Chapter 4
11/10/19 AN: Fixed an embarrassing typo. Thank you at mercury30 for alerting me to it. The problem of working on two fics at the same is that I do mix up my characters.
"You want to throw a birthday party for Stefan? Why?"
Gwen was giving her friend a disbelieving look. Stefan barely talked to anyone besides Elena. Why would anyone of them throw him a birthday party? Besides, she had enough work to do as the full bucket of dirty dishes she was holding should have hinted to Caroline. Once again, they were down a busser and she had been stuck with the task. Shifting the bucket to get a better grip, she raised an eyebrow at Caroline as she waited for a better explanation.
"Well Damon asked me to," she said as if it was the most obvious and simple thing in the world.
"What?" Gwen was growing more confused by the minute. "Just yesterday I got a twenty-minute spiel about what a jackass Damon is because you think you saw his car. Now, you want to help him throw a party for his brother?"
A part of her was worried Caroline and Damon might be getting back together. She had that giddy, hopeful attitude some girls got when they had a crush. Positive feelings for Damon Salvatore were not something she'd come to associate with Caroline. Gwen wondered if she should be concerned or call Bonnie.
Caroline scoffed. "Oh, that was nothing. Everything's fine between us. The party is part of his efforts to make amends. That's why I'm helping him, and I need you to help me."
"I don't know, Caroline. I barely know Stefan. Won't it be weird for me to help throw his party? Shouldn't Elena be involved?"
"I just need you to help Matt set up a few things here," Caroline said, ignoring Gwen's concerns. "I'll get people here and make a playlist. Try to have everything ready by seven, ok?"
Gwen started to protest, but Caroline continued to ignore her and left. Groaning, Gwen finished her walk to the kitchen. She set the bucket down with a loud thud, earning a reapproving glance from the dishwasher. She pretended not to notice, deciding she might as well go find Matt. It was Friday so he, as the second most-trusted staff member, was probably doing inventory in the back storage area.
She found Matt hunched over a box of hamburger buns when she entered the dusty backroom where they kept all the unrefrigerated and unfrozen food. Though he glanced at her when she entered, he didn't acknowledge her in any other way. She waited for him to finish counting before discussing the party.
"Caroline rope you into this, too?" he asked, writing down the number on his paperwork.
Gwen nodded. "Unfortunately. Are we even allowed to plan this?"
Matt shrugged. "Max won't mind. Caroline probably should have put down a party deposit or something, but he'll appreciate the extra business. Plus, Eric's working the bar tonight, so he knows sales will be good."
"Is that because he hasn't figured out that Eric sells alcohol to teenagers, or he has and that's why Eric's working?" Gwen asked, lifting herself up to sit on one of the counters. Eric selling alcohol to minors didn't really bother her. She would play dumb if anyone ever asked. It's not as if there was tangible proof that she knew. She was simply feeling put out by having to plan this party. Her manager may not have minded the last-minute nature of it, but he did mind having to find staff to accommodate it. As far as he was concerned, Matt and Gwen would have to work it since it was their friend's party.
"Oh, definitely the latter," Matt said. She watched as he picked up the box of buns and put it back on the shelf. "Not that there's any way the sheriff can prove he knows what Eric does. It's one of the reasons you'll never see Max and Eric on the same shift."
"And I hear I thought they just didn't like each other."
Matt chuckled. "There's that, too. We really don't have to do too much to get ready, though. I'll have the kitchen start a few large batches of appetizers around seven. We'll just do a flat fee for those and soda. That'll probably be all Caroline's guest want 'll set aside a section or two for regular customers, but I don't think we'll have too many. A loud and large group of high schoolers isn't a plus for a family dinner."
Gwen stared at him; eyebrows slightly raised. "Wow, you're really prepared for this."
"It's not my first Caroline party. I know what to expect."
"Do you think it'll be a big turnout?" she asked, still feeling annoyed about Caroline. "I mean, it's like Stefan has a lot of friends."
"Yeah, well, Caroline will make it work. She always does." Gwen couldn't be sure, she and Matt weren't close, but she thought she heard a little bitterness in his voice. She supposed it couldn't be that fun to plan a party for your ex's new boyfriend. She couldn't blame him for being enthused about its possible success.
She helped Matt finish up the inventory, which mostly consisted of her sitting or standing around and them working out service details for the night. Gwen should have been working the front, but Max had left an hour ago, so no one was going to say anything until it started getting busy. The rest of the servers were happy to pick up her tables.
The finished inventory around five, which was when she expected her uncle to come in for dinner. His devotion to his routine bugged her sometimes, but it made her life easier tonight. She could tell him in person that she'd be late and why. Since the real reason was work, it shouldn't be a difficult conversation. He never questioned her being out late if it was work related.
"So you'll be home when?" he asked as she finished writing down his order, which did deviate from his usual burger and fries.
"I don't know. Whenever we finish cleaning up, so late."
"You remember that I'm leaving early tomorrow for a conference in Richmond?"
"Yes," she said, stressing the 's' out of annoyance. "You've told me every day for two weeks. I will be on my own for two whole days. I am not to throw or attend any parties. I am to complete my schoolwork, go to work, and may participate in safe, legal activities with my friends during normal business hours. Have I forgotten anything?"
Ric glared at her, not appreciating her attitude. "Maybe I should ask Jenna to check in on you, or if you can stay with her."
Gwen made a face at the thought. "Please, no. I don't need to spend any more time with the Gilbert siblings than I have to."
"I didn't know you had a problem with Jeremy and Elena," Ric said, taken aback by her comment. "Did something happen?"
"No, I mean everyone thinking Elena walks on water is pretty annoying, but nothing's happened," she explained, mentally kicking herself for saying anything. She liked Jenna and didn't want to ruin things between her and Ric. He'd been so much happier lately. Gwen was hoping that he was finally moving on. "It can just be a lot to be with both Jeremy and Elena, especially since I'm not close with either of them, and there's some sort of drama going on between them."
"Jeremy's having a hard time adjusting to losing his parents," Ric said knowingly. "Maybe you could talk to him. You probably know better than anyone what he's going through."
"Listen, if he asks, I'll talk to him," Gwen said, fighting the urge to roll her eyes. Ric was only trying to be helpful, she reminded herself. "But I'm not going to force some kind of bonding moment on him, ok? It's weird."
Ric held up a hand as a sign of surrender. The tone of her reply had been harsher than she had intended. "All right. I won't push anything. Why don't go put in my order, slacker? I'm starving."
"Fine," she mumbled. As she walked back to the kitchen, Gwen couldn't shake the bad mood that had settled over her. Ric suggesting she talk to Jeremy wasn't the worst thing and neither was throwing this party. But for some reason she felt on edge, ready to snap at the next person who talked to her. Sighing, she dropped off the ticket and head back out to the dining area. Hopefully, the night, and her mood, would get better.
The Grill was packed with people a couple of hours later. There were several Gwen didn't even recognize. In fact, they looked a little too old for high school. Gwen suspected they were from the small college that wasn't too far from town. Though, she thought, it was kind of lame for a bunch of college kids to be at a high school party.
Gwen had only seen the guest of honor for a second. He'd been with some girl she didn't recognize but he seemed to know pretty well. Gwen figured it was a friend from his former school. Everyone was enjoying the party. Caroline had done well with the music selection and Matt had been right about the menu. The party guests weren't interested in spending a lot on food. Some of the regular guests were a little put out by the noise, but not enough to leave. Though they weren't making it easy on their servers, if her coworkers' foul moods were anything to go by.
Gwen had expected to feel bitter about having to work. But once the party had actually started, she was grateful for being on the clock. She'd spotted Damon and Caroline having a conversation earlier and noticed Caroline had looked upset but hadn't had time to check in on her. If she was being honest with herself, she didn't want to find out. She wasn't eager to talk to Damon or Caroline at the moment.
She was clearing a bunch of empty cups from a table when she noticed Eric walking toward her. Though they worked together, Gwen tended to avoid having to spend time with the bartender. He'd once been a big shot on the football team but hadn't managed to develop any other skills. After a semester at school, he had flunked out and returned to Mystic Falls where he worked a combination of small jobs. It'd been eight years since he'd graduated and he still acted like a big, dumb, football jock. Gwen would have thought it was sad if he also wasn't a total creep that still thought it was fine to date high school girls.
"After you clear those, I need you to take out the trash. The can's starting to overflow."
"That's not my job," she said, stacking a few more cups on her tray. "Ask the busboy."
"He's busy cleaning up baby puke. You could switch," he countered, hoping to make himself look more authoritarian.
Gwen rolled her eyes, hoping he somehow got the message she thought he was the farthest thing from an authority figure. "I'll get the trash."
The kitchen was busier than Gwen had seen it. Between the party and regular diners, the staff was working twice as hard as a normal Friday night. Careful to avoid any collisions, Gwen weaved her way through the crowded kitchen to the trashcan in the back. Eric had exaggerated its state. It was full, but not overflowing. She tied the bag off and hefted it out of the can, thankful she kept up with her kickboxing. It definitely helped when she had to do heavy lifting at work.
She earned a few cheers from the kitchen staff as she lugged the bag outside. Making a half bow, she pushed the door open and stepped into the alleyway. Goosebumps immediately appeared on her skin, the drastic change from the hot kitchen to the cold November night making her body's reaction more intense. Wanting to get back inside as quickly as possible, she made a beeline for the dumpster, which was located at the corner of building. As she neared the dumpster, she could hear people talking but the voices were too low to make out what they were saying. Not that it mattered, Gwen figured it was only a few people loitering outside the Grill. Nothing that concerned her. However, as soon as she had dropped the bag into the dumpster, she heard a scream.
Frozen, with one arm still holding up the lid of the dumpster, she glanced around the corner. The scream had been cutoff, but she could still hear someone talking. She saw two people underneath a flickering light that cast them in shadows. However, Gwen could make out that one was a man and the other a woman. He had her pinned against the wall. She could see the girl was struggling, clearly terrified. Gwen's brain finally caught up to what she was seeing, and she realized she should do something. The man wasn't much bigger than her. She could probably take him, or at least impede him long enough for her to get the girl inside to safety. Not wanting to draw attention to herself, she carefully lowered the lid.
Just as she was about to step out from behind the dumpster, the man bent his head down to her neck. The girl whimpered in pain, causing him to pull back from her neck. When he did, the light shown just enough on his face for her to see that it was Damon and there was something dark dripping from his mouth. Gwen covered her mouth with her hand to keep herself from screaming and ducked back behind the dumpster, hoping he hadn't seen her. Her thoughts were a mess as she tried to process what she'd seen. Even in the poor lighting, she couldn't deny it. She had read enough of Ric's and Isobel's notes to know exactly had seen. Numb and still somewhat in disbelief, she stood up and walked as quietly as she could toward the backdoor.
She made it back inside without a problem but couldn't shake the feelings of absolute terror and shock she still felt.
"There you are," Matt said, carrying a full tray of dirty dishes. "Could you help out with some of the dinner guests? We're falling a little behind — Gwen? You ok?"
He'd finally noticed how pale she was and that there was a slight tremor to her stance. As he observed her, a frown appeared on his face. Lowering his voice, he asked, "What's wrong? Did something happen?"
Every part of her wanted to scream, to tell him what she'd seen. But she couldn't. He'd never believe her. Instead, she composed herself enough to be able to speak without panic in her voice. "I'm not feeling well," she lied, hoping he bought the strain in her voice as a sign of a stomachache. "I think I'm coming down with something."
Matt nodded, not questioning her for a second, even though she'd been fine five minute ago. "You'd better head home, then. We can't have you handling food if you're sick."
Relief flowed through her. All she wanted to do was go home and barricade herself inside. "Thanks. I'm really sorry, I know it's crazy tonight."
He waved her off, giving her a good-natured smile. "We'll manage. I'll tell Max to cover your shift tomorrow, just to be safe."
She thanked him again and exited the kitchen. Gwen walked to the breakroom to grab her things, careful to avoid eye contact with the few people she came across. She couldn't risk talking to anyone right now, sure she would end up spilling everything if she did. Slipping on her coat, she felt the weight of the car keys shift in her pocket. Ric had given them to her, insisting she not walk home in the cold if she was going to be that late. She'd almost turned him down, having walked in colder weather back in Boston, but had decided not to because she knew she'd be tired at the end of her shift. Now she was thankful her laziness had won out.
No one paid her any attention as she left the building and walked to the car. Once again, luck was on her side as there were still quite a few people in the parking lot. If Damon had seen her, he wouldn't do anything with so many witnesses around. Though she suspected he didn't know she was there, Gwen wasn't risking anything. She was going straight home and making sure all the doors and windows were locked. Tomorrow, after Ric had left, she was going to go through all of his material on vampires.
Gwen barely slept that night. No matter what she did to calm herself, the fear that Damon would break into the house and kill her and Ric kept her awake. Instead, she revisited every interaction she'd ever had with Damon Salvatore, looking for some hint that she had missed. But there was nothing. Eventually, the need to sleep overpowered here. One minute she was staring at her ceiling; and the next she was awoken by the slamming of the front door. Her fear from the night before returned, causing her to jolt out of bed before she remembered it was only Ric leaving for his conference.
She sunk back down into her bed, head in her hands as she let her heart rate and breathing return to normal. Calm again, she reached out for her phone to check the time but was briefly distracted by the number of missed text messages. Most of the messages were from Caroline. It looked like something had happened, but Gwen didn't care to find out exactly what right now. She slipped the phone into her back pocket, in case Ric called, and went downstairs.
Though she had resolved to start on the research first thing, her rumbling stomach demanded she put that off for the moment. Gwen's first stop was the kitchen, where she rummaged through the cupboards until she found a lonely packet of toaster pastries. After placing the blueberry pastries in the toaster to cook, she poured a glass of milk and turned on the TV. Unsurprisingly, the TV was set to the local news station. However, Gwen was surprised to see a short report about the death of a sophomore boy from the high school. His name had been Hunter Sanders, and he and his girlfriend had been attacked by a wild animal last night near the Grill. Then, without further explanation, the story switched to coverage of the football game.
Gwen stood still, staring at the television in total disbelief. She couldn't believe people were accepting the animal attack excuse again. It didn't make any sense. All the other attacks, which she now suspected had been committed by Damon, had happened out in the woods. An animal that could attack and kill a person wouldn't come into town unless there was some extreme extenuating circumstance. Besides, the wounds they described weren't consistent with an animal attack. Even an ordinary person would expect additional wounds on the bodies and not just one on their necks.
She jumped when the toaster popped. Shaking her head at herself, she retrieved her food, careful not to burn her fingers. Deciding to eat while she worked, she took her breakfast into Ric's office. Gwen was still on edge from last night even though it was clear Damon hadn't seen her. She hoped getting answers would make her feel better, more in control, or at least less jumpy.
Gwen settled into the desk chair, observing the items in front of her as she ate her pastry. Ric had taken his laptop with him, causing Gwen to frown. His most recent research would be on the laptop. Sighing, she hit the button for the desktop and waited for it to boot up. There was a good chance he'd backed up his notes on the old desktop computer. He was a stickler about backups. Music from an ad for a national food chain carried into the office as she watched the screen come to life. One day, they would have to replace the ancient computer. Gwen wondered if she could speed up that timeline without getting caught. She doubted it.
Finally, the computer finished booting up and Gwen went into Ric's user account. He didn't even use a password. She'd expected that to be the hard part. She was feeling overly confident when she realized she had to figure out her uncle's file organization, which was practically nonexistent. His desktop was covered in icons and his documents and folders were labeled with nonsense. Would it have been so hard to use something like "school", "work", or "vampires"?
It took her about thirty minutes before she was able to make sense of the file organization, which really meant she randomly clicked through files until she reached a dead end. After going through three levels of a file helpfully labeled "Notes," she came across a file named "Isobel." Gwen paused. She was already crossing several boundaries by going through Ric's files. Looking through a file he clearly had hidden and that could contain extremely private photos would be going too far. Or it had Isobel's research in it.
Hoping she wouldn't have to bleach her eyes; Gwen double-clicked the file.
"Finally," she muttered, reading the names of the documents, which were much more descriptive than the ones created by Ric, in the folder.
It was all of Isobel's original research on vampires. Several files caught her attention but — after a brief debate between "Thesis", "Tracking", and "Mystic Falls" — Gwen decided to open the one for Mystic Falls. Her heart sunk when the document finally loaded: It was over two hundred pages long, plus numerous comments (that looked to be a mix of Ric's and Isobel's). Sighing, she resolved to go through it — after she made coffee.
Hours later, Gwen sat on the office floor, surrounded by papers and dirty dishes. She'd skimmed through about half of the research in the Isobel file, finding the comments more helpful than the actual text and printing out relevant pages that she may want access to later. Gwen had hoped that learning more about vampires, real vampires, would have made her feel better. It hadn't. She was still torn between believing and not. However, try as her mind might to protect her from the truth, it was getting harder to deny it. For one, she knew what she had seen last night behind the Grill. There was no denying that. For another, Caroline's strange and sudden positive feelings for Damon made sense. He had probably compelled her to throw the party. Looking back, Gwen realized that Caroline had been almost vacant behind the enthusiasm she'd shown for the party.
The research had also revealed Ric's true motives in moving to Mystic Falls. Through Isobel's notes, he'd learned of the town's strangely high number of animal attacks and missing persons cases. These were earmarks of at least one vampire occupying a town, especially a small one lacking serious occurrences of other types of crime or violence. Ric had decided to follow Isobel's trail, believing it would lead to information about the vampire who had killed his wife. The job opening at the high school was the perfect excuse to move.
But it wasn't the deception regarding move that bothered her, at least not that moment. It was the final comment in Isobel's notes on Mystic Falls, bolded and italicized about three months before they moved to Mystic Falls:
SS and DS routinely return to Mystic Falls. Try surviving descendent at boarding house. DS will be most receptive.
An icy chill ran through her. "SS" and "DS" had to be Stefan and Damon Salvatore. According to Caroline who had been preparing for the Miss Mystic Falls pageant, the Salvatore's had the only still-standing boarder house, though it was a private residence now, in town. Isobel must have been trying to find the Salvatore brothers, though her notes never said why. Her research didn't show that was interested in proving their existence, not publicly at least. It was clear she wanted to find one, to meet one. Having gone through Ric's crime statistics and coroner reports, however, Gwen didn't think seeking out a vampire was the smartest idea.
Sighing, she absently played with the bottom drawer of Ric's desk. But when she tried to open it, it made a clunking sound as the lock held it closed. Gwen paused; eyebrows furrowed. Ric may have been strict, but he'd never kept anything locked — not even the answer keys to his assignments. She tried again, wanting to see if something was jamming the drawer. Nothing was; he had locked it. She rolled her eyes. There were no passwords on the computer or any of the files she'd just gone through, but he'd locked this single drawer.
She studied the drawer for a minute, wondering what was in it and where Ric could have hidden the key. Gwen hadn't even realized the drawers locked. The only keys they'd ever had were for the house and car, which were kept on hooks in the kitchen. He probably had the key in his room, she realized. Going through the desk was one thing, but Gwen wasn't sure she could go through his room. It felt like an even bigger invasion of privacy. Plus, who knew what she would find. Resigned to not getting into the drawer, she leaned against the desk in defeat.
As she was contemplating taking a break, she heard a click from the desk. She looked back at the desk, trying to figure out what made the noise, and her eyes were drawn to the locked drawer that was now opened about an inch. Confused, Gwen could only stare at the drawer. She knew it had been locked just a moment earlier. Shaking herself out of it, Gwen figured the lock must have been faulty and come undone when she'd tried to open it. She began pulling out the contents of the drawer, her exhaustion quieted and her curiosity peaked.
The drawer contained a bunch of loose papers and a couple of beat up notebooks. Nothing too interesting, just more research for her to go through. And then, as she pulled out the last messy file folder, she saw them: Three pointed stakes, lined up next to each other in a neat row at the bottom of the drawer. Apparently, Ric was hiding more than one secret.
AN: I live! And so does this story! You can thank NaNo. I'm challenging myself to write a little everyday. If you're lucky, you just might get two chapters this month (no promises though, school is hell in November). Thank you at Wordspin and PrincessMagic for your reviews! I hope this chapter meets your expectations.
