Chasing Perfection
Season One
Chapter 4: Family Ties

Alex jolted awake from her sleep when she heard a loud noise coming from down the stair, she wondered who was awake in the middle of the night. With her eyes half-open, she slowly walked outside her room to check and she was kind of scared because everything was almost too dark and quiet as if she lived alone. Who might be there in the house? Why it was dark and quiet?

"Elena?" She called out for her sister, hoping she would come out from her room.

"Alex, what is it?" Elena finally came out, her eyes were as well half open.

"Don't you hear the noises?" She turned to her sister and took her hands while slowly walking near the stairs. "Jeremy? Jenna?"

When they were downstairs, they went silent for a while and looked around where they saw their TV was still on in the family room. Both sisters exchanged gazes to each other as fear twisted in their eyes, their body literally shivered as they were about to turn it off, until something caught their attention.

"This is Logan Fell coming to you live from the streets of Mystic Falls with breaking news of another wild deadly animal attack," they saw a dashing new reported informed. "The wild animal terrorizing the citizens of Mystic Falls has claimed another victims, a local high school students and Alexandra Gilbert. Police are certain that forensic evidence will confirm that this is the same animal responsible for recent attacks."

"You know what's coming next." Damon said darkly from behind them. When they turned around and saw him, they were shocked and scared and immediately ran. When Alex opened the front door, he was there. She slammed the door shut and pulled her older sister upstairs to her room, jumping onto her bed to find her phone. But she heard her sister screaming behind her. Damon was biting her neck and growling violently onto it. "No! Elena!" Alex screamed.

Watching him sucking her sister to dry, Alex took a few steps backward until she reached the corner of the room. She saw him approaching with a dangerous smirk but she didn't give up yet, she ran for the door. Too bad, he caught her faster than she thought he would as she felt sharp teeth was sunk into her neck and gave her an extremely painful sensation and then killed her.

Stefan suddenly awoken from his nightmare with a loud and surprised gasp, he was sweating all over his body, but was relieved that it was just a dream. He took a deep breath and let it out while staring up to the ceiling for a few seconds and thought about the nightmare he just had.

"Bad dream?" Damon, his older brother, asked while sitting on his desk with a playful smirk. "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."

Moving in a quick blur, Stefan grabbed a knife from the table and threw it to his brother and hit him in the stomach, although it didn't give him a severe effect, and then he pulled it out. "Alright, 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."

"What are you talking about?" Stefan asked, being surprised with what his brother had revealed to him.

"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 purred sarcastically to Stefan.

"Why would you cover your tracks?" Stefan asked again knowing he had something to do with all these.

"I've decided to stay for a while. And I'm just having way too much fun here with you and Alex." Damon said while walking toward the window and thought about Alex whom he visited last night. She was just as pretty as his past lover, and he liked her just he liked his past lover, but strangely he felt more connected to Alex. He felt drawn to her.

"Can't touch her now." Stefan reminded him, taunting him with a smug look, knowing that he couldn't do anything about it.

"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, my charm and my unflinching ability to listen to Taylor Swift." Damon sped toward Stefan and stabbed him in the stomach with the same knife. Stefan groaned in pain and fell on his knees, it hurt him more than it hurt Damon earlier because he drank human's blood, and Stefan only drank animal's blood.

"This is John Varvatos, dude. Dick move." Damon looked over his shirt and was pissed off that Stefan has ruined his favorite shirt and then left the room.

When his brother left, Stefan retrieved the knife from his stomach and let his wound to heal. He started writing on his journal and heard Sheriff Forbes talking on his television, and immediately catching his attention at the moment.

"I can confirm that it was a 12ft Puma Mountain Lion attacked a hunter and was subsequently shot and killed. The hunter is in stable condition." Sheriff Forbes confirmed on the news.

The real animal is still out there. Waiting for me, challenging me to fight back, to stop him. But how do I stop a monster without becoming one myself?

Stefan wrote into his journal and remained silent for a couple of minutes, thinking about the whole things happened and what he had written in his journal.

"To repeat, the animal terrorizing Mystic Falls has been caught."

Jenna was preparing breakfast in the kitchen when she saw a familiar man she recognize on TV, Logan Fell, a reporter from local news. Behind her, there were her nieces who was doing and talking random things together on the table but they were interrupted when Jenna said something slightly in mutters.

"Who is she talking with?" Elena frowned while looking at her aunt.

"I don't know, her boyfriend maybe?" Alex joked and grabbed a piece of cookie from cookies jar on table while following her sister to see their aunt and figuring out who she was talking with.

"Scum ball," Jenna said. "Scum bucket."

"Scumwhat?" Alex glared at her sister and then looking back to her aunt with a frown. "Auntie, who are you talking to?"

"Him." Jenna pointed to the screen with a disgusted face.

"The news guy?" Elena prompted.

"Also known as Logan Scum Fell." Jenna said upsetly and then flickered to her nieces, "Did your mom ever tell you why I moved away from Mystic Falls?"

"Wait... what?" Alex widened her eyes, knowing she was thinking what her aunt was trying to say about her reason to move from the town.

"No way! You and him?" Elena giggled.

"He is cute." Alex said, tilting her head while teasing her aunt.

Jenna looked away from TV and back to work because she didn't want to waste her time just to talk about the guy she was pissed off about. "He is not cute. There is nothing cute about him," she said before seeing both her nieces were taking out some antiques from a box. "What are you doing with that?"

Elena explained to her aunt. "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."

"Is that Grandma Beth's wedding ring?" Jenna asked picking up a pretty ring while noticing her nephew walked joining them while looking at each items on the box.

"It's pretty, isn't it?" Alex smiled while looking at the ring her aunt held in her hands.

"Yeah." Jenna nodded.

The oldest Gilbert sister informed, pointing to the ring she Jenna was holding. "Yes, it is. Originally, it was great, great, grandma Mary's wedding ring."

"How much do you think this stuff is worth? You know, like on eBay?" Jeremy asked while taking something out from the box which caught his interest, scanning the item on his hand.

"Seriously, Jer? What are you going do about it, selling it online to get some money?" Alex rolled her eyes, taking the item from his hand and placed it carefully back to the box.

Elena sighed. "You're not gonna find out, Jeremy."

"That stuff is mom and dad's. You can't just give it away." Jeremy walked over the fridge and opened to see what was inside.

"I'm not giving it away. It's called a loan." Elena explained to Jeremy.

Suddenly the doorbell rang. Alex walked towards the door and swung the door open to see Stefan was standing in front of her, casually. "Oh hey, Stefan. I'll call her," she said smirking while walking back inside to call her sister.

Stefan grabbed her arm, stopped her from what she was doing. "Before you call her... I need to know if you are doing fine?"

"I'm okay, Stefan. I really am." She replied calmly, trying to convince him that she was okay with everything that happened since yesterdays.

"Alright," Stefan smiled before she saw her smiling back and walking back inside, this time he stopped her again from what she was doing. "Anyway, Damon told me what he was trying to do the other night. Sorry, he was over the line."

"Yeah, he really was." Alex nodded with a frustrated sigh remembering about what happened the other night when Damon tried to do to her. It was strange. "Thank you for concerning, you really are a good guy. I'll call my sister now."

He nodded in reply, watching her walking further into the kitchen and heard her talking to her sister. "Elena, your boyfriend is here."

Stefan only chuckled softly before he noticed Elena walked out from the kitchen and approached the door where he was standing. His smile rose, seeing the beautiful face of his lover. "Hey." He greeted casually, a smile still lingering his lips.

"Hey." She replied while pulling him into her house and took him upstairs, heading to her room.

"Did she just take him upstairs?" Jeremy frowned while looking at both his aunt and twin sister, gesturing to his older sister and her boyfriend who was going upstairs earlier.

"Yes, she did. Glad you have eyes, brother." Alex said placing the antiques back into the box, not looking at her brother yet. She suddenly found something sparkling on the table, it was small and beautiful, and she recognized it. "This is Elena's earring. I'm going to give this back to her, wait here. Don't touch any of those antiques, Jer!"

Jeremy rolled his eyes sarcastically and ignored her. "Whatever."

She however didn't heard Jeremy because she was running upstairs that moment, holding an earring in her hand. When she was arrived in front of her sister's room, she swung the door open and was a little surprised to find out that Elena was making out with Stefan on the bed. "Oh- I'm sorry. I, uh, I found this on the dining table and I was just going to give it back to you. Sorry, I should've knocked first."

Elena stopped kissing her boyfriend in surprise and then rubbed her ears only to realize that one of her earring wasn't there. She immediately got up from the bed, grabbed the earring from her sister's hand and smiled widely yet nervously. "Wow, I could've lose it. Thank you, Lex."

With that, Alex smiled with a nod and left.

Elena breathed out in relief while trying to put her earring back when she noticed Stefan was looking away, sitting stiffly on the edge of the bed, looking unusual. "Stefan?" She walked to him but he kept turning away. She kept prompting. "Are you okay?"

It was his eyes, the last time he looked at himself in the mirror, his eyes changed. Luckily, Elena didn't notice it at all. He started to take a deep breath as his eyes went back to normal again before it were seen by his girlfriend. "I'm good, sorry." He apologized.

"I'm also sorry that my sister interrupted." Elena said rubbing his neck as a smile lingered across her lips, comforting him. "But well, maybe we should press pause."

Stefan turned around, knowing that his face was already back to normal, he sent her a smile. "Yeah, you're probably right. That was getting a bit..."

"Yeah." Elena nodded.

Stefan smiled repeating after her. "Yeah."

Moving on from the comfortable bed, he walked near the window seat where she usually would write a diary. He was trying to let their make out session off his mind, because if he kept thinking about it, he'd find himself kissing her again and it would be out of control.

"How do you look in a suit?" She wondered, trying to change the subject.

Stefan turned to her and smiled in reply. "I can pull one off."

"How about tomorrow night? Will you be my date to the Founder's party?" She asked, hoping he would be her date tonight because she didn't know who else should she ask to accompany her to the party.

"They still do that?" Stefan asked, recalling the moments when he went into this type of party in earlier years.

Elena was suddenly curious. "Have you been before?"

"No, the Salvatores don't get invited anymore." Stefan said saving himself from any suspicions with a slight hesitant smile. Gladly, itt convinced her.

"Well, this year, there's this heritage project that means a lot to my mom, she's really involved in the founders council and it's her favorite party, I know it sounds really boring, but…"

"I would be honored to accompany you, Miss Gilbert." He said pretending to sound like a noble man in the 80s, he decided to go to the party with her, because he knew deep down inside he couldn't refuse going with her. He wanted to show people that she was his.

"The pleasure is all mine, Mr. Salvatore." She smirked while playing along with him by pretending like a lady in the 80s as well, and then laughed softly in joy.

Downstairs, Alex was still helping her aunt cleaning the counters in the kitchen before noticing that her brother was there sitting on the dining chair, checking the antiques from the box that she already tidied earlier. As soon as she was done tidying the counters, she approached him and watched him holding those antiques carefully. "What are you doing there?" She leaned her body on the chair he was sitting on and folded her arms defensively.

"Just looking at these stuffs, they look pretty." Jeremy said with honesty, still looking at the antiques he was holding.

"Yeah. They are," Alex agreed, nodding lightly at his statement, "but that doesn't mean you can sell them online and get money, you know?"

Jeremy gave her a look. He was tired of her accusing him again and over again. They were twins, born together, raised together. But things changed after their parents died. "I'm not going to sell it online, okay? Stop accusing me like I'm the bad guy, I'm your brother and you're supposed to trust me."

"I do trust you-"

Before she could finish her sentence, Jeremy walked away, heading upstairs with an upset expression, not giving her any chance to talk more. She let out a deep sigh as she placed the antiques that Jeremy took out back to the box and closed it, trying not to think about his behavior. While placing the box on the cupboard, her eyes flickered to her wrist and saw her silver bracelet which was given by Tyler, her boyfriend, on their first date.

"Tyler is a sweet guy, huh?" Jenna teased with a smile while standing next to her and looking at her beautiful bracelet.

"He is. That's why I love him, auntie." She replied smiling happily to her aunt.

"That's good, Lex." Jenna nodded, smiling back in reply. "And you know... It's been long since you called me auntie. I'm happy."

"Yeah, I missed calling you that. I guess I'm gonna have to get used with calling you auntie more often!" She grinned while giving her aunt a warm hug and showed another smile to her again when they pulled away from the hug. Jenna smiled widely, she was happy to see her being happy cheerful again, and she hoped Jeremy would be fine too soon.

xxx

Meanwhile, Caroline was in her room, trying on a bright yellow mini-dress for the Founder's party later tonight. Damon was lying down on her bed while reading a certain vampire romance book. She turned around to get his opinion about the dress she was wearing for the party, hoping it looked good on her in his eyes.

"No yellow. Jaundice. Go for the blue." Damon told her but not looking at her yet.

"I don't like the blue." She complained to him.

"Well, I do, and if I'm going to be your date─"

"You can't be my date." She said defensively. "My mother is going to be there, and she is a very proud gun owner.

"I went through a lot of trouble to make sure this party wasn't cancelled. It's very important I be there, please take me." Damon said, looking deep into her eyes, compelling her.

"You should come to the Founder's party with me." She suddenly changed her mind and invited him.

Damon creased his brows, manipulating her. "Not if you are wearing that dress."

Caroline paused, glaring at him before she pulled the dress off and let it fell down the ground as she walked over her closet to find the blue dress he told her to use for the party.

"What's so special about this Bella girl? Edward's so whipped." Damon rolled his eyes, criticizing the book he was reading.

"Well... you gotta read the first book first, it won't make sense if you don't." Caroline replied while pulling on the blue mini-dress and walked towards the mirror to adjust her dress in her body.

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

"How come you don't sparkle?" Caroline asked curiously while comparing him with the vampires she read on the books.

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

"Yeah, but you go in the sun." She countered, creasing her brows, trying to understand why he was different from the sparkling vampires in the book.

"I have a ring," he held up his hand and showed a ring on his finger while still reading the book. "It protects me. Long story."

Caroline turned aside and looked at the bite marks on her shoulder through the mirror, feeling worried that she would become a vampire. "Will these bites turn me into a vampire?"

When she turned around, he was closing the book while rolling his eyes. "It's more complicated than that. You'd have to feed on my blood, then die, then feed on a human's blood... it's a whole ordeal."

"This book, by the way has it all wrong." He added while throwing the book to the ground and watched her walking closer to him. Suddenly, he grabbed her and threw her over the bed underneath him which made him on top of her and then started kissing her neck gently, pleasing her.

"You can be very sweet when you want to be." Caroline moaned in pleasure, smiling at him.

"Yes, I can be sweet." He purred seductively onto her neck and gave her more pleasure.

"Are you going to kill me?" She suddenly asked in worry and fear.

"Mhmm." He murmured, nodding slowly as he brushed her hair gently to the side. "But not yet."

She asked again in curiosity. "Why not?"

"Because there's something I need you to do for me." He muttered again, thinking about a plan he had in mind since long and he really wanted to make it work.

"Anything." She promised him.

"How good are you at getting this little nose where it doesn't belong?" He saw her smiling as he touched the tip of her nose playfully.

"Oh, I'm excellent." She replied with a bright smile.

"Mmm." Damon moaned softly, and then kissed her again.

At Mystic Grill, Tyler sat with his parents while having their lunch and talked about the season. However, he wasn't really paying attention and was thinking about his girlfriend, he was wondering if she was now looking for him. "So what happens with the season?" His father asked, firing him with questions. "One big forfeit? Are they looking for a new coach?"

"I don't know, dad." Tyler replied to his father, slightly annoyed. "I doubt anybody's thinking about that right now."

"Charles, founder's party, focus." His mother said, reminding her husband about the party.

Suddenly, Vicki came over the table with a smile while holding a teapot. "So, how are you all doing here?"

"We're doing great, sweetheart." Mr. Lockwood replied simply to the young female, hiding the dislike when he saw her looking at his son in that way.

"Is there anything else I can get you?" Vicki purred while grabbing his glass and filled it with water from the teapot trying to get his attention, but not noticing how his parents were glaring at her at the moment.

Tyler was uncomfortable, trying to make her leave from his sight. "We're fine, thanks."

"Just the check, honey." Mr. Lockwood slightly smiled to Vicki and then glared at his son when Vicki left to bring the check. He never liked the girl, his wife didn't like her either.

A few seconds later, Vicki came back and passed the check politely to him with a smile. "Here you go, Mayor Lockwood."

"Thanks." He answered while taking the check before Vicki started to leave them.

Meanwhile, both Caroline and Bonnie were walking into the grill and looking for empty seats while talking about the Founder's party and their partners later. "You're taking Damon to the Founder's party?" Bonnie asked in disbelief. "What about me?"

Caroline turned to her and practically replied. "Go with Elena."

"She's asking Stefan." Bonnie told her. Basically, she was going to the party all alone knowing that everybody she knew was having their own partners.

"Oh. Well, go with Alex!" Caroline suggested again.

Bonnie sighed. "Alex is definitely going with Tyler, Care."

"And what if she doesn't?" Caroline breathed out while tilting her head, and then made a face. She was acting weird and different lately. Bonnie felt this, but couldn't exactly explain about it.

"She is definitely going with him. They are dating. Who else will she invite to the party?" Bonnie replied assuring the blond best friend.

Caroline rolled her eyes sarcastically. "Okay, then you go by yourself."

"Gee, thanks." Bonnie accepted forcefully and rolled her eyes as well regarding to the respond she received from her best friend which was irritating. "What about your mom? Is she okay with you bringing Damon?"

"And I'm suppose to care why?" Caroline asked. She shrugged her shoulder, carelessly, because all she knew was that she was deeply in love with him.

"He's older, sexy, danger guy." Bonnie said and tried her best to make her friend convinced that she'd better leave the guy she was hooking up with. Something made her feel like this and she didn't know exactly why, she was only sure that he too was dangerous to be a company.

Caroline rolled her eyes sarcastically again, she didn't believe in what Bonnie said about her boyfriend whom was obviously perfect to her. "Older, sexy, danger guy? Is that an official witch twitter tweet?"

"No more witch jokes, alright? That whole Mr. Tanner prediction thing has got me totally freaked." Bonnie replied quietly, yet terrified about what happened to her the other night when she noticed something on the location where Tanner was found dead.

"Okay." Caroline nodded before pausing herself. "And Damon's not dangerous. You know, he just has a lot of issues with his brother, like major, deep-rooted drama."

"Like…?" Bonnie creased her brows lightly; curious of what Caroline was trying to tell her.

"I'm not really supposed to say anything." Caroline said, suddenly being thoughtful about the secret her boyfriend has, and looked at the menu, trying to avoid the subject.

Bonnie was shocked because her best friend started to sound like a completely different person. The Caroline she knew was blunt and straight forward, not secretive like this."Caroline Forbes, when have you ever kept a secret in your life?"

"Okay, but you can't tell Elena. Especially Alex." Caroline negotiated to make Bonnie promise her not to tell anyone.

Bonnie promised but at the same time wasn't sure if she would be able to keep it from the sisters. But she still promised to Caroline anyway. "Okay, I won't."

On another table, after his parents left, Tyler followed Vicki to the bar and decided to have a little chat because they hadn't been talking for a long time. And now he wanted to be a better person, not that guy who dumped a girl and then left. At least he was trying to be. "How are you? I mean... you're good, aren't you?" He asked though still feeling stiff and uncomfortable around her.

"Yeah." Vicki hissed. She was upset about how he treated her since they were dating until they broke up, even until now. "Do I look like I'm not? You can leave, I'm working."

"Sorry if I'm disturbing you. I'm just wondering because I asked you the other day, but you gave me this dismissive attitude, like you think I don't care." He shrugged, trying to explain and make things clear between them. He didn't want her to think that he didn't care, because he actually did.

She glared at him and replied. "You don't."

"What the hell does that mean?"

"You treat me like trash, since we were dating until we broke up. Even until now. I'm sick of it." She replied bluntly. Deep down inside, she knew she was hoping he would treat her like he treated his girlfriend even if just once.

"I don't think you're trash." Tyler said telling her the obvious.

"Really?" Vicki was unconvinced. She knew he didn't really mean that. "Then who are you taking to the founder's party?"

"Alex." He awkwardly answered, forming a small smile. "You should ask someone to go with you."

"Exactly. Her." She said smugly while collecting glasses from the tables and quit looking at him. She lost all her hopes. "I'm not going. It will be stupid and lame. I don't know who to ask anyway."

"You are welcome to join the party, Vick. It's okay even if you're coming alone."

"Please just go. Okay? We're done talking here." She snapped, she was jealous that he loved his current girlfriend more than he loved her.

"Fine," Tyler said with sarcasm, losing his patient in talking to her and seeking peace with her. "Be alone with your boyfriend. Or better yet, invite him to the party. You will look cute together, no wonder."

"Go away, Tyler." She raised her voice in annoyance, feeling sad, upset and disturbed. Tyler only smiled smugly and left her alone.

Jeremy was there the whole time and was overhearing their conversation. Before leaving the grill, he approached Vicki to say something. "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." She hissed, although she knew he was right.

"You know you're making the wrong choice, yet you make it anyway." Jeremy said shaking his head and started to walk away slowly. "It's sad."

Salvatore Boarding House

Zach walked into the living room and found Damon was sitting on the couch while reading a book belonged to his brother. He was quite surprised to see Damon during the day, but he knew he had something he was up to. "I didn't know you were here." He said, irritated.

"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." Damon thought about Stefan's idea of going to school. "Go ahead, purge. Get it out. What's on your mind?"

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

"To spend time with you, Zach. Family's important." Damon lied as a smile lingered across his lips when he closed the book.

"I know you." Zach started. "You always have a motive. So tell me, what is it this time?"

Damon disliked how he talked. He stood up and moved in a blur, sped across to Zach and grabbed him by his neck as he gasped out of breath.

"You are in no position to question me." Damon said glared at him darkly.

"I- I didn't mean to upset you!" Zach choked out of his words and tried hard to release himself from Damon who choked him way too hard that he couldn't breathe.

"This is not upset, Zach." Damon smirked dangerously not caring if Zach was a human ─ he just kept gripping on Zach's neck.

"What's going on?" Stefan appeared behind while walking closer to Damon and Zach. Damon immediately let go of Zach's neck and dropped him on the floor, caused him to grunt in pain as he rubbed his neck.

"Having a family moment, Stefan. Spending some quality time." Damon wiggled his eyebrows calmly like nothing had happened and patted Zach on the shoulder before leaving the house.

"Hey, are you okay?" Stefan asked, being worried about his nephew, while helping him.

"No, I'm not." Zach snapped firmly. "And neither are you. How many more people have to die before you see that?"

"I see it." Stefan countered. "Alright, Zach, I see it."

"Then why aren't you doing anything about it?"

"I can't, Zach. I can't." Stefan replied shortly. "It would take human blood that would be the only way to stop him, and I can't do that."

"The vervain could weaken him if he ingested it." Zach suggested. His voice was still noticeably shaking. "It would help get you the upper hand."

"Vervain hasn't grown here since 1865, Damon saw to that. The little I had, I gave to Elena. And I think someone gave it to Alex too." Stefan explained but paused himself when he sensed Zach was trying to reveal something important. "What?"

Zach led Stefan to the cellar and then opened the wooden door, revealing a homemade vervain plantation inside it which made Stefan quite surprised.

"You've been growing it..." Stefan said.

"It's just something that's been passed down through the generations. Blood only runs so deep when you're related to Vampires." Zach replied quietly because he was afraid that Damon would be around and overhear them. "Damon would kill me if he knew that I had it."

"But you're telling me." Stefan was confused, asking him while looking at the healthily grown vervains. "Why?"

"Because I trust you." Zach admitted honestly before leaving the cellar. "And you're gonna need if you want to get rid of him."

It was afternoon; Bonnie came over the Gilberts house to visit the sisters who once again were checking the antiques from the loan box in the dining area. She wondered, joining the sisters. "What's all these stuff?"

"It's a box of old stuff for the Founder's party heritage display. And it's originally owned by our mother and ancestors." Alex explained, breathing out heavily and ate a piece of cookie again, she loved cookies which reminded her of her mother because she used to bought her a lot of cookies. "They look beautiful, right?"

"Yeah, but why did you brought it here? I mean, that's supposed to be prepared in the Founder's hall from now right?" Bonnie frowned slightly, wondering why they brought the antiques here.

This time, the oldest sister took the chance to reply the best friend with a smile. "We were just borrowing and Mrs. Lockwood said yes about it. So here it is."

While having quality time and scanning antiques, they heard the doorbell rang. Alex was going actually going to open the door, but when she saw her twin walking down the stairs, she asked him to open it instead of doing it herself. "Check who's coming, Jer," she said. "Please."

"Alright." Jeremy reluctantly nodded and walked to the door and then opened it. Too bad, Tyler was the one who rang the doorbell. Jeremy immediately tried to close the door but Tyler held it open. "I'm here for my mom. I was supposed to pick up a box of stuff."

"Oh, right here! Wait." Alex put the cookie on her mouth as she put the antiques back in the box and carried it to Tyler. "Please be careful."

"Yeah, be careful with it, dick." Jeremy gestured to the box Tyler was holding and provoked him.

"Hey! Not now, okay, guys? Please?" Alex pleaded glaring at both her boyfriend and brother with flat expression. It was enough to witness them fighting and listened to them insulting each other, she was always worried when they fought. "I'm tired of all these. Please, just stop."

"I'm fine. He's just being a punk." Tyler replied calmly and pointed to Jeremy. He didn't want to fight, to be honest, because he knew she wouldn't like it.

"I got your punk." Jeremy hissed sarcastically.

"Look, Tyler, maybe you should go. I'll see you later tonight. Send my love to your mother." Alex told her boyfriend and smiled before she walked back inside the house to join her sister and friend.

"Hey, would it make a difference if I told you I actually have tried to be nice with Vicki?" Tyler asked.

"Not even if you meant it." Jeremy replied darkly and shut the door on his face.

"Teenagers drama again?" Bonnie asked grinning to Alex while Elena was getting a piece of tissue and put them on the table. Jeremy suddenly shouted "I heard that!" while walking upstairs to his room, which was surprising them at the moment that he was still there, overhearing them.

"Oops." Bonnie giggled.

"Jeremy hates Tyler just because of Vicki. I think. It's silly I know, but I'm tired of it." Alex said with a loud sigh and sat across them on a chair to continue eating cookies again.

"Okay. That's silly, I agree." Bonnie said grabbing two nail polishes with different colors while reading the description of it. "Anyway, I need an opinion. Delicate flower vs. Naughty vixen?"

"Naughty vixen." Alex said smirking giving her opinion about the nail polish.

"Tough call. Can we mix them?" Elena said to her friend.

"Look at you, getting all pretty for your date. You seem happy-ish." Bonnie commented about her friend.

"I am...ish. Tonight's going to be a good night." Elena agreed. "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."

"What if I tell you in the morning? I don't want to ruin the night." Bonnie told them.

Alex smiled gently. "The night is absolutely going to be amazing. Just tell us now, Bonnie. It's okay."

"Yeah, Bonnie, out with it." Elena said pushing her friend to tell her what she was trying to tell them.

Bonnie surrendered, looking at her best friends and agreed to tell them about this. "Okay, but it has to go in the vault, because Caroline will kill me if it gets back to Damon that she squealed."

"Alright, alright. We get it." Alex rolled her eyes.

"Uh, apparently, Stefan has a very interesting back story." Bonnie started telling the sisters.

"Uh-huh?" Elena said, waiting for her to continue.

"Do you know what happened with his ex-girlfriend?" Bonnie asked Elena.

"Mhm. Alex told me there was this fire tragedy that killed her and her younger sister," Elena paused to remember about what her sister told her from Damon the other night. "Katherine and Serene, right?"

"Exactly." Alex nodded.

"Yeah. Sisters with brothers. Damon with Serene, Stefan with Katherine. Apparently, the fire tragedy was because of Stefan and this is the reason why Damon hates him so much." Bonnie told them the story she got from the blond friend which was originally came from Damon.

"That sounds like one person's side of the story." Alex commented after listening to the story.

"Meaning Damon's." Elena added.

"You don't know why Stefan did that, do you?" Bonnie rolled her eyes looking at them.

She suddenly had their full attentions.

"Huh?" Alex asked, mouth hanging open.

"Bonnie, what is it?" Elena was suddenly getting interested to know what happened behind all the issues.

"Stefan and Damon had a deep siblings bond. They were loyal to each other, play games together. Until these two sisters came into their life. Stefan fell in love with the older sister and Damon fell in love with the younger sister. They never hang out anymore. Stefan finally decided to ask Damon to have some quality times together and let their girlfriends have their own, but Damon refused." Bonnie explained carefully because it quite was complicated.

"So he was angry?" Alex guessed.

"Yeah. Stefan was angry and he suspected Serene have manipulated his brother, so he tried everything to break them up." Bonnie continued telling them the story, between believing it or not, it sounded so real. "He manipulated Katherine to turn her sister against Damon and he thought she cheated on him with Damon when she said she can't and didn't want to."

"What?" Elena frowned in disbelief.

"It's not over yet. Stefan then decided to manipulate Serene about Damon cheating on her with Katherine which made her turned against both Damon and Katherine. Stefan hated both sisters for screwing with him and his brother and then put them on fire on one night with Damon accidentally witnessing there." Bonnie told them, ending the story with that tragic fire tragedy thing.

"Wow." Alex let out a heavy breath and sank back onto her seat, feeling unsettled. "That was... complicated. It takes me almost one minute to understand all of them."

Bonnie shrugged. "Well, I just wanted you guys to know."

"I mean, I can't believe Stefan was very sadistic." Alex blinked a few times, continued eating her last piece of cookies from the jar and then closed it.

"He is not sadistic. He would never do something like that. He loved Katherine, didn't he?" Elena snapped defending her boyfriend while giving her sister a death glare. She sighed, suddenly thinking about the story her friend told her about Stefan and his past. "Anyway, his past relationships are none of my business."

"Unless he's a calculating, manipulative liar. That is your business." Bonnie replied while being busy with her nails.

"Stefan is none of those things." Elena affirmed defensively.

"Yeah? How do you know?" She asked Elena.

"You were never in his past, Elena. You never know, who knows it's the true story?" Alex tried telling her, making sure she chose the right decision that she wouldn't regret in the future. Elena shrugged rolling her eyes. Both Alex and Bonnie sighed and decided not to talk about them anymore.

Stefan was in his room drinking a glass of whisky while sitting on the chair, grabbing his black shoes when he saw Damon entering the room shirtless through the mirror. He wiped his shoes he was using for the party later while noticing his brother walking towards his wardrobe.

"Do they still wear ties to this thing?" Damon asked while walking opening the wardrobe and showed some ties in it.

"Why are you even going?" Stefan asked turning to his brother while putting on the shoes.

"It's only fitting, we were at the first one, remember?" He looked at him through the mirror while thinking about the past when they were celebrating the same day.

"I think it's better if we don't draw attention to ourselves." Stefan suggested with a calm smile and drank another gulp of the whisky.

"So, you should stay here. I'll see to it Alex and Elena has a good time." Damon replied while smirking and watching his brother drinking some gulps of whisky. "My goodness I've driven you to drink!"

"Can't seem to rid myself of you. What else am I supposed to do, besides go about living my life?" Stefan said to his brother defensively.

"Go about living my life. See, therein lies your eternal struggle. You're dead, dude. Get over it." Damon said to his brother sarcastically while holding up a tie in front of his firm chest. "Anyway, what do you think?"

Bonnie, Alex and Elena were inside the bathroom while getting prepared for the party. Bonnie was doing her hair while Alex was applying eye shadow and Elena was using mascara for her eyelashes. Suddenly Elena's phone rang and distracted them. "Okay, that's so distracting." Elena said while walking to her bedroom and answered her phone.

"Hello?" Elena greeted. "Hey, Mrs. Lockwood. What do you mean? It is? Are you sure? Because I saw it."

Elena sighed while looking at her sister who was leaning on the door, crossing her arms. "Let me check. Mhm, we will find it and bring it. Okay, bye." She said, dropping the phone on her bed after she hung up.

"What is it?" Alex asked.

"The pocket watch is not in the box." Elena placed her hand on her head, sighing frustratedly.

Alex remembered of something. She saw her twin brother taking antiques from the box while she was helping Jenna this morning, he must have stole the watch. Elena looked at her and widened her eyes—as if they had the same thought—and then both stormed to Jeremy's room.

"Um, guys? What's wrong?" Bonnie asked, confused.

"Ah! God, what now?" Jeremy asked after Elena hit his head.

"The pocket watch. Where is it?" Elena asked, crossing her arms while watching him struggled to untangle his ears from the headphone.

"What watch?" Jeremy replied, playing dumb.

"Don't play dumb." Alex rolled her eyes. "The watch you stole from mom's box. Look, Mrs. Lockwood just called Elena, it was obviously on the list, Jeremy. It's important and now she can't find it. She thinks she's the one that lost it."

"Then maybe she did." He shrugged. "Maybe, uh, Tyler took it."

"He wouldn't." Alex snapped.

"How do you know?" He glared at her. She didn't answer.

"Come on, Jer. Don't even play that card. You took it, didn't you? If I go online, am I going to find it on eBay? Is that how you pay for your pot?" Elena scolded him while still waiting for him to admit and give her the watch and placed her palms on her waist.

"Screw you." He hissed and walked pass by Elena to the book case where he hid the pocket watch. "I would never sell this, okay?"

"Then why did you take it?" Elena asked confused.

"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 said and grabbed Elena's hand agressively while placing the watch on it.

"He hadn't give it up to you..." Elena finished what her brother trying to say.

"Yeah." Jeremy said sitting down on his chair and put his headphone back on his ears.

Before leaving, Elena paused and turned around to her brother. "Look Jeremy. It's still yours, okay? Mom promised it to Mrs. Lockwood. What do you want me to do?"

"Just take it and get out." He said bluntly, barely looking at her.

"Jeremy. I'm sorry." Alex said rubbing his shoulder, regretful, because she didn't know it was supposed to be given to the firstborn son.

Jeremy pushed her hand off his shoulder. He scowled to her upsetly. "Go away, go get back prepared for the party. I'm fine. Just leave me alone."

Alex let out a heavy breath and walked away from the room, looking at him for the last time before closing the door.

Back to Stefan's room, Damon was still looking at himself in the mirror, this time already with a shirt on. "It's cool not growing old. I like being the eternal stud."

"Yes, being a one hundred and fifty years old teenage has been the height of my happiness." He quipped in a mock manner to his brother.

"You cracked a funny, Stefan, I should have a drink and celebrate." Damon smirked and walked over the table to see a picture of Serene and Katherine. He ran his fingers over Serene's flawless face on the picture and smiled at it because the picture reminded him of the past he had with Serene, his ex-girlfriend. "1864, you and Katherine were the perfect couple."

Stefan scoffed. "Shall I tell you the same about you and Serene?"

"No need. It was hell watching Serene dance with another man. I left the party early, I was waiting for her, the night he dropped her off, I was just waiting inside. He was 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 smirked pouring whisky into the glass and brought it to his lips and smelled the drink and he discovered that it was spiked with vervain. He tilted the glass, dumping the contents on the ground.

"I admire your efforts, Stefan. Pouring yourself a drink then spiking the bottle with vervain... I'm not some drunk sorority chick. You can't roofie me." Damon was satisfied to spill Stefan's plan. Yet he got angry and upset because of him for spiking the drink. "But I can't help but feel a little used. I though we were having a moment. Now I have to go to the party angry, who knows what I'll do?"

Alex and Bonnie both finally arrived in Lockwood Mansion while walking to the entrance. Alex wasn't coming to the mansion with her boyfriend didn't pick her up, but she understood when she saw Tyler and his parents were there greeting the attendants who were coming. He was busy. When she came approaching the entrance, Tyler saw her and smiled widely.

"Alex! Oh my god, you look pretty." Carol Lockwood said hugging her and smiled.

"Thank you, Mrs. Lockwood." Alex giggled as she pulled away from the hug and walked towards Richard to shake his hands.

The Mayor, Richard Lockwood, was smiling at the girl and shook her hands. "Tyler," he turned to his son. "Bring her in."

"Okay, dad." Tyler nodded at his father. He smiled to Alex and grabbed her hand, gesturing to walk inside with him to explore the heritage display and other stuffs. "Let's go."

"Bonnie, you'll be okay?" She paused before walking further with her boyfriend.

"Yeah. I'll be okay. Go ahead." Bonnie smiled in agreement.

Alex smiled and waved at Bonnie while following her boyfriend further into the mansion, looking around and accidentally noticed Damon was also there. She looked away. "Sorry about Jeremy. He is messed up and you know that." She sighed looking at Tyler.

"It doesn't matter. You know I was a dick. He hates me for that reason." Tyler replied, kissing her head while looking around before looking back at her. "I'm sorry for not picking you up as well. My mom and dad made me welcoming the coming attendants."

She chuckled. "It's okay, I went with Bonnie."

"Alright, let's look around." He decided while pulling her hands to a room for heritage display. She agreed and a list of the original Founder's party registry caught her attention for a while.

"Is this a list of..."

"Yeah. Original Founder's Party registry." He smiled and let her reading the list.

Carefully, she read each names on the list while leaning closer to read it clearly. "Sheriff William Forbes, Mayor Benjamin Lockwood," she mentioned them outloud while reading the name below Benjamin. "Wait. Is that Damon and Stefan... Salvatore?!"

"The original Salvatore Brothers. Our ancestors. Sorry for interrupting you two." Damon's voice suddenly appear behind them as he was walking inside with Caroline. He smirked. "Mind if I borrow Alex for some chat, Tyler Lockwood?"

"Let them have some talk, Tyler. Let's dance with me because Damon didn't want to. Come on!" Caroline said smugly and take Tyler outside to the dance floor, holding his hand.

"I haven't... gee, bitch." Alex rolled her eyes watching them walking away. Her mouth dropped open to say something, but words stuck in her throat.

"Oopsie. Calm there." Damon smirked. "I'm sure he'll be fine with Caroline. You and me, we can talk. First things first... 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."

"For what?" Alex wondered.

"It's all in the past, I don't even want to bring it up, let's just say the men in the Salvatore family have been cursed with sibling rivalry. And it all started with the original Salvatore brothers." Damon explained, replying to her question and gestured to the registry list.

On the dance floor outside the heritage room, Tyler forcefully danced with Caroline since his girlfriend was borrowed for a private chat. Stefan and Elena suddenly approached them. "Tyler, where's Alex? Why are you dancing with Caroline?" Elena frowned, surprised to see Tyler dancing with someone else and not her sister.

"Caroline's boyfriend borrows her for chat." Tyler replied, upset, while pulling away from Caroline since he didn't want to dance with her.

Elena narrowed her eyes. "Do you mean Damon?"

"Yes, Elena. It's Damon. Who else?" Caroline said with an attitude while smiling smugly. "He asked me to take Tyler to dance with me while he is talking to Alex."

Stefan frowned, and then looked at his girlfriend, Elena, as she nodded.

"Tyler, can I talk to you alone?" Elena smiled to Tyler.

Having no choice, Tyler nodded. "Yeah, okay."

"Uh. Okay, Caroline, would you like champagne?" Stefan asked while grabbing two glasses of champagne from the table and offered the blond female.

"Sure, just tell me if you see my mom." She accepted his offer.

Inside the heritage room, Damon and Alex were still having conversations. He watched her walking around the room slowly while he was talking, she reminded him a lot to his ex girlfriend. "The Salvatore name is practically royalty in this town." Damon informed Alex. "Until the war, there was a battle here─"

"The battle of Willow Creek." Alex replied cleverly. "I know, we kind of talked about it in class, confederate soldiers fired on a church with civilians inside."

"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," He informed while walking towards a small replica of the church on a table. "So some of the founders on the confederacy side back then wanted them rounded up and burned alive. Stefan and Damon had each woman that they loved so much in that church and when they went to rescue them, they were shot. Murdered in cold blood."

"Who were in the church they wanted to save?" Alex asked while looking at him.

"Two women, I guess. Their women. Doesn't it always come down to the love of women?" He shrugged.

"Look, I'm sorry that you and Stefan have this thing between you. But I can't get in the middle of it, Damon, I don't want to be in the middle of it." Alex looked at him in the eyes, explaining to him that she never wanted to be in the middle of them and their issues at all. "It's obviously late for my sister, but let's just let them be happy."

"Yes. I agree." He smiled. "But you can be happy too."

Alex was nervous. She breathed out while taking a few steps back when he took some steps closer to her, their eyes met. "Excuse me, but I have to go. Tyler must be looking for me. Thank you for telling me about your ancestors, past and all that stuff." She said, walking pass by his shoulder.

Damon grabbed her hand.

"Tyler is with Caroline. Who is looking for you?" He said whispering against her ear, his other hand gently brushed her hair.

"Damon." They heard a voice behind them.

Damon knew it was his brother, totally distracting his moment with Alex.

"Hello, too, brother." Damon replied uncomfortably and released his grip from her hand although he didn't want to. He watched her walking away from him, it was like imagining himself letting go of Serene.

Alex walked to Stefan. He took her hand and walked outside and left Damon all alone in the heritage room. He was worried about her and so was Elena, it was his job to take care of her, too, because he promised Elena.

"You okay?" Stefan asked.

"Yeah."

"Did he do anything to you?" Stefan asked again being worried and concerned about Alex. He was afraid that Damon would have done something bad to her.

"No. I'm good. Thank you, Stefan. He was just telling me about your ancestors and the past stuff." Alex replied honestly with a convincing smile while walking outside where they encountered Caroline who was drinking alone after Stefan left her for a while. "Where is Tyler?"

"He's with your sister." Caroline replied, pointing to the lakeside where Elena and Tyler were talking.

Near the lakeside, Elena was walking beside Tyler while having conversations about her sister. "How are you doing with her?"

"As far as I know, we are fine." Tyler nodded.

Elena breathed out and stopped walking. "I heard about you and Vicki from Jeremy. Although Alex is okay with these... I'm not."

"No. Me and Vicki are just friends now." Tyler replied with all his honesty. "It's─ I was just trying to say hey because she was hospitalized before this afternoon. Nothing more than that."

"I believe you, but let me tell you this," Elena paused to clear her throat and looked up to him. "It's not good to bring past to present especially when it comes about relationship, Tyler, no one likes bringing up their past."

"I know, and I promise. Because I love your sister, Elena, I love her." Tyler said, looking back at her to convince about his feelings for her sister.

"Hey, Elena." Stefan's voice interrupted. He approached them with a bright smile while holding her hands. "Tyler, Alex is waiting on the dance floor. Go get her. She is no longer talking to Damon."

"Okay." Tyler nodded and quickly ran back to the mansion to see his girlfriend, Alex.

Stefan watched him leaving before looking back to Elena and kissed her head. "How's the talk? Everything's good?"

"Yeah." Elena nodded. "But I'm afraid he is still in love with Vicki which will definitely hurt Alex and her feelings, Stefan."

"And why do you think that way? Maybe he is going to friend her. Don't see something from the negative side first, alright?" Stefan smiled. "Want to drink?"

"Sure, okay." Elena giggled softly, taking his hand.

On the dance floor, Alex was dancing with Tyler. They were happy to finally have a good and romantic time together. Damon was walking into the dance floor and watched Alex and Tyler in jealousy. Alex noticed him but decided to ignore him.

"So what are you talking about with him? A date?" Tyler asked protectively.

"Come on," she scoffed. "Ofcourse not. You are cute when you are jealous. Please don't let it ruin our moment, Ty."

"Alright, sorry." He chuckled while kissing her cheek, and then continued dancing.

"They make such a cute couple." Caroline said to Damon commenting about Tyler and Alex who were dancing.

"Don't talk please." Damon said, closing his eyes.

Caroline glanced at him while leading the glass of champagne to her lips, trying to ignore her feeling everytime Damon made her feel like she wasn't good enough for him. And she felt unwanted.

Inside the mansion, Jenna was in the bar to get a drink when someone she didn't expect to meet approached her and stood next to her. "Don't shoot," Logan exclaimed jokingly to Jenna. "Only need a refill."

"Shooting implies caring." She replied shortly looking at him.

"Feigned indifference. I like it." Logan said, trying to charm Jenna.

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

"I'm sorry, Jenna. About your sister." He told her with concern and sympathy filling his voice, trying to catch her attention.

"Thank you." Jenna thanked him with a sad look on his face.

"I came to the funeral." Logan said telling her that he came to her sister's funeral.

"I know." She replied tersely while looking away. "I saw you."

"I didn't want to push my way in, but, I wanted to be there for you." He told her in concern. "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."

There was a long pause, she glared at him for the moment and began to remember things in the past between him and her. It was painful. "Her name was Monica, wasn't it?" She asked bluntly about the girl Logan cheated on her with before walking away.

While the party was still going on, Alex went to the bathroom where she found Caroline was fixing her make up as she smiled through the mirror. Alex mirrored the smile and dropped her bag on the counter, grabbing her face powder.

"So how are things with Tyler? I saw you two dancing together. You look cute together, Alex." Caroline said while applying gloss to her lips.

"Great." Alex smiled while putting on her pressed powder before grabbing the lip-gloss just like Caroline. "Thank you. You and Damon make a cute couple too."

"Really?" Caroline said, her expression was flat. "Things are unusual between me and him lately."

"Wait... what is that?" Alex frowned when she noticed something behind the scarf Caroline was wearing, it looked horrible.

"What?" Caroline was confused.

"Your scarf..." Alex tried pulling her scarf as she saw a bite mark behind it. She gasped. "Oh my god, Caroline, what happened with you?!"

"It's nothing." Caroline assured, feeling uncomfortable when she was getting questions regarding to her neck and scarf thingy.

"That's obviously not nothing! Caroline! Seriously, what the hell is that?" Alex once again tried to look closer to her neck. No answer. "Caroline Forbes!"

"Stop it! It's nothing, okay? My mom would kill me." She snapped. Alex pulled her lace white cardigan to the back which revealed bruises all over her back which shock her more. Caroline quickly pulled her cardigan back.

Alex grew impatient. "Did Damon hurt you?! Please, be honest, Caroline! Tell me."

"No! Of course he didn't." Caroline shook her head before she noticed Alex was looking at her bruises again. "Just leave me alone, Alex!"

Alex growled as she left the bathroom, looking around to find Damon. She caught him standing near the stairs and without thinking twice, she rushed towards him, shoving him away although he barely moving in the end. "There is something seriously wrong with you! You stay away from Caroline! Or I will go straight to her mother, the sheriff. You got it?" She hissed sarcastically, warning Damon about getting closer to Caroline. "Stay away from her!"

After warning him, she walked away to find her sister who was drinking with Stefan. She quickly approached them remembering Stefan is the younger brother of Damon.

"Hey, I'm so sorry for interrupting," Alex panted. "There is something wrong with Damon. So wrong. And it's bad."

"What did he do?" Stefan asked.

"There are bruises and bite marks all over Caroline's body and I think he has her all messed up in the head." Alex said, her voice was noticeably shaking. "I tried asking her about those bruises but she's not answering. I'm afraid something bad happens to her. Damon is doing harm."

"Elena, take her inside. I'll deal with it." Stefan said when he saw his brother was dragging Caroline in force near the quiet place. Elena nodded slowly while taking her sister back inside the mansion, trying to distract her from thinking about this issue.

"She took it off and I got flustered." Caroline choked on her tears. Fear filling her head to toe. She was afraid that he would do something to her. "I didn't know what to say but I swear I didn't tell her! I just told her that you didn't meant to hurt me."

Damon remained silent while walking behind her and then stopped behind her, hugging her from the back and then kissed her neck gently. "You make me crazy, you know that?" Damon purred against her neck. "It's okay, I forgive you."

"I swear, I didn't say─"

Damon whispered on her ears. "Shh, shh, it's okay."

"Unfortunately, I am so over you now." He rubbed her shoulder before he sunk his sharp fangs on her neck and growled violently. But he was weakened after tasting her blood.

"What the hell?" He cursed and started to collapse on the ground.

Stefan approached him with a smug look, watching his older brother coughing. "You know, I couldn't spike your drink... so, I spiked hers."

xxx

Later that night when the party ended, Caroline woke up alone in the lawn, seeing no one around her. She grabbed Damon's crystal from the ground.

A few minutes later, Alex and Elena walked approaching Caroline. "There you are, Caroline. We've been looking everywhere for you! Are you okay?" Elena sighed looking at her.

"Yeah." Caroline answered, almost breathless. She was terrified. "I'm fine. I'm... fine."

"Caroline, what happened?" Elena asked in concern.

"Oh god. You're shaking, come here." Alex said opening her arms for her blond best friend to hug her. Caroline hugged her back sobbed on her shoulder while Elena joined the hug.

Meanwhile, in the study room, Mayor Lockwood walked in and saw the other councils were already gathered waiting for him. He looked around and started to speak, thanking everyone for coming and waiitng. "Thank you for staying so late."

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

"Both Elena and Alex claim it's packed away in their parents' things." Mrs. Lockwood replied worriedly.

"I can get it." Logan said while sitting down on a chair.

"Good. We're going to need it." Sheriff informed carefully about the watch.

"Are you sure?" Mayor Lockwood turned to the sheriff.

"5 bodies all drained of blood? I'm certain." Sheriff answered, she was serious about it.

Logan looked at them and confirmed. "They've come back."

Outside the mansion, while trying to find his girlfriend, Tyler was dragged to the lawn by Vicki. She wasn't wearing a dress, only her casual outfit, with a smile. He wondered what she was doing here especially late in night like this. "Vicki? What are you doing? Party is over." He said informing her.

"I know." She smiled. "I came for something else."

"What is it?" Tyler was curious.

Suddenly, she hugged him. She was relieved when she hugged him, it has been long since she felt how warm the hug was. "I'm here to say sorry. I'm really sorry for being dismissive and everything. I was just hoping you can come back to me... but I was wrong. This is probably will be the last hug we'll do."

Tyler couldn't do anything and only hugged her back, not trying to do anything else, knowing he has a girlfriend whom he loved.

"I guess this is the last time to say this too." Vicki smiled to his shoulder. "I love you."

"I guess I'm distracting." Alex suddenly appeared behind them, didn't know since when.

He pulled away from the hug and turned around to see his girlfriend standing there, her eyes filled with pain. Before he could explain anything about this, she was already walking away bumping into Mrs. Lockwood. Tyler saw his mom and he would probably be dead after this.

"Honey, what happened?" Mrs. Lockwood carefully asked Alex who was crying, her face sunk onto her palms as she covered her face. She didn't answer.

Vicki who was smirking earlier suddenly turned deadpan.

Mrs. Lockwood noticed her son with Vicki. She walked approaching them with a smile, fake smile because she never liked Vicki. "It's Vicki Donovan, right? Matt's sister."

"Yes, ma'am." Vicki said politely.

"What's going on here? Can one of you explain? Why is Alex crying?" Mrs. Lockwood looked at both her son and the young girl behind him.

"Nothing, Mrs. Lockwood. Tyler and I were just saying good night. I guess this is my fault." Vicki tried to smile while slowly walking away. She was sad. "Excuse me."

Tyler watched her walking away, feeling guilty, but then looking back at his mom who was giving him a death glare. "Why are you bringing the trash to the party? Look what have you done." She scolded him but he ignored his mother and ran passing by her, looking for his girlfriend.

"Alex!" Tyler called, running to her and grabbed her hand.

"Tyler, please. I'm done pretending I'm okay. It's too hard for me to handle." Alex sobbed, her fingers trying to wipe her tears that rolled down her cheeks.

"Let me explain first. Alexandra Gilbert, please, listen to me." He pleaded, rubbing both of her hands. It ached his heart every time he saw her tears falling down.

"You two were hugging and saying I love you. What is it, are you trying to plan to get back together behind me? Please, Tyler, don't lie to me. At least, don't lie to yourself. And I'm sorry but it's already late at night, I need to go back home." She said before leaving, releasing her hands from his hands, which was hurt. She didn't want to let go, she wanted to hug him and then kiss him. But she couldn't. "Good night... Tyler."

"Alex..." His voice was almost silent and watched her walking away from him. He couldn't accept that this was the end of everything they had been through. Suddenly he ran after her, pulling her into his hug and then kissed her deeply. "Please don't leave me. I can explain everything."

Alex was crying again, replying his kiss.

"Thank you, Tyler. I- I love you." She showed a bitter and painful smile to him and rubbed his cheeks before walking away. Leaving him frozen there with his mouth fell open.

AN — Alright, all of you might gonna hate me for late updating but I'm really sorry. It's just, things have been rough. My dad is remarried and I know I wasn't supposed to write it here, I just needed you all to know, I was trying to put myself back together. I also happen to forgot the passsword of this account, my bad that I can't access to it for a while but here I am now. I'm so happy that this story is starting for real! How do you guys feel for this chapter? What do you think of it? Do review, favorite and follow because writers here live for it. So good or bad, I expect your reviews (constructive comments, questions, wonderings are welcome). As always, thank you for those who have followed, favorite and reviewed the previous chapter. It means a lot to me!

I reached 10k+ words for this chapter by the way. Well, isn't that an achievement, because I usually write the chapters between 8-9k! Once again, thank you guys for sticking with me, please leave review?

~ To Be Continued ~