MYSTIC FALLS LIBRARY

Anna gestured to the aisle of bookshelves as she led Jeremy to the section he needed, "This aisle is local and state history. And the Civil War is one over. What do you need?"

In his panic, and to not freak out the first girl that had made him smile properly since Vicki, Jeremy had told Anna he needed books history of the town. He especially needed the Civil War era... it wasn't a total lie, he did need information for his History paper, but he was just going to find it online or with his ancestor's diary. 

Jeremy turned to Anna at her question, "Um, Local... 1860s." Then he realized she seemed totally relaxed, even 'at home' in the library, "Do you work here?"

"Nope," Anna popped her 'p' as she shook her head, answering his question. She then pointed in another direction, "You want reference... this way." As they walked down the aisle again, Anna began explaining to Jeremy, "Um, home-schooled. I study here for a 'mock-school environment.'" They reached the section he needed, "Ah, here we go. Original settlers, town archives, Founders' stuff. It's all here." Anna smiled brightly at him, "So, what's your topic?"

Jeremy recited the title that had taken him all of his school days to come up: 'The fear and hysteria surrounding the war in Mystic Falls and how it influenced certain writers of the time.'."

Anna nodded at the title, "You might want to focus that..."

And with his focus only on impressing Anna, his mouth spilled out what it had been focus on finding, "The origin of local folklore and myths."

"You mean, the vampires?

Jeremy choked on his own spit at Anna's casual mention of the species that was slowing taking over his life. With a pathetic chuckle, he avoided her gaze and focused on the books, "You're kidding me, right? There's no such thing as vampires."

Anna shrugged carelessly, but Jeremy could see her looking at him, "Well, there's not a lot of documentation, but the stories have been told since the Civil War. My granddad used to tell me all these creepy stories when I was little. And he said that his granddad told them to him."

"Yeah, that would be folklore," The sarcasm in Jeremy's voice couldn't be held, and Jeremy cursed that he found debating with her such a turn on. "Vampires are a metaphor for the demons of the day!"

Anna also seemed to thrive from the debate, "Which are?"

Jeremy relied on what he was taught by his father, rather than what he knew now. Remembering the stories his father would tell him so vividly, "The union soldiers! I've read and been read the stories myself. They talk about the enemy, the demons that attack at night."

Anna shrugged playfully at him, her words not having the alarm bells ringing within Jeremy, what with his knowledge of vampires as she carelessly stated again. "That sounds like vampires to me."

"Allegorical vampires, which is what it is. Creative expression during a very volatile time." His dad had made that very clear when he would get nervous during storytime, creativity was always his answer. He knew how creative Jeremy was and knew that would ease his fears. "I mean, a country at war doesn't want realism. They want fantasy. Thus, vampire fiction. And don't get me started on Twilight!"

He'd had enough talking about that subject with Jenna.

Anna smiled up at him, "Man, you're smart. I gotta give it to you; when I first saw you... I missed it."

Jeremy smiled at her joke, "Yeah. I've had a rough go of it lately, but I'm just now getting back to my old self."

Anna nodded and moved back to the aisle, "Well, good luck on your paper. I gotta get home." Jeremy nodded and watched her turn to leave when she slowly turned back around, "You know, my great grandfather actually showed me a journal once of an ancestor, and he had written all of this creepy stuff about vampires. It was actually really believable."

That time Jeremy did choke on his spit at Anna's words. Before he could stop his coughing and question her further, Jenna suddenly appeared in front of the section, "Found you, you okay, Jer?"

Both Jenna and Anna watched him try to control his cough, which was pretty challenging to do when you had no water, it gave Anna the chance to introduce herself to Jenna, "Hi, I'm Anna."

Jenna smiled politely at the girl, she quickly shifted the pile of books in her arms to one arm and held out her hand to shake Anna's. "Hi Anna, I'm Jenna, Jeremy's Aunt."

Jeremy finally got his coughing under control, "Anna was just helping me with research for my history project."

Jenna grinned at Anna, thinking to herself how cute she and Jeremy looked together, "That's so nice... He's not a big fan of the library since he got lost when he was four."

Jeremy glared over Anna's shoulder at Jenna, who casually smiled back at him. At the same time, Anna laughed, "Well, it's a good thing my books fell on him, or he may have gotten lost again."

"Now that you have to tell me," Jenna pointed at Anna. "You should join us for dinner, we're going to the Grill?"

Anna didn't hesitate to take Jenna up on her offer, "I would love to."

Now, as much as Jeremy thought Anna was cute, the carelessness and number of times she brought up vampires worried Jeremy. Especially as the next casual subject was a relative journal that had information on creepy vampires. A boy with teenage hormones he was... an oblivious idiot he was not.

"Um, I thought you had to get home?" Jeremy nervously questioned.

Anna nodded quickly again, "I should be fine."

Jeremy tried to get Jenna to understand with his eyes that something was not right. Still, Jenna was the oblivious idiot, and cared only that she was potentially setting her nephew up with a smart sober girl, who could possibly help him improve his grades... plus, they looked cute together.

"It's a plan, then!" Jenna clapped, "Let's go."

Jeremy nodded and started following Jenna out, Anna stayed where she was and called out to the both of them, "I'll just gather my things, and I'll meet you at the exit."

Jenna threw her a thumbs up, while Jeremy just glanced warily over his shoulder; both missing as Anna smirked watching them walk down the stairs. As they disappeared from her sight Anna pulled out her phone and texted her only contact:

ANNA: I'VE MADE CONTACT

BEN: I'LL SEE YOU SOON <3

FELL'S CHURCH

Bonnie woke up, and all she could feel was pain. Slowly she started moving her body; despite it screaming out in pain, moving a large rock, she suddenly felt a tingle on her forehead. When she reached up, she realized that it was blood.

Taking her time to look where she fell, she saw she was in some kind of underground cave, and when she looked up to where she fell through, she could see it was darker, meaning she had been here for a while.

"Caroline?"

"Bonnie?" Caroline's head suddenly appeared by one side of the hole. "Oh my god! Can you try not to fall next time, so I don't stress call Aella and tell her you're dead!"

Bonnie lightly chuckled at Caroline's typical worry anger, "Well, I'm not dead."

"I can see that now!" Suddenly she disappeared, but Bonnie could hear her talking to someone, "No, she's not dead... Well, I am sorry that I worried that your cousin had died freaking you out for nothing!"

Bonnie shook her head with amusement when she realized she was still on the phone to Aella, she slowly started getting up as Caroline, and Aella continued to fight. When she was fully stood, she could see how large the cave actually was.

Caroline's head returned to the hole, but her focus was on the phone still instead of Bonnie, "I AM AELLA JUST LET ME PRESS IT FIRST!-" Bonnie heard a beep from Caroline's phone "-Okay you ar-"

"Bonnie, are you okay?!"

Bonnie couldn't help but feel a little calmer when she heard her cousin's voice, "I'm a little banged up, but nothing feels broken." She just turned round to inspect the room when she heard a voice, "Ahh!"

"Bonnie!" Caroline, Stefan, and Aella called out.

"I'm okay," Bonnie calmed herself down. "It's just a door." She shakily pulled out her phone and shined the torch function on it. "Oh, wow..."

"Oh, wow, what?" Aella demanded to know. "Caroline?"

"Okay, Aella, jeez" Caroline leaned down the hole and saw what Bonnie was staring at. It's like a door with that star on it that witches like to draw... a p..p-"

"It's a pentagram, A," Bonnie interrupted Caroline.

Caroline just shot Bonnie a look, "Um I did have it, Bonnie, I had the P!"

"Who cares," Aella spoke up. "Stefan says that it's the tomb that Emily locked up."

Bonnie frowned and stepped closer to the door, ignoring Caroline's questions about what she was doing. As she leaned closer, she gasped as she heard whispering coming from inside the tomb, "I can hear them."

"What?" Caroline shouted to her, "You have to speak up so we can all hear you, and Aella doesn't shout at me anymore."

"I do not, Caroline!" Aella exclaimed.

Caroline looked towards the phone in shock, "Are you kidding me!"

Bonnie ignored her cousin and friend and shouted up so Aella and Stefan could hear her, "I can hear them, behind the door... Stefan, are they in pain?"

They could hear a shuffle, and then Stefan's calm voice spoke down the phone, "In the beginning...yes. But not anymore. They've starved to the point of desiccation."

"Is that where Katherine is?" Caroline asked, smirking. "Her personal cage?"

"Oh yeah," Aella drawled over the phone, taking it back from Stefan. "She's a keeper... as in 'keep her' in that cage!"

Bonnie snorted at Aella's sarcasm, then realized she had no clue how to get out of this cave, "So how am I going to get out of here?"

Caroline smiled brightly, "That's where I come in! While you were selfishly knocked out, I had to go back to my car for rope-"

"That I told her to have in her car, along with other items during emergencies!" Aella spoke over her.

Bonnie rolled her eyes as Caroline ignored Aella's interruption, "I've ruined my Michael Perry boots along the way, but here-" Caroline threw the rope down at Bonnie. "-now use those muscley-not-at-all-masculine-thighs to pull yourself up! Make Coach Lyman proud!"

MYSTIC GRILL

"The Ru...rugaa..ru? The Rugaru?" Jenna squinted at the cursive text from the ancient book she was reading from. She quickly turned the page after seeing the fugly monster pictured on the page. "I have not been told about that one, so I will be avoiding that one!" She muttered to herself as she alone surrounded by books at the Mystic Grill.

After a mild argument in the car from Jeremy, who was 'unsure' about Anna, Jenna couldn't help but snort at his choice of word, more like intimidated by her cuteness. He was now playing pool with the young teen. Jenna shifted through pages when she saw 'Siren' in big, bold letters, "One of the oldest supernatural races given immortality that depended on the feeding of human flesh to remain young and beautiful. Okay... a bunch of bullshit or Cher is a Siren."

Jeremy glanced over at Anna as she took a shot at the green ball, watching as she cheered when the ball was pocketed,

"So, you have no idea where the journal is?"

"Nope," Anna shrugged as she calculated her next move, unaware of Jeremy's eyes firmly fixed on her rather than the game. "Gramps died. And all the kids split his stuff... I can ask."

Jeremy rested on his cue as his eyes squinted down at Anna, who was now lining up her shot, "Don't you find it weird that our ancestors kept the same kind of journal?"

"Maybe it's based in some partial reality," Anna shrugged again, not seeming bothered at his tone, pouting when she failed to pot the blue ball.

Jeremy raised his brow, he was now in full mock detective mode, "Partial reality? My ancestor wrote short stories... other than the war, nothing is partial reality. It's gotta be metaphorical."

"So, that's why you're hung up on the fiction of it all."

If he didn't know about the supernatural, all this back and forth with Anna would be interesting. Still, the fact she was fighting so hard to make him think that vampires were other than fiction, Jeremy wondered if she knew... would she be so blunt?

If Aella, or Caroline, even Bonnie were here and listening to Anna, would they be suspicious as he was right now?

"I've seen 'The Lost Boys' and 'Near Dark,' like, fifty times... It's not real. Jeremy tried to shrug off her words and try to see if she could be backed down as most people would be after such a long debate. In the middle ages in Europe, something would happen to someone, a family or town — dried up crops, or disease struck - it would be blamed on a vampire. Vampires were one easy answer to the age-old question of why bad things happen to good people. And then they were glorified by books like Dracula, and movies like Buffy the Vampire Slayer."

"Lost Boys? Buffy? I've never seen them." Jeremy was surprised when she didn't debate him back. Maybe she just liked vampires. "Maybe we can have a Fright Night and rent a whole bunch of vampire movies?"

Jeremy was speechless, that was a total 180 from the way they had been debating. "Uh, yeah... sure?"

Anna chuckled lightly, but Jeremy could see the light dim in her eyes at his tone, "Why does that sound like a 'no way in hell?'" Jeremy raised his brow at her words, "Sorry, I'm blunt."

"No, it's-" Jeremy stuttered, this girl was beautiful, but she seriously had him freaked out by her knowledge of vampires.

"Food! Jeremy...Anna!"

Jeremy and Anna looked over at Jenna as she waved over at them, Anna didn't wait for the rest of his answer as made her way over to Jenna. Jeremy wondered if he was right for playing this cool with all the questions suddenly in his mind? Or was he being a complete idiot and potentially scaring away a cute girl?

MIDDLE OF NOWHERE USA

Aella looked to the SatNav route that Stefan was following when she saw the destination time was only 4 minutes away, she called Elena's phone.

"I'm calling Elena," Aella told Stefan, who nodded.

"Hello!"

Aella and Stefan looked at each other in surprise at the happy tone in Elena's voice as she answered, "Elena?"

"A! My Aella!" Elena practically screamed down the phone. "Hold on, it's loud in here."

"Is she drunk?" Aella questioned Stefan in surprise, who could only shrug, perplexed as her. "Elena, are you okay?"

"Huh? Yeah. No, I'm good. Everything's fine. Hold on, I can't hear you."

"Elena. We're 2 minutes away," Aella shouted so Elena could hear her. "Come outside, so we don't have to come in." Aella heard a thump, "Elena?"

She heard Elena's voice sigh, "Sorry A, I'mmahhhhh!"

"Elena?!" Aella shouted down the phone as Stefan listened on. "Elena!" Aella hung up the phone and turned to Stefan, "Drive faster!"

Stefan didn't mention he had already started that when Elena screamed, now he just pushed Aella's car even more, both not caring of the consequences.

MYSTIC GRILL

Jeremy returned to the table, where Anna sat, following his visit to the restroom as Jenna stood at the bar waiting to pay. It was awkward as Anna typed on her laptop, ignoring Jeremy.

"Okay... look," Anna suddenly spoke, making Jeremy jump. "I know I don't know you, so don't ask me why I did this. I just, sometimes...mostly all the time- I have this need to be right. So I googled and..." She turned the laptop towards him, which showed she was on the Mystic Falls Courier Newspaper website.

Jeremy's sick feeling returned, and it was not due to the double burger and fries he'd just devoured, "What is it?"

"Proof..." Anna shrugged as she leaned round to show him select pages she had found. "Sort of. I only went as far back as 1942. I found that there's been a string of animal attacks periodically in and around this town for the past seventy-five years. It's consistent. In '62, five bodies found. In '53, four people killed. In '74, three people dead. And there's been five this year. All attacked. All suffered major blood loss, as in drained of blood..."

"Yeah. Look..." Jeremy was really freaking out. "I really gotta go."

He ran towards Jenna, who was failing at flirting with Ben, the bartender, pulling her out of the Grill, ignoring her exclaims for him to stop. Both missing the frustrating look shared between Anna and Ben as they left the eatery.

MIDDLE OF NOWHERE USA

Stefan pulled up sharply in front of Bree's Bar, his hearing picking up a fight from behind the back, he got out, and Aella followed him not needing to know he was taking her to Elena. They turned the corner to see a man kicking Damon on the floor.

"It's Lee," Stefan stared in shock at the man as he started to pour something on Damon.

"Lee?" Aella questioned, her eyes looking for Elena, feeling relief when she saw her on top of a tank and unharmed. "Lexi's Lee?"

Stefan nodded, and when he sniffed to see what Lee was pouring on Damon, his eyes widened, "He's pouring gasoline on him."

"What!" Aella exclaimed, and forgetting her current feelings for Damon, ran towards Lee and Damon. "Lee, stop!"

Lee looked up at Aella, confused how she knew his name, and with his attention on her, she pulled her arm backward. Damon's body pushed back past her and at Stefan, ignoring his groans of pain. Lee looked from the spot and Damon in confusion, "You have no right to help him."

Aella slowly made her way closer to Lee, as she saw Stefan move towards Elena to help her escape Lee, "Well, that's going to be a problem seeing as that pain in the ass-" she nodded back to Damon who was still groaning "-is my boyfriend's brother. Look, Lee. Lexi would not want this. You are better than Damon."

It suddenly clicked with Lee, who she was, "You're Aella, right?" Aella nodded, smiling, and Lee continued, "You saved her."

"Lexi never stopped talking about you," Aella smiled brightly to hide the tears wanting to fall at the desperation in his eyes. He wanted Damon dead. "She told me about your reaction to the George Washington story, and how you both rushed to see the Fall of the Berlin Wall... and you both keep a small part in your home. Or that ring," Aella pointed to the large ring that rested on Lee's right hand. "I made that for you to do whatever you want night OR day..."

She could see she was having some reaction when Lee stroked his ring, "Lexi got another chance to be with you forever. Make most of the moments you now have - don't waste it by getting revenge on Damon."

Lee glared over at Damon, who was now sitting up against Elena coughing and watching them with Stefan.

Aella stepped closer to Lee, so she was an arm's length away, and so her body would hide Damon's, "Damon lost, Lee." Lee looked to her, so Aella continued, "He lost. Be better than him, and go home to Lexi."

Lee looked around Aella and glared again at Damon before looking back to Aella, "You need anything, we'll come."

Aella nodded, smiling, knowing he was backing down, "I know."

"Especially if it ever involves killing him-" Lee pointed to Damon.

Aella chuckled, "Oh, I would not hesitate. Give Lexi my love."

Lee nodded, and then he was gone, Aella taking a deep breath at his absence.

Aella walked back to her group, opening her arms when Elena ran over to her, tears wetting her face, "I got you." Elena just squeezed her hard. "Time for home."

She felt Elena nod against her, and she started leading Elena back to the car, as they passed Damon he let out a moan as he shifted, Stefan just stood by him, not helping.

Aella looked down at him, "I may be calm, Damon, but in my mind, we let Lee kill you, and if he couldn't finish it, I would have done it."

"Then why stop him," Damon groaned.

Aella passed Elena to Stefan, and they made their way to his car as Aella crouched down next to him, "Because your not worth it-" she shrugged carelessly. "-If Lee killed you, Lexi would feel terrible for Stefan, which would cause a strain on her relationship with Lee, and Stefan. Because at the end of the day, Damon, you're his brother, and it will always hurt him when you die, no matter the shit way you treat him."

Aella stood up, glaring down at Damon, "So that's why, not for you - never for you - but for the people who truly deserve peace."

GILBERT HOUSEHOLD

Jenna wasted no time in pulling Elena into a deep hug as soon as she stepped through the door. The 12 hour round trip meant they arrived home in the early hours of the next day, but Jenna was not going to be until they got home.

When Stefan and Aella stepped in the house, smiling happily at the reunion, Jenna pulled in Aella for a hug too. Once Aella was hugging her back, she grinned cheekily at Stefan, "You too, Dracula." And pulled him into the embrace. "Good job, guys."

They all laughed at her choice of words, and when they pulled away, Elena smiled tiredly at Jenna, "I can't believe you know."

Jenna laughed, "Oh, and I have been swamped while waiting for your return." She pointed with her thumb back to the dining room table, close to the door and large enough for her books, "I got some witch and vampire books for homework."

"How cute!" Aella squealed at the thought.

"So, what happened?" Jenna walked them to the kitchen, and as she poured them a chamomile tea, hoping it would help them sleep after the adventure, "Start from the beginning."

Elena took her mug and sipped the hot water slowly, relishing the taste and how different it was to alcohol, "I saw the picture of Katherine, and just freaked out."

Aella held leaned back into Stefan as they rested against the counter, "That's what we thought." Aella smiled tightly at her friend. "We were going to tell you after we got water, and then..."

"Then I found the picture," Elena finished for her with a nod. "I was just in shock, and I had to run. As I drove, someone was in the middle of the road, and I hit them, and my car turned over. I thought they were dead until they started cracking their body, and I realized it wasn't human. Then Damon just appeared, and it ran off, I passed out, and the next thing I knew I was in Damon's car and he had my phone."

Jenna nodded, that made more sense after the garage called her worried the windscreen looked like it had been hit by a body, thankfully she was able to deter them from that thought. "I spoke to the insurance company, by the way. Your car is totaled, but you can use mine for now."

"Or mine," Aella offered, and Elena smiled gratefully at the two.

Elena then frowned and looked to Stefan, "How am I connected to Katherine, Stefan." The photo was in his room after all. "Am I descended from her? Does that make me part vampire?"

Stefan quickly shook his head, "Absolutely not. And how you're both connected, we're not sure yet."

"Just know E," Aella shrugged with a smirk on her face. "At the end of the day, you are a garden rose, and that bitch is a weed that's wasting away in some underground cave!"

They all chuckled at Aella's words, and Elena sighed in relief, "I'm just happy there are no more secrets between any of us." Jenna, Stefan, and Elena shared a look, "What?"

Jenna turned back to Elena, "There is one more thing, hunny, and I wish I didn't have to be the one to tell you. Your parents dreaded when this day would come, and I'm sorry it's not them telling you."

"You're starting to worry me, Aunt Jenna," Elena looked nervously between the three of them.

Aella smiled up at Stefan, knowing this would be better with just Elena and Jenna present, "We're gonna head to bed."

But as they turned to leave with their drinks, Elena took her arm, "No, don't go." Elena looked between Aella and Stefan, "Both of you, please."

"Are you sure?" Stefan questioned her, and Elena didn't hesitate to nod.

So with a nod, they all sat down with their teas, Jenna, Aella, and Elena holding onto each other as Elena's life was turned upside for the second time that year. But she had her friends and family around her, and that would be the blessing to help her through it all.