Hey, thank you very much for your reviews, it helps motivate me to write and update! Every time I see a new one I get excited and happy = D

Haven't been updating lately because there is just a lot going on right now but I managed to find some time.

Onwards-

I sharply sighed.

"Bloody hell,"

I put the newspaper down on the table with shaky hands, gnawing on the inside of my cheek to the point I swore I tasted blood.

Animal attacks. There were animal attacks in Mystic Falls. A couple that were mauled to death in the woods. All evidence according to the police force lead to believe it was a pack of rabid wolves, another story strung was a vague freak accident. I knew the truth though. It was all a cover up.

I thought back to yesterday. The moment I saw Caroline Forbes. I was terrified, but I think it was then I somewhat accepted I was stuck in this reality, or that I was plain crazy. I stopped trying to fight my theories, and relented when I realised fixating on the why and how wouldn't make me feel any better or help me- it set off thoughts like falling dominoes, one revelation after the other.

One truth didn't stop rattling around in my skull.

Vampires are real.

My lungs were squeezing, my head spinning. I found that I repeated the same verse over and over and over like a sacred chant, as if it would make me see sense, as if it would force it to sink into my brain.

Vampires are real, vampires are real, vampires are real, vampires are real, vampires are real, vampiresarerealvampiresarereal-

"What'cha doing?"

The chirpy voice snapped me out of my trance. Vee was leaning over the table with her inquisitive eyes on the newspaper and her head was tilted. I blinked, and I lied through my teeth. "Crossword."

She peered at me with a raised eyebrow. "It's blank."

"I'm really bad at crosswords." I casually shrugged, trying not to allude to my inward turmoil. Vee bobbed her head boredly, and I was grateful that she couldn't hear the rapid pitter-pat of my heart.

"Here," she dragged the newspaper across the table toward her and sat down. "I'm great at them." Her gaze suddenly found mine, glancing at the table before at me, at first flickering with confusion, then slight skepticism. I felt my fingers twitch nervously.

"What?" I tried to appear nonchalant, but knew I didn't look it.

"Where's your pen?" She gestured to the table. Which clearly had no pen.

Fuck, I cursed myself mentally. "Uh, well… I forgot it in our room."

She didn't say if she read through my weak lie, even though I had a feeling she did she didn't say anything in response. Vee lowered her head, then dug through her bag and pulled out a pencil.

"Odd."

"Huh?" My eyes flickered up to her face. "What is?"

"Three lettered word across." She wrote down the word onto the newspaper and I clasped my hands together, staring at it.

My heart raced even more when I thought about the animal attacks again, coming to a cold recollection. When I remembered just who would be in town, if the pattern of the show timeline aligned to the attacks was any indication.

Damon.

Heartless, thinks of humans as replaceable blood bags, only gives a shit about his own skin and sometimes his brother, season one Damon. The one that, unless Elena was in the room, he would be tearing a chunk from your neck for looking at him wrong. One witty comment, or one slip of the tongue, and he'd rip it out. I loved him in the show, but for him to be real was horrifying.

The man was a monster.

That wasn't even the worst to come.

Damon, Katherine, witches, werewolves, the Original vampires (I shuddered at that thought), and that wasn't even the worst of it. If I lived amongst the rest of the collateral damage from town events to see it.

It wasn't like I could just up and leave either. I was stuck here, broke, in a fucking foster home. I wouldn't be able to just run away. Even if I packed my small bag, I'd have nowhere to go. No cash to get a hotel. Not enough to buy a coffee, let alone food. Even if I did set out, there would still be vampires out there. Hell, I was even more at risk if I was homeless. At least here, I had a roof, food, and someone that somewhat cared about my well being.

"Ave?"

It took me a minute to register her voice. It took me another to realise that my hands were trembling, and an extra five seconds to realise I wasn't breathing. I tried to steady myself, and put my hands underneath the table. I averted my gaze from Vee's burning stare. "I'm fine."

"You don't seem okay." She protested, obviously not wanting to drop it so quickly.

I gave her an exasperated look. I wasn't okay. There was no reality in which I would ever be okay with what was happening, but I imagined if I tried to explain what was going through my head, I'd be spending the rest of my days in an asylum. Whilst that would probably ironically be the safest area for me in this Godforsaken place- I didn't want to rot away in a straight jacket chugging pills.

"I don't want to talk about it." I settled for, knowing I wouldn't be able to lie. I hated the fact half the time I was an open book. Vee seemed to accept this with reluctance and went back to the crossword.

"Oh, Soloan is dragging us to the festival later." Vee mentioned offhandedly, probably to change the subject.

"Festival?" I asked, somewhat distractedly.

"The comet," she said, ticking off number twenty three before writing the answer in the boxes.

"Right." I said, leaning back into my chair. "Wasn't that just for highschool students?"

"Technically, yeah, but she thinks it's good bonding for the uh," she used her fingers to represent air quotes. "'Family'. I mean, like, I get it. A small celestial rock releasing a tail of gas is a pretty picture from here… but, like, I don't see how it would… make us bond, you know?" She shrugged disinterestedly.

The comet festival. Isn't that where Stefan and Elena went?

My head started to throb as the details became blurred, and I stood from my chair, ignoring Vee's call after me as I rushed to the stairs. "Wait, where are you going?"

I skipped a few creaky steps, pushing the door to our room open to search for my notepad. If I was going to be here, knowing the future is a huge advantage to avoid death. Especially where I was.

I folded over the book, snatching a pen from the bedside table, plopped myself down onto my bed, then started to messily scribble bullet points down. I settled for season one facts for now; Animal attacks. Damon. Vicki. Comet festival. Tanner. Lexi. Alaric. Tomb opening. Fundraiser. John. Something to do with a vampire ear-bursting watch. Stefan blood relapse. Isobel. There was more, but my brain strained with details. It'd been a while since I watched the show. It was hard to narrow down an exact timeline and specific details. I didn't remember all of it. It'd been so long since I watched the first season.

"What in the world are you doing?"

"Homework." I quietly mumbled.

"You look possessed."

"School is scary."

"Wait, you skipped the first day, you didn't get homework?"

She got me there. "Uh, the school passed it onto Soloan."

"Okay." She sounded hesitant, but left it alone. "I'll be downstairs, weirdo."

I didn't acknowledge her leaving, and kept writing as much as I could remember. I also added solutions in the margins. When I got to the third page I stared at the results and halfheartedly agreed that I probably did look possessed when I was scribbling all of this down.

Avoid Mystic Grill as much as possible. Damon would be there quite a bit, he was a drinker. A lot of the main cast seemed to be drawn there as well.

The bonfire was yesterday, so Vicki is in hospital. Avoid the Donovans. Matt seemed like a sweetheart, but he is inevitably dragged into the supernatural drama. It wasn't like there was a guarantee we'd even bump into each other anyway. Despite the fact it was a small town, he didn't seem in the mood for new friends in his post break up state. Vicki didn't seem the friendly type either, so that was no problem.

Tanner will die-

I pressed my lips together, faltering.

Tanner was going to die.

He was going to die.

A man is actually going to die.

Someone is going to be dead.

I gnawed the inside of my cheek, feeling my brow furrow. I felt my fingers coil tightly around my pencil. The words continuously echoed numbly in my skull, and I couldn't quite get them to leave. Damon was going to kill him, just to prove a point to Stefan that he was too far gone, that there was nothing to save.

Tanner seemed like a dick, on the show, he didn't seem like he cared for anything other than coaching and being a first grade A-hole to his students.

Don't get involved. I tried to reason with myself.

People died every day. This would just be one of the usual casualties. I read about it in the paper. I saw that kind of thing on the news. Burning buildings. Bombings. People throwing acid in faces. Stabbings. Natural disasters. They were all very common and I was desensitised to hear about it.

But I have never known about someone's death before it happened.

Don't get involved-

Another thought popped up, what if he wasn't there when Damon is?

Don't get involved.

My jaw stiffened, and I rubbed a frustrated hand over my face. I couldn't help my eyes from drifting back in the direction of Tanner's name. There it was. A dangerous, teetering curiosity nudging in the back of my mind.

What if I can?

I hadn't considered the possibility, and quite frankly, I couldn't stop thinking about it.

Is that… why I'm here?

Was it self conceited, to ask that question? Egotistical, to assume that my life had this more purposeful goal than others?

But what if it is?

My eyes flickered to Tanner's name once more.

Don't. Get. Involved.

I regretfully ripped out the page, and forced myself to forget about Tanner.

"Sorry honey, we don't sell vervain anymore."

I gazed around the store. It was a small shop, with flowers spread around in vases, plastic coverings and cheap pots. My nose stung, and my eyes watered for the tenth time since I walked in, but I held it back and turned back to the clerk. When I first saw him, his appearance had taken me aback. He was a rather burly and bald man covered in tattoos, with big black gauges in his ears. The plaid reminded me of a lumberjack when he gave me a warm and friendly smile.

"That's too bad," I politely smiled, but in truth I was vexed. This was the last florist in town, as well as the sixth. I had spent hours scrying, asking for directions, checking the town map that I had stored in the bag I'd borrowed from Soloan.

"Yeah, the town stopped growing them, and since there wasn't any demand we stopped selling." He gave me a close lipped smile in apology. "If I can interest you we have some lovely lantana instead? If you tell me who you're shopping for, maybe I can help?"

I shook my head, knowing the vampires that inhabited the town previously must have taken care of this. Vervain seemed hard to come by here. I briefly recalled a vague telling of how Damon burned most of the fields containing it, and compelled people not to grow it. Maybe that extends to the florists.

My eyes flickered between him and the flowers heedfully. He seemed normal enough… but how could one know if someone was compelled…?

"Thank you anyway," I forced a smile, then turned on my feet and walked out. The bell rang to announce my departure and I sighed when the door closed behind me.

My backup plan was the local library, which was a fifteen minute walk away. I groaned, wiping my damp forehead in irritation. It was a hot day, seemingly like every day here so far. It was tedious to walk around in all of it, and I felt groggy by the time I got there. The double doors slid open, and relief washed through me at the cooling AC that brushed my sweaty neck. I approached the desk. A middle aged woman with mousy brown hair looked up from the computer she was on and adjusted her glasses.

"Hello, how can I help you?"

"I need to use the computer."

"Do you have a membership?" She starting typing on the keyboard, then clicked something with her mouse before patiently glancing at me.

"No," I admitted.

"To use the computers or take out any books you need a membership." She simply said. I read her name tag as Karen licked her thumb and sorted through the pile of paper next to her. "But you can easily set one up, all you need to do is fill this form-" I took the paper from her, staring jadedly. "-and I'll be happy to put you in our system."

I nodded slowly, holding in my frustration, and she held out a pen with a knowing smile.

"Thank you." I tried to be polite again, and she nodded her head before returning to whatever work she was doing.

I wandered to the closest table and almost slammed the paper down, raking my hand through my crazed copper-blonde curly hair. Bloody forms, I felt disgruntled, and searched through the bag for the envelope with the house's address so I could copy it onto the form.

Browsing 2009 web was surreal when I was used to 2018. However, I went straight to ebay and started to make orders when I found myself successful in my search.

I made sure to order as much as I could, before staring at the checkout button.

Now the payment.

Six dollars, and fifty three cents.

Before I could let myself feel too guilty, I shoved my cash that I found when I woke up in this mess, into Soloans purse, as I entered her card details into my new ebay account. Hopefully, she wouldn't notice too much. The money was still here, just… not in her bank.

It wasn't stealing, I assured myself. Just… a swap.

Right?

I swallowed, and confirmed the purchase.

"Who are you looking for?"

The green park was dimly lit by street lamps, students had their own little area with a few curious pedestrians sitting by the sides. The ambience of laughter and chatter put a strange vice around my heart. I was surrounded by people, but it didn't help the feeling of loneliness that lingered.

I dragged my eyes from the people shifting through the crowd. Vee sat down on the low stone bench with me. I crossed my legs, bringing my eyes back to the crowd. "Soloan. Is she and the others here yet?"

It wasn't exactly the truth. Vee and I came here together early, since Soloan had to pick up Noah from therapy, and Kyle went with her. I was actually looking for anyone of the main cast. After I'd seen the Forbes family I couldn't help but be curious about the others. Was Elena with Bonnie? Or was she with Stefan? Was Damon roaming the shadows watching her? Or was he already with Caroline and manipulating her from behind the scenes? What about Matt? Wasn't he looking for his sister? I thought about Jeremy, wondering if he was behind a dumpster somewhere getting high.

I swatted the thoughts. God, I wasn't even involved and all I could think about was the Mystic Falls Scooby Gang. Even though I pretty much confirmed myself, it was still having trouble sinking into my brain.

"She texted a minute ago. Five minutes." Vee said. "Just came over to tell you I'm gonna take a leak." The fourteen year old bounced up from the wall.

"I might as well take a toilet break before Soloan and the others get here." I blew out the flame on my candle. It faded, and I stood up. I followed her, not really knowing where I was going still and not used to the town.

I didn't expect for her to drag me here.

Mystic Grill.

Rule number one; if I could help it, never come here.

Vee glanced at me with a small frown on her face. "Ave?"

I hesitated and cleared my throat when I realised I was staring silently. "You know, I heard things about this place."

A confused frown lined her face. "What things?"

"Someone got food poisoning." I lied.

"Well, it's lucky I'm only using the toilet then." Vee smirked, either not taking notice of the apprehension digging into me or hopefully not noticing.

I tried to calm myself down. What was the harm? Damon didn't know Vee, she was a kid who didn't have any ties to the characters, that I knew of. We were just two innocent passerbyers. Basic background props. Logically, I knew I had nothing to worry about.

"I'll wait for you here." I told her as we stepped inside, the door swinging shut behind me. My hands clenched my unlit candle.

I vaguely remembered coming here before my mental breakdown, and after a quick glance around at the bar a familiar shadow caught my eye. My heart skipped a beat, and dipped into ice. I felt myself still, like a deer in headlights. My breathing shallowed, a weird feeling mixed between awe and horror surged in my chest.

I could only see him from the side but it was still unnerving to be in the same vicinity to say the least. Despite that he looked so relaxed and just like any other human, I knew better, I knew it better because I happened to know of his true nature. My throat hitched as I stared, as if expecting him to lunge out at me.

I tried not to let my eyes keep drifting toward him, but failed.

His long legs were bent, resting lazily on the supporting frames of his stool. Dark umber hair curled underneath his ears, a few strands in his faraway eyes. The warm lights of the restaurant licked the back of his leather jacket, and he was noticeably drinking a glass of something, if I had to take an educated guess I'd have to say it was bourbon.

I almost couldn't quite believe the sight, and realised that if I didn't look away, it would look like I was gawking. I'd prefer for him to chalk it down to a look of attraction from one of his many admirers, but if there was one thing that I hated about myself; I was an open book.

There was no doubt he'd see the claw of fear clutching around my heart. He was a predator. He was a vampire. He knew the look. If he didn't see it, he would most definitely hear my heart pounding.

I forced my eyes away, trying to calm my heart, and found myself suddenly looking into the cheerful expression of a stranger. I jumped out of my skin I realised she was standing there, but she didn't seem to notice, "well, hi there stranger!"

I cleared my throat, politely inclining my head with a smile. She was a waitress, and seemed familiar, so my head quickly put the pieces together. She was the one who told me where I was my first day. That was a fun little bubble of denial. "Oh. Hello."

"How you doing, kiddo?" I did a quick scan of her face, trying to put a name to it. B… something. "Did you manage to sort everythin' out?" Her voice lowered a little, and I felt a tad awkward when she leaned in and put her hand on my shoulder, "the whole condition thing?"

I nodded, faintly listening to the music in the background. I recognised the song, it was one of my favourites by The Doors. Break on Through, I recalled. It blended with muffled chatter by patrons, and the commotion over by the pool table. A couple of men being loud and cheerful. Lad's night out? I distantly wondered.

"Yeah, kind of." My hands were clammy, a nervous and uneasy tick in my fingers. I cursed the bar for being so close to the entrance. She talked more but I was a bit distracted, and I had to look twice. Another familiar face walked in. My eyes swiftly shot to Damon and I felt myself tense when she spoke to him.

A few images through my mind, nulling the sounds of the grill. My head whirled, surrounded by a heavy fog. A shrill noise. Running water. Vicious snarling. A scream.

My mouth felt dry. My blood gushed. I couldn't breathe. I could see Damon's head turn in her direction, and she looked very uncomfortable all of a sudden, rushing off toward the ladies toilets. The images flickered in my mind again, this time it burned in my blood and spun the room. I gasped for air, leaning on a nearby table. Distantly I heard the concerned waitress, and feel the light pressure of her hand on my arm.

"-call the hospital?" Her voice faded back in. I peered up at her, my vision refocused.

That telltale heartbeat of mine pulsed in my ears, and I watched Damon, who was downing the remaining bourbon, there was a familiar hardened edge to his eyes.

Vee is in there.