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𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐅𝐨𝐮𝐫: 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐒𝐩𝐢𝐤𝐞𝐝 𝐒𝐜𝐨𝐭𝐜𝐡

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｡･:*:･ﾟ★,‧͙⁺˚*･༓☾ CAROLINE wakes up. She hears a noise. She gets out of bed.

"Hello? Mom? Hello?" She shouts to see if anyone is there. Caroline tries to turn on the light, but the power is out.

"This is Logan Fell coming to you live from the streets of Mystic Falls with breaking news of another deadly animal attack. The wild animal terrorizing the citizens of Mystic Falls has claimed another victim, local high school student Caroline Forbes. Police are certain that forensic evidence will confirm that this is the same animal responsible for recent attacks." Logan was reporting and his voice was coming from the television.

"You know what's coming next." She hears Damon's voice.

Caroline runs. She opens the front door, sees Damon, and slams it shut. She slowly walks towards the stairs, but Damon grabs her and bites her neck.

Stefan wakes up in his bedroom. "Ahh!" A whimper escapes from his mouth. All the previous happenings were just a dream. He knew Damon went inside his mind and this time it was Caroline instead of Elena. Though, Stefan started drinking human blood but still he would need some time to gain his strength and have an upper hand from Damon.

"Bad dream? Do you know how easy it was to get into your head just now? You really need some human blood. It might even the playing field. Football reference. Too soon." Damon mocks Stefan.

Stefan was angry at Damon, after all Demon destroyed his beauty sleep. He throws a knife at Damon, hitting him in the stomach. Damon pulls it out.

"All right, I deserved that. But I just wanted to let you know, they caught the culprit. The animal responsible for killing coach Tanner and all those people." Damon says, Stefan knew about all the covering of tracks but still decided to act clueless.

"What are you talking about?" He asked faking surprise.

"It was a mountain lion. Really big one. It attacked a hunter this morning. It's all over the news. 'Deadly beast captured. All's well in Mystic Falls.'" Damon tells Stefan.

"You know I am not gonna ask you that why would you cover your tracks because you have a bad habit of giving twisted answers."

"Why are you so sad, Steffie, I will tell you. You know, I've decided to stay a while. And I'm just having way too much fun here with you, Caroline and Elena."

"Oh yes, Caroline told me about your yesterday's stunt."

"Of course she would. Well, the vervain keeps me out of her head. Maybe that's not my target. Believe it or not, Stefan, some girls don't need my persuasion. Some girls just can't resist my good looks, my style and my charm and my unflinching ability to listen to Taylor Swift." Damon says and Stefan was growing more and more annoyed of Damon being cocky. He was waiting for Damon to show his next move and as he knew Damon tries to stab Stefan in the stomach but Stefan grabs the knife and stabs him in the throat. Damon was gagging on his blood. It clearly hurts Damon more than it did before, and he falls to the floor which shocked Damon knowing something is really going on behind his back.

"Dick move, Damon. And this is the last time I am warning you never ever ruin my beauty sleep."

Stefan walks away from there and Damon removes the knife with great difficulty.

"I can confirm that a 12-foot puma mountain lion attacked a hunter and was subsequently shot and killed. The hunter is in stable condition." Sheriff Forbes was saying on the television.

Stefan was writing in his diary, a habit that even time can't change. "I am playing this game of time, trying to change the wrong I did in past but what if this game of time I started will destroy me only?" 

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"To repeat, the animal terrorizing Mystic Falls has been caught." Logan was reporting on television.

"Scum ball. Scum bucket." Jenna says and Elena hears that.

"Who are you talking to?" Elena asked.

"Him." Jenna replies.

"The news guy?" Elena asked again being confused.

"Also known as Logan "Scum" Fell. Did your mom ever tell you why I moved away from Mystic Falls?" Jenna tells Elena and she raises her brow in realisation.

"Oh, no way. You and him? He's cute." Elena compliments Logan.

"He is not cute. There's nothing cute about him. What are you doing with that?" Jenna asked.

"I went yesterday and got it from the safe deposit box. Mom had told Mrs. Lockwood she would loan it to the founder's council for their heritage display." Elena replies.

"Is that grandma Beth's wedding ring?" Jenna asked.

"Originally it was great-great-grandma Mary's wedding ring." Elena corrected her.

"How much do you think this stuff is worth? You know, like on eBay?" Jeremy joins the conversation.

"You're not gonna find out." Elena says.

"That stuff is mom and dad's. You can't just give it away." Jeremy says.

"I'm not giving it away. It's called a loan, Jeremy." Elena makes her brother understand. The doorbell rings and Elena sees Damon at the door.

"Hello, Elena." Damon says with a smirk. Elena drags him in the house and kisses him passionately.

"Hi." Elena greets him back.

Damon and Elena are making out in Elena's bedroom. Damon is kissing Elena's neck when he looks in her mirror his face is transformed. He smirks and sinks his fangs under her skin and drinks his blood.

"How do you look in a suit?" Elena asks the raven haired. 

"I can pull off anything." Damon replies in a cocky manner. 

"How about tomorrow night? Will you be my date to the Founder's Party?" 

"They still do that?" Damon asked in surprise. 

"Have you been before?" Elena asked. 

"No, the Salvatores don't get invited anymore." Damon lied, he was too bored to compel the dead ringer of Katherine. 

"Well, this year, there's this heritage project that meant a lot to my mom. She was really involved in the founder's council, and it was her favorite party. I know it sounds really boring, but-" Damon cut off Elena in between. 

"I know that party is boring as hell but anything for you Miss Gilbert." Damon says. 

"The pleasure is all mine, Mr. Salvatore." Elena said with a smile. 

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Stefan and Caroline were having fun in the blonde's house. Caroline is trying on dresses for the Founder's Party. 

"Caroline, you rock all the colours but honestly, I think yellow doesn't suits you. Go for the blue." Stefan expressed his opinion. Caroline frowned on listening this. 

"I don't like the blue." Caroline said with a huff. 

"That's not a problem. We can search for some more dress in your closet." Stefan suggested. 

"That's the problem. I don't have any great dresses to wear." Caroline sat on the bed in frustration. 

"Caroline, we will sort this out, okay. It's just a dress problem." Stefan tries to cheer up the blonde. 

"Just? Stefan, it's a crisis-" Caroline started to speak but Stefan cut her in between. 

"Okay, fine. You know we should go and shop. Buy any dress and I will pay." Stefan offers and Caroline's lips break into a big smile. 

"Really, you are the best, Steffie." She immediately hugs the dirty blonde haired boy and the Salvatore also reciprocates the hug. 

The duo left to shop for the Founder's party dress but little did Stefan know, Caroline was planning on buying a whole shop of designer clothes of her choice. 

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"What's so special about this Bella girl? Edward's so whipped." Damon asked Elena. 

"You gotta read the first book first. It won't make sense if you don't." Elena tells Damon. 

"Ah, I miss Anne Rice. She was so on it." Damon says. 

"How come you don't sparkle?" Elena asks out of curiosity. 

"Because I live in the real world, where vampires burn in the sun." Damon answers her question. 

"Yeah, but you go in the sun." Elena says. 

"I have a ring. It protects me. Long story." Damon tells her. 

"Will these bites turn me into a vampire?" Elena asks. 

"It's more complicated than that. You'd have to feed on my blood, then die, then feed on a human's, it's a whole ordeal. This book, by the way has it all wrong." Damon kisses Elena on the neck. 

"You can be very sweet when you want to be." Elena says. 

"Yes, I can be sweet." Damon tells her. 

"Are you going to kill me?" Elena asked. 

"Mm-hmm. But not yet." 

"Why not?" 

"Because there's something I need you to do for me." 

"Anything." 

"How good are you at getting this little nose where it doesn't belong?" 

" Generally, this is Caroline's work but I won't have a problem in doing this." 

"Mmm." 

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Tyler is eating with his parents in the Grill. 

"So what happens with the season? One big forfeit? Are they looking for a new coach?" Richard asks his son. 

"I don't know, dad. I doubt anybody's thinking about that right now." Tyler answers. 

"Charles, founder's party, focus." Mrs. Lockwood says. 

Vicki approaches them. "How are y'all doing over here?" 

"Ah, we're doing great, sweetheart." Richard answers. 

"Is there anything else I can get you?" Vicki asks. 

"We're fine, thanks." Tyler answers. 

"Just the check, honey." Richard tells her. 

"Here you go, Mayor Lockwood." Vicki gives him the check. 

"Thanks." Richard thanks Vicki. 

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Elena arrives with Bonnie in the Grill. 

"You're taking Damon to the founder's party? What about me?" Bonnie asks. 

"Go with Caroline." Elena says. 

"She's probably asking Stefan." Bonnie says. 

"Okay, go by yourself." Elena answers. 

"Gee, thanks. What about your aunt? Is she okay with you bringing Damon?" Bonnie asks. 

"And I'm supposed to care why?" Elena asks. 

"He's older sexy danger guy." Bonnie answered. 

"Older sexy danger guy? Is that an official witch twitter tweet?" Elena asked. 

"No more witch jokes, okay? That whole Mr. Tanner prediction thing has me freaked." Bonnie tells the brunette. 

"Okay. And Damon's not dangerous. You know, he just has a lot of issues with his brother. You know, like major, deep-rooted drama." Elena tries to defend Damon. 

"Like...?" Bonnie asked in curiosity. 

"I'm not really supposed to say anything." Elena says. 

"Elena Gilbert, when have you ever kept a secret in your life from your best friend?" 

"Okay. But you can't tell Caroline." 

"No." Bonnie says. 

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"So what you gonna buy me?" Tyler asks. 

"Ugh, some class. Oh, your parents are gone. I guess we can be close now." Vicki says.  

"What the hell does that mean?" Tyler asks. 

"You treat me like trash. I'm sick of it." Vicki answers. 

"I don't think you're trash." Tyler tries to defend himself. 

"Really? Then who are you taking to the founder's party?" Vicki asks Tyler. 

"Vicki Donovan. Do you want me to ask you to the founder's party?" Tyler asks. 

"No. It'll be stupid and lame." Vicki says. 

"True. But it'll be less stupid and lame if you were there." After saying that, Tyler leaves convincing Vicki to be there on the founder's party. Jeremy who was listening the whole conversation approaches Vicki. 

"You realize you had to ask him to ask you, right? You figure if you dress up like a respectable young lady, he'll finally treat you like one?" 

"Screw you, Jeremy." Vicki says. 

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"You know you're making the wrong choice, yet you make it anyway. It's sad." Jeremy tells her. Though he himself was confused what was he sad about? Tyler asking Vicki or Tyler asking Vicki.

"I didn't know you were here." Zach asks after seeing Damon. 

"Just going through Stefan's homework. Boy, this country sure has dumbed down in the last hundred years. Why he wants to go to high school is beyond me. I mean, in the seventies, he went Ivy League. Harvard, I understood. Actually, no. I didn't get that either. Go ahead, purge. Get it out. What's on your mind?" Damon asks. 

"Why are you here, Damon?" Zach asks. 

"To spend time with you, Zach. Family's important." Damon answers. 

"I know you. You always have a motive. So tell me, what is it this time?" Zach asks. Damon gets up and grabs Zach by the throat. 

"You are in no position to question me." Damon threatens him. 

"I didn't mean to upset you." 

"This is not upset, Zach." Stefan comes there. 

"What's going on?" Stefan asks. Damon drops Zach.

"Having a family moment, Stefan. Spending some quality time." Damon answers. 

"In that case, I hope you had your family time but next time make sure you don't disturb me." Saying that, Stefan walks off. By this time, Damon is hundred percent sure, this is not his brother because he would never react like that. He made a mental note to himself to find out the reason behind his little brother's behaviour. But little did he know, someone else was planning behind his back. 

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Jeremy was still thinking about the whole Tyler and Vicki thing but his thought are disturbed when the doorbell rings. He answers it. He sees it's Tyler and they both get lost for a second but then, Jeremy immediately tries to close the door but Tyler holds it open.

"I'm here for my mom. I was supposed to pick up a box of stuff." Tyler says. 

"Right here. Please be careful." Elena says. 

"Yeah, be careful with it, dick." Jeremy taunts him. 

"Hey! Not now, okay, guys? Please?" Elena tries to calm the situation. 

"I'm fine. He's just being a punk." Tyler says. 

"I got your punk." Jeremy replies back. 

"Look, Tyler, maybe you should go. Tell your mom that I'll see her tonight." Elena tells him. 

"Hey. Would it make a difference if I told you I actually like Vicki?" Tyler asks Jeremy. 

"Not even if you meant it." Jeremy answers. 

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Bonnie and Caroline were getting ready. 

"You got a lot of great dresses, what are you gonna wear?" Bonnie asks pointing on the bundle of dresses lying on Caroline's dresses. 

"Tough call. Can we mix them?" Caroline asks. 

"Look at you, getting all pretty for your date. You seem happy-ish." Bonnie says. 

"I am...ish. Tonight's going to be a good night. But don't let that stop you from telling me whatever it is you wanted to tell me as soon as you walked in the door." Caroline said, she knew Bonnie was gonna tell her something to convince Stefan is bad. 

"What if I tell you in the morning? I don't want to ruin the night." Bonnie says. But Caroline knew Bonnie won't be able to keep it in her stomach, plus, she was also curious what Bonnie had to say about Stefan. 

"Bonnie, out with it." Caroline said to olive-green eyed girl. 

"Okay, but it has to go in the vault, because Elena will kill me if it gets back to Damon that she squealed. Apparently Stefan has a very interesting back story." 

"Uh-huh." 

"Do you know what happened with his ex-girlfriend Katherine?" Bonnie asked, Caroline remembered it was the name of Stefan's evil ex who dated both the Salvatore brothers but she didn't got anything more than this. 

"I know that they both dated her and that's why they have issues." Caroline told Bonnie. 

"Yeah, they both dated her, only she chose Damon. And that drove Stefan mad, so he did horrible things to try and break them up. He manipulated Katherine. He filled her head with all these lies until finally it worked, and she turned against Damon." As Bonnie spoke, Caroline knew all this words are spoken by Bonnie, planted by Elena and the face behind this is of Damon. 

"That sounds like one person's side of the story, meaning Damon's." 

"I just wanted you to know." 

"Anyway, his past relationships are none of my business. I am his friend and it's his choice when he wants to share his past with me." 

"Unless he's a calculating, manipulative liar. That is your business." This irritated Bonnie, though Caroline knew she was only worried for her. 

"Stefan is none of those things." 

"Yeah? How do you know?" Bonnie asked. 

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"Do they still wear ties at this thing?" Damon asks Stefan. 

"Why are you even going?" Stefan asks him. 

"It's only fitting. We were at the very first one, remember?" 

"Come on Damon, years of lying and you are still not good at it. You never do anything without any reason." Stefan said. 

"You know so me well, brother but trust me I am going to this party which is boring as hell only because my girlfriend's sentiments are attached with it. But I can suggest you one one thing, you should stay here, the party is already boring and your brooding will make it more worse. I'll see to it Caroline has a good time." Damon says as he watches Stefan pour himself a drink. "My goodness, I've driven you to drink."  

"Stop being so narcissist Damon, not everything is about you. And I can drink whenever I want and besides, it helps when you are going to a part which is a hellhole." Stefan says and with this he gulps the scotch in the glass. 

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Elena is getting ready for the Founder's Party. Her phone is ringing. She answers it. 

"Hello? Hi, Mrs. Lockwood. What do you mean? It is? Are you sure? 'Cause I saw it. Let me check. Mm-hmm. I will find it and bring it. Ok. Bye." Elena talks with Carol on the phone and gets to know that the Gilbert watch is missing. And she goes into the one person's room who she thinks was behind this, Jeremy's. As she enters the room she hits him. 

"Ahh! God, what now?" Jeremy says in an annoyed tone. Even the presence of his so-called sister irritates him. He knew why she was here and was praying to god to save him from this everyday drama. 

"The pocket watch. Where is it?" Elena says. 

"And here starts the drama." Jeremy says in his mind. 

"What watch? He lied. 

"The one you stole from mom's box. Look, Mrs. Lockwood just called me, freaking out. It was on the list, Jeremy. And she can't find it, and she thinks she's the one who lost it." Elena says. 

"Maybe she did. Maybe Tyler took it." He simply put the blame on the first person's name that came in his mind. 

"Don't even play that card. Jeremy, you took it. If I go online, am I going to find it on eBay? Is that how you pay for your pot?" Elena asks and that was the last straw for Jeremy. 

"Screw you." Jeremy gets up and gets the pocket watch. "I would never sell this, ok?" He tells his sister. 

"Then why did you take it?" Elena asks. 

"And now, this turns into a goddamn interrogation." Jeremy thinks. "Because it's supposed to be mine. Dad said it goes to the firstborn son. His father gave it to him, and now what?" He answers and hands the watch to Elena. 

"And he was going to give it to you." Elena says. Jeremy sigs thinking his sister finally got some brains. 

"Yeah." 

"Look, Jeremy, it's still yours, okay? Mom promised Mrs. Lockwood. What do you want me to do?" Elena asked. 

"Fuck off" is what Jeremy wanted to say but he managed to utter this in a little decent way or otherwise he is going to get another lecture from his 'so called sister'. "Just take it and get out." 

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"It's cool not growing old. I like being the eternal stud." Damon says. 

"Yes, being a 150-year-old teenager has been the height of my happiness." Stefan sasses. 

"You cracked a funny, Stefan. I should have a drink to celebrate. 1864. You and Katherine were the perfect couple. It was hell watching you dance with her." Damon tells him. 

"My happiness was also short-lived, as you well know. So, don't try to play the victim card." 

"I remember. I left the party early, I was waiting for her. The night you dropped her off, I was waiting just inside. You were such a gentleman, gave her a kiss on the cheek. And what she really wanted was...Oh, well. Here's to history repeating itself, huh?" Damon smells the drink and discovers it's spiked with vervain. He dumps the drink on the floor. "I admire your effort, Stefan. Pouring yourself a drink then spiking the bottle with vervain. I'm not some drunk sorority chick. You can't roofie me. But I can't help but feel a little used. I thought we were having a moment. I have to go to the party angry. Who knows what I'll do?" Damon leaves from there after giving Stefan a warning. 

But Stefan was also shocked because he wasn't the one to spike his drink. He then, smelled the scotch bottle, it was spiked. And the one he drank from wasn't. And the one person who could do this is dear nephew Zach. Still, Stefan wanted to see what drama unfolds here because this time he has no intentions to starve or torture his brother. 

Elena is getting ready for the party. She takes the pocket watch and gives it back to Jeremy. 

━━━━━━━━✧♛✧━━━━━━━━

Stefan and Caroline reach the Lockwood party. Mrs. Lockwood approaches them. 

"Caroline! You look smashing." Mrs. Lockwood compliments Caroline. 

"Thank you, Mrs. Lockwood. This is my friend Stefan." Caroline introduced Stefan. 

"Oh, well, come on in." 

"Thank you." Stefan thanks her. 

"Well, enjoy." 

"Let's get a drink." Stefan offers. 

"Wait here." Caroline goes to talk to her mother. 

"Really, you couldn't even change out of the badge for this?" Caroline asks her mother. 

"I'm working, honey. Who's the date you just tried to sneak past me?" Liz asks. 

"He is my friend." 

"That friend tactic doesn't work, sweetie. Just tell the truth." 

"I am telling the truth he is my friend and by the way, I don't need to explain myself to you." Caroline said harshly which hurt Liz but she quickly masked her feelings. But this didn't get unnoticed by one person, who made the goal to restore the relationship of this mother and daughter.  

In the meantime, Elena and Damon also arrive. 

"Hi, Mayor Lockwood" Elena greets. 

"Hey. Hey, guys, come on in." Carol invites them in. 

"Lovely to meet you. I've been looking forward to this party for quite a while." Damon says. 

"Where's your dad?" Liz asks her daughter. 

"Memphis." Caroline answered. 

"Good." 

"With Steven." Listening this the faint smile on Liz's face flattered. 

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Jenna takes a glass of wine from a butler. Logan approaches her. 

"Jenna." Logan greets. 

"Hello Logan." Jenna says and forces a smile but in reality she wanted to say "Fuck off, Logan." 

"It's good to see you." 

"I thought I might see you here." 

"You knew it." 

"I dreaded." 

"But were secretly hoping." 

"And now that I have..." Jenna was going to leave but Logan stops her in the middle. 

"Whoa, hey, not so fast. I know you. You have a lot more insults in you, I can tell." 

"Your hairline's receding." 

"No, it's not. You want to have lunch?" 

"Nope." 

"You haven't changed a bit." 

"Oh, yes, I have. I'm meaner now." Jenna sarcastically said which shut Logan's mouth. 

━━━━━━━━✧♛✧━━━━━━━━

Caroline is reading the first registry. 

"'The founding families in Mystic Falls welcomes you to the inaugural founder's council celebration.' Wow, look, it's the original guest registry. Look at all these familiar names-Sheriff William Forbes, Mayor Benjamin Lockwood. Is that Damon Salvatore? And, Stefan Salvatore?" 

"The original Salvatore brothers. Our ancestors. Tragic story, actually." Damon says. 

"We don't need to bore them with stories of the past." Stefan says because he was already bored in this party and now Damon giving history lessons would annoy him even more. 

"I am bored as hell and I don't have any great work to do, so I have no problem in hearing the sad tragic story of the Salvatore brothers." 

"Well, I'm bored. I want to dance. And Damon won't dance with me." Elena says in a very irritating tone. 

"Mm-hmm." 

"Who cares?" Stefan says. 

"There is no need to be rude, Stefan." Damon fake scolds him. 

"Could I just borrow your date?" Elena asks. 

"Oh, uh... No." Caroline straight away denies. 

"I don't really dance with bitches." Stefan again insults Elena which does enrage her but she was there because Damon told her to. 

"Stefan, what did I say about being polite? Besides, he does dance. You should see him. Waltz, the jitterbug, the moonwalk. He does it all." 

"You wouldn't mind, would you, Caroline?" Elena asks which made Caroline widen her eyes. 

"Do you have a problem in hearing, Elena? I already denied. Plus, it's Stefan's call." Caroline says and Stefan knew she was ready to murder Elena then, and there. 

"I would rather jump off a cliff." Stefan says who was this close to snap. 

"Well sorry, but I'm not going to take no for an answer." By saying this, Elena takes Stefan out to dance. 

"Is she mental?" Caroline thinks inside her mind. "Why the hell was I even friends with her." 

"I want to apologize to you for being such a world-class jerk the other night when I tried to kiss you. There's no excuse. My therapist says I'm...Acting out, trying to punish Stefan." Damon says and Caroline knew he was lying. 

"For what?" Caroline asked. 

"It's all in the past. I don't even want to bring it up. Let's just say that the men in the Salvatore family have been cursed with sibling rivalry. And it all started with the original Salvatore brothers." Damon explained Caroline. 

"Damon told you to ask me to dance. Didn't he?" Stefan asked Elena. 

"Now why would he do that?" Elena asks. 

"Do you have a problem in taking no as an answer?" Stefan asked, he could have ripped Elena's throat then and there but he was controlling himself. He walked off from there but what he didn't noticed that someone sneaked up behind his back and

"The Salvatore name was practically royalty in this town. Until the war. There was a battle here-" Damon was saying but Caroline interrupts. 

"The Battle of Willow Creek." Caroline completes his sentence. 

"Right." 

"I know, we talked about it in class. Confederate soldiers fired on a church with civilians inside." Caroline told Damon. 

"What the history books left out was the people that were killed. They weren't there by accident. They were believed to be union sympathizers. So some of the founders on the confederacy side back then wanted them rounded up and burned alive. Stefan and Damon had someone they loved very much in that church. And when they went to rescue them, they were shot. Murdered in cold blood." Damon told Caroline, who was paying deep attention to this. 

"Who was in the church that they wanted to save?" Caroline asked. 

"A woman, I guess. Doesn't it always come down to the love of a woman?" Damon asks her. And Caroline knew that woman was Katherine. 

"Look, I'm sorry that you and Stefan have this thing between you, but I can't get in the middle of it, Damon. But as Stefan's friend, I just...I hope you two can work it out." Caroline says. 

"I hope so, too." Damon tells her. 

━━━━━━━━✧♛✧━━━━━━━━

Vicki and Tyler on a bench, away from the party. 

"So you want to dance?" Vicki asks Tyler. 

"Me dancing? Not pretty." Tyler declines the offer. 

"Maybe you could show me around. I mean, this place is amazing." Vicki suggests. 

"Yeah, if you like living in a museum." Tyler tells her. 

"Maybe I should just strip naked and give Pastor Bill a lap dance. I mean, that's why we're hiding in a corner all night, isn't it? You're scared of how I'm going to act? You afraid of what your parents are going to think about your date from the wrong side of the tracks?" Vicki asks. 

"I don't care about what they think." Tyler tells her. 

"Great. Let's go say hi." Vicki says. 

"Knock it off, Vick." Tyler says. 

"Or we could just, you know, sneak up to your bedroom. As long as nobody sees us, right?" Vicki suggests again. 

"Vicki, I swear..." Tyler says. 

"What's a matter, Ty? You scared to stand up to your mommy? It's pretty pathetic." Vicki mocks Tyler. 

"Let go!" Tyler says in a high voice. Till that time Mrs. Lockwood comes there. 

"Tyler...We didn't get a chance to say hello earlier. It's Vicki, right? Matt's sister." Mrs. Lockwood asks. 

"Yes, ma'am." Vicki says. 

"You'll have to forgive my son's rudeness. He gets it from his father." Mrs. Lockwood apologizes. 

"Well, that's okay, Mrs. Lockwood. Tyler and I were just saying good night." Vicki tells the later. 

"That's what you get when you bring the trash into the party." Mrs. Lockwood says. 

Bonnie is sitting at a table. A candle goes out. She looks at it and it re-ignites. Bonnie blows it out. 

━━━━━━━━✧♛✧━━━━━━━━

Damon and Caroline go out to meet Stefan and Elena. 

"What'd we miss?" Damon asked. 

"Nothing, that is necessary for you to know. Drink, Damon? Stefan offered. 

"No, thanks, I'll pass." Damon says. 

"Stefan, do you have another dance in you?" Caroline asked. 

"Absolutely." Stefan says. 

Stefan takes Caroline out to the dance floor. 

"I don't want to say this but they look so cute together." Elena says. 

"Gross, Stefan takes care of Caroline like his sister. Imagining them together, eww." 

━━━━━━━━✧♛✧━━━━━━━━

In the house. At the bar. 

"Don't shoot! Only need a refill." Logan says. 

"Shooting implies caring." Jenna says. 

"Feigned indifference. I like it." Logan compliments her. 

"I'm over the banter, Logan. I'd really rather you just left me alone."  

"I'm sorry, Jenna. About your sister." 

"Thank you." 

"I Came to the funeral." 

"I know. I saw you." 

"Yeah, I didn't want to push my way in, but I wanted to be there for you. And when I heard you were staying in Mystic Falls, I thought maybe...Well, maybe I could have a second chance to make things right." Logan tells Jenna. 

"Her name was Monica, wasn't it?" Jenna asks him. 

━━━━━━━━✧♛✧━━━━━━━━

Back on the dance floor. Stefan and Caroline are still dancing. 

"I hope Damon didn't drive you too crazy." Stefan says. 

"No, actually, he was on good behavior or he pretended to. He even apologized and explained why he is the way he is. And it all goes back to Katherine." Caroline explained. 

"Hmm." 

"You know Stefan, I am your friend and you can talk to me about anything. I don't expect you to suddenly open up with me but if you ever feel like to have someone listen the things that you buried deep inside your heart, remember I will be there. And I will talk less and listen more." Caroline told the dirty blonde haired Salvatore. 

A smile broke on the face of Stefan. He and Caroline stop dancing. "I could never ask a better bestfriend than you, ever. Caroline, you have no idea how amazing you are. Sometimes, I feel like it's a miracle that I have you in my life." Stefan says and Caroline giggled at this. 

"Stop, buttering me. I am not that good. And, it works both way, I am so good to you only because you are so good to me. Otherwise, I know how to be a bitch." 

"I know." He takes a deep breathe. Katherine, the one name he hated the most, the reason why he died, the girl who was responsible for ruining his and his brother's life but was she really that bad. Nobody is a born monster, nor was Katherine, it was not her fault to be born as a doppelganger. She wanted to survive and she did what she had to do to stay alive. One thing Stefan admired about the brunette, that she never gave up no matter what. But on the other hand, she may have been an innocent girl in the past but at the end, she was responsible for the hell fire which could have taken lives of thousand people living there. Still, everyone has a fair share of crimes, and in Stefan's case there was no 'could have', he wasn't called Ripper of Monterey for no reason. "You know in short, Katherine is someone who could go to any extent just to survive." 

"A survivor, sounds interesting. Can't wait to meet her." Caroline says, the name only piqued her interest.

"Well, you maybe, like her." Stefan says, at a distance they hear Bonnie calling Caroline. 

"I have to go." Caroline says and Stefan nods. She walks away. Damon and Stefan look at each other. 

Bonnie and Caroline are inside, eating ice cream. 

"Caroline, I wanted to say sorry. I don't know why I am acting like this from past few days. All these crazy witchy things, I think I am going to go mad." Bonnie says with tears in her eyes. Caroline hugs her. 

"It's not your fault, Bonnie. Sometimes there are some things which happen the opposite of what we want. And you are not going crazy, okay. Talk to your Grams, she will help you out." Caroline says and the Bennett witch smiles. 

━━━━━━━━✧♛✧━━━━━━━━

Mrs. Lockwood approaches Elena in the party. 

"Elena, honey, there you are. I notice the watch still isn't in the collection." Mrs. Lockwood asked. 

"Oh, um, I'm sorry, Mrs. Lockwood. I, um, I couldn't find it. I guess it's still packed up in my parents' stuff somewhere." Elena lied. 

"I see. Well, please let me know if you do find it." Mrs. Lockwood said. 

"OK." 

Damon walks upstairs. Elena follows him. 

"Where have you been?" Elena asked. 

"Ah. Looking for you." Damon replied. 

"Your brother barely danced with me for five minutes and how rude he is-" Elena started to say but Damon cut her in between. 

"Okay, just a minute. Stand right...there." Damon tells Elena. He starts searching through the collection. 

"Um, you're not supposed to touch. What is that?" Elena asks him. Damon finds what he is looking for. 

"A very important crystal." Damon answers. 

"Well, how did you know that it was there?" Elena asks. 

"Because I put it there." Damon replies. 

"When?" Elena asked again. 

"A long time ago. Tonight, I'm taking it back, thanks to you." Damon says. 

"Well, what's it for?" Elena asks. 

"Never you mind." Damon says. 

"Well, you can't just steal it." 

"It's not stealing if it's mine. Come on." Damon tells the brunette. 

"Well..." 

━━━━━━━━✧♛✧━━━━━━━━

At the bar. 

" Vodka tonic. Okay, I know that this is probably going to be strike 3, but I hope you can see it for what it is." Logan says. 

"And what is it?" Jenna asks. 

"Persistence, groveling, commitment. Take your pick." Logan tells Jenna. 

"I fled town because of you. Fled." Jenna reminds Logan. 

"I was young and stupid, and then things changed. Life got...real. You'd know that better than anyone." Logan says. 

"Hypothetically speaking, if allowed, how would you make things right?" Jenna asks him. 

"Well, more groveling, of course. A recap of the past few years spent soul searching. Cheese fries." Logan answers. 

"Obvious." Jenna says. 

"I know my audience." Logan tells Jenna. 

"Yes to lunch. Call me." Jenna says being convinced. 

━━━━━━━━✧♛✧━━━━━━━━

In the living room. 

"Look around. What's missing? The flames, the candles. Why aren't they lit? There's matches in the kitchen." Mrs. Lockwood literally orders Bonnie. 

"Bitch." Bonnie mutters under her breathe. 

Bonnie looks at a candle and tries to light it but turns away. She starts to leave but turns back around and sees that all the candles have lit up. 

━━━━━━━━✧♛✧━━━━━━━━

Caroline enters the powder room. Elena is there. 

"Hey." Elena says. 

"Hey. So how are things with Damon?" Caroline asks. 

"Great. Just great." Elena replies. 

"Really? Well, my radar must be off, 'cause I was getting all sorts of other vibes..." Caroline says, suddenly she looks at Elena's neck and sees something. 

"What is that?" Caroline asked. 

"Hmm?" Caroline tries to lift her scarf up. "Don't!" Elena tries to stop her. 

Caroline lifts her scarf up and sees a bad bite mark. She understood the whole situation. 

"Oh god, Elena, what happened?" Caroline acted. 

"Nothing, okay?!" Elena tries to assure her. 

"That is not nothing! Did somebody hurt you?" Caroline says still keeping her act up. 

"No, okay, nothing. It just...My aunt would kill me." Elena says. Caroline pulls down her shawl and sees another bite mark on her back. 

"Did Damon hurt you?" Caroline asked, though she knew it was him only. 

"No! Of course not! Just leave me alone. Okay, Caroline?!" Elena says. Caroline walks outside and she sees Stefan. 

"Stefan, there you are." Caroline says. 

"What happened?" Stefan asked her. 

"There are bruises all over Elena's body. Damon made her a blood bag. God, he might be forcing her to sleep with him by compelling her, it's practically rape. Look, I know I hate her but still I won't wish this even upon my worst enemy." Caroline says. Stefan knew she is right. 

"You are right. I know that is wrong. I can't change what happened but I will make sure he doesn't do this again." Stefan assured Caroline and she nodded. 

━━━━━━━━✧♛✧━━━━━━━━

Doorbell rings. Jeremy answers the door. It's Vicki. 

"You look amazing. What are you doing here?" Jeremy asks. 

"I was thinking maybe I could make one more wrong choice today. I still have 17 minutes." Vicki kisses him. Jeremy was happy but still there was a part in him telling him not do this but he ignored the voice. 

━━━━━━━━✧♛✧━━━━━━━━

Damon is dragging Elena out to the lawn. She turns her around to face him. 

"Don't! She took it off and I got flustered, okay?! I didn't know what to say. But I swear, okay? I did not tell her. I just told her that you didn't mean to hurt me." Elena apologizes. Damon goes behind Caroline and wraps his arms around her waist. 

"You make me crazy, you know that? It's okay. I forgive you." Damon tells her. 

"I swear I didn't say-" Elena tries to justify herself but Damon stops her. 

"Shh, shh, shh. It's okay. Unfortunately...I am so over you now." Damon says. He bites her. But they both fall to the ground. 

"What the hell?" Damon says in pain. 

"You know, I couldn't spike your drink...So I spiked hers." Zach says to Damon and he understands it was him from the starting. Elena wakes up on the lawn. She grabs the crystal in the lawn. 

Zach locks Damon in the cellar. 

━━━━━━━━✧♛✧━━━━━━━━

"I did what I had to do... to protect everyone. Yes, Uncle Damon, the headline reads 'Deadly beast captured. All is well in Mystic Falls.'" Zach tells him. 

"Thank you for staying so late." Mr. Lockwood says. 

"Did you get the Gilbert watch?" Sheriff Forbes asked. 

"She claims it's packed away in her parents' things." Mrs. Lockwood says. 

"I can get it." Logan tells them. 

"Good. We're going to need it." Sheriff Forbes says. 

"Are you sure?" Mr. Lockwood asks. 

"Five bodies all drained of blood? I'm certain." Sheriff Forbes replies. 

"They've come back." Logan says. 

━━━━━━━━✧♛✧━━━━━━━━

Author's Note: After so many drafts and re-writting this chapter it's finally published. Thank you for 2k reads on this book. 

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Sorry, for the late chapter, I know you guys eagerly wait for it. I like writing lengthy chapters so it takes time also. So, do you guys want 5k-6k length chapter or short? 

And pls, don't be a ghost reader I lover your comments.