Trigger Warning: mature language
Bad Moon Rising - Part 3
"That bitch is dead," were the first words that Victoria heard when she woke up suddenly in the arms of Damon Salvatore. She grunted at the sudden noise change and shifted in Damon's arms, hiding her face farther away into his stomach. His hands tightened on Victoria's body at her movements, and he whispered quietly to her, "Welcome back, Baby."
"That really sucked," Victoria hissed, still feeling a throbbing pain in her chest where the crossbow bolt had gone into. She reached a hand up and rubbed the spot with a wince. "And you're not going to kill her."
"Watch me," Damon growled, his grip tightening even more on her shoulders.
"You touch her and we will be having a serious discussion, Damon Francesco Salvatore," Victoria spat back, opening her eyes to glare at Damon. She flinched at the sudden change of light and snapped them shut as her head started to ache. "Shit, that hurts."
"Yeah, well, that's what happens when you basically obliterate a room because you get shot in the chest," Damon answered, before he twisted in his position and asked someone, probably Tom or Jenna, "Could one of you guys close the curtains?"
There was a rustling noise, and only after a few more moments did Victoria feel safe enough to crack her eyes open. She still winced, but after a few blinks of her eyes, she was able to get used to the different light change. She pushed herself up slowly, shivering as her chest gave another agonizing pang. "We're gonna need to stop by McDonald's again on the way back. My metabolism will eat my stomach if we don't."
"Yeah, yeah, gotta keep you feed," Damon teased, grabbing her hands and helping her stand up. He brushed off her shoulders, and then looked down at her chest and frowned. "You're not gonna be happy about this, Mama Bear." He flicked her collarbone and Victoria winced as the motion sent another shock of pain through her system. "She punched a hole."
Victoria turned her gaze down to see what Damon was talking about.
There was a perfect puncture in her jacket, the size of the crossbow bolt, which wasn't that big, but still, big enough...
...and she was wearing Zach's jacket.
"Remember what Henri said," Vicki's voice echoed in her head. Victoria had no idea where she was speaking from. There wasn't really a mirror in the little office (or what was left of the office), so she was speaking from somewhere else. "Positivity, Tori."
"Well, that really sucks," Victoria whispered through a throat tight with emotions. She sucked in a sharp breath and released it slowly, closing her eyes as she chanted the word like it was a mantra. Positivity, positivity, positivity. "Let's go see what Alaric's doing."
Damon gave her an odd stare, but Victoria chose to ignore it. Instead, she flipped around and stalked off to the next room, ignoring the mess of a desk she had caused. Picking her way carefully, with everyone else following suit, she walked in to the next room. Alaric was standing menacingly over the office chair, where Vanessa was sitting. Tom was kneeling beside her, his two hands clamped together over a bleeding wound in her shoulder. A bloody crossbow bolt laid on the ground by his feet.
Vanessa hadn't noticed her presence yet, instead frantically saying to Alaric, "Please! I freaked out, okay? Alright, you would have done the same thing. It's not possible! Katherine Pierce can't be alive, Damon and Stefan Salvatore died in 1864, and nobody has seen or heard of Lady Victory since the twenties! Okay? I read Isobel's research!"
"Well, then you should know just how possible this is," Alaric retorted, folding his arms across his chest angrily.
Elena stepped forward, pushing past Victoria to draw Vanessa's attention to her. "I'm Elena Gilbert, Isobel's daughter and a descendant of Katherine Pierce."
"Damon Salvatore, re-living and breathing," Damon introduced himself, stepping up from behind Victoria. He nodded his head towards Tom, still kneeling beside Vanessa. "That's Tom Avery, a paramedic who is going to save your life. And this is Victoria LeBlanc, the woman you just shot. I'd be extra nice to her right now."
Vanessa's face paled even more than it had when she had first seen Victoria now that she saw how very much alive Victoria was. She shook her head frantically, looking as if she had just seen a ghost. "B-But...you died! I saw you die!"
"Yeah, well," Victoria shrugged, giving Vanessa a hard stare. "Us Immortali don't die easily."
"Immortalis?" Vanessa gasped, looking fainter than before. "I-I..." She swallowed heavily. "I-I killed an Immortalis?"
"Look, we need your help, okay?" Elena interrupted, drawing Vanessa's attention back towards her. "We need to see all of Isobel's research, anything related to Mystic Falls."
"And I'm totally going to take that Lady Victory book she has too," Victoria added. She winced as she thought back to the level of destruction she had wreaked upon the office. "Well, what's left of it, anyways."
Vanessa swallowed heavily and then jerked her head once in a nod. She whispered instructions on how to find the box of details that Elena would be wanting, and Jenna (who was still basically in the office) rushed off to find it. Victoria turned to and let the world fall back into her black-and-white world...
...though there was more gray there than there was white.
That didn't bode well for her.
Victoria flicked her fingers and a bolt of white magic (though now a darkened gray) shot out of her fingertips, rushing forward through the air and grabbing onto a book that was still on the shelves. She closed her hand into a fist and whipped her hand back. The book went sailing through the air, and she nimbly caught it before it could pass her. The leather was still bound tightly, and none of the pages looked ruffled at all, which was a good sign.
Victoria twisted the book around so she could look upon the cover. It was a deep blue leather, inlaid with gold leaf and gold lettering.
Lady Victory.
Victoria opened the first page, her fingers tracing the opening page's words.
Lady Victory
An extensive dive into the Weeping Woman from
1491 to 1922
Who changed the world
"Holy shit," Victoria whispered, her fingers curled tightly over the covers of the book. "Holy freaking shit."
Lady Victory.
The woman that everyone kept mistaking Victoria for...
...was close to five hundred years old.
"Holy shit," she whispered again, just for good measure, when Jenna entered back into the main room, a box in her arms.
Jenna snuck past Damon, Elena, and Victoria, moving forward and placing the box of things onto Vanessa's desk. Elena immediately shot out and was by the box's side, Damon turning to look down at Victoria. "You good, Mama Bear?"
"Just peachy," she whispered with her voice crackling. "Just plain peachy."
Vanessa spoke, her voice broken by the whimpers of pain as Tom tried to stabilize her shoulder. "This box checks Katherine's arrival to Mystic Falls in April of 1864."
"Is that all there is about her?" Elena asked, though she did side-eye Victoria at that comment.
Vanessa nodded her head wearily. "All that I'm aware of."
Elena popped the box open, looked inside, and then turned her head and glared at Damon. She grabbed whatever was in the box (which turned out to be a strand of vervain) and passed it over to Vanessa. "Here, take this."
Damon rolled his eyes at Elena's audacity, but moved to step inside of the destroyed office. As he did so, Vanessa and Elena started a whispering conversation, one that was definitely not quiet enough to pass by enhanced hearing.
"Does vervain really work?" Vanessa asked worryingly.
"Nope, not at all," Damon called back from the office, kicking a piece of shrapnel on the floor.
"Can he hear us?"
"No, that would be creepy," Damon cheered, sending Victoria a look that said he was so fed up with those women.
"Can he read minds too?"
"You know, if you want to see me naked, all you have to do is ask," Damon replied.
"Damon!" Victoria scolded. She turned to Vanessa and gave her a frown of apology. "No, he can't read minds. He is very capable of being a first-rate jackass when he wants to be, so for that, I apologize. If you would just excuse me real quick."
Victoria peeled off from the doorway she had been inhabiting and moved so she was standing face-to-face with Damon inside of Isobel's destroyed office. With a harsh whisper, she growled, "Damon, behave yourself."
"That woman sent an arrow into your chest," Damon spat with the same level of intensity as Victoria. He kept his gaze locked with hers as he took a step closer, placing them so they were chest-to-chest, staring up and down at each other. "It punctured your left lung and the left ventricle of your heart. You drowned, Victoria. On land, in a pool of your own blood, terrified because you couldn't get the air you need. So, in short, no, I won't behave myself, because if that woman manages to walk out of here still alive at the end of the day, then it was a fucking miracle."
Positivity, positivity, positivity. "Damon -"
"- Don't 'Damon' me, Baby. It won't work," Damon snarled, twisting his head to glare at Vanessa in the other room. "Tom should just let that bitch bleed out for all I care -"
"- But Damon -"
"- Maybe I can tear her heart out. Haven't had some fresh blood in a while either -"
"- Damon, I need you to stop," Victoria pleaded, slamming her eyes shut. Her hand, the one not holding onto the Lady Victory book, automatically snapped forward, grabbing onto the front of Damon's shirt. Her voice dropped into a whisper and her voice cracked as she added, "P-Please...just stop."
It was like the atmosphere changed immediately. Damon's hands were on her hip and neck, cradling her like she was a precious artifact. "Baby, what's wrong? What happened?"
Victoria swallowed heavily, taking a moment to repeat to herself, Positivity. Positivity. Positivity. "H-Henri says that I am one negative moment away from transitioning into a Negative Immortalis."
There was a brief moment of silence.
Then Damon cursed quietly, "Shit." He cradled Victoria closer, if that was even possible, and dropped his voice so he was matching Victoria's volume. "How bad is it?"
"When I use my powers, you know how everything fades into a black-and-white world -?"
"- Yeah, because your eyes go black-and-white. I'm familiar with the concept -"
"- Well, it's not a black-and-white world anymore," Victoria whispered worriedly. She licked her lips and opened her eyes, turning her head to stare up at Damon. "It's black-and-gray now."
"Fucking hell, Mama Bear," Damon breathed, his voice dropping into a worried and concerned look. "Shit. Are you okay even being here? What can I do to help? Can I even do anything to help -?"
"- Positivity, positivity, positivity," Victoria whispered, interrupting his little rant of worry. "That's the mantra I've been echoing to myself and that's the one we're going to have to keep saying. I need to bring my powers back to neutral. I can't let myself become a Negative Immortalis. There's never been a Negative Immortalis -"
"- Don't worry, Mama Bear. We'll figure something out "
"- What I just mean by all of this is that we just need to not murder people or want to murder people in my direct vicinity, okay?" Victoria interrupted once more. She winced and gave Damon an apologetic smile. "Okay? I know that's asking a lot of you, but I...well, if it wasn't obvious, murder is never positive."
"Depends on the way you look at it," Damon grunted quietly under his breath, before he sighed and nodded his head. "Okay. No murdery tendencies when the Mama Bear is around. I think I can handle that." He leaned forward and pressed a tender kiss to her brow. "How about you stay here and read your book, and I'll help McJudgey with the Katherine research." He raised an eyebrow at her. "Unless there is something that you'd just like to say to help get all of this out of the way real quick?"
Victoria gave Damon a tight-lipped frown. "You know I can't do that, Damon. Spoilers." She shivered and looked over his shoulder in surprise. "Geez, never thought I would say that again. Gosh, when I first got here, I had this whole plan on how I would only say spoilers and would only give out hint, and meanwhile, I've done none of that because I've been too busy dying."
"A discussion for another day," Damon decided. He gave the back of her neck a squeeze and then stepped away, calling out to Elena, "Move it or lose it, McJudgey. We got places to be and things to do."
"Screw you, Damon."
"No thanks, but thanks for the offer," came his sassy reply as he stepped through the doorway from Isobel's office to Vanessa's office.
Victoria found Isobel's office chair, surprisingly intact after all the chaos of the office, and pulled it off to the side, so she was out of view of the doorway. Whatever was in this book, she didn't necessarily need everyone seeing the weird faces she probably would be making.
She curled up on the office chair and flipped to the first page. The header didn't bode well, but the author listed definitely did.
It was one of her ancestors...
..sort-if.
The Sad Tale Of The Weeping Woman
By Gisela Anja Hanz-LeBlanc
Whose voice is that? I think I know.
Its owner is quite sad though.
It really is a tale of woe,
I watch her frown. I cry hello.
She gives her voice a shake,
And sobs until the tears make.
The only other sound's the break,
Of distant waves and birds awake.
The voice is sad, lonely and deep,
But she has promises to keep,
Until then she shall not sleep.
She lies in bed with ducts that weep.
She rises from her bitter bed,
With thoughts of sadness in her head,
She idolizes being dead.
Facing the day with never ending dread.
"Well, that's not morbid at all," Victoria whispered, her fingers trailing the page. Her thumb traced the poem's author's name, and she frowned some more. "I thought Piero was the first LeBlanc..." She then snorted, and then rolled her eyes. "Idiot. There's more than just your family named LeBlanc. She's probably not even related to you." Victoria progressed forward, moving to the next page.
Chapter 1
(Or is this a Prologue? Not sure, TBD)
Lady Victory.
Not much is known about this name other than that this is a name that has been floating around the supernatural community for decades, centuries even (though I have not personally met anyone older than a century who has talked about her tale). She is a rumor, a true mystery that many have tried to uncover but all have failed in their attempts to.
Until me, that is.
It's taken years, hundreds of hours torn from my home life, social life (what little social life I have) and emotional life, for me to come up with a few facts that are, without a doubt, true about Lady Victory.
Fact #1: Lady Victory is real. This may seem like a mute point, and a stupid one to start off with as number one. However, in recent years, many have questioned whether or not Lady Victory is a real person. She is, without a doubt, real. There is too much evidence to dissuade a sound-minded individual that Lady Victory is false.
Fact #2: Lady Victory is a woman. Another factoid that may seem like a mute point, but an important one, nonetheless. In all of the tales about Lady Victory, whether made up or true, she is always a woman, never once portrayed as a man. A feminist, even from the beginning.
Fact #3: Lady Victory never ages. This makes her seem as though she is a tall tale, right? However, there have been countless tales of her throughout the ages that make it impossible for her to not have been there.
The first recorded mention of Lady Victory was back in 1493, by a man named Jacques d'Tourde. He wrote of a bewitching woman who graced the house of the two new Lords in town, a woman who had arrived seemingly unbetrothed to either man and yet, stayed within their villa. Within a week, she and one of the Lords (the eldest, though d'Tourde never mentions what his name was) were betrothed. Something about a hunting incident that did not go according to plan. She only remained there for about a month, alongside her closest friend and confidante, Katerina Petrova*, who was betrothed to the younger Lord, before both women were unfortunately killed in a terrible accident.
*Katerina Petrova: Katherine Pierce's name before she decided to Americanize it when she came over to the states. Be cautious about its use within this book; she doesn't know that I know it and I have strived to make sure she never does know that I know.
The second recorded incident of Lady Victory was in 1919, down in New Orleans, Louisiana. This is the first recorded incident of Lady Victory being in the United States. No one knows much about her time in 1919, or if this tidbit of information was even true. However, many people reported a woman who looked exactly like Lady Victory is described to be in New Orleans around this time, around when there was a hierarchy within the New Orleans' supernatural world.
The next, and perhaps, last solid mention of Lady Victory was in 1922, up in Chicago, Illinois. Again, this report is rather similar to the one made three years prior. Just a glimpse of a woman who could be Lady Victory, but she was spotted frequenting a bar named Gloria's at least once, maybe twice.
Following those three paragraphs were clippings of newspaper articles, some articles that were on paper that had to be older than Victoria was by ten-fold. Her fingers traced the articles, her gaze scanning the headlines with intrigue.
Fiction or Fact: The Weeping Woman?
English Poems About Folklorish, Fictitious Women
Raid on Gloria's Leaves Seven Dead
Victoria flipped the page, her eyes leaping to the top of the page. Her finger followed her eyes and she traced the words as she continued to read them.
Based on the very little evidence I can find on Lady Victory, I have strong reason to believe that she was some sort of supernatural creature. Most of the evidence points to her having magic; around the last time she was seen in England during the 1490s, numerous talltales of redheaded witches sprung up. If she was a witch, then she wasn't a vocal one (and by that, I mean she didn't use her voice to use magic, like most traditional witches do, such as the Bennetts*). I managed to find one account of a myth of a redheaded warrioress who fought against terrors of the night with flowing movements, and from her fingertips, pure night and pure light would emerge. To me, that sounds like styrenes magic*.
However, I also doubt that Lady Victory was merely just a witch.
I believe that Lady Victory was an Immortalis.
Victoria couldn't read any more.
Her fingers were gripping the book so tightly that her knuckles were starting to turn white. She stood up quickly from the office chair and dropped the book onto it. Her feet started to move her, pacing back and forth in a little circle in front of the chair. Her mind was scrambling to think coherent thoughts.
I believe that Lady Victory was an Immortalis.
Victoria yanked her phone out from her pocket and held it up, using it as a little mirror. It wasn't perfect, and the reflection was so dim that it made her squint her eyes a little, but it worked, nonetheless.
"An Immortalis," Vicki breathed, her brow scrunched up in confusion. "B-But...that shouldn't be possible. T-There's no way."
"Octavia was gifted the Immortalis powers in 1775," Victoria whispered hurriedly, her brain swirling as she tried to recall the little information she had read from Octavia's journal (which she definitely needed to read more). "So, if Lady Victory was alive that entire time like Isobel thought she was, there's no way that she could have been the Immortalis. Two Immortali, alive, at the same time? Is that even possible?"
"I have no idea," Vicki answered honestly, shaking her head. She brought a hand up and ran her fingers through her thick curls, shaking her head some more. "But Isobel's journal said styrenes magic. Kelly," Victoria flinched slightly at the mention of her mother's name, and Vicki gave her an apologetic look before continuing, "said that the LeBlancs used styrenes magic. Normal witches tend to avoid that type, don't they?"
"She couldn't have been a LeBlanc witch, because Piero was the first of our line," Victoria countered, biting her lower lip.
"And she couldn't have been a normal witch. Normal witches can't extend their lives nearly five hundred years. Maybe a century or two, but not five!"
"Maybe an Empath?" Victoria suggested. "But they don't really use styrenes magic, do they?"
"They aren't using segen magic either, though," Vicki answered. "That's a possibility. What about a vampire?"
"Not with the magic," Victoria replied, shaking her head in disagreement. "I mean, if she was a Heretic, maybe, but that's not possible. They were started way later than 1493 and in the Pacific Northwest. She's not from there if the first recorded incident with her is from England. Hell, America wasn't even created yet!"
There was a knock at the doorframe to the office and Victoria whipped her head away from her phone and to the destroyed doorway. Jenna was standing there, gesturing for Victoria to head over. The adult-turned-teen slid her phone back into her pocket, snatching up the Lady Victory book before she forgot to grab it. She strode over to Jenna's side immediately and frowned when the adult said, "Damon is about a second away from murdering Elena, so if you could calm him down, that'd be great."
"Damon," Victoria sighed, shaking her head. The vampire lifted his head at hearing his name be called and gave Victoria a pouty look when she gave him a look of disapproval. "We talked about this, Damon. No murdery tendencies."
"She's making it real hard, Mama Bear," Damon grunted, sending Elena a glare. He stepped out of her way, though, and moved around to Vanessa, who was standing and not...bleeding?
What?
Victoria gave Damon a questioning glance and he gave her a single nod, confirming her suspicions immediately. Victoria mouthed, "Thank you" to her friend and he nodded again.
Vanessa seemed to notice Victoria's presence, but did her best not to look at the girl as she came back into the room. Victoria took up her place in between Tom and Jenna as Vanessa started to speak, "Okay, so there's no record of werewolf mythology in Mystic Falls, but here are some records of some of the lesser-known legends. Everything from Scandinavian skin-walkers to the Maréchal de Retz."
Damon snorted, and Victoria gave him another look. He waved her off and just chuckled under his breath, "When you were first reborn as the Immortalis, Lexi was convinced that you were a skinwalker."
"Hehe, nice," Victoria giggled lightly, finding the humor in that.
"What's this one?" Tom asked, reaching forward and gently tapping the article in the open book right in front of Vanessa. "Tont-te...? Met-sii...?"
"Tonartsliitsii Metslii," Vanessa recanted perfectly, nodding her head. "Which roughly translates into the 'Curse of the Sun and the Moon'."
"It's Native American," Alaric stated, though it sounded a bit more like a question than a true statement.
"Aztec," Vanessa confirmed. "It explains one origin of the werewolf curse traced through Virginia. The short story: six hundred years ago, the Aztecs were plagued by werewolves and vampires. They terrorized the countryside, made farming and hunting impossible until an Aztec shaman cursed them, making vampires slaves to the sun and werewolves servants of the moon. As a result, vampires could only prowl at night and werewolves could only turn on a full moon. When the full moon crests in the sky, who's ever unlucky enough to fall under the werewolf curse turns into a wolf."
"Can they control the transformation?" Damon asked.
"If it were a choice, it wouldn't be called a curse," Vanessa grunted in retaliation. "Werewolves will attack humans but instinct and centuries of rivalry have hardwired them to hunt their prey of choice: vampires."
"Well, if werewolves were hunting vampires, I would know about it," Damon snorted, rolling his eyes as he folded his arms across his chest.
"Not if there aren't that many werewolves left alive," Vanessa retorted. "Hundreds of years ago, vampires hunted them almost to extinction."
"Why would they do that?" Tom asked curiously.
"To protect themselves," Victoria murmured, drawing everyone's attention to her. They all gave her confused looks and she had to clarify. "Legend has it that a werewolf bite is fatal to vampires." Her words started to fade out as the words started to swirl in her head.
Her eyes widened in worry as a sudden, forgotten piece of the story clicked back into place, and she rasped, "I'll be back."
She flipped around and marched out of the room, whipping out her phone and immediately dialing Stefan's number. She held it up to her ear as she sprinted out of the room, hurriedly trying to find a very big, very reflective surface. It was a crackshot kind of plan at best, but it was the only plan she had.
Stefan picked up after the second ring. "Hey, Tori. How was the trip? You guys already heading back down?"
"Stefan, I need you to shut up and listen," Victoria interrupted, her head snapping back and forth. "It's crazy, but Wanderer's word, it's all real. Okay, werewolves are a thing, they are really bad. It's a full moon tonight, Mason Lockwood is a werewolf, and werewolf bites can kill vampires. So, I need to know, where are all the vamps?"
"Well, Lexi and Lee are still at their house. Harper stayed with Ms. Gibbons and I took Caroline to the pool..." Stefan said, trailing off at the end of his sentence. "Tori, listen, I gotta go. I'll see you when you get home, okay?"
"Stefan, no, wait, where's Caroline?" Victoria insisted, but she heard the phone click off before Stefan could reply to her. She growled angrily and shoved her phone into her back pocket. "Vicki, where you at?"
"Right here, Tori!" Vicki called out from inside the room to Victoria's immediate right. "Door's unlocked, it's all clear!"
Victoria immediately beelined to said door and opened it up, stepping inside and locking the door behind her, just so no one would be able to interrupt her. It looked like another generic office, one that was almost identical to Vanessa's, baring a few differences.
The biggest one being the floor-to-ceiling mirror against one wall.
"I need to get to Mystic Falls right now, but even running at my top speed, I won't get there for at least forty-five minutes," Victoria stated, running a hand through her hair nervously. "Talk to me. What can I do to get there in time?"
"How much do you remember from the Founders' Day parade, right before the fire?" Vicki asked, standing in an identical outfit to Victoria in the mirror.
Victoria racked her mind for memories from the day she wished she could forget. "I was running to make it to the fire, really falling behind, and then you said to jump through the window of the store. Next thing I know, I'm in front of Grayson's office, which was halfway across town."
"I don't know much about this power," Vicki admitted, folding her arms across her chest nervously. "But...But I think we can try and replicate what we did there, but with this mirror."
"Are you sure you can even get me back to Mystic Falls?" Victoria questioned worryingly. She held up both her hands. "No offense, but I don't want to end up in New Zealand. I don't have a passport here." Her face scrunched up. "Well, at least I don't think I do."
Vicki snapped her fingers, drawing Victoria's attention back onto her. "Focus up, Tori. You and I both know that this is your best chance at getting back over there in the time that you want. So, do you want to give it a shot?"
"We got no other options here!" Victoria sighed, and then she nodded her head. "Okay. Let's do it...how...do we do it?"
"Back up, be able to get a runner's start," Vicki ordered her, and Victoria followed her instructions, moving as far back in the little office as she possibly could. "Remember, think of Mystic Falls. A specific place. Too generic, like just some trees in the woods, and you'll definitely end up somewhere you don't want to be. Be specific, and then just take a leap of faith."
Victoria closed her eyes, picturing the one place in the woods that she knew she would never be able to forget. And then, she sighed. "Bitch, I am not from Assassin's Creed. How long are we gonna drag this into the ground?"
When she opened her eyes, her world was back to the black-and-dark-gray world she had become so accustomed to within the last two months. Instinct drove Victoria to run forward, drove her to throw her arm forward at the mirror. A burst of dark gray magic, magic that had once been such a perfect white, jumped from her fingertips, striking the mirror directly in the middle. The mirror rippled, as if the glass were made of water, and then Victoria jumped into it, tucking her legs in as close to her body as she could.
She hit the mirror...
...and found herself gasping for air, wet as a doornail, dragging herself up onto a semi-sandy shore a moment later.
"Shit," Victoria gasped, not expecting the sudden transition from dry to wet. She coughed, some water somehow getting into her mouth in the unexpected transition. "Shit, shit, shit." She pushed herself up onto her hands and knees, leaning back against her feet to brush her wet hair out of her face. "Holy fucking shit. Damn. Was not expecting that."
"Tori! Are you okay?" Victoria heard Vicki frantically call out from behind her.
Victoria closed her eyes and focused on breathing right, but she did nod and confirm to Vicki. "I'm good. I'm good, just...give me a second. Shit, didn't think that would almost force me to drown."
"I know you thinking of your reality place of peace as your destination," Vicki began, her voice taking on an edge of uncertainty. "But I really would have thought you would have ended up on dry land. You did last time."
"Well, my destination last time didn't happen to be near water, so there's that," Victoria grunted, wiping her eyes with her hands. She shivered and opened her eyes again, her tilted gaze making her stare straight up at the full moon. "Shit, that's not good. Okay, tracking time, Vicki. Haven't had to do this in a long time. We need to find Caroline and Stefan, ASAP."
"Not a lot of shiny, reflective things in the forest, Tori," Vicki warned as Victoria shoved herself to her feet. "Not exactly in my element, you know?"
Victoria just giggled and gave the water behind her (and subsequently, the image of Vicki) a playful wink. "Good thing one of us has enhanced senses."
Victoria turned back and closed her eyes. She drew in a slow breath, then let it out.
She could do this.
She could do this.
She could do this.
She shed the jacket (the jacket given to her by him) and carefully folded it up before placing it down by her ankles. Instinct then moved her to kneel down by the jacket. Victoria pressed her palms flat against the Earth's surface, breathing in deeply and letting it out slowly. She shook herself a little and leaned some of her weight against her palms, closing her eyes again as she did it.
She could do this.
Find Stefan and Caroline.
Find Stefan and Caroline.
FIND STEFAN AND CAROLINE.
Victoria's eyes shot open and she returned to her black-and-white world (still gray though). A pulse of gray energy (was it just lighting or did the magic already seem a little...lighter?) erupted from Victoria's hands, skimming the surface of the ground with herself being the epicenter. Victoria lost sight of it after the magical blast left the meadow's reach, but something else happened.
It was like someone had tapped her on her left hip. A gentle prod against her body, a gentle tugging in her stomach telling her to move, to race away.
There.
Found you.
Victoria was running before her mind could catch up to what her body was doing.
Feet pounding, she raced through the woods, blocking out all outside stimuli that tried to come into her body. Victoria only focused on what her body was telling her.
Forward.
Left.
Up ahead right.
Straighten out.
THERE.
Caroline and Stefan, tangled up in the limbs of a white and grey wolf with glowing yellow eyes.
Mason Lockwood.
"Can't blame a dad for trying."
YOU'RE NOT MY FATHER!
Victoria let out a primal scream as she slid to a stop. She swooped her right arm up, making a scooping motion. A wave of black energy flew from her hand, and it hooked on the underside of the wolf, missing Caroline and Stefan perfectly. The wolf's eyes seemed to widen in shock as it was suddenly vaulted off of Caroline and sent flying, hitting a tree yards away.
Victoria rushed to Caroline and Stefan, just as Stefan grabbed Caroline's wrist and lifted her up. Victoria grabbed both of their shoulders, her gaze not leaving Mason's fallen form as he struggled to get up. "Are you guys okay? He didn't bite you?"
"We're fine," Stefan panted, but his tone sounded confused. "Tori, how the hell did you get here from Duke?"
"Talk later, run now," Victoria ordered, tensing up as Mason started to plant his many paws underneath his body. "You guys need to get out of here, right now."
"We can't just leave you here, Tori!" Caroline protested.
Just then, Mason came lunging back for the trio. Victoria did a quickstep so she was standing in his path, protecting Stefan and Caroline. She threw her arms up, crossing them against her chest as magic danced across her fingers. The shield she had spent so many hours practicing appeared, large and wide enough that Mason ended up ramming into it. Victoria gritted her teeth as she felt the impact against her shoulders and she staggered back a step.
"Get out, now!" Victoria ordered, and she uncrossed her arms and shoved her hands forward. The shield pushed hard against Mason and sent the wolf tumbling backwards. "Get out!"
"Tori, no!" Caroline gasped, but the pounding of footsteps silenced her cries and then, there was just Victoria and Mason.
Just the two of them.
Victoria dropped her hands, dropping the shield, but she kept her powers at the forefront of her consciousness enough that the black-and-white world was still present. It helped her see better in the dark than even her enhanced vision did. "Mason. Stop this. This is ridiculous."
Mason was up on his feet and facing her, growling and his haunches raised high.
Victoria did her best to not look intimidated as she sniffed, "You don't want to hurt me. You didn't mean to at Carol's party, and I know you don't want to do it now."
Mason lowered himself towards the ground, his feet dancing as he took a few steps closer to Victoria. The lips on his snout drew back in a snarl and that was the only warning Victoria got before Mason came leaping towards her.
Victoria threw herself to the side, moving her body into a roll. She hit the ground hard, and she would definitely be feeling that impact in the morning. She pushed herself out of the roll and reached out with her free hand. She made a fisting motion towards Mason, not even bothering to wait to see her magic, black and unfeeling, latched onto him. Victoria just swiveled and then, with her arm, made the hardest throwing motion she had ever made. Mason let out a panicked yelp as her magic proceeded to do her bidding. Mason just went flying past her, through the treeline, and so far away that he eventually tumbled out of Victoria's sight.
Victoria stood still for several moments, just panting as she waited, waiting to see if Mason would come running towards her again.
Nothing, though, happened.
Nothing.
It was safe.
Safe and sound.
Victoria straightened up and let out a sigh of relief, reaching up to run her hand through her hair.
"Tori?"
She stiffened, her hand clutching to her roots as her blood ran cold.
Shit.
Shit.
Shitshitshitshitshitshitshitshitshitshitshit.
Victoria looked over her shoulder, her eyes wide with horror as Tyler Lockwood stepped out from behind a tree. He was looking at her with confusion, awe, and a slight bit of...of fear.
"T-Tyler?" she rasped. "H-How long have you -"
"- What the hell are you?"
A/N: Sorry that this wasn't here yesterday! Long story short: I didn't want to edit this and so it didn't come out on time. Haha.
I'm glad everyone has been enjoying Season 2! Things are starting to progress and next episode is going to have some banging chapters, I can already tell!
New Followers!: ReignleighNyte, xX-Juusan-Xx
New Favoriters!: BIRD0FHERMES
Onto reviews!:
BrookeWorm3: It's not that I enjoy killing Victoria, but I do like to see Henri every once and a while XD. Soon! Happy Thanksgiving to you too!
Child of Dreams: No one really knows what a Negative Immortalis would do, because there has only been a Positive Immortalis, not a Negative one. Also, Lee mentions in Ch69 (Brave New World), in regards to Victoria's powers, "If she had transitioned, I don't know what would have happened. She could have destroyed all of Mystic Falls in her grief if that was what her powers told her to do." Basically, it's just a fear of the unknown that is making everyone assume being a Negative Immortalis would be bad.
DBZFAN45: I was a huge fan of Jason David Frank and so I was devastated (still am) to hear about his passing. All the shoutouts! Pretty sure he was my first celebrity crush. I loved Tommy Oliver (still do). Awww, thank you! Well, Jenna and Kelly had been friends for years, so I think that Jenna would feel pretty betrayed, both by Kelly and herself (herself in the terms that she hadn't thought Kelly capable of doing something like that and she should have recognized the signs). Well, I saw a debate about TVD where someone mentioned that Damon and Stefan only liked Elena initially because she looked like Katherine. If Katherine didn't exist and Elena was the only person who looked like herself, then would they really be interested?
Valen Goncalvez: Thank you so much! I'm so glad that you are enjoying the story this much!
cocobyrd87: Thank you! It makes my heart warm to know you really enjoy this story!
The next chapter should (hopefully) be out on Dec. 5th, which is next Monday, but I haven't finished writing it just yet, so I'm no longer ahead of schedule XD. Here's hoping!
Until next time,
Stay healthy and stay safe!
BecomingFearless1F