Chapter 22

"Just keep your phone on you so I can find you later," Ric said, shutting the car door. "I don't want to be running around all over for you."

"Because it'd be so hard to find me," she said sarcastically.

Gwen hitched up the strap of her camera bag on her shoulder as she walked around to the back of the car to wait for Ric. She briefly debated leaving him: He was exceptionally cranky since the coffeemaker had shorted out this morning and he was was clearly going through caffeine withdrawals. But her uncle had offered to get her a drink and breakfast from the local coffee shop and she was in desperate need of her own sugar and caffeine fix. Ric finally came to stand next to her with a sigh, motioning for her to follow him.

It was only seven in the morning on Mystic Falls' Founder's Day and the downtown area was already teeming with people. Gwen was surprised. While she knew today was a big deal to Caroline, she had drastically underestimated the pride of the rest of the town. If they were already having to weave their way through a crowd to get to coffee and breakfast, then Gwen could only imagine how crazy it might be by the end of the day. She hoped that meant it was fun. Caroline was so focused on the parade that Gwen wasn't sure what she could expect from the rest of it. Though there was supposed to be a carnival with rides and plenty of junk food. That was always something worth doing.

Ric groaned when he saw the line, which was already out the door, but got in it anyway. There was no way he could spend the morning surprising Tyler and Jeremy — and the rest of his volunteers — as they readied the history class's float for the parade. Those two may have become less antagonistic toward each other, but Ric did not trust them work together without supervision for long periods of time. The last couple of weeks had convinced him doing so only ended in disaster. It was also the reason why they were at the school early.

Well, it had been the original reason they were both there. A few minutes before they left home, Gwen had received a frantic phone call from Caroline. Apparently, her mom had been called in to work at the last minute, leaving Caroline to ready for the parade on her own. With a double attack of pleading from Caroline via speaker phone and sad eyes from Gwen, they had managed to convince Ric to let her out of float duty so she could assist Miss Mystic Falls. What was the parade without the queen after all?

He had acquiesced with a dry, "Just go. I'll have twenty other moody teenagers to manager."

The coffee line took thirty minutes and then they had to wait another ten for their order. By the time they were through, Gwen only had a few minutes to get up to the school to help Caroline. If it was any other friend, she would not worry about being late. But this was Caroline. Caroline had never been late for anything and today was not the day to test her forgiveness for those that were.

"I'll see you later. Oh, wait!" She said, spinning back around to face Ric, who was already observing his students with contempt. He really was not a morning person. He glanced back at her, an eyebrow lifted. "I need the car keys so I can drop off my camera later."

He fished the keys out of his jacket pocket and tossed them to her, smiling as she got them. "Stay out of trouble."

"Always do," she said with a laugh.

Gwen took off toward the high school, walking as fast as could without running into anyone. Caroline had texted her the instructions so she knew how to get in (the main entrance would be unlocked) and where to go (their English classroom). According to Caroline, most of the parade participants got ready at home and used the classrooms to change into the costumes once they were on sight. That was what Elena was doing and what Caroline had originally planned to do. But with Sheriff Forbes called into work, Caroline needed an extra set of hands to manage the outfit and assist with any last-minute touchups.

Gwen reached the classroom three minutes past Caroline's show time, which was not bad given how she had had to walk. Gasping, she loudly knocked on the door before pushing it open an inch and waiting.

"Come in," called Caroline. "We're all decent."

"Hey," Gwen said, entering the room to see two of the other pageant winners trying to sit comfortably in the desks with their giant skirts. Both looked exhausted. "How's it going?"

"Oh my god, we are so behind schedule," Caroline said rushing over to her. "I cannot believe my mom did this to me after promising she would be here. I mean, she's no good with the hair and makeup but she could have helped me with the dress. You know, she made this big deal about being involved and how this would be good for us. And all it took was a call from work to get her to bail. It was not even an emergency call."

Gwen listened to Caroline's rant, feeling a little awkward. She knew that Caroline just wanted one of her parents to take more of an interest in her life, so her mom offering to help her get ready for the parade had meant a lot to her. Even if she had acted as if it was lame. The Sheriff failing to show up for this really hurt Caroline.

"I'm sure it's something important," Gwen tried.

"It always is," she sighed sadly. Gwen was trying to think of something else to say, but Caroline picked up the dress and turned to her with a carefully controlled look. "Anyway, help me get this dress on. I have to be at the float in thirty minutes for photos."

Though they had a set of instructions for assembling the dress, it still proved to be a challenge to get it all together. The sleepy girls left somewhere in the middle of their struggle. When they finally finished, Gwen felt as if they had won something. That feeling of triumph was short-lived as they soon realized they only ten minutes to get down to the float.

"Run but run carefully," Gwen directed, easily keeping up with Caroline's hurried pace.

"I can't really run," she pointed out. "Not in these shoes."

"Then walk quickly."

Caroline was unexpectedly graceful running downhill in her heeled boots. She definitely did better than Gwen could have, but then that is why she was Miss Mystic Falls. They arrived at the float just in time, both slightly out of breath. And, thankfully, the official photographer was running late, giving Caroline time to compose herself and Gwen to touch up a few of her fly away hair strands.

"Ok, all good," Gwen said after a final check of Caroline's outfit. "I'm going to go find Bonnie. We'll see you after the parade."

"I'll look for you peasants from my float," she said with a playful haughtiness.

Gwen laughed and waved good-bye. Checking the time on her phone, she realized Bonnie was not planning to be there for another twenty minutes. She decided to see what else was being setup for the celebrations. Maybe some of the vendors were or shops were open. She could wander around and try shopping for a bit to keep busy. But first, she needed to make sure she did not accidentally run into her uncle and the history float. She did not want to get roped back into that. Looking around, she spotted them about five floats up from Caroline's. Ric was making sure the float had been hitched up properly. If he looked up, he would spot her. Quickly, Gwen turned left and walked in the other direction, taking the long way to get out of the parade prep area.


A little while later, Gwen was wandering through the crowd, munching on a bag of popcorn she had purchased. Bonnie had arrived and was stationed near the corner of Main and First a few blocks away. The parade had just started, so she wasn't worried about missing Caroline and Elena since their float was at the end of the procession. There was no reason to rush to Bonnie and she was enjoying the unusually warm late February day. It was the first time she'd been outside without freezing for months. She had already been able to shed most of her winter gear and it was expected to get even warmer.

As she neared the intersection, she spotted Bonnie. Gwen waved, trying to get her attention; but Bonnie did not catch the movement. Drawing closer, she saw the reason for Bonnie's distraction: Damon. Given Bonnie's expression — a mix of anger and disgust — the conversation probably wasn't going well. She paused, wondering if she should get in the middle of it or stay out of it. Her decision was momentarily delayed when she noticed the pageant floats had come to a stop on the route near them. Gwen waved enthusiastically at the float and hoped Caroline and Elena could see she was there supporting them. Though she would honestly be surprised if her friends could see her in the crowd. The float started moving forward again and Gwen stopped waving. Preparing herself, she decided to approach Bonnie and Damon slowly so she could try to hear them. If they were simply bickering, she could turn around and let them deal with their issues.

"… but I'm still very grateful. And… I owe you."

Gwen, who was standing a few feet away only caught the end of Damon's speech, but was shocked by how serious and sincere he sounded. Bonnie did not even blink, her expression remaining impassive. She would not be swayed by Damon so easily. Even Gwen thought Damon had a lot of work to do if he ever wanted to be on Bonnie's good side. Deciding it was probably safe to interrupt, Gwen stepped into Bonnie's line of sight.

"Popcorn?" she offered Bonnie, pretending to not notice the tension.

"Enjoy the parade," Damon said, turning to go. Before he left, he caught Gwen's eye and stole a piece of popcorn, plopping it into his mouth with a smirk.

Bonnie turned to her with a look of disbelief. "Isn't a little early for popcorn?"

"Mmm, no. It's never too early for popcorn, especially when there are parades and carnivals."

Bonnie laughed and reached for a handful.

"Want to tell me what that was about?" Gwen asked, not bothering to hide her interest.

"Oh, no," she said, shaking her head. "I have a feeling that you may be getting past your little crush on our resident vampire bad boy and I don't want to give you any reason to back slide. Besides, it's Damon. There's always an angle."

Gwen shrugged, ignoring the slight flush of warmth of her cheeks. "Maybe he'll surprise us."

"Yeah, sure," Bonnie mumbled, unconvinced. "Come on, the parade's basically done. Let's go see what else they brought in."


Exhausted from being on their feet and in the warm winter sun all day, Bonnie and Gwen found themselves relaxing in a booth at the Grill and sharing a plate of cheese fries. They had seen everything the Founder's Day celebration had to offer. They had visited every craft booth, sampled snacks from several vendors, checked out all the local shops with sales, played a handful of the games, and gone on most of the rides. Gwen's feet were aching from all of the walking but it had been a good day and she had enjoyed her time with Bonnie and the others. Now that it was just the two of them again, the couples having drifted off do their own thing, their conversation had drifted to more serious topics.

"Have you had a chance to look over those spells I sent?" Bonnie asked, lowering her voice.

Gwen, who was chewing a fry, nodded. "I've practiced a little, but it's different trying them on inanimate objects."

"Well, I can think of a potential volunteer," Bonnie said as her gaze landed across the room on Damon and Stefan. "He even said he owes me."

Gwen followed her gaze, biting her lip. It obvious that the brothers were having yet another tense discussion. Selfishly, she hoped it was a personal disagreement and not one that concerned a major threat. She had enjoyed her supernatural drama-free day.

"I'd rather keep this between us, if that's ok," Gwen admitted sheepishly. "I don't really want this getting around our little group."

Bonnie's brow furrowed. "Why? It's not like some people haven't done much worse."

Gwen shrugged. "It feels different. I mean, I'm practicing lethal spells with the intent to use them. It's literally premeditated murder."

"Ok, first of all, it's self defense," Bonnie said firmly. "Second, again some people done much worse."

"I guess," Gwen agreed, though she still did not feel the situations were equatable. "But I still don't want anyone knowing. They might try to intervene and you know that can get messy."

Bonnie nodded. "Here comes your uncle."

"Hello, Mr. Saltzman," Bonnie said when Ric reached the table. "Enjoying your first Founder's Day?"

"Oh, yes, it's been quite the experience," Ric said congenially before turning to his niece. "Please tell me you've eaten something more substantial than cheese fries today?"

"Our meals are on the way. Heading home?"

"No, I'll stay through the fireworks. Meet me at the car after, ok?"

"Sure."

"All right, enjoy the rest of your night." He nodded good-bye to them and returned to his table across the restaurant where he was eating with Jenna. Gwen smiled to herself, glad to see to them together even if they were secretly keeping an eye on all their charges while they ate.

"It's nice that he checks up on you like that," Bonnie said quietly and Gwen did not miss the wistfulness in her voice. She knew Bonnie was lonely since Shelia died. Like Matt, she basically lived alone since her dad was always out of town.

"Yeah, I guess so," Gwen agreed. She knew she was lucky to have Ric and that he cared and tried to be involved. But ever since Isobel had kidnapped her, he had been more protective than usual. She understood why, of course, but that did not mean it was not annoying at times.

Gwen's attention drifted across the room to the pool tables where she saw Caroline and Matt at a booth near Tyler playing pool. "Do you think Matt will ever forgive Tyler?"

Bonnie scoffed. "Would you?"

"Oh, hell no. I guess I'll just have to live with biology labs and projects being extremely awkward."

"I mean, Matt has put up with a lot of crap with Tyler as a best friend over the years. I suppose it's possible Matt could get over it," Bonnie mused. "Especially if Caroline involves herself."

"I don't think she has."

"Well, good for her. Honestly, I'm more worried about Elena and Jeremy. He's pretty hurt. Oh thanks," Bonnie said to the waiter who had just brought their burgers.

Grabbing the ketchup, she asked, "Have you talked to him?"

"A little. He found out about me in Elena's journal," Bonnie explained, her making it clear she was not thrilled about it. "So I tried to explain her side of things but he's not ready to hear it."

Gwen hummed in understanding. She felt bad for not reaching out to Jeremy; she was sure he knew about her too by now. But she did not think it was her place. Elena just needed to give him time to work through it. Gwen didn't think he would be mad forever. If Stefan and Damon were still willing to risk their lives to save each even when they were constantly at odds, Jeremy and Elena would recover.

"I'm sure they'll be fine," Gwen said reassuringly. "Like you said, he's just not ready yet, but you know he'll get there."

"You're right," Bonnie agreed, glancing at her phone. "We should eat fast. The fireworks will start soon."


Gwen and Bonnie ended up running into Ric after leaving the Grill on their way to watch the fireworks. Jenna had gone home early, complaining of a headache. Though the girls had not rushed through their dinner, they ended up being a bit early for the final show as the city leaders were still giving their speeches. As the mayor was about to take the stage, Bonnie got a phone call and excused herself to take it in a quieter area. By the time the mayor was a quarter of the way through his speech, Gwen was beyond bored and ready for the fireworks to start.

"Do they not realize they're all saying the same thing?" she whined.

Ric chuckled. "We can just leave. It's not like you haven't seen a firework show before."

"We've waited this long, might as well stay," she said with a shrug.

They turned their attention back to the stage, but it was soon pulled away again by someone calling Ric's name.

He spun around, looking for the source and answering, "Yeah? Oh, Damon."

Gwen turned around to see Damon rushing toward them, looking uncharacteristically worried. He didn't even pause when he reached them. Instead, he placed a hand on Ric's shoulder and began leading him away from the crowd, leaving Gwen to follow after them.

"Do you still carry your anti-vampire kit in the car?"

"Yeah, why?"

Ric shot Gwen a concerned look over his shoulder. She could only shake her head in response. She had no idea what was going on.

"The square is crawling with tomb vampires who are after the founding families, not that they'll restrict themselves that much. I think we'll need a stake and some vervain darts."

"Got it," Ric nodded, abruptly turning in the direction of the parking lot. "Gwen, come with me."

She made to follow, but was stopped when Damon grabbed her upper arm.

"Gwen, go home," he said firmly. His jaw was tight and his ice blue eyes bore into hers. Gwen felt her breath catch, startled by his intensity. Shaking her head, she wondered if he was trying to compel her.

"You know I'm not going to do that," she said, slipping from his grip and resuming her walk to the car. She refused to look at him when he fell in step next to her.

"You're not prepared for this."

"Bonnie and Elena will stay and I'm more prepared than either of them," she countered. "Plus, our friends are here. I'm not leaving."

Damon grabbed her arm again, looking like he was about to yell. However, something behind her caught his attention and she watched his resolve falter.

"Fine," he snapped, his impatience evident. They didn't have time to argue and he knew it. "I have to go talk to Stefan. Just don't do anything stupid. Don't make yourself a target."

Offering him a weak smile, she said. "I'll do my best."

With a grim expression he nodded and hesitantly released her. Gwen made forced herself to not look back at him as she took off after Ric. When she reached the car, Ric tried to hand her the keys, but pocketed them with one look from her.

"Please don't make me regret this," he said, resigned to her helping. "Take a few of the darts and a couple stakes in your bag. Only engage when you can quietly subdue one, got it? You don't want to make yourself a spectacle with all these people around, especially the council."

"Ok, I got it," she said, slipping the weapons into her bag. Before closing the flap, she made sure they were easily accessible in case she had to use them. "I'll focus on trying to get bystanders out of the way. I'll be fine."

Ric slammed the trunk shut, mumbling something Gwen did not catch. He reached out and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, resting the hand on her shoulder. "Just be smart."

"I will," she promised, smiling reassuringly even though she bristled at the echo of Damon's words. How incapable did they think she was?

"All right, let's go."


They separated before reaching the square. Ric had instructed her to go find her friends and get them out first so she had ended up near the corner of the Grill parking lot. However, when the fireworks started, the expected chaos never happened. It seemed they had paEriced for nothing. As she scanned the crowd, she did see a few people collapse and be dragged away by police. It was odd but it was clearly not a vampire attack. Curious, she took a step forward only to find her path suddenly blocked.

"Excuse me," she apologized, not glancing at the man.

"No, excuse me, Gwen."

Gwen stopped and looked properly at the person. Though she was sure she had never seen him before, there was something familiar about him. He was a little taller than her but not enough that she had to tilt her head up to meet his gaze. She studied his face trying to place him. There was nothing immediately remarkable about him. He was an average looking man with dark blond hair and a medium build. She was backing away when she noticed the scars. They had been slightly obscured by his hair and the stubble on his face but she remembered the crescent marks. Gwen remembered seeing them on the face of a much younger man in an old photograph, one she had not seen in years ever since her mother had caught her looking at it.

Eric Ashwood stood before her. He had come after all, and much sooner than any of them had expected.

"What are you doing here?" she asked, too dumbstruck to thin of anything else.

"Is that how you greet your father after all this time? Ah well, I didn't expect much anyway. I'm sure your mother has told you all sorts of things." His manner was far too causal for Gwen's liking. She tried to peer over his shoulder to see if Ric or a friend was nearby, but he noticed and moved closer to her. "Why don't we take a walk?"

"Actually, I think I better go," she said, trying to back away from him.

He grabbed her arm, much like Damon had earlier, and pulled her close to him, shoving something hard into her side.

"We can do this the easy way or the messy way," he said in a low, dangerous voice, emphasizing is his words with a jab of the object in her side, which guessed was a gun. "If you make a scene, I will kill whoever tries to help. Got it?"

Glaring, Gwen nodded.

"Good. Now, walk."

He led her behind the Grill, away from the crowd and anyone who may have been able to help. The street behind the Grill was vacant except for the cars that lined both sides of the road. They walked halfway down the alley, coming to a stop next to a beat up, tan truck.

"Open the door and get in," he instructed.

Gwen complied. She knew she had to figure out how to get away from him. However, she needed to do it when they were away from people. That did not give her the best advantage but she did not want an innocent bystander killed. Besides, she also needed to disarm him. All this time they had worried about his magical abilities; no one ever considered that he would use a gun.

As he walked around the front of the truck to the driver's side, Gwen thought about making a run for it. But she did not. She knew she would never make it far. She needed to surprise him, catch him off guard. He was in the car and starting it in seconds. Gwen felt a tightness in her stomach and took a deep breath. She would figure this out.

"So what's the plan? Drive me all the way back to Arizona for some ancient ritual to extract whatever this power is?" Gwen asked as they drove away from the Grill. Her voice shook slightly, though she didn't know if it was from nerves or anger.

"We won't need to go that far," he replied, sounding bored. "Just far enough that your uncle and friends can't intervene."

A wave of cold flowed through her at his words. For a moment, she was speechless. Gwen's heart rate sped up, but she forced herself to maintain a calm exterior. She did not want to give him the satisfaction of seeing his words bother her.

"Really, you're going to kill me? Your long-lost child who you don't even know?"

He chuckled humorlessly. "Is that what you think? That I'm going to kill you? No, I promise you'll be very much alive."

He turned onto a back road that cut through the woods and led out of town. He really was not going to make this easy for her. "If I thought there was a chance of brining you into the fold, I'd take you back home right now. But," he said, pausing for effect. "But I can already tell you are not one of us. You haven't even tried to fight back. You're weak… like your mother."

Gwen clenched her jaw. She felt her anger rising and knew she needed to rein it in. Refocusing, she angled herself so she could look at him. He was smirking, pleased with himself. However, Gwen noticed he also was not wearing a seat belt. She had a second of inspiration that quickly formed into a plan. Not a great plan, there was a chance she would not survive it, but it was a plan.

As discreetly as she could, she glanced toward the bag on her lap. Her phone was sitting inside one of the interior pockets. Gwen needed to reach it without him seeing, and she needed do it fast. They would not be in the woods forever.

"So, " she said, acting as if her heart was not beating a mile per second. "What's so special about this 'power' anyway? What is it?"

"If you're asking that, you're weaker than I thought. If you had any talent, you would have felt it by now," he said condescendingly. Again, Gwen ground her teeth but managed to hold her tongue. "It's exactly that: power. Pure power. It amplifies your natural abilities, even makes you more than human."

He was so lost in describing this power that he sounded mesmerized. Had she not had a task, Gwen would have rolled her eyes. As it was, all of her attention was on slipping out the phone and hiding it in her hand under the bag. Thankfully, he did not notice a thing.

"And why does it split itself between the parent and the first born?" she asked, working up the nerve for step two of her plan.

He paused and glanced at her quickly with narrowed eyes. "You sure ask a lot of questions…."

"This seems like it will be only chance for answers. Might as well get them."

He shrugged. "It's too much to be contained by one being. Offspring are a way for it to avoid destroying the host. But I've found a way to contain it to a vessel without the risk — I just need an empty host from my bloodline."

Gwen froze; her plan momentarily forgotten. An empty host? But wouldn't that mean…?

"No," she whispered.

"Yes," he said, smirk deepening. "The power chose you for whatever reason, so you get to be the lucky vessel. I remove your consciousness or soul or whatever you want to call it, and let the power take what's left.…"

Gwen's stomach turned, her mind whirling with the implications of his words. He was though: what he planned to do was so much worse than simply killing her. Despite her internal chaos, she forced herself to focus on the present. There was no more time to stall. It was time to act.

One…

"Then it's mine to control without the nasty side effects," he continued, eyes trained on the roads.

Two…

"I do feel bad that it has to go this way, but I don't see you being a 'fall in line' type of daughter…."

Three…

Gwen lunged across the cab of the truck and grabbed the steering wheel, pulling it toward her as hard as she could. Startled by her sudden movement, he couldn't react fast enough. Though he jerked the wheel, he only succeeded in causing the car to swerve on the road. Gwen pulled harder, aiming toward the tree line as much as she could. Within seconds, the car came to a sudden and painful stop.

The sounds of crunching metal and exploding airbags filled her ears as she felt the wind knocked out of her and the seat belt burned her neck as it tightened across her body. It felt like she was a rag doll being tossed around. Through it all, she did everything she could to on hold onto the cell phone. If she could get out of the car, it was her only chance to call for help.

After what felt like an eternity, everything came to a stop.

The pain was the first thing she noticed. Everything hurt. So much so, she was not sure she could move. Gwen counted to three once again, and then pushed herself up in the seat. Her head spun, blurring her vision momentarily. When she was steady, Gwen was able to better assess the situation.

The windshield had a large crack going diagonally across it with hundreds of splinters shooting in every direction yet it had not shattered. Through it and some steam or smoke — she really had no idea which — Gwen could see the thick trunk of tree that truck had slammed into. She looked to her left and saw Eric slumped forward in his seat. His head rested on the steering wheel, which dripped with blood from the wound on his head. His breathing was shallow. For a moment, Gwen sat completely still waiting for him to move. When she was sure he was not going to wake, she fumbled for the door handle, avoiding the shards of glass as best she could.

The door opened with ease, but Gwen must have still been disoriented because she practically fell to the ground when she went to step down. However, her ungraceful movements happened to kick her phone, which she had lost on impact, out of the car. Miraculously, the phone was still in one piece. Gwen sighed with relief, so far her plan was working.

She looked back toward the truck one last time, confirming that Eric had not moved, and took off into the woods. She was slow at first, still unsteady on her feet, but was able to pick up her pace as she adjusted. It would have been easier to follow the road back, but that would also have made it easier for Eric to catch her again. Gwen hoped the crash was enough to disable her father and the truck long enough for her to get to safety. Since she was running through the forest at night, she needed any advantage she could get.

Gwen felt a sharp pain in right leg and side, but did not let herself look at them for fear that seeing any injuries would slow her down. Better to pretend they were minor cuts at the moment than anything serious. Between her running and kickboxing she was in pretty good shape. As long as none of her injuries were life-threatening she should be able to make it back to town. But, disappointingly, she felt herself growing tired as if she had already run five miles instead of less than one. She needed help.

Coming to a stop, Gwen flipped open her phone and went to the recent contact list. She selected Damon's name from the list and put the phone to her ear, listening to it ring and praying he would answer.

"C'mon, c'mon," she muttered, slowly turning in circles to avoid a surprise attack. After the seventh ring, Gwen could have sworn she heard the snapping of a tree branch from back toward the truck. She began walking again. When the phone went to voicemail, she nearly screamed.

"Damn it, Damon!" she yelled, panic rising as she was sure she heard the echoes of someone crashing through the woods behind her. "I need your help. I'm in the woods to the south of town off of the main road. Please, hurry."

Gwen called Ric next, but got his voicemail too. Cursing, she closed the phone and dropped it back into her bag, hand brushing against the stake and syringe. Gwen glanced down at her bag and nearly tripped. The syringe would not do her any good, but the stake might as long as Eric did not have the gun.

There was a loud bang that caused Gwen to stop and crouch down. A moment later, and enflamed branch fell to the ground with an echoing crash. It was as if it had been hit by lightening. If only there was a storm, she thought bitterly. From where the branch had fallen, Gwen could tell she still had a good lead on him, at least twenty yards. But her sudden crouch down had aggravated her right side. She finally looked down, only see her clothes soaked with blood. The visual made it real and she could no longer ignore the pain. Gwen knew she would not outrun him for much longer; she needed to hide.

"That was clever," he called out, his voice filling the woods. "Unfortunately for you, it won't be enough."

A branch shot out of the dark and exploded against a tree a few yards to her left. She forced herself forward, hoping to use the head start to find a decent hiding spot. One would think that would be an easy thing to find in the woods at night, but it proved rather difficult. And the longer it took, the closer he got — both in distance and with his aim. Finally, she found a group of trees that were wide enough and close enough to potentially provide adequate cover. She had taken a few steps toward them when something slammed into her back, knocking her forward to the ground.

Coughing, she pushed herself up. He must not be as far as she thought. She removed her bag and tossed it as far away from her as she could. Hopefully, the action would mislead him for a minute. Realizing she had dropped the stake, she began crawling across the ground in search of it. Her hand had just grazed it when thundering foot steps came to a stop next to her. Before she could grab the stake, he was flipping her over and pinning her hands to the ground.

"I have to say I'm surprised," he panted as Gwen struggled to free herself. "You have potential. I'd have liked to have seen what you could have with the power. But I need it."

He brought her wrists together to try to hold them with one hand while he reached into his coat with other. She used his inattention to wriggle a wrist free, quickly aiming for his eye. She merely scratched it but he was surprised enough that she could push him off of her. She began reciting one of the spells Bonnie had taught her, hoping to end this.

But nothing happened.

"It won't work," he said, laughing coldly. "The power's protecting itself. We can't use magic against each other — directly."

Gwen watched him pull a knife from his belt and swore. She needed to find that stake. Trying to watch him and prepare herself for his next attack, she scooted backward to where she had last felt it. Had her leg not been injured, she probably would have stood a decent chance against him. With her leg as it was though, the stake was her only shot at self defense.

She felt the smooth handle and closed her hand around it just as Eric grabbed her bad leg and pulled her toward him again. Screaming from the pain, Gwen blindly swiped at him with her good leg. He only laughed again, lowering himself to the ground so he was crouched over her.

"I think I may actually regret this," he said, surprise and sarcasm mixing. "You definitely show more promise than your other siblings. What do you say? Want to be part of the family?"

"Fuck you," she spat.

He shrugged. "That's what I thought," he sighed. "Can't say I didn't try."

As he raised his hand with the knife, Gwen summoned all of her strength and thrust the stake into his chest.

They remained in that pose for less than a second but it felt like minutes. Then, he fell to the side, clutching his wound. She scooted away from him, unable to believe what she had just done.

He twitched on the forest floor in shock and pain. She watched as he reached up to try to remove the stake, groaning as the pull widened the wound. Gwen was torn on what to do. He had tried to kill her, and still would if he got the chance. However, she was finding it hard to watch him struggle like this. She had not thought about anything other than stopping him; hadn't thought about what it would be like to watch him die.

She concentrated on the stake. It took a minute to move, she was weak from blood loss as well, but soon his scream filled the air as the stake sunk deeper into his chest. Gwen did not stop until he was silent. Collapsing against a nearby tree, she felt herself go cold and a lump form in her throat.

Gwen did not know how long she sat there with her father's lifeless body. Eventually, it occurred to her that she still needed medical help. She needed her phone … which was in the bag she had thrown. She was trying to push herself off the ground when an odd movement from her father's body caught her eye.

She froze and watched as a black cloud rose from his body. Before she could even wonder what it was, the cloud was charging toward her. As it enveloped her, a lightheadedness overtook her and she felt herself losing consciousness with no resistance. In seconds, the world faded away to nothing.


AN: Thank you to everyone who has made it this far.

I apologize for how long it has taken to even make it through season 1 of the show with this fic. In addition to life, the size of this project just felt so overwhelming that I honestly felt paralyzed when I tried to work on it. I think breaking it up into to parts will help.

I'm looking to post Part 2 in April (maybe late March), but I want to take some time to review what I have done so far and work out a plan so I don't have so many hiatuses. However, I will only be updating on AO3 (username is the_twilit_files) so continue following over there.