Kill or Be Killed - Part 1

FAV SISTA (1):

Remember the plan.

FAV SISTA (2):

xoxo

Jeremy rolled his eyes and scoffed, closing his phone and tossing it onto the countertop in front of him. He continued to scrub at his teeth with his toothbrush, grumbling half-heartedly to himself, "Yeah, I haven't forgotten the plan. Here's a question: when did you get my phone number? Or my phone in general because I certainly didn't put that name as your contact info -"

"- What was that, Jer?" Elena asked, ducking into the bathroom. She reached out and touched a finger tenderly to the flatiron. Seeing that it was heated enough, she grabbed it and brought it up to her head, starting to drag it down across her strands of hair.

"Nothing, Elena," Jeremy grumbled, giving his phone a glare when he knew his sister wasn't paying attention to him. "Just general nonsense from the world." Elena snorted, as if she understood exactly what Jeremy was saying. Trust me, Elena, you don't. Jeremy changed the subject, commenting, "I'm still kind of in disbelief that Tyler Lockwood is a werewolf."

"We're not sure about that yet," Elena argued, sticking her tongue out of the corner of her mouth as she concentrated on getting that one particular strand of hair straight. "The only thing we know for sure is that Mason Lockwood is."

Jeremy made a noise. "When I talked to Victoria, she seemed pretty sure that Tyler was one," Jeremy said, cleaning off his toothbrush in the sink. He grabbed his cup from the counter, gurgled the water in it, and then spat it back out into the sink. When he came back up, he had to duck to get himself clear of Elena's wild straightening iron.

Out of the corner of his eye, Jeremy caught Elena rolling her eyes. "Victoria's not infallible, Jer. She didn't see Zach's death coming, for one. We've got to learn to rely on our own investigations and not on her."

Jeremy tried to not bristle at how callous Elena's words were. Your friend just lost her father, asshole. "It should be easy enough for us to figure it out either way," Jeremy stated.

Elena set her iron down onto the counter and flipped around on Jeremy, a hard look in her eyes. "There is no 'us'. I get that you've been a part of some things up til now, but you're still human, Jer."

So are you, Elena. You aren't that special.

"I don't want you to get hurt."

Do you think I want you to get hurt?

"That means that I don't want you invovled in it."

Jeremy took the barb at skin-level and grabbed a comb that was hidden deep within one of the drawers. He dragged it through his hair a couple of times as he chuckled darkly, "By definition of being in this family and being friends with Victoria, I'm involved."

"This is dangerous, Jeremy," Elena argued, grabbing his elbow and forcibly turning him so he was facing her. "People die and have died. I want you to stay out of it, okay?"

"Alright," Jeremy sighed, holding his hands up in his defense. He tossed the comb back onto the counter, grabbed his phone, and then just scoffed. "Just saying."

He pushed past Elena, exiting into the hallway before he skipped down the stairs. He bounced around to the kitchen, where Jenna was lazily stirring some coffee as she read some random teen magazine that had come for Elena. "Good morning, Jenna."

"Garuh," came Jenna's indistinguishable grunt as she took a sip of her coffee (she wasn't exactly a ray of sunshine and giggles before she had had her morning coffee).

Jeremy opened his phone, placed it onto the island's countertop, and slid it over to Jenna. He grabbed a mug and poured himself some of the leftover coffee as his aunt tiredly pulled herself enough so she could read the text messages. She just yawned, nudging his phone with a tired finger. "She's really high-strung, isn't she?"

"Or detail-oriented," Jeremy replied, sipping his morning joe. "Honestly, after being raised with Victoria and Caroline, this," he pointed at his phone, "is nothing."

Jenna tilted her head, contemplating Jeremy's words for a second, and then she pulled a 'You're right' face before chugging some more of her drink. "What's the gameplan for you today, then?"

"Gonna head to the Grill, get some late breakfast-early lunch," Jeremy explained carefully, very aware of the sensistive ears that had probably just arrived in the floor above him. "I wanna try and find Tyler today. I know he doesn't really have any close friends, and I want to check in on him. See how his dad is doing."

Jenna nodded, her eyes sparkling with recognition at his coded words. "Sounds fun."

"You got a plan for today?" Jeremy asked.

Jenna shook her head. "Just going to go help out with the Historical Society Volunteer Day. Gonna keep an eye on some crazy kids." She stuck her tongue out playfully at Jeremy and he swatted her arm. "Keep yourself safe, okay?"

"I will," Jeremy promised. He offered out his mug and clinked it against Jenna's. "For the ones we love -"

"- We do stupid shit," Jenna finished, completing the little saying that the two of them had come up with the other day.

The day when you-know-who had requested for their help.

And no, it was not Voldemort.

This person was at least a little prettier than Voldemort.

Victoria was woken up that morning to the feeling of little kisses being peppered across her cheek, ear, hairline, and neck. Victoria sighed and just snuggled deeper into her covers, giggling when the kisser reached a particularly ticklish point on her neck. Sleepily, she mumbled, half muffled by her giant comforters, "How did you sneak in?"

"The door," Damon's velvety voice cooed, his breath hot against her ear. "You are notorious for sleeping in when intruders sneak into your bed."

Victoria couldn't argue with him on that one. "It's becoming a problem, isn't it?"

"Well, this time, I'm not going to complain about it," Damon chuckled, pressing a tender kiss against the shell of her ear. Victoria suppressed the shudders and shivers that threatened to come out at such a tender act. "Did you sleep well?"

"Well, considering that I didn't hear you come in last night and I distinctly remember saying goodnight to you at my door, I did," Victoria sniffed. She rolled over and gave Damon a toothy grin. "Good morning."

"Good morning, Baby," Damon purred. He dipped his face down and pressed a kiss against Victoria's lips, drawing out the kiss for as long as he could before he pulled back and gave a Cheshire Cat-like grin. "I will never get tired of that."

"I would hope not," Victoria grumbled sleepily. "We are both immortal, so if this continues -"

Damon interrupted her by wrapping his arms around Victoria's torso and yanking her close, pressing their two bodies against each other tightly (her clothed chest against his very naked one). "If I have any say in this, it will."

"Damon -"

"- Baby, don't 'Damon' me right now," Damon groaned, dropping his head so their foreheads could touch.

"Remember what I said yesterday," Victoria sighed, reaching up with her free hand to place it against Damon's cheek. Her thumb stroked his cheekbone back and forth as she continued, "I'm going to be in this for as long as I can but..." She swallowed heavily. "Everything still stings. Badly. I have major issues that I need to work out, and with those and the sting in my heart, it...it might be too much -"

"- That's enough pessimism for one morning, thank you very much," Damon interrupted, plopping another kiss onto her forehead. Victoria sighed, but allowed Damon to change the subject. It was a subject the two would need to have a serious conversation about, and soon. "Now, believe it or not, I did not just come up here to bother you with kisses -"

"- No, really?" Victoria pretended to gasp, before Damon covered her mouth up with his hand.

She gave him a glare and he just snickered at her.

"No, really," Damon continued, pretedning as though Victoria had never interrupted him in the first place. "I actually came up here because you got some visitors waiting for your lovely presence downstairs. They're here to pick you up to go help with the Volunteer Day that Carol's holding."

"Oh, yeah," Victoria said once she had managed to wrangle Damon's hand off of her mouth. She yawned. "Tyler was telling me about that on our way to Jenna's barbeque yesterday. It's supposed to be his dad's first day back, right? Not as full mayor because he's still recovering, but as co-mayor with Carol."

"Yep," Damon nodded, popping the 'p'. "Now, come, my sweet little Mama Bear, before the animals downstairs make a mess of everything."

Victoria made a little groan of anguish, but then she started to sit herself up, pushing the covers off of her legs as she asked, "What kind of animals are we talking about?"

"Well, if I'm remembering that titles correctly, I believe that they have classified themselves as a cougar, a beaver, and an elephant -"

Victoria was out of the room in a dash before Damon could even finish, running down the hallway, then the stairs, and careening into the living room. And there, the girls sitting on the couch, and the guy walking around with a cup of warm blood (or so it smelled like) in his hands, was Lexi, Lee, and Amber.

"Oh my gosh!" Victoria cheered as she launched herself into Lee's arms. His vampire reflexes were on point because he was able to easily catch Victoria in his arms without spilling a single drop of his drink. He even threw in a swirl of the two of them just for good measure. Victoria bounced out of his arms and grabbed Lexi and Amber's hands, giving them little squeezes because hugs would be too tough with them on the couch. "Lexi! Lee! Amber! It's so good to see you guys. I felt like I haven't seen any of you in such a long time."

"Careful there, Vee-Bee," Lexi teased, reaching out to poke her knee. "You saw us at the barbeque."

"For the brief glimmer of time before Damon stole her away to go and make-out," Lee grumbled under his breath, rolling his eyes and taking a sip of his drink. Victoria's cheeks erupted into angry red blushes at the mere thought of how long she and Damon were...away. Lee brought her out of her...special thoughts...by tapping his shoulder against hers. "How are you doing, Sugar?"

"Much better," Victoria answered honestly. "You guys heard about the day trip Elena, Damon, Tom, me, Jenna, and Alaric took to Duke University the other day?" They all nodded. "I've been trying to keep up the positivity since then. It's not easy, but I'm doing better."

"That's good to hear," Lee stated. He lifted his cup a little. "Sorry we've been so MIA recently."

"Don't worry about it at all," Victoria reprimanded him, reaching out to gently squeeze his arm. "None of us were in the right mental state to really be around each other."

"Glad to see you are finally taking my words to heart, Red," a Stefan-like voice chuckled, but Victoria, by now, was able to tell the distinct difference between the two. She turned around and grinned cheekily towards Tom, who was standing in the entryway to the front hall, hands planted firmly on his hips. His eyes sparkled as he continued, "It makes me feel good to know that you're doing better."

"And it's all thanks to you," Victoria teased. "Thank you for your kind words..." She trailed off when her eyes caught on to the stuffed duffle bags and singular suitcase surrounding Tom's feet. Her heart dropped into her stomach, and she felt a chill race up her spine as she turned to Tom with a devastated look on her face. "You're leaving?" She couldn't help the way that her voice broke pathetically.

Tom's expression turned tender and he gently walked into the living room, approaching Victoria slowly. "The workshop ended yesterday. It was only a handful of days long. My partner and I need to get back on the road; me to Georgia and her to South Carolina. We were supposed to be leaving yesterday, but I managed to convince her to wait until this morning since we would've gotten back early this morning anyways."

It was then that Damon appeared in the hallway behind Tom, a unfamiliar black backpack in his hands. Victoria's head whipped to face him in disbelief. "Did you know about this?"

Damon took her accusing tone in stride, bless him, and just passed the backpack in his hands off to Tom, who took it with a nod. "He told me last night after you went to sleep. I figured after you had a good night's rest would be a better time to tell you rather than waking you up again."

Victoria had the decency, at least, to wait until Tom had his backpack on and was turned to face her again before she launched herself at him, wrapping her arms tightly around his neck. Tom took the leaping hug in stride, wrapping his arms tightly around Victoria's waist in return. He let out a little sigh. "I'm gonna miss you, Red; even though one week in this small town has given me enough adventures to last for a lifetime." He twisted his head and gave her temple a reassuring kiss before he stepped back. He cupped her face with his hands like somebody would a cute puppy. Victoria automatically moved her hands up to grab his wrists. "You gotta behave for me while I'm gone, yeah? Remember your mantra and be good."

"Excuse you, I'm always fucking well-behaved," Victoria retorted, though her voice was starting to wobble as she felt tears prick at the edges of her eyes.

Tom just gave her an exasperated look as he mused, "Dang, Red. You kiss Damon with that mouth?"

"Does everybody know about that?" Victoria moaned, blushing heavily as Damon stepped beside her, wrapping his arm around her shoulders as he stated at the same exact time, "Hell yeah, she does." Damon punctuated his sentence by planting a wet, sloppy kiss against her hair.

"Down, boy," Tom chuckled, giving Damon a look. Turning his attention back to Victoria once more, he just grinned and his eyes sparkled. "Be awesome, Red. Make me proud. Oh, and say bye to you-know-who for me if you happen to spot her."

"Something in me tells me that you'll see her before I do," Victoria teased, reveling in the blush that appeared on sweet Tom's cheeks. "Are you roadtripping down?"

"I roadtripped up, so yeah," Tom explained.

"And I'm giving him a ride to the hospital, so everybody needs to line up and say their goodbyes to Thomas before we leave," Damon announced, waving his hand around lazily. He gently punched Tom in the shoulder (though how gently, Victoria wasn't sure, as Tom still winced anyways). "This is Stefan and Elena's goodbye. They're at her house, I think, and won't see you before you go."

"Take care then, Brother," Tom just laughed.

Amber simply gave Tom a wave (the two hadn't really had a chance to connect during his stay up with them). Lexi rose from the couch and sauntered over to Tom, pulling him in for a close hug. She whispered into his ear, "Take care of yourself, Tom. If you need us, we'll come."

"Good to know," Tom told her, giving her a squeeze. "Don't know how much trouble little old Georgia will have for me."

"Don't jinx yourself there, Tommy," Lee snorted as he approached from behind Lexi. His eyes sparkled like Tom's did, though it was a sadder sparkle than Tom's were. "Nondenominational."

Tom's sparkle matched up with Lee's. "Baptist."

"Next time you come up to Mystic Falls, I'll have to take you down to this little church on the corner of the main square," Lee said, taking a sip of his drink. "Best services I've been to in a hundred years."

"I'll take you up on that offer," Tom snickered. "I don't really have family back in Georgia, so I will be popping down here for birthdays and holidays. I want a plate setting for Thanksgiving."

"I doubt that Ms. Gibbons would give you any less," Lexi giggled.

"Ugh, that's enough sentimentality for today," Damon groaned, falling back on his pretense to be allergic to sentiment (which Victoria knew, by then, was an absolute lie). "Come along, Thomas. We need to try and beat that bitch Vanessa to the hospital, out of pure spite." He bent over and grabbed the leftover bags that Tom hadn't grabbed and started to make his way to the front door.

"Vanessa...?" Victoria asked in confusion, her voice trailing off. Why would Isobel's assistant be meeting them at the hospital...?

"Not that one!" Damon called out before he and Tom walked out of the house.

Oh.

Well then.

That was a relief, at least.

"This is all part of the historical society, continuing efforts to give back to the community," Carol announced, speaking to all of the volunteers. Victoria was standing at the back of the group, Lexi on her right and Stefan on her left. She, Lexi, Amber, and Lee had all bumped into him while he and Elena were pretending to be "fighting", if Victoria could recall the plotline correctly (the two of them broke up and got back together so many times that it was hard to keep all those storylines straight). "Thanks is to be given to the generous donation from the Fell family. We are now standing on the site of our newest public park. Thank you to everyone who has shown up today to lend a helping hand. Thank you all!"

Everyone broke out into general, pleasant claps, Victoria following along with the crowd. Once everyone was done celebrating, the crowd began to disperse. Lexi, Amber, and Lee all headed in one direction, towards the covered picnic area, but Victoria stayed put to stick around Stefan. She knocked her shoulder against his, drawing his attention down to her. "Hey. You doing okay?"

A random emotion flashed past the depths of Stefan's eyes, but it was gone before Victoria could clearly pinpoint what it was. He just gave Victoria a tight smile and murmured, "I'm fine, Tori. Thanks for checking up on me."

"Of course," Victoria told him honestly. "I know we haven't had time recently to talk, with everything that's happened. After this, maybe want to get some coffee?"

"Sounds like a plan," Stefan began. He opened his mouth to say something else, but his eyes moved past Victoria to someone behind her, and he closed his mouth. His lips pressed into a firm line, and Victoria couldn't help but comment with a sigh, "I recognize that look."

"It is one I, unfortunately, have to wear a lot," Stefan grunted, not taking his eyes off of the figure behind her. "Mind doing some damage control with me?"

Victoria could read between the lines, and her heart sunk as she sighed once more. "Damon did it, didn't he? I really thought that us being...together yesterday...would have stopped him from antagonizing Mason."

"Welp, unfortunately not," Stefan replied, grabbing Victoria's arm.

He gently pulled her along through the crowd of helpers. They moved out and away from the park, heading closer to the parking lot where a multitude of cars were parked (most of them haphazardly). Mason Lockwood himself was standing at the back of a car, the trunk open and boxes filled to the brim. But the car itself was familiar.

It was her car.

Kelly's car.

Victoria subconsciously opened her fingers and slid her hand down to grab Stefan's. Stefan, bless his soul, just interlaced their fingers, like a champ, and gave her hand a reassuring squeeze before they caught up to Mason. The werewolf had been taking one of the boxes filled with random items out of the trunk when he spotted the two of them out of the corner of his eye. Mason straightened up, setting the box down back into the trunk as Stefan and Victoria came to a halt in front of him. "Hey, Victoria. Stefan, right?" He then looked towards Victoria, talking to her as if she was a close friend. "The other Salvatore?"

"The nice one," Stefan offered up, and Victoria resisted the urge to roll her eyes. Seriously, Stefan and Damon were both equal amounts of nice. Damon was just nice to the people he cared about. Once somebody broke through that wall, he was basically Stefan, except more willing to kill people, wearing more leather jackets and a lot more black to the aesthetic. "The one offering an apology?"

Mason glanced at Victoria, momentarily studying her for a second, before he looked back towards Stefan and just stated, "Not interested."

"Look, Damon acted impulsively," Victoria tried to intervene, hoping that her "connection" with Mason would help Stefan, even if it was just a little bit.

"You think?" Mason snorted, raising an eyebrow in question.

Welp.

That didn't seem to work at all.

"IF you and Damon keep at each other's throats, somebody innocent is going to get hurt and none of us want that," Stefan pleaded. "You have family here," at this, Mason glanced so quickly at Victoria that she thought for a moment that she had imagined it, "so I can't imagine that you'd want that either. So, what do you say we just quit the whole alpha male fighting thing and call a truce?"

Mason then clenched his hands into fists and there was a faint glow of yellow in his eyes; not enough that it was really visible to the naked eye, but enough to show to any supernatural what kind of being he was. He took a step forward, and Stefan stood tall, though Victoria could feel his hand squeeze hers tighter. "I made that same offer to your brother. He turned it down by stabbing my hand with a knife."

"Damn it, Damon," Victoria just grunted to herself. She would need to have a talk with him later about stabbing her "stepfather".

"He made a mistake -" Stefan tried again.

"- He insisted that it was for the betterment of the world after I almost killed his 'Mama Bear', whoever the hell that is -"

"- I'm here to make sure that neither one of you make another mistake -"

"- Look here, Stefan Salvatore," Mason growled, taking a step forward again. He was almost nose-to-nose with Stefan by now. "He took the one thing that my girlfriend cares about more than anything else in the whole world. So, you need to tell your brother to watch his back, because the moment he turns it, I will take him out."

Mason moved to stalk off, but Victoria found her hand lashing out, grabbing onto Mason's arm faster than he could blink. Mason stopped moving the instant that Victoria grabbed him, though he didn't look down at her. She stated hurriedly, "Damon only has to worry about that particular skillset of yours during a full moon, which just happened nights ago. You're not as strong as Damon or Stefan, and you are sure as hell not as strong as me during either point. Am I right? Don't answer that; I know I am. If you were strong enough, you would have killed Damon by now. Now, please keep in mind in this situation, there is only one of you. Two, if you managed to get Kelly to fight with you. There are three of us. Me, Stefan, and Damon." Victoria purposefully left out all the other supernatural beings who would be on her side, not knowing if Mason knew about them just yet. Better to keep the ace up my sleeve. "I think you're the one that needs to watch his back. So, let's do a truce. I will keep Damon from lashing out, and you keep your hands to yourself when it comes to either Salvatore. Capiche?"

Mason was silent for several moments. Victoria could feel a droplet of sweat fall down from the back of her neck as she waited to see what Mason would say.

Please don't fight it.

Please don't fight it.

Mason took a deep breath, held it for a moment, and then let it out, turning his whole body to face Stefan (Victoria dropped her hand from Mason's arm when she felt him start to move). Mason's voice was low and sharp as he growled, "If he comes at me -"

"- He won't," Stefan promised.

The two men shook hands, and Mason moved back to the box he had had in his hands before Victoria and Stefan arrived. He paused again and then glanced over his shoulder, towards Victoria. "There's a box for you in the passenger seat." There was a quick silence and then he added, "She isn't here; caught a cold on her way home from the barbeque. Been sick in bed all day."

Subconsciously, Victoria felt her body shiver in worry and she found herself asking, "Is she okay? Does she need any hot chocolate or -"

A warm smile spread over Mason's face, causing Victoria to stop talk as he just shook his head. "She's okay, Victoria. Just a little fever. She'll bounce back before you know it. I'll...give her your regards and warm wishes."

Mason stepped back away from the trunk, popping the box on his hip as he slammed the trunk door shut. He gave Stefan and Victoria each a nod before moving to find his brother and his sister-in-law. Guess I understand now why Tyler kept calling me Cuz and why Carol says she considers me a niece.

"Do you miss her?"

Victoria blinked back in surprise and turned her head towards Stefan. He wasn't looking at her, but instead still watching as Mason walked away. His words, though, were addressed to her. "Do I miss who?"

"Kelly. Do you miss her? Miss being able to sleep in your own bed?"

Victoria bit her lower lip and turned to watch Mason walk away too. "I...I-I don't know. She's my mom, Stefan. She was there for me the moment that I woke up in this story and she's saved my life a bunch of times." She took in a shaky breath and let it out. "I-It hurts. That's all."

"She killed -"

"- I know who she killed Stefan," Victoria growled, adding a sharpness to her voice to get Stefan from saying his name. "Hell, half this town is prejudice one way or the other when it comes to the stupidest topics." She took a deep breath and ran her hands over her face. "You know what? I will deal with this later. I'm going to grab this box and take it to Lee's SUV, okay?"

"Okay," Stefan agreed, though he didn't seem to happy about it.

Victoria ignored his tone and marched around to the far side of the car. She had just reached the passenger side, her hand grabbing the handle of the unlocked car door, when she heard Damon come up to a stop behind Stefan.

"What are you doing?" she heard Damon question Stefan. Victoria leaned a little and peered through the tinted windows. Damon was following Stefan's line of sight to where he was looking at Mason.

"Negotiating peace on your behalf."

"I don't want peace."

"Consider it opposite day."

"Stefan, please tell me you don't seriously think a handshake just solved our problems."

Stefan growled back in return, "NO, actually, I think that the first chance Mason Lockwood gets, he's gonna drive a stake through your heart and then through mine, all because you took it upon yourself to try and kill him. So, thank you, because we don't have enough problems."

"He causes Victoria more emotional distress every time she is around him!" Damon hissed. Through his anger, he must have not noticed that Victoria was just on the other side of the car. She ducked, not wanting him to peer through the windows and see her unintentionally spying on his conversation with Stefan. "He acts like he is her father every chance he gets. he is not her father! Zach -" Damon cut himself off, and Victoria swallowed heavily. When he started back up again, he was noticeably less angry and more sad, "- Zach was her father. And I won't...no, I refuse to allow anyone to take that away from her, and especially from him."

The sound of heavy footfalls led away from the car, and Victoria counted up to sixty before she allowed herself to stand back up. Stefan and Damon were nowhere to be seen and for some reason, that both calmed and annoyed her. She shook herself out, trying to shake off all of her emotions. She didn't need that for whatever she was going to find in the front seat of her mother's car.

Victoria popped open the side car's door, glancing down at the box that was sitting there. It was a standard shipping box from Home Depot (was there a Home Depot in Mystic Falls? She didn't remember if there was, but then again, she hadn't really had the time to go exploring through the not-so-small-small town). It was a large box, and it barely fit in the front seat (if Sheriff Liz saw this, she probably would have pulled Mason over). It wasn't taped close, just that fancy technique of folding the top lids that kept the box closed. Victoria gingerly opened it up, taking a peek at the contents inside.

Inside was something that Victoria hadn't expected to see.

Clothes.

Dresses, shirts, pants (including a few unmentionable clothing items that were for females).

The kicker to it all?

Victoria owned every single article of clothing that was in the box.

On the top, she recognized the dress that she had worn to the bonfire on the first Friday night of the school year, the dress she had worn to the Founder's Ball with Damon. Her Halloween vampiress dress and the body chains that had gone along with it were there too. Her dress from Miss Mystic Falls and the dress that she had borrowed from Lexi for Stefan's 162nd birthday. There were some of her favorite shoes, including her wedges and heels she had worn with every single dress. There was also that one pair of jeans that she always thought made her butt look fantastic. Socks, sweatshirts, and t-shirts she had either stolen from the guys of her group or received from them for Christmas (such as those fuzzy socks from Lee that she loved).

On top of it all was a thick piece of paper, folded many times so it would fit in with the filled-to-the-brim box. Victoria reached out and snatched up the paper, her fingers shaking as she clenched onto it. She stepped out of the way of the passenger door and shut it, before moving to open the back seat. Once that door was open, Victoria slipped inside and shut the door. Victoria took a deep breath before she unfolded the paper. Her eyes immediately latched onto the top sentence.

Hi.

I...

I really don't know what I'm supposed to write here.

Never in a million years did I think that this would happen to the two of us.

Sure, I didn't think that everything was going to be sunshine and roses (it hardly ever was between the two of us as you grew; you were a very opinionated baby girl) but I never thought that my only form of communication to you would be reduced to a letter passed on through my boyfriend, with no certainty that you will read it.

I hope you read it.

Though, I'll be surprised if you actually continue reading this once you've realized who the author of this letter actually is. I feel as though I wouldn't continue if I was in your shoes right now.

But you are owed explanations.

It's the least I can do.

First off, as for the barbeque and my...explosive...reaction towards your biological mother, MacKenzie Vanacore, I apologize for my actions. I should have been on better behavior, but never in a million years (to use that phrase more than once) did I think that I would ever be confronting her. When you've been in a position such as mine, Baby Girl, you tend to come up with backstories, filling in the details when you don't have facts to present. I came up with this whole idea and world of what Mrs. Vanacore would be like in my head, something that would justify me finding you on the side of the road and you becoming my own daughter. I painted her as a monster, so to see her acting like a saint for you was too much for me to handle (it also didn't help that I was feeling woozy from the fever that was already setting in). I'm sorry I exploded in a rage of emotions.

Second off, I know about Zach's will. Believe it or not, I heard it through the supernatural grapevine (Jeanine actually came by shortly after the ceremony to tell me. Witches like to gossip, apparently). His words were...not wrong, but yet, they weren't right either. I feel as though I need to justify my actions; although, I don't think anything I say will change your mind about what happened.

And it shouldn't.

What I did to you was horrendous.

But nonetheless, here is my side of the story:

It is tradition within the LeBlanc family to not tell the next White Witch, the descendant in your line, of what happens to them on their seventeenth birthday. That is when this world's being will inhabit the Wandering Spirit, regardless of how old they were when they died in the previous world (the reason why I was twenty-three when I passed and you were twenty-one, and yet, we both came here when we were seventeen).

You might think that this is unfair. How can you expect a person to just willy-nilly go through the motions and create an everlasting bond with a Wandering Spirit and merge bodies and consciousnesses?

How can you expect a person to know and understand all of this and still say yes?

My momma had told me stories of being a LeBlanc witch when I was younger (prompting me to tell everyone and brag about it when I was seven years old) but she never told me about being a Wanderer.

And I, to this day, am so thankful for that.

When I transferred, I had one of the smoothest acceptances of Wandering Spirits that I have ever heard about.

I just wanted to do the same with you, Victoria. I swear. That's all I wanted. I wanted you to connect with the you that is here now as smoothly as I had.

What Zach did was out of line.

I understand that he, like myself, just wanted what was best for you, but he had no right. He was not a LeBlanc nor a Wanderer, so he didn't experience what I had to experience. I heard the stories from my mother. It was not a pleasant time.

Did you know that you confronted me about Zach that night?

You barged into the house, tears in your eyes and fire swirling deep in your stomach. You swore that you would have your revenge on me, anyway you could think of.

And then, I guess, you did.

I don't know how you ended up on the Wickery Bridge.

I swear, when I left you, you were sulking in your room, holding onto your pillow and that peacock stuffed animal you had gotten from Lee for your birthday when you were younger.

All I know is that that night, I was woken up by a horrifying phone call that simply stated, "Ms. LeBlanc, your daughter is here. It doesn't look good."

They predicted that you wouldn't live through the night.

Then, four months later, we passed your birthday and you woke up a brand new person a month later.

I understand that you can't forgive me.

I don't want you to.

My actions that night and every night that followed, I'm not proud of.

However, I do hope that one day, we can move back to a place where we can stand being in the same room as the other for more then three tense filled minutes.

I love you, Baby Girl.

I'll see you again.

Sometime.

Love, Kelly.

Victoria didn't realize she was crying until the tears from her eyes started to stain the paper.

A/N: I LIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIVE!

Hey y'all. I'm so sorry that I haven't posted in like, almost a month. My bad. My new year has been busy and kind of crummy, to be honest. I got hives from some allergic reaction the first week, had auditions that went horribly, got ensemble (though my baby bro got the main guy in our show, which I am excited about!), then proceeded to be sick for two weeks (I still am). Soooooo yeah xD. Also, I hate this chapter. Not so much now, but I had had such an issue starting this. This is the rewritten version of that chapter, and it's a little better. I like it a lot more.

New Followers!: LostTribe777, thepandemonium, readingmaniac88, DTSlade, livbethlv13579, LadyRafaela

New Favoriters!: Fated Faerie, 95myra, lizbethlv13579, LadyRafaela, Entitea

Onto reviews!:

DBZFAN45: Awww XD. Your headliners always make me chuckle. The Datoria-Stetoria scoring XD. No, MacKenzie does not know about Victoria's side-hustle (wrangler of all supernatural creatures). Victoria really does have a bunch of parental issues. She needs stable Zach back. Yep, Jeremy and Jenna have become Katherine's snitches, in turn with Caroline. SORRY IT WASN'T ASAP, BUT HERE'S THIS CHAPTER FOR YOU!

kafo521: Aww, thanks! Happy holidays to you too! Oh trust me, there will still be the Damon/Elena/Stefan angst, but it'll just look a little different. You'll understand in time.

Elyse1821: Yeah, her biological father is an OC. Not Noble, not Elijah, not none of them. Also, happy late birthday once again! Elena is annoying. Glad we could all agree on that. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

dhariti: Here's that update you requested, ten days after you asked for it Xp. Sorry about that. My life has been pretty hectic.

I can't guarantee when the next update is, cuz life ::cue jazz hands::. However, I will try and get it out on a Monday that is sooner than a month. Yeah.

Until next time,

Stay healthy and stay safe!

BecomingFearless1F