The day started somberly. Nadine was still trapped in her room the events from days passed drained her and she didn't spend much time out of bed. Lucas couldn't blame her and when Uncle Nick heard what happened... even though it wasn't the whole truth, he understood as well. Nick was pissed Lucas didn't call him but it was too late to worry about that. Nick needed to focus on Nadine. Claire would even come by to see her and try to get her to sit up at least. When Nadine did finally get up she went to the only place she could hear herself think. The library. It was everything she needed. Just people who didn't care enough to talk to her. Books that would take her anywhere she wanted to go. And time that would fade away if she didn't focus on it. Today Nadine was deep in a manga about a robot samurai. The genre was new to Nadine but she was starting to like it a lot.

"Manga? Since when do you pick those up" Harry asked sitting next to the girl. Nadine couldn't help but smile at the sound of his voice. Harry was the only person she wanted to see these days.

"Yes, Manga don't judge my choices. And it's a new thing. I'm just going with it" Harry shrugged and looked the girl over. She looked happier when she had company. And Harry didn't venture too deep into trying to figure out if it was specifically his company or just company in general. He didn't want to get entangled with the girl. Only wanted to help when he could. Nadine didn't deserve Paulie and him back to back. Harry would no doubt bring the life with him. All vampires did.

"Ok. I apologize clearly my tastes are inferior to yours" Harry said sarcastically.

"No more than usual. I'm glad you finally recognize my superior tastes... I can't say I'm not surprised though. You've gone the whole conversation without flirting with me. Must be a new record" she didn't want him to start. But she did at the same time. Nadine liked their banter. The back and forth was something she looked forward to every time she saw him.

"Not today. Can't give you everything you want every day. Gotta make you crave it somehow" Harry said with a smirk.

•••

With Helena and Val they were at the bar tucked away in the corner. Val drinking down a bottle of bourbon to nothing.

"How come people don't ask questions about you drinking here? Aren't you younger than Claire?" Val glared at the woman.

"They don't ask because I don't let them. No questions need to be asked. I'm here because I can be. Now don't change the subject. What happened on your quest to get information out of Lori" Helena scoffed.

"She's a bitch. I tried to probe as much as I could using my pathetic ass sob story as a front but... she couldn't wait to tell me no and to let the professionals handle things. All I can say is that whatever's going down. It's going down today" Helena said drinking her lemonade.

"Why are you so boring today? Drink with me. You know you want to" Val said with a smirk.

"No thanks. I have floats to prepare in 10 minutes. As the school history teacher I'm actually useful today. So I won't be able to indulge you today outside of this" Helena said standing up and stretching out.

"Well that's dreadful" Val said downing the rest of her glass.

"That's better than sitting here by myself. Drinking myself into a stupor" Helena said walking away leaving Val to the rest of the bottle alone. Val sighed and decided to for once participate in the town's festivities. Because Helena was right, it was better than sitting there drinking alone.

•••

Claire looked around at the floats weary of the people passing. The tomb vampires were out and they couldn't wait to get revenge on everyone. She knew she'd be included. She needed to figure out how to keep Lucas safe through that. Claire knew more than anything else if she seemed to be in trouble Lucas would get himself killed trying to save her. In the spirit of the day Claire had pulled out one of her old dresses from her closet 100 years ago. The dress still fit her perfectly as if no time had passed. She always found that off putting. To her body, no time had passed at all. Anyhow today's dress was a stylistic choice yet she couldn't help the sinking feeling that she may need more mobility than this dress can provide today.

"Hey big sis" Val said popping up next to her as she surveyed the crowd.

"You know today is not a good day to pop up on me" Claire said not taking her eyes off the crowd.

"You realize the more paranoid you act the easier of a target you'll be. A calm mind can't be surprised the same way as what I'm looking at now. And if I made your heart jump even slightly I think you should go home because you're not going to be ready for today at all" Val said fixing her boobs in her own dress from 100 years ago. Like Claire it clearly fit like glove and Val hadn't changed an inch since they last wore these.

"I'm surprised you even came like that. Doesn't seem like your type of thing" Claire said, making Val shrug.

"It's not but I can't say that it's anything less than entertaining to watch the boys gawk" she said as she looked over at the group of football players who were clearly distracted by Val's dress and her.

"Get a life Val" Val stuck her tongue out.

"You wanted to be boring and get a boyfriend, don't judge me" Claire was about to say something when Lucas came into view. He was wearing an old suit, something he probably had made for today or days like it. That wasn't the reason Claire stared at him dumb founded. Claire stared because there he stood, and in that suit, he was a mirror image of Julius. Part of it made her skin crawl, a different part of her thought of the day she met Julius and how she felt when they first spoke. Val was also frozen in place as she looked over Lucas. Val would never admit it but she burned a bit inside because Claire had him. As he strolled over in his suit to greet his love and Val couldn't help but be transported to all those years ago and feel just as rejected now as she did then. Again Val would never say but there were pieces of her that wanted that. That wanted him. Lucas was everything Julius wasn't but with all his looks. And it took everything for Val to bury those feelings as Lucas pulled Claire in for a hug and a small kiss.

"You look gorgeous babe. You both do" he said, flashing a smile over at Val. He had no idea what he was doing to her. Complimenting her like this. Sometimes Val swore that he wanted her to feel the way she did.

"I've always been gorgeous. You're just late to the party" Val said making Lucas roll his eyes. He turned his focus back to his girlfriend and Claire smiled warmly back at him. Val didn't want to stick around for the next parts so she looked around and found a spot she thought she'd be appreciated best.

"Thank you. I know it takes a lot to be nice to her. After everything." Claire said as she fixed Lucas' tie. Lucas frowned in Val's direction. It did at first, but there was more to Val than the evil exterior she put out. He could see it in very small doses. She was passionate about things that wouldn't make sense unless she cared about more than just herself. Lucas pitied her at times more than anything else. Val loved hard and that love wasn't returned the way she deserved.

"It's not that hard. It's only difficult when she decides to be" Lucas said making Claire laugh. Val was difficult almost all the time.

Out of the corner of Lucas' eye, he saw Opal and Quentin walk in. Lucas vaguely remembered Opal telling him Quentin liked her but to see them together still caught him off guard. He'd been a bit out of the loop. Lucas couldn't help but smile though as Quentin tried to help her with her hair for the float.

"I'm surprised she won Miss Mystic Falls. I thought Elsie was the beauty queen of the two" Claire said making Lucas shrug.

"You never know. Elsie likes to piss her mom off I wouldn't be surprised if she helped Opal win as a fuck you to her mom." Lucas said honestly.

Nadine and Harry showed up together as well. Nadine was pulling at her dress and Harry was laughing lightly next to her. Lucas watched them closely trying to figure out who Harry was.

"Don't. Harry is older than even I am. As cute as protective brother looks on you I'm afraid it won't do you much good in this situation." Claire said sparing a glance at the two. Harry was also a good man so she didn't fear what he'd do with Nadine. Besides if he did have ill intention Nadine would have been dead a long time ago. Lucas didn't care how old Harry was. He wanted Harry away from Nadine.

"What's with my sister and vampires?" Lucas said with a sigh.

"I don't know. It's not like it runs in the family or anything" Claire said giving Lucas a look. Lucas ignored it, he knew his family had a long history with vampires but that didn't mean he had to like it.

•••

From afar Lori watched both Lucas and Nadine resisting the urge to curl her lip. The two of them at times disgusted her. How could they sit so close to them? Did their DNA not scream to them that Harry and Claire were dangerous? That they were monsters. Murderers. Lori turned to the Sheriff and Mayor "We'll set this town straight today. They won't be able to hide after today" Mayor Kentworth nodded and smiled proudly. It will be under her watch that this happens. The next 4 elections will be practically given to her when they pull this off. Sheriff Lan looked out at the crowd and shook his head.

"We shouldn't do this. Not around all these people. You're talking about violently exposing every vampire in this town. In what world would that end peacefully for our people." Mayor Kentworth rolled her eyes.

"Sheriff. It'll be fine. We've got your deputies if anything goes wrong. You said they can handle it, didn't you?" she was challenging him. Lan rolled his eyes, the woman didn't care about anything other than the next poll. Not even her own child mattered when it came to her decisions. Lan spied Val in the corner and moved to go to her. She would understand.

"Can't let you do that Sheriff. This meeting is strictly for the the 3 of us" Lori said making Lan frown and look over at Mayor Kentworth.

"Sheriff, if I'd known you be this difficult I'd have went with Lori's first idea. Oh well, plans can always change" the Mayor said as Lori hit him in the back of the head with the back of a gun.

As a couple deputies carried the Sheriff off, another brought the machine that would expose everything. Lori placed all the pieces where they were supposed to go and Mayor Kentworth looked over her shoulder waiting for the next part.

"Is that all?" Kentworth asked as Lori closed the lid to the machine.

"Yes, for now. The real magic will begin later on. Don't wanna turn it on before the big moment. It'll ruin the surprise" Lori said with a grin that spread from ear to ear. This town would finally be free of its supernatural scourge. And Lori would be the savior. Even with Kentworth buzzing in her ear about the next move. Lori knew she had complete control.

•••

Val was scowering the crowd for the tomb vampires when Lucas walked up beside her. Claire had gone to talk to Harry. Convince him to stay away from Nadine. And after the parade Lucas was looking for her so here he was with Claire's sister.

"You seen Claire?" Val raised an eyebrow at him.

"What makes you think I'd know where she is?" She waited for him to say something insulting about how she'd kidnap Claire.

"I don't know. Maybe the fact that you've been Lazer focused on the whereabouts of every person that's crossed your line of sight" Val rolled her eyes and crossed her arms.

"I haven't seen her since the parade." Lucas nodded and studied the woman some more.

"Why are you still here? Your plan failed why not just leave? You clearly hate it here" Val didn't say anything at first. What could she say without giving herself away? So she just frowned and played with her fingers.

"I can go wherever I want to" she said simply in response.

"Hmm. I've never seen you deflect like that. Interesting. Maybe since there's all this chaos happening as a result of your bad choices you feel like you have to stay" Val wanted to laugh at that, she didn't give a damn about this town. She also didn't want Claire ripped apart by the council or the tomb vampires either. Val had to stay. That was none of his business though.

"Shut up" Val said walking a bit away from him.

"It's ok to care. Claire doesn't think so but I know everything you were doing before was about love. And now that you know the truth you're just going back to what makes the most sense, looking out for your sister" Val gave him a side eye but nothing else "I know that look well. You're here for her. She was right all that time and now you've got to make up for being an asshole" Val turned to him and Lucas readied himself for more denial when she fell out at his feet. Along with Paul, Harry, the Mayor, and Elsie. It didn't take Lucas long to notice the many others in orange tees that also went down. Fuck. This was the plan. Lori's plan. Lucas moved quick and dragged Val out of the line of sight as he watched deputies dose people with something and drag them off. Lucas watched Nadine and Terrance drag Harry away but he couldn't find Claire. Something was causing this and as long as it did she was exposed. Lucas didn't know how much, not far from the back of the Grill Claire was being dragged out with a confused Helena watching dazed from being thrown out of the way by deputies.