleep, and watch cute animal videos to make you smile.
Stay healthy and stay safe!
BecomingFearless1F