Haunted - Part 1

"I don't understand why I have to stay cooped up here," Vicki moaned, folding her arms angrily across her chest. She leaned back on the sofa she was occupying and looked back and forth between Stefan and Damon, who were each occupying their own chair across from her. Damon was ignoring her, favoring the newspaper in his hands more than the baby vampire. "Why can't I just leave?"

Stefan sighed. This whole process was tougher than he had anticipated. When he had gotten that fateful call two weeks ago that Vicki had been found by Damon and Zach, he had been ecstatic. There was no need to be worried for Victoria anymore. They knew where Vicki was and they would be able to contain her. Keep her from harming anyone. Anyone including Victoria. But he did not anticipate how frustrating the young girl would be. This Vicki was different from the human one; both Damon and Victoria had confirmed that in their own ways.

In Victoria's words: "She's more volatile. Her feelings for others have become distorted and she's angrier, more paranoid, frantic, rude."

In Damon's words: "She used to be kind of cool; now she's a bitch."

The differences between the two answers really showcased their personalities well.

"Because you're changing, Vicki, and it's not something you wanna do alone," Stefan reassured her, trying to give her his best meaningful look.

The flapping of Damon's newspaper interrupted him and Stefan looked over to glare at his brother. Damon, who knew full well what he was doing, sniffed haughtily as he folded his newspaper. "There's nothing about that Logan guy I killed in here. Not a single word. Someone's covering it up." His hand moved to grab onto the small metal compass. It was something Stefan had noticed him pick up off of Logan Fell, but he had never thought it was anything major. Just something shiny for the Salvatore to mess around with. Damon did like his shiny things.

"What is that?" Vicki asked, drawing attention to the small compass. Seemed like Damon wasn't the only vampire attracted to shiny things.

"This," Damon stated, emphasizing the first word heavily, "is a very special, very old compass." He looked towards Stefan, ignoring the glare from his younger brother. "What was Logan Fell doing with it? Aren't you the littlest bit curious?"

"Well, if you're worried that somebody's onto you, why don't you just leave town, Damon?" Stefan retorted, raising an eyebrow at his older brother.

Damon scoffed, "I'm not the only vampire in town, Stefan. We should all be worried."

Vicki cleared her throat and Stefan looked back towards her. She curled her legs up against her chest and Stefan was struck by how much of a 'Victoria' move that was. She seemed so small and innocent in that moment, as if she had no idea of the world she was entering into and that terrified her. Well, he guessed that was all true anyways. "Hey...um...I-I'm hungry. Do you have anything to eat?"

"Here," Stefan told her, standing up. He reached past himself to a small table where a little cup of blood was waiting. He grabbed it and walked over to Vicki, kneeling down so he was eye-level with her. He passed her the cup and she grabbed it.

Vicki looked down into the cup and her face scrunched up a little. She took a sip before reeling back, smacking her lips together. "What is it?"

"It's what you're craving."

Damon snorted behind him. "Don't lie to the girl. It's so not what you're craving, but it'll do in a pinch, right, Stef?"

Stefan's hands tightened into fists. He hated that Damon just felt the incessant urge to degrade him in front of a very new vampire. They didn't need Vicki becoming even more reactive then she already was. Look what happened the last time they set her off.

Vicki repeated, "What is it?"

"Yeah, what is it?" Damon mocked from behind Stefan. "Is it skunk? Saint Bernard?" He gasped, and said dramatically, "Bambi?"

"You have to give it a try," Stefan explained to Vicki. By the way Damon was heading, their little truce was going to break soon with Stefan shoving a stick into Damon's chest. So, he did what he did best: he ignored Damon. "And you have to give it a decent try."

"She's new," grumbled Damon. Stefan could hear his chair creak underneath him as the older Salvatore shifted his weight on it. "She needs people blood. She can't sustain on that stuff."

"Yeah, why can't I have people blood?"

It was seriously like living with two Damons. Where was Zach when he needed him?

"Because it's wrong to pray on innocent people," Stefan sighed, reaching up to rub the bridge of his nose wearily. Vampires were pretty much immune to all kinds of sicknesses, illnesses, and any physical pain or trouble. But damnit, these two together were giving Stefan a migraine. "Which you've already done in your short afterlife."

"She was doing it to help me survive, to keep me safe from the bad man!" Vicki insisted, sitting up straighter.

Stefan just about lost it. "No, no, no!" He leaped to his feet and glared at Vicki. "She never once agreed to become your personal blood bag. Don't you get it, Vicki? You're completely new at all of this. There's no guarantee that you can control yourself. Multiple times, Victoria said, you were close to killing her. One more sip, one more gulp, and she would have been gone from this world. Okay? It takes years to learn how to control your senses. You could have killed Victoria, Vicki, and then you would have to carry that with you for the rest of your life, which, if I haven't made that clear, is eternity!"

"Happy place, Stefan," Damon called out from behind him. Stefan closed his eyes and rubbed his hands over his face. He needed a vacation. And some medication. Both. "I mean, I knew all it took to rile you up was putting Victoria in harm's way, but dang, you've got it bad."

"I'm not even going to unpack that right now, Damon, so I suggest you just shut the hell up," Stefan sighed, shaking his head. He looked back towards Vicki, noting she was watching him warily. Well, that is what happens when you blow up on her! "Hey, Vicki, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have exploded on you like that." Vicki looked away, biting her lower lip. Her body was shaking lightly. "Hey, look at me." Vicki turned back to him and Stefan lowered himself again so he was closer to the floor. "We choose our own path. Our values and our actions, they define who we are."

"That's getting a little too deep for me," Damon grunted, rising to his feet. "I am outta here."

Damon crossed across the room, slamming the door shut as he exited the room. Stefan sighed and shook his head. Damon was going to be the death of him. For the second time. Vicki cleared her throat, drawing Stefan's attention back to her. "Can I have some more?"

Victoria took the offered out cup of tea from Zach, nodding her thanks to the vampire as he moved across the room to take a seat on the couch opposite of her. She took a tiny sip of the hot tea, humming. It was rather delicious. While Zach was getting settled, Victoria took that moment to observe the room. Since returning from Vicki's clutches, Victoria had tended to steer clear of this particular living room whenever she was the boarding house (which was often given the time she needed to practice with Stefan). Zach had requested to chat with her while Stefan and Damon handled Vicki's training for the day, so Victoria had followed him into the living room. It wasn't too bad, though. The blood had been cleaned up from the floor and the coffee table had been completely replaced. The only scent of the coppery substance Victoria could smell came from Zach's cup (she had had a feeling he spiked his own tea with some blood for extra flavor and nourishment).

Once Zach was settled, he took a long sip of his tea. He set his cup down on the coffee table in front of him and turned his attention to Victoria. She folded her legs up onto the couch, comfortable in her blue jeans and plain white t-shirt. Victoria knew she was tempting fate by wearing white in a house of vampires, but it was a pretty color and she was feeling daring.

"How are you doing, Victoria?"

Victoria had to resist the urge to sigh. So that was why Zach wanted to talk. He wanted to talk to her about her feelings. "Stefan talked to you, didn't he?"

"It was actually Kelly," Zach replied, taking her words in stride. At Victoria's puzzled look, he chuckled a little. "She stopped by the house the other day when you and Stefan were rehearsing for that dance; asked me to try and get you to talk about how you're feeling about this whole situation. Especially with Vicki 'on the loose'." He did quotation marks around 'on the loose' as both he and Victoria knew exactly where Vicki was.

"I'm fine, Zach."

"And I'm human still," Zach snorted, shaking his head. He leaned back on the couch. "Victoria, I'm not asking you to spill your guts. I just want a more decent answer than 'fine'. You don't need to tell me your whole life story if you don't want to, or every single detail about what happened. But it is not healthy to keep it all bottled up."

Victoria sighed and rubbed her hands down her face. She then threaded her hands into her hair and she leaned forward slightly, resting her elbows on her legs. "It's...ugh, it's just hard."

"How so?"

"T-There are just so many emotions that are swirling inside of me that it's hard to separate them and talk about them," Victoria admitted, licking her lips. She gestured wildly as she continued to speak. "I mean, there are three vampires upstairs! One who has tried to kill me and has saved me, one who has just tried to kill me, and then one who has just saved me. I-I'm...I mean, how the hell am I supposed to truly talk about all of those feelings?"

"Word vomit?" Zach offered, grabbing his tea. He took another sip as he watched the conflict of emotions across Victoria's face. "Victoria, I understand the frustration. So, let's take it one young adult vampire at a time. Oldest to youngest?" Victoria gave a small nod, and Zach continued, "Alright: Damon. That's...quite a package to unfold, but let's start there."

"Damon, someone who is a pain in my ass who straight up murdered someone I cared for after I trusted him to keep them safe, and yet I have never felt more relief in my life than when I saw that it was he who tackled me that day from escaping Vicki," Victoria murmured. She reached forward and grabbed her cup, cradling it in her hands. "I'm angry at him and yet I crave his company." She bit her lower lip; it was too hard to put the rest of her thoughts and feelings towards Damon into words.

Zach seemed to pick up on that, because he moved on. "Alright, that's one Salvatore down; onto the next. How do you feel about Stefan?"

Victoria let out a gentle sigh and smiled. "Stefan makes it very clear whose side he stands for, and that is so nice. He's very kind to me and to my friends, he makes an effort to connect with us, my mom likes him. And yet, recently, I keep getting these weird feelings in my stomach."

"Weird how?"

"Like, something burns in my heart when Stefan talks about Elena and how they're doing, relationship wise," Victoria tried to explain. "It's like the weirdest cases of heartburn I've ever gotten. A-And then, other times, he'll do something, maybe touch my hand or just do that small smile of his, and I get this weird flip-flopping sensation in my stomach. Sort of like I feel nauseous, but not in a bad way? That sounds ridiculous."

Zach cleared his throat and Victoria narrowed her eyes at him. Was he...blushing? "Let's just say that's a conversation for you and your mother to have. You might want to bring it up to her." Victoria would concede for now, but her stomach jumped at his concerning look. Was it something bad? Why wasn't he telling her anything? "And finally, Vicki."

Victoria subtly hid the flinch she did when she heard that name. "I love her to death; well, I guess I did actually. Okay, no death puns. Um...I still care greatly about her, but ever since her transition, she seems like a completely different person. She keeps insisting that someone other than Damon was the one to kill her. When I was with her, she said I was her safety net. That the evil or bad man couldn't hurt her if I was there, because he'd end up hurting me too or something like that. I don't know, it's kind of an entire jumbled mess." She gulped down the rest of her tea, enjoying the way the hot water burned against her throat. "But that's the thing: there's no way a normal human could have gotten past Damon, and even if there was, Vicki wouldn't be so scared of him after she woke up. She'd be, like, ten times stronger than him. And I know all of the vampires in this Mystic Falls area, and not a single one would have killed Vicki. All of you know how much she means to me."

Victoria heard a door slam and she sighed. She set her tea cup down onto the coffee table and rubbed her eyes. "And that would be Elena, about to unintentionally stir shit up with Vicki."

"Do you need to leave?" Zach asked, sitting up a little straighter. Since Vicki had arrived at the boarding house, Victoria had gone out of her way to avoid the young vampiress. Something about 'not tempting fate', which was understandable given the human's treatment during the first week of October. "I can show you the back way out."

"No, there's a conversation I've been needing to have with Elena for a while," Victoria said, shaking her head. "I'll just try and stay out of eyesight of Vicki; hopefully that won't make her pounce." She pushed herself up to her feet and looked towards Zach. She tried her best to express with her eyes how much she appreciated Zach's counselling. "So I expect that we were be continuing our tea time discussion at some other point?"

"Weekly occurrence, then," Zach decided, nodding his head with a small smile. "If you or Stefan need me, I'll be in the library and then the basement. There's something that I want to look into regarding the vervain plants."

Victoria nodded and left with a gentle goodbye. She made her way carefully and slowly into the hallway, where she could see Elena and Stefan standing close together by the staircase. She could barely hear the tail end of their conversation.

"What happens now?" Elena was asking. "Because my brother is out there searching for her with the rest of the town. What do I tell him?"

"I'm working with her," Stefan insisted. His back was to Victoria so she couldn't see exactly what face he was making, but she could remember the brooding, concerned look that was pretty much associated with his character. "But it's gonna take time. She's a very volatile and impulsive personality type, even more so after her transition. She's a drug user. i mean, all that's going to play a part in how she responds to this."

"So, she's a vampire with issues?" Elena scoffed, and when Stefan nodded, she groaned. "What am I supposed to do, then? Because I'm lying to everyone that I care about. What's going to happen to her?"

"I'm going to keep her here with me until I know that she's safe."

"And how's Victoria feeling about all of this?" Elena questioned, folding her arms across her chest. "That you're keeping her kidnapper locked up in this house?"

"Pretty fine, actually," Victoria interrupted, taking that moment to interject herself into the conversation. Stefan and Elena turned to face her and she shrugged lightly at Elena's questioning and disgruntled face. "I know the Salvatore boys will do everything in their power to keep her out of harm's way and to keep her from hurting anyone...well, Zach and Stefan will. Damon's a bit of a wild card."

"Why are you here?" Elena hissed, glancing between Stefan and Victoria. "You should not be here when Vicki's just upstairs! You could get really hurt!"

"Relax, Elena, I know the dangers I am in," Victoria insisted, shaking her head and holding out a hand, as if that could physically stop Elena's rant. "I was spending the afternoon chatting with Zach, who, might I add, is the older vampire when compared to Vicki, so therefore, he is stronger than her. He would have protected me, should anything bad have happened."

Elena huffed, her face scrunching up in disdain, but she didn't say anything else. In fact, the next voice to interject anything was not one of them. It was Vicki, from the staircase. "Blankie?"

Victoria's body froze and it felt like she was in syrup. Vicki's voice, saying that nickname that was so unique to her, sent a rush of panic to Victoria's system. It was like she was on fire and yet frozen in a solid block of ice all at the same time. She could feel cold fingers tracing down her cheeks, wrapping themselves around her neck. Squeezing, roaring pain, whispered promises and pleas for help. Pleas for forgiveness.

"Just drink, Blankie, damn it!"

"Victoria!"

Victoria blinked and her hands latched onto the person in front of her. She had to blink a few more times for extra measure before her brain was able to comprehend that the person in front of her was Zach. His hands were grasped firmly on her upper arms, steadying her body, grounding her. Her hands had jerked forward and grabbed onto the front of his faded dark green Henley. He looked down at her with parental concern and she suddenly realized that she wasn't breathing.

Victoria sucked in a large gasp of air, purposefully exaggerating her breaths so she knew, and everyone else knew, that she was breathing. The rush of air to her system seemed to calm down her rush of adrenaline, and suddenly Victoria's body was shaking from the lack of adrenaline instead of the overabundance. She let go of Zach's shirt with one hand and placed her palm against her forehead. She could already feel a headache about to come on. "Damn."

"Flashback?" Zach asked tentatively, and Victoria nodded. Zach turned around and looked towards his great-uncle and his uncle's girlfriend. "Stefan, get Vicki out of here and upstairs. Now. Elena, run to the kitchen and grab Victoria a glass of water, okay? Glasses should be in the cupboard directly to the right of the sink."

Zach rearranged Victoria's body in his arms so he could gently push Victoria out of the hallway and back into the living room. As they left, Victoria was not deaf to Vicki's protests.

"Stefan, let me go! I have to get to Blankie! Let me go! Blankie!"

She flinched and pressed both hands up against her ears; Victoria knew it wasn't going to help, but it was the thought that counted.

Zach sat her down on the couch just as Elena raced back in with a cup of water. The teenager passed the water to Victoria, who took it with shaky hands. She downed the whole glass of water in seconds before resting the water glass on the coffee table beside her empty tea cup. She shivered, feeling an undeniable chill race through her body.

Zach caught onto it in an instant. "Elena, I need you to sit next to Victoria. Humans run hotter than vampires do, and I haven't had enough caffeine to get rid of my chill. I'm going to grab her a blanket from upstairs." Elena nodded and sat down, but by the time she did that, Zach was back with the blanket. The humans flinched, and Zach winced, whispering a 'sorry' as he unfolded the knitted blanket and wrapped it around Victoria's shoulders.

"T-Thank you," she stuttered, frowning when she heard how much her voice was shaking. "S-Seriously?"

"Seriously what, Tori?" Elena asked. Victoria didn't miss the worried glance she sent towards Zach. "Is something wrong?"

"It's a long story, Elena," Victoria grunted, shaking her head. "Seriously. Ever since I've woken up from the coma, I've just had trauma after trauma. Don't I deserve some fluff?" She threw her hands up in exasperation and plopped her head wearily onto Elena's shoulder. The girl didn't say anything, but wrapped her arm around Victoria comfortingly. "That's nice."

Zach tilted his head slightly, as if he was listening to something, and he shook his head in exasperation. "Stefan's having some problems with Vicki. I'll be right back." He zoomed away before either of the girls could say anything.

Victoria huffed and her face scrunched up. "At least he's getting a hang of his super speed. I was kind of worried about how he'd feel after his transition. That's nice."

Elena didn't say anything, which Victoria deemed as odd. She peered up through her eyelashes towards Elena, who was biting her lower lip. She seemed greatly disturbed. Victoria cursed in her silence. Of course Elena was freaking out. Victoria had been wise to the vampire secret for at least two years. Elena had just learned a month ago. "I'm sorry, I-I shouldn't be talking about this so nonchalantly. This is new to you. I'm sorry."

"Remember when you said you would explain everything, back before you went to the graveyard with Stefan? I think this is the time to do so."

And so she did.

Victoria went through the whole spiel: how she was actually Victoria Vanacore, age twenty-one, from the year 2021 in a world where vampires, werewolves, and witches didn't exist. That Mystic Falls wasn't a real place. How she had lived in California for most of her life before running away after high school to Virginia to try and be her own independent adult. The struggles she had had trying to live by herself thanks to her mother. The night of the car accident, the one that evidently cost Elena the lives of her parents. And it cost Victoria's own life, as she did remember dying and then waking up in the hospital, only to realize what had truly happened. How their entire lives were a TV show.

That was what really tripped Elena up. She seemed to be doing an 'okay' job listening and believing what Victoria was saying (and by 'okay', Victoria would like to clarify that Elena wasn't making any facial movements that would indicate she thought that Victoria belonged in the looney bin). However, the moment that Victoria mentioned they were all in a TV show, Elena lost it. "Excuse me?"

Victoria sighed and tried to be patient with her. She doesn't understand it; well, she doesn't understand it as well as the Salvatore brothers, and evidently Zach, have. "Elena, I wouldn't lie to you. When have I ever lied to you?"

"B-But that's impossible!"

"I literally just told you that I'm a twenty-one year old who's is trapped in a doppelganger version of me who is seventeen in what has to be a different, yet similar world to my own, and I got here because I died drowning from a car accident, and the fact that your life is a TV show is the thing that trips you up?" Victoria asked incredulously, raising an eyebrow. "Seriously?"

"So you just know everything that's ever happened to us?" Elena demanded, jumping to her feet. She started to pace around, her hands moving to grab her arms. It was a self-defense posture, one that Victoria didn't fault the girl for falling into. "And everything that is going to happen to us?"

"No and no," Victoria retorted, shaking her head. She held up her hand in what she hoped Elena would take as a calming motion. "Just take a deep breath, alright? I know certain moments from your past life and I know certain moments from your future. I am not all-knowing. Just more knowing than the average Joe. There are years and gaps in your life that I don't know all the answers to."

That did seem to calm Elena down, and she rubbed her arms in an attempt to comfort herself. "B-But...it just feels like you know all of our secrets."

"It's not as if I can read minds, Elena," Victoria reassured the teenager. "Sure, there will be some things that I will know, probably before you do yourself," such as the moment you start to fall in love with Damon instead of Stefan, "but that doesn't mean I'm just going to go around shouting out that information. That's secret and private to you."

Elena nodded, biting her lower lip. Victoria could see the cogs turning behind her dark eyes as she processed the information. Her eyes widened slightly and Elena murmured, "That's how you knew about Stefan; why you weren't intimidated by him in the kitchen."

"I've known that he's a vampire for years," Victoria explained, leaning back into her blanket and the couch. "He's known that I've known for about a month and a half. Then, of course, that day he learned the truth about me. Only the Salvatores, and now you, really know the truth behind me. The honest to goodness truth."

"So you've just been hiding behind the 'amnesia'; the real reason you don't have memories of us is because you're not from here," Elena concluded. She paused in her pacing and looked towards Victoria with slightly concerned eyes. "But I knew Victoria. I guess, the real Victoria LeBlanc; I was raised with her. So if you came and took her place...where did she go?"

Victoria couldn't help but flinch at that. The 'real Victoria LeBlanc'. Like she was a fake. An imposter. And to be honest, she was. Nothing that she had in her life was real. Kelly wasn't her real mother. Caroline, Bonnie, Vicki, Matt, Jeremy, and Elena weren't her friends. They were all hers. Victoria LeBlanc. Not Victoria Vanacore.

But the Salvatores were. Stefan, Damon, and Zach had never met the 'real' Victoria LeBlanc; they had only met the Victoria LeBlanc that was being played by Victoria Vanacore. They had become hers (though specifically what 'hers' they were, she didn't know. Friends? Frenemies, in the case of Damon?). And Noble and Raphael. Although, it was hard to tell with those two. There seemed to be a connection there that Victoria didn't know about. Something connected her to those two men, Noble more than Raphael.

"I don't know."

There was a knock on the wall of the living room, causing both Victoria and Elena to look away from each other. Zach stood in the doorway, looking awkward. Oh...he must have heard the tail end of our conversation. Well, if that isn't pleasant. He reached up and rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly; it was a similar nervous habit that Stefan had. "Elena, Stefan was requesting that you go up and help him with Vicki. He wanted me to take Victoria home. Vicki's acting out still and we both agree that it's getting too dangerous for her to stick around much longer."

Victoria looked skeptically towards the nearest window. They were all curtained up, not allowing the smallest trace of light through, but Victoria knew it was practically still the afternoon. It was close to being the end of the school day; Victoria hadn't told Kelly that she would be skipping school that afternoon when Stefan had picked her up, so she would be able to convince her that there had been no dance practice after school. Everything would line up good. Victoria glanced back towards Zach. "But Zach, the moment you step into the sun you become a piece of burnt toast. How are you -"

She cut herself off when Zach lifted up a hand to showcase a large, gaudy, blue-stoned ring. She gasped in amazement and Victoria jumped to her feet, rushing over to grab his hand so she could get a closer look at the ring. It was basically identical to the rings that Stefan and Damon constantly wore, but this one had a 'Z' as the initial instead of 'S' or 'D'. "Oh my gosh, Zach, this is beautiful!" She turned his hand over so she could view the ring from all sides. "Where on Earth did you manage to find this? I thought you guys didn't know any witches!"

"We don't," commented Zach, flipping the ring over. "However, I did find this waiting for me as a package on the front porch. Seemed a little skeptical at first, until I saw your name in the written letter that came with the ring. It was from a person known as 'Noble'. He said he wanted to thank me for subconsciously helping him search for 'Ms. Donovan' and for doing everything in my power to keep you safe from harm. He offered this daylight ring as a token of gratitude." He wiggled the hand that held his daylight ring to emphasize his point.

Victoria couldn't help but faintly smile. "Yeah, that's Noble for you. He's rather generous in his gifts." Her hand subconsciously made its way up her throat, to where the pendent for her gorgeous blue necklace laid. She hadn't taken it off in the two weeks since she had gotten it; Noble was right. Victoria did feel safer having more protection against compulsion than what she usually had...

Wait. She didn't have any protection. That was what made her intriguing to Damon in the first place. So how did...

Zach interrupted her thoughts before they could spiral out of control. "We'll take my car. You ready to go, Victoria?"

She physically shook herself out, sending all of her nagging thoughts away. That would be a question she asked the Salvatore boys later. "Yeah, of course! Just let me grab my dance bag."

Victoria placed her hands on her hips and observed her room curiously. Over twenty dance costumes (there were definitely more than twenty, but Victoria got tired and stopped counting after twenty) were strewn across her room; some hung up on hangers, dangling precariously on hooks and dresses, while others were lying on the ground, her bed, a chair, and the door handle. When Zach had dropped her off, Victoria had run to her mother, declaring that she needed to find a costume for her dance that night. Kelly went into the basement (which Victoria never realized they had) and pulled out multiple boxes filled to the brim with gorgeous costumes that Victoria had used throughout the past few years in her dance recitals. She had just gone through the process of trying them all on, seeing which ones fit and which ones didn't. That managed to narrow down three options; all of which were laid on her bed.

It was a hard decision. None of the three were speaking to her; none of them 'fit the vibe', if she were to speak in her modern day language. If only they were combined...

Her phone rang, interrupting her train of thought (the 2009 one, not the 2021 one. Eek, imagine how awkward of a phone call that would have been). Victoria grumbled to herself and didn't look away from the dresses as she answered the phone, "This is Victoria LeBlanc."

"We have a little situation on our hands."

Victoria sighed and shook her head. "Damon, Vicki is fine. She's currently at her house with Matt. You can try and send Stefan to get her back, but I doubt he's going to be able to come in. Vicki doesn't really like the two of you."

"I'm going to be honest, Mama Bear, that was almost scary how well you knew what happened. Are you sure you're not a Seer?"

"Not going to get into it, Damon, I kind of got a situation on my hands too. Maybe not the same level as your situation, but still high," Victoria sniffed, folding her unused arm across her stomach. "Is that all you wanted to call me about?"

"Besides the fact that Vicki could very well come to your house and try to abduct you again? No. No, there is not," Damon drawled.

"I'm not going to let Vicki into our house and I know for sure that neither will Kelly."

"What makes you say that?"

"Kelly, and this is without my saying anything, is under the impression that my abduction had something to do with Vicki, i.e. she was the one to abduct me," Victoria explained, snorting. "Yeah, so the only reason Kelly would ever let Vicki in would be to whoop her ass."

"That woman could do it if she wanted to," Damon admitted freely. Victoria chuckled and rolled her eyes. "So, what are you going to be doing tonight?"

"Trying to see if I am dateless so you can invite yourself along?" Victoria couldn't help but snicker. It seemed to be a running thing between the two of them: becoming each other's dates for events. It was almost like their thing. "You know you can just show up if you want to. You honestly don't look that much older than Stefan, which is odd to say because even Stefan doesn't look seventeen."

"Maybe I will," Damon hummed back in reply. "But this is the place where you're going to be doing the dancey thing, right?"

Victoria rolled her eyes as she moved some of the dresses aside to sit on her bed. "Yes, Damon, I will be doing the dancey thing with Stefan at the Halloween carnival tonight. According to Mrs. Richards, there's supposed to be a floor-level outdoor pavilion set up where we'll be performing. Admission is free."

"Tempting, but I have a date tonight, actually."

"With Mrs. Lockwood, yeah, I know," Victoria said, yawning slightly. Looking at all the dresses and trying to think of something was starting to give her a headache. "And FYI, it's gross that you try and flirt with her. Please, show some decency."

"Is that jealousy I hear, Mama Bear?" Damon gasped. His voice dropped lower and when he spoke again, there was a definitive sultry flare to his tone. "Would you rather I flirt with you?"

"Damon, I am currently trying to figure out which dress I am supposed to wear tonight that will match the imaginary costume in my head when none of the dresses work," Victoria moaned, rubbing her eyes wearily with her hands. "So please, if you have any respect for me whatsoever, leave the flirting or whatever it is you are doing for another day."

There was silence on the other end of the phone, and then, after a short minute, she heard Damon sigh dramatically. "I guess you have swayed my vote, Mama Bear. I shall leave you alone; until later."

"Thank you," Victoria snorted, rolling her eyes again for good measure. She was just about to hang up the phone when she heard Damon call out her nickname again. "Yes, Damon?"

"Wear something red. You look hot in red."

And Damon hung up to Victoria spluttering for a proper response.

A/N: Hoohaa we made it! Sorry about the small delay, I just needed an extra day or so to get enough of this chapter out. It was actually kind of hard to fit Victoria into this first half of the episode in a way that made physical sense (especially with her PTSD involving Vicki and Vicki's odd obsession with her). Thank you for your kind reviews! My show went well and ended great (lost my voice in the process and got sick, but that's cool)!

THE SHIPPING WARS! (feel free to keep on voting; 1 full point for one ship, two half points for two separate ships, more than 2, smaller decimals. Anything that is not a full point will be italicized):

ROMANTIC:

Team Stetoria {Victoria/Stefan} (6): insert name here XD, sammyleann's dad, TikiKiki, Maistryia, Don't-Say-It-Feel-It, another guest, Elyse1821

Team Datoria/Viamon {Victoria/Damon} (5): Sciave, Guest, ArganRose, CrystalAris, Marine76

Team Vilijah {Victoria/Elijah} (13.5): guest, Guest, SoraLover987142, insert name here XD, sammyleann, Orange keys 25, LoyalElijahFangirl, Hinata Megumi, A. G Herz, Aryabloodlust, ferallahey, AngelColdHeart, BlueDragibus, dreamwalkerlisa

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

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

PLATONIC:

Vinn {Victoria/Finn) (.2): LoyalElijahFangirl

Varcel {Victoria/Marcel) (.2): LoyalElijahFangirl

Zinn {Zach/Finn} (.2): LoyalElijahFangirl

Jol {Jenna/Kol} (.7): LoyalElijahFangirl, Lime

Kelas {Silas/Kelly L.} (.2): LoyalElijahFangirl

Kennett {Kol/Bonnie} (.5): Lime

If it so pleases any of you, I have found theme songs for each of the romantic 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!: MysticMoonx, MiaSlytherin, lostdreamxr, shereelouise60, kjl106, XxCece, Jadeamelia, MysticTopaz6293, Koinaka, greyskies19

New Favoriters!: MysticMoonx, Greywolf78, MiaSlytherin, harleybatsy, shereelouise60, XxCece, Jadeamelia, MysticTopaz6293

Onto reviews!:

DBZFAN45: The song is actually "I'm In Love With A Monster" by Fifth Harmony; it was written for Hotel Transylvania 2. Very good song. Oh yeah, Elena probably won't like Stefan being so close to Victoria. While I can't tell you flat out, I can say that Victoria's and Stefan's relationship together will become an issue with Elena at one point. All the adults are slowly becoming therapists: Jenna, Kelly, Zach.

ferallahey: Thank you! That's what I thought too! I honestly don't know why people write bad comments like that. If I read something I don't like, I usually complain about it out loud to my phone and then just move on. Why waste the effort reviewing something I don't like? And oooh, your theories are so nice! And I can say that you're partially right with the blood thing. And yes, Fifth Harmony XD. I have a whole playlist on my phone filled with songs that match certain vibes throughout this story. I got it up until the very end of this story. It's so nice. That is an apt description of Stefan. Just an adorable, idiotic puppy.

Lime (Ch.19): I'm like the Flash; you never know where I'll appear next! It's an interesting couple pairing I hadn't thought of before, but I'm kind of liking it more and more. Yep! It's a really nice place, but it can be kind of stressful (also, it's not fun when you are supposed to be standing all the time). We will be diving into all of the trauma. There are so many moments that just get washed away by TVD and I am not putting up with it; honestly, basically every torture scene with Caroline. She'll still be the same bubbly vampire we all know and love, but she's going to have to deal with her PTSD. Tortured by werewolves, by her father, bitten by Tyler and Klaus, and that's not even all of it. Passive-aggression is still aggression, so I'll take it. Watching Haunted really put into perspective a side of Vicki that I hadn't anticipated; to be honest (and I don't say this often) Vicki was a bitch. Stefan's comments about it being due to her transition helped me access a side to her that we all unfortunately know about.

LoyalElijahFangirl: Don't worry at all! I was in college once and I understand. I don't think that the phone necessarily proves that Noble knows she is from another world; however, it does allude to something else that was impactful in Victoria's life. And yes, I can see how sketchy Noble can be. I can confirm that Raphael does not want Victoria dead; that is not in his plans. Really? That's interesting. I guess I can see that; Raphael is direct in what he wants while Noble seems more wishy-washy (not that much, but more so than Raphael). Kind of like Elena and Katherine, to be honest. Aaaaaand I may have to steal that informants idea from you, cuz that's a really good idea. Oh yes...more sinister things are to come. Mwahaha! Stetoria are a really cute friendship. Very much like Steroline was before the romance (and even after the romance, if we're being honest again). All that sexual tension. Thank you! I'm glad I'm doing Stefan justice in the way I portray him. And your votes have been added to the Platonic list!

Lime (Ch.20 & A/N): Mama Kelly is one of my favorites to write. I wanna be like her when I grow up. Good 'ol Zach, coming in clutch with the therapy. Yeah, right from the get-go everyone was like "Oh my gosh, Noble is Elijah!" and I'm not sure what caused everyone to think that way, but hey, who knows? ;). I have been sleeping as much as I can and trying to drink water (apple juice is a lifesaver during shows, lemme tell ya). I think Jol and Kennett would be two very fun aspects to write about. Hey, you have a favorite original, Key Lime Pie. I'm not judging. My favorite's Elijah.

another guest: Right? There are so little Stefan/OC stories on here (even fewer than Elijah/OC stories, which is crazy because there are so few).

dreamwalkerlisa: Your vote has been added! Glad you like it!

Jamie Gemini: Thank you! Very few (if any fanfictions at all) in this community acknowledge the OC "knowing" that they are in a fanfic world so I decided to spice things up a little.

Elyse1821: Thank you so much! That's so sweet of you! Feel free to ask all the questions you'd like! I can answer as many as I will allow myself too without spoiling the plot :).

Okay, I hope you all enjoy this chapter! Lemme know what you think!

Stay healthy and stay safe!

BecomingFearless1F