MYSTIC FALLS HIGH SCHOOL

Aella giggled as she made Stefan dance to the music blaring through the school. They had already gone through the haunted corridor laughing hysterically as Caroline became a loving third wheel to them and clung between them, screaming in horror as students dressed up as zombies and other horrible things, jumped out at them.

"So nothing scared you yet?" Stefan asked as he pulled Aella close.

Using her long blonde wig to tickle his nose she giggled and playfully shook her head, "Me scared, never."

"Elena told me that every year the boys try to scare you and fail every year," Stefan wafted the hair away, wiggling his nose in irritation, which had Aella 'ahhing' how cute the move was.

"Nope!" Aella popped her 'p' as she wrapped her arms around his neck dancing close with him, "They don't know my biggest fear, and never will."

Stefan raised his brow, "And how can you be so sure?"

"Only one person knows" Aella whispered to him, as though Tyler and Matt were listening in on their conversation. "And she would never give me up."

"She?" Stefan summarised, then guessed, "Caroline?"

"Ha!" Aella exclaimed. "As if I would tell that Barbie something she could use to get back at me."

"Bonnie?" Stefan guessed again.

"Na-uh," Aella smirked. "I love you Stefan, but I ain't telling you that."

Stefan smirked, and it was a smirk that unnerved Aella, "Grams?"

Aella's eyes widened as he guessed correctly, "How did yo-" Someone tapped her shoulder and she turned around mid-question Stefan, thinking it was someone asking her when she got her costume from - for the umpteenth time- when she was faced with the masks of three, eerie, appalling, atrocious, disgusting, abhorrent, horrific, evil, CLOWNS.

"Agghhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!" Aella screamed terrified.

Stefan realized his mistake when Aella didn't scream then laugh with him, but suddenly started screaming and crying, even when Jeremy, Tyler, and Matt removed the masks laughing alongside him. "Aella," he pulled her into his chest as she started sobbing, her body shaking from the power of the sobs.

Jeremy, Tyler and Matt's laughter stopped abruptly with his own as they realized that Aella wasn't just scared of clowns, she was terrified. Feeling sick with guilt as they quickly removed their masks, moving closer to Aella and talking over one another apologizing. They looked to Stefan, who could only shrug as Aella continued to sob, their apologizes not doing anything.

"Aella, I'm...we're...so sorry," Stefan apologized reaching down to take hold of her cheek when he realized they were not wet, in fact, Aella's lips were pulled into a smile, and Stefan realized that her shaking was not from crying but laughing.

"GOTCHA!"

Aella pulled herself out of Stefan's arms and screamed out the words as Elena, Bonnie and Caroline jumped out shouting the same words; Bonnie holding up her cell phone recording the whole thing. Aella stood with her best friends as he and the boys just stared between the camera and the girls in shock, they had been bested at their own scare game.

"How?... Wh-" Tyler stuttered out.

Bonnie smiled, focusing the camera on him, "You guys always get one of us every year, how does it feel when the tables are turned?"

"Wait?" Jeremy frowned looking to Aella. "Are you afraid of clowns?"

"No!" Aella exclaimed appalled. "As if I'd have a normal fear like that! Do you not know who I am Jeremy?"

"That sounds about right," Matt scoffed, but his eyes were drawn to Elena and the outfit that matched his, a look that Caroline did not miss.

Aella suddenly slapped Stefan who pulled back rubbing his arm, "You tried to scare me?"

"Ow," Stefan rubbed her shoulder, she had used her magic to hit him and had actually hurt him. "They said it would be their only chance to prank you."

Aella glared at him for a moment until she smiled brightly and jumped into his arms, "You are perfect for me."

Stefan stumbled back as he laughed in shock at her change of emotion, "What?"

"What?" Tyler and Jeremy echoed, equally as confused.

"Not only is he super hot, but he'll also even try to prank me," Aella boasted. "Do you know how rare that is in a boyfriend?"

Bonnie snorted, shaking her head at her cousin, "Only you would love having a boyfriend who tries to prank you."

"I know!" Aella smiled brightly.

Stefan leaned down to Aella and whispered into her ear, "I'm never going to 100% understand you am I?"

Aella looked up into his eyes and smirked, "No, Sir. You got a problem with that?"

Stefan kissed her lips, "No Ma'am."

Aella kissed him back when Tyler threw his mask on the floor in annoyance, "30 Bucks wasted."

Aella pulled back from Stefan and picked the mask off the floor, wiping it free of dirt and mock cobwebs, she looked to Tyler and Jeremy with a devilish smirk, "You know, I may not be scared of clowns but..."

The boys thought over her words moment before they realized her meaning as Aella placed on the mask and ran after the younger students in the school, especially the girls, scaring them. Jeremy placed his mask on and ran after her as Tyler stole Matt's and ran with him.

"I should be surprised that Aella would use the prank on the boys to scare small children, but I'm not," Caroline rolled her eyes as she stepped up to Stefan with Bonnie.

Bonnie shrugged with a laugh before following after the group shouting over her shoulder to the two of them, "I gotta get this on video."

Stefan was about to ask if Caroline wanted a drink when he saw her staring over at Elena and Matt, who were now standing close and laughing together, "You okay Caroline?"

Caroline watched the two exes for a few more seconds then turned to Stefan, "How am I supposed to compare to that? They were together for so long!"

"But they also broke up," Stefan offered to which Caroline scoffed.

"Elena broke up with him, not versa visa!"

Stefan had to force his lips close as Caroline got the adverb mixed up, but didn't have the heart to tell her, "I do think he likes you."

"Did you not see and hear the 'Hey' debacle today?" The blonde frowned, "He hates me after that."

"Hate's a strong word."

"What do you think I should do?"

Stefan thought over his answer, "Just talk to him like his friend. The way you spoke when he helped you after the carwash."

"Friends?" Caroline screwed her nose up at the word. "Are you friends with Aella?"

"Of course," Stefan laughed. "If there's one thing I've learned all my years being alive, if your not friends with the girl you love, then it's not going to be an exciting relationship."

"AELLA!"

Caroline and Stefan winced as a group of girls screeched Aella's name following Aella's laughter, "Speaking of interesting," Caroline smirked.

Stefan nodded and nodded his head to where the yell came from, "I better go find Aella, you should talk to Matt-" he motioned to Matt who was now walking away from Elena- "like his friend to whom he says 'hey' to."

Caroline nodded, and the two walked away from each other only to stop when Caroline shouted Stefan, "Hey Stefan?"

The vampire turned to her with a raised brow, "Thank you for listening to me."

"Hey," Stefan chuckled with a slight shrug. "Aella made it very clear that your her number 1, so looks like your my number 2."

Caroline chuckled with a nod and start making her way to Matt realizing how lucky she was to have Aella and now Stefan in her life. 

DONOVAN HOUSEHOLD

Vicki groaned in pain as she laid on her childhood bed, Matt had gone to the Halloween party she had sent Aella to, only Matt had left in anger. As the pain moved from her stomach to her back, she realized that her decision could not be made with one hundred perfectness certainty until she had made amends with Matt. Yeah, she knew she couldn't exactly tell him the truth, but she knew she couldn't just 'leave' without their relationship being in a better place than this.

As the pain rippled all around her upper body, she made a decision that she would regret for the remaining hours of her life. Picking up a notepad and pen, just in case she wasn't able to make it to meet Matt, and wrote her goodbye letter.

'Dear Matty... Matt... Little brother,

I know we've never really been the sentimental types, but bear with me for a just a few paragraphs here. I have a lot to say and so little time left to say it...

I consider myself one of the luckiest people around to be able to watch you grow up. I'm not gonna lie, being the older sibling isn't necessarily a piece of cake, but it's so, so worth it. I remember that first year of High School or 'Hell School' as we called it, and thinking to myself, "Oh my god... Matty is going to have to go through this hell-hole, too." The idea of you having to deal with similar hardships crushed me. Little did I know that you would face an entirely different school experience and hardship would not be about school... but me.

You never had it easy. I watched you crumble so many times, and I would beat myself up over the fact that either mom or I would be causing it. We should have been the ones helping you with problems not creating them. I'm so sorry for everything Matty. I'm so sorry I wasn't the sister you deserved. I could be so, so cruel, and I will never understand why that was. You took it. You took it and never fought back. You showed more strength in those two years than I will ever be able to muster in a lifetime, and for that, I am so proud of you.

It's now time for me to make you proud.

I'm leaving Matty, I have to leave Mystic Falls, or I'll become someone worse than I already am, and I can't do that to you anymore. You'll probably not hear from me for a while but know in the end I made the right choice. I became a better person, thanks to you.

Study hard, finish high school and become successful, I know you can do it. And those friends of yours aren't too bad... especially the loud one.

I love you, Matthew.

Your big sister,

Vicki.'

Folding the letter up, she wrote Matt's name on the front before kissing his name, her tears wetting the message as she did so. As she opened her childhood front door, she looked back into the house, the house she hated and tried to escape for so long, and silently said goodbye to it. With her bag of clothes in hand to make it look like she had left, Vicki closed the door to the Donovan Household and started making her way to the High School. Her body throbbing in pain with every step, hoping she would be able to make it to her brother before it was too late, or she made the worst mistake of her life.

MYSTIC FALLS HIGH SCHOOL

Jeremy would never believe anyone if they told him he'd have one of the funnest nights in Mystic Falls High, But all bets were off when you were in the company of Aella Bennett. Since their failed attempt at scaring Aella he and said brunette was currently running around scaring as many people as they could with the terrifying clown masks. They'd targeted cheerleaders, freshmen, members of the football team, and anyone else that Jeremy didn't like... which Jeremy realized was quite a lot of people at Mystic Falls High.

Aella was giggling into his shoulder after their successful attempt at scaring the chaperones when he saw her, and a feeling he hadn't felt since he became drug-free spread through his body. Vicki Donovan hadn't been seen for nearly a week, and Jeremy had silently hoped she'd just gone on a drug bend and was not lying dead in a ditch. He had joined Matt and Tyler searching for her, but they came up empty each time, but their worries were eased when rumors spread that Vicki's fellow drug users were also missing, a sure sign that they were all on a drug binge.

Yet as Vicki made her way through the dark corridor nudging her way past other students she looked sober, pale, but sober, and desperately looking for someone.

Aella adjusted her wig as she took off the clown mask, who knew a cheap plastic thing could be so much fun.

"So who's next?" She asked Jeremy as she looked around for her next target. When Jeremy didn't answer, she nudged him and repeated her question. "Jer?"

At her nudge Jeremy looked to her his brows furrowed, "Vicki's here."

"What?" Aella laughed lightly in confusion, Vicki was at home deciding whether to become a vampire or die.

Wow! What a party pooper though.

Looking around Jeremy, she was shocked to see that he was right and Vicki was unknowingly making her way towards them, without thinking Aella switched positions with Jeremy and pulled his face towards her so he could look into her eyes, "This is going to sound crazy right now, but you have to trust me. Do you trust me?"

Jeremy nodded without hesitation, "Always."

Tears prickled in Aella's eyes in his trust and pulled out her phone, "You need to find Stefan right now and tell him Vicki is here and he needs to call me, and you need to avoid her at all costs."

Jeremy was confused, "Wha-"

"-Please Jer," Aella begged as Vicki turned down another corridor. "Don't question just do and I promise I will explain everything after."

Jeremy had never seen Aella so desperate and just nodded, taking a few steps backward before turning and running to where he and Aella were with Stefan last.

Aella took a deep breath watching Jeremy run away then turned and forced past students to follow and find Vicki before she did anything she would regret.

Jeremy pushed past a couple making out and turned down the corridor he'd seen Stefan in last. Trying to look past the people in the hallway he was forced to the side as a large group of freshmen ran away from something, his head got twisted in some of the foil decorations, and when he pulled it away from his neck, a sharp pain burnt his throat. His hand pushed down the pain as his other aggressively pulled the remaining decorations away, only to feel a slight wetness in his palm and as he pulled it away from his neck the light reflected off the redness in his hand, and he realized the decoration had cut him.

Wiping the blood away with his shirt he ran down the corridor, unable to find Stefan and turned the corner only to be pulled back into a bright room.

..............................................

..............................................

Aella turned a corner when she saw Stefan, Bonnie and Caroline talking amongst each other, with a sigh of relief she ran over to the group, and almost like he could feel her anxiety, Stefan turned just before she reached them and pulled her towards him.

"Are you okay?"

Caroline and Bonnie quickly moved closer to the pair, to listen in and to keep their conversation private from the teenagers around them.

Aella took a deep breath, "Vicki is here?"

"What?!" Caroline exclaimed for all of them as Stefan frowned.

"What is she doing here?" Bonnie asked the question they were all thinking.

"I don't know" Aella shrugged when a sharp pain had her holding her neck with a gasp. Stefan was about to question her when Aella went into a vision, the group came in tighter to hide Aella blank look and Stefan took hold of her in case she lost balance only for Aella to return to them, eyes wide and skin starting to pale.

MYSTIC GRILL

"So you need vervain?"

Damon wasn't easily surprised, but it looked like today was full of surprises as he was quickly able to get the Mayor's wife to trust him.

"Yes," Carol nodded as she played with the olives in her drink. "My husband and I only have left what his parents left him, And Zach had promised that he could supply us with more."

"Well, I talk to him all the time," Damon mentioned casually. "So why don't I just ask him?"

"Hmm?"

Damon nodded, "Mmm. How much do you need?" He needed to know numbers, "I mean, how many people you think?"

Carol drunkenly nodded at his question, not concerned at all why Zach hadn't told him any of this, "Well, there's our children, of course."

"Of course."

"And, um, friends, family, and everyone on the council."

The council? Here he was surprised again.

"The council?" He questioned.

Carol coyly smirked at Damon, "Zach knows how many." Damon leaned closer when Carol giggled and took another drink of her martini, "But I am so late. My husband is not going to be happy with me."

"Well, are you happy with your husband?" If in doubt - flirt.

"You're flirting with me."

"You flirted with me first," Damon almost wanted to bop her nose, then he realized he was flirting with a mom and not a sorority girl.

"True."

"Let me escort you to the school," Now he was up to date with all the news it was time to kill his brother and Pixie. "It's not safe out there alone. I mean, I've seen 10 vampires tonight."

Carol giggled as she took another sip, "Heh. well, if only the real ones were as easy to find."

Damon realized she hadn't revealed everything yet, "How's that search goin'?"

Carol took a bit gulp in disappointment, "Oh, we had the founder's party, and anyone who arrived during the day was eliminated as a suspect."

"Oh." Damon tried to express his surprise as he inwardly laughed that the stupid Town Council still had no clue about vampire nearly 200 years later.

"And all the rest were just dead ends," Carol shrugged before taking a final of her drink and standing slightly. "So mmm mmm, I gotta go."

"Okay," Damon nodded and moved out of the booth so Carol could get out and offered his arm to her. With another drunken giggle she took, and they walked out, Carol hoping she would sober up on the walk over and Damon with murder on his mind.

MYSTIC FALLS HIGH

"Vicki?" Jeremy sighed in relief when he eyes adjusted to the bright lights outside. "Whoa. Vic, you scared the hell out of me."

Vicki just shook her head as tears developed, "Sorry. I'm sorry."

She didn't know what she was apologizing for; leading him on? Choosing Tyler over him? Speaking to him in anger? Maybe it was all three and more, but she knew she had to apologize for whatever happened.

"I was so worried about you," he stroked her hair as she squeezed him tighter. He didn't need her to apologize, he was just happy she was safe and okay.

Vicki nodded as she pulled away wiping her tears away, "I'm fine now, but...I gotta leave."

Jeremy was shocked, she'd just returned, "Wh...what? Where?"

"I gotta get out of here, Jer," She sighed sadly knowing her words were not entirely the truth, "I just...I need to make myself better for Matt... for you."

Jeremy shook his head, she didn't need to do this, "No, you can't, you don't need to. You can't just leave."

Vicki smiled sadly as she pulled back and reached for his neck to brush her thumb on the nape of his neck, something that had always comforted him. But as he hand met his neck, she felt a slight stickiness, and when she pulled her hand back slightly she recognized the liquid by sight and smell... blood.

..............................................

..............................................

"What happened?" Stefan quickly questioned Aella, the vision had just happened so the memory would be strong.

Aella wide eyes met Stefan's as they filled with tears, "Vicki has Jeremy." And without thought, she pulled away from him and ran to where her heart was telling her to go.

Stefan tried to pull her back but his vampire reaction had switched off at the tears in her eyes, turning to Bonnie and Caroline, who too was tearing up, he started following Aella and instructed the two, "Find Matt, keep him occupied and have your phones available."

Before either two could respond with anything other than nods Stefan had disappeared after Aella.