Antrakt - Where On Earth Is Victoria LeBlanc? - Part 2
Victoria knew where she was even before she opened her eyes. It wasn't that hard to tell. Given the amount of times she had woken up in the hospital within the last month (honestly, goodness sakes, it was too many times), she had become sort of a connoisseur when it came to identifying the hospital.
Smell: it smelled clean, like bleach and sanitizer and really, really, really fake plastic. Not like normal plastic, which of course is fake, but like a few grades below plastic kind of fake plastic. That level of fake.
Taste: she could physically taste the sanitation in the air. It seemed they doused anything and everything within the hospital with it. She could also faintly taste dirt and pine needles.
Touch: she was underneath some sort of crappy blanket; again, another thing that was made from really, really, really fake plastic. The sheets underneath her were soft, though, which was nice. The pillow beneath her head kept her head elevated and it was perfectly fluffed so it didn't feel like she was lying against a piece of cardboard. Instead, it felt like she was reclining on a cloud. 10/10 pillow experience.
Sound: this was the most important one. Because she could hear the rustling of three people within the hospital room, each off in their own little "district" of the room. They spoke lowly, as to not wake her up, she assumed, but not low enough that she couldn't tell who they were. Stefan Salvatore, Damon Salvatore, and Kelly LeBlanc, her mother.
"You called Caroline?" That was Stefan. Given the positioning of his voice, Victoria would assume he was standing at the foot of her bed, gazing down at her with his sad and brooding eyes. He did always seem to be brooding; that is, when he wasn't smiling. Victoria liked his smile. It made him actually appear his age (the age of seventeen, not whatever hundred and a handful of change old he actually was).
"Yeah, she panicked, obviously, cried, and then started gathering her things to come to the hospital," her mother responded and Victoria physically relaxed at the sound of her voice. Her mother was here. Everything was fine. Everything was going to be fine. "She said she had to tell her mom so they would know to stop searching for her and to focus their efforts on finding Vicki."
"Good luck finding Vick." Damon. While Victoria was relieved to hear his voice, almost to the same level that she had been relieved to see him after she had been running in the woods for what seemed like hours, she didn't particularly enjoy hearing Damon talk about Vicki. Hearing Vicki's murderer talk about her made Victoria's skin crawl. "She may play the druggie card, but that girl's resourceful. You'll only find her if she wants to be found."
Victoria wasn't sure if any of them were supposed to take that as a compliment towards Vicki, but it sure as hell didn't sound like an insult, so she just let it slide. She also took that as a decent cue to try and open her eyes.
Victoria forced her eyes to part, fluttering them against the bright light of the hospital. She didn't bother hiding her wince at the light; she had been kept in the dark for so long that any sort of light was kind of an issue with her.
Her eye movement obviously attracted the attention of the vampire brothers and her mother, as the room erupted in choruses of "Victoria!". Victoria flinched at the loud noise, which everyone also saw, as they instantly quieted down. Victoria took a moment, once her eyes were fully adjusted, to scan the room. Much to her surprise, it appeared to be the exact room she had been placed in when she woke up from her coma and was brought to after Tyler's mean punch. Was this slowly becoming her own personal room? Kelly was to her left, sitting in one of the two chairs like a dutiful mother. Tears were already pooling in her eyes and Victoria cursed silently at that; damn it all, Kelly must know she was a sympathy crier! Trying to ignore the own burning ache in her own eyes, she turned her head to the other side, observing the two brothers. Stefan did stand at the foot of her bed, his hands in his jeans' pockets and Damon sitting in the other chair, his leg propped up on his other leg.
Kelly was the first to speak directly to Victoria, taking it as her right as Victoria's mother. Kelly leaned forward, moving to rest a hand against Victoria's. Victoria flinched, jerking her hand backwards. It was warm, not cold. Why wasn't it cold?
Because she isn't a vampire. Humans run slightly warmer than vampires. Calm down. She's not a vampire, she's human. She's not Vicki.
Victoria looked at her mother and mouthed, "Sorry." What else could she do?
"It's alright, baby girl," Kelly replied, her voice quieter than it ever usually was. Victoria could hear the thick layer of emotion in her mother's throat, making it hard for her to speak clearly. Victoria drew in a shaky breath, aware that her eyes were beginning to brim with tears as well. "It's alright, okay? You just take all the time that you need. I'll take my hand back, okay?"
Victoria nodded and Kelly withdrew her hand away from the adult-turned-teen. Once she was settled back in her chair, Kelly began again, "How are you feeling?"
Victoria had to settle with taking her hand out and doing a 'so-so' motion with her hand. She didn't feel terrible, but she definitely didn't feel like a bed of roses. Or, actually, maybe she did feel like a bed of roses. Only a bed of roses that were constantly poking her with their millions upon millions of thorns. Yeah, suffice to say, Victoria wasn't feeling great.
"Do you need water? Would you like some food?"
"The doctor said that it wouldn't be wise for Victoria to immediately try eating any sort of solid food," Damon interjected. Victoria flopped her head back towards Damon, and noted that he wasn't looking at her at all. He was just focusing on Kelly. It was almost like he was avoiding looking at her. What is that about? "Liquid foods like soup might work, but she could very well just throw them up."
Oh. Well, that was what happened when you don't eat food for a solid week. You do apparently tend to get malnourished.
"Kelly," Stefan interrupted, drawing Victoria out of her thoughts. He, unlike his brother, just stared at Victoria, as if nothing could tear his gaze away. It made her want to blush under the intensity of his gaze. "Would you mind going to grab Damon and me some snacks from the vending machine across the hospital?"
"Of course; I'll go grab you some snacks from the vending machine across the hospital," Kelly replied back immediately, like a robot. Victoria frowned and sent Stefan a look. He held up a hand, telling her to wait.
Kelly leaned over, gently kissing Victoria's head. She flinched back at that contact too, but Kelly didn't seem to notice. Her eyes were glazed over as she grabbed her wallet from some sort of bag and wandered out of the room. Stefan followed her, gently shutting the door behind her.
When he turned around, Victoria glared at him. He didn't seem at all apologetic as he answered in retaliation to her look, "Victoria, we can talk about this later. That's not what's important right now. Why can't you speak?"
She rolled her eyes. As if she was going to be able to give him an answer. Stefan seemed to realize this a moment after her eye roll and blushed awkwardly. "Oh yeah. Can't speak. My bad."
"Let's just spitball ideas out and you can nod or shake your head if they're right," Damon mused, and Victoria looked back towards him. He now looked at her and whoa. If she thought Stefan's gaze was intense, he had nothing on Damon. Damon looked at her with such ferocity. But whether it was negative or positive was lost behind his icy eyes. "Compulsion."
Victoria nodded immediately, as if they honestly didn't know that was the true case. Damon smirked. "One for one. Alright, and I'm going to assume Vicki did it?" Another nod. "Purposefully?"
Victoria shook her head and mouthed "Accident" to Damon. He pursed his lips and his brow furrowed in contemplation.
"If Vicki was the one to compel you, it should be easily fixed," Stefan stated, moving so he was standing in her range of view. He shrugged his shoulders lightheartedly. "It's the same tactic that Damon used on Vicki and Leah during the night of the comet. Vicki's a new vampire, so her compulsion isn't as strong. Probably the same level as mine is. If it wasn't purposeful -"
"- Accident -" Victoria mouthed.
"- Okay, so it was an accident, that definitely means she wasn't concentrating one hundred percent on making sure the compulsion was absolutely solid. Which means that Damon can easily break it," Stefan said. He gestured for his brother to move.
Damon shot Stefan a look, one that clearly said he didn't enjoy taking orders from his seventeen year old brother, but he did lean forward and snap his fingers to gain Victoria's full attention. Victoria turned her head towards her, doing her best to ignore the sharp headache she had gotten from Damon's loud finger snapping.
Damon reached his hands out, aiming for her temple. However, the moment his fingertips brushed up against Victoria's forehead, she let out a silent scream. Victoria scrambled as far away from Damon, and subsequently Stefan, as she physically could in the small hospital bed. The heart rate monitor she was apparently connected to started to beep wildly as her heart started pounding.
Cold fingers. Cold fingers on her head. Cold fingers on her neck. Cold fingers holding her jaw shut so she couldn't scream. Cold fingers holding her still while a terrible fiery pain erupted in her neck. Cold fingers while cold liquids were forced down her throat, where she was forced to swallow.
"B-Blankie, you need to drink to feel better. I-It'll heal you, keep you fed. Drink it. Why are you moving? Stop it! Damn it, Victoria, stop moving!"
Her hair was suddenly tugged on, strong. Victoria let out a mimed yelp of pain and she blinked. The torturous memory was fading now, and Stefan stood at her side. One of his hands was wrapped up in the tangles of her brown-reddish hairdo. His fingers began to massage her scalp, and though they were cold, the kinetic motion of the head scratching kept her from panicking again. The heart rate monitor started to die down again, dropping to a more respectable level. Victoria was frozen, her whole body shaking from the adrenaline.
"Victoria," Stefan cooed, his voice low as he looked up at Victoria with unblinking eyes. "I need you to remain calm."
Victoria shook her head, which was hard to do with Stefan's hand wrapped up in her hair. It was hard to remain still on the bed as her whole body just felt like it wanted to convulse. She had to get away from the cold fingers. Victoria barely heard Stefan say to his brother, "Damon, do it now!"
Two large hands grabbed either side of her head and Victoria flailed, her arms jerking about trying to rip the hands off of her. She let out another silent scream and she ran her fingernails down the hands on her head. She heard Damon say, "You can speak. You know how to speak. Open your mouth and let the words come out of you."
"- lease. Please, let me go! No more, please," Victoria sobbed, her voice sounding scratchy and unused. Stefan's hand in her hair tightened, trying to anchor her back to reality. It did the exact opposite.
"Blankie, if you won't stay still, I will keep you still."
"No!" Victoria screamed and she launched herself at Stefan. Her hands wrapped around Stefan's neck, catching him off guard. She didn't have enough speed to do much other than knock the two of them to the ground. Her knees hit the ground awkwardly on either side of Stefan and she gave a little cry at the pain. Victoria quickly straddled Stefan, her hands tightening on his throat. The movement ripped the IVs and the heartrate monitors off her body and tiny specks of blood began to form on her arms. Stefan coughed, bringing up his other hand to wrap itself around Victoria's waist. She let out a scream of distress as Stefan quickly switched their positions; now he was on top, straddling her. Her hands were still wrapped around his neck and she jerked her wrists, hoping that she could disable him. It didn't do anything. "No! I-I'm not stopping, you can't make me! No more, please, just no more!"
"Victoria, I need you to calm down!" Stefan ordered, looking at Victoria with a steel-eyed gaze.
The panic that had been rising within Victoria died immediately. She felt calm, as if she had just woken up from a rather restful nap. Victoria dropped her hands away from Stefan's neck and instead moved them to cover her face. She could feel her cheeks flaming with embarrassment.
Victoria had just tried to kill Stefan. If he had been a normal human, she might have actually done so. The thought made Victoria sick to her stomach. Tears flared up in her eyes and she bit her lower lip, trying hard to not cry. How could she have tried to kill Stefan?
"Victoria..."
She shook her head. She couldn't speak to him. She was horrible.
"Victoria." That wasn't Stefan, but rather Damon. She peeked out of her fingers. Stefan got off of Victoria, moving to one side as Damon knelt down on the floor on her other side. Her heart pounded in her chest as she looked up at the eldest Salvatore. The expression on his face gave no clue as to how he was really feeling during that moment, but he held out his hand to her. An invitation for help as she arose. He was giving her a choice. And that was big, considering the hell week she had just endured.
Victoria, hesitantly, reached a hand out. She clenched her teeth and quickly grabbed onto his hand. He tightened his grip on her hand and yanked her up. She went faster than anticipated, so she stumbled when she got back onto her feet. Victoria let go of Damon's hand as quickly as she could and moved her hands to the bed to keep her steady. She heard Stefan rise quietly behind her.
"Are you okay?" Stefan asked.
She shook her head. "I-I..." She cut herself off as the unshed tears from before began to trickle down her throat. She sucked in a sharp, shaky breath. "Damn it, I don't know, Stefan."
"Can you tell us what happened to you after the cemetery?" Damon interrupted, taking a step so she could see him. Victoria gave him a weak shrug. She knew that she needed to, but to relive all those moments and feelings right after she was supposedly home and safe? That...that was asking for a lot. And Victoria didn't know if she had that in her. "Sit down before your mom comes back and has our hide."
"I told you she was scary," Victoria whispered with the faintest of smiles. She planted her hands on either side of the bed and clumsily hoisted herself up onto the hospital bed.
She flipped around and her hands clasped together, her fingers moving to fiddle with one another. There were so many simple things that Victoria had forgotten were a gift to be able to do; her nervous tick, for one.
That was it. She needed to tell them, to get all the information off of her chest so she wasn't walking around with all the mumbo-jumbo crap in her brain.
"V-Vicki ran me to an old building in the woods," Victoria blurted out. Stefan and Damon shared a look before taking the seats by on opposite sides of her bed. "I-I didn't recognize it, but I saw a logo when I left. It was old, over fifty years at least. It said Salvatore Logging Co."
"The old logging mills," Stefan gasped, blinking his eyes in surprise. When Victoria looked at him, cautiously and curiously, he input, "That's where I sent Zach after smuggling him out of the boarding house. He stayed there for about two nights before Damon and I's truce let him come back into the boarding house."
"Y-You guys formed a truce?" Victoria stammered, glancing between the two brothers. Stefan nodded before gesturing for Victoria to continue on with her tale.
She nodded her thanks and licked her lips, naively trying to stall for more time. It was hard, especially since her diversion tactic with asking the brothers about their so-called 'truce' had failed. "S-So, Vicki had just wanted to get me away from you two, originally. That's what s-she said. Said she was trying to protect me. I-I was thinking it was because vampirism increases what is already inside of you; it made Vicki more protective than she usually is. She could smell how delicious my blood was, and I-I thought that it was because she didn't want either of y-you hurting me." Victoria let out a little breathy gasp and felt a single tear slide down her cheek. She hastily rubbed it away. "If that was true, t-then it wasn't the only thing. She just w-wanted..." Victoria closed her eyes tight and squeaked, "She just wanted me to herself."
"What did she do?" Damon's voice sounded venomous. He sounded ready to kill somebody. And damn Victoria, but the way she was feeling...she might actually let him. Oh gracious, how far had she fallen? "Victoria, what did Vicki do?"
"S-She fed on me," Victoria sniffled, shaking her head. She took many breaths, trying to keep her sobs at bay. "S-She would feel so bad afterwards, not physically but emotionally. S-She got so close...so close to just sucking me dry. V-Vicki would then feed me blood, insisting that she had seen Damon do it and that it would heal me. It did, obviously. A-After the first night, I-I thought that she would take us back. M-Maybe we'd go to her house, mine...I just thought we'd go somewhere. But no...she wouldn't let me leave the mills. Said it was too dangerous and she needed to keep me safe. She'd...she'd leave to hunt occasionally, when she wanted variety from my blood, and she would leave me at the mills."
"She actually liked your blood?" Damon asked in disbelief. Victoria shrugged. She honestly didn't know if Vicki really liked the taste of her blood or if it was just due to the fact that it was Victoria's blood. It was a question she hoped to never ask Vicki. "And wait: she'd leave you at the mills, and you just stayed there?" Damon added incredulously. Victoria bit her lower lip and shook her head. She felt another rush of tears hit her eyes and her shoulders shook as she tried to keep her sobs in.
Stefan voiced the unspoken. "You couldn't leave. Not physically."
"She didn't know how to use compulsion, so she made sure I wouldn't leave the old fashioned way," Victoria cried, the sobs just falling out. She couldn't hold it together anymore. No more. "She would chain me up, keep me disorientated so I wouldn't know where the door was."
"Vicki, what the hell are you doing?" Victoria demanded, her body beginning to hum. The adrenaline in her body spiked when Vicki walked back around the corner, holding onto the largest chains that Victoria had ever seen. Her eyes widened in awe and fear as Vicki dragged them across the ground like they were nothing. They were rusty and old, looking about the same age as the facility itself. "Where did you get those?"
"There's an old storage facility at the end of this building," Vicki said succinctly, dropping the chains at Victoria's feet. The human jumped up, startled at the loud clanking noise the chains made as they hit each other. "Loggers would use these to drop trees."
"And you just happen to know this because you're a logging expert?" Victoria couldn't help but ask, looking at Vicki with confusion.
The baby vampire rolled her eyes. "I do read, Blankie." She grabbed the end of one of the chains and gestured for Victoria to walk forward. "Come here."
"You know what, Vicki, I think I'm good," Victoria replied, eyeing the chains with distaste. "Being chained up is not my idea of a good time. And, to be honest with you, Vick, this is getting ridiculous. You know that all I want to do is help you through this, but this," Victoria gestured towards the chains, "is going a bit too far. We will be safe at the boarding house, my home, hell, we can even go to your house -!"
"- You can't leave!" Vicki insisted, her eyes widening in terror. "I-If you go out there, then the bad man will find you!"
"What bad man, Vicki?" Victoria sighed, shaking her head sadly. "I get it; you don't like Damon and you call him the bad man, but I can hold my own against Damon."
"Damon isn't the bad guy, Victoria!" Vicki yelled, her arms gesturing wildly. Victoria folded her arms across her chest as she watched Vicki react sporadically. "T-This bad man is evil. Pure evil. H-He killed me and if I let you go, then he'll know you aren't by me and then he's going to h-hurt me. He won't hurt me if you're here too."
"I'm not afraid of any bad guy," Victoria said, unfolding her arms. Vicki's eyes were still alert with fear and terror, and Victoria's stance softened. She frowned lightly and said more gently, "Vicki, you're reacting this way because you haven't fed since -" She shivered in disgust and managed to stammer out, "- s-since this morning, and that's not enough blood for a newly transitioned baby vampire. Just go hunting; I'll go back into town and find -"
Victoria never got to finish her sentence. She took one step out of line and the next thing she knew, Victoria was slammed up against the wall of the logging mill, Vicki's hand wrapped tightly around the back of her hair. Victoria let out a shout of pain as Vicki's grip pulled hard against her tender strands. With her free hand, Vicki grabbed Victoria's hands and began to efficiently wrap the chains around her body. Victoria writhed in her friend's grip, shouting for Vicki to stop.
"Blankie, if you won't stay still, I will keep you still." Vicki threw a punch so fast that Victoria didn't see it coming, and a wave of black descended on Victoria faster than anything she had ever seen.
"Bad guy?" Stefan asked curiously. Victoria nodded, flopping her head weakly back onto her pillow. "Vicki mentioned a 'bad guy' who wasn't Damon?"
"I'm not always the bad guy, Steffie," snorted Damon, rolling his eyes.
"She said it a lot whenever she was there," Victoria answered. "It terrified her. She kept me chained to keep me from leaving; she'd feed on me because she said that she needed to be at her full strength if she wanted to protect me."
"You were her personal blood bag?"
"That's basically what she just said, Stefan," Damon retorted, sitting up straighter. "Sounds like you need to get your ears checked out."
"Please, stop fighting," Victoria whispered weakly. "I have no energy to try and stop you two right now."
The Salvatore brothers glared at each other, but they did silence down. They turned their attentions back to Victoria, who was reclined back onto the bed. She grabbed the threadbare blanket that had been knocked aside and laid it gently down on her legs. Very out of character, Damon stood silently and helped rearrange the blanket so it was covering all of her feet. She nodded her thanks and he gave her a look that seemed to be a half-smile before he sat back down again.
"So Vicki stole you away, obsessed and paranoid that an evil person who supposedly 'killed her' was going to come after her, and forced you to be her personal food source, keeping you chained up so you couldn't run away?" Stefan reiterated, and Victoria just nodded pathetically. Stefan leaned back in his chair, making a 'huh' sound as he observed Victoria. "Now I'm not saying I don't believe you, but it is a little hard to believe."
"Harder than it is to believe that a junior in high school is actually a hundred plus year old vampire?" Victoria retorted, raising an eyebrow. Stefan opened his mouth to say something, but obviously couldn't come up with a better response. He closed his mouth. "That's what I thought."
"How did you escape, Mama Bear?" Damon asked. "Last we heard, our heroine was chained up."
"Noble."
Pain and silence. Those were two words that Victoria had begun to associate together as direct opposites. The two sides of the same coin. Only in silence did Victoria find peace and solace. In silence, Victoria could dive into her mind; she did not have to put on a facade. She could just reside in her own body. Just exist.
Victoria believed it had been a solid week since she had last seen anyone besides Vicki. Last seen the Salvatore brothers, looking at her with faces of distress as they frantically called out her name. Last seen Elena, with the promise that she would explain everything (how she knew the brothers were vampires, how she wasn't shocked by anything). Last seen Jeremy and Matt. And gosh, even longer since she had last seen Kelly. Victoria could really use a hug from Kelly right about now. In that week of solitude, Victoria had never last the logging mills. She was contained to the large main floor; if she tried to get into the offices, she was brought back to the exact place where she had started. Even when Victoria was sure that Vicki was gone, off patrolling or hunting or whatever it was that she did when she wasn't in the mills, Vicki would swoop out of nowhere and place her back in her spot.
And where was her spot? Well, it used to be next to the broken down conveyor belt that, Victoria assumed, would carry the giant logs down before they went to the saw. That was where Vicki used to let her chill. Then, after a few days, when Vicki really started getting paranoid, Victoria's new spot moved to the wall. Vicki would wrap her in chains and that would keep her arms pinned to her sides. But on day five, when night had fallen and Vicki had disappeared off to patrol (or something of that like) and Victoria had tried to escape, her new spot had been chosen for her.
Near the wall, suspended up a foot in the air (not enough to be too drastic but not so little that her feet could touch the ground), hung Victoria. Her wrists were clamped tightly in chains and they were holding her up. The skin around her wrists was cut and torn, with dried and fresh blood trickling down her forearms towards her head. Her head was lolled to the side and she couldn't find the will to move.
There was a loud thud from across the room, one that Victoria had unfortunately associated with pain and suffering. Victoria flinched and wiggled weakly in her chains; her body's natural reaction to the mere thought of anymore pain. Just please...no more pain. Just no more. No more.
Through the darkness and in the small amount of light gifted by the moon, Victoria spotted Vicki enter in a flash. The baby vampire, already a week old, was getting a hang of her advanced speed. Victoria was grateful that Vicki hadn't tried compelling her; not that it would work anyways. The Salvatores and herself still didn't know why she was immune to compulsion (well, Damon knew, but he just wasn't telling).
Vicki ran quickly to be in front of Victoria. The younger teen frowned when she saw Victoria's body wiggling weakly in her chains. "Blankie, what are you doing?"
Victoria quit struggling and in response, her body just silently swung there. Vicki watched her as Victoria swung in place. Victoria didn't even bother to open her mouth. It was a lesson she had learned from day four. Vicki didn't care about what she had to say; she just wanted to know that Victoria wasn't going to run away.
Vicki plopped onto the ground in front of Victoria and folded her legs Indian-style under her body. The expression on her face was curious; Victoria just returned the look with a blank stare. Vicki tilted her head to the side and studied her. "Are you not going to talk to me, Blankie?"
"What's the point?" Victoria grunted. Her voice was scratchy from disuse and...well, it probably didn't take a rocket scientist to know what else. Her head lolled to the other side and Vicki's bite mark (which the vampiress had yet to heal, because she said that "the scent of Blankie's blood helps me concentrate"; like seriously, didn't all Salvatore men say that her blood was gross?) flashed with pain. Victoria was getting too tired to truly wince. "I say anything that you don't like and then chomp, chomp, chomp."
Vicki's eyes flashed red for the smallest of moments and the teen gritted her teeth angrily. If Victoria had the strength, she would have rolled her eyes. "I'm trying to protect us, Victoria. You and me!"
"This isn't protection, Vicki!" Victoria snapped. "This is a hostage situation; if protection means that I am safe from the evil man but in danger from you, then I don't want it. This isn't you, Vicki. You are not this paranoid person. You are not an abuser -"
"- I don't abuse you -!"
"- So I'm just letting you drain me of blood oh-so-willingly?" Victoria interrupted. She gave a short, harsh laugh and it died out into a whimper as the movement pulled at her wrists painfully. "You hurt me every single time you walk into the room, Vicki. Either you are damaging my skin or you're tearing my heart apart." Tears sprung up in Victoria's eyes before she could say anything else, though. They fell from her eyes, crested over her cheeks, and slid down the arch of her neck. They were cool to the touch. Victoria hated that. She never wanted to be cold again. "I-I want to go home."
It was an odd sensation, echoing the same words that Vicki had spoken to her all those days ago. But they were true. She wanted to sleep in her own bed, not worried about when Vicki was going to arrive again to suck her blood. She wanted to be able to see her friends and family, people she missed oh-so-desperately.
Victoria missed her mother, Kelly, with her sweet nicknames (like baby girl), kind eyes, and gentle temperament. She missed the way Kelly would purposefully skip meetings with her demon advisor because she was worried about Victoria's well-being. Victoria wondered how many meetings she had missed in this last week during Victoria's absence from town.
Victoria missed Caroline; well, she definitely did miss Caroline, but she especially missed Caroline's hugs. That perky ball of blonde fluff who was a runner-up in the title for Mama Bear of Mystic Falls. She missed the way Caroline confided in her about her feelings, her own image of self-worth. How panicked was she when she heard that Victoria was missing?
She also did miss Bonnie and Elena, the two girls who had accepted her with arms wide open. Victoria hadn't had much opportunities to hang out with them (between Caroline, Kelly, and the Salvatores, she was pretty booked) but she knew that they were both willing to do anything to help her. Even Elena, who sometimes said the wrong thing and cried way too much, was on the same level of Bonnie, who was extremely prejudiced against anything that her family of witches said was bad.
Victoria missed Stefan, the Civil War vampire who was kind and soft and had some fabulous hair. Victoria missed how he could always make her feel safe in any situation with his gentle hands, and she missed the way that he caused that odd warm sensation in her stomach. She missed the way he used to look at her, and the way he used to look at Elena. Oh! And his laugh. Victoria could picture Stefan's smile and laughter perfectly; it was like a choir of angels sang whenever he laughed, which wasn't very often. He should honestly do it more often.
And, she couldn't believe that she was about to think this, but Victoria missed Damon. Desperately. She didn't want to miss him, not at all. He killed Vicki, was the one responsible basically for this entire mess. But then again, Vicki was slowly killing her by refusing to get her actual food and forcing her to drink her blood. So, in the end, they were both on equal standings. And Damon...he just had this glint in his eyes that made you want to run into his arms and run away all at the same time. This infectious sense of humor that Victoria had to constantly be on alert from because she didn't want to end up laughing at the wrong moment.
"Oh no, Blankie, don't cry," Vicki cooed, breaking Victoria out of her line of thought. The young vampiress jumped to her feet and came closer to Victoria. Victoria wanted to shy away, so badly, because she knew what Vicki was about to say. She could quote it in her mind. "Maybe you're hungry. Here, let's feed you."
Vicki bit into her wrist and held up the bleeding appendage towards Victoria's mouth. Victoria's whimpers grew even louder and she closed her eyes, preparing herself for the warm taste of copper.
But just as Vicki's wrist was about to touch Victoria's mouth, a loud thud echoed throughout the mills. It caused both of the girls to freeze; Victoria opened her eyes and saw Vicki staring at her in confusion and fear. Victoria knew that her expression was the direct opposite. For the first time in days, Victoria actually felt it. Hope. Hope that someone was there and that they were coming to rescue her.
So, with what little strength Victoria had left in her aching and weak body, she opened her mouth and screamed, "Help me!"
The moment the words left her mouth, the chains above her snapped. Victoria let out a terrified squeak as she dropped that one little foot to the ground. Her ankles buckled underneath her and her whole body hit the ground in the next moment. She moaned as a dull pain radiated throughout her entire body. The thudding noise from moments before sounded again and Victoria couldn't help the large smile that came to her lips. Her first smile in days. Someone was coming to rescue her. She was going to be safe.
Vicki leapt on her, causing Victoria to thrash. Vicki's hands wrapped around her neck, squeezing down to keep her from moving. Victoria gasped, struggling to breathe. Vicki's eyes flickered and Victoria watched as her pupils dilated just a bit. There was a sparkle in them; an all-too-familiar sparkle. She was frantic and panicked, constantly looking between Victoria and some spot on the far wall.
"Don't make a sound," Vicki hissed, "please, Blankie, you need to be quiet otherwise they are going to find us." She said all of this before she leapt up and disappeared in a flash.
Victoria laid there, panting. She brought up a weak hand and massaged her neck, gulping down what little air she could get passed her throat. She placed her arms underneath her body and pushed. Everything in her screamed to stop, her body just hurt so much, but Victoria pressed on. Once she was sitting upright, she let out a little sigh of relief.
Except there was no sound.
Victoria's eyes widened in disbelief and her hand flashed back up to her throat. It couldn't have worked. Victoria didn't get compelled. It just didn't happen. She tried to say something, anything. Nothing came out. The tears hit her harder.
There was a noise beside her, and suddenly, a hand shot out of nowhere, wrapping itself around Victoria's mouth. Though she knew no sound would come out, Victoria let out a terrified shriek and tried to move away, but her body was not willing to move. Tears streamed down her cheeks as the person wrapped another arm around her waist, bringing the back of her body securely against their chest. Victoria closed her eyes. If they killed her, she was going to be a vampire. Oh please no, she didn't...she couldn't...no. She wouldn't be a vampire.
A rage of energy hit Victoria like a freight train, and she threw her head back. She felt the back of her skull connect with the perpetrator's nose. A loud crack filled the air and she heard the person behind her make a hiss out of pain. But their grip didn't falter. Not even for a moment. Victoria's eyes widened in disbelief and she continued to flail, hoping that if she could just go for long enough, she could make it out of the person's grip.
"Hear my words but not my voice."
Victoria flinched as the person's voice filled the air. It had been spoken so fast that she hadn't had time to really pay attention to what the person's voice sounded like, but the next few words came out in a voice that sounded deep. Too deep for any normal human (or vampire, she guessed).
"Victoria, please, calm down."
Victoria started, feeling terrified that this stranger seemed to know her name. She wished she could scream or cry or say something. Just anything.
"It is Noble."
All the fight left her body and Victoria sagged in the vampire's arms. She was safe. Noble would protect her. Noble always protected her. She let her head drop back against his shoulder and her body seemed to curve naturally, her forehead moving to rest against his neck. Noble removed his hand from her mouth and shifted it so it was resting on her other hip. The vampire moved Victoria so she was resting partially in his lap. He reached one hand up and his fingertips brushed against her lips. She blushed furiously at the seemingly intimate action. She couldn't help but ask, "How did you find me?", her lips scraping against Noble's fingers as she mouthed the words silently.
"I have been searching frantically for you for days, ever since I learned that you and Ms. Donovan had gone missing," Noble replied. Hearing a voice, an actual voice she could pin to Noble, was weird, even though she knew the voice must be modified. It was probably some weird protection quirk he had, in the same way that he had given her a pseudonym instead of his real name. Something to do with protecting her. "I am sorry that I have only found you now."
"Better late than never," Victoria answered in silence.
A deep chuckle ran throughout the room. "I guess that is true, but in this scenario, not favored. I should have prevented Ms. Donovan from even touching you. I have failed you, and for that, I am sorry. Truly, desperately sorry."
Victoria was about to say something along the lines of 'You-didn't-suck-my-blood-so-you're-on-my-cool-list-right-now-stop-feeling-sorry-for-yourself', but she couldn't because she heard the telltale sound of a thump. The same thump that told her Vicki was returning. Oh dear; Vicki would fight Noble in order to keep Victoria in this place. Noble would win, obviously (it was clearly evident that he was the elder vampire) but he could end up hurting Vicki.
She hadn't realized that she had begun to shake until Noble tightened his grip on her. "Victoria, please, be calm. I know you are frightened, but you need to keep your wits for what is about to happen next." She nodded her head frantically. She would do whatever, whatever was needed in order to get out. "You will get up and you will run. You will not stop until you find someone who you know will keep you safe. Then you will heal, you will get better." A warm rush hit Victoria, and her feet began to itch with the need, the urge to get as far away from the logging mills as physically possible. "I will handle Ms. Donovan; she will not find you."
"Please don't hurt her."
"She will stay safe," Noble promised. Victoria nodded and was about to stand up (or at least attempt to) when Noble's arms tightened ever-so-silently. Victoria paused. She didn't look up, knowing that she would be able to see some part of Noble. Where they were seated, everything was complete darkness. Victoria couldn't see his body or face at all, and she knew that there was a reason he kept his identity secret from her, so she tried her best to respect his wishes. "Victoria?"
"Yes?"
"I will make Raphael pay."
"What?" Victoria tried to ask in utter confusion, but Noble released her from his arms and she found herself sprinting towards the nearest exit, in the exact opposite direction from him and Vicki.
A/N: Y'all know how I said that last chapter was my least favorite I've ever written?
Ladies and gentlemen and people in-between, may I present to you, Chapter 19.
I absolutely hate this chapter, with a burning passion. It was a pain to write, I despise how it turned out, and it very well may be the worst chapter I've ever written. However, I wanted so badly to get it out today so I'm just going to go with it. If it's really that bad, I'll try to re-edit it this week (SEE BOTTOM OF A/N FOR A CHAPTER GAMEPLAN: I may actually try rewriting it entirely this week to see if I like it better). Until then, you have this. Remind me never to try writing a new, original chapter during Dress Week and, subsequently, first weekend of shows. It's not worth it.
Happy Halloween! Enjoy trick-or-treating and dressing up in costumes!
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} (3): insert name here XD, sammyleann's dad, TikiKiki, Maistryia
Team Datoria/Viamon {Victoria/Damon} (4): Sciave, Guest, ArganRose, CrystalAris
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!: JRT123, myforeverlove, faultyfairytale, Readermichael, S123456, WickedlyMinx, blackangel365, Assenavira, Mythology216 the Beard King, Gissung
New Favoriters!: ravenwholock, my foreverlove, ChibiSpyStuff, anthony-machin6, blackangel365, Assenavira, Mythology216 the Beard King, castrejonastarte
Welcome to our little group! We're really weird here.
Onto reviews!:
Maistryia: Thank you! That really does mean a lot to me to hear you say sweet things like that about my work. Oh, her meeting with Klaus with be memorable, not as memorable as Elijah's meeting, but definitely pretty decent. Feel free to change your mind at any time, the Shipping Wars votes are not set in stone. He did deserve better; I'm a huge Klaroline shipper, but I can't deny that Steroline gives me all the vibes. I hope you liked this chapter (sorry if it's a little weak).
Lime (Ch. 17): That's totally fine! I'm feeling pretty blah and tired myself, so we're on the same side. Yeah, 19 or 20 seems to be the right age for Kol. Oh, it's going to be a treat. I'm very excited for them as well. Also, totally came up with a wacky new couple, so now we've got 2 couples that have never been in a single scene with each other (I think so, for the second, newer couple) who will end up together. Well, dear Limestone, I've got plenty of more where that came from. Yeah, I work at a froyo shop. So far it was only that one time, so thank goodness she has never come back. Most people are very kind and the rest of the people that day would tell me that I was doing a great job for my first 'official day'.
DBZFAN45: Yay! You got my Carmen Sandiego Easter Egg, whoo! I should honestly do a Platonic Shipping War to see what everyone's favorite duos are (given that we have Toriline {Caroline and Tori}, Stetoria {Stefan and Tori}, Datoria {Damon and Tori}, Stekelly {Stefan and Kelly} and more). No, unfortunately, vampire bites are not insured (they should be, given the town they all live in). Kelly does have some good taste. Thank you! Ok, so Antrakt actually means 'intermission' (or a variation of that word) in Bulgarian. Whenever I do OG chapters, I wanted to add a little spice to the names, so I'm looking up the word 'Intermission' in other languages referenced in the show and using them. So the last OG chapter, Noble's Elixir, had 'intermission' in the title, but in Italian. Antrakt is intermission but Bulgarian. And WOEIVL isn't some sort of spell, it's just the first letters of each word of the title chapter: 'W'here 'O'n 'E'arth 'I's 'V'ictoria 'L'eBlanc? I couldn't write the full sentence in the chapter title box so we abbreviated. 2nd Amendment!: Victoria does share a lot of similarities between Elena and Bonnie; I can see that. She cares greatly about people and she wants to keep them safe, at the risk of her own safety and happiness. Ooooh, she is also like Stefan XD. Really? I guess I did kind of know that (the hero hair being by Damon). Never really thought about its origins XD.
CrystalAris: Don't worry, he's coming (as you've evidently already found out). Great to know someone does hate MacKenzie Vanacore. A lot of people seem to skim over her. Fangirls do run the world, it's true. Really? I see sooooo many Damon/OC stories that it's kind of overwhelming. The main two I always see are Klaus and Damon (meanwhile, I be over here simping for Stefan and Elijah).
Lime (Ch. 18): Oh, it's traumatic. It'll probably be even more traumatic when I remake the chapter for next week's post. Not everyone's transition is going to be rainbow and sunshine, and this chapter definitely showcases that. Zach will definitely be extremely helpful during this story. He plays a very big part in some key moments and situations. If you can figure how to insert yourself into the story, then feel free too. "Mr. Lockwood" was referencing Tyler, sorry if that wasn't clear enough XD. Work did go well, thank you for asking!
LoyalElijahFangirl: Thank you! Damon's mind reminds me of spaghetti. There's a lot of overlap and it's all kind of a jumbled mess and you look at it and just go 'Welp, okay then'. He is; or later on in the series, all you gotta do is mention something about Elena and he'll go running. Same with Klaus and Caroline: K - "I'm not going to any high school party". R - "Caroline will be there". Shows up in a perfectly white suit and looking prim and dapper. I never knew there was a biological aspect to the Ripper-ness. Thanks for letting me know about that. Raphael is a confusing and complex character, and that will definitely come out in later chapters. No prob! I found it interesting when I looked it up too. Those are some very curious observations about Kelly. I won't reveal anything, cuz that's the kind of person I am, but I will give you this little nugget to chew on: Who else do we know was abandoned? What does that tell you? Oh yes, TRAUMA. It'll be an adventure. She will get a break (probably next chapter), and there will be more fluffy moments rather than trauma, but yeah, TRAUMA is the theme of this story. TVD is filled with trauma and they never really do anything about it, and they need to address it way more. Oh that's fine! Hope this chapter helps a little (it's not my best work, but it'll definitely be better when I rewrite it). Thank you!
Marine76: Glad you enjoyed it! Here's another chapter!
AngelColdHeart: Thank you so much!
If you've made it this far, congratulations. Here's the gameplan: Next Sunday (cuz I have two shows on Saturday and there ain't no way I'll be able to post by then), I am going to post a better, revised, more in-depth version of this chapter (unless y'all think that this chapter is good enough as is). After that, I'll get the next chapter for the following Sunday. Hopefully by then, I'll be done with shows so I could get back into a twice a week posting.
Also, would like to mention: 158k+ words, 175 Followers, 128 Favoriters, 146 reviews, and almost 17k+ views. That's amazing! Thank you all so much!
Ok, I think I've talked enough. I hope everyone has a great Halloween. Stay safe and eat a lot of candy.
Stay safe and stay healthy!
BecomingFearless1F