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Audrey Campbell was nothing short of a workaholic. There was not a free minute the thirty two year old pastry chef didn’t spend in her kitchen, working on new recipes and creations. She wasn’t one for taking breaks, not even on Christmas. The clocks had long since struck midnight on the 25th of December and Audrey was still bustling through the tiny kitchen space in her cramped flat situated near the river Thames in London’s district Chelsea, having just pulled a fresh tray of mince pies out of the oven. These weren’t for her work or herself though. They would get donated to the homeless shelter down the street later that day. It was her contribution to the little Christmas Feast the neighbourhood had organised for them - and she was terribly late. All thanks to her chef, who was determined to make her work extra shifts to compensate for the lack of staff. Why hire extra people when you could just as well exploit the ones you already had? It was certainly the cheaper option.

Audrey wasn’t sure why she was still working there if she was being honest. As her sister Charlotte liked to remind her, she was certainly good enough to start her own business. Money wasn’t a problem either. Her parents had by no means been rich people but the small fortune they had left behind for their daughters was more than enough to get started. Perhaps it was laziness or the fear of failing that was stopping her. Going to work and not having to worry about anything other than pastry dough and fondant was nice. She didn’t have to think about making enough profit to keep the business afloat or building range via social media. She just had to do what she went to school for and she would get her monthly salary - even if it was not nearly enough to compensate for the amount of late shifts and extra hours she was forced to pull.
And then there was the fact that her busy work saved her from having to make up excuses for her complete and utter lack of any social life. She had no friends - at least none worth mentioning - and the only family she had left was her twelve years older sister Charlotte, her husband Thomas and their three children who were living on the other side of the Atlantic in a charming american small town by the peculiar name of “Mystic Falls”. While Charlotte was calling at least once a week to check up on her little sister, they rarely ever had the chance to meet in person. Dr. Charlotte Campbell-Fell was nearly just as busy with her work as the town’s resident paediatrician as Audrey was with her job as a pastry chef of a fine dining restaurant situated at the heart of London. How she still managed to raise three children and be an active member of the small town’s community was beyond Audrey. But then again, it was Charlotte. She had always made everything look so… easy , effortless. No matter if it was finding friends at school, studying aboard, getting her doctor’s approbation, marrying, having children…everything always just seemed to fall into her lap. Meanwhile Audrey was struggling hard to keep up with the high standard her sister had set. From school teachers to parents and friends of the family - all her life, she had constantly been compared to the oh so perfect Charlotte.
It had been hard, trying her best to meet those expectations and then seeing the disappointment in her parents’ eyes when it was clear that she just couldn’t come anywhere near her sister’s achievements. She wasn’t Charlotte. She didn’t have her charm, her warm and perfect smile, her smarts, her good looks, her self-confidence and strength. No, she was just plain ole’ average simple Audrey with the charm of a fish on dry land and black hair that always bore a slight resemblance to a bird’s nest, no matter how often she brushed them.
In a way, Audrey was glad that her parents died all those years ago. If they were alive today and knew that she was still unmarried and childless at the ripe age of thirty two, they would no doubt suffer a stroke and die all over again. Audrey was the first Campbell woman in generations that didn’t follow the same “married in their mid-twenties with a child on the way”-recipe. It wasn’t for lack of trying or even will. Audrey  wanted  to have a family. She wanted to have children. She just didn’t seem to be able to find the right person to start one with. Her love life was cursed, in the most literal sense. Apart from the occasional flirt or drunken one night stand, men seemed to take their distance from her. Perhaps she was too chaotic, too ugly, too curvy, too desperate. With time, Audrey had given up the search and decided to concentrate entirely on her career.
She had just placed the tray with mince pies on the kitchen counter as her phone began to buzz in her pocket. She frowned before pulling it out, wondering who would be calling at such a late hour. It couldn’t be her sister. Charlotte knew that it was midnight in England and would suspect Audrey to already be sleeping. She had no idea who else it could be. It was Christmas. Most people would be home, celebrating with their families - or , well, sleeping.

“Hello?” she said after picking up the call from the unknown number.

“Good evening,” an unfamiliar female voice greeted her. “Sheriff Elizabeth Forbes from the police department Mystic Falls talking. Am I speaking with Miss Audrey Campbell?”

Police department Mystic Falls? A knot started to form in Audrey’s throat. The Sheriff wouldn’t be calling her, unless…unless something terrible had happened.

“Y…yes?” she stuttered as her heart began to drop into her stomach. “I-I mean, yeah, that’s me.”

She could hear the Sheriff sighing in relief on the other end of the line.

“I’m glad I was able to reach you this fast, Miss Campbell. I understand it is quite late in England and Christmas at that so I’m keeping myself short.” There was a short pause on the other end of the line before the Sheriff continued. “I’m afraid I have to deliver tragic news. Your sister, Dr. Charlotte Campbell-Fell, and your brother-in-law, Thomas Fell, were found dead on the side of the road an hour ago. Animal attack from the looks of it, though of course we will be investigating in every dire-“
The phone suddenly slipped out of Audrey’s hand and bursted on the floor with a loud  thump , though Audrey barely noticed it through the haze that had descended upon her. She didn’t even register the Sheriff’s concerned voice repeatedly calling her name from the floor or the neighbour living right underneath her banging against the door, complaining about the noise. The only sound she could hear was her heart bursting into a million tiny pieces.    
“We are assembled here today to commemorate the lives of Thomas Gabriel Fell and Dr. Charlotte Campbell-Fell, two  pillars of this community whose untimely passing will no doubt leave a mark on this town for a long time to come,” the pastor started his speech at the podium in front of the two wooden coffins adorned with flower wreaths and satin bands, black-white pictures of the newly deceased next to it.

Audrey was sitting on the bench in the first row in between her twelve year old nephew Benjamin and her six year old niece Callie, her arms wrapped around both children in comfort as they sobbed into her sides. Grace, with her seventeen years the eldest of the three Fell siblings, sat next to her brother, padding his back while her other hand was tightly gripping on to Caroline Forbes’ - her best friend, who was sitting on her other side. She was trying her best to look as composed as possible, though Audrey could still see the traitorous glint of tears glittering in her blue eyes - eyes that looked so much like her mother’s. Her mother that was now lying in one of the coffins in the front of the church.

It was a few days after New Year and a thin layer of frost had descended upon the small town of Mystic Falls, situated at the eastern part of Virginia, not far from the border to North Carolina. While they had been spared of snow for the most part so far this winter, the temperatures were freezing cold, especially in this one hundred and fifty year old church that hadn’t been renovated since its construction in the late eighteen hundreds. Accordingly, everyone that had been assembled here for the funeral wore thick winter coats, scarves and gloves over their black mourning wardrobe. Still, it was barely enough to keep them from freezing. Some sat on the benches, rubbing their hands together, other were shifting from one foot to the other, trying to warm themselves up. They were all undoubtedly looking forward to a nice warm cup of coffee or tea that would get served after the sermon. Audrey was glad that Thomas and Charlotte had the wise foresight to buy a house big enough to accommodate so many guests. Half the town had come to the funeral - much more than Audrey had expected. But then again, as the pastor had just said, her sister and brother-in-law had been something like the pillars of this community, so she really shouldn’t be surprised so many people came to mourn and commemorate them. Besides, Thomas had been a member of one of the five families whose ancestors had presumably founded this town back in the 1860s, which apparently was a big deal around here.

Audrey focused her attention back to the pastor at the podium who was ending his speech with a bible verse.
“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”    Once the sermon was over, the coffins led into the graves and the final goodbyes said, Audrey, Grace, Benjamin and Callie stood on the frost covered path of the cemetery, allowing the guests to speak their condolences as they left. Grace was putting on a composed and mature act while Benjamin looked like he rather wanted to be anywhere else than here and little Callie hid behind Audrey’s legs, watching the strangers and acquaintances stopping in front of them through wary eyes. The town’s Mayor, Richard Lockwood - a strict looking dark-haired middle-aged man, his wife Carol and their son Tyler, who went to High School with Grace, were one of the first people to pass them.“My most heartfelt condolences about your loss, Miss Campbell,” he said. “Thomas and Charlotte were such well-loved members of this community. Their sudden death is truly a tragedy.”“Thank you, Mayor,” Audrey retorted, forcing a small smile on her lips. In truth, she felt more like crying. But she had to put on a composed act and stay strong for the children who needed her right now more than anything. Mrs. Lockwood placed a hand on her arm and gave her sympathetic look.“If there is anything you need help with, please don’t hesitate to reach out,” she said. “You’ll find that in this town, we help each other, much like one big family.” Audrey nodded weakly and gave the friendly brunette woman a thankful smile. Mrs. Lockwood patted her arm before pulling it back. “Am I right in the assumption that we will soon gain you as a new resident, Miss Campbell?”Audrey nodded a second time, brushing a hand through Callie’s auburn locks as the little girl peaked her head out from behind Audrey to stare at the three people in front of her through big round eyes.“Yes, as soon as all the paper stuff is done, I’ll be moving here permanently.”The decision to move to Mystic Falls had been made the moment she had applied for legal guardianship for her nieces and nephew a few days after Christmas. This way, the children could continue their lives in the town they were all born in. She didn’t have much that kept her in London anyway, apart from her work. She would find a new one here or perhaps she would finally fulfil her dream of her own pâtisserie.Mrs. Lockwood smiled at her.“Well, then I’m looking forward to officially welcome you to our small but proud little town. Though I wished it was under better circumstances.”“Thank you, Mrs. Lockwood,” Audrey retorted. “You are too kind.”Standing next to his mother, Tyler shot Grace an awkward sympathetic look, his hands shoved into the pockets of his trousers.“Hey, Grace. I’m sorry about your mom and dad.”Grace nodded, forcing a smile on her lips.“Thank you, Tyler.”With that, the Lockwoods left, making place for the next in line. Sheriff Forbes stepped forward, along with her daughter Caroline. Without saying a single word, the blonde teenager pulled Grace into a tight embrace before lining up next to her. Audrey smiled at her, grateful for everything Caroline had done for them and especially Grace during the last one and a half week. She had sacrificed Christmas and New Year’s Eve to keep a mourning Grace company and help Audrey comfort Benjamin and Callie as well as with the preparations for the funeral and wake. When Audrey had arrived at her sister’s house late evening on the 25th, Caroline, Matt Donovan and Elena Gilbert, two other friends of Grace, as well as Elena’s aunt Jenna Sommers had already been inside, taking care of everything. All of them had cancelled their own Christmas celebrations to be there for them. Elena, who had lost her own parents earlier that year and understood very well what her friend went through, was the most sympathetic.“Once again my condolences for your loss, Miss Campbell,” Sheriff Forbes said. “As Carol just said, if there's anything I can do to help, my front door and office are always open.”“Thank you, Sheriff Forbes,” Audrey replied. “You and Caroline already did so much for us. We can’t possibly ask for more.”“Nonsense,” the Sheriff retorted, waving her off. “Charlotte was a dear friend of mine. She was there for me when I went through a difficult time after my divorce. It’s only right that I repay her by helping the people she loved most in the world.” She paused for a moment, sighing wearily. “2009 truly wasn’t a good year for this town. We lost so many members of our community. First Miranda and Grayson, then Logan and now Thomas and Charlotte. Let us hope this year will get better.”With that, she stepped to the side. Elena, her little brother Jeremy, her boyfriend Stefan Salvatore and Jenna were the next in line. The brunette teenage girl pulled Grace into a hug.“Bonnie wants you to know that she is very sorry that she can’t be here today. I’m supposed to give you a hug from her and tell you to call her whenever you want to talk.”She pulled her back in for another hug. As they separated at last, Grace shot her friend a small smile.“Thanks, Elena. Bonnie just buried her Grams. I understand that she needs a little space from this town.”While the two girls continued talking, Jenna stepped in front of Audrey and surprised the latter by pulling her into a hug.“Stupid question, I know, but are you guys okay?” Jenna asked as they pulled apart. “If you and the kids need a moment alone at the graves, Elena, Stefan, Jeremy and I can go ahead and entertain the guests. Just say the word and we’re at your service.”Audrey smiled at her newfound friend before she shook her head.“Thanks, Jenna, but that’s not necessary. Entertaining the guests is my job. I can’t push everything on to you. You guys already did so much.”Jenna sighed, a sad looking spreading on the strawberry blonde’s face.“I had to bury my own sister and brother-in-law not too long ago, so I totally get what you’re currently going through. Trust me, no one will get mad if you don’t feel like doing the reception. At least no one who matters.”“It’s too late to change my mind now,” Audrey retorted, sighing. “I have to go through with this now. But thanks for the offer.”    When Stefan Salvatore returned home after the funeral reception, he found his older brother Damon in the Boarding House’s living room with a bunch of half-naked and clearly compelled college girls. Loud pop music was blaring out of the stereo. Some of the college girls were dancing to it while Damon sat on on the couch, one of the girls on his lap as he was feeding off her. A bunch of empty alcohol bottles were littering the floor around them. Stefan sighed as he made his way to the stereo. His brother was on a dangerous downwards spiral ever since the night before Christmas when they opened the tomb underneath Fell’s Church only to find that Katherine wasn’t trapped in it as they had originally believed. While Stefan didn’t particularly care about that, Damon had spent his entire vampire existence looking for a way to free the woman he loved only to be heartbroken in the end. And when Damon was heartbroken, people usually died.Stefan stepped in front of the stereo and turned the music off. Damon stopped feeding off the girl and looked up.“Greetings,” he mumbled, wiping the blood of his mouth before pushing the college girl from his lap. Stefan raised his eyebrows at him.“Can we talk?”“Yeah,” Damon replied halfheartedly.Stefan nodded at the college girls.“Without the Tri-Delts.”“Anything you have to say to me, you can say in front of them,” Damon retorted, a drunken smirk on his lips. “They're really good at keeping secrets.”Stefan rolled his eyes as he made his way through the living room towards his brother who was nipping on a fresh bottle of booze. Stefan stopped in front of the couch, crossing his arms in front of his chest as he gave his brother a worried look. He was glad that vampires couldn’t get alcohol poisoning or Damon would be dead by now. The latter looked up from his bottle, meeting Stefan’s worried gaze. His face distorted into a grimace.“You're worried about me,” he concluded, sighing. “That's nice. Don't be. There's no need. I'm fine. Why wouldn't I be? I spent the last one hundred forty five years with one goal: get in that tomb. I succeeded. Granted, Katherine wasn't in there to be rescued, but why dwell? You know, it's so liberating not having a master plan, because I can do whatever the hell I want.”He took another sip from the bottle.“That's kind of what I'm afraid of,” Stefan grumbled, causing Damon to roll his eyes.“Relax. I haven't killed anyone in-“ He stopped, tilting his head as if to think for a moment before he sighed and leaned back into the couch. “too long.” His electric blue eyes fell on Stefan, or more particularity his suit. A frown appeared on his forehead. “Why are you dressed so formally? Did I miss something?”Stefan grimaced before sitting down next to him on the couch.“Today was the funeral of Grace’s parents.”The frown on Damon’s forehead deepened.“Who the hell is Grace?”Stefan shot his brother an indignant look.“Grace Fell, Elena’s friend since early childhood?”A light seemed to lit up over his brother’s head at that.“Oh, the bookworm, right.” He grimaced before taking another sip of booze. “I completely forgot she exists. Though I have to say her blood is incredibly delicious.” He licked his lips, causing Stefan to scowl. He rather not wanted to get reminded of what Damon had done to Caroline and Grace a few months back after he had returned to Mystic Falls for the first time in decades. How he had used them as blood bags and tools to get under Elena’s skin. Luckily he had decided to leave them alone after he and Elena became a little closer. Stefan didn’t want to think what would have happened to the girls if he hadn’t. Nothing good, that was for sure. He looked over his brother before narrowing his eyes suspiciously.“You know, her parents were apparently attacked by an animal and left to die on the side of the road on Christmas Eve. You don’t happen to know anything about that, do you?”Damon raised his eyebrows at that, completely unimpressed.“Animal attack on Christmas Eve, huh? Well, sucks for them.”“Come on, Damon,” Stefan retorted. “Don’t play dumb. We both know that it wasn’t an animal. So out with it: Did you kill them?”Damon shot him an irritated look.“What’s with all these accusations lately? I just told you I haven’t killed anyone recently!”Stefan still didn't seem convinced of his brother’s innocence.“Well, I just know that it wasn’t me so…What did you do on Christmas Eve?”Damon sighed exasperatedly before throwing his head back against the couch.“Honestly, Stefan, I have no idea what I did on Christmas Eve. It’s all a blur up there. I just know there was a lot of booze involved. Ooh, and not to forget the sexy stripper!” A satisfied grin spread on his face.Stefan furrowed his brows.“If it was neither you nor me, who killed them then?”Damon shrugged his shoulders as he placed the bottle back on his lips.“No idea. Don’t care either. Now, if you don’t plan on participating, you better make yourself scarce.”He shushed him away before speeding to the stereo and turning the music back on.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

The rest of January went by rather quickly. During the day, Audrey had little time to grieve. There was simply too much that needed to be done. The children needed to be looked after, she needed to find a job, had multiple court appointments regarding the legal guardianship and then there was the paper work.  So much  paper work. Thomas’ and Charlotte’s affairs had to be sorted, including their will that Audrey had found locked away in a desk drawer. She hadn’t expected to find one. Both had been in their early forties and in best health. But then again, her sister had always liked to be prepared for every possible scenario.
The will didn’t include anything unexpected. Thomas and Charlotte had left the fully paid house to all three of their children, though Audrey would be the one written down in the deed as long as the children were still minors. The little expansion to the house that had served as Charlotte’s doctor office was passed on to Meredith, Thomas’ cousin who was working as a doctor at the Mystic Falls hospital and had been an immense help at sorting out Charlotte’s job affairs. She had gone through her planner and called every patient’s parents that had been scheduled for an appointment to inform them that it would need to get cancelled and even directed them to other paediatricians in close proximity. Since this was a rather small town where gossip travelled fast, most had already been aware of Charlotte’s tragic passing which made the job a lot easier.

The small fortune Thomas and Charlotte had left behind went to all three of their children, Audrey and even some to Meredith. The children’s money was put into trust funds what would serve to finance their college tuition or whatever else they might need it for later in life.

Then, there were the cars. Thomas’ blue 2007 Mercedes Benz Convertible was passed on to Grace who was already familiar with the car since she had been using it a lot. Charlotte’s 2005 Buick Century went to Audrey.

Sometime Mid-January, Audrey finally managed to land a job in a cute little pâtisserie located in the neighbouring town of Grove Hill. Betsy, the owner - an energetic elderly lady in her mid-seventies, had taken an immediate liking to her and left her free reign in the bakery. Audrey couldn’t be happier with her job. The salary and work hours were fair. It wouldn’t make her rich but it was enough to survive off. During her lunch breaks she usually drove back to Mystic Falls to meet up with Jenna and Meredith at the Mystic Grill. The three of them had grown rather fast friends over the course of the month, with Meredith and Audrey supporting each other through their shared grief while Jenna was reaching out a hand in case they needed to hold on to it. Occasionally they were accompanied by Alaric Saltzman, a history teacher working at the Mystic Falls High School who Jenna had started to date shortly after New Year. While he was always friendly, Audrey couldn’t help but feel that something was off about him. As if he was keeping secrets. Many secrets.

“Ugh, John is getting on my last nerve,” Jenna groaned one sunny day in early February as the three women sat once again together in the Grill during their lunch breaks. “The only reason I called him back in town was so I could sell Grayson’s office building. Now not only does he refuse to give me the permission for no apparent reason, he even struts around the house as if he owns the place, constantly making snarky remarks about how bad of a role model I am for Jeremy and Elena. I mean, I know I’m far from perfect but I’m trying, okay? It’s…hard. Miranda always made it look so easy.”

Jenna let out a frustrated sigh as she forcefully pierced a lettuce leaf with her fork. Audrey shot her friend a sympathetic look. She knew that feeling all to well. It had been haunting her for the entire month.

“I know what you mean,” she said. “Motherhood always seemed so effortless to Charlotte. Like she was barely trying. I never knew it would be so hard. I constantly feel like I’m failing, like I’m not doing enough. Callie still hasn’t spoken a single word. She’s suffering and I have no idea how to help her.”

All three Fell siblings were still heavily grieving their parents’ deaths, each in their own way. While Grace was pulling herself together during the day and almost hyper focused on school, Audrey found the teenager crying herself to sleep every night, a framed family photo wrapped in her arms. Benjamin was more absentminded than usual. Whenever he came home after school he would reluctantly do his homework and then resort to sitting on his bed and staring at the wall for the rest of the day. He had stopped meeting his friends outside of school and even refused to go to basketball training anymore. Ever since his father had gifted him his first basketball at the age of six, Benjamin had dreamed of becoming a famous basketball player. But now it seemed as though that dream had faded away like ashes in the wind. From all the children, however, Callie was the one who was worrying Audrey the most. The little girl had always been energetic and cheerful, but ever since Christmas Eve she had turned quiet and reserved, never speaking a single word. The teachers in school had already suggested to send her to a psychologist but the waiting lists were long. It could take another half a year to get an appointment.

“Okay, I need both of you to hold on a second,” Meredith said before turning to Jenna. “Don’t listen to anything John says. He’s an arrogant idiot who’s just trying to get under your skin. Don’t let him.” She turned to Audrey. “And you have to stop giving yourself the fault for Callie’s muteness. She is simply grieving. Give her some time. She’ll be alright eventually. You’ll see.”

Audrey sighed before shooting the brunette doctor a sceptical look. She sincerely hoped that her friend was right.
    
When Stefan happily strutted back into the Salvatore Boarding House after school this day, his older brother Damon was already waiting for him in the parlour.

“How was school?” he asked casually as he looked up from the bourbon glass he was sipping on, eyeing his brother suspiciously. Ever since he had gotten kidnapped and tortured by one of the tomb vampires and Elena had fed him her blood to save both of their lives, Stefan had changed. His usual tortured and brooding demeanour was replaced by a more chipper but also anxious attitude. Though there was something else bubbling in his forest green eyes. Something wild, dangerous. Damon couldn’t help but wonder if it had something to do with his recent diet change.

“Fine,” Stefan muttered, not interested in enlarging upon the rather tiresome topic.

“Yeah?” Damon asked, raising his eyebrows. “Same old, same old? Nothing new? No stories to bring home?”

Stefan narrowed his eyes at him suspiciously.

“You're making small talk, why?”

Damon shrugged before he placed the bourbon glass back on the bar and stepped closer.

“You seem awfully chipper lately, less doom and gloom, a little more pep in your step.”

“And you think it's because I drank human blood again,” Stefan concluded, crossing his arms in front of his chest. His tone implied that it was a ridiculous accusation, but Damon also noticed the slight hitch in his breath. A grin spread on his lips.

“I don't want to brag but I would definitely take responsibility for this new and improved you.”

“Well, I hate to burst your bubble but I'm clean,” Stefan grimaced, nervously shifting from one foot to the other and thus betraying the lie. Even without that, Damon would have had a difficult time believing the lie. The change in his brother’s demeanour was simply too obvious. Well, and then there was the fact that someone had just robbed the hospital’s blood bank and he was out of suspects.

“Yeah, not possible,” he retorted, still eyeing his brother suspiciously.

“Not only is it possible but it is quite true.”

“Stefan, just be serious for a second,” Damon huffed, shooting him an indignant look. “You spent the last century and a half being a poster child for Prozac and now you expect me to believe that this new you has nothing to do with human blood? Nothing?”

“I'm clean,” Stefan repeated, voice laced with irritation.

Damon narrowed his eyes at him.
“You're  lying !”
“Believe what you want,” Stefan grumbled before leaving the room. Damon’s gaze followed him, eyes narrowing in suspicion. His brother was definitely acting strange and kept secrets from him.

When he noticed Stefan walking down the stairs into the cellar half an hour later, he decided to secretly follow him. Hiding in a shadowy corner of the cellar, he watched his brother opening the freezer in the other corner of the room…that was full of the stolen blood bags from the hospital. Damon’s suspicion had proved to be correct.
“Well well, he's a liar and a thief,” he said, stepping out of the shadows. “So, when were you gonna share?”Stefan nodded at the opened freezer, acting casual even though his secret had just been exposed.“Go ahead, help yourself.”Damon shook his head and crossed his arms in front of his chest.“No, no, no I'm talking about the fact that you're a closet blood junkie.”“So, I'm drinking blood again,” the youngest Salvatore stated, shrugging his shoulders. “You're the one that shoved it on me, what's your problem? I have it under control.”Damon shot his brother an indignant look. That was what he called “under control”?“Under control? You robbed the hospital!”Stefan rolled his eyes, visibly annoyed bis elder brother’s lecture.“So, what's your point?”Damon sighed, grimacing. Why did Stefan always have to make his life so unnecessarily complicated? John Gilbert was about to activate the Town Council again. The last thing he needed right now was his little blood junkie brother running through town, massacring people left and right and exposing their secret.“Fine, whatever man, drink up. Just remember, we're trying to keep a low profile. Why don't you just walk up to Sheriff Forbes and ask her to tap a vein?”Stefan’s face distorted into a fake apologetic, mocking look.“Have my actions negatively impacted you? I can't imagine what that must feel like.”“Yeah, what does Elena think about the new...you?” Damon asked, looking at Stefan intently. He couldn’t imagine that the brunette teenage girl would be a fan of Stefan’s diet change. For the split of a second, he could see Stefan’s face faltering before he quickly got himself back under control.“Nothing's changed; I'm still the same person.”Damon scoffed indignantly.“Clearly.”“Elena doesn't need to know anything yet,” Stefan stated, giving him an intent look. The warning in his forest-green eyes was clear.Not a single word to her about any of this.As if Damon listened to anything people told him to do.“You've been off the human stuff for years, Stefan,” he reminded his brother, concern flashing across his face. “If you're having trouble controlling...”“I'm not having trouble,” Stefan cut him off, voice laced with irritation.Damon sighed.“Who do you think you're talking to? I know what it's like. That Jekyll and Hyde feeling, that switch, sometimes it goes off and you snap. Right now is not a good time for me to be worried about you snapping.”At least not as long as John Gilbert was sneaking around town. Stefan sighed, staying stubborn.“I know that it pains you to see this but I'm fine, okay? I'm fine.” He grabbed a blood bag from the freezer before closing the latter again. “So please, do me a favor and back off.”With that he walked back up the stairs, leaving Damon behind the cellar.This could only end in a catastrophe.    
“How was dance lesson?” Audrey asked a few days later as she and the Fell siblings sat around the dinner table, looking at her eldest niece. Grace huffed, face distorting into a grimace as she helped herself to a serving of steaming lasagna.

“Don’t even start. If I hear Mrs. Lockwood say ‘It's about the simple intimacy of the near touch’ one more time, I’m going to scream.”

Audrey couldn’t help but chuckle at her niece’s obvious dislike for the upcoming Miss Mystic Falls Pageant in celebration of the town’s founding month. She had ranted about it ever since the dance lessons for the contestants and their escorts had started a week ago.

“Who even invented those stupid dance moves?” Grace continued her rant. “I keep tripping over my own feet. Or Martin’s. It will only get worse at the pageant when I’m wearing a  gown I can barely move in.” She cut off a piece of her lasagna and shoved it into her mouth only to gasp and wave her hands in front of her mouth right after  as the burning hot food touched her tongue. “Ow! It’s hot!”

Her hand immediately reached for the glass of water next to her plate before she greedily gulped down the cool liquid to relieve some of the pain.
“Of course it’s hot, genius,” Benjamin commented with rolled eyes. “You can literally see the steam coming off it. Well, maybe not  you . You’re blind as a mole.”
Grace shot her brother an irritated side eye before placing the glass back on the table while Audrey gave her niece a concerned look.

“Are you alright?”

Grace nodded.

“Yeah, don’t worry. I’m fine. Just burned my tongue a bit.” She grimaced. “I guess that’s what I get for bad-mouthing a one hundred fifty year old tradition.”

Audrey chuckled again as she blew over her own piece of lasagna.

“Who knows. I was wondering why you even applied for the pageant in the first place. Don’t get me wrong, you have a lot of talents but dancing definitely doesn’t belong to it. I didn’t exactly peg you for a social butterfly either.”

“Group pressure, I guess,” Grace replied, shrugging her shoulders. “If I didn’t apply for the pageant, the Fells would be the only founding family without a representative. Even Stefan and Tyler will be there as escorts. I know we Fells are a dying breed with only four of us left, but I don’t want the town to forget about us entirely. Besides, Caroline joined the school’s book club with me even though she’s totally out of place there. The least I can do is dress up and step out of my comfort zone for one afternoon. It means a lot to her that she, Elena and me do this Miss Mystic Falls thing together.”

Audrey nodded and smiled in understanding. She had already guessed that Grace was doing it for her best friend. The energetic blonde teenager seemed to have thrown herself into preparations for the various founding month celebrations full of vim and vigour -especially the pageant. It shouldn’t come as a surprise that she had pulled her best friend into it as well even though Grace wasn’t one for social events. She rather spent her free afternoons in the library reading and studying.

At first glance, the two girls were completely different from each other. So different, that outsiders had a hard time understanding their close friendship and sisterhood. Not even Grace and Caroline themselves understood the unbreakable bond that had formed between them. Maybe it was due to their shared insecurities or their affinity to do good and help those in need. Or maybe it was the fact that both girls had been standing in Elena Gilbert’s shadow for the longest time, always feeling as  though they weren’t enough. Whatever it was that had bound those two souls together - it was special. Even Audrey could see it. A bond that would last a lifetime - or multiple.

The rest of the dinner proceeded in silence. Silent meals had become a stable at the Campbell-Fell household over the last month. It wasn’t for the lack of conversation topics. No, it was rather due to the burdensome sense of incompleteness spreading in their hearts whenever the four of them sat together around the table. It was at that time of the day when Thomas’ and Charlotte’s absence was felt the most. The children missed their mother’s warm laughter and their father’s sarcastic comments while he was reading the newspaper at the breakfast table. The two chairs at the head and bottom of the table they had always occupied were left empty - like two glaring tears ripped into the perfect tapestry of a complete, happy family. For Audrey, those quiet mealtimes were one of the rare moments in the day when she allowed herself to think about her sister. Would Charlotte think of her as competent enough to raise her children? Would she be happy to see her family united at last without an ocean between them? What would she say to Audrey if they could see each other one last time?

Be happy, Rey, and live your life to the fullest. No matter where it takes you and what obstacles will get thrown in your way, I know you will get through everything if only you believe in yourself. I am so infinitely proud of you, little sister. Rest assured that I will be there with mum and dad waiting for you at the other end of the bridge when it is time for you to cross it. Until then, know that I love you - always and forever,

Those had been the last words in the letter Charlotte had left for Audrey with the will. The letter that was lying ready on top of her nightstand so she could read it every night and cry herself to sleep all over again. Words that filled her heart with so much love, longing and pain all at the same time. She missed her sister so terribly. She missed hearing her voice on the other end of the line during their weekly phone calls. She missed the letters and photos she had regularly sent her. She missed having someone to talk to about her worries and fears. She missed her so much it hurt.

Without Charlotte, nothing would ever be the same again.
    
The day of the Miss Mystic Falls Pageant came and started with a generous dose of hectic. Since it was a Saturday and neither the children nor Audrey had to leave the house early during the weekend, Audrey forgot to set her alarm, causing everyone to wake up a lot later than planned. They barely had time to get ready and down a cup of coffee or a bowl of cereal before they had to grab Grace’s pageant gown and make up and hair styling utensils and make their way to the Founders Hall where the event would take place.

As expected, Audrey and Grace were one of the last to step into the room where the pageant girls were getting ready. On the way there, they had met Jenna and Alaric who had offered to watch Benjamin and Callie while Audrey was helping her eldest niece to get ready. Not wanting to lose any more time, Grace took the vanity between Caroline’s and another contestant’s and spread her utensils on the table while Audrey was hanging the red gown on the clothing rack in the corner of the room. Caroline, who had just finished with the last touches of her make up, raised her eyebrows at her best friend.

“Where the hell have you been? The pageant starts in twenty minutes! Elena and I were afraid you were getting cold feet.”

Grace shot her an apologetic grimace.

“Sorry. We’ve slept in.” Her eyes wandered through the room, searching for her brunette friend. “Where’s Elena?”

“No idea,” Caroline retorted, standing up. “Damon pulled her out of the room a few minutes ago. Some trouble with Stefan, who knows. Not that you have time to worry about that anyway. We have to hurry up.” She grabbed the make up bag Grace was about to open. “Now give me that. I’ll take care of your make up while your aunt does your hair. Don’t worry. We will turn you into a dark-haired version of Grace Kelly in no time.”

Following the blonde teenager’s instructions, Audrey began to pull the brush through Grace’s black curls. The teenager’s face distorted into a grimace as Caroline began to apply foundation to her face.

“Like a clumsy, poor imitation of Grace Kelly you mean. Why spent so much effort making me look great when I’m going to embarrass myself at the dance later anyway? We all know who’s going to win anyway.”

“Nonsense,” Caroline stated. “I’m going to make sure you look great no matter what. If you trip and slide all the way across the dance floor, you’ll at least do it looking fabulous. And now hold still or I’m going to ruin your make up.”

Fifteen minutes later both Caroline and Audrey were finished with their work and Grace was dressed in her crimson-coloured sleeveless dress. Due to the sparse time limit the look was kept simple yet elegant. She wore simple eye make up and red lips. Her dark, soft curls were put into an elegant up-do, the strands in the front softly falling on her shoulders and framing her face.

Taking out her phone, Audrey made a picture of both teenagers in their dresses.

“You look absolutely beautiful, Grace,” Audrey said, placing her hands on the girl’s shoulders. “Your mum would be so proud of you.”

Grace nodded, tears glittering in her eyes.

“I know. I just wish she were here today. I miss her so much!”

When Grace started to sob, Audrey pulled her into an embrace, careful not to ruin Caroline’s masterwork.

“She is here,” she said after they pulled apart, placing a hand above Grace’s heart. “In here, always. Just like your dad. No matter where you are, they will always be with you.” She pressed a gentle kiss on the teenager’s forehead. “Now stop your crying. The line-up is going to start soon. I’ll be waiting downstairs. The best luck to both of you. You got this.”

With one last encouraging smile at the teenage girls, Audrey turned around and left the room. It didn’t take her long to find her other niece and nephew. They were standing around a table in the courtyard on the side of the dance floor not far from the grand staircase where the contestants would be lining up soon. Jenna was crouching behind Callie, braiding her hair and sealing the look with a pink bow that matched the dress the little girl wore, while Alaric was trying to pull Benjamin into a conversation about basketball. But the boy ignored his efforts and continued to stare into the crowd of guests, a bored expression on his face. The Miss Mystic Falls Pageant had to be incredibly boring for the two children but Audrey had little choice but to take them with her. The entire town was assembled here today and those that weren’t had to work, like Meredith. That meant she would have had a hard time hiring a babysitter for the day and both Benjamin and Callie were still too young to be left alone at home. The two of them would have to arrange themselves here - at least until the winner was crowned. They didn’t have to stay until the very end. Grace could stay a little longer with her friends if she wanted to.

“Hey, everything alright with you?” she greeted the group as she stepped next to Benjamin, tousling his amber-coloured hair. Jenna fixed Callie’s hair bow and got back up on her feet, raising her eyebrows at her friend.

“Already finished? That was fast.”

“Yeah, with Caroline’s help,” Audrey replied, grimacing. “I don’t think we would have been able to get ready in time without her. The girls were already preparing for the line-up as I walked downstairs.”

In that moment, a light brunette man presumably in his mid-thirties joined them at the table, causing Jenna to groan in contempt.

“Ugh, John. Do you have to be here? Go and bother someone else.”

Audrey shot the stranger a curious look. That was John Gilbert, Elena’s and Jeremy’s uncle and Jenna’s current conversation topic number one? Based on everything Jenna and Meredith had told her about him, she had assumed he was closer to Charlotte’s age than hers. But looks could be deceiving.

“Now, now, Jenna,” John retorted, ignoring the deadly glares the strawberry blonde woman was sending his way. “Is that any way to treat family? I’m here to witness Elena’s introduction, nothing more and nothing less.” His eyes finally fell on Audrey, reciprocating her curious glances. “And you must be Miss Campbell, Charlotte’s sister.” He gave her a friendly smile before holding out his hand for her to shake. “John Gilbert. A pleasure to meet you. And my most heartfelt condolences, of course.”

“The pleasure is all mine.”

Audrey took his hand and shook it in greeting. She shouldn’t be surprised that John had known her sister. Of course he had. Almost everyone in this town seemed to have known her. The perks of marrying into a founding family, as Meredith had put it.

“A tragedy, what happened with Thomas and Charlotte,” John continued, shaking his head sadly. “Two outstanding citizens of this town simply gone from one day to the next. They have both been doing so much for this community. Their absence is heavily felt in the Town Council. I was out of town for a while and only heard about their deaths after my return or I would have showed my respects at the funeral of course.”
Audrey shot him a surprised look. Her sister had been a member of the Town Council? Why had she never told her about this? They used to talk about everything. But then again, Meredith wasn’t telling her anything about the council and its work either. According to Jenna, it was some sort of super secretive cult reserved for members of founding families only. Its members prided themselves as protectors and preservers of the town and its history, but no one outside of the council knew anything about  what  exactly they were doing. The meetings were all top secret, almost as if they were discussing state secrets. Pretty strange, all things considered. But maybe that was part of the “mysterious small town”- package.
Before Audrey could think further about the town and its secrets, Carol Lockwood called all guests to attention so she could start the line-up.

“Miss Amber Bradley, escorted by Mr. Tyler Lockwood.”

A few moments later a blonde girl dressed in a lilac gown was escorted to the dance floor by Tyler, the teenage son of the Mayor Audrey had already met at the funeral of her sister and brother-in-law. The poor girl seemed extremely nervous to have all the attention on her while Tyler looked as though he rather wanted to be anywhere else than here. After they had positioned themselves on the dance floor, the crowd’s attention went back to the staircase, awaiting the next introduction. There was a longer pause before Mrs. Lockwood called the next girl.
“Miss Caroline Forbes, escorted by Mr. Jeffrey Lockwood Hamilton.”Audrey frowned. If they were going alphabetically through the contestants last names, shouldn’t Grace have been called before Caroline? Where was she? Audrey craned her neck, looking around, a concerned expression spreading on her face. She didn’t get cold feet in the last moment, did she?“Where’s Grace?” Jenna whispered as she leaned closer to Audrey. “That was supposed to be her call.”“I have no idea,” Audrey whispered back. “I hope nothing serious happened.”As Caroline was escorted past them, she exchanged a worried glance with Audrey and slightly shook her head, signalling her that she didn’t know anything about Grace’s whereabouts either. Panic began to surge through Audrey. What had happened to her niece? As soon as the line-up was done, she would go upstairs and look for her. Hopefully she had only gotten cold feet and locked herself in the bathroom or something.“Miss Elena Gilbert, escorted by Mr. Stefan Salvatore.”Much to everyone’s surprise, it wasn’t Stefan who escorted the brunette teenager in her royal blue gown to the courtyard, but a raven-haired man with icy blue eyes Audrey never had seen before. Next to her, she could see Jenna and Alaric frowning at each other.“What is she doing with Damon?” Jenna whispered, leaning closer to her boyfriend,“I have no idea,” the history teacher replied, just as confused.The rest of the contestants were introduced and before long, the dance started - and yet there was still no trace of the eldest Fell sibling. While the guests all watched the contestants dance with their escorts, Audrey made her way upstairs to search for her niece. The bathroom was her first stop. She knocked on the door.“Grace? Are you in there? Can I come in?”When no reply came, Audrey’s concern grew and she simply opened the door, afraid that something had happened to the teenager.How right she was.    Meanwhile. Stefan was dragging Grace to the parking lot in front of the Founders Hall, his grip on her arm relentless.“Where are we going?” she asked. Although she barely knew him, Stefan had always seemed so friendly before. But now she wasn’t so sure anymore. When she had entered the bathroom to check up on her make up one final time right before the line-up, she had found Stefan standing by the sink in front of a shattered mirror, blood dripping from his fist. Before she could utter so much as a single word, he had turned around to look at her, his usual friendly face distorted into the grotesque mask of a monster. Black, bloodshot eyes with protruding veins underneath had stared right back at her while fangs were protruding from his mouth - the stuff nightmares were made off. In that moment, she had wanted to scream bloody murder as loud as she could, warning everyone in the house of the monster in their midst, but before she could so much as blink, Stefan had pressed his hand on her mouth silencing her and telling her not to be afraid of him. Grace had no idea how, but from one moment to the next, her fear of him had vanished, leaving nothing but confusion.“I don't know,” Stefan replied, visibly on edge. Something had shaken him up. He was more nervous than usual, the grip on her arm tightening.“We have to go back to the pageant,” she said. “I’m sure they’re missing us already.”Stefan roughly pushed her against a car parking on the side of the lane. Grace stumbled with her back against the car door, the youngest Salvatore standing centimetres in front of her.“Not now, we're not.” His forest-green eyes bore into hers in the same way they had before in the bathroom, pupils dilating. “You're standing in the parking lot with me.”A strange sense of calmness overcame her as she was being pulled into his seemingly bottomless eyes, unable to look away. Suddenly, she didn’t want to return to the pageant anymore. No, she liked staying exactly where she was.“I'm in the parking lot with you,” she repeated, voice monotonous as if she was in some kind of trance. Suddenly, Stefan pulled away from her, guilt flashing across his features.“I'm sorry. I'm sorry,” he muttered, a hand running through his hair. “I'm not very good to be around right now, I'm a little bit on the edge. I've been drinking the human stuff and it's really screwing with my head.” A pained and torn expression spread across his face. “She knows now. God! She wasn't supposed to find out, I didn't want her to find out, now everything's ruined.”Grace continued to look at him with a confused expression on her face. She didn’t understand half of what he was rambling but she concluded that the “she” he was talking about had to be Elena. Who else could it be?“Did you and Elena have an argument?” she asked tentatively. “You seem sad.”He laughed coldly, eyes darkening ever so slightly.“I'm not sad. I'm freaking hungry!”The confusion in Grace’s face deepened. If he was hungry, why didn’t he simply get something to eat? She didn’t quite understand the problem.“Then why don’t we go back inside?” she suggested. “There’s a buffet as far as I know.”Stefan shook his head, pushing her back against the car door.“Not that kind of food. What I’m craving for is right here in front of me.” He moved closer to her, his eyes observing her hungrily like a predator eyeing its prey and yet Grace still wasn’t afraid of him. As much as she wanted to, as she should, she simply couldn’t. Suddenly, Stefan reeled back again, shaking his head energetically. “No, I don't hurt people. I don't do that. I'm the good brother.”If Grace were able to fear him, she would definitely be scared right about now.“Do you want to hurt me?” she whispered, looking at him.Stefan reciprocated her gaze, moving an  inch closer again.“I want to kill you,” he admitted, voice turning low and dangerous. “I want to rip into your skin and I want to feed on your blood.” His hand travelled towards the loose strands of hair in the front of her head, pushing them away to get a better view of her neck. His eyes focused in on her neckline. “Under your skin, pulsating, floating.” He touched her neck in an almost revering, gentle way. “Your carotid artery right here. If you puncture this just right you can control the blood flow. It takes practice but it doesn't have to make a mess, you don't have to waste any.”Grace stared at him wide-eyed, not daring to make a move. A thousand thoughts were racing through her head. Why wasn’t she scared of him? He had just admitted that he wanted to kill her and drink her blood like a freaking vampire, goddammit! She should be scared. She should be running for her life, not standing here as if nothing happened. But her feet seemed to be frozen in place.“What's stopping you?” she whispered.Stefan gulped audibly as his hand travelled from her neckline to her face.“If I do this, if I give in, there's no going back.”“Then don't.”His grip on her face tightened as she tried to turn it away from him.“I just want one taste,” he retorted, pupils dilating once again as his eyes bore into hers. “That's all I need, One single taste.”Maybe she could allow him one small taste. It couldn’t be that bad, could it? It was not like she had a choice anyway. His face distorted again into the fearsome mask of a monster as his head moved closer to her neck.“One taste,” she agreed, mumbling. Just a few seconds later his sharp fangs pierced the soft skin on her neck. A sharp pain shot through her as he began to greedily gulp down her blood as if he was nearing dehydration. Grace had no idea how long he fed off her, but at one point she started to feel weak and drowsy from the blood loss. That was when Stefan let off from her. His eyes widened in shock as he realised what he had done, blood dropping from his mouth onto his suit.“I can't do this,” he whispered, taking a few steps back.“What's the matter?” she asked, giving him a confused look. Why had he suddenly stopped?“I can't do this,” he repeated, desperation and guilt reflecting in his eyes.“It's okay,” she assured him, smiling faintly. “It doesn't hurt that much, just not so hard next time.”Stefan buried his face in his hands, shaking his head frantically.“Oh god oh god oh god! I can't stop. Damon was right. Your blood is addictive.” He looked up at her again, touching her face. “Why aren't you afraid of me?”Grace furrowed her brows. Yeah, why the hell wasn’t she afraid of him? She should be. Every other halfway sane person would be.“You told me not to be,” she reminded him, causing Stefan’s eyes to widen in shock.“What?” He removed his hand from her face, as he looked back into her eyes. “Listen to me, Grace. I need you to be afraid of me. I need you to run like hell, do you understand me? Run, run now!”That seemed to snap the dark-haired teenage girl out of her trance-like state. From one moment to the other, the fear of him, of the monster standing in front of her, resurfaced. Without hesitating another second, she started to run off towards the woods. Running in the long, tight gown proved to be anything but easy, but she continued fleeing as if the devil himself was on her tracks. Perhaps he was, because whatever Stefan was, he certainly wasn’t human. Her heart beat rapidly against her chest, as if trying to break out of its confinements.However, she didn’t come far. She had barely reached the first treeline, as Stefan suddenly appeared right in front of her, blocking her way. Not being able to stop in time, Grace collided with his chest. How had he managed to move this fast? She could have sworn he hadn’t been there a second before!“You said to run!” she exclaimed, taking a step away from the predator in front of her. His eyes were back to the monstrous black and red, fangs protruding from his mouth.“I changed my mind.”In the next second, he had grabbed her and sunk his fangs back into her neck. This time, she didn’t remain calm. An ear piercing scream erupted from her lips as a sharp pain shot through her neck once again, ten times more painful than the last time. She struggled against his grip, trying to free herself, but Stefan’s grip was relentless.Grace knew that he wouldn’t stop this time. No, this time he would feed off her until he had drained her off the last drop of blood. She would die. Strangely enough, the prospect of dying wasn’t all that scary anymore now that she was moments away from it. She would see her parents again. Finally.I’m coming, mom and dad.“Stefan!”Elena’s voice suddenly came up from behind them. In the next moment, Stefan suddenly cried out in pain, dropping Grace on the soft forest ground. In her delirious state, Grace vaguely noticed Bonnie joining Elena’s side, hands outstretched in Stefan’s direction while she was mumbling some kind of incantation in Latin. The latter grabbed his head with both hands, groaning in pain as he fell on his knees.“That’s enough now, Bonnie,” Elena said, voice laced with concern as she watched her boyfriend writhing in  pain on the ground. “Bonnie, stop! Please. You’re killing him!”But Bonnie didn’t stop until Stefan lost consciousness. She panted heavily before turning to the third figure that had approached them.“Get him home, lock him up. I don’t care. Just make sure he stays away from Grace from now on. If he ever tries something like that again, I will kill him.” Without giving the unconscious Stefan another glance, she knelt down next to Grace, eyes full of concern. “Oh my god, Grace! I’m so sorry I wasn’t here faster.”“Bonnie…what…” Grace whispered, confused. Her eyelids fluttered as the blood continued to pool out of her opened wound on her neck. It was getting harder and harder to keep her eyes open.“Shh, you’re safe now,” Bonnie said. “Everyone’s been looking for you back at the pageant. Your aunt and Caroline are worried sick about you.”“Aunt Audrey…”She missed her aunt. She wanted to see her one last time before she died.“She’s back at the house,” Bonnie assured her. “It’s better she doesn’t see you like that.”Grace nodded weakly. Maybe Bonnie was right and it was better her aunt and her sibling weren’t here to watch her dying. That would be too cruel. However, there was one last thing she needed to know before death took her.“The pageant…who won?”“Caroline,” Bonnie replied. “She’s Miss Mystic Falls now. But that’s hardly of importance right now. We need to get you to the hospital. You’ve lost too much blood.”A weak smile tucked on Grace’s lips.“I knew she would win,” were the last words to leave her mouth before she closed her eyes and drifted off into unconsciousness.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

Something strange was going on in this town. Audrey had no doubt about it. She had already been suspicious after the apparent animal attack on her niece during the Miss Mystic Falls Pageant that had left Grace without any memories of what happened or how she had ended up in the woods in the first place, but as the founding month continued to take its course, the incidents kept piling up. While the teenagers spent most of their free time at High School, preparing the floats for the Founders’ Day Parade, Grace somehow had ended up going missing for an entire afternoon only to come back home late in the evening, disoriented, her memories of the entire afternoon gone and with a strange bite mark on her neck similar to the one she had gotten during the pageant. None of her friends had been able to tell Audrey what had happened to her niece or where she had been. Though Elena had looked somewhat guilty, now that she was thinking about it…

The Gilbert girl knew something. Alaric knew something and so did Meredith and Grace’s fourth childhood friend Bonnie Bennett who had returned to Mystic Falls shortly before the pageant after a month-long break. It was written all over their guilty faces whenever Audrey asked them about what had happened to Grace. But no one would tell her anything, leading her to the conclusion that she would have to make her own investigations.

But first, she had to get through all the Founders’ Day madness. After finding out about her profession as pastry chef, Carol Lockwood had solicited her to create a giant cake for the Founders’ Day celebrations. Knowing that advertising her skills could help Betsy achieving more sales, she had accepted the order. Drafting and designing the cake kept her busy the entire week leading to the Founders Day Parade. During that time, the strange incidents surrounding Grace and her friends retreated to the back of her mind, almost forgotten.
The 25th of February came rather quickly, marking the one hundred and fiftieth “birthday” of the town. When Audrey woke up that Thursday morning, she felt a strange shift in the air. She couldn’t say what it was, but  something  in the pit of her stomach told her that something would happen today. After breakfast, she helped Grace to put on her pale blue 1860s period dress for the parade and gather her curls into an elegant era-appropriate up-do. Caroline, who had been leading the preparations of the Mystic Falls Court float as the newly chosen Miss Mystic Falls, wanted  everything  to be as era-appropriate as possible, up to their accessories, meaning the contestants had to wear bulgy corset dresses and elegant hairstyles, while their escorts dressed up in suits (that were a little less era-appropriate since most of the budget had been spent on the dresses - much to Caroline’s dismay).
“I have some newfound respect for all the poor women who had to wear such killer-entrapments every single day,” Grace commented as she sceptically checked up her look in the mirror. “How they managed to breathe in those things is beyond me.”

Audrey laughed as she pushed the last hair pin in place.

“Well, say what you want about corsets, but they do form a very nice waistline.” She stepped back, admiring her work with a smile on her lips. “Now you truly look like a young lady from an esteemed nineteenth century family.”

Grace’s face distorted into a grimace.

“Well, then let’s get this parade over with so I can get back to wearing clothing I can actually breathe and walk in.”
    
When Grace arrived at the Mystic Falls High School where the parade would start, Mrs. Lockwood was already busy ordering the teenagers and helpers around.

“No, no, no, no, no! It's all wrong! The marching band should be in front of the Historic Society. Boys, I asked you to put chairs on the Founders' Float. Ladies! Time to get on the float.”
Grace found Caroline, Bonnie and Matt standing at the side, taking pictures. Or more precisely,  Bonnie  was about to take a picture of Caroline and Matt posing in their period costumes. The blonde girl dressed in a yellowish green period dress had her Miss Mystic Falls satin band draped around her shoulder.
“Say cheese!”

Caroline suddenly stopped posing and turned to Matt, whose arm was still put in a cast ever since he broke it during the Founders’ Day preparations almost two weeks ago. Funny enough it had happened on the very same afternoon that had been completely wiped from Grace’s memories. She couldn’t for the life of her figure out what she had done that day or where she had gone to. All she remembered was that she had left the house in the morning to go to school like every day and then somehow ended back in front of her house late in the evening with a strange bite mark on her neck and a few bruises on her arms.

“Oh wait! Hide your cast, it's not era-appropriate!”

The blonde quarterback scoffed indignantly.

“Seriously?”

“Yes!”

He sighed, rolling his eyes.

“Okay, fine.”

Matt twisted his pose slightly so his cast was hidden behind Caroline’s back. The couple smiled into the camera as Bonnie took the picture. A smile spread on Grace’s lips. She was glad that the two of them had found each other. Matt went through hell ever since his mother had abandoned him and his late sister Vicki over a year ago to run after her latest one-night-stand, leaving both teenagers to take care of the house and the bills themselves. Elena broke his heart last summer and now even his sister was gone - found dead in the woods during a heavy rainstorm weeks ago after she had been missing for months. Even though he had more than enough problems to deal with himself, he had been there for her when her parents had died. Both Caroline and Matt were angels that deserved every bit of happiness that came their way. Plus, they were the only true friends she had left. The only ones that didn’t lie to her or kept secrets.

Grace wasn’t stupid. She knew that Elena and Bonnie were keeping things from the rest of their once so close group. Ever since the school year had started and the mysterious Salvatore brothers had come to town, they were acting strange. Skipping school, sometimes disappearing for days, whispering to each other or stopping conversations entirely as soon as Grace, Matt or Caroline approached them. Well, and then there was Stefan. Grace wasn’t sure what to make of him. Sure, he was always friendly to her, a true gentleman, but still - there was something off about him. She just couldn’t tell what it was exactly. However, she still preferred him over his older  brother Damon - Elena’s third shadow so to speak. That guy was quite frankly giving her the creeps with his borderline  rape-y behaviour.  Apart from that, he was around her aunt’s age and thus a bit too old for Elena in her opinion. Not that she didn’t understand the appeal of dating an older guy.

When Bonnie had taken enough pictures of them, Caroline’s eyes finally fell on her best friend.

“Grace! Over here!” she exclaimed excitedly, waving her over to them. “You look absolutely stunning. Like straight out of a period drama. Are you sure your aunt has the right profession? She should have become a hair stylist. I freaking love what she did with yours! By the way, where is she?”

Caroline looked around the crowd, searching for the thatch of wild black hair belonging to Audrey.

“She delivered the cake to the Founders Hall before driving off to work,” Grace replied, grimacing. “She would have loved to watch the parade but someone has to earn the money in the household.”

Disappointment flashed across the blonde girl’s face.

“Hmm, what a shame. I was hoping she could fix my hair before the parade.”

“Your hair doesn’t need to get fixed, Caroline,” Grace assured her. “You look great. Just like a blonde version of Scarlett O’Hara.”

The disappointment faded from Caroline’s face, replaced by a wide grin.

“Really?”

“Of course. But I’m sure Bonnie and Matt already told you so.” She winked at her two other friends who winked back at her. In that moment, Tyler approached them, dressed up as a Civil War soldier.

“Hey, guys,” he greeted them awkwardly. Matt shot a brief glance in his direction, his smile faltering.
“I'll be on the float,” he muttered before walking off. Hurt flashed across Tyler’s face as he watched his once best friend walk away.“I said I was sorry!” he exclaimed, looking at Caroline who scoffed at him.“You made out with his mother and then you beat him to a pulp,” she explained. “You're gonna have to do a little bit better than sorry.”With that, she linked her arms with Grace and pulled her towards their float. It was about time they were climbing aboard. The parade was about to start. When they reached the white-red Mystic Falls Court float, Elena, Stefan, Matt and the rest of the contestants and escorts, including Grace’s escort, Martin, were already in position. Caroline climbed in first, followed by Grace. Climbing on the float, however, proved to be quite challenging in her long bulgy and most of all heavy period dress. After the first failed attempt, Stefan stepped to the edge of the float, offering his hand.“Here, let me help you.”Deeply embarrassed, Grace blushed before taking his hand. He effortlessly pulled her on the float.“Thanks a lot,” she muttered in his direction, face as red as a tomato. He smiled at her politely.“You’re very welcome. The period look suits you, by the way.”Grace smiled faintly, her eyes briefly taking in his appearance. From all escort costumes, his looked the most authentic. While the other escorts wore quite modern suits and ties for the most part, his looked more retro, almost as if it was an actual nineteenth century frock coat and collar shirt. But that was impossible of course, unless his family was the type to keep their ancestor’s clothes locked up in a trunk on the attic.“Thanks. You clean up nice, too,” Grace retorted before going into position with Martin in between Elena and Stefan and Amber Bradley and Caroline’s former fill-in escort Jeffrey, who would fill in for Tyler today since the latter was part of Mr. Saltzman’s “Battle of Willow Creek”-float together with Elena’s little brother Jeremy. Matt and Caroline were positioned at the head of the float on Elena and Stefan’s other side, standing on the ramp higher than the rest of the Mystic Falls Court.As soon as everyone was in position, the parade train started to move through the streets of Mystic Falls with people standing on each side of the street, cheering them on. Mrs. Lockwood was standing on the stage that had been built in the middle of the town square and commented the parade through the microphone in her hand.“Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome our stunning Miss Mystic Falls Court and their handsome escorts,” she said as Grace’s float was pulled over the town square. Grace as well as the rest of the contestants and escorts smiled and waved at the cheering crowd. “This is Caroline Forbes, Miss Mystic Falls,” Mrs. Lockwood continued her moderation as Caroline bowed formally and threw kisses at the crowd. “Aren't they beautiful?”Grace’s knees buckled slightly as she continued to wave at the crowd. It was a strange feeling, being a part of the Founders’ Day Parade for the first time in her life. Ever since they had been little girls, Elena, Caroline, Bonnie and Grace had watched the annual parade from afar, dreaming about the day they would be standing on one of those floats parading the streets of the town themselves. Now that the time had finally come, none of their parents were here to witness it. Matt’s mom had disappeared again after Matt had caught her making out with his best friend at Vicki’s wake, Sheriff Forbes was as usual too busy with her work to be an active part of her daughter’s life and Elena’s and Grace’s parents were dead. This wasn’t how it was supposed to be. They were supposed to be here somewhere in the crowd, cheering them on. It took all of Grace’s self-control not to break out in tears right then and there as a terrible realisation hit her. There were still so many important moments left in her life that her parents would miss. They wouldn’t be able to witness her high school and college graduation, her dad would never be able to walk her to altar should she ever get married and her children would never know their grandparents. This wasn’t fair. Why did they have to die? Why?Suddenly, her eyes caught Benjamin and Callie standing in the crowd not far from the stage next to Jenna, who was babysitting them for the day, all three waving and smiling back at her. She could feel the weight on her chest lightening at the sight of her younger siblings. She wasn’t alone. She still had Benjamin, Callie and Aunt Audrey, who sadly couldn’t make it to the parade. As long as they had each other, everything would be fine. No matter what happened.    Meanwhile, John Gilbert and Richard Lockwood were assembled in Grayson Gilbert’s old office building, John was holding his ancestor’s spelled invention in his hands, showcasing it to the Mayor.“This is the key,” he explained, holding up a small, weathered key that had definitely seen better days. “Once inserted, the device will be activated. It will work only once, for an estimated time of five minutes.”Richard nodded in understanding, eyeing the strange device in a mixture of suspicion and curiosity.“Yes, how does it work?”“It's a high-pitched frequency that humans can't hear,” John explained, placing the device back in its case. “Any vampires within a five-block radius will be incapacitated, exposing them. At that time, the Sheriff's deputies will inject them with vervain and bring them here, where we will finish them off.”The Mayor hesitated, shooting the fellow council member a sceptical glance.“And you're certain they're attacking tonight?”John nodded, a grim expression on his face.“I have a source. One of the vampires from the tomb confirmed the attack just as he confirmed that they are responsible for Thomas’ and Charlotte’s death. They want revenge for what our ancestors did in 1864. It makes us their target.”Richard’s eyes widened slightly at the mention of his deceased friend and his wife. He was obviously surprised by that revelation. Just like everyone else in the council, he had already been aware of the fact that they had been killed by vampires. The bite marks on their necks and their significant blood loss spoke for themselves. But to have it confirmed must still come as shock to him. Nonetheless, he still didn’t seem fully on board with the plan.“We're taking an enormous risk,” he pointed out, a serious expression on his face as he turned back to John. “We're talking about our families, John!”John sighed and placed a hand on the Mayor’s shoulder.“I know, Richard. But this is the only way to draw them out and kill them...all of them.”They all needed to die. He couldn’t let anyone escape. Katherine might have her own reasons for wanting them dead but he wasn’t doing this for her. No, he was doing it for Elena, his daughter. If word travelled that another human doppelganger existed, her life would be in danger. He couldn’t allow any of those vampires to lead him to Mystic Falls. If John had his way, Elena would live a long and happy human life without any vampire interference and Klaus would never know she even existed. After tonight, the Salvatores, Anna and the tomb vampires would be gone and she would finally be safe.Everything would be fine.    After the parade, Grace and Caroline had changed out of their corset dresses and back into their comfortable modern day clothes before meeting up with Matt at the Mystic Grill to celebrate the successful day by lemonade and french fries. They had invited Stefan, Bonnie and Elena to join them but the three of them were once again off to their own thing, leaving the two girls and Matt to sit alone at a table in the restaurant, watching Tyler playing pool all by himself. Grace couldn’t help but feel bad for him. Due to his temper, he barely had any friends and now not even Matt wanted anything to do with him. In a way the two of them had been the male equivalent to Caroline and Grace since kindergarten. Neither Grace nor Caroline liked seeing the tension between them. But dear, caring Caroline wouldn’t be Caroline if she didn’t try to mend the broken bridge.“There was this time, freshman year, when Bonnie and I were in a fight and we swore that we would never talk again.”Matt sighed, giving his girlfriend an exasperated look.“Caroline, give it a rest.”In that moment, Mayor Lockwood entered the Grill and walked straight up to his son, an angry scowl in his face.“What are you doing here? I told you to go home.”Tyler turned around to his father, looking defiantly.“I decided not to.”That seemed to enrage the Mayor even more.“If I tell you to do something, you do it!”He grabbed Tyler’s arm roughly, causing the teenager to struggle against his grip - without success.“Let go of me!”Seeing Tyler so helplessly struggling to free himself from his father’s relentless grip, caused something to snap in Grace. This wasn’t the first time she had seen the Mayor abusing his son but she sure as hell hoped it would be the last. Standing up from her seat, she walked over to them, hands on her hips.“Hey! What is going on here?”The Mayor shot a brief look at Grace before letting go off Tyler.“Please Tyler; I need you to go home, now,” he pleaded, desperation reflecting in his dark eyes. “Take your friends with you.”Grace frowned. What was going on here? Why did the Mayor insist they went home? Matt, who had joined them with Caroline in tow seemed to be just as confused.“Why?” he asked. “What's going on?”Mayor Lockwood turned around to the blonde quarterback.“I can't explain,” he replied. “All of you need to get home, now. Please.”Seeing the serious, pleading expression on his father’s face, Tyler sighed in resignation before placing the cue back on the pool table.“Yeah, okay.”Relief flashed across the Mayor’s face as he pressed his car keys into his son’s hands.“Here, take my car, it's out back. Caroline, Grace, Matt go with him.”Taking one last confused look at the adult, the teenagers walked out of the restaurant and up to the Mayor’s car. Seeing another chance to get the estranged friends to grow closer again, Caroline pulled Grace with her on the backseat, forcing Matt to take the passenger seat next to Tyler. Matt scowled but then reluctantly climbed into the car.They were in the middle of the road halfway to the Lockwood Mansion, as Tyler flinched and winced in pain.“What the hell is that?”On the backseat, Grace and Caroline exchanged confused glances.“What's the matter?” Caroline asked.“That noise!” Tyler shouted.“Wait, what noise?” Matt asked, shooting his friend a confused look. Grace was just as confused. There was no noise to be heard apart from the car engine. But instead of answering, Tyler began to scream in pain, removing his hands from the wheel to clutch his head.“Tyler!” Grace shouted. “Tyler! What is happening? Talk to me!”That was the moment the teenager lost complete control of the car. It got off the road, racing straight towards a tree on the side of the street.“Dude, hey!” Matt shouted in panic, trying to grab the wheel to steer back on the road, but he wasn’t fast enough. The last thing Grace noticed was Caroline’s hand gripping hers tightly before the car crashed into the thick tree trunk and the defunct car belt loosening around her torso, causing her to fly forward, hitting her head hard on the back of the passenger seat. From one moment to the next, the world around her went black.    Audrey had seldom been as scared and panicked as she was when Sheriff Forbes called her to inform her that Grace had been involved in a car crash and delivered to the hospital with a head laceration and internal bleeding. She was thrown back to the dreadful night two months ago when she had found out about her sister’s death. Why did this have to happen again? She couldn’t lose another loved one. She just couldn’t.Without hesitating another second, she had jumped into her car and drove straight to the hospital. She was supposed to pick up Benjamin and Callie from Jenna but bringing them with her to the hospital would only traumatise them even more than they already were. She would call her friend later and explain everything. First, she had to get to Grace and find out how she was doing.
If there is a god or a higher power somewhere in this universe, please make sure she is alright. Please don’t let her die. I beg of you! I will gladly go to church every Sunday for the rest of my life, if only Grace survives.
She parked her car in front of the hospital and stumbled out of the door with shaking knees, before running towards the entrance. Audrey found a pale and clearly shaken Sheriff Forbes sitting in the reception era next to Matt.“How is she?” Audrey asked as she joined them, skipping all politeness to get straight to the point.“Grace and Caroline are both in surgery right now,” the Sheriff explained, voice shaking. “The doctors are trying their best but it doesn’t look good. They told me to…to prepare for the worst.” A sob escaped her lips.Audrey could feel her heart drop into her stomach.“No,” she whispered, voice breaking. “They can’t die. They are both still so young! Where’s Meredith? There has to be something we can do to save them!”Before she could run off searching for her friend, however, Sheriff Forbes grabbed her arm, holding her back.“Dr. Fell is already doing everything she can. All we can do now is wait and pray.”Wait and pray.As if that was so easy. Audrey wanted to do something, anything, to help the two teenagers. Everything was better than sitting around, doing nothing but the Sheriff was right. There was nothing they could do here. They were powerless. Grace’s and Caroline’s lives were in fate’s hands. Slumping into one of the plastic chairs, she turned to Matt who looked no less distraught than Audrey felt inside.“How did this even happen?”The blonde teenager turned to her, his blue eyes full of tears.“I…I’m not sure,” he admitted. “We were driving and Tyler heard this noise and he got...he got this migraine or something and he lost control of the car and...Grace flew forward, immediately unconscious. I thought that Caroline was fine and then...and then she wasn't so...”His voice trailed off. Audrey furrowed her brows. What kind of noise could have caused such a heavy fit of migraine that the teenage boy lost control of the car? There was definitely something wrong with this town. The strange incidents just kept piling up.“A noise?” she asked, hoping Matt could elaborate further. “What noise?”Matt shrugged his shoulders.“I have no idea. Tyler was the only one who heard it.”Audrey tilted her head, the confusion in her face deepening. A mysterious noise only one teenage boy could hear? Strange indeed. She had no idea what to make of that information. It didn’t really  help bringing light into the dark. On the contrary; it left her with even more unanswered questions.    Sometime while  informing Jenna of what happened and waiting for news of her niece, Audrey must have fallen asleep, because when she woke up, it was morning. Strangely enough, she felt much calmer than she had felt the night before - undoubtedly an effect of her strange recurring dream she had since she was a little girl. Four male figures watching over her, hidden in the shadows, their faces blurred. She usually dreamed of them whenever she was sad or distraught. Even though she couldn’t see them clearly, their very presence in her dreams greatly comforted her. Just as it had done this night. Rubbing her sore neck, she stood up from the chair, yawning and stretching her limbs. Sleeping on an uncomfortable plastic chair had its fair share of disadvantages. On her way to reception desk, she found Meredith walking up to her, dressed in her work clothes, a coffee to go in her hand.“Oh, good, you’re awake,” she stated. “I was about to wake up and bring you coffee. Here, this is for you.” She handed her the coffee which Audrey accepted with a grateful smile. She usually preferred tea to coffee but right now she was in dire need of some caffeine in her system. Audrey took a generous sip of the hot liquid before turning back to her friend.“How’s Grace? Please tell me she’s alright!”Meredith placed a reassuring hand on her arm.“Calm down, Audrey. Both girls’ surgeries went well. They’re on the way to recovery.”Audrey released a breath she didn’t realise she had been holding. Grace was fine, recovering. She was alive.“Can I go to her?”Meredith nodded.“Sure. Come with me. I’ll show you to their room.”Audrey followed the brunette doctor through a long corridor until she stopped in front of a room, nodding at it.“You can go in. Matt and Bonnie are already there.” She stifled a yawn. “My shift’s over now. I’m going home and hit the hay for a while, if you don’t mind.”“Of course.” Audrey pulled her in for a hug. “Thank you. For saving Grace.”Meredith waved her off.“No need to thank me. I was only doing my job.”With one last smile in Audrey’s direction, the doctor turned around and left. When she was gone, Audrey knocked on the door in front of her before entering. Grace and Caroline were both sitting in their respective beds, talking to Matt and Bonnie. Their conversation died down as they noticed Audrey standing in the door frame.“Hey, sorry for interrupting,” she said. “That wasn’t my intention.”“Nonsense, you’re not interrupting, Aunt Audrey,” Grace said, smiling at her. “Please come in.”Following her niece’s request, she closed the door behind before walking over to her bed.“How are you?” she asked, shooting Grace a concerned look. She looked strangely fit and healthy for someone who had been on the brink of death not even twenty four hours ago but that was just her unprofessional opinion. Looks could be deceiving after all.“I’m fine,” Grace replied. “The doctors said we’re recovering fast, almost like a miracle. It seems we were lucky.”Audrey sighed in relief before pulling her niece in for a hug, careful not to hurt her in case she was still sore somewhere.“Don’t ever scare me like that again, young lady,” she warned, tears glittering in her eyes. “Do you understand? I thought I lost you.”“Noted. I’ll try not to die anytime soon,” Grace retorted sarcastically. Audrey shook her head at her niece, a smile playing on her lips. If Grace was in the mood to joke, the worst had indeed to be over.Little did she know that the worst had yet to come.    That night, Grace was woken up by the sound of the door opening. She opened her eyes, thinking it was only a nurse that had come to check on her and Caroline. But the brunette female figure standing in front of their beds wasn’t a nurse. Drowsy from the meds they had given her, Grace sat up on her bed, blinking in confusion.“Elena? What are you doing here at this hour?”Elena smiled at her innocently, though something about that smile felt…wrong. It didn’t reach her eyes. And since when did she wear her hair wavy?“Hey, Grace. I was just checking up on my sacrifice vampire and the blonde back up.”Grace furrowed her brows. What was she talking about?“What sacrifice vampire?”“Oh, right. You’re not a vampire yet, my bad,” she retorted, grimacing. “But you’re chock full of vampire blood thanks to that doctor relative of yours. That’s what saved your and sweet Caroline’s life by the way.”The frown on Grace’s forehead deepened. She didn’t understand anything of what Elena was talking about. What vampire blood and why was she talking about such things so casually? The brunette girl must have seen the confusion written all over her face, because in the next moment, she started to laugh. It wasn’t Elena’s usual warm laugh. No, it was cold and cruel.“Oh my. You’re totally clueless, aren't you? Poor girl. Your friends really should have told you. Well, their mistake.” She stepped closer, moving with the grace and elegance of a feline predator. “But don’t you worry, my dear Gracie. There will be more than enough time for you to learn everything before I’m handing you over on a silver tablet.”A devilish smirk spread across her face, causing an ice-cold shiver to run down Grace’s spine. Something was definitely off about the woman in front of her. Every instinct in her body told her to flee, but resisted, not wanting to leave Caroline alone with her.“Who are you?” Grace asked, voice shaking. “You’re not Elena.”The brunette raised her eyebrows at her in surprise.“Look at you, being all smart and that. I’m impressed, really.” She took another step closer. “You’re right. I’m not Elena. My name is Katherine and the three of us will have a lot of fun together. But first, I need you to deliver a message to the Salvatore boys.”“What message?” Grace asked.Katherine’s lips tucked up into a devious grin.“Game on.”Before Grace could ask her to elaborate further, Katherine suddenly appeared right next to her bed and grabbed her pillow before pressing it into her face, suffocating her. Grace struggled against her, trying to push her away but the girl who looked exactly like Elena was stronger and her screams for help were being muffled by the pillow. With every second that passed, Grace grew weaker and weaker. As death pulled her into its cold, dark embrace there was only one thought left on her mind.
I’m sorry I couldn’t keep my promise, Aunt Audrey.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

The sounds of birds chirping happily filled Grace’s ears, stirring her awake. When she slowly opened her eyes, she found herself staring straight at a clear, blue sky. Frowning and utterly disoriented, she sat up from the green soft pasture she had been lying on, taking in her surroundings. She wasn’t in the hospital anymore, that much was clear. But where was she then? All around her there was nothing but green pasture, sprinkled with all sorts of colourful flowers. Butterflies were dancing through the air to the rhythm of the birds’ cheerful song. As she pulled herself up from the ground, she noticed that her hospital gown was gone, replaced by a flowing clean white dress.

The frown on her face deepened. What had happened to her? The last thing she remembered was Elena - no,

Katherine

- suffocating her with a pillow.

She was dead. There was no other explanation for waking up in this strange place, dressed as she was.

“Grace.”

The familiar female voice coming up from behind her, startled the teenager. She turned around and froze, staring at the familiar auburn haired woman and the brunette man standing behind her, sad smiles on their faces. Grace blinked before rubbing her eyes, not believing what she saw. It was impossible…was it?

“Mom,” she whispered in disbelief. “Dad.” Something broke inside her and in the next moment she had thrown herself into her parents’ arms, sobbing. “I’ve missed you so much.”

Charlotte’s hand soothingly stroked through her daughter’s black curls.

“We know, sweetie. We know.”

The three of them remained in that pose for a long minute, both adults hugging their daughter tightly. It would be their last hug for a very, very long time.

“You need to listen, sweetie,” Charlotte said after they had separated, cupping her daughter’s face. “We don’t have much time. The vampire blood Meredith gave you will bring you back to life any moment now.”

Grace furrowed her brows at her mother. Again with the vampire blood. What the hell was going on here?

“I-I don’t understand.”

“You will, soon,” Thomas assured her. “There are things your mom and I kept from you and your siblings.” Sadness crept over his features. “Things I never wanted you to know. You were supposed to live a carefree and happy human life. But time can’t be turned back. All your mom and I can do is try to protect you from future harm. To that end, your mom has something to tell you about your aunt. Something important. We need you to listen closely now…”
    
Way too soon for the teenager’s liking, Grace was pulled back into her physical body that was still lying on the hospital bed where Katherine had left her. With a loud, dramatic gasp she shot up. She had no idea how long she had been dead but it couldn’t have been long. It was still night time. Rays of moonlight were streaming in through the curtains, bathing the hospital room in a mysterious light. But Grace had little time to admire the beauty of the moonlight, for in that moment, memories upon memories were surging back into her head all at once. Everything they had made her forget, all those missing afternoons and hours she couldn’t remember anymore came back full force, leaving her in utter shock and tears.

Vampires were real. She had been assaulted by them multiple times, even kidnapped one time by that Isobel woman to threaten Elena into handing over some sort of  device her ancestor had invented. The worst part however, was that her so called friends Elena and Bonnie had known about it all along. They had known and never told her anything, not even after Stefan nearly killed her at the pageant. Instead, they had allowed Damon to take her memories of that afternoon away. Damon, who had fed off her, abused and used her and Caroline to get under Elena’s skin. Who had wanted to kill her after she had lost her usefulness, as if she was nothing more than a toy he could play with for a while and then throw away when he got tired of it. The mere thought of what that sick bastard had done to her and Caroline made her skin crawl and bile rise up her throat.

Caroline!

Grace’s eyes darted over to the bed next to hers, where her best friend’s motionless body was lying sprawled out, her neck twisted in an unnatural angle.

“Oh god, Caroline!”

Grace jumped out of her bed and hurried over to the blonde girl, panic surging through her. Had Katherine killed her too? But why? Why them? The moment she had reached the other hospital bed, Caroline suddenly shot up, gasping dramatically. She looked around the room until her blue eyes fell on Grace.

“Oh my god, Grace!” she exclaimed frantically, grabbing her hands. “Elena, no, she said her name was Katherine…she came here and k-killed you and t-then she…everything went black.” Her eyes watered with tears as she swallowed hard. “I-I think I was in heaven. For a short while at least. I met my grandma.”

Grace pulled her into a tight embrace, stroking her hair soothingly.

“Hey, shh. You’re fine and I’m fine too. Everything will be alright, okay? We’ll figure out whatever the hell is going on here together.” She paused for a moment, remembering her own afterlife experience. “I think I was in heaven too. My parents were there.”

Caroline pulled away, looking at her friend through big, round eyes.

“Really? I-I mean, how is that even possible? If we were dead, then how are we alive again?” She suddenly stopped, turning pale as ash. “And why do I suddenly remember all the horrible things Damon did to us? He…he drank our blood like…like a…”

Her voice trailed off, not daring to speak the word.

“Like a vampire,” Grace finished the sentence for her, a grim expression flashing across her features. “That’s because he

is

a vampire. Like Stefan. He was the one who attacked me at the pageant. It wasn’t an animal attack. Elena and Bonnie were there too. They know about all of this.”

Caroline’s face went even paler at the revelation. She grabbed Grace’s hand tightly, knuckles turning white. Her whole body was shaking.

“Oh my god. Is there

anyone

we can still trust?”

Grace grimaced. That was a good question. Who of their friends was still trustworthy? Elena and Bonnie might have had their reasons for not telling them but they still kept them in the dark when it would have been safer knowing. If Grace had known that the Salvatore brothers were dangerous, she would have stayed as far away as she could. Maybe then Stefan wouldn’t have been able to nearly drain her off her blood.

“Matt doesn’t know anything yet,” she said, suddenly remembering the last member of their friend group. “At least I don’t think so.”

Caroline’s head jerked up.

“Oh my god, Matt! We need to warn him!”

She jumped up from the bed and walked out of their hospital room, pulling Grace with her.  The two teenage girls were walking along the long corridor leading to the reception area and exit, dressed in nothing but their thin hospital gowns. When they passed an open door, leading to another patient room, Caroline suddenly stopped walking, sniffing the air.

“Wait, do you smell that?”

Grace followed her friend’s example, sniffing the air. The most mouthwatering scent she had ever smelled penetrated her nostrils, causing the strange hunger she felt ever since she came back to life to flare up even stronger.

“What is that?” she whispered, pulling the Caroline into the patient room. “It smells like…” Her eyes narrowed in confusion when she made out the source of the seductive scent. “…blood?”

The girls stared at the blood bags lying on top of a drawer in the empty patient room, the crimson-coloured liquid calling to them like a siren song, beckoning them to take a taste. Since when did blood smell so

good

? Grace could feel a painful sensation spreading in her gums . She was so incredibly

hungry

, as if she was seconds away from starving to death. One look at Caroline’s face and she knew that her friend felt the same. What was happening with them?

Grace took a step towards the blood bags, letting her instincts guide her.

“What are you two doing in here?” The girls startled at the sound of a female voice coming up from behind them. When they turned around, they found a dark-skinned nurse standing behind them, hands pressed on her hips. “You should be in your beds. It’s well after midnight.”

Grace, however, didn’t listen to her. Her entire attention was fixed on the nurse’s neck. It was crazy, but she could have sworn she heard the blood flowing through the veins underneath her skin, beckoning her to take a bite.

She shook her head energetically, forcing the mental images her brain had conjured at the thought out of her mind. This was crazy. She couldn’t bite the nurse like some…

vampire

.

What had Katherine called her again? Sacrifice vampire. Her eyes widened as a realisation hit her. What if dying with vampire blood in their system had turned them into vampires? There was no other explanation for the strange hunger she felt.

“Of course. We’ll be going back to our room now. Come, Grace.”

Caroline’s voice and the pull on her arm disrupted her thoughts. The blonde teenage girl was pulling her out of the empty patient room and back into their own. Once she had closed the door behind her, she pulled out two blood bags she had hidden underneath her hospital gown, handing one of them to Grace.

“Here. Call me crazy, but my instincts are telling me we should drink this.”

The two girls sat down next to each other on one of the beds eyeing the blood bags in their hands sceptically. Grace was the first to open hers with shaking hands, before placing it on her lips. The moment the seductive crimson coloured liquid hit her tongue, she could feel something changing inside her. The hunger grew tenfold and before she knew what she was doing, fangs were protruding from her mouth and she greedily ripped into the blood bag, gulping down every last drop like a person that had just found an oasis with drinkable water after days of wandering through the desert with no supplies. When the blood bag was empty Grace threw it to the floor, just now realising what she had done. She had drunk blood.

Human

blood. And she had

liked

it.

There was no doubt about it anymore. She had turned into a freaking vampire!
    
As it turned out, the nearly uncontrollable craving for human blood was not the only disadvantageous side effect of becoming a vampire. The first ray of sunlight that had hit the girls through the gaps in the curtains the next morning nearly set them aflame, forcing them to keep the curtains shut and stay in the shadows. Grace couldn’t help but wonder how Stefan and Damon were able to walk in the sunlight. It didn’t seem to have any effect on them at all, so maybe there was a way to avoid going up in flames after all. They just had to find out what it was. Both Sheriff Forbes and Audrey, who had come to visit the girls before work, had raised their eyebrows at the shut curtains and the girls’ screams to shut the door as fast as possible but decided not to comment on it. Grace was incredibly grateful for that. Of course she knew that she wouldn’t be able to keep her aunt in the dark forever. Sooner or later she would have to tell her what had happened to her and warn her of the Salvatores and Elena’s murderous doppelganger but before that, she needed to get some answers herself. The girls had already concluded that the vampire blood Meredith had apparently fed them played a vital role in their transformation. However there was still so much they didn’t understand. How was it even possible for vampires to exist? Why them? What was Katherine planning and what had she to do with the Salvatores?

They needed to talk to Stefan and Damon, even though everything in Grace recoiled at the thought of being near them again. There was no other way. They needed answers.

“Your mom and aunt said you're not eating,” Matt said as he entered the room with a big lunch tray in hand. Both girls scrunched up their noses in disgust as he placed the tray in front of them on the  small table they were sitting at. Human food had lost all appeal to them overnight. They could still eat it but it was quite frankly disgusting.

“It's gross,” Caroline said as she pushed the tray away, causing Matt to chuckle.

“It's hospital food; it's supposed to be gross.” He walked over to his girlfriend before leaning in for kiss. Caroline leaned closer as well as she noticed the ray of sunlight in between and reeled back in her seat. Matt shot her a confused and slightly hurt look before shrugging his shoulders. “They also said you're getting released tomorrow morning.”

The girls exchanged panicked glances. They couldn’t leave the hospital during daylight hours. It had to be at night time.

“Morning?” Grace exclaimed frantically. “We need to get out

tonight

.”

The blonde quarterback shook his head, giving them both stern glances.

“No, the carnival is going to happen without you two. I know it's hard for your neurotic control freak personality to process, Caroline, but Bonnie and Elena have it.”

The school carnival. Grace had totally forgotten about that. Caroline was supposed to organise and manage the event and had already planned it in every detail months ago, as usual. The blonde teenage girl in question crossed her arms in front of her chest, pouting.

“I'm not neurotic.”

Grace snorted at that but stifled the sarcastic remark that was lying on the tip of her tongue Caroline gave her a warning glare.

“Yeah you are,” Matt disagreed, an affectionate smile on his lips as he looked at her, “but it's cute so...”

Caroline sighed, looking up at him.

“Look, it's not about the carnival okay? It's just that this place is just really depressing.”

“It's because you're sitting in the dark,” Matt retorted before he walked over to the window and began to pull back the curtains.

“No don't!” Grace and Caroline shouted simultaneously before speeding over to the wall and pressing themselves flat against it to avoid getting hit by the sunlight. Matt stopped and shot them a confused look.

“What the hell?”

“Just close it, please?” Grace asked, not daring to move an inch from her spot at the wall. She had already burned her hand in the sun this morning and it had hurt like hell. She didn’t want to find out how much it would hurt if her whole body would start to go up in flames. The frown on Matt’s forehead deepened.

“What's wrong with you two? You’re acting really strange today.”

“Close it!” Grace repeated, this time more firmly.

Matt’s blue eyes moved from Grace to Caroline who nodded in confirmation before he huffed in irritation and pulled the curtains shut again. The girls sighed in relief and relaxed. That had been a close call. Matt, however, didn’t seem relaxed at all.

“I'll just come back later, okay?” he stated before making his way to the door. His hand was already on the doorknob as Caroline called him back.

“Matt, wait! We didn’t mean it like that. Please come back. We need to tell you something.”

The quarterback stopped in his tracks, turning back around, looking at the girls expectantly.

“What is it?”

Grace and Caroline exchanged a long glance, silently debating if telling him now was really a such a good idea. In the end they decided that it was safer for him to know, with  Elena’s vampire doppelganger running around town and all that. Grace nodded at the chairs around the small table.

“Please sit down. This isn’t going to be easy.”
    
To say that Matt didn’t take the vampire reveal well was an understatement. He listened patiently to everything the girls told him about the Salvatores and what Katherine had done to them last night until they came to the part where Caroline showed him her vampire face and newly gained super speed ability as proof. At that point, he had stumbled backwards, fear and panic written all over his face, before fleeing out of the room.

“Great. Now he’s afraid of us,” Caroline huffed, sadness creeping over her face. “I hope  he doesn’t tell my mom. She’s going to freak out and kill us, or kill us and then freak out.”

“Calm down, Caroline,” Grace retorted. “No one will get killed. I’m sure he just needs some time to calm down and process everything. It’s not everyday that your girlfriend tells you she’s a newly turned vampire. We all have been friends since kindergarten. That’s got to be worth something.”

Caroline shot her a doubtful look, not quite as convinced that Matt would ever accept them in their new state. She sighed before plummeting on her hospital bed.

“I just hope he’s not going to do anything stupid now. We’re stuck here until sunset.”

Grace followed her example and sat down in her own bed.

“Have a little faith in your boyfriend, Caroline. Matt has survived much worse than that. I’m sure he’ll be fine.”

Caroline nodded absentmindedly before reaching for the necklace that was lying on top of her nightstand. She had worn it everyday since Elena had gifted it her a few months ago. The moment she touched it, however, she screamed out in pain, dropping it to the floor. Grace sped over to her best friend, a concern expression on her face.

“What happened?” She crouched down to pick up the necklace but immediately dropped it again as her skin began to burn where the necklace had touched it. “What the hell?”

Why did the necklace suddenly burn them? It had been fine before.

Lured in through Caroline’s scream, the nurse from last night entered the room, a concerned expression on her face.

“Everything alright with you?”

Grace turned around, looking the nurse straight in the eyes.

“Yeah. Everything is alright. Just pretend nothing happened.”

The nurse’s brown eyes glazed over as she continued to stare at Grace as though she was in some kind of trance-like state.

“I will pretend nothing happened.”

Grace and Caroline looked at each other wide-eyed.

“You'll do what I say?” Grace asked in a mixture of confusion and fascination. Of course she had known that vampires could mind control humans and even take away memories. Damon had done it quite a few times with her. But she had no idea

how

it worked.

“I'll do what you say,” the nurse agreed, still in her trance-like state.

Grace took a long look at the nurse, biting her lip. On the one hand it was quite an useful trick but using it on an innocent human felt wrong. Maybe doing it once was okay. She was

really

hungry. It had been hours since she last fed.

“Okay. Then I need you to be quiet now. This is going to hurt a bit but I promise I’m going to be as gentle as I can. I hope you know that I’m really sorry for this.”

She felt her eyes changing and her fangs protruding as she leaned closer to the nurse’s neck, the woman’s rapid heartbeat and the pulsing of her blood underneath the skin filling her ears. She hesitated for a moment before her fangs finally sunk into the soft skin on the nurse’s neck.

It was an intoxicating sensation, drinking straight from the source, from a living, breathing human being, having a life in her hand. Was this was Damon and Stefan had felt when they had fed off her? In that moment, she understood how dangerous it was to give in to the craving. One slip - that was all it took. One inattentive moment and she could kill the fragile human being in front of her. A life, forever lost. That couldn’t happen. She needed to pay attention and make sure she didn’t take too much. But stopping…it was nearly impossible. The warm, red liquid filled her with new strength and sharpened her senses. And the taste…as long as the precious liquid filled her with life, the metallic taste didn’t matter that much. She would surely get used to it.

After half a minute, Grace forced herself to pull away by reminding herself how it felt to be the victim in this scenario. The memory of Stefan nearly draining her off all her blood at the pageant was enough for her to stop long before the nurse was anywhere near that state. Grace’s hunger wasn’t anywhere close to being fully satisfied but it had to be enough for now. Caroline needed to feed as well. She stepped back, nodding at Caroline whose face was already vamped out.

“Your turn.”

Not wasting another second, Caroline took Grace’s place and sunk her fangs into the other side of the nurse’s neck.
    
“The doctor said we’re good as new,” Caroline spoke into her phone sometime later while she was packing her bag. “He signed us out. He said that we didn't have to wait 'til morning, so call me when you get this, mom.”

Meanwhile Grace checked the nurse’s bandages once again, wanting to make sure they were put on correctly. The sun had finally set, meaning they could leave the hospital. Before that they had to take care of the nurse, however.

Caroline, who had finished sending her mother a voice mail, walked over to the nurse sitting on Grace’s hospital bed, and looked her deep into the eyes.

“Okay, now what's the story?”

The nurse’s eyes glazed over once again before she repeated the cover story Caroline had given her.

“My husband likes to get kinky.”

The blonde newbie vampire nodded in approval.

“Yes, good. Okay, so we’re gonna take off. I'm the committee chair for the carnival and I'm worried it's a complete disaster. I mean god bless Elena, she does not understand the word fabulous. Once again I'm

so

sorry about that and if you could just forget that we bit you that would be great because we’re going to...”

“Forget what?” the nurse cut her off, blinking in confusion.

Caroline’s lips curved up in satisfaction.

“I don't know how that works but it's brilliant. Now come, Grace. We have places to be.”

The girls grabbed their bags before linking arms and walking out of the room. Before leaving the hospital, they packed up as many blood bags as they could get their hands on and store in their bags. Feeding off the nurse had worked surprisingly well but it was better not to test their limits as long as innocent humans could get hurt or worse - killed. Blood bags were the safer option, at least until they had fully figured out this control thing.
    
Meanwhile at the high school carnival, Stefan joined his brother who was leaning against the wall, eyes fixed on the Lockwood boy who was currently arm wrestling against another student.

“You're lurking,” he stated as he lined up next to him.

“I'm observing,” Damon corrected him, not taking his eyes off the competition. Stefan grimaced. Ever since his brother had found out that the late Mayor Richard Lockwood and his son Tyler both got affected by the Gilbert device even though they weren’t vampires, he was hyper-fixated on finding out their secret. Katherine’s surprising comeback surely also had something to do with it. She had gotten under Damon’s skin and shaken him up more than he wanted to admit and now he was trying to distract himself by playing detective and lifting the Lockwood’s family secret - if there even was one. Stefan still wasn’t convinced that they were some kind of supernatural species. Surely there was another explanation for why they had been able to hear the high frequency alarm of the Gilbert device. Maybe they just had super sensitive hearing.

“More like obsessing.”

The crowd of students assembled around the arm wrestling table broke out in cheers as Tyler slammed the other competitor’s arm against the the table, thus winning the round. Damon raised his eyebrows.

“He's got strength.”

Next to him, Stefan scoffed.

“He's a triple letter varsity athlete, of course he has strength. You're reaching.”

In that moment, a well-muscled man with dark curls, presumably in his early thirties, walked over to the table. Stefan recognised him from the Mayor’s wake the day before. Mason Lockwood, Richard Lockwood’s younger brother who had come back to his hometown after years of absence.

“I bet I can take you,” he challenged his nephew with a cocky grin on his face. The two of them went into position.

“Enter the uncle,” Damon commented, watching the arm wrestling competition between the two Lockwoods with hawk’s eyes. Stefan scoffed once again.

“That's ridiculous.”

Only a few seconds later, Mason had slammed Tyler’s arm against the table, earning a round of applause and cheers from the crowd. Tyler shook his arm, reluctantly admitting his defeat.

“Okay, he's the champ, who wants to go next?”

Before anyone could raised their hand, Damon spoke up.

“Stefan wants to go.”

When all eyes fell on them, Stefan clenched his teeth. He could have murdered his brother right then and there for volunteering him like that. Instead, he grimaced and walked over to the table.

“Yeah, sure, I'll...give it a shot.”

“Get him, Stef!” Damon cheered him on as he and Mason went into position.

“My brother over there thinks I can beat you,” Stefan said as he grabbed Mason’s hand. A cocky grin tucked on the Lockwood’s lips.

“Your brother's wrong.”

At the signal they started arm wrestling each other. To say Stefan wasn’t prepared for the amount of strength Mason put in was an understatement. He pressed hard against him, harder than he would have needed to normally against a human, but still lost in the end. About a minute later, Mason had slammed his arm against the table. Stefan shot him a suspicious look. Maybe Damon was on to something after all.

“You didn't put in

any

effort at all,” Damon scowled angrily as Stefan rejoined him.

“Yeah, actually I did,” Stefan contered, causing his brother to raise his eyebrows in surprise.

“Come with me,” he hissed before walking off towards the hallway, Stefan trailing behind. Once they were out of earshot, Damon turned around to face his brother. “Is he...?”

Stefan shook his head.

“No, no, it wasn't that kind of strength but it was more than human, if that makes any sense.”

Damon furrowed his brows and tilted his head to the side.

“What is up with that family? They're not vampires, what the hell are they?”

“Ooh, ah, maybe they're, um, ninja turtles!” Stefan joked, not having a real answer to that question either.

Damon grimaced, not impressed by the joke in the least.

“You're not funny.”

“Or no, zombies, werewolves.”

Damon shook his head.

“No comedic timing at all.”

His eyes fell on a dark-skinned repairman standing on the other end of the hallway. Stefan could literally see his brother’s eyes lighting up with another one of his devious plans.

“What are you up to?” he asked suspiciously, not liking the look on his brother’s face

at all

.

“This is reality and there's no such thing as werewolves or...combat turtles,” Damon replied grimacing.

“I said ninja turtles, actually,” Stefan corrected him but Damon was already walking over to the poor, unsuspecting repairman.

“Hey you!” he called out rudely. The repairman looked up from his work and shot the eldest Salvatore an irritated glance.

“I have a name,” he pointed out sharply. “It’s Carter.”

“Yeah I don't care,” Damon retorted before placing a hand on his shoulders, compelling him. “I need you to pick a fight with someone, a kid named Tyler Lockwood.”

Stefan’s eyes widened in shock when he realised what his brother was up to.

“Damon, don't do this.”

Damon, however brushed him off with a motion of his fingers.

“It's just an experiment.” He turned back to Carter, continuing his compulsion, “Get him mad, don't back down no matter what he does, okay?”

Carter’s eyes glazed over as the compulsion took hold.

“I won't back down,” he repeated in a monotonous voice.

Damon grinned approvingly.

“I know you won't.”

He patted his shoulder before letting him go. Carter blinked a few times before walking off. Stefan watched him leave, sympathising with the poor human who would most likely end up getting hurt, or - worst case scenario - killed. When Carter was out of sight, he turned back to Damon, shooting him a disapproving look.

“You do realise someone is going to get hurt, right?”

“No, someone is going to get mad,” Damon corrected him, a sly smile spreading on his lips. “As in rage.”

Stefan furrowed his brows. He had no idea what Damon’s plan would or should lead to.

“What's that going to accomplish?”

“That Tyler kid is incapable of walking away from a fight,” Damon explained. “Let's see who intervenes; maybe it's the ambiguous, supernatural mystery uncle.”

Stefan shook his head as his brother walked away. This wouldn’t end well. He couldn’t shake the feeling that Damon had just signed Carter’s death sentence.
    
When Grace and Caroline reached the Mystic Falls High School, the carnival was already in full swing - unsurprisingly. Much to Caroline’s obvious satisfaction, it was well visited. Bonnie and Elena couldn’t have done such a terrible job then. Of course it was nothing compared to the committee queen herself but still passable at least.

Caroline however, wouldn’t be content until she had checked up on everything herself so the girls entered the school building and walked down the hallway towards the cafeteria where the bulk of the horde should be. They had just passed a few lockers, when the girls suddenly stopped in their tracks and stared at the familiar figure in front of them. Grace’s breath hitched as she stared right into Damon’s icy blue eyes, eyes that had been haunting her subconscious ever since the memories had come back. She reached for Caroline’s hand, taking a step back. Damon furrowed his brows at the two teenage girls in front of him.

“Hey Blondie, Bookworm. They let you out?”

Caroline narrowed her eyes at him.

“We remember.”

The frown in Damon’s face deepened.

“What do you remember?”

Clutching Grace’s hand tightly, the blonde teenager took a step closer towards the eldest Salvatore, anger blazing in her blue eyes.

“We remember how you manipulated us, you pushed us around, abused us, erased our memories, fed on us.”

For the split of a second, Damon’s eyes widened in shock. Shock that he quickly tried to conceal by pretending to be ignorant.

“You're crazy.”

Angered by his  condescending tone, Grace finally found the courage to speak up. She walked closer, fury flaring up in her eyes.

“Don’t play dumb, Damon. We remember what you did to us, every second of it. And not only that. I also remember how Stefan nearly killed me during the Miss Mystic Falls Pageant, how that Isobel kidnapped me and held me hostage in her house and how you didn’t lift a finger to help me. You came in, threatened her to stay away from Elena and then left me back defenceless as a target for her anger. I only got out of there alive thanks to John Gilbert. He got Isobel to let me go. I remember

everything

.”

Damon stared at her in utter shock, shaking his head in disbelief.

“You can't remember. It's impossible, I mean unless you're becoming a...”

He stopped, realisation dawning upon his face. A devious grin spread on Grace’s lips. It felt good to see him so speechless for once. It gave her power over him and she revelled in it.

“Oh, and by the way, Katherine sends her regards.” She stepped closer until she was standing right in front of him, looking him straight in the eye. “Game on.”

Damon’s eyes nearly fell out of their sockets at the mention of Katherine. Grace and Caroline continued their way through the hallway with linked arms, refusing to spare the dumbfounded older vampire another glance.

He wasn’t worth their time.
    
“How did this happen?” Stefan asked in shock after Damon had filled him and Elena in on the newest development on the Katherine front. He couldn’t believe that Caroline and Grace were vampires now. That wasn’t supposed to happen. Not like

that,

anyway.

Damon shrugged his shoulders.

“Well, someone must have fed them vampire blood and Katherine obviously killed them and A plus B equals...”

“But why?” Elena asked, interrupting him. She was just as shocked as Stefan was about the news.

A grim expression spread on Damon’s face.

“Because Katherine is a manipulative, nasty, little slut.”

A frown appeared on Stefan’s forehead as he remembered the ambiguous message Katherine apparently left for them.

“And she said ‘game on’? I mean, what does that even mean?”

“It means she's playing dirty,” Damon explained. “She wants us to know.”

“But why Grace and Caroline?” Elena asked, frowning. “They have nothing to do with any of this. Why involve them?”

Damon shot her a brief look, shrugging.

“I don't know.”

Concern flashed across Stefan’s face at the thought of the two teenage girls stumbling somewhere around the school grounds, most likely hungry and scared and completely clueless about what was happening to them.

“Caroline And Grace must be completely out of their minds,” he said, voicing his thoughts. “They don’t even know what's happening to them.”

Damon scoffed.

“Oh trust me, they do. All of my compulsion from the past started wearing off the minute they were in transition.”

Stefan bit his lip anxiously. Did that mean Grace remembered what he’d done to her, how he had nearly killed her? He had hoped to keep that afternoon buried in the past, hoped she would never remember that part of him, the ripper that was always craving for his next kill. But now it seemed the past had come back to haunt him once again.

“We have to find them,” he stated, his worry for the two teenage girls finally overwriting his anxiety. Damon nodded grimly.

“Yep, and kill them.”

Elena glared at him.

“You're not gonna kill Grace and Caroline.”

“They know who we are, Elena,” he argued. “That officially makes them a liability, and we've got to get rid of them.”

Stefan shook his head, siding with Elena.

“Damon, absolutely not.”

The eldest Salvatore turned to his brother, throwing his hands in the air.

“Need I remind you of a tragic little story of a girl named Vicki Donovan? Caroline, of all people, will not make it as a vampire. Her mother is a vampire hunter. Grace has no chance either. That girl’s too fragile for such a life.” He sighed exasperatedly. “Guys come on, we all know how this story's gonna end, just flip to the last chapter and...”

“It's not an option, Damon,” Elena cut him off, voice firm and unwavering. Stefan knew she would rather kill herself before she let anything happen to her friends. He averted his gaze, staring at the ground. As much as he wanted to disagree, Damon had a point. Not about killing them but the rest was true. By turning them, Katherine had signed their death sentences. If Damon or Sheriff Forbes didn’t kill them, the guilt of taking an innocent’s life would. Both girls were very compassionate creatures and compassion was a curse for any vampire. Their survival chance was next to nothing.

Damon raised his eyebrows as he looked at him.

“No? Your silence is deafening, Stefan. You know I'm right.”

Stefan indeed knew that he was right. And he hated it.
    
Much to Caroline’s dismay, Matt wasn’t anywhere to be found at the carnival, nor any of their other “friends”.  He wasn’t even picking up his phone. It had been hours since he had fled out of their hospital room. Grace wasn’t all that worried. She had full faith that their friendship would survive this. He just needed some time to process everything. After Caroline, Matt was her second closest friend. She would literally walk through fire for him and she knew he would do the same for her. Her being a vampire wouldn’t change that. She couldn’t change what had happened to her but she was determined to become a good vampire, one who respected and protected human life, only taking what she needed to survive. Someone her parents would be proud of.

Her parents.

While she was sitting all alone on the steps outside of the school building, her thoughts drifted off to the last meeting with her parents and the task they had given her.

Find the Originals. Your aunt is deeply connected to them. They will keep you all safe.

She would have to talk to her aunt about this. She had a right to know. But first, she needed to find the courage to go home. The fear of hurting her aunt and her younger siblings kept her away. The craving, the hunger was always there, simmering just underneath the surface. She was afraid of losing control of it the way Stefan had during the pageant. Maybe it was better to stay far away from any humans until it was safe - if it ever would be. Maybe it was better to become a hermit living all alone in the deep, dark forest, surviving off stolen blood bags for the rest of eternity. But the thought of never seeing her family again, of never seeing her siblings grow into adults…no, she couldn’t do it.

It was in that moment, that Grace realised that she would never age herself. She would never become an adult, forever frozen at the age of seventeen. Benjamin and Callie would eventually surpass her in physical age and she would have to pretend to be the little sister or even daughter or granddaughter. And when there was nothing left of them but bones and ashes, she would still be there,  watching over their descendants. A strange thought indeed.

Suddenly the wind shifted, carrying over a scent that made Grace jerk her head up.

Blood

.

Before she knew what she was doing she had jumped to her feet, speeding away to follow the alluring scent. She was glad that she did, for she reached Damon and Caroline standing in a dark, hidden spot in the parking lot seconds before Damon buried the wooden stake in Caroline’s heart. Using the moment of surprise to her advantage, she sped over and pushed Damon off her distressed friend.

“What the hell are you doing?!”

Damon immediately jumped back on his feet, the stake still in hand. He narrowed his eyes at the dark haired teenage vampire who had positioned herself in between him and a sobbing, blood-smeared Caroline.

“You want to be taken out first then, I take it? So be it.”

He sped over to her, ready to embed the stake in her heart, Grace managed to move to the side in the last second, causing Damon to miss her heart by centimetres. She groaned out in pain as she felt the sharp end of the stake scraping against her lungs. Grace was about to grab the wooden piece and pull it out, but Damon was faster. He grabbed the stake, pulled it out and lined it up above her heart, aiming to kill her. Grace’s eyes widened. Her life was flashing by in front of her eyes. This was it, the end. She would get killed a second time in the span of not even twenty four hours. Only this time her death would be final. How she hated being so…weak. She struggled and kicked against his grip with all of her might but Damon had at least a hundred years on her, meaning he was stronger, faster and simply better acquainted with his vampire abilities than her. She had no chance against him.

Realising that there was no hope left for her to get out of this situation, Grace closed her eyes and awaited death, hoping it wouldn’t hurt all that much. Suddenly, she heard footsteps approaching and someone pulling the trigger of a weapon. In the next second, Damon screamed out in pain and loosened the grip on her. The stake dropped to the ground with a loud

thump

. Sensing a chance to escape, Grace opened her eyes and kicked the weakened Salvatore off her. Damon collapsed to the ground, moaning in pain, a wooden stake buried in his back.

“Grace! Caroline!”

When Grace looked up, she saw Jeremy standing a few feet away. He was holding some kind of air compressed weapon in his hand, shooting another stake at Damon that embedded itself in his arm. The vampire groaned in pain, fury blazing in his eyes as they fell on the Gilbert boy.

“Jeremy,” he pressed out through clenched teeth. “What the hell are you doing?”

“Nothing you don’t deserve, dick,” Jeremy spat. “Those two vervain-coated stakes were for trying to kill Grace and Caroline. This one here is for killing me yesterday.”

He aimed at Damon’s stomach and pulled the trigger of his weapon, shooting one last stake at him. Damon screamed out in pain a third time. Jeremy took down the weapon, looking at the two teenage vampires.

“You two should get the hell outta here while you still have the chance to.” He nodded at Damon. “This is not going to hold him down for long. Here,” He pulled a piece of paper out of his pocket and handed it to Grace. “This is the name of the secret location where Matt and Bonnie are already waiting for you. Elena is currently distracting Stefan to give you a chance to run.”

Caroline’s eyes widened at the mention of Matt.

“Matt is waiting for us?”

Jeremy nodded.

“Yeah, at the location I wrote down for you. Now go!”

Grace hesitated, flashing him a concerned look. She didn’t want to leave Elena’s little brother alone with Damon.

“What about you?”

“I’m going to be fine,” he assured her. “But you need to leave, now.”

She nodded, taking Caroline’s hand.

“Thank you, Jeremy. I won’t forget what you did for us today.”

With one last smile at the teenage boy, the girls turned around and sped away.
    
The “secret” location written down in the notes was Matt’s house. When the two teenage vampires arrived there a few minutes later, Matt was already waiting for them at the front porch, together with Bonnie. Two large bags were lying on the ground next to them. Both Matt and Bonnie’s faces paled when they noticed Caroline’s blood-smeared face and shirt.

“Oh my god,” Bonnie exclaimed. “What did you do?!”

Caroline whimpered and flinched like a kicked puppy when she noticed Bonnie’s deadly glare on her.

“I-I didn’t mean to do this,” she stuttered. “He was bleeding and I-I couldn’t resist. I was just so

hungry

.”

Matt gulped audibly as he looked at his girlfriend.

“You killed someone?!”

Tears were shooting into Caroline’s eyes as she buried her face in her hands.

“I’m sorry! I know. I’m a monster.”

It broke Grace’s heart to see her best friend in so much distress. She wrapped her arms around the blonde in comfort. Caroline leaned into her embrace, her whole body shaking uncontrollably. Bonnie scoffed, crossing her arms in front of her chest.

“Tell that to the innocent person you just killed.” She sighed before walking down the steps of the front porch towards the two girls. “Never mind. On to the reason you’re here. We decided it’s best for you two to leave town for a while. At least until we found a solution to the Katherine problem.”

Grace stared at her friend wide-eyed.

“B-but where are we supposed to go? What about my aunt and my siblings? What if Katherine goes after them when she can’t find me?”

She flinched when Bonnie’s cold, dark eyes fell on her. She had never looked at her with so much contempt before.

“That’s not my problem. Don’t worry about your family. We’ll keep an eye on them.” She grabbed the two bags from the porch and threw them in front of their feet. “Here. Some clothes, toiletries, money, blood bags and tickets for the night bus to Richmond since you can’t get into your homes to get your car keys.” She looked at the watch on her arm before her eyes darted to Caroline. “If I were you I would hurry up and clean myself up fast. The bus is leaving in ten minutes.”

She turned around and walked back up the stairs.

“Bonnie,” Caroline whispered in between sobs. “I’m sorry. Please say we’re still friends.”

“We are no friends,” Bonnie replied coldly. “The Grace and Caroline I was friends with died last night in the hospital. I will never be friends with someone that murders innocent people. Be grateful Elena decided you’re worth saving. If it were up to me. I would have let Stefan and Damon deal with you.”

With that she walked back into the house, slamming the door shut behind her. Caroline turned to Matt who was watching her warily, a torn expression on his face.

“Matt,” she cried. “I’m sorry. I didn’t want any of this to happen. I’m

so

sorry. Please give me a chance. Please.”

Matt gulped and blinked away the tears glittering in his eyes.

“I’m sorry, Care. I need some time to wrap my head around this supernatural stuff. We’ll talk when you’re back, okay? Please be careful you two and look out for each other.”

With that, he turned around and followed Bonnie inside. The moment the door closed behind him, Caroline broke down crying.

“Matt! Please come back! Matt! I’m sorry!”

Her desperate cries and pleas were like a twisted knife in Grace’s heart. It hurt her physically to see sweet, caring Caroline in such a distressed state, as much as it hurt to see the disgust and hate in Bonnie’s eyes and the hesitation in  Matt’s. In the course of one day, they had not only lost their  human lives and turned into bloodsucking killers, they had even almost been killed a second time, lost one, maybe even two, friends and now had to run for their lives. Grace very much felt like crying too. But now was not the time for that. They had a bus to catch.

She gently grabbed Caroline’s shoulders and pulled her up.

“Come, Caroline. Let’s get you cleaned up and fast so we’ll catch the bus.”

The blonde girl wiped the tears off her face with the sleeve of her jacket, nodding.

“Okay.” She grabbed one of the bags before she suddenly stopped, frowning. “But where will we go?”

“Richmond is the right address,” Grace replied. “When I met my parents last night, they gave me a task. I think we should be doing that now.”

Caroline shot her a curious look.

“What task?”

“They told me to find my aunt’s soulmates if we’re ever in danger.”

The frown in Caroline’s face deepened.

“Your aunt’s soulmates?”

Grace nodded, grimacing.

“Yeah. Don’t really understand how that concept works either but I trust my parents. They told me to look for the original vampires and a guy named Slater who lives in Richmond can help us with that.”

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

It had been almost three weeks since Grace and Caroline  both disappeared in true cloak and dagger fashion, leaving nothing but a short text message to Audrey, telling her not to worry and to stay away from the Salvatores and anyone who looked like Elena. That mysterious text message had done nothing to ease her worries though. If anything, it had caused them to rise even more. Where had they gone to and why? Though the girls were far from little anymore they were still teenagers - young and easy to influence. Audrey didn’t want to think about what could happen to them while they were out on their own, doing God knew what. She had no idea why they had run off in the first place. Everything had been fine as far as she knew. They had both been recovering successfully from the car crash and had been bound to be released from the hospital the next morning. Neither Grace nor Caroline were the type of teenagers that would just run away from home like that either. All of that only reinforced Audrey’s gnawing suspicion that something was seriously wrong with this town. Maybe if she found out what it was, it would give her some hint about where to find the girls.

Sheriff Forbes had spent the last three weeks searching the entire town and all neighbouring locations for the two runaways — without success. Mobile phone tracking hadn’t procured any results either since their phones seemed to be turned off. The strangest thing about this incident however was the fact that Elena, Bonnie and Matt didn’t seem to be worried about their missing friends at all. They were just continuing with their lives as if nothing happened…or as they knew something others didn’t.

Already knowing how successful asking them would turn out to be, Audrey decided not to directly confront them about this and instead start her own investigations. Before that, however, Jenna was more or less begging her to join the barbecue she had planned for later that day.

“Please tell me you’re coming,” Jenna’s pleading voice reached Audrey through her phone’s speaker while she was standing in the kitchen, baking cookies with Callie. “Ric just told me that Damon’s coming too and I’m afraid I’m not going to survive that afternoon sober as I am right now. It’s the first time I’m seeing Mason since we graduated high school and I don’t want him to think I’m a total nutcase. I need you there as my lifeline, in the most literal sense.”

Audrey laughed while she was holding the bowl in place with one hand for Callie to stir the dough. The other hand was pressing the phone to her ear.
“You  are  a nutcase, Jen, so I’m afraid there isn’t much left to be saved.” The amused expression on her face was quickly replaced by a confused frown. “Joke’s aside, who’s this Damon you’re talking about?”
“Damon Salvatore,” Jenna replied grimly. “Stefan’s older brother and legal guardian.”

Suddenly, Audrey recalled the raven-haired, blue-eyed man that had danced with Elena in Stefan’s place at the Miss Mystic Falls Pageant.

“Wait, is that the guy who was escorting Elena at the pageant last month?”

On the other end of the line Jenna released a series of unladylike noises that sounded suspiciously close to grunts.

“Don’t remind me of that. Ever since then, he’s getting more cocky and obvious in his attempts to seduce Elena. Just recently, I caught them kissing on the front porch. Can you imagine it? I mean, I get it, really. He’s that mysterious, dangerous and sexy bad boy fantasy  every woman dreams of at night and Elena’s an inexperienced, hormonal teenager and thus easy prey. But I’ve dated enough men of his calibre to know that this is going to end with a broken heart and it won’t be Damon’s. Is it so wrong of me to want to protect her from this? Apart from that, he is at least ten years too old for my still very much underage niece. Miranda and Grayson are going to rise from their graves to personally strangle me if I’m allowing this to continue.”

Audrey grimaced, understanding perfectly well where her friend was coming from. She doubted she would react much differently if Grace ever brought home such a guy. In moments like this, she was glad that her niece was too focused on school and her studies to think about boys and dating. It spared her a lot of trouble. With any luck, Grace would wait with that until she was old enough to understand the dangers that came with it.

“If you don’t want him to come to the barbecue, why not simply kick him out?” Audrey suggested while Callie continued to stir the dough wildly, causing flour to spray all across the kitchen counter, her hair and clothes. “It was quite bold of him to invite himself to your own private event as if it was open buffet anyway.”

Jenna snorted.
“I don’t think he’s going to take no for an answer. Besides, no matter what I think of him, he’s Ric’s friend. If Elena and I invite our friends, he should be allowed to do the same.” There was a short, pregnant pause on the other end of the line before Jenna continued. “So  please  tell me you’re coming. You can bring the kids too. I don’t think anyone would mind them being there. It would also take your mind off Grace for one afternoon.  Please .”
Audrey sighed. How could she possibly say no if Jenna was begging her like that? Grace’s warning rang through her head.

Stay away from the Salvatores.

Could they be involved in whatever was going on in this town? If that was the case, getting to know them might just be the best way to start her investigations.

“Alright, Callie and I will be coming,” she finally relented. “If she wants to. I have to ask her first.”

Putting the phone from her ear, she looked at her youngest niece who was currently snacking raw cookie dough from the spatula. When she noticed her aunt looking at her, she stopped in her tracks, eyes growing wide like a child that had just been caught doing something forbidden.

“What do you say, Callie?” Audrey asked. “Shall we go to Jenna’s barbecue today?”

The auburn-haired little girl tilted her head, contemplating for a moment, before she nodded. Audrey smiled and tousled her shoulder-length curls before pressing her phone back to her ear.

“Callie and I will be coming. Benjamin is  sleeping over at a friend’s house tonight. When is it starting?”
    
Meanwhile, Elena was sitting at a table in the Mystic Grill, reading her social studies textbook in preparation of the impending exam. She was so lost in it, that she didn’t notice Damon sneaking up on her  from behind until he slipped into the free chair next to her. She flinched in shock at his sudden appearance before proceeding to glare at him in a mixture of exasperation and annoyance.
“What do you want?”She was still mad at him for killing her little brother and attempting to stake Grace and Caroline even though she asked him not to. Damon raised his eyebrows at the opened textbook lying on the table in front of her.“So, this is where you spend your time when you're not stabbing people in the back,” he remarked snappishly, obviously still hurt about the trick she pulled on him while they had been visiting the Duke University with Alaric to get a look at Isobel’s research about werewolves. Elena rolled her eyes at him before closing her textbook.“I tricked you into telling me the truth,” she corrected him. “That's not stabbing you in the back, it's using your own tactics against you.”She pushed her chair back and stood up, ready to leave to continue her study time somewhere else.“Where are you going?” Damon asked, causing her to stop in her tracks and turn around to face him.“I made myself clear, Damon,” she retorted coldly. “I want nothing to do with you.”Damon sighed before getting back on his feet as well.“Okay. See you at Jenna's barbecue.”Elena furrowed her brows at him.“How did you know about Jenna's barbecue?”“It was my idea,” he replied, shrugging nonchalantly. “Jenna went to high school with Mason Lockwood so I figured a social gathering would be a good way to get to know the guy. So I told Ric to tell Jenna and...”He trailed off, not bothering to finish the sentence. Elena raised her eyebrows at him.“Does Jenna know that you're going to be there? She's not exactly a fan of yours.”In that moment, one of the Grill’s waiters arrived with a cake box in her hands. She handed the box to Damon, who smiled at her politely.“Perfect. Thank you.” He waited until the waitress was gone before holding up the cake box in Elena’s direction. “I'm hoping this peach cobbler will pave the way.”The doppelganger narrowed her eyes at him. He was planning something, that much was clear.“What are you up to?”A devious smirk spread on the oldest Salvatore’s face, promising nothing good.“I'm gonna put some silver into Mason Lockwood and prove he is a werewolf.” He flashed Elena a short, innocent smile. “See you at the barbecue.”With that, he walked away, leaving a dumbfounded teenager standing alone at the table.    A mere two hours later, Audrey, Jenna and Elena stood in the Gilberts’ kitchen, preparing the food for the barbecue while Alaric and Matt stood in the backyard, taking care of the barbecue and Mason had recruited little Callie to help him search for the shot glasses. Everyone who had been invited was already assembled, except for the Salvatore brothers.“Thanks for letting me invite Matt,” Elena said to her aunt as she continued mixing the salad. “He could use a day of distraction.”Jenna, who was currently pulling out plates and cutlery from the cupboard and drawer, grimaced.“Well, he's not the plus one I'm worried about. Why is Damon coming?”Elena sighed, eyes darkening ever so slightly at the mention of Stefan’s older brother.“Because Alaric is a pity taker,” she replied. “Come on Jenna, be nice.”The strawberry blonde snorted indignantly.“I'll be nice when Damon learns to keep his paws off you.”In that moment, they could hear Alaric cursing loudly in the backyard, followed up by a qualm of thick, black smoke clouding the kitchen window facing the backyard. Audrey looked up from where she was decorating the strawberry cake she had made for dessert to shoot Jenna a concerned look.“Are you sure it was a good idea to leave Alaric alone with the barbecue? From the looks of it, he’s about to burn down the entire house.”Elena laughed.“Don’t worry. Matt’s with him, making sure he doesn’t start a fire.”Audrey gave the teenager a sceptical look, not quite convinced that one teenage boy was enough to keep the history teacher from committing accidental arson. Before she could voice her doubts however, Mason Lockwood appeared in the kitchen with Callie, triumphantly holding up a bunch of shot glasses.“Good news! Callie and I found the shot glasses!” He placed the shot glasses on the kitchen counter before crouching down to Callie’s level and holding up his hand for her to high-five him. “We make a good team, don’t we?”The six-year old looked at him hesitantly before a small smile spread on her face and she clapped her small hand against his rather large one. Audrey watched the adorable interactions between them with a smile on her face. It was nice to see life returning to her youngest niece. She still wasn’t speaking but at least she was slowly but surely returning back to her old, energetic self. Well, and Mason was really good with her. Audrey had no doubt that he would make a great father one day.“That would be my exit,” Elena commented before she grabbed the salad bowl and left the kitchen. Mason got back up on his feet before opening the tequila bottle he had brought with him and started to fill the shot glasses. Jenna shook her head at him.“You're here for ten minutes and I'm already back under the bleachers at the pep rally.”Mason grinned at her and playfully shoved her in the sides.“Like old times, huh? Only I didn't swipe this bottle from my old man.”In that moment, Alaric joined them in the kitchen.“Oh, the expensive stuff!” he exclaimed as he took a look at the bottle Mason was holding in his hands. “I like you already.”Mason shrugged nonchalantly.“Just happy to be invited.”Jenna nodded at her boyfriend.“Thank Ric, it was his idea.”Mason raised his eyes at the history teacher in surprise.“Really?”Alaric shrugged his shoulders.“Yeah, you know, I thought it would be nice to meet some of Jenna's high school friends. Dig up a little dirt.”Mason laughed as he handed a shot glass to him.“Oh, I've got dirt. I've got dirt.”“I have no secrets,” Jenna retorted, grimacing before handing another shot glass to Audrey. “Only dirty shame.”“To dirty shame,” Alaric said as the four adults clinked their shot glasses and then proceeded to down the tequila in one go.Audrey grimaced as she gulped down the alcohol. She had never been a particular fan of tequila. Placing the empty shot glass back on the kitchen counter, she grabbed the finished strawberry cake to put it back in the fridge just as raven-haired man dressed in a dark blue t-shirt strutted into the kitchen.“Hey.”The conversation between Mason, Jenna and Alaric immediately died down, replaced by an awkward silence. Audrey eyed the new arrival sceptically. The fact that he just walked into the house as if he owned the place without bothering to knock or ring the doorbell, didn’t exactly leave a good first impression.“Damon,” Jenna greeted him coldly.Trying to ease the awkward mood, Alaric walked up to Damon, smiling.“We were just doing shots. Let me give you a shot glass, buddy.”Before he could grab a fresh shot glass Jenna had handed her empty one to Damon.“Here. Use mine. I’m going to check up on the kids and see if they need help with the barbecue.”With that, she left the kitchen. Damon shrugged his shoulders as he took her place at the kitchen counter.“She doesn't like me very much.”Next to him. Mason held his hand out for Damon to shake.“We haven't met,” he said. “Mason Lockwood.”Damon flashed him an overly polite smile that Audrey couldn’t help but notice to be fake, before grabbing his hand and shaking it.“Oh sure. Damon Salvatore.”Mason clenched his teeth, trying to pull his hand out of Damon’s seemingly bone-crushing grip. When the latter finally let go off him, Mason shook his hand slightly and set up his best poker face. Audrey narrowed her eyes in suspicion as she continued to observe the scene in front of her. What was going on between those two? There was definitely a hostile air coming from them, or more specifically Damon.“I know,” Mason remarked. “I heard great things about you.”Damon raised his eyebrows at him in surprise.“Really? That's weird. I'm a dick!” He laughed awkwardly. When he noticed that no one else was laughing about his joke he stopped and his eyes finally landed on Audrey. “I see there is more than one new face among us today. Care to introduce yourself?”Audrey walked over to the men at the kitchen counter and held out her hand to Damon.“Audrey Campbell,” she introduced herself politely. “A pleasure to meet you.”Damon, however, continued staring at her with furrowed brows until Alaric came to his rescue.“That’s Grace’s aunt who recently moved here from London.”The mention of Grace’s name seemed to ring a bell at Damon.“Oh, of course. My mistake.” He flashed her a polite smile before shaking her hand in greeting. “Damon Salvatore. The pleasure is all mine. If I had known that our town got graced with the presence of such a beautiful face, I would have introduced myself sooner.” He winked at her flirtatiously, causing Alaric to roll his eyes. Audrey ignored his very obvious attempt to flirt his way into her good graces and instead grabbed the plates Jenna had pulled out earlier before handing them to Callie and ushering her out of the kitchen.“Come. Let’s set the table, shall we?”    As the afternoon continued to take its course, Damon’s hostility towards Mason didn’t ease up. It got so obvious that even Jenna in her slightly inebriated state noticed it. Every chance he got, the raven-haired Salvatore threw some kind of dog joke or  wolf reference at him. Mason put a good face on the matter and ignored all the digs thrown at him.After they had played a few rounds of Pictionary and Elena and Matt had separated themselves from the group, it was time for dessert. Damon placed Audrey’s strawberry cake and the peach cobbler he had brought with him on the table with a cake knife made of silver. He pushed the knife and the strawberry cake in front of Mason.“Mason, why don't you start us off?”“Sure,” Mason replied.Instead of taking the knife, however, he grabbed a piece of the cake with his hands and stuffed it into his mouth. From the other end of the table, Audrey observed how Damon’s scowled angrily at that before his poker face was back in place.“I apologise,” Mason remarked after he had placed the rest of the cake piece on his plate and licked the cream from his fingertips, laughing awkwardly. “I'm an animal.” He turned to Audrey. “Mhmm, this cake tastes like heaven, Audrey. You don’t happen to be in the mood to share the recipe?”Audrey grinned at him.“Sorry, but a pastry chef never betrays her secrets.”Mason scowled at that, visibly disappointed.“Well, then I guess I’ll have to order another one from you one of these days. Maybe one day you’ll give me the recipe.”Audrey scoffed at that.“Only in your dreams. I’ll take it to my grave.”Mason shot her a challenging look.“Oh, we’ll see. I can be very persuasive.”“I’m sure you do,” she grumbled before proceeding to grab the cake knife and distribute the cake among the group. Meanwhile, Alaric tried to pull Mason in another conversation.“So Mason, you and Jenna never dated?” he asked curiously.Mason shook his head.“She was always lost in Logan Fell land.”Audrey raised her eyebrows at her friend in surprise. That was news for her as well.“You and Logan, really?”Jenna grimaced and held her hands up in front of her.“I know, I know. He was a cheating ass. Trust me, I got the memo after he broke my heart for the second time shortly before he died.” She sighed. “One of my many mistakes. Mason was a catch; he had girls lining up.”Audrey didn’t doubt that for a second. Mason was good looking, had humour and was good with children. He ticked all the right boxes.Damon raised his eyebrows in surprise at person in question.“Really? I always pegged you for a lone wolf.”Audrey narrowed her eyes at him. Another wolf reference. What was he trying to accomplish with  that? Was this some kind of weird inside joke she didn’t understand? Whatever it was, it was starting to get really annoying. It might have been funny the first time around but now he was just pushing it. From the corner of her eyes she saw Jenna scowling with furrowed brows. She seemed to have picked up on Damon’s over-use of dog jokes as well. The two of them exchanged a short glance. Mason turned to the Salvatore, ignoring the dig.“I'm sure I wasn't half the lady killer you were.” He raised his glass, looking at the others. “How about a toast? To new friends.”Audrey copied his gesture, smiling.“To new friends.” Her eyes darted to Jenna.  “And not-so-new ones.”    Soon, way too soon for Audrey’s liking, the barbecue ended. It had already gotten dark hours ago and Callie was starting to get tired. Mason looked at the other adults expectantly as they were all walking to the front door of the Gilbert Residence.“No more takers for drinks at the Grill?” he asked, shaking his head. “It's like I'm with a bunch of adults here!”Audrey grimaced.“I prefer the term ‘role model”,” She nodded at Callie who was yawning and drowsily rubbing her eyes. “Besides, the child is getting tired. I have to get her home and into bed.”Mason laughed before turning to Jenna.“Okay. Well, thanks for having me, it was awesome. We should definitely do that again sometime soon.” His eyes drifted to Alaric who was standing behind Jenna in the door frame. “Alaric, catch that game next week?”The history teacher nodded.“Yeah, I look forward to it.”Mason smiled at him before turning to Audrey.“It was nice getting to know you, Audrey. I’m glad Jenna convinced you to come and I’m not only saying that because you make better cakes than Grandma Lockwood ever did. We should definitely meet up again one of these days. Say for a drink at the Grill after work?”Audrey nodded in agreement.“Sure. If I find a babysitter for the kids.”“Oh, that’s not a problem,” Jenna chimed in, sending a suggestive look at her friend. “I volunteer for the job whenever you need some…adult time.”Audrey boxed her in the side, shaking her head. She was touched at her friend’s attempt to play matchmaker, but she didn’t need one right now. Her number one priority was still trying to figure out Grace’s whereabouts.A satisfied smile played on Mason’s lips.“Perfect. Maybe if I get you drunk enough, I can get you to give me the recipe for that heavenly strawberry cake.”Audrey shook her head at him, trying to hide the grin spreading on her face.“You don’t give up, do you?”Mason shrugged his shoulders and gave her an unapologetic look.“I’m nothing if not persistent. You’ll figure that out soon enough.” He crouched down in front of Callie, smiling at the six year old. “Bye, Callie. You were awesome today, helping me with those shot glasses. I don’t think I would have found them without you. Give me one more high-five?”He held up his hand, waiting for her to high-five him. After Callie had hesitantly clapped her palm against his one last time, he tousled her hair and got back up.“Alright, guys. I’m heading out. Have a nice evening.”With one last smile at everyone assembled, he turned around and left. Damon stepped up from where he had been lingering behind Alaric and took Mason’s place at the door.“You know, I should probably head out too.” He gave Jenna a charming smile. “Jenna, you are a wonderful hostess.” He took her hand and pressed a kiss to her knuckles in a gentlemanly manner.Jenna scowled at him.“And you are a terrible artist.”A grin spread on his face.“Is that the only thing that makes me terrible?” he challenged.Jenna tilted her head, contemplating for a moment.“I'm still deciding.”“Good enough for me,” he retorted before turning to Audrey and Alaric. “Audrey, it was enchanting to have met you, I’m sure, and Alaric, let's not catch that game next week.”The two of them exchanged a long, meaningful glance that didn’t escape the women’s notice. There was a threatening undertone in his voice that caused Audrey’s toenails to curl up. When Damon turned around and walked away, both women caught the reflection of Jenna’s sliver cake knife coming from the pack pockets of his jeans. Audrey and Jenna exchanged horrified glances. What did he need that cake knife for? He couldn’t possibly want to…could he?Jenna turned to Alaric who was still standing next to her.“Ric, why don’t you take Callie back inside for a moment? Audrey and I have some private matters to discuss. You know, girls stuff.”Alaric nodded and pulled Callie back inside the house on her shoulders.“Sure. I wouldn’t take too long though. The girl looks like she’s about to pass out any second now.”“Of course. It just takes a second,” Audrey assured him.After Alaric had closed the front door behind him and Callie, Jenna immediately turned to her friend, her face a few shades paler than usual.“Did you see that cake knife in Damon’s back pockets?” she asked. “He must have swiped it from the kitchen after we did the dishes.”Audrey nodded, a concerned expression spreading across her face.“Yeah, I did. You don’t think he wants to do something to Mason, do you?”The strawberry blonde hesitated for a moment.“I don’t know,” she admitted. “He’s been so hostile towards Mason today for no reason…and all those weird dog jokes…I wish I could say he would never commit something as drastic as murder but truth be told I have no idea how far he is willing to go.”Audrey swallowed hard, forcing herself to remain calm. Freaking out now would do no good to anyone.“We need to call Mason and warn him,” she said. “Right now.”Jenna was about to pull out her phone when she suddenly stopped, face turning even paler.“I don’t have his current phone number.”Audrey’s eyes widened in panic.“What? Then we need to catch up to him before Damon does. Where do you think he could have gone to?”Jenna contemplated for a moment before she concluded, “He either went back home or to the Grill.”Audrey nodded, trying to remain calm even though her heart was beating rapidly against her chest, threatening to break out of its confinements.“Okay. Let’s head to the Grill first. I’m driving.”The two women rushed to Audrey’s car and climbed in, not bothering to inform Alaric first. Explanations needed to wait for later. There was no time for that now. Ever second counted.The drive to the Grill was filled with anxiety and panic. Audrey’s eyes were fixed on the road ahead, going slightly above the speed limit, while Jenna gripped her seat so tightly that her knuckles turned white.They had almost reached the Wickery Bridge when Jenna’s phone suddenly started to ring in her pocket, startling both women. When Jenna had caught herself again, she answered the call, pressing her phone to her ear.“Jenna Sommers, how can I help you?” As she listened to the speaker on the other end of the line, a frown appeared on her forehead. “Elena? What…Okay, I put you on speaker.”She put the call on speaker before positioning the phone in between both her and Audrey.“Are you both listening now?” Elena’s voice came from the other end of the line. Well, the speaker almost sounded like the teenager, if it weren’t for the cold tone that was raising Audrey’s hackles. “Good. I had the worst three weeks since I escaped this town for the first time, you can’t even imagine it. First, my two sacrifice vampires run off to God knows where, then my werewolf stops being cooperative and hides that damn moonstone from me and now even Elena refuses to listen to my countless warnings to stay away from Stefan. Since no one in this godforsaken town is willing to listen to anything I have to say, I’ll have to speak louder and in the only language people apparently understand around these parts.”The frown in Jenna’s face deepened.“Who is this?” she asked. “And what is all this talk about werewolves and vampires?”“Don’t take this personally,” the voice continued, ignoring Jenna’s questions. “But I have to send a message they can’t ignore that easily. If you want to blame anyone for this, blame your disobedient nieces.”Both women’s faces paled at that announcement. Whatever that person had planned, it didn’t sound good.“Wait, what does that mean?” Audrey asked, panicking as she steered the car on the Wickery Bridge.But the speaker ignored her question.“Goodbye, Audrey, Jenna.”The line went dead.In the next moment, Elena suddenly appeared on the bridge right in front of them, a cold, devious grin on her face. In the moment of shock Audrey steered the car to the side, recalling too late that they were on a bridge. The car broke through the wooden railing, tumbled over and sunk into the dark, cold water.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

Richmond, Virginia, eight hours ago
 Grace and Caroline sat on a small square-shaped table by the UV ray-proof window front of a contemporary coffee shop situated close to the Jefferson Park, wringing their hands in anticipation and nervousness of the impending meeting they had set up with Slater’s help. The enigmatic, brunette vampire with surfer hairstyle and an obvious penchant for comfortable cotton  cardigans sitting a few tables behind them with his opened laptop in front of him, encouragingly lifted his thumbs at the two teenage girls when he caught their nervous glances in his direction. After almost three weeks of setting up adverts on craigslist and hoping and praying the right people would come across them, they had finally managed to get into contact with one of the original vampires - Elijah Mikaelson. Well, not  him   personally. Neither the girls nor Slater were high enough up the vampire social hierarchy ladder to get  any  kind of information whatsoever on the Original’s current whereabouts or contact details. But they had managed to get a respond to one of their ads from someone who knew someone that knew someone that knew how to get in contact with Elijah and set up a meeting  with the Original at Slater’s favourite coffee shop in Richmond, Virginia for today, Saturday, the 20th of March 2010 at 1 pm.To say the girls were nervous was an understatement. Grace was moments away from a total breakdown as her gaze nervously flickered from the busy pavement outside the window front and the coffee shop’s entrance door back and worth, trying to spy any signs of an impending ambush. The person who had responded to their advert, had warned them that it would be suicide to try and contact any of the Originals and that they better had a damn good reason to ask for a meeting. Wasting their time would result in immediate death. Especially Klaus had gained the reputation of being a merciless, raging, easily agitated serial killer. Though Elijah was known to be more reasonable, calm and diplomatic in his dealings, they were still advised to tread carefully around him. He apparently was as sly as he was noble. Well, and then there was the simple fact that it wasn’t everyday you met a man that had been alive long before Shakespeare was so much as single thought in this universe. He basically was a walking history book, a living, breathing relic from times long gone, and the nerd in Grace was hyperventilating at the prospect of being near such an imposing presence. What would he look like? How would he talk? What had he seen in his long life? Where had he been? Oh, he would make such an interesting case study. Any vampire who had lived for longer than a human lifespan would, really. If the Salvatores and Katherine weren’t either trying to get rid of her or planning something  vile and dastardly, she would have  loved  to interview them. Anne Rice’s  Interview with the Vampire  was not without reason one of her most favourite pieces of Fantasy prose ever. She would jump at the opportunity to be the reporter character of her own  Interview with the Vampire  version and maybe one day, if she lived for long enough, she might even become the main character and share her own story with the next reporter. But she was getting way ahead of herself. She needed to survive the impending meeting before being able to entertain any thoughts about future plans whatsoever.
The fact that their newly acquired friend was just sitting a few metres behind them and would be present all throughout the entire ordeal, did assure her a bit, even though she doubted Slater would be able to do much if Elijah decided that they were only wasting his time. Over the course of the last three weeks, Slater had become a close friend and ally of the girls. Not only had he given them refuge in his apartment with huge, UV ray-roof windows overlooking the city’s skyline, but he had also taught them everything that he knew of the supernatural world they had unwittingly been thrust into, or more specifically the role Mystic Falls played in all of this. Their hometown had apparently been founded by a bunch of vampire hunters that had tried to cleanse their town of the undead plague in 1864 by locking twenty seven vampires into a magically sealed tomb underneath old Fell’s Church and in the process unwittingly created new monsters, namely the Salvatore brothers. He told them about doppelgangers, werewolves, witches, soulmate connections, everything he knew about the Salvatores and Katherine Pierce or Katerina Petrova how she was actually called, the Originals, the fabled moonstone that was rumoured to be located somewhere in Mystic Falls and the sun and the moon curse that was bound to it. During those three weeks Grace and Caroline even learned a lot more about their own families, things their parents had never told them. It was scary how much Slater knew about everything, even though he had barely reached his fourth decade as a vampire. He was a walking supernatural encyclopedia with a long list of connections all throughout the globe. He was the go-to person when someone needed to get hooked up with a certain other person in the supernatural world. How he had managed to build all of that up while simultaneously being an eternal college student with eighteen degrees, three masters and four PhDs was beyond Grace. Come to think of it, she had never actually seen him sleeping, like ever. He spent most of his time in this vampire friendly coffee shop, working on his studies or meeting new clients. Sometimes, the girls accompanied him while they were waiting for replies to their craigslist adverts, curious to learn more about the world they had now become a part of, while other times they chose to spent the day at his apartment, woefully staring out of the windows, soaking in whatever ounce of sunlight they could.

Grace missed it, the sun. She had only been a vampire for a month but only ever seeing it from the other side of an UV ray-proof window was hard. She couldn’t imagine how vampires must feel that were significantly older than her and hadn’t seen a single beam of sunlight for centuries. According to Slater, only a handful of vampires were lucky enough to get their hands on a so called “daylight ring” that allowed them to walk under the sun without burning to death like the Salvatores and Katherine did. These rings needed to be spelled by a witch and bound to a specific person so stealing was out of question, not that Grace ever considered that option. To get their hands on such a ring, they needed to find a witch who A, knew the right spell and B, was willing to help them. A seemingly impossible task, considering the fact that witches were notorious for their anti-vampire stance. Something about vampires being abominations of nature and upsetting the balance and such. It was a shame Stefan and Damon were so adamant on killing them or they could have asked them to set them up with the witch who spelled their rings. But for all Grace knew that witch could have died a long time ago or had been threatened into providing her services. No matter how desperate she was to feel the warmth of the sun on her skin once again, she would never force anyone’s hands. If no witch wanted to help her willingly, she would accept  it and spent the rest of eternity living in darkness. As long as she wasn’t alone, as long as she had Caroline by her side, she could do it.

Grace was taking a sip from her scalding hot coffee-blood mix when the entrance door of the coffee shop suddenly swung open and a brunette man in his early to mid-thirties walked in, dressed in a dark blue, expensive looking two piece suit, a black coat loosely hung from his rather muscular but not bulky torso. His dark, obsidian eyes diligently scanned the crowd until they met Grace’s widened blue ones. The sip of coffee she had just taken suddenly felt like it was  burning her tongue as he made his way through the sea of tables towards them, moving with the graceful elegance and determination of an authoritative figure, of a man that was fully conscious about the power radiating off him. She swallowed hard, one hand gripping the edge of the table while the other clutched the clean white ceramic mug tightly, causing it to crack slightly. There was no mistaking about who this was. Next to her, she heard Caroline’s breath hitch as the suit-clad Original slid into the free plastic chair across from them with a flawless elegance that no human could portray. He continued to observe the two teenagers quietly, his face settled into a blank expression that didn’t betray any of his thoughts or emotions. Another agonising minute passed before Elijah started to speak, amusement vibrating in his rich, smooth voice.

“I have to admit, this is a first. Never once in all those centuries have I been so brazenly solicited by someone so young. The innocence reflecting in your eyes tells me you have been turned not long ago.” He leaned back into his chair and crossed his legs. “Now tell me, Young Ones, what can I do for you?”

Grace swallowed once more before exchanging a wary glance with Caroline. The Original seemed relaxed enough but they knew that they had choose their next words very carefully. Grace took a deep breath, willingly her rapidly beating heart to slow down before she looked back at Elijah, whose eyes were still fixated on her.

“We are in need of protection. We and the rest of my family, my aunt included.”

The moment the words had left her mouth, Grace held her breath, nervously anticipating his reaction. Elijah continued to look at her, eyebrow raised slightly.

“Protection? From who, if I may ask?”

The black-haired teenage vampire hesitated for a second before she answered.

“Katerina Petrova.”

The corners of Elijah’s mouth twitched ever so slightly.

“Katerina,” he repeated, chuckling darkly. “Of course. I should have known this was about her, seeing as we are merely a stone’s throw away from the small town known as Mystic Falls, where she had caused quite a ruckus in 1864. I haven’t heard of her since.”

Grace shot him a surprised look.

“You know her?”

Elijah chuckled humorlessly once again before glancing out of the window, watching the people rushing along the pavement.

“Oh, Katerina and I go way back to the late fifteenth century, when she was still human. You could say we are quite well acquainted with each other.” His obsidian eyes darted back to Grace, a shadow clouding his gaze. “But that is hardly of importance right now. Why do you believe I would be interested in protecting you and your family from her?”

His eyes remained on her, diligently studying her face as he awaited her answer. Grace gulped audibly, her mind racing. How could she explain to him about her aunt being his soulmate in a way that he would believe her? Suddenly, a thought struck her.

“Rather than telling you, I would like to show you,” she replied. “Look into my memories. They will tell you everything you need to know.”

The suit-clad Original continued to observe her for a second longer before he got up from his seat and leaned over the table towards her, pressing his cool fingers on her forehead. Grace closed her eyes and focused on the memories she wanted to show him; everything starting from her parents’ death until the night Caroline and her had to flee Mystic Falls, including the conversation she had with her parents while she had been temporarily dead.  About a minute later, she felt Elijah pulling himself out of her head and lifting his fingers from her forehead. When she slowly opened her eyes again, Elijah stared at her in a mixture of amazement, anger, sympathy and longing. He slowly sunk back into his chair, this time less elegantly than before.

“Thank you,” he whispered after a moment of silence. “For this gift. You not only ended our thousand year long search for the woman that was prophesied to become the anchor to our humanity and our beacon of light but also led us directly to another human doppelganger. Niklaus will no doubt be very content with this development.”

“Human doppelganger?” Caroline asked, a deep frown settling on her forehead. “You mean Elena? What has she to do with any of this?”

Elijah sighed, leaning back into his chair.

“Everything, I’m afraid. But know that I will do whatever is in my power to ensure her survival.”

Grace’s head jerked up as she shot the Original a hopeful look.

“Does that mean you’re going to come back with us and help us deal with Katherine and the Salvatores?”

Elijah nodded, a small smile playing on his lips as he looked at the dark haired teenager.

“Of course. I suggest we leave as soon as the sun has set.”
    
Audrey had lost all sense of time and place. Weightlessly she drifted through the dark, endless sea of nothingness surrounding her. Was that what Charlotte and Thomas had experienced in their last moments as well? If this was what dying felt like, it wasn’t that bad. She had always imagined death to be more…well, painful. A small, still vaguely conscious part of her brain reminded her that her body as well as Jenna’s was still trapped in her car that had sunk into the dark cold water underneath the Wickery Bridge, struggling to draw oxygen into its lungs, but Audrey didn’t pay it much attention. Whatever pain or urgency she was supposed to feel, it couldn’t quite reach her here, in the in between of life and death. The further she let herself get drifted away, the more she was overcome by a new, strange sense of tranquility. She wasn’t entirely sure where this involuntary journey would lead her to but she could already feel the warmth, the light, radiating of the destination. It was welcoming her, beckoning her to come closer, to lay off all of her burdens, put her weary soul to rest and step into a place where the pain of the past didn’t matter anymore. And by God, she deserved a break! After everything she had went through the last couple of months, losing her beloved sister and brother-in-law and having to take on the challenging role of caregiver of three traumatised children in a foreign town so far away from the place she used to call her home for thirty two years where nothing ever was what it seemed…She deserved to lie down and rest her weary bones for a while.
It would be so easy. To give in to the alluring warmth, to take a step over the invisible threshold. Why worry about her body that was floating somewhere in the dark, cold water? There was nothing she could do about that anyway. She could waste energy trying to fight a battle she had already lost or she could simply accept the inevitable. She would be fine. Jenna too. Those they had to leave behind would mourn them, for sure, but the pain would lessen eventually. The children would…. The children!
Audrey halted and pulled herself back from the inviting warmth as the faces of her nephew and nieces fought their way through the haze of tranquillity that had descended upon her consciousness. What would happen to them when she was gone? She was all they had left, apart from Meredith who was far too busy with her job at the hospital and her work for the mysterious Town Council to play mother to children that had never been part of her plan for the future. They would end up in foster care, most likely being separated from each other  in the process so it would be easier to find new homes for them. Grace wouldn’t have to endure long, seeing as she would turn eighteen in early December. Knowing her responsible oldest niece, she would try to file for her siblings’ legal guardianship the moment she came of age but who could guarantee that the court would give it to her? Eighteen was far too young an age to take on such a challenging endeavour.

That small moment of hesitation and worry for her sister’s children was enough for Audrey’s consciousness to be pulled back into her body. She felt the change immediately. Her heavy, physical body made of flesh and bone suddenly felt so much more limited now that she knew what it felt like to be without it; more like a cage than anything. When the first cold shiver ran down her spine and the uncomfortable pressure on her lungs became more and more apparent, cutting off her airways, she yearned to be back in the warmth, to feel weightless and unburdened by mortal coils once again. How cruel it was to be forced back into her body only to feel it going into its death throes. What was the purpose of this torture? She just wanted to go back into the state of tranquil warmth and serenity. She wanted -

“Do you think she’s ever going to wake up? It’s been three months.”

Grace’s broken voice slowly penetrated the agonising, heavy silence surrounding  her, like the volume of a stereo steadily being turned up. At first, the familiar voice of her niece sounded distorted and far away, as if she was talking at the edge of a pool while Audrey’s head was completely submerged by water.

Another cruel torture. Grace was gone. She hadn’t seen her niece for three weeks. This had to be some kind of trick, an illusion her brain had conjured up due to lack of oxygen. And what did she mean with “it’s been three months”?

“She has to. It’s worse enough that we couldn’t do anything to save Mason. I don’t think I can stomach losing another friend.”
Jenna .
A part of her was relieved that her friend was obviously well while another part was deeply confused. How had they gotten out of the sunken car?

“You both need to stop being such pessimists,” Caroline’s voice butted in from somewhere to her right. “She’s going to wake up soon, you’ll see. And then we’ll figure out why the hell vampire blood doesn’t work on her. There has to be an explanation for it.”

“Elijah, the Martins and Meredith have been researching for the past months like crazy without success,” Grace argued. “If there is an explanation, don’t you think they would have found it by now?”

Audrey’s confusion rose. What was all this talk about vampire blood? She tried to open her mouth to ask them but she found that she had yet to gain control of her body, She couldn’t even open her eyes or otherwise signal them that she could hear them. It was truly frustrating.

“Talking about Elijah, where is he?” Jenna asked. “It’s rare to not see him guarding her bedside. Meredith says he even sleeps in here.”

“I think he figured out where Klaus stored their siblings’ coffins,” Grace replied. “He said something about reuniting his family before he left early this morning.”

Audrey could hear someone groaning in contempt, followed by Jenna’s voice.

“Great. Does that mean we’ll have more vampires running around town soon? And here I was looking forward to a couple of quiet months now that Katherine is desiccating underneath Fell’s Church, the Salvatores have left town and Klaus has disappeared without a word. It’s not like I have enough on my plate already with my best friend in a coma and Ric and John both still mad at me because I didn’t keep Elena from donating her blood for the sacrifice.”

“Yeah, I don’t get why they are so mad,” Caroline commented, a dark tone in her voice. “That stupid ritual went pretty smooth, all things considered. Klaus is now happy and Elena didn’t die thanks to Meredith’s genius idea with the blood transfusion. Granted, Stefan and Damon  almost send Klaus on a killing spree through the town when they compelled Jeremy to dagger Elijah but I’m actually glad they did it. It opened Elena’s eyes to their overly controlling toxicity. Can’t say I’m sad they are finally out of our lives.”

Someone to Audrey’s left let out a snort.

“I think you enjoyed watching Elena telling them off a bit too much,” Grace remarked. “I half expected you to pull out a bowl of popcorn.”

“Well, my mom hates me now because Damon told her about me being a vampire. I think I’m allowed to feel a bit spiteful.”

There was a moment of silence before Grace said, “Your mom doesn’t hate you, Caroline. She just needs some time to progress everything and look past what she has been taught all her life about vampires.”

“Yes she does,” Caroline argued, voice breaking. “It has been two months and yet she still can’t even stand being in the same room as me. I don’t think she will ever accept  vampire-me.” She sighed. “Bonnie still hates us, Matt doesn’t want to date a vampire and Tyler has left to join Mason’s old pack in Florida. You and Elena are all I have left. Apropos Elena, Jeremy just texted me that he and Matt got her out of the house successfully. We can come over now and start preparing the house for the surprise birthday party tonight.”

“Go,” Jenna’s encouraging voice followed after a few seconds of silence. “I stay here and keep watch. Meredith is going to come over with Benjamin and Callie and help you with the preparations.”

“Okay,” Grace finally repented. “But if anything changes with Aunt Audrey…”

“…I’ll call you immediately,” Jenna promised, laughing. “Now off you go before Caroline starts dragging you out of the room.”

Steps retreated from the room and then there was silence. It took a few more moments for Audrey to finally regain control of her body. Slowly she began to open her eyes, blinking against the sudden brightness invading her lenses. She tried to speak, but then noticed the respiratory mask covering her mouth. Removing it proved to be impossible. She could barely feel her her limbs.

Jenna, who must have noticed her struggle, rushed to her bedside, her hazel eyes widened in shock and relief when she saw that Audrey was awake.

“Audrey? You’re awake?” She grabbed her hand, holding onto it tightly as if she feared that Audrey would slip back into unconsciousness again. “Thank God! You have no idea how worried we all have been! Especially the kids.”

A tear ran down the strawberry blonde’s cheek, dripping on Audrey’s hand. Once enough feeling had returned  to her stiff limbs, she squeezed Jenna’s hands, causing her to look up and let go off her hand.

“Oh, right. I should probably call a doctor. Wait a second.”

She wiped her tears away and send a smile to Audrey before leaving the room to inform the hospital staff that the coma patient has awakened. She had only been gone for a couple of minutes before she returned with an unfamiliar dark haired doctor presumably in his mid forties and an elderly nurse. The doctor quickly examined her before instructing the nurse to take her off the respirator. Once the bothersome mask was gone and she could breathe freely once again, the nurse and Jenna helped her to get into a comfortable sitting position, while the doctor scribbled something into the medical file he had pulled out from the hospital bed’s footboard. When he was done, he turned back to Audrey.

“How are you feeling, Miss Campbell?”

It took about a minute before Audrey’s brain remembered how to open her mouth and form the words she wanted to say.

“I’m feeling…well,” she said, her voice raspy and hoarse from months out of use. “I’m having a bit of headache and my mouth feels quite dry.” She paused, trying to move her legs and frowned. “My legs feel kind of numb though.”

“I’ll get you a glass of water, darling,” the nurse said, patting her arm attentively before walking out of the room. The doctor nodded as he continued to fill out her medical file, obviously content with her answer.

“The headache should be gone by tomorrow at the very latest,” he informed her. “Your cognitive abilities seem to be working quite well. You’ve been in a coma for three months. Give your body some time to recover. The numbness in your legs should be gone soon and you will be able to walk again. Just take it easy.” He closed the medical file and put it back in place, before giving her an encouraging smile. “It seems you have a powerful guardian angel watching over you, Miss Campbell.”

Once he had left the room and closed the door behind him, Audrey turned to her friend, finally asking the question that had been bothering her ever since she regained consciousness.

“What the bloody hell is going on here? We were both in that car when it went off the Wickery Bridge. How are you fine while I barely survived? How did we even survive? What happebned with Mason? When did Grace and Caroline return and what did Caroline mean with vampire blood doesn’t work on me?”

Jenna’s eyes widened in surprise.

“You’ve heard our conversation earlier?”

Audrey nodded.

“Yeah, I did and now I have a lot of questions, as you can surely imagine.”

Jenna sighed before she pulled one of the plastic chairs to the bed and sat down.

“It’s a long and pretty crazy story. Where do you want me to start?”

Audrey leaned back into her pillow, wriggling back and forth until she found a comfortable position before shifting all of her attention back to the strawberry blonde sitting next to her bed.

“Start at the beginning. Who pulled us out of the water?”

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

The remaining summer passed by in a blur and in the blink of an eye it was September and the first day of the new school year had started. Grace stood in front of the Mystic Falls High School in between Caroline and Elena, textbooks pressed against her chest, and sighed wearily. It was crazy how much life could change in the span of a year. Last year around this time her parents had still been alive, her aunt had still lived in London and Grace had still been human and blissfully ignorant of the existence of the supernatural mingling amongst them in this town. Back then her life had been normal and her biggest problems had consisted of ordinary teenage stuff like worrying about her grades and deciding what top to wear at school. But then the Salvatores had come back into town, dragging in a whole bunch of other problems. Granted, Katherine would have showed up sooner or later anyways to hand over Elena and the moonstone to Klaus in exchange for her freedom and Anna would have found a way to force Bonnie and her Grams to open the tomb and free her mother and the rest of the tomb vampires from their prison without the Salvatore’s help but there was no denying that Stefan and Damon had unnecessarily complicated a lot of matters, especially regarding the sacrifice. Their obsessive and controlling behaviour regarding Elena nearly screwed up everything. Elijah had sorted out everything and even complied to Elena’s request to get convicted criminals for the vampire  and werewolf sacrifices so no one innocent needed to die, Meredith had figured out a safe way for Elena to “donate” her blood to the cause that didn’t result in her dying and even Klaus had been acting uncharacteristically docile and kept the body count and threats to an absolute minimum and yet Stefan and Damon had to try and screw up their plans. Compelling Jeremy to take out Elijah with the ancient, magical silver dagger they had somehow managed to get their hands on and then using Bonnie’s irrational hatred for vampires to try and get her to kill Klaus during the sacrifice at the cost of her own life had been the last straw that broke the camel’s back. Elena had finally told them off and the brothers had both left the town before Klaus regained his human form. Grace hoped she would never have to see either of them ever again. Things had finally quieted down in Mystic Falls over the course of the summer. After both Klaus and Elijah had left, the supernatural population had been reduced to three vampires, four witches and one doppelganger, not counting Katherine who was still trapped in the tomb where Klaus and Elijah had left her to rot as punishment for what she had done to Grace and Caroline and the stunt she had pulled with Audrey and Jenna.

The Martin witches, Jonas and his two children Luka and Greta, had officially been released from the Mikaelsons service and decided to stay in town and take Bonnie under their wing. The latter had no one left to teach her about magic and what it meant to be a witch after her Grams’ death and a lot of issues to work through. Under Dr. Martins’ teachings and care, she had grown a lot over the past summer months. She had even reconciled with Grace and Caroline and apologised for the way she had been acting towards them after their transition. While things were still a bit awkward between them, Grace was immensely grateful to have her friend back.

Elena had decided to give her biological parents a chance to be a part of her life. Both John and Isobel had moved to Mystic Falls to be near their daughter. The latter had surprised all with her 360 degree character change, now that she was no longer under Katherine’s harmful influence and was working hard to earn Elena’s and even Alaric’s forgiveness. She had claimed back her research projects at Duke’s and moved them to her new work place at Whitmore College in Grove Hill and even apologised to Grace and Matt for what she had done to them that one afternoon mid February. Both teenagers had accepted the apology, seeing as Isobel truly seemed to regret her past actions and was putting in a lot of work to become a better person, someone her daughter would accept in her life.

John, too, was a lot easier to endure now that the Salvatores and Originals were gone and Elena and Jeremy had made it unmistakably clear to him, that the latest Generation of Gilberts wouldn’t tolerate his blind hatred against vampires. If he wanted to stay in town and their lives, he would have to work on his attitude and leave Grace and Caroline alone.

The latter had managed to make a bit of progress with her mother during the last few weeks. They were now back on talking terms, though Sheriff Forbes was still struggling to come to terms with her daughter’s new state as a vampire. It would take a while for both her and John to change the mindset they had been growing up with but Grace was positive that they would get there one day. If a realist like her aunt could learn to accept the existence of the supernatural and that her own niece was a part of that world, then Elizabeth Forbes and John Gilbert could learn that not all vampires were evil, soulless creatures that needed to be killed.

It had been a summer full of healing, learning, bonding and long conversations. Explaining all the supernatural stuff to her aunt after she had woken up from her three month long coma hadn’t been easy. Audrey had refused to believe a single word they said until she had seen Grace’s and Jonas Martin’s supernatural abilities in action. Even then, she had tried to find logical, scientific explanations for what she had seen before she finally gave up and truly started to believe in magic and the likes. Though Grace was wondering why, she was glad none of the Originals had showed up in town ever since Elijah had left to reunite his family. It gave her aunt a bit more time to get used to the existence of the supernatural before she was confronted with the whole soulmate business. She already had a hard enough time trying to figure out how she and Jenna had gotten out of the water the day Katherine had caused them to drive off the Wickery Bridge. A jogger had found both women lying unconscious at the riverbank, drenched from head to toe and immediately called an ambulance. It was only due to his quick reaction that they had reached the hospital in time for Meredith to inject both of them with vampire blood and save their lives. Well, Jenna’s at least. Audrey’s body had shown no reaction to the vampire blood in her system and thus she had fallen into a coma. For the longest time, everyone believed she would die. Meredith continued to feed her the blood of different vampires, even Elijah’s and Klaus’, hoping she would eventually show some kind of reaction but nada. The blood was simply not healing her, leading to her condition worsening over time instead of improving. No one could tell why. The various tests that had been performed on her procured no results. There were no anomalies that could explain her body’s lack of reaction to the magic induced blood. She was as human and ordinary as they came. At least everyone believed so until her body suddenly began to seemingly heal itself out of nowhere until she eventually woke up in late June after three long months. As glad as everyone was that she was well, her miraculous recovery certainly left them with even more unanswered questions.

“Here we are. Senior year,” Caroline’s voice interrupted Grace’s thoughts and brought her back to the present. The blonde teenage vampire’s blue eyes drifted over the school’s main entrance area in front of them, watching the crowd of blissfully oblivious students pass them by. Next to her, Bonnie tilted her head sceptically, following her gaze.

“Anyone else think it should feel slightly more empowering?”

“Okay. So Prank Night was a bust, thanks to Matt,” Caroline admitted, crossing her arms in front of her chest. “But we are accepting it, and we are moving on.”

Grace grimaced at the mention of the past night. Senior Prank Night was supposed to be their epic “welcome to the last high school year” event. Caroline had started planning it months ago and made sure everyone in their grade would be present to help set up pranks for their teachers and the rest of the students, minus Matt who had apparently forgotten about it and then unintentionally ruined their carefully crafted set ups by stepping into them on his way back from his late evening training session in the school’s workout room. He had been acting strange and more distant the entire summer, but maybe that was part of the whole getting killed by a rageaholic Damon on the night of the sacrifice and then being resurrected by Bonnie scenario. Snapping poor Matt’s neck had been the oldest Salvatore’s reaction to Elena setting down her foot and alarming Elijah when he and Stefan tried to spirit her away from the town in a last, desperate attempt to keep her from going through with the sacrifice. Matt had been in the wrong place at the wrong time and ended up as target for Damon’s rage. Bonnie, who had been intent on killing Klaus that night with the power of the hundred dead witch spirits located in an old, abandoned witch house in the woods, thus changed her plans and used the accumulated powers to resurrect their human friend instead. The witch spirits had apparently warned her that meddling with death was bound to have consequences but other than Matt’s slightly strange behaviour nothing had happened as of yet.

“You're right,” Bonnie agreed, grimacing. “I mean, why should I let the fact that I still have no clue how to do this whole witch business without my Grams hinder this experience?”

Caroline nodded.

“Yes! And why should I let the fact that my mom still looks at me as though she wants to drive a stake through my heart any moment put a damper on an otherwise fabulous day?”

Grace placed a comforting hand on her best friend’s arm as the latter’s eyes began to fill with pain. The whole situation with her mom was difficult for the usually energetic and cheerful vampire to stomach. Though they had made quite a bit of progress over the summer, their relationship was still far from what it used to be.

“Today was supposed to be our anniversary,” Elena finally whispered, steering all three girls’ attention to her. “Technically, Stefan and I met on the first day of school last year.”

Her dark, chocolate coloured eyes darkened ever so slightly at the mention of her ex-boyfriend, a sad expression flashing across her face. She had tried her best to ban any mention of the Salvatores from her conversations over the summer, but now the memories seemed to be too… present to  ignore any longer.

Caroline sighed and shot her brunette friend a sympathetic look.

“Yeah. You win.” Her eyes darted to Grace expectantly. “Unless Grace has something to add?”

Grace shook her head.

“Nope. I still miss my parents of course, but other than that things actually go well in my life for once now that Aunt Audrey has fully recovered.”

“At least one of us,” Elena grumbled as she tightened the straps of her school bag she had swung across her shoulder.

Bonnie gave her best friend a worried glance.

“Are you sure you want to be here?”

Elena nodded, her face distorting into a grimace.

“I have to be here. I have to put it behind me. New year. New life. Now come before we’re late for Ric’s class.”

She sent tentative smiles to all three of her closest friends before the four teenage girls strutted together towards the school’s entrance.
    
Their first class of the day was history with Mr. Saltzman. The latter had just finished scribbling “

AP AMERICAN HISTORY

” in huge letters on the blackboard as the four girls took their seats in the middle row in front of Matt and Luka Martin who was smiling and waving at them in greeting. Grace reciprocated the smile before she started to pull pen and paper out of her bag. The youngest of the Martin witches had proved to be a great addition to their friend group during the last six months. Due to his family’s allegiance to the Originals, Elena and Bonnie took a bit longer to trust him but they eventually welcomed him into their circle as well.

The moment Grace had placed all of her utensils on the table, Mr. Saltzman turned towards the students to start his lesson, clapping chalk remains from his hands.

“Welcome back, seniors. Let's turn our brains back on, starting with this country's original founders, the Native Americans.”

The brunette history teacher walked towards his desk and grabbed his textbook to open it. He was about to continue his introduction to the course, as the door to the classroom opened and a blonde girl walked in. No, not a girl, a

vampire

. Her movements were too graceful, too light-footed for her to be human. She wore an expensive looking cream coloured summer dress combined with a jeans jacket and a pair of over-knees, her long blonde hair falling down her back in soft waves. Grace was positive that she had never seen her before, yet there was something oddly familiar about her. She just couldn’t quite place what it was.

“What about the Vikings?” the vampire girl asked in a melodious, accented voice, eyebrows quirked in expectation as she looked at Mr. Saltzman.

“There's no evidence that Viking explorers actually settled in the United States,” Mr. Saltzman replied before frowning at the new arrival that was still standing by the door. “Who are you?”

The blonde girl shot him a wide smile.

“My name's Rebekah. I'm new. And history's my favourite subject.”

Grace gasped slightly at the familiar name. Elijah had told her a bit about his family’s long and complicated history in the three months he had stayed in Mystic Falls while her aunt had been in a coma. When he had told her about his siblings that Klaus kept daggered and carted around in boxes until he saw fit to wake them, he had slipped his younger sister’s name on more than one occasion.

Rebekah

.

While the name of course was fairly common, it was too much of a coincidence for Grace to simply brush it off. And then there was the odd resemblance in her facial features, her blonde hair and clear blue eyes to Klaus. What were the odds…When she moved her head to the right, her eyes met Caroline’s and she knew that her best friend was wondering the same.

“Oh, uh, welcome to Mystic Falls, Rebekah,” Mr. Saltzman retorted, scratching his head in confusion and awkwardness. “Why don’t you take the free seat in front of Miss Fell over there?”

He nodded at the empty seat right in front of Grace. Smile still plastered on her face, Rebekah quite literally levitated towards the seat before sliding into the chair in one effortless, elegant movement. Now that she was studying  her more closely, Grace realised that she was not so much a girl as she was a young woman. If she had to guess, she’d put her physical age somewhere in the mid-twenties, definitely a bit too old to pass as a student but who was she to judge?  When Rebekah had sat down and the students eyes were fixed back on him for the most part, Mr. Saltzman cleared his throat before turning back to the class.

“As I was just saying, we’ll be focusing on the Native Americans for the next few weeks…”
    
During the first half of the school day, Grace had no chance to talk to Rebekah and confirm her suspicions. History at first period and maths at third  were the only two classes they shared before lunch break and each time, Rebekah was surrounded by a crowd of curious students, making private conversations impossible. Nonetheless, Grace put it on herself to talk to her before the end of the school day. She needed to know if the name was mere coincidence or if the new girl was truly Elijah’s and Klaus’ little sister. If the Originals had come back into town, she needed to warn her aunt before they caught her off-guard. They had told her about Klaus and the sacrifice, but Audrey had yet to find out just how deeply connected she was to him and his brothers. Grace had hoped to delay that conversation until she was more comfortable with all the supernatural stuff, but grace period seemed to be cut short now.

“I forgot about the bonfire,” Elena admitted as she, Bonnie and Grace watched Caroline putting up a flyer for the annual “back to school”-bonfire in the hallway on their way to the cafeteria after fourth period.

The blonde teenage vampire shot her a sharp glance.

“You have to go. It's our first spirit squad event. And it sets the bar for the whole year.”

Elena held up both hands submissively, laughing.

“Relax, Caroline. I'll be there.”

Relief flashed across Caroline’s face at the answer.

“Thank you. I know it’s hard with all the memories of Stefan from last year’s bonfire and that, but it’s our last school year. This year is all about making memories that will last us a lifetime. That means we will all attend as many events together as possible.”

Grace grimaced.

“Drunken teenagers and terrible disco music. Some great memories that’s going to be.” She sighed heavily. “Well, I hope this year’s school dance death rates are going to be significantly lower than they were last year. It will be nice to attend an event without anyone dying or getting attacked once in a while. You know, just how school events are supposed to be.”

“My words exactly,” Elena agreed before her face distorted into a grimace. “But with my luck, I’ll end up getting murdered by the Homecoming Queen.”

Grace linked her arm with the brunette teenager as the girls continued their way to the cafeteria.

“Also known as just another typical Tuesday in Mystic Falls. I guess we got lucky that the supernatural forces decided to go on vacation this summer.”
    
The first real chance to talk to Rebekah presented itself after school during cheerleader and football practice. Grace and Elena were leaning against the bleachers after having returned from their jog around the field, watching Caroline, Bonnie and the rest of the cheerleaders finishing their stretching and warm up. Further to their right, the loud, commanding voice of the coach reached their ears, as he sent the football team running around the field for another round.
“It's not the ballet, ladies. Let's move! Let's move!”On the grass patch where the cheerleaders were assembled, cheer captain Caroline had just finished instructing the other girls, when Rebekah suddenly walked up to them, dressed in sport clothes, her blonde hair pulled back into a ponytail. Instead of waiting for a reaction from Caroline and the rest of the girls, she proceeded to start her warm up, as if she had always been a member of the cheerleader squad. Grace could see her best friend’s eyes narrowing in irritation at the new arrival and instantly knew that she was about to go up like a  bomb any moment now. If there was one thing Caroline hated more than anything, it was people blatantly ignoring her.“Rebekah, right?” she asked, hands pressed against her hips. “What are you doing here? This is cheerleader practice and you’re not a member of the squad.”Rebekah however, continued stretching her long legs, pretending she hadn’t heard Caroline’s words, which seemed to anger the other vampire even more. With a few quick strides, Caroline was standing next to her, fury blazing in her dark blue eyes.“Hey. Hey! Elijah’s and Klaus’ sister or not, you can't just come here and infiltrate all of our lives.”Next to Grace, Elena’s eyes widened in shock as her face paled ever so slightly.“Elijah’s and Klaus’ sister? That’s the Rebekah?”
Grace shrugged her shoulders.

“That’s our theory at least. We had no opportunity to confirm it yet though.”

On the field, Rebekah stopped stretching, her ocean blue eyes boring into Caroline’s.
“So you know who I am. Good. That spares me the trouble of introducing myself.” She paused for a moment, a wicked smile spreading on her face that reminded Grace of Klaus. “And I'm only interested in yours. Your spunk, your popularity.” Her eyes darted across the field, where Matt was jogging in circles with his fellow team mates. “Maybe even your ex.”The anger in Caroline’s eyes intensified at the mention of her very human ex-boyfriend. Before Grace had a chance to intervene, she had grabbed Rebekah and vamp sped her against the bleachers next to Elena and Grace.“Don’t even think about using Matt in whatever sick game you’re playing,” she hissed, hand wrapped around the Original’s throat. “He’s human and doesn’t deserve to get caught up in some stupid original vampire plot.”Rebekah quirked her eyebrows at the younger vampire in challenge, not intimidated by the threat in the least. On the contrary. She seemed quite amused.“Or what?  Do you truly believe you have a chance against me?” The amusement twinkling in her eyes was replaced by a dangerous glint as she effortlessly pulled Caroline’s hand from her throat and pushed her off her. “You are but an infant compared to me. I could easily kill you and all of your friends right here and now if I cared to.”When she took a threatening step towards Caroline, Grace rushed to her friend’s side, just in case. She was well aware that there was nothing she could do if the blonde Original wanted to end their existence, but her instincts demanded her to come to her best friend’s help. Rebekah’s eyes darted from Caroline to Grace, the corners of her mouth twitching ever so slightly.“How cute. You’re lucky Elijah forbade me from harming any of you. He is in possession of the daggers so I‘m sure you understand that I rather want to avoid spending another ninety years in a stuffy box.”Elena’s breath hitched ever so slightly at the mention of the noble Original who had taken it upon himself to protect the teenagers from any kind of threats while he had stayed in town.“Is he here as well?”Grace could have sworn she saw something like hope lightning up in her eyes. Hope, that was quickly replaced by disappointment when Rebekah shook her head.“No. My noble idiot of a brother prefers to delude himself into thinking he can stay away from a certain person living in this town.” She shot a meaningful glance at Grace, letting her know that she knew about her aunt’s connection to her brothers. “I came here on my own. Kol couldn’t wait to place as many miles between himself and his siblings the moment he woke up, Finn disappeared shortly after and I haven’t spoken to or seen Nik since he buried that cursed dagger in my heart all those decades ago.” Her eyes darkened slightly as a shadow hushed across her face. “According to Elijah, he disappeared without a trace right after he broke the curse. No doubt to plan the next move in his diabolical master plan of world domination.”Grace furrowed her brows as she listened to Rebekah’s explanation. It looked as though Elijah’s plan to reunite his family had failed. If what Rebekah said was true, the five Mikaelson siblings were scattered all across the continent, probably even the world, each going their own way. In a way, the very thought of it made her sad. She couldn’t imagine ever hating her siblings so much that she couldn’t tolerate being near them for even a second. But then again, neither Benjamin nor Callie had ever shoved a dagger into her heart and trapped her in a box for centuries so the situations weren’t comparable. Still, what had happened to the family that caused them to fall apart like this? Sure, Klaus was a violent man. She had seen with her own eyes just how violent and destructive his angry outbursts could get when the Salvatores had compelled Jeremy to dagger Elijah and then hid him from the others. A hurricane or earthquake had nothing on him. All those innocent residents of Mystic Falls would never know how close their town had been to becoming the setting of the most terrifying blood bath of the century last April. It was only due to Jenna’s clever detective work, Caroline’s acting abilities and the Martin witches magic that they had managed to figure out Elijah’s location and pull the dagger before Klaus could make true of his threats. But Grace had also seen a different side of the hybrid. She had seen how vulnerable and gentle he’d been the night of the sacrifice in front of the stone altar at Steven’s Quarry when he had looked Elena in the eyes and thanked her for helping him breaking the curse. It had been a raw, genuine thank you; no theatrics, no sarcasm. Grace had the suspicion that up to that moment, he had expected her to run like Katherine had done five hundred years ago, no matter how often she had assured him that she wouldn’t. Only when she had walked up the steps to the makeshift bed next to the altar where Meredith and Dr. Martin were already waiting with the blood transfusion and the medical supplies with so much determination and courage in her steps, he had truly believed her. It had been written all over his face, the slight moment of utter disbelief that she truly kept to her word and didn’t try to flee followed by a clear tinge of gratefulness and an fleeting expression that came close to admiration. Grace herself had admired her friend for her courage to go through with the sacrifice that night. She didn’t know if she would have been able to do the same in her stead. Sure, with Meredith and Dr. Martin, she did have two experienced doctors at her side, but there were still a million things that could have gone wrong. It was the reason Stefan, Damon and even Bonnie, John Gilbert, Isobel and Mr. Saltzman had been so vehemently against the sacrifice. Jenna, Jeremy, Caroline, Matt, and Grace hadn’t been entirely comfortable with it either, but they respected Elena’s decision and done their best to support her. Contrary to the Salvatores who had done everything possible in their power to screw up the sacrifice and piss off a whole bunch of supernatural beings in the process, Klaus and Elijah included. From trying to kill a freshly triggered Tyler Lockwood because they believed Klaus wanted to use him as the werewolf sacrifice (as if he wouldn’t have a back up wolf) and thus causing Mason’s old pack to retaliate by kidnapping and torturing Caroline until Elijah personally came to her rescue (because Stefan and Damon even managed to screw that up, these incompetent fools) to working out a plan with a non-rational thinking Bonnie to kill Klaus and finally trying to kidnap Elena and flee to Europe with her. The fact that they had survived all that was testimony of Elijah's sincere promise to keep Elena’s loved ones safe, not matter if they tested his patience. And Stefan and Damon had done a lot of that.The second time she had witnessed Klaus’ softer side was when she had caught him sitting at her aunt’s bedside at the hospital that one time a few days after the sacrifice, silently staring at her with an torn expression in his dark blue eyes before he hesitantly reached out and pushed a black curl out of her face. It had been such a careful and gentle movement, as if he was afraid she’d break underneath his touch, like a porcelain doll. The magic of the moment was quickly gone though, when he noticed Grace. He left her aunt’s hospital room without a single word. That was the last time anyone here in Mystic Falls had seen him. If Grace had to wager, she’d say that his sudden disappearance had more to do with whatever conflicting feelings he had for her aunt rather than some master plan he had conjured up as Rebekah seemed to believe. Even Elijah seemed to be too afraid to face her aunt now that she was conscious and they had the opportunity to explore their connection and see where it might lead to. Otherwise he surely would have returned by now. Or maybe he just wanted to give her some time and space to recover and adjust like the gentleman he was. And why hadn’t Kol or Finn showed up in town by now? Based on what she had been told about the youngest Mikaelson brother, he would have no qualms barging into her aunt’s life like a tornado the way Elijah and maybe even Finn would have. It was more than odd that they had seen no signs of him yet.The question must have been written all over her face, because Rebekah gave her a knowing look.“They don’t know,” she said. “About your aunt. Elijah never told them.”Grace furrowed her brows.“He didn’t tell them? But…why? He told Klaus about her pretty much immediately.”Rebekah hesitated for a moment, a dark shadow clouding her eyes before she answered.“I guess he was trying to protect your aunt in a way. Kol and Finn…they were both daggered for centuries whereas Elijah was barely daggered at all and Klaus pulled mine regularly before shoving it back in whenever I did something he disapproved of.  When Elijah finally woke them up a few months ago, they were so angry…I guess he didn’t believe it safe to confront them with  the knowledge of their fragile human soulmate. And then Kol left to go on his killing spree along the east coast and Finn disappeared right after without telling anyone where he was going.” She sighed. “I believe sometime during the summer, Elijah came to the idiotic conclusion that it was better to stay out of your aunt’s life. Undoubtedly the product of leaving him to overthink things for too long. No matter. He will come back to his senses soon enough and once Kol and Finn have calmed down, I will personally drag them here if I have to. Until then I will stay and live the life Nik always refused me. If you stay out of my business, I will stay out of yours. And now if you’d excuse Caroline and me, I believe the girls are waiting for us.”With one last smile flashed at Elena and Grace, she strutted away, dragging Caroline with her. The two teenagers exchanged a long look until Elena picked up her water bottle form the ground next to her and took a sip, grimacing.“I guess the calm summer days are officially over now.”     Matt Donovan would never get used to seeing his dead sister sitting at the kitchen table, no matter how many months had passed since he first started seeing her ghost after Bonnie resurrected him with her magic. Sometimes he found himself wondering if all was just a dream, a way to torture him with memories of the sister he lost almost a year ago and the only true family he ever had. His dad had disappeared when he was still a newborn and Kelly had only stayed around long enough to witness his tenth birthday before leaving him in his eight years older sister’s care to run after her most recent lover. Though she was crashing by every now and then over the years - usually when she needed money - he had long since stopped referring to her as his mother, especially after he found her making out with his best friend at Vicki’s wake at the beginning of the year. He had been so upset about her behaviour at his beloved sister’s wake that he had told her that he never wanted to see her ever again. The words had slipped from his lips in a moment of rage and now he couldn’t take them back anymore. Not that he wanted to. Kelly Donovan could go jumping in a lake for all he cared. Vicki had sacrificed a good portion of her youth and her college education to take care of her baby brother and make sure they always had a roof over their head and food in their fridge. At the young age of eighteen she had to juggle multiple jobs as well as high school exams so they could keep the house only for Kelly to scrounge half of the hard-earned money from them whenever her lovers decided she was too much trouble for them to keep around. Not having the heart to sent her away, Vicki always offered her a place to stay, each time hoping she would finally change and become the mother they deserved only to be disappointed in the end. Kelly would never change and Matt had long since accepted that. The one thing he had never been able to accept, however, was his sister’s death. The day her corpse had been found in the woods during a heavy rainstorm, a part of his heart had died. Up until that moment he had deluded himself into thinking that his sister was still alive somewhere, anywhere, even if he couldn’t explain why she would abandon him so suddenly. To find out that she hadn’t abandoned him, that she had been lying dead in the underbrush all these months had broken him. Even more when he later found out that she had been murdered by none other than Damon Salvatore, who didn’t want to take responsibility for the vampire he had mistakenly sired and instead decided to get rid of her the moment she was acting out for the first time. What an irony of fate that the person who had torn the siblings apart would be the one to indirectly reunite them again. In a twisted way, he was thankful that Damon snapped his neck in a fit of rage. If he had never killed him and thus forced Bonnie to resurrect him via magic, he would have never seen his sister again. Vampire souls, as well as all other supernatural creatures, existed in their own version of purgatory called ”The Other Side”. According to Vicki it was a dark, desolate and cold place where everyone only existed for themselves. There was no one to talk to. Only darkness and loneliness.When she had told him that there was a way for her stay with him, he hadn’t thought twice. Of course he would do whatever he needed to do in order to not lose his sister again. It had been a month since he done the ritual that would strengthen her connection to this plane of existence and Matt couldn’t be happier. Well, there was still the fact that he was the only one who could see her and he still hadn’t told any of his friends about his newly gained ability to see ghosts, but these were insignificant details. He had his  beloved sister back and that was all that counted.“What do you say, high school jock or Casanova?” he asked her as he held two different jackets in front of him. Vicki assessed the clothing pieces critically before pointing at the red and white coloured varsity jacket with the word “GO TIMBER WOLVES” printed on the back in huge, bold letters.“Definitely high school jock. Casanova doesn’t suit you.”“True,” he grimaced as he threw the dark blue, vintage looking jacket on the chair’s backrest before slipping into the varsity jacket. “Casanova would have laughed at my feeble attempts to win back Elena’s heart during last year’s bonfire.”Had it already been a year since he and Elena had broken up and Stefan Salvatore had taken his place? So much had happened in the span of a single year, yet he had barely felt the time passing by at all. Vicki sent him a sympathetic look.“Don’t take it to heart, Matty. You never stood a chance against a vampire with over a century’s worth of experience in seducing hormonal teenage girls. One day she will look back and regret that she exchanged a kind and sweet guy like you for a literal serial killer.”“No, it’s okay, really,” Matt assured her. “I’m over it now. Elena and I work way better as friends anyway. I wouldn’t want to lose a great friendship for some short lived romance.”Vicki observed him silently for a few moments, seemingly lost in thoughts.“I always thought you two would marry one day,” she finally admitted, a small smile playing on her lips. “You know, live out the american fairy tale with 2.5 children and a white picket fence.”Matt raised his eyebrows in surprise. Vicki had never mentioned anything of the sort when he and Elena were dating. On the contrary, Elena had told him that Vicki always  gave her the impression that she was against their relationship with her over-protective, big sister act.“Well, I’m sure she’s going to live out her american fairy tale with someone else one day,” he muttered as he picked up his phone from the kitchen table and put it in his jacket pocket. “I don’t think she will go back to Stefan even if he came back into town.”“What about you?” Vicki asked as she watched him collecting his car keys and fixing his hair one last time in the hallway mirror. “Don’t you want to same? Isn’t that the reason you broke up with Caroline? Because you secretly dream about that white picket fence as well and a vampire forever frozen at seventeen will never be able to live that life with you?”Matt stopped in his tracks, eyes travelling towards the children photos of him and Vicki hanging on the wall next to the mirror. Was that he wanted? A happy, fulfilled human life with a spacious house, a nice job and the typical family he and Vicki had always dreamed of?“Maybe,” he admitted. “But even so, I doubt Elena and I will get back together in this life for the reason I already mentioned.”Vicki didn’t look quite convinced. Instead, she gave him a secretive smile.“Mhmm, I haven’t given up on you two yet. Maybe not today, but in a few year’s time you two might realise how compatible you are.”“Compatible,” Matt scoffed, shaking his head. “What happened with the ever-burning, passionate love that consumes you?”“Passion is overrated,” she retorted dismissively. “A stable partnership built on trust and shared dreams is often way more valuable than a passionate, heated love affair with someone you normally wouldn’t even trust to look after your guinea pig. Mom and her countless failed relationships are the best example for that.”Matt laughed drily.“That’s because Kelly looks for love in the most twisted individuals wandering this earth. She would have more luck with men if she stopped falling for the ones who treat her like trash. Have I already told you that I caught her and Damon making out on the very table you’re currently sitting at?”Vicki quickly jumped away from the table, as if it had just burned her, face distorted in disgust.“What? Ew! Now I will never get the pictures out of my head.”Matt snorted.“Ask me. I’m going to be traumatised for the rest of my life.” He shook his head energetically, as if that alone would be enough to erase the horrid pictures from his head. “Anyways, I’ve got to go. You know, getting drunk at the bonfire with friends like a typical teenager.”He was halfway out of the front door, when the door suddenly fell shut right in front of him, causing him to jump a few steps back in order to not get hit.“What the hell?” When he turned around, he saw his sister standing only a few inches away from him, a wench in her hand. “Vicki? Was that your doing?”The guilt flashing across her face was all the confirmation he needed.“I’m sorry, Matty,” she said, voice heavy with a mixture of guilt and a tinge of…sadness? “But if I want to stay, I need to fulfil my part of the deal. She wants me to do it tonight. I can’t let you go to the bonfire. You could get hurt.”Matt shot her a confused look.“What the hell are you talking about, Vic? What deal?”“The witch who helped me,” Vicki explained. “She wants me to get rid of Audrey Campbell so she can’t deter her son from doing what she needs him to do.”His eyes grew wide in panic when he realised what his sister was implying.“Getting rid of…Vic, you can’t kill Grace’s aunt! Are you crazy?”Vicki just looked at him through sad eyes.“I don’t want to do it, Matty, please believe me. But I have no choice. If I don’t do what she wants, she will hurt you and I can’t allow that.”Panic filled him when Vicki stepped closer. He stumbled back until his back collided with the wooden front door.“No, Vicki, please. We’ll find another way! Please, don’t do it!”She shook her head.“There’s no other way, Matt. She is too powerful. Don’t worry, I will make sure that Elena and Jeremy won’t be able to leave their house either.”Before he could ask what she had planned, Vicki’s hand with the wench suddenly flashed forward. He felt a dull pain spreading on his head as the iron connected with his skull before the world went dark around him.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

Audrey had been looking forward to a relaxing night at home on the sofa with a cosy hallmark film and a nice glass of wine. Callie was already sleeping, Benjamin was about to go to bed as well and Grace had left for the “back to school” bonfire and thus would be gone for the next few hours, leaving Audrey with abundant time for herself. It had been a while since she had an evening all for herself. Between the children’s summer break and the weekends she and Jenna spent  researching at the library or founders archives for any hints as to what was wrong with Audrey, there had simply been no time for her to relax. Ever since she had woken up from her coma, one particular question was domineering her every waking moment and even her dreams:  What  was she? She wasn’t human, at least not entirely. According to Meredith, her body had downright rejected every drop of vampire blood she had been fed during her coma only to magically recover all by herself one day. No human could recover that fast. But if she wasn’t human,  what  was she then?No one had an answer to that, or how she and Jenna had managed to pull themselves out of the water that night. She sighed. Just when all the other mysteries had been cleared up, another pile appeared, waiting to be solved as well. Was that her life now? Moving from supernatural mystery to supernatural mystery? As if the fact that her niece had apparently died in her hospital bed before being resurrected as a vampire while she had been blissfully unaware of it wasn’t hard enough to stomach. Yes, she blamed herself for Grace’s death, not matter how many times the latter assured her that she wouldn’t have been able to change her fate.  She  was the legal guardian. Charlotte and Thomas had entrusted their children to her and she had utterly failed them. Grace had been  dead . If Meredith hadn’t given her vampire blood to help her heal from her injuries…No, she didn’t want to think about it, didn’t even want to imagine it. Katherine Pierce was lucky she was already rotting away in that tomb or Audrey would have ripped her a new one for that. She was still contemplating paying the vampire a visit, letting her feel her wrath. But that would be pointless. The door had been sealed with magic and the vampire within would probably be too weak to notice her presence after almost half a year without  a single drop of blood to sustain herself.
She snuggled deeper into the sofa as the intro of the hallmark film she had chosen to watch that night began to play. Christmas was still three months away but who cared anyway? She was in need of something soft and comforting and nothing fit that category better than your typical cheesy Christmas romance. Such films had always been her secret guilty pleasure. With her own love life being as empty and dry as the Sahara desert, she could at least live vicariously through those of others - even if it was just on screen.

Around sixty minutes into the film, her phone suddenly began to buzz on the coffee table in front of her. Sighing in irritation at being disturbed, she picked it up and looked at the display. A message from Grace.

Hey, could u please pick me up from the bonfire? I’m too drunk to drive myself.

Audrey furrowed her brows. Grace had never been drunk before. Maybe a bit tipsy, but never too drunk to drive back home by herself. Speaking of, could vampires even get drunk? She made a mental note to add it to her ever growing “Vampire things to ask Isobel the next time you meet her” list as she reluctantly turned off the TV and heft herself up from the sofa. Her bones protested at the movement. Ugh. She was definitely growing old. Forever being stuck in the fresh, energized body of a seventeen year old had its fair share of advantages, now that she was thinking about it. Not that she really envied her niece for her new state of existence. For all the advantages vampirism brought there were just as many draw backs, if not more. Having to rely on a magical ring in order to not burn in the sun had to suck. Clumsy and chaotic as she was, Audrey would probably lose the ring faster than anyone could blink. And then there was the constant craving for blood. Grace might try her best to put a good face on the matter, but Audrey knew that she was still struggling with that. So far, she hadn’t killed anyone apart from two unfortunate humans during her and Caroline’s time in Richmond, relying purely on the blood bags Meredith swiped from the hospital’s blood bank to sustain herself, but the craving to rip out people’s jugular’s was a constant presence in her new life. Perhaps with time she could learn to live with it.
Before she left the house to climb into her ridiculously expensive new car - a gift from Elijah Mikaelson, the original vampire Grace and Caroline had brought to Mystic Falls and left shortly before she woke up from her coma - she quickly scribbled a note for Benjamin and Callie should they wake up and find her gone in the few minutes it would take her to pick up Grace and bring her home. It was strange, using a car that had been gifted to her from a man she had never met or so much as spoken a single word to but she had little alternatives. Charlotte’s Buick was unusable after it had gone for an involuntary bath in the river and Mystic Falls was too small of a town for bus or subway connections. Well, and she  needed  a car to deliver orders. Betsy’s pâtisserie wasn’t bringing in enough revenue for a company owned delivery car. It was barely enough to cover Audrey’s salary and the ridiculously high rent that constantly seemed to increase. That prick of a landlord probably  had the time of his life, cheating a kind-hearted old lady of her money like that. If things kept going, she would seriously think about asking Grace to compel him. Someone had to put a stop to that. Betsy didn’t deserve to get ripped off like that. She had been so sweet and understanding after Audrey had woken up from her three month long coma and Jenna had told her how Betsy had come to visit her regularly at the hospital, bringing a fresh bouquet of flowers each time. Ever since Audrey had went back to work, Betsy was asking her about the “two handsome young gentlemen” that had been dutifully guarding her bedside night and day “like two watch dogs” with a knowing twinkle in her eyes. Audrey never knew what to say to that. The thought that someone had been guarding her like that was strange and creepy…but also comforting in a way. A shame she never got to meet either of them. She would have liked to ask them for their reasoning.    A few minutes later she had pulled up her car at the Mystic Falls High School’s parking lot, waiting for her niece. Grace had send her another text message, telling her to wait in the car. Audrey wondered how drunk she really was, if she was still able to write full sentences. But maybe that was all part of the vampire package. She really needed to ask Isobel about that. They weren’t exactly friends - more distant acquaintances, really - but she was the only other vampire residing in town at the moment, apart from Grace and Caroline. And she was very adamant on proving herself to her daughter so she was willing to help wherever help was needed. It wasn’t like there was a guide on  How to Raise a Teenage Vampire  lying around somewhere in the local library that Audrey could borrow. Sometimes she really wished it could be as easy as that.
She let out a heavy sigh as she waited for her niece, fingers drumming against the steering wheel. The parking lot was full of cars, but not a soul in sight. The few street lamps scattered on the side did their best to illuminate the lot, but failed miserably. It was pitch black outside, even the moon and stars were hidden behind dark clouds. Creepy. The perfect place for an ambush. No one would notice if something were to happen to her here. By the time the drunk teenagers at the bonfire would register her screams and came running, it would be too late. Audrey shook her head, wondering where all those sinister thoughts were coming from. Living in Mystic Falls had turned her paranoid. She still proceeded to lock the car doors, just in case.

A fatal mistake.

She smelled the the smoke before she saw it. Thick, black clouds emerging from the back of her car, mixed with the penetrating stench of gasoline. Someone had set her car on fire. With the smoke burning her eyes and clogging her airway, Audrey panicked, trying to unlock the doors. But the lock remained firmly in place, as if someone was purposefully sabotaging it. Coughing heavily, she unfastened her seatbelt and changed her position, trying to break the window with her feet. Action films always made it look so easy. All the while she could feel the heat of the flames that were licking on the car’s trunk, trying to find a way in. The car would soon blow up into pieces - just like her if she didn’t find a way to escape.

Scrap that, there was no way to escape. This wasn’t an action film and she was no freaking superman who could easily smash the glass and fly to safety. She was just Audrey, an ordinary-not so ordinary maybe-human and her only superpower was her natural resistance to vampire blood, if you could even call it that. Why couldn’t she get something useful, like super strength or fire-proof skin? Something that could have helped her out of this situation. Where in the bloody hell was Grace? If someone could break her out of the car it would be a vampire. But Grace wasn’t there. No one was there to hear her muffled screams, interrupted ever so often by heavy coughing fits.

She would die in here, go up like a firework as soon as the car exploded, not even leaving an intact body behind for others to find in the wreckage. Why did things like that always have to happen in a freaking car? If God - or whatever higher powers were at work in this universe - was merciful enough to let her survive this, she would never step foot into one again. Never. Betsy would have to find someone else to deliver her pastries. Or Audrey’s pastries, really.

Her eyelids fluttered, airways tightening as the deadly smoke continued to invade her nostrils. Then she heard it. A horse’s neighing. Somewhere close by. A powerful quake run through the entire car as the the driver’s door was suddenly yanked off its hinges, causing Audrey to open her eyes. Standing right next to the car, in all of its majestic glory, was a powerful, white horse. No, not really a horse. Instead of fur, it was covered in pearlescent shimmering fish scales, its silver mane glowing in the dark like a beacon. The most uncanny part of the horse, however were its eyes. They were completely white, no pupils. For a moment, Audrey stared at the horse in wonder and the horse stared back through its intelligent eyes, not bothered by the flames in the least. They didn’t even seem to reach it, circling around it as if there was an invisible wall blocking their way. There was something oddly familiar about the strange creature, though Audrey couldn’t remember where she had seen it before. A distant childhood memory perhaps. A dream.
The magical moment was cut short as she was hit by another coughing fit. The horse steered into motion, lowering itself to the ground, nudging its head to Audrey and then to its back as if to say “ Climb up .”
Gathering the last bit of strength in her body, Audrey crawled out of the car and onto the creature’s back. Its cool scales were soothing her heated skin. She half expected them to feel wet and slippery like a fish, but they were surprisingly dry. Her hands dug into the horse’s mane as it got back up on its feet.

“I’ve never ridden a horse before,” Audrey mumbled weakly. “Please don’t throw me off if I do something wrong, okay?”
The horse blared its nostrils in amusement, which sounded close to a “ Please. Don’t insult me like that. ”
She felt its muscles tensing underneath her body as it galloped away from the parking lot into the woods moments before the car exploded behind them.
    
“Hold on, Marcel is still alive?” Rebekah practically screamed into her phone from where she was standing at the side of the bleachers, clutching a half empty beer cup in her other hand.

“Indeed he is,” Elijah replied on the other end of the line, a grim notion to his voice. “Alive and thriving. He now fancies himself ‘the King of the Quarter’.”
Rebekah’s grip around the plastic cup tightened as she took a moment to process the news. Marcel was  alive . And living quite well, apparently. She had mourned him, lit incense in his name as a metaphorical burial ceremony and all the while the bastard had been alive and thriving, not bothering to reach out to her. To any of them. Granted, she had been stuck in a coffin for ninety years but that was no excuse. He should have let her know that he survived Mikael’s attack on New Orleans that fateful night almost a century ago.
“How do you know that?” she asked when she found her voice again.

“I’ve seen him in person,” Elijah answered. “Strutting through the French Quarter just an hour ago.”

Rebekah furrowed her brows.

“The French Quarter? Elijah, what are you doing in bloody New Orleans?”

“It was once our home, as you might recall.”

Memories of lavish parties at the governor mansion, fencing lessons with a young and human Marcel and tender hours full of passion rushed through her mind as the cup in her hand nearly exploded from the pressure of her grip. Yes, she remembered it all very well. It seemed like a lifetime ago.

“Until father came and burned it to the ground you mean.”
She didn’t even try to conceal the bitterness in her voice. They all had been happy there until Mikael had to ruin it, chasing them to the other end of the earth once again. She didn’t want to think about it, about the time she had lost with Marcel. She didn’t want to think about him  at all . It was too painful.
“Yes, I remember that night very well,” Elijah sighed. “Unfortunately so. But I’m not here because of that. A witch located our brother for me. It seems Niklaus has chosen to move into the governor’s mansion and revive his father-son relationship with Marcel.”

Rebekah raised her eyebrows at the revelation. Now that his curse was broken she had expected him to hunt down whatever werewolves he could find and build the mighty hybrid army he had always dreamed of. The fact that he had spent the last few months in New Orleans instead was indeed strange but not strange enough to bother her.

“Those two have always been inseparable. I doubt a century apart from each other has changed that. Who knows what they are up to now.”

“Whatever it is, it involves a heavy dose of alcohol and an awful lot of time spent in shabby corner bars,” Elijah replied, disgust evident in his voice. “I’m worried, sister. Niklaus is not himself as of lately.”

Rebekah scoffed.
“Please. That’s just another one of his episodes. I’m sure he will be back to torment us soon enough. Leave him be and join me in Mystic Falls, Elijah. If anything, his current adventures in New Orleans should give us a break from his madness. God knows we deserve it.  You  deserve it.” She paused, listening to his even breaths on the phone. “How long do you plan to continue avoiding her?”
She didn’t need to say a name. He instantly knew who she was talking about.

“It is for the better, Rebekah. Being associated with us will only get her into danger. The people we love never survive. You should know that better than anyone else. I wish to spare her of that fate.”

Rebekah rolled her eyes at her brother’s stubbornness.

“Now is not the time for you to play noble idiot, Elijah. She isn’t just anyone. She is your soulmate, tied to all four of you. The woman of the prophecy the witch was talking about centuries ago. Your chance of happiness. Don’t waste it. For once in your bloody life, brother, forget about Nik and go after what you want. If you don’t, you might come to regret it one day.”

With that she hung up and immediately dialed another number, hoping Kol wouldn’t ignore her call. If Elijah wanted to be stubborn and continue cleaning up after Klaus instead of getting to know his soulmate, it was on him. However, Kol and Finn deserved to make their own decisions regarding their soulmate. It was about time she told them about her. Something Elijah should have done months ago.

Her call was picked up after a few seconds of ringing, but instead of Kol, it was Finn’s voice that greeted her.

“Good evening, sister. What do you need?”

His voice was grim, tinged with a hint of annoyance. He still seemed to be mad about the fact that they all left him daggered in a box for nine centuries. Not that she could blame him.
“Finn? Why do you have Kol’s phone?” The loud beats of dance music was blaring in the background, mixed with many other voices. Her eyes widened in shock. “Is that bloody  club music  that I hear?”
She had been to a club once after Elijah had pulled her dagger. Needless to say she hadn’t liked it. The horrible mixture of electronic noises people nowadays referred to as ‘dance music’ was something she would never get used to. Apart from that there had simply been too many people hunched together in a too small room, each sweating more than the other. How she missed the good old days of the roaring twenties, back when people still had taste in music and fashion and knew how to throw parties. Out of all of her brothers, Finn was the last she expected to find at such a location.
“Kol is… busy  right now,” Finn replied, distaste for whatever their brother was currently doing evident in his voice. “He left his device for me to safeguard. When I saw your name blinking up, I’d figured it was important. You wouldn’t call to merely catch up. So I ask again, what do you need?”Rebekah furrowed her brows in confusion. Kol and Finn were together? Now  that  was something she hadn’t expected. They left separately and had never been particularly close to each other. Kol found Finn too boring and judgemental and Finn disliked Kol’s wild, unhinged behavior. Perhaps having been daggered an discarded by their other siblings one too many times had caused them to grow closer. It was still an odd combination but it spared her the hassle of having to find a way to contact her oldest brother, so who was she to complain?
“Whenever Kol is finished with whatever in the bloody hell he is currently doing I need you both to come to Mystic Falls. There is someone I believe you would want to meet.”

There was a long, silent break on the other end of the line. Without the music and voices in the background, she would have believed that her brother had hung up on her.
“Mystic Falls as in the place we used to live at? Where mother turned us? What could there possibly be that I would be interested in, much less  Kol ?”
“You wouldn’t believe me if I just tell you,” Rebekah retorted. “You have to see her with your own eyes. Just grab Kol and come here as soon as possible.”

Before he had a chance to say anything else, Rebekah had ended the call and gulped down the remaining beer in her cup. Here was to hoping Finn would listen to her.

She was about to discard her cup, when the booming sound of an explosion coming from the parking lot in front of the school building caught her attention, followed by the burning stench of smoke and gasoline the soft breeze carried over. From the corner of her eyes she saw the two baby vampires, Grace and Caroline, speeding off towards the source of the sound, followed by a bunch of inebriated students and the history teacher, Mr. Saltzman. She decided to follow them, out of sheer curiosity. However, she never expected to arrive to a sight of utter chaos. The students had all formed a circle around the burning wreckage of what once was supposed to be car. Grace was standing at the front lines, wildly thrashing in Caroline’s arms who desperately tried to keep her friend from running into the fire.

“Let me go! This is aunt Audrey’s car! I have to get her out!”

Rebekah’s eyes widened at that. If her brother’s soulmate was indeed in that wreckage then there was no chance that she was still alive. While Grace was screaming for her aunt, Mr. Saltzman tried to get some order into the chaos, instructing the students to “stay away from the fire”, “stop filming” and  muttered something about “calling the fire department and Sheriff Forbes”.

Grace managed to push Caroline off and started running straight towards the wreckage. Rebekah, however, was faster. Before the baby vampire could so much as make a step into the fire, she had grabbed her and snapped her neck in one swift movement.

“Hey! What are you doing?” Caroline hissed as she came running towards them and knelt down next to her friend’s lifeless body on the ground.

“Saving her life,” Rebekah retorted causally. “You’re welcome.”
    
The horse kept flying through the woods in an impressive speed. Audrey had no idea where it was taking her but for some reason she trusted it. Trusted it to bring her to safety. After what felt like hours of galloping through dense underbrush and roots, the creature finally came to a halt, patiently waiting for Audrey to swing herself off its back. Once she had steady ground underneath her feet again she looked around, recognising her surroundings as the small patch of woods connecting to Charlotte’s and Thomas’ backyard.

The horse had brought her home. She turned back to the creature who was intently studying her through its intelligent eyes. Hesitantly, she held out a hand and moved closer, gently stroking over the scales between its uncanny white eyes.

“Thank you,” she whispered. “For saving me. That wasn’t the first time, was it? You’re the one who pulled Jenna and me out of the water that night.”

She had no idea how she made that connection. She just did. The horse blared its nostrils, standing up a bit taller before lowering its massive head and nudging her on the trail towards the house. Audrey chuckled.

“Yeah yeah, I get it. I’m going back home now.” She walked a few steps before stopping in her tracks and turning back around. The horse was still there, watching her. “I have no idea who or what you are or why you keep saving my life but thank you, really. I’m not going to forget that.”

The horse just neighed at that before turning around and walking towards the little stream running through the woods. The moment it stepped into the water, its body turned translucent, seemingly dissolving and becoming one with the stream. Then the creature was gone, leaving not a single trace behind. Audrey furrowed her brows. What a strange creature. She had to find out more about it, had to remember where she had seen it before and what sort of connection she had with it. For there was a connection, she was sure of it.

Shaking her head, she made her way back to the house. The moment she unlocked the door, she was greeted by an entire group of people assembled in the living room. Jenna, Alaric, Elena, Caroline, Bonnie and Matt all turned their heads towards her as she stepped into the house.

“Oh my God, Audrey!” Jenna exclaimed as she came running towards her friend and pulled her into a bone-crushing hug. “Are you okay? We were all so worried about you, especially Grace. Rebekah had to snap her neck to keep her from running straight into the fire. Elena and Ric vervained her and locked her in one of the cells in the Salvatores’ basement. There was no stopping her.”

Audrey furrowed her brows at the unfamiliar name.

“Who’s Rebekah?”

That seemed to startle the strawberry blonde for a moment.

“Oh, um, someone I’m sure you’re going to meet soon. But now back to you. Where have you been? Liz and her deputies are searching the entire town for you as we speak.”

“You’re never going to believe me when I tell you,” Audrey muttered, getting out of her coat that still smelled like smoke and gasoline. She would definitely need to wash it. “There was a horse, or something horse-like at the least. It had scales and no pupils…It saved me, brought me home. Then it just dissolved into water and was gone, like that.”

She made a wild gesture with her hand, imitating how the horse had vanished right in front of her eyes. Jenna eyed her sceptically, eyes full of concern.

“Are you sure you’re okay? Maybe we should get you to the hospital and let Meredith check you up…”

“I’m not making this up, Jen!” Audrey interrupted her. “The horse was real. It saved us the night we went over the bridge. It saved me again tonight. No matter how crazy it sounds, I know its real.”

“Okay, okay!” Jenna held up her hands submissively. “If you say its real then I believe you. Still, I think we should let Meredith look you over, just in case. You nearly got blown up.”

Audrey sighed, rubbing her eyes tiredly.

“Fine, if it makes you sleep better. Just let me get changed into fresh clothes that don’t reek of smoke and gasoline.”

She walked over to the staircase leading to the second floor, missing the concerned looks the others exchanged.

“I’m going to ask Isobel tomorrow if her occult research project has anything about water horses with scales,” Elena said, getting up from the sofa. “If there is another supernatural creature in town we have to know. Now I’m going over to the Boarding House. Someone has to let Grace out of the cell and tell her the good news.”

“I’m coming with you,” Caroline exclaimed, jumping to her feet. “Rebekah is enjoying her role as prison guard a bit too much for my liking.”

Elena was halfway out the living room, as she turned back around and placed a hand on Matt’s shoulder, giving him a reassuring smile.

“Don’t blame yourself for what happened tonight. You had no way of knowing what Vicki was going to do.”

Matt shook his head, guilt and sadness flashing across his face.

“But I do. Grace nearly lost her aunt today because of me and my selfish wish to keep my sister at my side. I should have never done that stupid ritual.”

“She was your sister, Matt,” Bonnie said. “Of course you’d want her back. The way she died was…tragic. You never had the chance to say goodbye. In the end you did the right thing by coming to me and telling me about it. Vicki is back on the Other Side and Grace’s aunt is well. Tragedy prevented. No one is blaming you for what happened so heads up.”

The blonde quarterback smiled faintly.

“Yeah, I’ll try to.” He stood up from his place at the armchair, walking over to the front door Caroline and Elena had just slipped out of. Bonnie followed him to the porch, giving her friend concerned glances.

“Do you want me to accompany you home? I could ask dad if he’d let me sleep over. You don’t have to be alone tonight.”

Matt grimaced as he turned back to the dark skinned teenage witch.

“I’m going to be fine, Bon. Seriously. Just let me sulk in self-pity a bit longer. I promise I’ll be back to my old self in no time.”

Bonnie nodded as she pulled him in for a hug.

“Of course. But I hope you know that you can call Elena, Jeremy, Caroline, Grace and me anytime. We’ll be there for you, no matter what.”

A small, grateful smile played on his lips.

“I know.”
    
Grace was less than pleased to have been locked into a cell but she understood why her friends had done it. It was only to keep her safe. She had been acting irrationally, she knew that. When she had seen the wreckage of her aunt’s car she had been transported back to the night she and Caroline had returned from Richmond only to find out that her aunt had fallen into a coma. She had been so close to losing her again. If she ever got her hands on that witch from the Other Side…Grace wasn’t a violent person, she really wasn’t. However, she wouldn’t allow anyone to mess with her family and get away with it. If that witch ever tried to go after her aunt again, she would personally rip her heart out, dead or alive.

She groaned as she pulled herself up from the cold hard ground of her temporary prison cell. Rebekah had left a few minutes ago, no doubt to plunder Damon’s alcohol supply. Well, the part he had left behind. The dose of vervain Mr. Saltzman had injected her with was slowly making its way through her system, causing her to feel delirious and week. According to the Original it wouldn’t take long for the vervain to be out of her system. It had only been a small dose. Grace still hated it. She should be out there, searching for her aunt. Being stuck in the dark and dirty cell made her feel so useless and weak. If only she still had her phone, then she could at least try to call her. But her phone had been missing the entire day. No doubt Vicki had stolen it to lure Audrey to the school.

She didn’t blame Matt for resurrecting his sister. If Benjamin and Callie died and she had the opportunity to bring the back she would do it in a heartbeat. No questions asked. She didn’t even blame Vicki herself. The girl just wanted to live again. No, her ire was solely directed at the witch who had used and manipulated the Donovan girl for her own twisted agenda. Grace had no idea why she wanted her aunt dead but she would be careful again. Maybe Bonnie and the Martins could put up some sort of magical protection against spirits and murderous dead witches.

She was about to drowse of as she suddenly felt a cold breezing rushing through the basement, followed by a dark shadow. She blinked and nearly got a heart attack as Damon was suddenly standing right in front of her cell, watching her in a mixture of amusement and confusion.

“Jesus Christ, Damon!” she exclaimed. “What are you doing here?”
“Well, this is my house,” he replied, lips twitching. “The better question would be what are  you  doing in there? And why do you stink of vervain? Don’t tell me you went all ripper on the town and Elena sent you here to sober up. This is Stefan’s detention cell, you know.”
Grace rolled her eyes.

“I see your jokes haven’t gotten better during the last few months away from Mystic Falls. Seriously, what are you doing here, Damon? We have more than enough problems at hand without you adding to them.”

“Ooh, the bookworm has gotten feisty,” he commented, raising his eyebrows. “What has gotten your panties in such a twist? It has been a few months but I don’t remember you having so much bite.” His lips curved up into a mocking smile. “In fact, the Grace I remember used to hide behind the big bad Originals like a scared little girl. Life isn’t so easy without them around to hold your hand I bet. Heard Klaus and Elijah ditched town shortly after Stefan and I left. They probably grew tired of babysitting pathetic little vampires like you and Blondie.”

Grace glared at him, hands balling into fists.
“ Fuck you , Damon.”
“Oh thank you. I know I’m irresistible. You don’t need to point that out.”

Grace was about to throw another insult in his face as Rebekah waltzed back into the basement, eyeing the Salvatore sceptically.

“Damon Salvatore, I presume. Charming. Perhaps you could tell me where you’ve hidden all the good stuff. All I could find was some cheap leftover bourbon behind a stack of books in the library.”

She scrunched up her nose in disgust. Damon looked her over, frowning.

“Who the hell are you?”

She smiled at him sweetly.

“Rebekah. One of the big bad Originals you seem to be such a fan of.”

He groaned.

“Another one? Great. Just what I needed.”

Rebekah crossed her arms in front of her chest, assessing him.

“Can’t say I’m impressed either. It’s quite pathetic of you to go pick fights with teenagers and  vampires over a century younger than you. Why don’t you go after someone more up to your calibre instead?”

He wiggled his eyebrows at her in challenge.

“Like you?”

She laughed before grabbing him by the throat and shoving him against the wall.

“Oh darling, you and I will never be playing in the same league. I’ve killed men like you long before you were born.” Her grip around his throat tightened, slowly cutting off his airways. “I’m an Original. You do well to remember that.”

With one last threatening squeeze she released him from her grip, causing him to stumble over his feet. He rubbed his throat, mumbling, “Oh yeah, definitely Klaus’ sister. That temper seems to run in the family.”

Rebekah laughed drily.

“I’m worse than him so watch me!”

Grace, who had been watching the exchange with a sick sense of satisfaction, shook her head at the Salvatore.

“And here I thought you’ve learned your lesson with Klaus and Elijah. Don’t pick fights with Originals.”

He glared at her.

“Yeah, anyways, you don’t happen to have a phone with you? I need you to ring up Bonnie and get her here to the Boarding House in the next few minutes. We’ve got a bit of a problem that requires some witchy assistance.”

The teenage vampire narrowed her eyes at him disapprovingly.
“You mean  you ’ve got a problem. Despite of what you might believe, Bonnie isn’t your personal witch vending machine, always available at your beg and call. So how about you go and pay her a visit yourself tomorrow at a more sociably acceptable hour and ask her  nicely  for help? You know, with please and thank you at the appropriate places. But unless the world is ending I doubt she is willing to help you. Not after what you did.”
Damon glared at her in irritation, his mouth opening to throw back some snarky remark, as Elena and Caroline stumbled into the basement, eyes growing wide when they noticed the eldest Salvatore.

“Damon?” Elena asked tentatively. “You’re back as well?”

Damon turned around and stared at the doppelganger wordlessly before he seemed to remember that she had asked him a question and snapped out of his trance, lips curving up into a smirk.

“Hello Elena. Don’t tell me you’ve missed me already.”

Caroline rolled her eyes, feigning gagging noises.
“You’ve got no idea how very much we didn’t miss you,” she remarked coldly. “The summer without you was wonderful. Very relaxing. No drama at all. Well, apart from the drama with my mom that  you ’ve caused. You could have done us all a favour and stayed away.”“I didn’t realise you’ve changed your name to Elena,  Blondie ,” he spat back. “So unless you have something productive to say, shut up and let us adults talk.”
Caroline crossed her arms in front of her chest and glared back at him, but kept quiet. Elena sighed exasperatedly as she looked between the Salvatore and her friend before deciding to settle her gaze on Damon.

“Why did you come back, Damon? Does it have something to do with Stefan’s mental state? He’s upstairs dancing and giggling through the living room, muttering something about the end of time and ‘They are coming’. He doesn’t seem to recognise us anymore. It’s like he’s trapped in his own world.”

Concern was glinting in her eyes. She obviously still cared about Stefan. Damon grimaced.

“Yeah, like I said. We’ve got a bit of a problem.”

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

It was well past midnight by the time Klaus returned to the plantation home on the outskirts of New Orleans that had once belonged to the Governor of Louisiana some two hundred years ago. After his rather  untimely  passing at the hands of no one other than Klaus himself, the Mikaelsons had taken over residence for the better part of fifty years before eventually moving into the abattoir located at the heart of the city’s infamous French Quarter. That was where they had resided, where they had built a home until Mikael came and forced them to flee, leaving everything behind. That was where he had lost Marcel, his ward and the closest thing he ever had to a child of his own.
Or so he had believed.

Even after almost four months back in the city that had caused him so much happiness and heartbreak at the same time, he could scarcely believe that his former ward was still alive, had been alive all this time while he had mourned his death, taking over everything he and his siblings had so painstakingly built up over the course of two centuries. While Mikael had hunted him across the entire continent and even parts of Europe, Marcel had rose from prince to king, turning the M that stood for Mikaelson into his own monogram.
Under different circumstances Klaus would have been impressed - even proud - of his ward. He had taught him well. Perhaps  too  well, if Marcel truly believed he could take over Klaus’ position. How had the younger vampire put it? “The student has finally beat the master”. Indeed he had. But he was also severely underestimating the master’s reluctance to admit defeat.Klaus would beat Marcel at his own game and take back his kingdom, piece by piece. Once that was done, he would finally work on building his hybrid army and eliminate every single threat that came his way, starting with Mikael. Only when all of his enemies were lying dead at his feet  would he allow himself to think about the dark-haired woman currently living in Mystic Falls. The person his very soul was tethered to, his  weakness . He had tried everything in his power to forget her, he really did. He couldn’t afford to have any weaknesses, couldn’t afford to let anyone so close and influence him without speaking a single a word or being conscious at all. But while he was desperately trying to pretend that he never laid eyes upon her, that she simply didn’t exist, a part of him was wondering about the sound of her voice or if her eyes were as cerulean blue in real life as they were on the picture he had secretly stolen from the photo album he had found in the Fell residence’s living room. A picture that was now safely tucked away in his left jacket pocket. If Grace had ever found out that he had been snooping through her house, she didn’t say anything.
This picture was all he allowed himself to have of her. A picture couldn’t betray him after all. It couldn’t break his heart the way a certain redhead had a thousand years ago. The woman portrayed on it however could. She was dangerous and that was exactly why he needed to stay away from her. She would be safe now with Elijah at her side and Katerina locked away in a magically sealed tomb. Besides, it wasn’t as if he didn’t already have more than enough problems to deal with. One of them in the form of the feisty brunette werewolf girl who was already waiting for him at the staircase in the plantation home’s entrance hall, dressed in nothing but a thin night gown that wasn’t doing much to hide her very visible baby bump. Sweat was dripping from her forehead while she was fanning herself with a rolled up magazine.

“You know, if you’re so adamant on keeping me locked up in this house for the entirety of the pregnancy you could at least think about installing some AC,” she stated, not even looking at him. “It’s hotter than hell in here.” She paused, green eyes finally settling on him as her face distorted into a grimace. “Unless of course having me sweating to death is your newest  strategy to get rid of me and the baby.”

He shot her a pointed look as he closed the front door behind him.

“If I wanted to be rid of you, Hayley, you would already be reduced to a pile of ash in the backyard.”

The werewolf’s face paled for the split of a second before she quickly pulled herself together again and scowled at him.
“Thanks, really. I’m feeling  so   much  better now.”
Without sparing her another glance, Klaus made his way through the hallway into the office. The soft, tapping sound of feet behind him told him that the werewolf was following him. He stopped and turned around, sighing exasperatedly.

“I will have someone look after the air conditioning tomorrow. No need to continue nagging me about it. You’re worse than Rebekah and that’s saying something.”

Hayley furrowed her brows in confusion.

“Who the hell is Rebekah?”

“No one you need to concern yourself with. You should go to bed now. It’s getting late.”

However, instead of doing as told, the werewolf crossed her arms in front of her chest, eyes glinting with defiance.
“You know, you could start being a bit more open about whatever the hell you are doing all day. And don’t tell me you have no plan. The great Klaus Mikaelson  always  has a plan.” She stepped closer, looking at him expectantly. “So? What are we going to do about Marcel and the witches?”
Klaus narrowed his eyes at her.

“There is no ‘we’. I’m going to take care of Marcel and those pesky French Quarter witches myself. As soon as I get them to unlink you from Sophie Deveraux, you will get out of here. I’m not having you giving birth to my child in the middle of a war zone.”
“It’s  our  child, Klaus,” she corrected him. “And I’m not leaving before I found what I came here for.”
He sighed again. Why did she have to be so bloody stubborn?

“Ah yes, the search for your family. Well, you’re not going to find them here. Marcel ran the werewolves out of the quarter decades ago.” He couldn’t resist the devilish smirk as he added,  “In fact, they are most likely already dead.”

Hayley’s eyes flashed to a dangerous, feral yellow as she snarled at him ferociously.

“Screw you, Klaus! You are such an ass. No wonder you’re all alone.”

She turned on her heels and stormed out of the room, slamming the door shut behind her.

The hybrid sighed a third time as slumped into the office chair. Not for the first time in the last few months he wondered why he was putting up with this. The werewolf was more trouble than worth it and the baby…Well, he never had anyone to teach him how to be a good father. He only had Mikael and Mikael had abused and belittled him every chance he got. What were the odds that he would turn out just like him? Letting the baby perish in its mother’s womb would be mercy. It was not like he ever expected to have children, not after he had been turned. It was supposed to be impossible. However, the harmless little alcohol induced hook up in the Appalachian Mountains four months ago did lead to unimaginable consequences. Hayley was pregnant. With his child. He could hear its heartbeat, beating in a steady rhythm with hers. In a few months time he would be a father.  The big bad hybrid a father! How utterly laughable. His countless enemies would have a field day hearing about this. And yet…a part of him was longing for the child, looking forward to its birth even.
Before he could stop himself, he had pulled the stolen picture out of his jacket pocket, staring at it in silence. It must be a few years old. The black-haired woman in the centre was lacking the soft crinkles that were now adorning her face, making her look more mature and , in his opinion, ever more beautiful. She was sitting underneath a colourfully decorated Christmas Tree, dressed in a pair of white-red striped “ Santa Claus’ Reindeer ”- pyjamas, her black curls pulled up into a loose ponytail. She was smiling into the camera as if she had not a care in the world, holding an auburn-haired baby in her arms - her youngest niece if he had to guess. A rush of emotions long since forgotten caused his heart to ache painfully as his fingers traced the contour of her face. Those cerulean blue eyes…staring straight back at him, as if she could see right to the bottom of his very soul. He wondered what she would think of his current situation. Would she get along with Hayley? His unborn child? The expression in his face darkened as he reminded himself that she would have no opinion on any of this. He was a stranger to her and it was better to leave it at that. He had his family to take care of and she had hers. Anything else was dangerous territory.  Very  dangerous territory. With one swift movement he had torn the picture in two and thrown it into the bin next to the desk, ignoring the heavy weight of his now empty jacket pocket.    
“That makes ten dead nightwalkers in the last week,” he heard Marcel’s  exasperated voice coming out of one of the upper floor rooms of the compound as he walked up the staircase the next morning. “You think the werewolves are back in town trying to start some trouble?”

Klaus raised his eyebrows at that. More dead vampires? How interesting. He hadn’t killed anyone recently - regretfully so - so who was responsible for all the dead nightwalkers?

There was a short break before Thierry, Marcel’s right hand man - a suspicious brunette fellow, always wearing a hat - replied hesitantly.

“Look, I know you and Klaus are friends, but the fact is, since that hybrid showed up—“

Before he could finish the sentence, though, Klaus decided to enter the room, giving him a mocking look.

“Oh, come now, Thierry. You're not still upset about that little, toxic werewolf bite I gave you, are you? I thought we were at bygones.”

When he had first arrived in the city, he had made a little show of his new hybrid abilities in front of Marcel’s people at one of his parties, biting Thierry in the process, before ultimately deciding it was better to stay on friendly terms with Marcel for the time being and healing the vampire with his blood. It seemed Thierry still hadn’t gotten over it.

“I see you've given him free rein of your compound now, too,” the vampire in question muttered quietly under his breath as he glared disapprovingly at the hybrid. Klaus stepped closer, a smug grin on his face.
“Yes. Well, seeing as my family and I lived here -  built  the place, in fact -“
“All right,” Marcel interrupted him, stepping down from the podium in his freshly tailored suit and moving in between them. “Come on, you both know the drill. Thierry's my guy, inner circle. Klaus is my old-time friend and sire. He's also a guest here.” He gave his right hand man a sharp glance. “Peace, all right? All right.” He turned to Klaus, smiling brightly. “What you need, my brother?”

“Oh, I was just strolling through the neighbourhood, admiring the architecture on this beautiful, sunny September morning,” the hybrid replied. “I didn’t realise how much I’ve missed this place until I returned.”

It wasn’t all a lie. Well, the leisurely stroll through the neighbourhood was but the rest was true. He did miss New Orleans. Being back in this town felt like coming home after a long and arduous journey. Marcel smiled proudly. If he had caught the tiny lie mixed in between the truth, he wasn’t showing it.
“Yeah, it’s a beautiful city.  My  city.” He clapped a hand on the hybrid’s shoulder. “But like I said, you’re my honoured guest. Stay as long as you want. As long as you abide to my rules, that is.”
Next to them Thierry scoffed, catching the vampire’s and hybrid’s attention.

“Oh please. He’s been breaking them since day one. I tell you, Marcel, he’s the one who’s out there killing all of our guys and sabotaging your hold over the quarter step by step.”

Klaus narrowed his eyes as he stepped closer to the younger vampire, causing him to stumble backwards against the wall.

“Is that an accusation against an Original?”
His tone was cold and sharp,  threatening . Thierry scoffed once again, but chose not to say anything this time. Marcel shot his right hand man a pointed look.
“What did I say about peace?” He turned back to Klaus, directing him out of the room with his hand still lingering on his shoulder. “Come on. Walk with me.”
Klaus couldn’t resist to smile smugly at Thierry as they walked past him and onto the small balcony overlooking the abattoir’s inner courtyard. A handful of Marcel’s daywalkers were assembled around a table, playing some card game while another group was patrolling near the entrance gate, making sure no one entered without permission. As if any of them could stop him. If he wanted to, he could kill the entire compound within seconds -  including  Marcel. But as long as Hayley’s life was linked to Sophie Deveraux, he had no choice but to play by the witches rule. Marcel apparently had a secret weapon, a way to control all witches in the quarter. If he managed to get his hands on it, he could not only use it to overthrow his former ward and take back what was his but also force Sophie to unlink herself from the pregnant werewolf. The only problem was that he had not the faintest idea what that weapon was or where Marcel had hidden it.
“You inner circle man lacks a sense of humor,” he commented as soon as they were out of earshot.

“He's a little overprotective, but loyal to a fault,” Marcel replied, grimacing. “I saved his life back in the forties, found him dying of a war wound outside a VA hospital. He'd kill for me and die for me. Plus, that boy can play the trumpet like you would not believe. Maybe I'll see if he can play a little tonight at the party.” He looked at the hybrid next to him. “You're coming, right?”

Klaus grinned at him mischievously.

“How can I miss my chance to meet the city councilman as he accepts your gigantic charitable donation?”

Marcel laughed loudly in response.

“Oh, he's a schmuck, but he lets us do our thing in exchange for certain community services, like keeping our fangs out of the locals.” He paused, hesitating for a moment before continuing. “Listen, I have to ask you for a favour. Someone’s killing my nightwalkers left and right and apparently no one’s seen a damn thing. I hope I can count on you to help me smoke out the weasel if you catch the meaning.”

Klaus’ grin got wider.

“Of course. Nothing easier than that.”
    
“And why again did you agree to play Marcel’s little errand boy?” Hayley asked sceptically a few hours later. The werewolf was leaning against the door frame, watching him as he was fixing his suit for the charity gala that was starting in less than hour.  One hand was resting on her small baby bump while the other has holding a glass of water.

“I’m not ‘playing’ his errand boy,” the hybrid retorted in slight irritation. “I’m further cementing his trust in me. If I find whoever is slaughtering his nightwalkers, he might start to trust me enough to reveal the source of his power over the French Quarter witches to me.”

Hayley furrowed her brows, not quite understanding his fixation on Marcel’s secret weapon.

“Why all this charade? Shouldn’t you, I don’t know, just kill him and be done with it? You decimated an entire pack of rabid hybrids without breaking a sweat. A wannabe king and his handful of foot soldiers shouldn’t pose much of a threat to you then, right? The witches want their freedom back so why don’t we give it to them so they finally release me from that stupid linking spell and I can continue searching for my family?”

The hybrid shot her a quick, exasperated look through the mirror.

“Enough with your family! The werewolves are gone or dead.” He fastened his tie before turning around to face her. “Besides, what makes you so sure the witches will keep their word? If we return their freedom to them they might become an even bigger pain in the arse.”

Hayley shrugged her shoulders, a dark look spreading on her face.

“I don’t know. Maybe I simply like to believe that there are still some people out there with a sense of honour.”

He rolled his eyes at her naivety.
“And that, love, is the reason I’m the one in charge of the decision making around here and not you.” He walked past her out of his bedroom, before stopping in his tracks and turning back around to her. He placed a reassuring hand on her shoulder, looking into her eyes as he did so. “I give you my word that I will get them to relinquish the hold they have over your life. But we’re going to do this  my  way.” He frowned as a wide grin spread on her face. “What?”
“You just said ‘we’,” she pointed out, smiling triumphantly.

Indeed he had. He let out an irritated huff at his careless choice of words.

“You know how I meant it.”

She sighed and rolled her eyes.
“Yeah yeah, I get it. You’re going to do this alone and all. Anyways, the pregnant werewolf is going to make dinner now. Have fun at the party,  errand boy .”
Before he could so much as growl at her, she had already slipped out of the room and made her way down the stairs towards the kitchen. He checked his attire in the mirror one last time before walking out of the room and closing the door behind him. He was halfway to the stairs, when he heard Hayley’s voice from the hallway downstairs.

“Klaus?”

She sounded tense. Wary. Without hesitating he sped down the staircase to protect her from whoever had dared to trespass. He found the werewolf standing in the hallway, the sharp kitchen knife in her hand pointed directly at a familiar figure dressed in an expensive three piece suit.

“Brother,” the hybrid greeted the other Original who was watching the werewolf girl in a mixture of amusement and curiosity. “I should have known. I take it the dead nightwalkers were your doing?”

Hayley’s head jerked toward the hybrid, confusion written all over her face. Her knife however, was still pointed at Elijah.

“Brother?”

Klaus gave a reassuring look.

“Indeed. Put the bloody knife down, Hayley, lest you hurt yourself. He won’t harm you.”

Hayley looked back and forth between both brothers, contemplating for a moment before she slowly lowered her weapon, giving Elijah an apologetic look.

“Sorry about that. A girl can’t be careful enough around these parts. I thought you were one of Marcel’s vampires. They already got me cornered once.”

She grimaced as she recalled the unfortunate and very bloody ending of her one and only trip to the French Quarter two months ago.

Elijah’s lips twitched in amusement.

“If I was, I would have snatched you and taken you to Marcellus before you had a chance to call Niklaus for help.”

Her face paled as she gulped audibly.
“Well, I guess then I’m lucky you’re on our side.” She paused, giving him a questioning look. “You  are  on our side, right?”
He gave her a reassuring smile as he stepped closer.

“Indeed I am. You have nothing to fear from me.” He held out his hand for her to shake. “Elijah Mikaelson.”

Hayley was startled for a second, not having anticipated such polite behaviour from another Mikaelson before she snapped out of it and shook his hand to reciprocate the greeting.

“Oh, um, Hayley Marshall. You have no idea how nice it is to finally meet someone with manners.”

For the split of a second an amused smirk tucked on the suit-clad Original’s lips, before his face turned once again into a serious expression

“In the name of our family I apologise for any unpleasantness you experienced while under our protection and care.” His gaze flickered to Klaus before settling back on the werewolf. “As I’m sure you are already aware of, Niklaus is not exactly an…easy person to be around. Though I do hope he at least showed you some sort of appropriate  hospitality.”

Hayley’s eyes darted to Klaus, who studied the  adjacent wall with an expression of utter indifference, her face distorting into a grimace.
“He was…okay, I guess? Could have been worse. He protected me from Marcel’s lackeys and and promised to get the witches to revert the linking spell they’ve done on me, so he’s  trying  at the very least. Though there’s still a lot of space for improvement.” She shot the hybrid a pointed look. “You know, it sure as hell wouldn’t kill you to be less of an ass every now and then. We’re stuck in this together, if you like it or not.”
Klaus finally reverted his gaze from the wall, rubbing his temples and sighing in exasperation.

“Why don’t you go back to whatever you were doing before Elijah interrupted you while my brother and I have a little chat in the office?”
    
The moment the heavy oak door closed behind them, Klaus grabbed Elijah by the collar and shoved him against the wall.
“What are you doing here?” he hissed angrily. “You should be in Mystic Falls, protecting  her !”
He was beyond angry, mostly at himself for not realising sooner. He should have known it was one of his siblings the moment the first dead nightwalkers had been found. Elijah pushed his hand away and threw him into the antique wooden desk that cracked and then broke into pieces underneath him.
“You left her first,” he retorted furiously, pushing him down to the floor. “While her life was still in peril! You disappeared for months without a trace only for me to find you here, with a werewolf that carries your child under her heart! If anyone has to explain himself it is  you , don’t you think?”
Klaus growled, yellow eyes flashing as he pushed his brother off, sending him flying against the wall.
“I left to make hybrids, just as I had always planned. Meeting  her  had never been part of my plans, just like I never planned for Hayley to get pregnant. It was one time thing.” He breathed heavily, tears started to burn in his eyes as he recalled the night in the Appalachian Mountains four months ago. The night he met Hayley.  “My hybrids, they failed, went rabid, every single one of them.  I had no choice but to kill them. I was hurt, sad, beyond angry. She was there, came to join the pack as far as I know but she was too late. They were already dead by the time she arrived at their camp.  We…talked, drank ourselves through the pack’s liquor supply and then it just…happened. When we woke up the next morning we both agreed that the previous night had been nothing more than a liquor fuelled one night stand and then went our separate ways. I never expected to see her again. But then I was lured here by witches, and well, I’m sure  Sophie Deveraux already filled you in on the rest of the story.”
Elijah, who had been silently watching his brother while the latter was recounting his tale, nodded, a grim expression on his face.

“Indeed. She told me you will aid them in their plan to overthrow Marcellus in exchange for Hayley’s and the child’s protection.”

Klaus scoffed.

“That is what she believes, no doubt. However I have no intention of aiding the witches who dared to use the life of my child as leverage against me. Marcel has a weapon, a way to control all witches in the quarter. I aim to uncover the how so as to take it for myself, reclaim my city and get them to release Hayley from the linking spell.”

For a long moment, no one sad a word as the two Originals sat on the floor, panting heavily. Eventually, Elijah jumped back on his feet, hands smoothing over his now tattered designer suit.

“You don’t plan on going back to Mystic Falls then, I take it?”

There was an unspoken extension to the question hanging in the air between them. Unspoken, yet clear.

You don’t plan on returning to her, do you?

Klaus shook his head, scrambling himself up from the wreckage of wood, paper and nails that had once been an office desk.

“No. It’s for the better. Soul bonds, romances…I’m not made for that.” There was a melancholy, almost regretful tinge to his voice, but if Elijah had caught it, he wasn’t commenting on it.  The hybrid grimaced. Laughing coldly. “Klaus Mikaelson, the big bad hybrid, feared by everyone - that’s what I’m good at, that’s who I am and where I will stay at. I can’t allow myself to be weak, not with so many enemies around who all wish to see us burn.”

I can’t pull her into the middle of that.

Elijah slowly walked over to him and placed a hand on his shoulder.

“Then I will stay and aid you, brother. Destroying Marcel, destroying the witches, protecting Hayley and your child - I will do whatever you need me to do. Always and forever, we once swore that to each other and I will abide to that vow until my last breath.”

With Elijah’s hand still lingering on his shoulder, Klaus lifted his to mimic the gesture. As the two brothers locked eyes, an unspoken agreement flickered between them.

They were letting her go. From this moment on, Audrey Campbell would be a stranger, the remnant of a long forgotten dream that would never turn into reality.

Ignoring the aching tear in his heart, Klaus’ lips tucked up into a smile.

“Welcome back home, brother.”

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

Elena managed to convince Damon to wait until the next day before calling Bonnie for help, telling him that the teenage witch wouldn’t be of much use if she was too tired to do any spells. Grace didn’t like pulling her friend into this mess after she had just started to heal from all the trauma that had been afflicted upon her by vampires, but she too had to agree that they couldn’t leave Stefan in the state that he currently was. If Bonnie could help him, they had to at least try. The youngest Salvatore was barely recognisable. Where he had once been brooding and silent, he now was hyperactive, constantly moving around and muttering nonsense - half of that in a language neither of them understood.

Bonnie reluctantly agreed to take a look at him the next day after school, claiming that she was only doing this for the sake of their former friendship. So come the next afternoon, Elena, Bonnie, Caroline, Jeremy, Damon, Mr. Saltzman and Grace were assembled in the Salvatores’ living room, watching Stefan as he giggled and whipped back and forth in his seat, muttering the same foreign words over and over again.

“What happened to him?” Bonnie asked, furrowing her brows as she continued to study the confused vampire in front of her.

Damon sighed as he rounded up the sofa with a drink in hand,  letting himself fall into the cushions.

“After we left…Stefan wasn’t in a good place. He went into ripper mode, turned off his humanity and then was gone overnight. Took me months to track him down. Finally found him in a little run-down bar north of Las Vegas, sitting in the middle of a blood bath, giggling and babbling nonsense just like now. I have no idea what happened to him.” He looked at Bonnie. “All I want to know is: can you fix him?”

“Hmm…”

Bonnie slowly walked over to Stefan and placed her hand on his head before closing her eyes and mumbling some sort of spell. Suddenly, she pulled her hands away as if she burned them, eyes growing wide.

“Bonnie?” Elena asked her friend softly, voice filled with worry. “Are you okay?”

It took the teenage witch a moment to snap out of her shocked state.

“I’m not quite sure what happened to him exactly,” she began, body trembling slightly. “But…there was a flash of a woman’s face. Long silver hair, pitch black eyes. She and Stefan got…intimate and that’s where the vision ends. His mind…it’s a dark wasteland filled with voices, all speaking in a strange language I’ve never heard before. I didn’t understand what they were saying but it’s the same words over and over and over again like some sort of mantra or spell or whatever.”

“The same words Stefan is mumbling?” Jeremy asked, typing something into his phone.

Bonnie nodded.

“Yeah, the same words, spoken in a different accent though.”

Jeremy continued typing something into his phone before he jumped up to his feet.

“According to Google its Old Gaelic for ‘Death to Clíodhna’s heiress’, or something close to that.”

Damon furrowed his brows in confusion.

“What the hell is a Klee-odh-nah?” he asked, adopting Jeremy’s wrong pronunciation of the foreign word.
“Apparently it’s pronounced ‘Kleen-nah’”, Grace corrected him, having pulled out her own phone. “And it’s not a what. It’s a who. A Goddess, to be specific. From the  Túatha Dé Danann,  an ancient Irish folk consisting of Gods and Goddesses of all walks of life . ” Ever the curious scholar, she continued scrolling through the phone, eagerly soaking in every piece of new information. “She’s the Goddess of Love, Beauty and the Seas and apparently accompanied by three magical birds whose song can heal every sickness, no matter how grave.” Sadness crept over her face as she scrolled to the next paragraph of the text. “There’s a tragic love story attached to her name as well.”
“Isn’t there always?” Caroline asked, grimacing.

Grace shrugged, eyes still pinned to the phone display.

“Maybe. This one is really sad though. According to legend , she fell in love with a mortal and then fell into the sea one day and drowned.”

“The Goddess of the Seas drowning in the sea?” Jeremy asked, half confused, half amused. “That doesn’t make any sense.”

“Old folktales rarely ever do,” Mr. Saltzman stated. “That’s all it is; a fairy tale. There’s no viable evidence that Gods ever walked this earth.”

Grace put her phone back into her jeans pocket, pursing her lips.

“Just half a year ago I would have said the same about vampires, werewolves and witches - and well, here we are.

“There has to be some sort of truth to this, considering those voices want to see this heiress dead,” Elena agreed, her head slightly tilted to the side as if she was deep in thoughts. “And let’s not forget about this water horse creature Audrey saw. I feel like we’re missing something, a key piece. This is all  somehow connected to each other, I just know it.”
The group went silent, each seemingly lost in their own thoughts. Grace’s whole head was spinning. She had barely been able to wrap her head around the existence of vampires, werewolves and witches or the fact that she now belonged to this supernatural world herself, and now they were talking about literal  Gods ? This was all a little too much right now.
“This is all fun and games,” Damon suddenly broke the silence, eyes darting over to Bonnie who still seemed pretty shaken about whatever she had witnessed inside of Stefan’s broken mind. “But I don’t care about all this folktale slash mythology nonsense.  My only concern is Stefan and how to restore him to his former, annoyingly self righteous and brooding glory. So I ask again, Bon Bon: Can you fix him?”

Bonnie shook her head, giving him an apologetic look.

“I’m afraid whatever was done to him feels much darker and more powerful and ancient than any witch magic.”

The vampire clicked his tongue in frustration.
“Aren’t you Bennett witches supposed to be super powerful or something? Go on, grab your witchy books, wave your arms, speak some hocus pocus, I don’t care, but  do  something!”
Bonnie narrowed her eyes at him, causing him to suddenly grasp his head and yell in pain. She stepped closer and crouched down in front of him until they were on the same eye level, her lips pressed into a thin line.
“I’m done with vampires telling me what to do. The only reason I’m here today is because there was once a time when I regarded Stefan as a friend. For old time’s sake I will try to figure something out, but Damon, I’m not sure there is anything I  can  do. Even  we Bennett witches have our limits and I get the feeling that what- or whoever is responsible for this won’t like me interfering.”    The entire day working in Betsy’s pâtisserie, Audrey couldn’t stop thinking about the horse that had saved her from getting blown to shreds. She knew it from somewhere - but  where ? The details kept eluding her, as if she wasn’t meant to get any answers yet. It was quite frankly frustrating.
In other news, the ever frozen picture of her mysterious shadow-clad dream guardians had began to change overnight. Two of them had retreated deeper into the shadows, slowly slipping out of her fingers like sand, while the other two were moving closer to the light. She had no idea what it meant, put it was causing her some slight panic. The entire day she had been in a chronic state of anxiety that only got worse the closer she got to the end of her work day. Betsy was lying flat in her bed at home with a mediocre case of flu, meaning Audrey had to open and close the shop, serve the customers and do the finances at the end of the day - everything the elderly lady was usually responsible for. Luckily Meredith had her free day today and volunteered to babysit Benjamin and Callie after school - even if the twelve year old boy had tried his hardest to convince his aunt that he didn’t need a babysitter anymore. According to his own assessment he was “almost grown up” and having a babysitter looking after him would be considered “extremely lame and embarrassing”.  However, Meredith had convinced him of the opposite by suggesting they could make pizza together while she would recount some of her and Thomas’ childhood adventures. Benjamin had always loved hearing those stories from his father. So much, that after his parents’ death, he didn’t want to hear them anymore, claiming they were only making him sad - more than he already was. Over the course of the summer, however, he had started  asking Meredith about them again. Now they were both finding solace in telling each other these stories again and again. Occasionally Callie would join them, interrupting them ever so often with questions about things she didn’t yet understand (mainly pop culture references she had never heard of). She had started to speak again during the last few months and turned it into a daily ritual to speak to her parents before going to sleep, telling them all about her and her plush toys’ day. Audrey usually gave her privacy during those moments but sometime she couldn’t resist standing in front of the closed door and listening in to the five year old’s ramblings about the latest drama between Fluffy, her favourite plush bunny and Kitty the plush cat (apparently Kitty was constantly stealing Fluffy’s carrots which resulted in Fluffy chasing away all the mice and fish in retribution). She had nearly started to break down crying one evening while listening in as Callie was thanking her parents for sending “Auntie Rey” to them and to please not take her to heaven anytime soon.

After her parents premature death, the little girl had developed a fear of loss that had only intensified when Audrey had slipped into a coma. After she had woken up and been released from the hospital, Callie had spent the following month slipping under Audrey’s covers each night to make sure her aunt would still be there in the morning - and to regularly control her breathing. While she was now back to sleeping in her own bed, she was still incredibly clingy and would instantly go into panic mode whenever Audrey wasn’t the one to pick her up from school or wake her up in the morning. Audrey hoped the girl would be fine with Meredith watching her for today and Jenna the other days until Betsy recovered. She had pulled her youngest niece to the side this morning, patiently explaining to her that Auntie Rey would need to spend more time at the shop during the next few days because her boss was sick. Considering that Meredith hadn’t called her yet with a screaming Callie in the background, she took it as a sign that the girl was taking her absence well. Still, it would be for the better if Betsy recovered soon. She didn’t like having to bother Jenna with babysitting. The woman had a Psychology PhD to work on, a part time job to fulfil and an almost sixteen year old nephew to take care of.

The sign hanging on the glass door had already been turned over to “CLOSED” while she was crouching in front of the display counter with a cleaning rag and a bucket of water, her back facing the shop’s entrance. It was a few minutes past six o’clock in the evening and she only needed to clean the counters, do the finances and lock away the money before she could return home. Betsy had given her a quick run down of everything when she had started working here - so she would be prepared for emergencies. This was the first time she actually had to do it.  She really hoped she wasn’t forgetting anything.

Halfway through wiping the second display counter, she suddenly heard the door opening behind her, followed by heavy footsteps. She let out an irritated groan. Didn’t people read signs anymore?

“We’re closed.”

Instead of turning around, she continued cleaning the counter, hoping that whoever had just entered who get the hint and leave. When she didn’t hear the door opening and closing again, she sighed in annoyance and threw the cleaning rack into the bucket before getting up and whipping around, ready to give the person standing behind her a lecture about what exactly it meant when the sign at the door said “CLOSED”.

“Listen, the shop is clo-“
The words got stuck in her throat mid-sentence as her eyes met a pair of  brown ones. The most beautiful shade of brown she had ever seen. Deep, dark.  Mysterious . She felt herself sinking into them like quicksand. Something deep inside of her came to life as she continued staring at the young man in front of her open mouthed, followed by an electric jolt running through her entire body as something else snatched into place. She had no idea how long they just stood there, staring at each other. It would have probably been hours if she didn’t suddenly remember the admonishing voice of her mother, reprimanding a seven year old Audrey not to stare at other people because it was incredible rude to do so.“ But mum, look at him! His eyes are all white! ”“ He’s probably blind. Still, stop staring and for the love of Mary Magdalena, come back inside. The wind is too strong out there. You’ll get blown over the railing if you’re not careful. ”“ But I want to watch the people in the water! They make funny faces. ”“ Audrey, sweetie, remember what the doctor said? The things that you see…they are not real. There are no people in the water and horses have no scales. Now  please  come back inside and take your pills. ”“ I don’t want to take those stupid pills! They hurt! They make me sick! ”“ They don’t make you sick. They make you normal. Don’t you want to be normal? Audrey, please. Don’t make things so difficult. People are already looking because you are so loud. Why can’t you be more like your sis-Audrey, stop! Stay here! Audrey! ”
A terrible, piercing pain shot through her head as more pictures flashed through her mind one after another, childhood memories she had somehow forgotten. She suddenly remembered the big cruise ship her parents had taken her to when she was seven years old. It had been their first summer holidays without Charlotte who had moved to the States during the previous winter to attend the renowned University of Stanford. That’s where she had met him for the first time. The pale, silver-haired man with no pupils. He had been sitting on the outer deck, watching her dispute with her mother, who was desperately trying to convince her to take the pills that were supposed to “make her normal”.

Those cursed pills. She had forgotten about them too. Not wanting to swallow any more of those strange meds that were making her weak and causing her to bleed from the nose, little Audrey had run off to the outer deck, trying to flee from her mother. However, she had been quite a lightweight during this age - another side effect of the pills - and one strong breeze had been enough to cast her overboard and right into the cold, dark water. She would have drowned if it weren’t for the silver-haired man who had jumped right after her without hesitation, transforming into a majestic white steed, covered in pearlescent shimmering scales as soon as his body was submerged with water. He had pulled her onto his back and swam them over to a small, abandoned island somewhere in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. There they had camped for three days underneath as twinkling canopy of stars, getting to know each other while he was using his water magic to flush every last remnant of those harmful pills out of her system. Once her body was cleansed, he brought her back to the ship where apparently no one remembered that she had gone overboard or was missing for three days.

Audrey was so immersed in her memories that she didn’t realise she was crying until she felt  her salty tears dripping from her chin.
Orrin - the only son of the Celtic Goddess of Love, Beauty and the Seas and somewhat of a minor God himself. Her protector, older brother and best friend throughout the major part of her childhood. How could she have forgotten him? He had once told her that his father had been an  Each-Uisge  - a malevolent water spirit from Scottish folklore, more commonly known as water kelpie - that his mother had once found wounded at the shore millennia ago. That explained his horse-like form. But unlike his father and others of his kind, he wasn’t luring mortals into the water to drown and feed on them. His mother had raised him to respect human life and thanks to the divine essence running through his veins he didn’t need to adapt to his father’s hunting habits to sustain himself. Gods didn’t need to feed. They were entirely sustained by their divine blood and the element whose powers they could wield. In Orrin’s case it was water - unsurprisingly.  Her nine year old self had a bit of a hard time understanding that concept and instead was worrying that he was starving and started to sneak some of her own food into a napkin to give to him afterwards. He had always eaten it, just to make her happy. Again - how could she have forgotten about all that and why were those memories returning now, of all times,  when not one but two men were standing in front of her, shooting her concerned glances?“Are you alright,  ástin mín ?” the second man asked, pushing his brown eyed companion out of the way to place a gentle hand on her arm. He spoke in a jarring accent, the words slow and deliberate as if he just recently learned to speak English.  When she looked up, right into his beautiful hazel green eyes, time seemed to stop once again as a second jolt ran through her body, causing her to shiver. What the hell was that?
Interpreting her shivers the wrong way, the man quickly pulled back his hand and averted  his eyes, studying the wooden shelf at the wall instead, that was stocked with  Betsy’s renowned self-made baking mixtures - neatly filled in  decorated and labelled mason jars.

The brown-eyed, younger looking man next to him however, had his gaze still settled on her, studying her every movement with hawk-like perception.

“So here’s where you’ve been hiding,” he stated, finally moving his gaze from her to inspect the shop sceptically. “Just when I was wondering if you actually exist.”

Audrey furrowed her brows at his strange comment.

“Excuse me?”

He knitted his brows, his head shaking slightly.

“No, you’re right. That was a poor introduction. Let me try that again.” He flashed her bright, charming smile before taking her hand in his. “Kol Mikaelson. What a pleasure to finally meet you.” As he went into an elegant - if not slightly exaggerated - bow, he pulled her hand to his lips, pressing a feather-light kiss to her knuckles. As if he was the dashing, highly sought-after male lead of a regency area romance novel, come to court the debutante of his choosing. Yeah, she might or might not have read a tad too many Lisa Kleypas books during her college years but that was beyond the point.
Scrap that, she was  definitely  hallucinating.
“Um…”

She was feverishly trying to come up with some kind of response but of course her brain had to choose this exact moment to switch into standby mode, leaving her to stare at the man like an idiot.
Great. Not embarrassing  at all . Why did such things always have to happen to her? She could almost hear Charlotte laughing at her from heaven or wherever her spirit was currently residing, followed by the mental image of her mother facepalming herself, sighing exasperatedly and then muttering something along the lines of “She’s never going to get married at this point.”
Much to her gratitude, the man was kind enough to release her hand and take a step back, allowing her some room to finally breathe. Her poor heart was close to exploding. Once she had managed to calm it down and returned her brain to its default settings, the latter was finally catching up on the mention of the very familiar last name.

Her eyes grew wide and she immediately took three large steps backwards until her back collided with the display counter. If there was an Olympic Medal in unnecessary clumsiness, she would definitely win it.

“Mikaelson? As in the Originals?”

She should have known. Who else could be so…imposing? Granted, her experience with vampires was reduced to Grace, Caroline, Isobel and those five minutes she had spent in the Salvatores’ presence. And those were only ordinary vampires. The Originals were off an entire different calibre. Or so she had heard. She might know a fair bit about Celtic Gods and water kelpies thanks to Orrin, but vampires were still largely untrod territory.

“The very same,” Kol replied, his grin spreading even wider. “You’re surprisingly well informed.”

“Ha! Not really,” she replied, grimacing. “I only know some bits and pieces that my niece shared with me. I wasn’t exactly in the state to ask questions the last time an Original walked through these streets.”

Both Kol and the other, still nameless Original furrowed their brows at that but thankfully chose to let it pass without comment. She wasn’t in the mood to recount the tale of her accident and the resulting three month long coma.
It was then that she suddenly realised that she hadn’t introduced herself yet - not that she really needed to. They obviously already knew who she was. “ How? ”, she wondered briefly. Nevertheless, she had been raised to always politely shake the hands of people she was meeting for the first time and that was exactly what she was doing now - or well,  attempted  to at least.
“Audrey Campbell, by the way. It’s, um, nice to meet you too.”

Instead of shaking the hand she was offering him, Kol held onto it, his thumb running small circles over her knuckles, causing another bolt of shiver to run down her spine. She wondered if this was his usual tactic with women, perhaps even men - confusing and melting them until they were nothing but a puddle of mess at his feet. If it was, then he was certainly doing a pretty good job at it. Her stupid, traitorous heart seemed to agree. The corners of his mouth ever so slightly tucked up into a mischievous smirk as he listened in to her erratic heartbeat, knowing fully well who was responsible for it.
Bastard .
Hours seemed to pass until Kol finally allowed her to pull her hand out of his and direct her attention towards his brother. The tall, brunette man with those magnetic hazel green eyes smiled warmly at her as she hesitantly offered him her hand. He looked at her like a man who had just discovered the first ray on sunlight after years of dark clouds and non stop rain.

“Finn Mikaelson, milady.”

Just like Kol had done before, he pulled her hand to his lips and pressed a gentle kiss to it. Audrey could feel the heat rising in her cheeks.
Milady ? My, these Mikaelson men must have been incredible popular during the regency area. She wondered if they even had been in England during that time period. She could easily imagine them standing in a large, crowded ballroom, dressed in early nineteenth century attire and all around them debutantes and their mothers fighting each other like a horde of startled chicken, each trying to win their attention - and in turn their affections. Yeah, one could only blame her eighteen year old self for the concerning amount of overly dramatic and chaotic Jane Austen fan fiction story lines still stuck in her head.
She shook her head energetically, forcing herself to act like the adult that she was and get her blushing cheeks under control. They were only being overly polite. Well, and maybe a bit old fashioned, which was to be expected from vampires who had been wandering this earth for a little over a thousand years. Their mannerism reminded her of Orrin. He too was incredibly old fashioned, more times than not using terms and expressions that her seven year old self had great difficulty understanding. The big difference, however, was the fact that Orrin had never acted like he wanted to court her. On the contrary. He had always been more of an older brother, protecting her from school bullies by causing their water bottles to explode right into their faces whenever they couldn’t resist picking on her during lunch break.
As a child, she had always been different, due to the… things  that she saw. Orrin had called it “the sight” - the ability to see beyond the veil that was separating their dimension from the one the  Túatha Dé Danann  resided in, also known as “the Otherworld”. All throughout her childhood years, she had come across the strangest of creatures - some friendly, others less so. Talking animals, gremlins, miniature dragons, kelpies and other elemental spirits as well as faeries and trolls the size of a pocket watch and many more. That had caused her a lot of trouble, not only with her parents but also with classmates and teachers at school. No one had ever believed her when she told them about the particularly mean nest of trolls housing in their basement at home, constantly pulling pranks on the entire family or that it had been a gremlin who had stolen Audrey’s shoes  and pencils to throw them at her maths teacher during class, giggling and singing something about “dumber than a loaf of rotten bread”. Eventually she had stopped telling people about the things she saw, knowing it would be pointless. With Orrin being there to keep the particularly mischievous troublemakers from messing with her or the people around her, it had gotten easier but as she got older and the need to make her parents proud of her stronger, she had started to believe she was crazy herself, started to convince herself that what she saw and heard wasn’t real until one day she simply stopped seeing them. And apparently forgot that she ever did, just like she had forgotten about Orrin. It had been close to two decades since he had disappeared from her life. Well, that wasn’t exactly true, she reminded herself, thinking about the other night when he had saved her from the burning car. He was still out there, still protecting her after all these years…she needed to see him, speak to him,  desperately . Asking him where he had been all this time, why he had abandoned her. He must have had a good reason to do so. Perhaps his mother had been in trouble.
Suddenly realising she had drifted off once again, Audrey cleared her throat, pulling her hand out of Finn’s. She almost wished she hadn’t. There was something oddly soothing and secure in his touch, similar to Kol’s. But holding on to their hands would be awkward. They were still strangers - and two thousand year old vampires that could easily kill her within seconds.

“If you want to buy something I’m afraid you will have to come back tomorrow,” she stated. “We’re closed.”

“So you’ve already said,” Kol replied, eyes wandering from her to the bucket filled with warm water on the floor next to her. “Don’t worry, darling. The only thing catching my interest in here is you.”
“Me?” she asked wide eyed, a nervous chuckle escaping her lips. He was joking, right?  Right?  “What could a vampire as old as you possibly find interesting on me?”
He tilted his head to the side, as though he was contemplating.
“Hmm, I don’t know. Perhaps it’s the fact that you’re still standing here, talking to us in such a calm manner as if we’re ordinary customers, knowing fully well what we are capable of.” He suddenly stepped closer, causing her breath to hitch as he slowly reached out to brush a black curl out of her face, his cool fingertips grazing her cheek. “Or perhaps it’s those impossible blue eyes of yours that make me  exceedingly  curious to find out more about their owner.” His fingers rested a tad longer at her face than necessary, sending electric sparks through her body. When he finally pulled them back, his flirtatious smile was back in place. “Why don’t you allow me and my brother over here to take you out for a drink? I’ve heard there’s this lovely little restaurant close to the town centre called Mystic Grill?” He grimaced. “Granted, the name could be more creative but it seems like a great place to - what do kids say these days? Oh, yes -  hang out .”
Audrey’s eyes flickered from Kol to Finn, who was smiling at her in a more reserved but encouraging manner. She wanted to say yes. Under different circumstances she would have, if only to finally get some answers to her multitude of vampire questions Grace couldn’t answer. But then she remembered Meredith, Benjamin and Callie and shook her head.

“I’m sorry but I can’t. At least not today. I have an twelve year old nephew, a five year old niece and their babysitter waiting for me at home. Another time perhaps.”

Kol scowled in disappointment.

“One drink. Come on. What’s the worst that could happen?”

I could start enjoying the company too much.

Audrey pursed her lips, contemplating for a moment. She could go with them. For one drink only. She could call Meredith and ask her if she could stay an hour longer.

“Fine. One drink.”
    
Meanwhile, Damon was sitting alone in the living room of the Salvatore Boarding House, drowning his sorrows in bourbon. Stefan was already in his bedroom upstairs, fast asleep. The only time of day when he was quiet and not screeching about the death of a Goddess’ heiress that Damon was sure didn’t even exist. Gods! As if! Alaric was right. This was all just some stupid old folktale.
He chuckled humorlessly as he took another sip of his drink, the alcohol burning his tongue. For all the trouble his brother’s current predicament had wrought, it at least allowed him to see Elena again. Sweet, beautiful, breathtaking Elena who had barely spoken a word to him since his return, much less  looked  at him. She was still mad at his and Stefan’s kidnapping attempt months ago. The fact that they had only wanted to protect her apparently didn’t matter. All thanks to those damn Originals. They had brainwashed her, turned her against him. If only there was a way to get rid of them, permanently…
He was so deep in his thoughts that he didn’t notice how someone had entered the room behind him until he felt  soft lips leaving a trail of kisses down the side of his face to his collar bones.

“What-“ He stirred in surprise at the strands of chocolate brown hair falling into his face. “Elena…”

“Sh,” the doppelganger placed a  finger on his lips before climbing on his lap and continuing to kiss him.

“Elena,” he moaned, closing his eyes, his mind clouded with lust. Her lips, her soft delicious lips pressed against his skin was all he could think of.

“Say you are mine!” she demanded in a raspy voice, the kissing him more forcefully.

It was a dream. It’s got to be. One hell of a dream.

“I-“
He stopped. Something about this was wrong.  She  felt wrong. So..cold. Dark. She stopped kissing him, her long, sharp nails digging into his skin until he bled, squeezing his throat.“ Say it! Say you are mine! ”The rational part of his brain recognised that this wasn’t Elena. It couldn’t be. This voice…it was so much darker. Desperate. Ancient. And so, so  hungry . Yet he couldn’t resist. Couldn’t resist to say the words that would doom him.
“I-I’m yours. All yours, Elena.”

He opened his eyes, staring straight into black, soulless ones. A wide, devilish grin spread on the ravenous spirit’s face as she felt the vampire’s mind fracturing, moulding into something she could easily manipulate.

“Why thank you, my pet. Let’s hope you last longer than your brother did. At least long enough for me to sate my hunger.” She climbed from his lap and slowly moved away from the couch, her long, silver hair falling over her naked shoulders like silk. Halfway across the room, she stopped and turned around, beckoning her newest toy to follow her with a wink of her finger. “Let us see what tasty little treats this town has on the menu, shall we? Oh  and don’t worry; I will save your precious little doppelganger for last.”

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

The Mystic Grill was quite busy on this Tuesday evening. The bar was already fully occupied, which left Audrey and the two Originals to take a seat at an empty booth close by.  Meredith had barely been able to contain  her excitement when Audrey had called her to ask her if she could stay and watch the children an hour or two longer. No doubt she believed that her friend had finally landed herself a date. But it wasn’t. It was just a short “Welcome to Mystic Falls, here’s my list of questions”-get together. Definitely not a date.

Just as they had sat down - Audrey on one side of the table, Kol and Finn both on the other after a silent battle over who would get to sit next to her that Audrey unintentionally cut short by placing her bag on the free spot on the bench next to her - Matt Donovan walked over to them with an empty tray under his arms, smiling at the familiar black-haired woman in greeting.

“Miss Campbell, hey. Great to see you here.” His gaze moved over to the two imposing strangers sitting across from her, scanning them in a mixture of curiosity and wariness. “What, um, can I get you?”

“Hello Matt,” she greeted him back with a bright smile, entirely oblivious to the deadly glares Kol was giving the teenage boy. “I wasn’t aware you’re working this late on a school day.”
“Yeah well, I need the money,” he answered, shrugging his shoulders as if it wasn’t a big deal. “It’s not like my… mother  has anything to send over and there’s still a mortgage on the house that I need to pay.”
Audrey knitted her brows in concern. The fact that Matt was living all by himself in that house and had work so hard to provide for himself didn’t sit right with her. He was still a child after all, not even eighteen yet. If she ever met either of his parents, she would definitely give them a stern talking to about parental responsibility.

“Still, you’re only seventeen, Matt. You shouldn’t work this late. Especially not when you have school the next day.” She paused for a moment as an idea formed in her head. “Listen, if it’s money you need, I could help you out.”

“That’s very kind of you but not necessary,” he retorted defensively. “I don’t need any handouts.”

“No handouts,” she assured him. “I would pay you for honest work. I could use a babysitter, someone who looks after Benjamin and Callie while I’m at work. Grace is busy with her book club and study group under the week and Meredith and Jenna have their own jobs and lives to take care of. I can’t always impose on them. Jenna is already picking up Callie from school when I’m indisposed, which I’m more than grateful for.  You wouldn’t need to do much, just making sure they’re doing their homework and are not alone in the house. You could do your own homework in between and join us for dinner. I’m sure the children wouldn’t mind, least of all Grace.”

He hesitated, tilting his head as he contemplated his answer.

“I don’t know…I’ve never babysat before. What if I’m messing up?”

“I wouldn’t ask you if I thought you incapable of doing the job,” she said, giving him an encouraging smile. “Benjamin and Callie are old enough to tell you what they need and in case of emergency you can always call me. If you want we can do a test run. When is your next free day?”

“Tomorrow.”

“Good. Then how about you come over after school tomorrow? Jenna will be there to let you in. I’ll leave you a list of instructions for emergency cases on the kitchen counter and once I’m back home we can get together and talk and you can inform me of your decision. Of course I’m also going to talk with Benjamin and Callie but since they already know you it should be fine by them. Callie is currently still a bit clingy and could get upset about me not being there. If that happens, call me. Oh, and don’t call it babysitting in front of Benjamin. He thinks he doesn’t need one anymore.”

Matt laughed.

“Okay, let’s try it tomorrow. I’m making no promises, though.”

“You don’t have to,” she assured him. “Thank you, Matt. You have no idea how much you’d help me by making sure the children are cared for.”

Matt got all flustered at this, causing Kol to nearly break the wooden table in half with his fists. The rational part of his brain told him that there was no need to get jealous. She was only being friendly. Besides, the boy was way too young for her to ever consider any other possibility and painfully bland at that. However, it was still immensely difficult seeing her paying so much attention to anyone that wasn’t him. Vampires were possessive creatures by default. His Original status and the fact that she was his Fated One only made it worse. One look at his brother’s tense shoulders told him that Finn was struggling to reign in his baser instincts just as much as Kol himself. He was just a bit better at hiding it. Matt swallowed hard as his blue eyes met Kol’s deadly glare, causing the teenager to quickly avert his gaze.

“What can I bring you?” he asked again, looking back at Audrey.

“I’m having a simple Martini,” Audrey replied “Dry, please.”

Matt nodded and pulled his notepad out of his jeans pocket, writing down the order before throwing careful glances at the two Originals.

“Get me some of the best whiskey in the house, mate,” Kol said.

“I would like to have the same,” Finn stated, not knowing what else to order. The sheer amount of strange alcoholic beverages bars offered in the twenty first century was overwhelming and confusing him. Who in their right mind would want to order something called “Screwdriver” or “Bloody Mary”?

Matt quickly added the orders to his notepad before storing away.

“I’ll be back in a minute.”

With one last smile directed at Audrey, he scurried away towards the bar. Once the boy was out of earshot, Finn turned towards his soulmate, gazing at her adoringly.
“You have a good heart,  ástin mín . It was kind of you to offer him help.”
Audrey furrowed her brows at the foreign words he had used to address her but chose not to comment on it.

“Well, he’s actually the one helping me but yeah, he’s a good boy currently going through a rough patch. He just lost his sister not long ago and apparently neither of his parents has been in the picture for years. I just want to help him in a way I know he would accept.” She grimaced. “Apart from that, I’m really concerned about a teenager working late shifts at the bar. Mystic Falls might be relatively safe, if you take away the supernatural, but you never know what kind of creeps are out and about at this or later hours.”

“I’m afraid you are entirely too good for this world, my darling,” Kol sighed, still not liking that she spent so much energy on one boring human boy but secretly starting to admire that quality in her.

Audrey couldn’t help but blush like a school girl at the way he had called her.
My darling .
No one had ever called her that. She shook her head internally, trying to keep her thoughts from running off in the wrong direction - and most importantly her heart. Maybe he was one of those people that “darlinged” every person they came across.

It didn’t have to mean anything.

And anyway - why was she having such thoughts in the first place? He was a stranger - a dangerous one at that. She should really start concentrating on the reason she had agreed to meet up with them here.

“Can vampires actually get drunk?” she quickly blurted out before she could get distracted again.

Kol raised his eyebrows at the unexpected question but answered it anyway.

“Not as as easily as humans do. It takes significantly larger amounts of alcohol for us to feel any effect. So if you’re attempting to drink us under the table, I will have to disappoint you.”

Audrey laughed, shaking her head.

“Goodness, no. I already failed at that ten years ago during a party a friend dragged me to. I was already lying passed out in a corner by the time the others had the brilliant idea to pull out the karaoke machine and do shots every time someone was already too drunk to follow the lyrics.  Needless to say that I had a terrible headache the next day and regretted letting my friend convince me that we would have the time of our lives attending that bloody party.”

Finn had no idea what a “karaoke machine” was and decided he didn’t want to find out. It sounded like some dangerous tool meant for torture. Moreover, he didn’t like the fact that his Fated One had been lying somewhere unconscious and defenceless while surrounded by strongly inebriated humans. She had been lucky nothing bad had happened to her. From now on he would make sure that she would never again be in such a situation. He would always be there, protecting her. If she would let him, that was.

Meanwhile, Audrey was grimacing at the memories of that terrible, terrible party, entirely oblivious to the way Kol and Finn were hanging on her lips, eager to listen to her voice and that beautiful laugh of hers.

“No, forget I asked. It’s just one of those random details I was wondering about ever since I found out vampires are real.”

“What else are you wondering about?” Kol asked inquisitively

Audrey was about to reply as Matt returned, balancing a tray with their drinks on his arm. She closed her mouth again, patiently waiting for the teenager to place their orders on the table in front of them.

“Here you go.”

Audrey flashed him a friendly smile.

“Thank you, Matt.” Once he was gone, she took a sip of her Martini, the spicy note of the gin hitting her tongue. “How exactly does this whole humanity switch thing work? My oldest niece, Grace, has mentioned it once - not that she’s ever done it herself - but I’m having a hard time imagining anyone just turning it on and off like a light switch.”

Kol grimaced.

“I’m afraid you’re asking the wrong people, my darling. Neither of us Originals has ever turned it off. It was never an option for us and even most ordinary vampires lose that ability once they reach their second or third century. As far as I’m aware it’s a way for young vampires to deal with the guilt of taking a life. You’ll get over it eventually and then there’s no need for that switch anymore. I haven’t felt guilty for killing in a long while.”

He shrugged his shoulders as he nipped on his whiskey,”T as if he hadn’t just casually been talking about murder. Audrey’s hand around her Martini glass was tightening, knuckles turning white.  His cold, unbothered attitude towards death and murder was scaring her. But then again, what did she expect? He was a vampire. Blood bags had only been a thing since 1950 . Before that vampires had no choice but to feed off humans directly and as she knew from Grace, that didn’t always work out as intended. She wouldn’t shame him for being what he was but it would be a lie to say she wasn’t getting even more self conscious about the fact that she was sitting across two serial killers this very minute. Serial killers that could choose to end her life within seconds without feeling the tiniest bit guilty about it.

Finn, who was noticing the nervous, scared flick of her hands, glared at his younger brother disapprovingly. Of course he had known that after all those centuries Kol, as well as the rest of their siblings, had gotten used to death, bloodshed and murder. However, their soulmate was an innocent human with a human’s perception of life and death. Of course talking so casually about killing would scare her. Kol would need to start watching his mouth. At least until she had gotten  more comfortable around them.

Swallowing down the lump that had formed in her throat, Audrey to another sip of her drink.

“That’s, uh, good to know…I guess.”

What else was she supposed to say to that?

Please don’t kill me? I don’t feel like dying yet?

Yeah, that would work.

Don’t ask questions you don’t want to hear the answer to, Audrey.

“Why don’t you tell us something about yourself?” Finn asked, trying to steer the conversation in a more pleasant direction. “I’m curious to find out more about you.”

Audrey looked at him, slightly taken aback by the question.

“What do you want to know? I’m Audrey Campbell, thirty two years old, born and raised in London, a certified pastry chef, somewhat of a workaholic and just recently moved here to take care of my deceased sister’s children. That’s pretty much all there is to know about me. Really, I’m not that interesting.”

Well, apart from the whole being able to see all kinds of different otherworldly creatures thing, but she wasn’t going to tell them about that yet.

“My condolences for your loss,” Finn said. “Have you and your sister been close?”
“In a way, yes,”Audrey replied, a melancholy look spreading on her face at the thought of her sister. “Charlotte and I are,  were , twelve years apart. That made some things difficult. I was a late surprise addition to the family, in the literal sense. My parents were already in their early to mid-forties when I was born. They never wanted a second child but since both my mum and I were healthy they couldn’t legally abort me so they decided to bare with me instead.” Her face distorted into a grimace. “Now that I think about it, there isn’t actually a single photo of my mum during her second pregnancy or me as a newborn baby in the hospital while there are tons of those from Charlotte.”
She hadn’t meant to sound so bitter but she couldn’t help it. Even now, years after her parents’ death, it still hurt thinking about how differently they treated her compared to her sister. As if she wasn’t actually their daughter.

“Oh, Finn and I know a thing or two about difficult family dynamics,” Kol remarked, sharing meaningful glances with the other Original. “Wouldn’t you agree to that, brother?”

“I’m sure our definition of ‘difficult’ greatly differs from that of the rest of the world,” Finn retorted grimly. “I highly doubt Audrey and her sister carted each other around in boxes or her parents hated their children enough to lie to them or chase them to the end of the world.”

Audrey looked at him in confusion.

“What do you mean, carted each other around in boxes?”

Kol grimaced, his deep brown eyes darkening.

“Our bastard brother’s favourite part time activity. He owns a set of mystical silver daggers. One in the heart sends us into a deep slumber. Whenever he decides that he has enough of our company, he daggers us and shoves us into boxes until he’s back in the mood for family time, which often takes centuries. Even our sister Rebekah, Nik’s favourite, isn’t spared from that. Elijah is probably the ones who gets off the lightest due to their unhealthy co-dependency but even he ended up in a box for a handful of decades.” His eyes darted towards his brother next to him. “Finn over here spent nearly nine hundred years in one before Elijah woke us all up a bit over two months ago.”

Audrey’s eyes widened in shock as they fell on Finn.

“Nine hundred years? Oh Finn, that’s horrible!” Before she realised what she was doing she had placed a hand on Finn’s in comfort. “There’s so much history you’ve missed. So much development. I cannot imagine how strange this century must seem to you. You’ve basically woke up to an entirely different world.”

“It is quite strange,” Finn agreed, giving her hand a reassuring squeeze. “But I’m slowly adapting and catching up. Though there are things I will probably never get used to.”

Audrey couldn’t imagine how strange it had to be to wake up to a world changed. Though she also couldn’t imagine her sister ever doing something like that to her. Who could do something like that to their own sibling? That was plain simply barbaric. And here she thought her own family had problems.

She was about to retort something, as a strange, foreboding feeling suddenly rose in her quest, warning her of something. Someone. Her head turned to the side just in time to see no one other than Damon Salvatore entering the restaurant. But it wasn’t the vampire that caught her attention. Not really. It was the naked woman trailing behind him. Her hair was long and silver, though a darker shade than Orrin’s, and her eyes…they reminded her of a bug, black as tart. Soulless.  Every instinct in her body told her to run, told her to flee, but Audrey was frozen in place. All she could do was stare in fear and shock as Damon walked straight toward the bar, not caring about the horrified gasps of the other customers as they noticed his blood-covered figure. No one seemed to pay any attention to the woman however. It was like they couldn’t see her. The woman  slowly lifted her arm, pointing at a burly man in his mid-forties who seemed to drunk to realised what was going on.
“ Him. I want him .”
At the sound of her voice, a shiver ran down Audrey’s spine. It sounded so cold…devoid of any emotions. Damon walked over to the man, yanked him from his seat, pulled his head back and sank his fangs into his neck  - in front of everyone. That was the moment all hell broke loose. Customers started screaming and jumping up from their chairs to flee the building. Kol and Finn too sprang up on their feet to position themselves protectively in front of Audrey who kept staring at the silver-haired woman as if she was in some sort of trance. While Damon continued feeding off the man, strange, shimmering, fading lines moved from the human to the woman who had her eyes closed and her head tilted back, moaning in pleasure as if she was just experiencing a particularly pleasant orgasm.

“Oh my God!” Audrey whispered, perhaps a bit too loud.

From one second to the next, the woman’s head snapped in her direction, pitch black eyes meeting cerulean blue ones. She furrowed her brows, seemingly taken aback by the fact that Audrey could see her. Then, realisation dawned on her face.
“ You have the sight.  How?” Before Audrey could so much as blink, the uncanny woman was suddenly standing right next to Kol in front of their table, one hand wrapping around Audrey’s throat, lifting her up from her seat. “ Tell me what you are! ”
Kol and Finn looked around, growling, trying to detect the threat to their Fated One but failing. When they tried to reach out to Audrey, the found themselves frozen in the spot they were standing, unable to move. The woman’s sharp, long claws dug into Audrey’s skin, causing a trail of crimson-coloured liquid to pool down to her collarbones. The woman sniffed at the blood, eyes suddenly growing wide.
“ Divine essence…You are one of them!  Túatha Dé Danann.” She spit out the words with so much contempt, eyes filling with hate as her grip around Audrey’s throat tightened. “ I will enjoy watching you die. You fey scum deserve nothing more. It is because of your people that my babies are dead! ”
She yanked Audrey over the table and threw her at Damon’s feet, who had completely drained the man in the meantime and thrown his lifeless body carelessly to the ground. Audrey cried out in pain, causing Kol and Finn to become even more livid. They were still rooted in place, unable to move, unable to detect what was going on. All they could see was their soulmate being thrown around by some invisible force. She was in pain and they couldn’t do anything to help her.
“ Kill her, my pet ,” the woman instructed Damon. “ She’s all yours. ”
The vampire slowly turned towards the wincing woman lying at his feet, his once blue eyes now as black as that of his mistress. He grabbed her arm roughly, pulling her up.

“Damon,” Audrey whispered pleadingly. “Please. If you are still in there, if you can hear me, you need to fight, do you listen? You need to snap out of this. Please, Damon.”

“Don’t even think about it!” Kol hissed threateningly at Damon. “If you harm her, I will make you wish you were never born. You will plead for your death long before I will grant it to you.”
“ Oh my! ” the silver-haired woman commented as she eyed the Original like a trophy. “ A man after my own heart. Perhaps I will take him back home and keep him as a plaything. ” She laughed coldly before turning back to Damon. “ Hurry up, pet, and kill her. Our dinner is running away as we speak. ”
Damon grabbed Audrey by the throat, pulling her head back.

“Damon, no!” she shrieked but it was already too late. In the next second she felt a sharp pain as his fangs tore through the skin on her neck. He didn’t care to be gentle. On the contrary. He fed on her with the raging, brutal force of a newly transitioned vampire desperate to finally subdue his craving for blood. Audrey screamed, the pain becoming unbearable.

She had never imagined that this was how she would die - being drained off her blood by Damon Salvatore while he was under the control of whatever strange creature that woman was. This was what she got for agreeing to meet for a drink. She should have gone home instead.
Meanwhile the two Originals snarled and growled as they fought against their invisible restraints like two wild beasts on a rampage, desperate to get to her side, desperate to save her. The silver-haired woman laughed like a maniac, enjoying the show. Had paid a little more attention to what was going on behind her back, maybe she could have escaped her fate. But with her entire attention focused on Audrey’s weaker growing screams and body she didn’t notice the white horse charging at her until it was too late. The  Each-Uisge ’s sharp, shiny canines sunk into the soft flesh of her arm and, with one powerful yank, separated it from the rest of her body.  The woman screeched in pain, black blood pooling out of her exposed shoulder joint. The  Each-Uisge  didn’t waste any time, didn’t allow her any time to react before he attacked again - this time going in for the kill. He snapped at her head, ripping it clean off her shoulders.The moment the woman’s head rolled over the floor, Damon could feel something snap inside of him - control returning to his body. He should stop feeding off the black-haired woman. He could, if he really wanted to. But the taste of her blood…it was unlike anything he had ever experienced. It was more enticing than any blood he had ever tasted before…so  divine . So powerful. She would die anyways, he figured. Weak as she was. Why waste such precious, delicious blood? After the rough night he had, he deserved a little treat. So he kept on feeding, ignoring the little voice inside of his head, warning him that Elena would never forgive him if he killed her friend’s aunt. So what? She didn’t need to find out. After all, what could he have done if Audrey Campbell had an  unfortunate  accident? Those happened all the time.
Unfortunately, he had forgotten about the two Originals. The two Originals that were now able to move again. Finn was the first to react. Without hesitating another second, he sped over to the Salvatore, one hand plunging into his back, wrapping around his still beating heart. Before Damon realised what was happening, Finn had torn his heart out of his chest. His skin turned grey, face forever frozen in an expression of surprise.

Kol caught Audrey’s limp, blood-covered body in his arms before she could meet the floor together with Damon’s corpse. Her eyelids fluttered, breath heavy and shallow.

“Kol, I-” she winced, blood still pooling out of her neck.

“Sh,” the Original interrupted her, gently brushing a few black curls out of her face. “I’ve got you, my darling. It’s over now. I’m going to feed you my blood now and then you’ll be good as new.”

He was about to bite into his wrist as Audrey’s hands stopped him.

“It won’t…work,” she gasped weakly. “Vampire blood doesn’t…it doesn’t work…on…me. She said…she said I’m one…of them. What…what does that mean?” Her head rolled to the side, just in time to see a familiar, lean, silver-haired male figure approaching. A weak smile spread on her face. She would get to see him once last time. “Orrin…”

She vaguely noticed Kol and Finn whipping around to face the stranger before the world went black around her.
    During the next three days, Mystic Falls descended into a state of chaos. The Fomóire, as Orrin had called the invisible creature that was responsible for the death of a total of twenty residents in one night as well as the destruction inside of the Mystic Grill, was dead for now, but it would soon return. These creatures had the most inconvenient habit of being reborn a total of nine times before their death would be eternal. Once she was back, she would without a doubt continue what she started with Audrey. If they wanted to get rid of the Fomóire forever, they needed to come up with a strategy - and fast.Damon’s outing at the Grill hadn’t gone without consequences. The Town Council had been called to an emergency meeting in the same night. Some members, like Sheriff Forbes and  John Gilbert, had already been aware of the Salvatore’s vampire status. To most members, however, it had come as a shock. He had spearheaded them for some time after all. Since he was already dead, the Council was desperately looking for another person to blame, a scapegoat, and two days later, Orrin presented them with one. The  Each-Uisge  had turned to the Council for help in the hopes of working together with them to get rid of a common enemy. However, that meeting had turned into a complete catastrophe.After finding out the whole truth, about who or what had been responsible for the destruction and the death of twenty residents as well as Audrey Campbell’s role in all of that, the Council had voted to banish the still unconscious, still healing woman from town instead of helping them. Since she was apparently such a danger magnet it was better to exile her than to allow her to get anyone else in danger. Listening to the way they were talking about her friend who had never asked for any of this and was still hanging in between life and death all the while, Meredith had lost it and decided to kick the Council and her place in it where the sun didn’t shine. If they were kicking Audrey out of town, she was leaving too. Even though the Council had allowed them to stay, Grace, Benjamin and Callie would go with them, wanting to stay with the only family they had left, even if it was dangerous. It might be more dangerous to leave them here, where the  Fomóire  could easily get them and use them against Audrey.
Caroline, not wanting to abandon her best friend, had gone home to pack her bags the minute Grace had informed her that they would be leaving and be on the run for the unforeseeable future, but had never been able to meet up with the group. Sheriff Forbes injected her with vervain and locked her up in the City Jail that had served multiple generations of Forbes’ as a vampire torture chamber.

“It’s for your own safety, Caroline,” she had told her daughter. “That woman is a danger magnet. Being anywhere near her would put your own life at risk. What kind of mother would I be if I allowed that?”
“The kind of mother that respects her daughter’s decisions,” Caroline had hissed back. “If anything happens to Grace, her siblings or her aunt because you and the rest of that stupid council are too much of a coward to go against the actual enemy, I’m never going to forgive you! Do you hear that, mom?  Never !”
The Gilbert Household didn’t fare better either. To keep Jenna, Elena and Jeremy from leaving to check up on Audrey and the Fell siblings, John, Alaric and Isobel had teamed up with a witch that was still owing a debt to Isobel  and locked them into the house via magical barrier.

“It’s too dangerous Jenna,” Alaric had told her. “I don’t want to lose you.”

“And I don’t want to lose Audrey! If she dies and I could have done something to prevent that, so God be my judge, Ric, I will make everyone responsible pay!”
“She’s already dead! Or as good as. If that… thing  doesn’t get her than all the others that will go after her will.”
“Screw you!”

Alaric rubbed his temple, sighing,

“I’m not saying this to be insensitive, Jenna. I just want you to look the truth in the eye. If even the Gods are against her existence, what chance has she to survive? But you can. You don’t have to die. This has nothing to do with you so please don’t involve yourself! Please!”

“I don’t care if the Gods are against her or the entire universe for that matter. If the roles were reversed she would never abandon me so I won’t either. And now let me out of this goddamn house!”

“I’m sorry, Jenna but I can’t let you run into certain death.”

“Then fuck yourself, Ric! And you too, John! Oh and tell all those other cowards in the council that throwing the Original’s soulmate out of town was a pretty stupid move. You could have had them as allies. Now you’ll better pray Klaus doesn’t hear about this. I don’t think that’s going to go over well, considering his temper.”

John shot her an indignant look.
“You’re threatening us with  Klaus ?!”
“Oh, it’s not just Klaus you’ll have to be scared of,” Elena added. “There’s Elijah too. And Kol and Finn, wherever they are right now. They have absolutely killed people for far less. Jenna’s right. Drawing their ire was a stupid move. Just because they are currently otherwise occupied doesn’t mean they don’t care about Audrey. So yeah, you’ll better pray they don’t hear how you all basically threw their soulmate to the dogs. I don’t think this town is going to survive the fit of rage this is undoubtedly going to result in.”

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

Rebekah was on the run - again. One would think that after a thousand years of running from her father doing so would get easier. It wasn’t. On the contrary. Now they had literal

children

running with them. Children that refused to fall asleep until she told them a story of a little girl and her older brother who carved a knight chess piece for her as protection against all the evil forces out there. Afterwards it hadn’t taken long for Benjamin and Callie to dose off, snuggled up against their older sister in one of the only two beds they had found in the abandoned old hunting lodge somewhere in the woods between Mystic Falls and Lynchburg. Grace had mouthed a “Thank you” to Rebekah before she too had fallen asleep, arms securely wrapped around her little brother and sister. The Original remained in the dark, sparsely furnished room, watching the three Fell siblings’ peacefully sleeping forms until the buzz of her phone in her jeans pocket told her that Elijah was calling her once again. He had been trying to reach her for three days now but Rebekah was purposefully dodging all of his calls. She wanted to avoid having to tell him about the current situation for as long as she could. If he knew that the Town Council had left his Fated One to fend for herself, injured and unconscious as she still was, he would lose it. As noble and patient as he was often portraying himself in front of others, he would never tolerate such injustice wrought against someone he cared about. He and Klaus could destroy the entire town in a matter of minutes. It had been difficult enough to keep Kol and Finn from slaughtering the lot of them for throwing Audrey out of town. She didn’t want to deal with Klaus’ and Elijah’s rage  as well. Not that she didn’t think it wasn’t justified. The Town Council could rot for all she cared but destroying Mystic Falls would do nothing to help Audrey or solve their current

Fomóire-

dilemma.

So instead of answering her phone, she let it go to voice mail and made her way back into the cramped up second bedroom where Orrin and Finn were currently tending to Audrey. The pale, black-haired woman had been perched upright on the bed by Finn, who was sitting next to her, arm wrapped around her to support her while Orrin sat cross-legged behind her, hands pressed gently on her back while his eyes were closed in concentration. Glowing, blue traces of his water magic were transferring from his hands to Audrey, mending her broken bones, strengthening her. The blood Damon Salvatore had drained from her body had already been replaced with a blood transfusion from Orrin. His was the only blood her body would accept. As the silver-haired

Each-Uisge

had explained to them, the divine essence in her blood that she had inherited from her biological mother, would instantly reject any source of blood that wasn’t laced with said essence. It was the reason vampire blood had no effect on her. If fed to her directly as Kol had intended to do, she would just vomit it all up again. He had also told them that Damon Salvatore had been a dead man from the moment the first drop of Audrey’s blood hit his tongue. Before long, the divine essence would have worked through his system, destroying every bit of magic in his blood that made him a vampire, essentially turning him back into a human. Once he was human, the years he had “lost” would have quickly began to catch up with him and within a matter of hours, he would have been dead. In a way, Finn ripping his heart out had been a mercy kill. He had spared the oldest Salvatore brother of a long and agonising death.

The fact that Audrey didn’t have the option to turn into a vampire if something ever were to go tragically wrong, made Kol and Finn even more protective of her than they already were. Rebekah could already imagine the fit Klaus would throw upon finding out that his Fated One was not only going to be persecuted by the entirety of the supernatural world but also terribly mortal with no way to turn her immortal. Her mother might be some sort of Goddess, if Orrin’s words were to trust, but other than the divine essence in her blood, the ability to see creatures of the Otherworld and some physical features, Audrey had inherited everything from her very mortal, very ordinary father. Oh Klaus would

definitely

throw a fit. He would lock her up in some tower and throw away the key, so  nothing could happen to her. Another reason why Rebekah was stalling to tell him and Elijah. However, she should have known that Elijah’s patience would only last so long before he would take matters into his own hands and check for himself why his sister was refusing to answer his calls.

Audrey woke up to the rhythmic sound of waves crashing against boulders, accompanied by the joyful song of three birds close by. Warm, bright rays of sunlight hit her face, tickling her nose. When she opened her eyes, she found herself standing at the top of an emerald green cliff overlooking the ocean stretching out before her. Crystal clear water was glistening in and reflecting the light of the afternoon sun high on the clear blue sky - a sea made of diamonds. Audrey had no idea where she was but somehow this place reminded her of home. Not London, not Mystic Falls;

home

.

She continued standing rooted in place for a handful of minutes, eyes closed, breathing in the peace and serenity this place was emitting. But then she remembered the Mystic Grill, the woman with those creepy black eyes and Damon, feeding off her, draining her off her blood. Until Finn had literally ripped his heart out of his chest. He had done it for

her

. To save her. Yet in the end, she had still died.

“You are not dead,

a
 leanbh.

Though you have come close to it.”

Audrey whipped around in surprise to see a beautiful woman standing behind her, the hem of her long, pale blue dress flowing in the wind together with her long, wavy hair, gathered in an intricate half up, half down hair-do adorned with a blue flower wreath. Her hair had the same shade as Orrin’s - a pale silver, almost white - while her eyes were bright and friendly - and as cerulean blue as Audrey’s. Eyes that were gazing upon her with so much love and affection, the kind of love only a mother could have. She held out her hand towards Audrey.

“Come, a leanbh. We have much to discuss and little time.”

Audrey hesitantly took the woman’s hand and let her pull her down from the cliff towards a grand, majestic field of flowers in the colours of the rainbow. The air was filled with the earthy  scent of nature and the happy humming sound of the bees flying from flower to flower, stealing their rich nectar. It looked like a scene from a fairy tale about a magical land filled with abundant treasure and beauty.

“What is this place?” Audrey asked, mouth clapping open at the breathtaking sight in front of her. If she hadn’t believed herself to be dreaming before, now she was sure of it.

“This is

Tír na nÓg,”

the woman replied, a small smile spreading on her face as she watched

Audrey’s eyes gleaning with excitement and wonder. “The isle of eternal youth - and the home of the

Túatha Dé Danann.

Well, a vision of it. We are not truly here. This is just an image conjured up in your mind while your body is resting and healing in the real world. I thought it would be nice to show you the place I called my home for so many millennia. A place that would have been your home as well, had things gone differently.” Her clear blue eyes filled with sadness as she continued to lead Audrey through the field of flowers. “There aren’t many regrets I carried with me during my long life, however I do regret that I could never be the mother to you that you deserved,”

Audrey’s head jerked towards the woman, confusion written all over the face.

“What are you talking about? I already have a mother. Granted, we had our ups and downs but she was still my mother!”

“Of course. I did not mean to disrespect the human couple that took you in and raised you as their daughter,” the woman replied, a hand reaching out to touch Audrey’s face. “I couldn’t be more thankful to them. You became every way the woman I always hoped you would be.” She sighed woefully as her hand tenderly cupped Audrey’s cheek. “You remind me so much of your father. He used to crinkle his nose in the exact same way whenever he was lost in thoughts, trying to solve the mystery of the universe.” She laughed as her hand moved from Audrey’s cheek to her nose, tapping it affectionately, her eyes getting a far away look. “We used to spend hours just gazing at the stars. He had a story for every single one of them, like the gifted storyteller that he was.”

Audrey continued to stare at her in confusion, not understanding a single word she was saying, Well, she did understand the words but their meaning completely escaped her. What father? The one that raised her had been many things, but “gifted storyteller” weren’t exactly the words she would use to describe him.

“If you let me I can show you,” the woman offered, noticing her confused looks. “Everything that you need to know about who you are.”

Audrey nodded, too confused about everything to utter a single word. The woman stepped closer, placing both hands upon her forehead.

Pictures started to appear in Audrey’s mind - an entire pile, telling a story. The first few pictures showed the woman, the Goddess Clíodhna, sitting outside of a charming cafe somewhere at the Scottish countryside, dressed as an ordinary mortal woman from the mid to late seventies. She had come here just to watch the mortals go on about their daily lives - and to meet her son who had to flee to his father’s people because her own wanted to see him dead just for being what he was; a half breed. However, he couldn’t make it to the meeting and sent his mother a last minute message via water magic. Then the next picture; Clíodhna bumping into a young man with black curls and glasses after she had paid her bill and was about to leave the cafe. His glasses fell of his nose and broke into pieces on the ground. They both apologised to each other, laughing awkwardly. Then she picked up the glasses, secretly repairing them with her powers before handing them back to him. He put them back on his nose and the two stare at each other for what felt like an eternity - completely awestruck. It was like a scene from a cheesy romance film - only that this story had no happy ending. The next few pictures showed them doing all sorts of different activities together during the span of one year. Then came the night he invited her to a romantic candle light dinner under a canopy of a million twinkling stars. They ate, they laughed, they talked, they danced, they kissed - it was a perfect, romantic evening. Until he went on his knees in front of her and pulled a ring box out of his jacket. She wanted to say yes, Gods knew she did. But she couldn’t. He didn’t even know who she really was. The proposal was like a wake up call. She suddenly realised that she had let this go too far, had let herself get carried away. This love, it was forbidden. A mortal and a Goddess - this could never work out. Her people would never allow it. They would kill him.

And so she did the hardest thing she ever had to do ; she broke his heart. Shattered it into a million tiny splinters. He needed to forget her. He needed to move on. He needed to believe that she had never loved him. That way he would remain safe. That was the last time she saw him  - and the night she found out that she carried his child under her heart.

As the months passed by, she grew weaker and weaker. Hiding the pregnancy from everyone became increasingly harder. Only her son knew. Orrin was begging her to run, to join him in Scotland. His father’s people would grant them shelter. But she was barely able to move anymore, coughing up blood every so often. Something wasn’t right. She had been pregnant before. This wasn’t normal. She didn’t know what to do. She couldn’t tell anyone. Perhaps this was her retribution for breaking the law. For carrying yet again a child that should have never come into existence. If she had to give her life for her unborn child, she would do it. She had lived long enough. So she lied to Orrin about her condition, telling him she would be fine. They would be fine.

It was a girl. She knew it, felt it. She would name her Audrey - after her paternal grandmother. He had once told her that if he ever had a daughter, he would name her after his mother - the one he had lost too early in his life, The one who had introduced him to the world of stories. She would honour that wish, even though he would never know she existed. It was the least she could do. She also started to get visions. Four men, vampires. The strongest and oldest of their kind. She understood the meaning of the vision. Her baby would be protected. Cherished. Loved. She got a similar vision for Orrin. A woman with strawberry blonde hair, slightly chaotic. She wasn’t born yet but would be soon. In three years. It made her smile. Her children would be cared for, even after she was gone. And they would always have each other.

It is that though that she held on to as she gave birth to her daughter, All alone, under great pain. While her life is coming to an end. With the last bit of strength that she had, she pressed one last kiss on the newborn’s head before using the last bit of her powers to sent her off to her half brother, crying bloody tears as she did so.

There was one last picture; Orrin, standing in the all too familiar driveway of Audrey’s childhood home in London, a tiny, moving bundle wrapped in his arms. His eyes were red from all the tears he had cried just hours ago. He wiped some last remaining tears off his face before walking towards the front porch. He placed the baby on the step, but not before pressing one last kiss on her forehead, mumbling some comforting words. He didn’t want to leave his sister with strangers, but he had to, It was safer for her to grow up among ordinary humans, where no one would go looking for her in case anyone had found out about her existence. The couple that lived in this house were good people. He had observed them for some time before he made his decision. They had a twelve year old daughter who they treated like a princess. Surely his little sister would be well off with them. So he left the baby on the front porch, together with a handwritten note, containing one single word. A name.

Audrey.

As the last picture faded from her mind, Audrey’s eyes were wet with tears. Her story, her origins, the reason her parents had treated her so differently, the reason she could see things others didn’t…it all started to make sense now. When she finally looked up again, the world around her as well as the Goddess standing in front of her started to dissolve into tiny speckles of golden dust.

“Wait, what is happening?” Audrey asked, panicking.

Clíodhna smiled sadly at her daughter, tears glittering in her eyes.

“I died on this day thirty three years ago, a stóirín. What you see standing in front of you is one last remnant of my spirit that held out long enough in this world to meet her daughter one day.”

Audrey shook her head energetically, refusing to accept that she would lose the mother she had just found again.

“No, no, no, no, no, no! You can’t die! We just found each other again! Please don’t leave me, mum! I need you. Please. Don’t leave me!” Tears started to roll down her cheeks uncontrollably. She was aware that she was acting like a little child right now but she didn’t care. This was her mum. She needed her. “You’re a Goddess. Aren’t Gods supposed to be immortal?”

“No one in this or any other world is truly immortal,

a leanbh,

” the Goddess replied, reaching out to gently wipe away the tears in Audrey’s face. “There is always a limit. There has to be. I have lived for longer than most others. It is enough.” Her body had almost entirely dissolved to dust up until her upper torso. “In another life, we would have spent our days living carefree here on this isle. I would have taught you the ways of our people, our ancient ancestral rites. Your brother would have taken you fishing in the ocean, perhaps even  allowed you ride on his back across the waves. We would have run through the flower fields and green hills, sung with the birds and thanked the Great Dagda for all the presents bestowed upon us. And every night when the stars come out, we would have all lied down in the soft grass, staring up in the sky while your father would have told us one of his stories. But this life will forever be a distant dream. My time has long since passed. I shouldn’t be here anymore.” She placed a hand upon Audrey’s heart. “Everything that you need, you already have, inside of here. Your humanity will forever be your greatest strength and power. Hold on to it. You will need it in the trials to come. I am so proud of you, Audrey. Of you and your brother. Giving birth to you will forever be my greatest achievement in this life.” She placed one last gentle kiss on Audrey’s hair crown before pulling her into an embrace, her lips moving to her daughter’s ear. “Happy thirty third birthday,

a stóirín.”

Audrey cried bitter tears into her mother’s shoulder, her arms desperately clinging onto the last remains of her spirit, as if that alone could keep her from dissipating. When the last part of her faded to golden shimmering dust, Audrey stumbled forward, falling on her knees. An agonising sob escaped her lips.

“Don’t leave me! Please! Come back! Don’t leave me!”

The world began to blur around her, pulling her back into the real world, while the tears kept falling, and falling and falling.

“Don’t leave me! Please! Come back! Don’t leave me!”

Audrey’s desperate sobs and cries were the first thing that alarmed them of her slip back into a conscious state. Finn and Kol, who had just returned from gathering supplies with Meredith, were the first to speed into the bedroom. Audrey was wildly thrashing around, sobbing and screaming, tears trailing from her eyes. Kol crouched down in front of the bed, placing a hand on her arm.

“Sh, no one is leaving you. We are all here.”

However, that didn’t seem to calm her down. She continued thrashing around and nearly fell out of the bed, if Kol hadn’t held her in place.

“No! Mum! Come back! Please! I need you! Come back! Mum!”

Orrin appeared in the door frame, pale and exhausted from all the healing he had done during the last few days, tears glittering in his red, swollen eyes.

“Mother just visited her and told her who she is,” he informed the rest of the group consisting of three Originals and a tired looking Meredith upon noticing their confused expressions. “Audrey must have just witnessed the last remnant of her spirit fading away. She is gone now.” He took a sad glance at his crying sister before blinking the tears from his eyes. “I…will need to burn some incense. Don’t look for me.”

Without saying another word, he walked out of the cramped and crowded hunting lodge and into the desperately needed solitude of the forest.

Kol and Finn slipped into the bed on each of Audrey’s sides, holding  and gently whispering to her while she clung to them and sobbed into their shirts until all of her tears were spent. Rebekah kept watching them for a while, her heart bleeding in sympathy for the poor woman, She knew the pain of losing one’s mother all to well. It might have been a thousand years since she lost hers, since Niklaus had held her in his arms all night while she cried herself to sleep, but she remembered it as clear as though it had happened yesterday. She also remembered the nightmares that had followed in the days and weeks to come. Audrey would need all the comfort she could get. It was for that reason that she pulled out her phone and dialled Elijah’s number. It was time for him and Klaus to get up to date on what was currently going on in their soulmate’s life and then get their stubborn arses over here as fast as possible. No more excuses. Rebekah certainly was not above kicking them all the way here from New Orleans herself if that was what it took. Besides, Klaus still owed her a stab in the front with one of those cursed daggers.
    
It seemed as though it had only been minutes since Hayley had climbed into her bed and closed her eyes. Falling asleep in these hot late summer in Louisiana temperatures was no easy feat. Even though Klaus had kept word and called someone over to install some much needed AC in this house that was probably older than the United States Declaration of Independence, she was still all sweaty. God, she would kill for some cooler and most importantly less stickier temperatures. As soon as she was free to roam around the city again and finally got some answers regarding her biological parents, she was out of here.  Klaus could play king for all she cared but there was no way in hell she would go through another summer in this hotter than hell State. He could have his child every two weeks or over the weekends. They could work out a schedule. She certainly wasn’t going to deny her baby its father. Even if said father was a giant ass in dire need to go out and touch some grass more times than not.

There was to hoping the hybrid would see some sense at least and let her go. Maybe she could try and win Elijah over. With him at her side she might stand a chance at convincing Klaus that they didn’t need to live together in the same house for the rest of their lives. God knew she wouldn’t survive this.

The person in question suddenly crashing into her room in the middle of the night just proved her point. She had just been about to start dreaming about this giant cup of chocolate ice cream calling her name, when someone turned on the light and started to move around her room in vampire speed, ripping open her drawers before randomly pulling out some clothes and throwing them into a suitcase he had somehow managed to conjure up out of thin air.

“What the hell, Klaus!” Hayley grumbled drowsily, less than pleased about having been ripped out of her chocolate ice cream dream. “It’s fucking two a.m in the morning!”

The hybrid ignored her and instead, sped out of the room, only to return a few seconds later with her bath utensils.

“Get up and get dressed,” he instructed her, throwing the toiletries on top of her clothes before proceeding to close  the suitcase. “We’re leaving.”

“We’re what?” Hayley exclaimed, suddenly wide awake. “Hold on, wait a second. What is going on? Are we under attack? Did your master plan fail and Marcel and his vampire army are standing on our front porch with torches and pitchforks?”

Klaus stopped moving to throw her an exasperated look.

“As always, your sense of humour leaves much to be desired, Hayley. Now hurry up and put on some clothes or I will drag you into the car dressed as you are.”

Hayley climbed out of her bed, hands pressed to her hips.

“Not until you tell me what the hell has put you in such a hurry.”

He groaned.

“For once in your bloody life, can’t you just do what you’re told? Elijah and I will give you the details on the way to Virginia.”

The frown on Hayley’s forehead deepened.

“Virginia? Klaus, I can’t leave this city. Not as long as I’m still linked to Sophie Deveraux.”

A dangerous glint flared up in the hybrid’s eyes as he picked up the suitcase.

“Oh I know. Elijah is dealing with that little problem as we speak.”

“Dealing with-“ Hayley paused, sighing, “Do I even want to know what that entails?”

A devilish smirk spread on Klaus’ face. Though she could also see something else reflecting in his face. Desperation. Concern. Nah, must be a trick of the light. Klaus and concerned?

Never

.

“Let’s just say we don’t have time for their petty little games anymore. There’s somewhere we need to be and everyone who keeps us from leaving this town with you in the next one and a half hours is going to meet a very bloody, very gruesome end.”