01: And Through the Looking Glass We See She's Painfully Returned.

All of Mystic Falls erupted in whispers and gossip when they saw her face again. It had been nearly three years that she was gone. Three years since the incident that sent her away. She looked just as disheveled as she had when she left. Her ice grey eyes still set people on edge. Some shouted names at her when they saw her walk through town but she didn't hear them. She just kept walking straight for her destination. There was at least one person in the town who visited her and gave her a home when she returned. She was elated when Zach Salvatore answered the door to the boarding house and gave her a warm hug.

"Alice," he smiled at her, letting her in. "I'm so glad you made it here alright. Did anyone hassle you on the way?"

She shrugged, her nails scratching anxiously at the strap of her bag on her shoulder. "Crazypants is back in Mystic Falls."

"Don't talk about yourself like that and pay no mind to those who do." He held his hand out for her bag. "Let me show you to your room. I just have to warn you, my...nephew, Stefan, is staying here as well. He hasn't been in town in many years. He doesn't know about you or your family."

She nodded calmly, handing him her frayed, black backpack. "That's fine. You never really spoke about your family."

They started to walk upstairs. "There isn't much to discuss. Stefan is just blowing through town for a bit. It's his brother Damon that I hope doesn't follow."

"Why's that?"

"Damon Salvatore is nothing but trouble; always has been. But they haven't spoken in some time." She nodded again and they came to a room towards the end of the hall. "Make yourself right at home, Alice. I have some errands to run today so I won't be around much."

Another simple nod. "That's fine, Zach." She turned and smiled at him as he set her bag on a chair. "I truly appreciate all you've done for me. You're the only person that's never thought I was insane."

He gave her a sad smile. "There's a lot of things in this world that you can't really explain. All you need to understand is that you're not insane, kiddo. Bad things happen to good people and sometimes those bad things are things people can't comprehend. I'll see you tonight, alright? I'll come home with pizza!"

She couldn't help but smile. "Oh sweet pizza, what a treat!" She laughed. "Extra cheese!"

"You got it, kid," he smiled at her as he walked back downstairs.

Alice looked around the nice room; there was a freshly made queen bed with black and grey blankets, a desk and chair, bookshelf filled with old novels, a nice closet and bathroom, and a long dresser with a TV and iPod dock on it. She pulled her messy, dark hair into a low, loose ponytail and put away the few clothes she had in the backpack. As she almost finished she heard rustling a few rooms down. She stopped, wondering if Stefan was there or if Zach had forgotten something. Curiously she stepped into the hall and made her way towards the noise.

"Zach?" She asked in a small voice when she reached the open bedroom. "Did you forget something?" She stood in the doorway, finding a man going through the bookshelf in the room. He turned to look at her, instantly curious. "Stefan?" She questioned hopefully.

The dark haired man chuckled, eyeing her up and down. "No, but I'm sure they'll both be back eventually. Who might you be, babydoll?"

She wasn't sure if she should feel complimented or irritated by the pet name. "My name is Alice. Zach Salvatore is a friend of mine; he's letting me stay here. Who are you if you're not Zach or Stefan than?"

He smirked at her and took a seat at the desk with a journal in his hands. "Name's Damon."

Her breath caught in her throat. "Stefan's brother."

"Well he's not one to brag but at least you've heard of me."

"I only just arrived her. Zach told me his nephew Stefan was also staying here for a bit and that his estranged brother was trouble."

Damon put his hand over his chest in mock hurt. "My reputation precedes me then. You could say I've always been the black sheep of the family."

Alice scoffed, looking out the large window behind him. "I know the feeling."

He set down the journal, looking at the dark haired girl curiously. He stood abruptly, motioning for her to follow him. Not having anything better to do, Alice followed him downstairs to the parlour. She sat on the couch as Damon poured two glasses of bourbon. He handed one to her and sat on the opposite side of the couch. "You look like you need to let go of some shit in your life. One strange outcast to another?" He smirked and held up his cup.

Alice shrugged and tapped her glass to his. "I grew up in Mystic Falls," she told him as she sipped the bourbon cautiously. She'd tried some alcohol before but never bourbon, especially not something as old and expensive as she figured what Damon had. "I had to leave for a little while."

"What happened?"

"My dad was always a piece of shit, smacking me, my mom, and my baby sister around. One night they got into it really bad." She took a larger swig as the memories resurfaced. "My mom told me to hide my little sister, keep her safe. I locked her in a closet and went looking for a defense weapon. I heard someone break in downstairs and started to panic. My mom ran out with a bloody nose and hid me in a linen closet. She begged me not to make any noise until it was all over." Another swig. "I watched through the slats as the door protecting my sister was kicked in effortlessly and she and my parents were brutally murdered."

Damon didn't take his eyes off of hers as they looked around anxiously, something dark and far away deep within them. She was haunted. "I'm so sorry to hear that," he told her sympathetically. "Stefan left town after we lost our parents too."

"I didn't leave willingly," she admitted quietly, pulling her knees to chest. "I probably could have if this town didn't lie but instead they had to ruin what was left of me and my family by declaring their deaths as some animal attack."

He nearly choked on his drink. "What do you mean?"

"I watched everything with my own eyes," her voice broke a little. "I watched the monster that tore my family to shreds and it was no animal that the town claimed. It was a person." She finally looked up and met Damon's eyes. "A woman."

"A woman?" He questioned with a dark curiosity.

Alice looked away suddenly, swirling what was left in her glass around. "They told me I was crazy and sent me away."

"They didn't even look into it? I mean, I know it sounds farfetched - how would one woman kill three people, one of which being a grown man?"

"With her teeth," she responded absentmindedly. "I know what she is; I know this town's history. And I'm going to make them all believe me when I drag the bitch through the town square with a stake through her chest." She finished the bourbon in her cup and sighed. "I'm sorry for all that," she shook her head. "Everyone else in town thinks I'm mental so you might as well too." She stood to leave when Damon grabbed her wrist.

"I don't think you're crazy, Alice," he told her comfortingly. Her grey eyes widened with surprise. "I believe you."

"Seriously?" She asked with a hint of hope. "What made you believe me?"

"Oh I believe entirely in the supernatural. This town is crawling with vampires."

Her eyes widened with light. "You're joking!"

Damon smirked and his face started to change. "Not at all, babydoll."

Alice nearly couldn't breathe. The glass slipped from her hand and shattered on the hardwood floor.

Alice awoke with a small groan. She sat up in the bed, realizing she was in her room at the boarding house. She was still dressed in her day clothes and the sun was nearly set outside. She cracked her neck but it still ached. She looked around her room and found her clothes still out and one dresser drawer open; she had been in the middle of putting her clothes away. Why hadn't she finished? Her feet touched the floor and she heard glass shattering outside.

The ravenette scrambled to her window, eyes bug wide when she saw Damon and who she presumed to be Stefan. They had crashed out of one of the second story windows, resuming their tussle in the yard. She ran down the hall, her feet padding against the hardwood, to the room she found Damon in earlier. It was that window they had broken.

Her hand flew to her mouth as a gasp escaped her lips. Something chimed and she pulled a long cord from beneath her shirt. Gently, she thumbed over a piece of blue looking crystal with a bell hung off the top. She took a shaky breath as memories from the day slowly came back to her. Her hand ghosted over her neck as the memory of Damon tearing into it haunted her into feeling it again. She ran back to the bathroom in her room to search her skin for marks only to find none. The crystal dangled from her neck, the bell jingling.

"Oh, Alice!" Damon's voice echoed down the hall, making the girl jump. "You stepped in glass, babydoll! You might want to let us look at it."

She looked down immediately to her feet. He was right, her right foot was bleeding. She had left bloody splotches right to herself. She started to panic; Damon must have thought she forgot everything but she didn't. Her crystal protected her mind from his compulsion. She wasn't sure what to do and froze when he found her in the bathroom.

"Let me look at your foot, babydoll," he told her silkily. He looked down and noticed the crystal she wore. "That's a lovely stone."

Her hand clutched the gem protectively. "It's blue kyanite. It-"

"Keeps someone from poking around in your noggin," he smirked. "I know. Even more clever than vervain. I didn't think those kinds of things actually worked."

She laughed dryly. "Yeah, me either. Never thought I'd have the opportunity to really test it."

"Damon!" She heard Stefan call.

The elder brother rolled his eyes as Stefan ran into the room. "Relax, brother," he eyed her warningly. "I was only trying to help Alice clean up her foot. Afterall it's only because of the glass we broke. It's the least I could do."

"How do you know her?"

Alice looked past the raven haired brother to find his younger sibling, concern in his green eyes. "He was snooping through your journal when I got here. We met and I went back to unpacking. Did Zach tell you?"

"Yes he did," the younger brother replied calmly. "I just wanted to make sure Damon didn't harass you on your first day back in Mystic Falls."

She didn't look away from Stefan, feeling his brother's eyes locked on her. She offered a small smile. "No," she also remembered Damon's voice attempting to compel her, "I got tired of unpacking so I took a nap. I only met Damon in passing earlier." She turned back to the elder brother. "If you wouldn't mind looking at my foot I would really appreciate it."

Damon turned to Stefan with a victorious smirk before grabbing a first aid kit from under the sink while Alice jumped onto the counter. "Don't like seeing your own blood?" He teased her purposely.

"No, it's actually pulling something out of myself that makes me cringe. Blood doesn't bother me in the slightest." She smiled devilishly.

When he heard Stefan was out of earshot, Damon chuckled and looked at her small foot. "When did you start wearing that nifty crystal?"

"It was the only thing I was permitted to wear for jewelry in the loony bin because one of the nurses gave it to me. She got special permission for me to wear it."

"So the town seriously sent you to an institution?" He questioned with minor disbelief as he grasped the glass with tweezers.

She nodded sadly. "I kept on their case for too long that my family was killed by a vampire. Everyone thought I'd gone completely schitzo with my research. They got tired of hearing me and seeing what it was doing to me. They knew the truth and they needed me quiet. With my family dead I was turned over to the state and Mayor Lockwood recommended I be institutionalized. He said it would help me become an adult because I was barely sixteen. I'd always be into the occult and they threw it in my face." She winced when the glass popped out of her skin.

He cleaned off the blood and the gash with peroxide. "Do you remember what that nurse's name was that gave you the crystal?"

"Of course; Nurse Branson. She was beautiful and the nicest of all the nurses. Not just because she believed me but because she was a sweet woman."

Damon looked up at her curiously for a moment before bandaging her foot. "She believed that a vampire killed your family?"

"Yeah, she actually started to help me, too the more she listened. Before I was released she told me my answers should be in Mystic Falls. I told her I didn't want to go back."

"Yet here you are." He stood and leaned against the wall, prompting her to continue.

Alice sighed. "The day I was released she found me just before I left. She said she was onto something and would meet me in Mystic Falls but I absolutely had to go. And here I am."

He smirked. "I think we might get along alright, babydoll."