CHAPTER 25: BY THE LIGHT OF THE MOON

Underneath Fell's Church

To be honest, Natalie forgot about her anger with Stefan the moment she saw him in that tomb. She knew all her worry should be with Elena, the one immediate danger, but her mind kept wandering out to Stefan. Maybe because she didn't want him around the psycho bitch that was Katherine Pierce/Katerina Petrova. But she wasn't really sure. So, her first thought was to find a way to keep Elena occupied, and then she remember Bonnie the witch and got her to do a spell to keep Elena inside of the Gilbert house and Damon was all for it. Stefan on the other hand...

"You trapped her inside the house?" he asked, his eyes widened in shock.

"Trust me, it's for the best. She's going out of her way to get herself killed," Natalie argued, before pulling a bottle of animal blood out of her bag. "This is for you, courtesy of Damon. But it has some other stuff too. Like candles and lanterns."

"Give that to me and I'm just gonna have to share it with her." Stefan dismissed it.

Natalie looked over to where Katherine was creeping in on their conversation.

"Yeah, I'm not feeding the bitch." Natalie shook her head putting the blood back in the bag.

"You two are surprisingly calm, considering Klaus will hunt you down and kill you if you mess with his little plan." Katherine said, desperately trying to inspire fright in the two.

"I've been dead before. I got over it." Natalie retorted, reffering to the time Damon killed her. She then looked over to Stefan. "I'm trying to find a way to get you out."

Stefan shook his head at the brunette. "Don't worry about me. Just make sure Elena's safe."

"Not happening. The reason why I locked her up in the house was so I could focus on getting you out." Natalie said sternly.

"Natalie, I need her to be safe. Promise me that you'll focus on her." Stefan pleaded.

Natalie was about to answer, her mouth open, being ready to decline.

"Please."

Natalie closed her eyes in annoyance before hesiating for a moment. "Fine, I promise."

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Mystic Grill

As soon as she was done she got a text from Damon saying:

Get your ass to the grill.

Usually she would have just ignored him, but she couldn't walk around babysitting Elena whilst she knew that Stefan was trapped somewhere and no one wanted to do anything about it.

And that's how she ended up With Alaric and Damon, staring at a werewolf at the bar.

"Mmm, Mason's mystery woman." Damon hummed, a smirk playing on his lips.

"Where is Mason anyway?" Alaric asked the vampire.

"Probably decomposing somewhere that shouldn't have something decomposing there." Natalie guessed, turning to Damon only to see him nodding in agreement.

Alaric shook his head at his daughter. "So you think she is a werewolf?"

"Well I hope not, being that it's a full moon, Ric, but we should definitely find out." Damon responded his gaze glued to the woman sitting by the bar. He proceeded to pull out a small plant from his Pocket.

"Is that what I think it is?" Natalie asked, raising her eyebrows.

Damon smirked at her, giving her the only answer she needed.

"What's that?" Alaric asked, hating being the only one not knowing what was going on.

"Wolfsbane."

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Being that Alaric and Natalie were the only one in the Whole town of Mystic Falls that was able to follow through with a working plan, they were the ones who had to follow through With the plan of finding out if the woman was a werewolf or not. Damon was just casually observing, ready to step in if things got out out of hand.

Natalie watched as her dad was playing a drunk flirt and she was trying to hard to suppress her laughs. So hard.

But then she decided that enough was enough and that it stopped being funny seeing her father flirt and got more nauseating. And that's when she walked over to Alaric and the woman (Jules).

"Sorry," she falsely apologized as she walked up to them before turning to Alaric. "Get the hell out and stop bothering her."

"I'm not bothering anybody." Alaric feigned drunkeness.

"Great," Natalie said with false enthusiasm. "Could you not be bothering anybody somewhere else?"

Jules looked at the teenage girl pretending to be an adult in amusement. "He's not able to do any harm. He's basically the town drunk. He can also be kind of obsessive, I mean, he did date my mom and spent two years obsessing over her. But we basically just kick him out of time every few days before he comes back again." Natalie explained falsely with an equally false smile.

Alaric dropped the wolfsbane in Jules's glass as Natalie tried to keep her occupied. "Please don't talk about me like I'm not here.2

"Why are you here?" Natalie raised an eyebrow at him.

"Thank you for the drink." Jules finally spoke up as she looked at Alaric, who raised his glass in salute before walking away.

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"Yeah, being the new girl in town can't be fun. Until you came I was basically the newest." Natalie laughed along with Jules in their conversation that she was (surprisingly) kind of enjoying.

"No, it's fine. I'm just here for the night. It's a long story, I'm looking for my friend." Jules explained, smiling at the younger girl.

"Who?"

"Mason Lockwood." Jules said sadly.

"Oh, Mason! Yeah, I know him, he's nice." Natalie smiled.

Jules frowned at her response."He's missing."

"Wait, what?" Natalie asked, pretending to be confused even though she was laughing too much inside.

"How do you know Mason?" Jules asked, digging for more info.

"I'm friends with his nephew." Natalie said, not lying as she has become friends with Tyler.

"Tyler? You know him?"

"Yeah, he's... something." Natalie chuckled, glancing down at the drink Jules still hadn't touched. "You haven't touched your drink."

"You know, I'm not much of a drinker. I should get going." Jules excused herself.

"Come on, it will help you sleep." Natalie proposed.

"Fine, one drink." Jules agreed.

"To sleep." Natalie agreed.

And right before the glass touched Jules's lips, she smashed it down on the counter, looking past Natalie, her eyes only on Damon. "You fool. You think you're clever, don't you?"

Damon rolled his eyes, picking up his drink and placing himself next to Natalie."What do you want with Mason Lockwood?"

"He's my friend." Jules responded harshly.

"Well, I'm sorry to inform you that you probably won't find him." Damon smirked challengingly.

"And why not?"

"You should leave town."

"You're threatening me? On a full moon? How stupid are you?" Jules asked, almost seeming amused through her anger.

And Alaric saw Natalie sending him pleading looks across the bar so he walked up to them. "How about that second round?"

"I think we're done, Ric." Damon responded, not even glancing his way, his eyes solely on Jules. "You think I'm afraid of you?"

"No, I don't. That's your vampire arrogance. You should be. I sniffed you out the moment you entered this bar, along with your pathetic wolfsbane and your compelled minion who's been doing your dirty work because you don't have the balls to do it yourself," Jules spat. Natalie was about to say that she wasn't compelled, but Damon gripped her arm, obviously warning her. "I've been at this a long time, and any other night of the month, the situation would be reversed, but tonight is not the night to pick a fight with me. You've been marked."

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"Why the hell did you agree to me being compelled?" Natalie asked Damon, her eyes wide in shock after Jules left the trio.

"The last thing we need is for you to get killed by a werewolf on a full moon," Damon spat. "While we're on the subject; "You've been marked". What the hell kind of wolf throw-down crap is that anyway?"

"Damon, look up." Natalie demanded and her, Damon and Alaric all glanced up on the night sky which was graced by the light of the full moon.

"If this werewolf stuff is true, one bite and you're dead," Alaric said angrily, worry also being an important emotion he was feeling. "One bite! Alright? Don't risk it. Just go home, lock your doors and we'll deal with it in the morning."

"Yeah." Damon agreed, nodding slightly.

"Great, we're all agreed. Are we going to save Stefan now?" Natalie asked hopefully.

Damon just turned around and gave her a look.

"No? Okay then."

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The Gilbert House

It turns out that Elena may be dumber then most people might think.

Why you ask? Because whilst everyone were out of the house she decided that it was the perfect time to have an important conversation With an incredibly dangerous original vampire. She was able to come to a good deal, which would stop her suicidalness and protect the people she cared about. She also asked for another thing. Something Natalie would notice as soon as she walked into the guest room she's been sleeping in.

"Hey, Natalie." Stefan smiled as he looked over at her.

Natalie didn't respond. At least not with words.

She just ran into his arms wrapping her arms around his neck tightly, holding on as if he would disappear if she even slightly eased her grip on him. He returned the hug, his hands in her hair as he held her head.

"I was about to lose my mind." Natalie whispered.

"I can't believe you were about to do it without me." Stefan whispered back.

And they just held each other.

And for the first time that week, they felt as if they might be okay.

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A/N: WE'RE OFFICALLY HALF-WAY THROUGH SEASON 2!!!! AND IT'S ONLY BEEN A WEEK OR TWO AND I'M SO HAPPY!

Also, I'm sorry for not updating yesterday even though I said that I'd update a lot but I've been really tired lately, I almost couldn't keep my eyes open so I just went to bed earlier instead of staying up later to finish a Chapter.

And I sometimes feel like I don't give you guys enough recognition. Because I love you guys so much for Reading and when you guys comment it literally brightens up my day and when I have a crappy day I just read through comments because you guys are literally the sweetest people ever. So thank you so much.

Votes and comments are greatly appreciated.