"Do you remember the first time we were formally introduced by our fathers?" I quietly asked, looking over the water. My head rested against a shoulder, an arm around my waist and holding me close to the owner.

   "Of course I do," the owner of the shoulder and arm chortled. "You had this beautiful pink dress on with this weird colourful embroidery on the bodice and arms. And you had your hair over your shoulder, long and blond and like the sun on a warm summers day. Your mother had wanted you to style your hair up, but you rebelled and allowed to be free in ringlets." He pulled away to look at me. With a small smile around his lips, he pushed the hair out of my eyes. "Your eyes were this magnificent green that reminded me of mothers' old earrings. And you always had this smile on your lips as your father paraded you around the room and looked for suitors; that smile only widened when you stopped in front of me." His lips widened into a bigger smile. "It's was Stefan's birthday celebration."

   I giggled and nodded, taking his free hand between mine. "You're very poetic, Mr. Salvatore," I said, smiling. "Who knew that you remembered every detail?"

   Damon shrugged his shoulders and pursed his lips. "I pay attention, Miss Forbes," he said. "Only to the things I find most beautiful."

   "Oh, really?" I asked, widening my eyes and playfully glaring. "Who else do you find beautiful? I've heard you talk about Mary."

   He made a face and leaned closer to me, his lips brushing against mine. "Mary? Who's that? I only have eyes for Miss Clara Forbes."

   "Isobel's research here in Mystic Falls rooted in folklores and legends but at the time I thought much which was fiction." Alaric Saltzman's voice caused me to wake up from my day dream. He had come over some time while I was day dreaming in order to help us, mostly the ever so curious Damon, know more about the Lockwood's. Stefan, Elena, and I were curious, but as much as Damon.

   "Like that amazing vampire story," Damon mused.

   "Asides from vampires, what else?" Elena asked, ignoring Damon. 

   "The lycanthrope," Alaric said, eyeing each one of us. It was quiet for a few seconds with all of us being curious.

   "Wait," Elena broke the silence. "Like, werewolves?"

   "No way," Damon immediately disagreed. "Impossible. Way too Lon Chaney."

   "Maybe Lon Chaney turned into a vampire and he's back," I muttered, rolling my eyes at him. 

   He looked at me with a face, then rolled his eyes. "I've been on this planet for a hundred and sixty some odd years; never came across one. If werewolves exist, where the hell are they?" He sounded like those people that theorized alien life on the History channel. 

   "Why do you suspect the Lockwood's?" Alaric asked.

   "Because vervain didn't affect the mayor at Founder's Day but the Gilbert device did," I said, finally joining the conversation in an useful manner. "And it affected his son, Tyler."

   "And at the school carnival, his uncle Mason exhibited inhuman behaviour when he fought with one of the carnival workers," Stefan added. "It suggests it's some sort of, uh, a supernatural entity."

   "We were hopping that Isobel's research could help us figure out what it is," added Elena.

   "Well, all of her things are still at Duke," Alaric sighed. "I mean, her office is still there, she's technically still missing."

   "So, can we get access to it?" asked Damon, completely ignoring the hurt look in Alaric's face when he spoke about his wife. From what I was told, Isobel was his wife-turned-vampire and Elena's birth mother. It was a jumble of emotions and things that could only happen in some mystery novel. But, no, this was Elena's complicated life, and we were somehow pulled into it.

   "Rick, we need to know what we are dealing with," Damon continued. "If this wolf men thing is true, I've seen enough movies to know it's not good. It means Mason Lockwood is a real life Lon Chaney and that little Tyler punk may just very well be Lon Chaney Jr., which means Bela Lugosi, meaning me, is totally screwed."

   Somehow, Alaric agreed. It was decided for Damon and Elena to go to Duke with Alaric. I would stay behind and help Caroline with Stefan. It felt good knowing I didn't have to babysit Damon for a day or a two, but I was also jealous? There was something inside of me that hated the thought of Damon and Elena going on a trip alone. Did I trust Elena? Eh. Did I trust Damon? Hell no.

   "Behave," I ordered Damon, watching him.

   He rolled his eyes. "Do you have to repeat yourself every time we talk?"

   "Oh, I do," I nodded. "When I arrived, you did the same thing. I could count with both of my hands how many times you told me to behave when I did no wrong. Now, I'm doing the same thing to you because I know you will do wrong."

   Once again, he rolled his eyes. "Could you honk the horn? We're going to be a little late if they don't hurry."

   I leaned back and pressed my hand against the horn, turning to look at the house. I jumped of my seat and closed the door, then leaned against it right next to Damon. Alaric was the first to come out with Elena's bags. 

   "Sorry you can't come, Stef," Damon said with a small smirk as Stefan and Elena came. Elena threw her purse in the back through the window, glaring at Damon. Stefan, on the other hand, ignored him and turned her to look at him.

   "Call me if you need anything," he told her.

   "Oh, I'll take really good care of her," Damon interrupted. 

   "Shut it," I hissed, pinching his side. He groaned in pain, pushing me back and glaring. "Like I said, behave."

   I looked back at the pair, only to see Elena grabbing Stefan by the neck and pressing a kiss to his lips. He pressed wrapped his arms around her waist, pulling her closer as they kissed even more. I glanced back at Damon, seeing the smirk disappear from his face. He sighed. "Okay, time to go!" he announced, getting in the car without a look back. Stefan opened the back door for Elena, smiling at her. I watched Damon with crossed arms, and he glanced at me for a while, until the car moved and sped away.

   "Should we go?" Stefan asked, draping an arm over my shoulders. 

   "Let's get this over with," I sighed, following him to the car. We were to meet Bonnie at The Grill. He was planning on asking her to make a daylight ring for Caroline. She was stuck in house arrest, and she had called Stefan to complain that it was boring how she had to hide from her mother, her boyfriend, her friends, and every social activity that she should be enjoying.

   "So," Stefan began as we arrived at the Grill. "How is that you can walk in the daylight? Do you have a ring? An amulet?" We took a seat in a table by the bar, which allowed me to order a rum and coke while waiting for the witch to arrive.

   "I have a necklace," I pointed out, smiling. I pulled out the golden necklace from inside my shirt. There was a small, pebble-sized blue stone in the centre, just where my thumb and pointer finger raised the necklace to show Stefan. "After I died, Emily Bennett and some other vampire were the ones that dug me out of my grave. She brought me to her house, told me what I was, and then told me it was my decision whether I wanted to go through with the transition." I looked down at the table and ran my finger through the stone, sighing. "Obviously, since I'm here, I did. My first kill was a merchant from the south, who found me wondering around while I tried to find my grave and finally die. But, I was so hungry... I couldn't help myself..."

   "Hey," Stefan stopped me. "It was more than one hundred years ago."

   I looked into his eyes; his eyes were green. The kind of green that pushed its way through the piles of gritty snow to remind you that spring was coming. The kind of green that budded on the prisoners of winter, bringing life back to their branches. That churning, passionate green that the ocean turns during a storm. That colour of the forest after it rains. The colour of the tadpoles making ripples in the pond. That green colour that brings hope and life no matter what has happened. And looking into those eyes, I could see it. I could see the hope and life and the happiness he brought, and I shouldn't have.

   "I wish I could say I felt guilty for what I did," I confessed. "I don't."

   Bonnie arrived at a perfect timing. Stefan couldn't question me and his mind could go back to Caroline's problem instead of the things I had confessed. As they spoke, I began to think of the reason why I so easily told him about this. I had promised myself that I would be secretive, that I would tell no one about the things I had done in the last one hundred years I was technically dead. But, there I was, babbling to Stefan about myself as if he were my journal. 

   "I don't know how to make a day-walking ring," Bonnie revealed after Stefan asked for the third time.

   "Emily made mine," Stefan told her. "She made Damon and Clara's too. Instructions must be in the grimoire."

   Bonnie sighed. "That doesn't mean I can cast the spell."

   "Bonnie, you know how to drop vampires with a single look," I chuckled. "I think you can figure out how to cast a spell on a damn ring."

   "Caroline killed someone, you guys," she interjected. "I can't make it easier for her to do it again."

   "No, we're not making it easier for her," Stefan began to explain. "We're just giving her a chance to survive. Listen, everyday she's cut off from her old life: from you, from Elena, from Matt, it'll make it that much harder for her for her to hold on to her humanity."

    "And how do you know she won't hurt anyone else?" Bonnie questioned, eyeing the two of us.

   "We don't," I said, glancing at Stefan, "but if we don't do everything we can to help her or at least trust the fact that she can keep it under control, we might as well stake her right now."

   "I don't know if I can trust her," Bonnie shook her head. "Not with this."

   "Then trust me," Stefan begged.

   Bonnie agreed. We planned to meet each other at Caroline's house, right after I made Stefan take me to the grocery store. I bought six small pints of ice cream, different flavours because I had no idea what Caroline's favourite flavour was. When I got back in the car, I grinned at Stefan and showed him the bag with six pints of ice cream. He laughed and dug in the bag, pulling out the flavours and eyeing them. 

   "Hazed and Confused?" he read. "A Swirled of Difference? Brewed to Matter? What happened to the normal chocolate and vanilla names?"

   "Don't diss it till you try it, Stefan," I laughed, taking the bag back. "They're good. And, I think these might make Caroline feel better. Sure, blood is absolutely delicious, but ice cream is still amazing. And, we can't forget about Bonnie. She's helping, so why not pay her back with some delicious ice cream that has more flavour than just chocolate and vanilla?"

   "What about the rest?" he asked as he drove.

   I looked at the bag and then over at him, grinning. "The rest are for us."

   We arrived at Caroline's fast, and she immediately let us in and straight to her darkened bedroom. I felt bad for her. All while we stood and waited for Bonnie, she kept her eyes on me. I could tell that the curiosity was eating her alive, so I decided to begin the awkward conversation. I walked up to her and pulled out my hand, smiling. "I'm Clara Forbes," I greeted.

   She looked at my hand, then at my face, and slowly shook my hand with hers. "Caroline..." she quietly said, still confused. "I'm sorry, but you're like my ancestor, or something like that?"

   "You're a Forbes, right?" I smiled. "Unless you aren't related to William Forbes, then no, we're not related. But, you are, so that makes you my great-great-great-whatever niece." I explained. "I know, it's awkward and weird, and I'm sorry for that. But, it feels great seeing another Forbes. The last time I saw one was the day I died, so."

   "No, no!" Caroline shook her head. "It's cool. It's just... It's weird. I never imagined that I would see one of my ancestors, or whatever, as a vampire. Dad would freak if he found out."

   "Then lets hope he doesn't," I said, making a face. 

   She smiled and nodded, looking at the door. "Bonnie's here!" Caroline jumped off the bed and ran to the door. A few seconds later, Bonnie and she were in the room. Caroline sat on the bed while Bonnie laid a ring on the bed and stood at the end, looking at her grimoire.

   I leaned against the wall, right by the chair Stefan was sitting at and watched the pair. Caroline was sad, Bonnie didn't pay attention, and I could feel the tension in the air. 

   "So, I don't get to chose the ring I have to wear for the rest of my life?" Caroline asked, making a face as she twirled the ring in her fingers. 

   "Hey, if you don't want it..."

   "She wants it," Stefan and I chorused.

   "Now what?" Caroline sighed. 

   "Now is the part where I explain the rules," Bonnie began. "The witch who spells the ring has the power to dispel it. So, if you ever do anything to hurt someone..."

   "I'm not gonna hurt anyone," Caroline broke in.

   Bonnie looked at her, almost in disbelief. "You are a vampire," she said. "That means the urge to kill is part of who you are. The minute you let it take over, I will stop you."

   "Bonnie, you're supposed to be my friend..."

   "I can't ignore what happened, okay?" Bonnie exclaimed. "If you want to be friends, you have to prove that the Caroline I remember isn't gone. Now, put the ring on the bed."

   Caroline hesitated, but she did as she was told. Bonnie walked over to the window, but was stopped when Caroline suddenly asked something. "Do you really think I meant to kill that guy at the carnival?"

   Bonnie turned to her. "He's still dead," she muttered loud enough for us to hear. "Now, do you want me to do the spell or not?" She opened the curtain a bit, only big enough for the sun to shine on the ring. As she kept her eyes on the ring, she closed them and proceeded to chant something under her breath. A few seconds later, she opened them. "All done." She handed the ring to Caroline.

   Caroline looked at the ring and slowly slid it up her ring finger. "That's it?" she asked. "I mean, nothing witchy happened. You know, no flickering lights, no gust of wind. Have you even done this before?"

   "Caroline..." I warned.

   "I just want to make sure that it worked!" she defended. 

   Bonnie opened the curtain then looked at Caroline, a cocky look in her eyes. "It worked."

   "What if it hadn't, Bonnie?" Caroline yelled, still surprised. 

   Bonnie sighed and looked at Stefan and I. "She's all yours." She picked up the grimoire and strutted out of the room, leaving the three of us behind. 

    Sometime while speaking, Stefan decided to teach Caroline how to hunt animals instead of drinking blood from humans. We walked through the woods, Caroline obviously confused on what to do. I followed behind them, arms crossed and a genuine smile on my lip. Caroline was obviously disgusted with killing cute rabbits, and she was also excited about being in the sun. That caused Stefan and I to laugh.

   "And now you're laughing at me!" Caroline groaned.

   "I'm not laughing," I defended, smiling.

   "None of this is funny," Stefan smiled. "Trust me. It's just that..."

   "What?" snapped Caroline.

   "When someone becomes a vampire, all of their natural behaviours get sort of amplified,"Stefan explained, or tried to at least.

   "What do you mean?" She was still confused with what Stefan was trying to say, and that caused me to smile even more. It was like explaining something to a child, but that was because vampire nature and it's biology couldn't really be explained.

   I decided to step in and save Stefan from another questions of what. "As humans, we care deeply for people," I began. "How they felt, blah blah blah. If they hurt, we felt their pain and felt guilty if we were the ones that caused it. As a vampire all of that got... It got magnified."

   "Exactly," Stefan agreed.

   "So, you're saying that now I'm basically an insecure, neurotic control freak... on crack?" Caroline questioned, eyeing the two of us. 

   "Well, I wasn't gonna say it like that but," Stefan mumbled, nodding. When Caroline looked she was going to freak out, he interjected immediately. "Hey, listen, let's hunt okay? And then after that we'll go to the swimming hole."

   "Really?" She sounded so hopeful, so happy.

   "Yeah," Stefan nodded. "Matt is the closest connection that you have to your humanity and I think that being around him is a good thing."

   Caroline grinned and jumped a bit, excited. "Okay."

   And she did hunt, and she did so perfectly. Although she made disgusted noises mixed with moans, I could tell that she enjoyed it. When we arrived at the swimming hole, which happened to be at the old Lockwood estate, I saw Mason Lockwood drive away. I kept my eyes on him, and apparently so did Stefan. Mason winked when he saw me, and then looked to the front.

   "Why are you looking at him with your serious vampire look?" Caroline asked Stefan, causing me to laugh. 

   "My what?" Stefan asked, surprised. "My serious vampire look?"

   "Mhm," Caroline nodded. "I mean it's different from your worried vampire look, neither of which stray too far from your 'hey-it's-Tuesday' look."

   Stefan nodded, smiling. "I get it, okay. You think I'm... You think I'm too serious. Is that it?"

   "I mean I was not gonna say it like that but..." Caroline smiled and closed the trunk of the car.

   "You have gotten serious, though," I agreed with Caroline, causing her to smile and Stefan to look at me with a surprised look. "You weren't like this back then."

   "How was I?" asked Stefan at the same time Caroline asked, "How was he?"

   "Oh, he was a lot more fun back then," I nodded. "He was a complete and utter flirt to every girl, and he loved to laugh and run around as if there wasn't a care in the world. The difference now is that he has this whole serious laugh, like he laughs but he doesn't laugh at the same time. I've noticed that."

   "Okay, I'm still here," Stefan announced, looking at Caroline and I laughing.

   "Oh, there's Matt!" Caroline walked away, going to the blonde boy standing besides a truck and a keg filled with beer. 

   "So, this is what high schools are nowadays?" I chuckled, leaning against a tree with Stefan by my side as I watched the countless high school students drink beer and walk around in their swimsuits. "Only five times have I gone to a school in my life."

   "School?" Stefan asked. 

   I nodded. "You know, when women were allowed to finish school and do something other than bear children and work the house? Yeah, I decided to take on the opportunity and go to school. High school, college, and then travel to some other part of the world." I smiled in his direction. "I think I've been to almost every continent, to be honest."

    "Where were you before coming back to Mystic Falls?" he asked, leaning on the tree by mine with his shoulder. 

    "Prague," I answered with yet another smile. "Had an apartment, friends, some shitty job, and thousands of backpackers." I laughed when he made the serious face. "I didn't kill that many people, don't worry." I looked over to Caroline, seeing her compel some girl. 

   Stefan saw, and sighed. "I'll talk to her."

   "I'll wait here," I said, lifting the red cup filled with the cheap beer. He smiled and then walked over to her, immediately asking why. 

    The day turned into night, and all I did was talk with Caroline and Stefan. Caroline asked questions because she was curious, Stefan listened and corrected me on the things from our childhood. While we spoke, I couldn't help but grin. I was happy, I was excited, I felt as if I were home. For the first time since I arrived, I forgot about my hate for Damon and about Katherine. 

   Night fell, and I had to push Caroline to talk to Matt because they hadn't spoken since the fight when she arrived and compelled the girl. Stefan, on the other hand, pulled me along when Elena called him. 

   "Hey," he answered it.

   "Hi," Elena said from the other side. "Listen, we've learned some stuff here and I know it's gonna sound crazy but I wanted to fill you in."

   We stopped, Stefan looking at me with a curious and worried expression. "What's up?"

   "They're werewolves," she confessed. "It's all in the books, Stefan. Everything... I don't know what that means or if we should even believe it but it's a full moon, Stefan. After what you saw Mason Lockwood do..."

   "We'll be careful," Stefan said, looking down at me. His lips were in a straight line, brows slightly furrowed. It was the worried look, he had sported it ever since he was a child.

   "There's one more thing," Elena added. 

   "What is it?" 

   "According to the legend," she sighed, "a werewolf bite can kill a vampire." As soon as she said that, I began to look around. Caroline was no where in sight. Stefan began to call her, but she had left her phone in the back of the truck. 

   "We need to find her," I told Stefan, walking around. My heart was hammering against my chest, and to be honest, I was terrified. Werewolves? I had thought those things never existed! I had gone through so many things, and not once did I think about werewolves. Of course, I never once thought about vampires either. So, if we were real, why couldn't they be real as well?

   "Stefan, I'm worried," I sighed, stopping and looking around.

   "We're going to find her," Stefan assured. "Let's... Let's keep looking." He took my hand and pulled me along. Suddenly, he stopped. I stopped behind him, hearing the soft growl that echoed through the woods. Stefan pulled me once again, coming to another truck with chains around it. The truck belonged to Mason, because it was the same one he was driving earlier. 

   Stefan continued to check the chains while I went to the other side of the truck. I could hear moving around inside of it, which made me more curious. Another growl escaped from inside, and that made me step a bit closer to the window. A pair of yellow eyes looked back into mine.

   "Stefan!" I yelled, taking a quick step back. The wolf jumped out of the window and landed on my chest, knocking the breath out of me. I groaned in pain, feeling the shards of glass sink into my skin. 

   "Clara!" Stefan yelled, helping me stand. The two of us looked behind, seeing the wolf dash through the trees. 

   "We need to get Caroline!" I yelled, starting to pull him along with me. As I ran, I used my hearing to listen to Caroline. And I did hear her, well, I heard her sucking Matt's blood and Matt moaning in pain.

   Stefan pushed her away from Matt, and made her stop. I couldn't hear their conversation as I looked around, hearing the wolf all around me. When I felt a hand on mine and begin to pull me along, that's when I followed. We arrived at old ruins when Caroline stopped. 

   "What is it?" she demanded.

   "A werewolf!" I responded, looking around for it. 

   "He will try to kill us," Stefan began to explain. "And he can!"

   "Hey!" a third voice joined. "What are you three doing?" I turned around to see Tyler Lockwood coming to us. 

   "What are you doing here?" Stefan asked him, curious.

   I felt something push me down, and the weight a truck on top of me. When I opened my eyes, I came face to face with the bearing teeth of the wolf. I cried out Stefan's name, trying to push the wolf off of me. Its saliva fell on my face, its teeth pushing a disgusting breeze. I was terrified, more than I have ever been in my life.

   The wolf was pushed off of me in seconds, and Caroline was next to me with her arms around my shoulders and my back pressed against her chest. I opened my eyes to see that Stefan had pushed the wolf off me, and was now in stance right in front of it.

   "No!" Tyler Lockwood yelled. The wolf turned to him, stared, and then ran away. I looked at him, confused with eyes wide. 

   Stefan ran to me and helped me up, hands on my cheeks and his eyes examining every part of my body. "Are you okay?" he asked. "Did it bite you? Clara, did it bite you?"

   "I'm..." I pushed his hands away and nodded. "I'm fine, Stefan." I breathed in deeply a few times, pressing my hand against my heart. "I'm... I'm going to go home, okay? Caroline, take care of Matt..."

    "Are you going to be okay?" she asked, laying a hand on my shoulder. 

   I forced a smile and nodded. "Yeah, yeah... It just shook me up, nothing more. A warm shower should make me feel better." I left it at that, and ran back to the boarding house. 

   I sat in the parlour, one of Damon's famous bourbon bottles sitting next to me and the glass in my hand filled with it. Carefully, I took small sips of it. The alcohol swam from my tongue to the back of my throat, slightly burning. 

   "You're drinking," a voice joined the crackling of the silence. "Give me that." Damon took the glass from my hand and swallowed it. 

   "You drink all the time," I said, rolling my eyes and taking the glass back to fill it up. "This shouldn't be a surprise to you."

   "Well, I haven't seen you in over a hundred years," he sighed, taking a seat in front of me with his own glass. "I don't know what new habits you've managed to gain."

   "Why are you drinking?" I asked, immediately regretting it.

   "I ruined a very good friendship," he responded, looking down at the glass. "Why are you drinking?"

   "I almost got killed by a werewolf," I said, as if it weren't so important. "I was terrified you know. When those teeth were right by my face, the first thing that came into my mind was how much I hated you and how much I wanted you to suffer." I knew I had drank too much by the stupidity I was babbling to him. My lips moved, the alcohol now owning my brain and my words. "The truth is, I do hate you, but I don't... Why can't I hate you? I want to forget everything we ever had; that love that consumed every piece of me. Because... Because it's not there anymore, Damon. That love was gone the moment you looked at that bitch, and it just... How can I love you so much and how can you feel so little for me? Is that what everyone meant when they said it wasn't meant to be?" I looked up at him, my brows furrowed and tears decorating my cheeks.

   Damon had an expression I couldn't read. It might have been that, or maybe my vision was too blurry and I was to drunk to notice. "How am I supposed to forget you when there is nothing left to remember?"