I spent the night tossing and turning. When I figured that sleep wouldn't happen, I leaned against the headboard and hugged a pillow to my chest. In the dark of the night, Damon began to talk. He spoke about what had happened while I was gone, catching me up. He told me about Elena's coffin being taken from the crypt, how he would have been the one to save me if Lily hadn't done that. He told me how she compared Elena and I to the toy soldiers she used to take away from him when he was a child, whenever he did nothing wrong—maybe that would have taught him a lesson, she told him.

   Damon was half asleep as he spoke, his words jumbled together at times. He had driven to Myrtle Beach with Bonnie and Alaric to grab a Heretic that could be traded for the coffin. The man was in an abandoned room at Whitmore's Medical Centre, in the wing that was under construction. He was hooked to an IV drip full of vervain, some genius invention by Alaric. It would keep him down until they took it off. A perfect way to subdue a vampire.

   Half way through speaking about nonsense, he fell asleep. It was then where I decided to leave the apartment, to let him sleep because I thought he needed it. I made my way to Caroline and Bonnie's dorm room. Although my skin burned her, Caroline hugged me for several seconds. The three of us laid in the centre of the room, on the floor, on top of so many blankets that I thought Caroline stole a Bed Bath and Beyond.

   Bonnie told me about a Native American stone that could resurrect the dead. It was the reason why Alaric had been weird during our trip to Europe; he had been searching for a way to bring Jo back. He had gone to countless people that claimed to be psychic, just to see if they could contact her spirit. Her wedding ring was stolen by the first claimed-psychic he visited. It was after we returned that he divulged this stone. When she touched it, she began to get this horrific visions of people being tortured. Literal hell, she called it. 

   Bonnie breathed in deeply and brushed her hand against the blankets. "Alaric wants me to reunite Jo's spirit with her body by using the Phoenix Stone. My job is to crush his dreams in the most gentle way possible."

   "Do you think that'll work?" Caroline asked as she laid her head over my shoulder. Other than wearing a thick sweater, I had a blanket over that shoulder. For her protection.

   "I don't think it should," Bonnie answered with a frown. "The Other Side is gone, there is no more Gemini prison world, which means Jo's spirit..." She sighed and shrugged her shoulders. "She probably found peace."

   "He still has hope," I spoke up, playing with one of the frayed edges of a blanket. "He's probably determined to find a way to bring her back."

   Caroline sighed. "Our lives are weird."

   "Yeah," Bonnie nodded. It was silent a couple of moments, then she laid her hand on top of mine. "Let's have this be a girl's night!"

   "Yes!" Caroline pulled away from my arm and nodded furiously, grinning. "We deserve to have a girl's..." She turned to one of the windows and sighed. "A girl's morning, more like. So, Clara, Stefan and you..." She wiggled her brows as she bit her lip, smiling.

   I let out a nervous laugh and shrugged my shoulders. "I don't..." I trailed off as I thought of the words to say. What were Stefan and I? For one, I knew that our relationship was rocky. We didn't speak that much while I was in Europe, and even then it was strange. Our relationship was strange since the beginning. Although it had made me happy at times, I had been more somber in it. There were times where I even considered having that conversation, but then I chickened out.

   Bonnie stared at me. "I think you should break it off," she said, in a matter-of-fact tone. She leaned back on her hands and kept looking at me. "Really."

   "What?" Caroline's mouth hung open in surprise. "Why would she do that?"

   I looked down at my hands and nibbled at the corner of my lip. "I don't think I..." How could I even finish that sentence when I found myself questioning it? Even Liz knew how I felt, knew who I should be with. It seemed that everyone around me knew, except myself. They knew me better than I knew myself, and I had been alive longer than them.

   Bonnie stood and walked over to her bed, grabbed the purse that laid on top of it and began to push a few grimoires into it. "I'm rooting for you and Damon," she said with a simple shrug of her shoulders. She stopped moving once she realised that both Caroline and I sat frozen, and smiled. "I can't be the only one!"

   "You are!" Caroline stood and crossed her arms, leaning to the side. "Why would you say that, Bon?"

   "When there's only two people in the world, you learn a lot about each other," she said, glancing from Caroline to me. "We spent four months in the prison world, and we talked. A lot. I think I know more about Damon than I want to." She shook her head and pulled her purse to her shoulder. "What I'm trying to say is that I think Clara and Damon are meant to be."

   "Bonnie—"

   "I gotta get going," she said with a grin, walking towards the door. "Have to let Alaric down gently." Before either of us could get a word in, she walked out of the room.

   I stared at the closed door, expecting her to walk back in and say that she was joking. She didn't. I sat on the floor in silence, the only sound being the sounds from the students outside of the room. To cover the silence that had accumulated, I cleared my throat and stood. "I should leave," I softly said as I began to look through the blankets for my phone. 

   Caroline turned towards me, brows furrowed and glaring. "Mind explaining?"

   "Have you seen my phone?"

   "Clara!"

   I stopped and sat up, slowly turning to her. "I don't know what to say, okay?" I sighed as I sat at the edge of the bed, lacing my fingers together and staring down at them instead of her. "I seriously don't know how to feel, for Damon or Stefan. My relationship with Stefan has been rocky for a while. You know that, Care. You were there when we went to look for him after he left for four months. And I know I should be over it, but I still can't stop thinking and knowing that if Damon truly died, if he never came back, Stefan wouldn't be here. No matter what he says, we both know that he would have never returned if it weren't for us looking for him and Enzo turning that girl."

   I cringed when I mentioned Enzo. He had been the one that grabbed me in the middle of the street, began the torture with Mary Louise and Nora. At first, ever since I met him, I had this strange feeling for him. Not romantic. He was Damon's friend, which was the first reason why I thought he was a terrible person. Then, as we embarked on the journey to kill that doctor that made him a vampire that fed on vampires, Enzo helped Damon feed by turning people into vampires. I had thought that he was a strong man. Now, I thought he was a man blinded by the love of a woman, weakened.

   I scoffed to myself as I recalled the four months I became detached from the world, when I thought the two men I had loved disappeared forever.

   "So, how do you feel for Damon?" Caroline took a seat next to me, her shoulder touching mine. "Just... Tell me how you feel for him!"

   I shrugged my shoulders. "I don't know." It was a truthful answer, because I honestly did not know. No, that was a lie. I knew who my heart desired, but my brain was being the most logical here and lied instead of confronting. 

   Caroline bumped me with her shoulder. When I looked at her, she smiled. "You do know. You just don't want to admit it to yourself, considering what he's done." She took a deep breath, her shoulders slumping. "Oh my, God! I sort of agree with Bonnie. If you two get back together, do I have to call him Uncle Damon or can I keep hating him?"

   It was then when I laughed. Truly laughed. I even felt it in my belly. Caroline laughed as well, her arm going around my shoulders and pulling me to her. She reminded me a lot of my sister, Charlotte. 

   We had always been together, even considering that she was several years older than I. Out of my four siblings, Charlotte and I had been the closest. Frances, the eldest, was more like my mother in the thought that she was graceful and orderly, never a hair out of place. When we played, she liked to sit with my mother and do the exact same thing as she. Our mother knitted, she knitted as well; our mother read, she read; our mother sat at the piano, she played the violin. Out of Frances, Charlotte, and I, Frances was most like our mother. 

   I wondered how she did after my death.

   "Here you go." Caroline pulled out my cell phone from under one of the blankets and handed it to me. "Damon texted you, like, an hour ago. Something about seeing you at Alaric's place."

   I hugged her, careful that my fingers didn't touch any part of her skin. "Thanks. I'll call you later, okay?"

   "Soon!" she insisted, following as I walked towards the door. "We can go shopping for Halloween costumes. I'll call you!"

   I waved at her as I walked away, then scrolled through my phone to find the text message she was speaking about. Damon's contact was on top of the list: DEAD BODY. ALARIC'S. HURRY. It was one message, then followed by a recent one that only read HURRY. 

   I walked across campus, towards the second housing building Alaric's apartment was in. There were students coming in and fro, grand majority of them speaking about the Heaven and Hell Ball. It was a party, that would obviously be full of drunk college students and cheap alcohol. I didn't want to go, even though Caroline and Bonnie had invited me. It reminded me a lot of the party at the warehouse, the one where I had no humanity and drank from half of the guests. I killed three people there. Jo, who was the one that happened to exam the bodies, blamed it on alcohol poisoning. 

   There was bickering coming from inside Alaric's apartment. Damon and Stefan's voice speaking over each other as they tried to settle something, about a girl and a corpse. I knocked on the door and waited for someone to answer, but the bickering continue. Damon's voice was louder, defended himself against something Stefan must have said about his emotions. 

   I sighed and turned the knob, opening the door. I walked in, shutting the door behind me as I followed their voices. They stood in the living room, a sofa apart, a corpse propped up right on one of the seat with a blanket around its chest, like a rope. I stopped and looked up from the corpse, eyeing the brothers. 

   "Dead body," I said, pointing at the corpse. It wasn't an observation, but the mention of the dead body Damon had spoken about on his text. 

   Damon crossed his arms as he looked at me with annoyance. "You were supposed to hurry."

   "I was with Caroline and Bonnie," I defended, rolling my eyes. "Let me remind you that I hadn't seen Caroline since we left."

   "So, that's where you went in the middle of the night." He nodded and turned towards his brother, clearing his throat. 

   "I told you she wasn't with me." Stefan pointed at himself with his hand. "The last time I saw Clara was when I went in to rescue her."

   Damon pursed his lips and nodded, the top right side scrunching up a bit. "Can we get back to the part where you two help me get rid of the body?"

   "No, no." Stefan shook his head and took a step back, slightly leaning against the wall. "You need to get rid of the body."

   "This isn't the first body we've dealt with, so come on!" I took a step closer to the corpse and eyed it. It had the same body and facial features Bonnie told me of Oscar, the Heretic they had kidnapped at Myrtle Beach. They were supposed to trade him for Elena's coffin. Him being dead put a damper on things, especially the small bit of peace we had gotten from Lily. Once she found out about his death, there would be terrible consequences. Enzo took me as a gift to Lily for the death of Malcolm, what would she do for Oscar's?

   Damon moved towards the body and wrapped one of its arms over his shoulders. He groaned as he sat up, then stopped and turned to look over his free shoulder. "I wouldn't mind the help, brother."

   "Just help him, Stefan," I said as I pointed at Damon, shaking my head. 

   Stefan stood by the wall, eyeing us. After several moments, he sighed and walked over us, grabbing the other arm and putting it over his shoulders. "Last body I ever help you bury."

   "Of course." The sarcasm dripped from Damon's voice like honey.

   I rolled my eyes and took several steps back as they began to move with the body as a third man on their group. It felt like a familiar sight, the Salvatore brothers carrying a dead body, ready to hide it. My chest ached at that thought. It was as normal as day for me to see a corpse, one that was killed by vampires. My life wasn't supposed to be this.

   "Screw it," Damon groaned. "Let's just throw this guy to the furnace."

   A girl walked into the apartment. She stared at us blankly. I tilted my head and furrowed my brows as I looked at her. She was an ordinary college student, the scent of cheap alcohol that was spilled on her clothes emitting from her. 

   "Wrong door, darling," Damon told her. 

   The girl rolled her eyes and held out a cream coloured envelope. 

   I hesitantly grabbed it, staring between her and the envelope as I opened it. It was written in a neat cursive, either from writing for a long time or a calligraphy student. I cleared my throat to read it out loud, "A message from Miss Nora Hildegard, dictated but not read. For every hour Oscar isn't returned, a Whitmore student will die." I glanced over at Stefan and Damon with wide eyes. "Starting now."

   Before either of us could say anything, the girl stabbed herself in the neck with a letter opener. I held my breath as she gagged and collapsed, the floor turning red around her. She tried to breath for several moments, and then stopped. Her eyes glossed over and she stared into nothing.

   I stared down at her for more than I needed. She was yet another girl that had her whole life ahead of her, now dead because of us. This was the usual, the normal. A dead body should no longer bother me, especially since I was at fault for many of them. I swallowed hard, the scent of the blood filling me. The veins beneath my eyes bulged out, and my fangs protruded from my gums. I swallowed back the saliva that had accumulated on my tongue, the hunger getting stronger with each little breath that I took.

   I had drank two blood bags last night, to help the amount of vervain that was in my system. Mary Louise had injected me with too much, still making me weak. I wanted nothing more but to fall on my knees and drink what was left in her body. Instead, I shut my eyes and calmed myself as much as I could.

   "You gotta be kidding me," Damon sighed behind me, a loud thump at the same time.

   I turned to see Oscar's body on the floor, dropped by the annoyed brothers. I looked up at them and crossed my arms, hoping that they wouldn't see that I almost dropped to my knees and licked the blood from the floor. "He's dead," I said, my voice breaking. I cleared my throat and straightened my posture. "This can't be stopped with a fake text message, telling them he's fine, right?"

   Damon shook his head. "That obviously won't work, but thanks for the idea."

   He was annoyed, I could see that. But, so was I. Mary Louise and Nora were the cogs to a maniac machine, without the other it didn't work. One did something, the other did as well. I knew it was for love, because I could see it in the way they looked at each other, but was torturing someone a romantic date to them? They had laughed as they tortured me at the boarding house, giggled like school children.

   "The stone," I said, glancing from one brother to the other. "Bonnie's working with it as we speak. Maybe we can ask her to help with Oscar. While we do that—" I picked up a flyer from the table and handed it to Stefan—"you can keep them occupied. They want nothing more than to experience the Twenty-first Century, so why not the Heaven and Hell Ball?" I smiled softly, pushing back the unpleasant feeling at the pit of my stomach. "Caroline can help you."

   Stefan's brow rose. "Why not you?"

   "Because I want nothing to do with them," I truthfully said. Even at the thought of Mary Louise and Nora, my stomach sank. I sighed and kicked Oscar's foot. "But, I'll be at the dance later."

   "You?" Damon suddenly asked. "Going to a dance? There's a surprise."

   "So they can siphon the spell from me." I glanced over to Stefan. "I could ask Valerie, but I don't think I should."

   Damon eyed me, his brother, and then cleared his throat. He grabbed Oscar's body and slung it over his shoulders. "In the meanwhile, Clara, with me. Stefan, you do your thing with Caroline." He motioned me to follow with his head as he walked towards the door.

   I played with my fingers as I averted my eyes towards Stefan. "I'm sorry," I said, and I didn't know for what. Part of me guessed that it was because I was never, truly in love with him. Not as much as I claimed to be. I loved him, yes, but I wasn't in love with him. And those thought made my chest hurt because I wanted to be in love with him. I needed to be. He was the right choice, the correct choice, the one that could have answered all those if's.

   Stefan was the serenity of light.

   He shook his head. "There's nothing to be sorry about," he softly said. He looked down at the floor and passed his thumb across his bottom lip. "Listen, we need to talk about us."

   "Can you two do it later?" Damon spoke by the front door, a slight annoyance to his tone. "We need to start resuscitating a dead vampire!"

   I rolled my eyes and looked back at Stefan, nodding. "We do," I said. "I think we needed to talk for a while."

   "We should have," he agreed, a small smile on his lips. "The thing is, I don't want to."

   "Me neither." That was also the truth. He was the right choice, the answer—the serenity of light.

   "Does no one hear me?" muttered Damon. He appeared in the living room, Oscar still propped over his shoulders. "You two can have this lover's quarrel once we have a spirit back in this body, okay? In the meanwhile, Clara needs to be with me and Stefan needs to go with Caroline, to stop those two from killing others. Let's go!"

   I rolled my eyes again and smiled towards Stefan as I walked towards the front door. "We'll talk later."

   The hospital wing that was under construction was warmer than the rest of the hospital, for an autumn afternoon. From one of the rooms, I could clearly hear Bonnie and Alaric. Bonnie sounded annoyed. She had the right to be annoyed, considering the fact that the stone made her have visions of some Hell-like place.

   "You think?" I heard her snap. Alaric had said something about giving her extra-credit for helping him. "Whether or not I'm capable, you're lucky I'm willing." The sound of pages being turned echoed through the silent wing. "And the visions from the stone scare the hell out of me, so—don't. Rush. Me."

   Damon and I appeared in the doorway, Oscar's dead body between us. Bonnie stood by an autopsy table with Jo's body right on top of it. My mouth fell slightly opened as I stared at her. Her lips were blue, her skin a deathly pale. Even from across the room I could smell that her body had already began to decompose. 

   "That's too bad," Damon spoke, sheepishly, towards Bonnie, "because we need to bring this guy back to life. Now."

   Bonnie looked shock, her mouth open. "What?"

   "Mary Louise and Nora will kill someone each hour Oscar's not alive," I explained, pulling the corpse over to another autopsy table. Damon laid him on the table, then stepped back as a look of disgust and annoyance fell over his features. I turned to Bonnie. "One girl already died." I glanced over at Alaric and gave him a small, tight-lipped smile. "In your apartment, so there might be a bit of blood on the floor."

   "Wait." He shifted from one foot to the other and turned to look at Damon. "What did she mean by in my apartment?"

   Damon waved a hand at him, but kept his eyes on Bonnie. "Can you do it?"

   Bonnie stared at him for a moment, her fingers tightening around the grimoire in her arms. She nodded, grabbing the stone from Jo's chest and laying it on Oscar. A deep breath escaped her mouth as she closed her eyes. When she opened them, they landed on the page. "Phasmatos exaud mi, conjug spiritis et corpe," she chanted. 

   As she chanted, the bubbles on the stone appeared to move around. It was as if the inside was boiling, but only for several moments. Oscar's body seized up and his eyes flicked open. It was a moment of frozen limbs and silent tongues. A moment later, his eyes closed again.

   Bonnie sighed. "Well, scratch that spell off the list."

   Damon groaned and turned around, slamming his hand on an empty autopsy table. It was full frustration, the anger and knowing that the more time we spent with a dead Oscar the more people would die. Either that, or the fact that Elena's coffin was still with Lily. 

   "Hey!" Alaric yelled. "You're not the only one banking on this!"

   Damon turned towards him, eyes wide with anger. "It's not for me, Ric! Why does everything have to be about me today?"

   "Enough!" I yelled at the pair. "We get it. You two are frustrated because it doesn't work, but don't take it out on any of us."

   "The stone works," Bonnie suddenly said. "I think it's creating a bridge between the body and the spirit. I just have to find a spell that makes that bridge permanent."

    It was spell after spell, several of them ending with Oscar's body up in flames. Although we did set it out before it completely burned, there was still several signs that there had been a fire on the body. She had gone through the majority of the grimoires she had bought. They now were stacked on an empty table, a few open on the last spell she did.

   I paced back and forth in the room, glancing around it and to each person. Alaric was anxious, because he needed it to work so he could bring back Jo. To him, Oscar was the experiment that could bring back the woman he loved. To Damon, he was the answer to saving Elena's coffin. I understood each of their frustrations, but what I didn't understand was the stone. Red and round-cut, veins of a lighter shade that moved whenever Bonnie chanted. I wondered if it truly did have the power to resuscitate someone.

   After yet another spell, nothing happened to the body. 

   "Which one was that one?" Alaric asked. His tone was full of frustration, because he needed to know if the stone could tither the spirit to the body. 

   Bonnie shrugged her shoulders. "It's something I found in one of your shamanistic oral traditions."

   Oscar sat up and yelled at the top of his lungs. 

   I jumped back and stared at the body with wide eyes. The whole on his chest began to heal, the colour returned to his skin, and he panted for breath. He was disoriented, like a drunken man trying to walk in a straight line. 

   "Bonnie?" Damon spoke. "You're officially the most terrifying person I know."

   Oscar glanced around, blinking to accustom himself to the few lights in the room. He mumbled something inaudible, words strung together to make something incoherent. Damon grabbed him and pulled his arm over his shoulders, taking him out of the building as fast as possible. The three of us followed behind him.

   "Where am I?" Oscar asked as he stumbled on his feet. 

   "You're on your way to Mystic Falls!" Damon cheerfully claimed. 

   Oscar turned his head to him. "Virginia? How did I get here?"

   "Well, we'll talk about it on the way." Damon pulled out his phone from his pocket and set it high above them, grinning. "Smile for Mommy!" After taking a picture, he helped Oscar get in the back of the car. 

   "Blood," the newly-resurrected man slurred. "I need blood."

   "Figured you might." Bonnie held up several blood bags, a satisfied grin on her lips. 

   Alaric grabbed them and handed them to Damon, but kept his eyes on Oscar. "Either our friend has the munchies, or this ravenous hunger is a side-effect to resurrection."

   "Don't look at me!" Bonnie said in defence. "I barely understand how the guy's alive. If hunger is the worst consequence of the stone spell, then we got off easy."

   Damon shut the door of the car and leaned against it, crossing his arms as looked at Bonnie. "Are you sure you want to do this to Jo?"

   Alaric sighed. "Listen, it's now or never, Damon."

   He gave him a look. "No offence, Ric, but I was talking to Bonnie."

   "Wow," I breathed, glancing between them. They felt as if they became estranged, due to this weird stone thing. 

   "Look at you sad-sacks," Bonnie chuckled, rolling her eyes. "What, am I going to say no? Damon, go get Elena. I'll get his girl back." She gestured to Alaric with her eyes, half-smiling. 

   Damon nodded, then turned to me. "You're coming along."

   I bit my lips together and hummed. "No thanks."

   "Mother has a friend that can siphon the spell," he said. "Now, come on. We're gonna be late." He pointed to the car with his hand as he went to the driver's seat.

   I hesitated for a moment, but then moved to the passenger's side. The car was full with the scent of blood emitting from the blood bags and Oscar's obnoxious drinking. I glanced at him through the rear view mirror. His mouth and neck were covered in blood, eyes hooded from the pleasure of it. 

   I swallowed hard and fixed my posture, staring straight ahead. I knew a lot about hunger, about the need and the pleasure of feeding. It had affected me for years, the point where it even frightened me to drink from a human. If I did, I wouldn't be able to stop. It was miserable.

   Oscar leaned against the door as he pinched the bridge of his nose. He groaned. "Can you... Can you slow down, please?"

   "Trust me—you don't want to make Lily wait," Damon said. "I learned that the hard way."

   I grabbed one of the blood bags and handed it back to Oscar. "Here," I said as he stared at it. "This might help you a bit."

   "I'm gonna need more," he said as he ripped it open. 

   "Not 'til we get our story straight." Damon glanced back at him. "We were in Myrtle Beach. We were wasted. You passed out."

   Oscar shook his head, brows furrowing. "I've never been to Myrtle Beach."

   "How deep does this amnesia go?"

   Oscar appeared like an addict. He wiggled his fingers as he kept rubbing around his lips. "I just need a little more, okay? Just... Just a taste. A drop." He was anxious for more blood.

   I blinked and kept my eyes on him. "That was the last one..." I had been ravenous, but not to the point where I mirrored an addict. This was something new, something weird. 

   Oscar looked at me, eyes full of anger. "Well, he's gonna have to stop this thing!"

   "Not until you get one right," Damon said. Although he sounded calm, I could feel that he was just as confused as I was. "Multiple choice: you were in Myrtle Beach. A, partying too much; B—"

   Oscar growled and kicked the door of the car clean off the hinges, and jumped out. As soon as Damon stopped the car, he sped to the woods.

   I stepped out of the car and stared at the direction he ran off to. The woods were dark and silent, not a sign of the resurrected man. I turned my head to an annoyed Damon. "Now what?"

   "We track him." He slammed shut the door of the car and circled around the car, straight to the woods.

   I walked besides him, keeping my hands covered by the arms of my sweater. Every few moments, I stole a glance at Damon. There was something alluring about him, and not just his looks. The way he carried himself was different. When he was human, he was only a bit shy—that bit was minuscule. As a vampire, that side disappeared entirely. All that was left was a man I knew almost too well, but still was a mystery.

   Damon was the opposite of my questions, things I didn't want. He knew the darkness I tried to hide, my need for revenge, my competitiveness. He knew I was everything I tried so hard not to be. He knew me like the back of his hand. He's been through life with me, has seen me laugh and cry, has seen me experience joy and pain—had been the reason for my joy and pain. He's made me feel emotions I didn't even know existed. 

   Damon was the thrill of darkness.

   "I know that I'm attractive, but you're staring too much," he said as he turned his head to look down at me.

   I swiftly looked to the front. "I was looking at the trees."

   He chuckled and nodded. "Of course you were." He stopped walking and made a face, sniffing the air. "Blood." Before I could even react, he hurried towards the scent of it. 

   We came upon Matt Donovan, dressed in a police uniform, shinning the light on a car. The car appeared to have driven off the curb, a bloodied and dead body on top of the hood. Matt looked horrified as he stared down at the body, then turned with his gun raised towards us.

   Damon raised his hands up. "Don't shoot the person that can solve this case for you, Detective Dumbass."

   Matt breathed hard as he pulled the gun back to its holster. "What happened?" he asked, pointing behind him with his thumb.

   "Oscar's acid-trip went from bad to worse."

   "We've been tracking him through the woods," I added. 

   Matt shifted on his feet. "It's Halloween. There'll be ghost tours going through Mystic Falls every thirty minutes."

   "Perfect," Damon said. "At least I know where he's going." He motioned to me to follow with his head. Before he could even walk away, Matt grabbed his arm. 

   "I'm going with you."

   Damon sighed and turned to him.His face was full of anger and annoyance. "Donovan, that badge does not take away the fact that you're human. Please don't commit suicide by Heretic tonight."

   "Since when do you care?"

   "Give me a break! I don't want to add your death to a long list of things that are already my fault." He pulled his arm away from Matt's hold and walked away.

   I sighed and turned to Matt. "Thanks," I said. "Bonnie told me what you did. So, thanks, Matt."

   He shrugged his shoulders. "You would have done the same for me." There was a faint smile on his lips as he said those words. "I guess you can say that we're friends."

   "I guess so..." A smile appeared on my lips, even though I tried to suppress it. "Be careful out there, Officer Donovan." I didn't wait for a response; I turned and ran after Damon. 

   It was back to the woods, where the scent of blood was wafting through the air. There were several drops on the dry leaves, obviously from the man not cleaning himself up after feeding. But, who would? He was hungry. The blood was a prideful mark that he was a predator, and he needed more of the preys. 

   Matt was right about the ghost tours. There were several busses coming to and from Mystic Falls, people with hands on their cameras. They went to different destinations, where rumours of ghost and supernatural entities were rumoured to visit. I almost laughed at that, at the truth of it all. 

   If only they knew how many supernatural events had happened in this small town. Mystic Falls could be a tourist town just for that.

   Damon stopped. "Clara, do you ever think of what would it be like if we were born in the present?"

   A soft chuckle escaped my mouth. "Where is this coming from?"

   "Because I'm thinking how peaceful it would be if we were human," he said as he looked down at me. "For one, we wouldn't be hunting down a rabid Heretic. Secondly, we wouldn't be vampires. Thirdly, I think we fit in here more than in the past." The side of his lip quirked upwards, a barely-there smile.

   "Where is this coming from?" I repeated. 

   He shrugged his shoulders. "I don't know, maybe it's listening to Lily care more for other people and consider them her family, than actually care for her own sons."

   I stood in front of him and reached for his arm, but stopped myself and pulled my hand back. "She doesn't deserve you or Stefan as her sons," I said. "She can have those stupid Heretics as her family, we'll be yours." I smiled at him. An actual smile, not forced or appeared out of nowhere. It was genuine.

   Damon smiled and shook his head. "Let's not get sentimental." His hand went down towards mine, but he immediately pulled away with a hiss. "We need to hurry up and get this spell off of you, because this is annoying."

   There were screams coming from the cemetery, the same one with the Salvatore and Forbes crypt. The place reeked of blood, as if it had been spilled over the ground by the buckets. There was a tour bus there, full of corpses and blood. Behind it, a horrified Lily could be hears yelling at Oscar to stop.

   "You're not yourself when you feed!" I heard her say. "You remember how we live. You remember—everything in moderation!"

   Damon moved slow towards her, his eyes hard as he glared at them both. Only when Oscar lunged at her did he speed. He snapped his neck and let out a satisfied huff at the horrified look Lily sported. "Now I get it. Your favourite sons are the ones with the Ripper problems. I highly recommend detox and an intervention." His smirk faded. "Now it's your turn—where the hell is Elena?"

   "I-I don't..."

   I reached for her and wrapped my hand around her wrist. When she tried to pulled away, I tightened my grip. "We all want to get out of here, so how about just getting straight to he point?"

   Lily pulled her arm away and held it to her chest, eyes wide.

   I glared at her. "Oscar may have scared you, but trust me, I can do worse." There was some form of satisfaction seeing her terrified. I wanted her to be terrified of me. The first reason was because she allowed those she called her family to torture me. The second reason was because she was a terrible mother, to both those she adopted and her biological sons. Especially to Damon.

   Damon huffed from behind me. He had flicked a lighter and set the bus on flames. He looked like a man from a film, walking away as whatever exploded behind him. There was a satisfied smile on is face as he took a stand by me, then it disappeared when he looked at his mother.

   "I've asked Beau to remove the cloaking spell from Elena's coffin," she said as she stood, dusting her pants with her hands. "You will find her in the ruins of the old Salvatore mansion."

   Damon rolled his eyes. "Clever...ish."

   Lily appeared smug. "I do think so."

   "I'm moving back to Mystic Falls," Damon suddenly said. He stood straight and tall, head held high, voice low.

   Lily's eyes went wide and her body became stiff for a moment. She blinked as her shoulders relaxed, but her eyes were still wide. "I will certainly ask the family to take it under consideration."

   "It wasn't a request," his said, his tone slightly deadly. "These people didn't deserve to be killed by one of your free-range children; Stefan's up to his hero-hair in Heroic drama; Clara is done being tortured; and I worry that Matt Donovan's funeral is gonna cut into my social schedule."

   Lily chuckled. "And what, you're gonna help keep order? Damon, you could hardly keep a covered box safe."

   "What is your problem?" I asked, glaring at her. "Are you actually blaming him for what you've done?" I took a step closer to her, ready to wrap my arm around her neck and burn her until she died. "He killed Malcolm because you took the town for yourself. You retaliated by allowing Nora and Mary Louise to torture me and took Elena's coffin from the crypt." I shook my head in disbelief. "You loved Malcolm, he was your son, but what about the actual sons you left behind? You spent more time with them, we know, but how the hell could you feel nothing for the two people in the world that continuously mourned you for half of their lives?"

   Lily stared at me with wide eyes, lips slightly pursed. She glanced away to the woods and swallowed. "I also asked Beau to undo the spell Valerie did on you, Clara." She took a step closer and grabbed my hand. Nothing happened. She leaned close, lips close my ears. "He could neither keep you safe." She pulled away patted my hand, and turned to leave.

   "I want one more thing!" Damon called.

   He asked to return to the boarding house, so he could grab a wine that had been in the cellar for sixty-five years. It was a 1950's Chateau Cheval Blanc, a rich French red wine. When we arrived at the old Salvatore ruins, he opened the bottle and took a large swig as he moved towards Elena's coffin. He laid his other hand on top of it, his shoulders slumping.

   I stayed behind, watching as he kept his stance there for a couple of moments. I looked from him to the coffin, and wondered what was she doing. Obviously, Elena was sleeping. But, what was that slumber? Was she dreaming, or was it a horrible sleep where she felt everything around her? I took a seat on a broken-wall and allowed Damon to be with the coffin.

   "I called Tyler Lockwood," he said, keeping his eyes down on the coffin. "He's gonna take Elena away, somewhere safe. I won't even know where she'll be." He turned his head to look at me, a small smile on his lips. "I promised I'd keep her safe; this is the least I could do for her." He walked over and took a seat besides me, shoulders pressing against mine.

   "It wasn't—"

   "—It was my fault," he cut me off, shaking his head. "I killed Malcolm when I knew how much she cared about them. It's my fault she took Elena, and you."

   "Enzo took me..."

   Damon's jaw clenched as he swallowed hard. "Because he knows how much you mean to me, Clara." He looked down at my hand, slowly reached for it, and entwined our fingers. When nothing happened, his hold tightened.

   I stared down at our hands. There was warmth to the hold, a gentleness combined with desperation.

   An SUV pulled up. When it stopped, Tyler Lockwood got out. There was a simple hello exchanged as he and Damon pushed Elena's coffin into the back. A simple goodbye, and he was gone. In less than ten minutes, Elena Gilbert was gone again. All that was left was the pushed down grass where the coffin had been.

   Damon took a seat back on the wall and took another swig of the wine. His shoulders were slumped, and I didn't know if it was because he wouldn't be himself while Elena was gone or for another reason. He glanced at me and raised the bottle, signalling for me to take it.

   I grabbed it and took a sip, savouring the flavour. Ever since I was human, I had always been a fan of red wine. Something rich and smooth about it, the flavour distinct and fruity. Besides me, Damon let out a scoff.

   "Am I a horrible son?" he suddenly asked.

   "No," I quickly answered. "You weren't and aren't a horrible son. I've told you that so many times before, Damon."

   He nodded. "It's nice hearing it from you," he said, gazing at me. "Again."

   I wrapped my arm around his and laid my head on his shoulder. "I'll say it again if you want me to."

   He intertwined our fingers and laid his head on top of mine. "I'm good," he said. "I want to hear you say something else instead."

   "Like?"

   He stayed quiet, then. The only sound was the moving leaves around us, the few crickets, the croaks of several frogs. After several moments, he took a deep breath. "Not yet," he said. "I don't want you to say it just yet."

   It was the simple comfort of being able to touch him that made me feel at ease. We stayed in that position for a long while, until the crickets died down and the birds began to chirp. It was then when we went back to Whitmore, while the sun was coming up from the horizon. That simple moment reminded me a lot of the times we sneaked out to meet at the woods.

   I glanced over at Damon and smiled to myself.