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Chapter five: The Animal attacks
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      Emily tried to find her balance as she walked on the pebbles by the falls. Of course Ruby was having an even more difficult time with her heeled boots. Holding her arms out to try and balance herself but failing miserably.

"Ugh why didn't you tell me to wear different shoes!" The girl whined.

"I did...multiple times."

"Can I have a piggy back ride?" Ruby asked, her hazel eyes looking up at Emily in a pleading way.

Emily sighed before crouching down. Ruby clapped in excitement and hopped on the taller girls back. "Bon voyage!" She whooped, pointing towards where all the music was coming from.

"You are spoiled." Emily told her friend as they walked.

When she reached the dirt land she put Ruby back on the ground. "Imma get us some beers." Ruby quickly said before bolting off.

Emily tried to stop her but failed. She watched as her friend almost tripped on her way over toward the keg. The brunette stood alone, drumming her hands against her sides as she looked around. This was the thing she hated about party's, being left alone, not knowing what to do or who to approach. She hated watching others have fun and not being able to indulge in the joy herself.

"Hey, Emily." Emily turned to find Stefan approaching her.

"Hey Stefan." Emily greeted. She waited for Stefan to meet her eyes but his eyes were searching around. "Looking for my sister?"

"Yeah." Stefan said looking down at his feet sheepishly.

Emily smiled at him. "Well I know she's here somewhere."

Emily bounced on the heels of her feet as she searched for something else to say to Stefan. She thought about bringing up his brother, but she shut that idea out as it tried to enter. "You really schooled Mr. Tanner earlier. That guy needed a good humbling, so thank you for that."

"Yeah, that guys a dick."

"Right. Anyways, I never knew that, about the battle of willow creek. The thing you said about the civilians in the church."

"Well the people in the town tried to cover it up, so I'm not surprised." Stefan replied.

Emily nodded. "Sounds like historians."

"Uh, hey I wanted to ask you about what you said about meeting my brother. The other night was it?"

"Yeah. I was taking a walk." Emily paused and looked to her feet. "...on wickery bridge. Y- you know for my parents, and he was there, taking a walk as well." The brunette tried to focus on her sentence but it was hard, she was too focused on how Stefan's eyes were searching around her body. Her neck, shoulder and arms. She all of a sudden felt self conscious of the v-neck blouse Ruby picked out for her as she pulled on her jacket nervously and took a step back.

"What time was this?" Stefan asked more seriously. Emily only grew more uncomfortable.

"I'm not sure, definitely after midnight though." She answered. "Well I'm going to go find Ruby, Elena's probably somewhere with Bonnie."

Stefan nodded as Emily walked away. Something felt off and Emily tried to let it go as she walked to meet Ruby.

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     Nora Bennett took a swig of her beer as she danced to the music playing. Of course she thought it was shitty music, but she was a little drunk, so she didn't really care. Matt and Tyler were shoving each other around and Tyler bumped into Nora almost knocking the wind out of her.

     Nora bumped into something hard and turned to be met with an unfamiliar face. "You're the new Salvatore guy." She slurred.

     "Word spreads fast around here. I'm Stefan." He held out his hand.

     Nora took it to shake but she froze. A flash of images rushed through her mind before she was brought back to reality. She dropped her beer on the ground and didn't bother to pick the bottle up. "Oops." She said nervously. "I'm just... drunk." She began to walk away. Once she was out of sight she began in more of a run.

Nora got a bad feeling, more of a dark feeling, and this wasn't the first time something like this has happened. Two weeks ago she pet her neighbors cat and images flashed through her mind. Logan Fells weather forecast, the owners of the cat, kicking the poor thing out of the house, the rain and the sound of wheels of a car screeching against pavement. The next day on her way to the grill the young girl that lived next door was outside crying. She told Nora that her cat had gotten hit by a car. There were times where Nora thought she dreamt it all up, but she knew it was something, she always felt as if something dark resided in her, and she didn't know what it was or what to do. So she avoided the issues.

     As she rushed off she bumped into another person, only to look up and find Jeremy.

     "You all right?" He said putting his hand on her shoulders to keep her up right.

     Nora looked behind her and held her hand to her head before noticing Jeremy's hands on her shoulders. She didn't like the feeling it gave her so she removed herself from his grasp.

     "Wanna take a walk?" Jeremy asks.

       "What?" Nora questioned.

"I said, do you wanna take a walk?" He repeated louder.

     "No I heard you, I just don't understand, one minute you're an asshole the next you wanna take a walk with me?" She shouted over the music.

     "Fine, forget it." Jeremy said looking away.

     Nora realized that how Jeremy always treated her she wasn't making it easier for him either. Maybe he was ready to talk, and Nora wanted to be the person he talked to. Before he could walk away Nora grabbed his wrist. "Yeah we can take a walk." She told him. He nodded and the two walked side by side down the dirt path. Nora noticed Jeremy's slight wobble in his step, indicating he was pretty drunk as well. So she wrapped an arm around his waist as they walked towards the woods.

It was a silent walk, one like they used to take when they were kids. Nora tilted her chin up to feel the breeze being overcome with a sense of peace.

That peace was interrupted with the string of shouts coming from behind her.

     "Jeremy! Jeremy!" Both Jeremy and Nora turned to find Elena trailing after them. She only seemed to be focused on Jeremy though. "Jeremy where the hell are you going?" Nora quickly released Jeremy from her grip and stopped walking to fully turn towards Elena.

   When Nora let go, Jeremy tripped and fell.

"Vicky?"

     Both Elena and Nora looked to the ground to find Vicky Donovan lying there, blood spilling from her neck.

     "Oh my god, it's Vicky!" Jeremy croaked.

"Is she breathing?" Nora asked running two hands through her hair.

When Jeremy went to feel for a pulse Vicky's eyes shot open and she let out a gasp.

"Get her up!" Nora told Jeremy.

The three stumbled through the woods, making their way back to the party.

"Somebody help!" Elena yelled.

Jeremy laid Vicky's body down on a wooden table when Matt arrived. "Somebody call an ambulance!" He screamed.

Everyone began to crowd Vicky's body while Tyler shoved them away, telling them to give her space.

Emily approached with a phone to her ear, speaking on the phone, telling them to get and ambulance to the falls quickly.

"Something bit her." Elena cried. "She's losing a lot of blood." Emily recited her sisters words to the lady she was on the phone with.

Nora caught a glimpse of Stefan backing away from the crowd. She remembered the bad feeling she had when she touched him.

The dark feeling.
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Emily didn't go home with Elena and Jeremy, to her own surprise she stayed out with Caroline, Bonnie and Ruby and went to the grill to wait for news.

     "Are you sober yet?" Bonnie asked Caroline.

Caroling took a deep breath before her head fell back into her hands. "No."

"You?" Bonnie asks turning towards Emily.

"I wasn't drinking, since someone got side tracked and starting flirting with a boy before she could get my drink back to me." Emily muttered, nodding her head at Ruby. Ruby on the other hand was trying hard not to fall asleep. "Ruby drink your coffee." Emily said pushing the mug towards her friend.

Ruby groaned in response.

"Keep drinking, me and Em gotta get you guys home." Bonnie told the girls. "We gotta get ourselves home." She added giving Emily a knowing look. They were always the responsible ones in the group.

"Why didn't he go for me?" Caroline asked all of a sudden. She picked her head up and her eyes moved between Bonnie and Emily. "You know how come the guys that the guys that I want never want me?"

"I'm not touching that." Bonnie said shaking her head.

"I'm inappropriate. I always say the wrong thing. And Elena always says the right thing." Caroline took in a frustrated sigh. "She doesn't even try! And he just picks her. And she's always the one that everyone picks. For everything. And I try so hard... and I'm never the one."

"Care." Emily began, moving her hand on top of the blondes. "Maybe you shouldn't try so hard. If somethings meant to be, it will come naturally." She told Caroline. Of course Emily was the last person to be giving out that kind of advice. She was perfectionist herself and being a try-hard was 80% her personality. But Caroline was too drunk to see how transparent Emily was being.

"It's not a competition Caroline." Bonnie tells the blonde.

Caroline freezes for a moment as she looks at Bonnie. Emily began to think that they'd gotten through to her and she's just had some sort of life changing epiphany.

"Yeah it is."

Emily gives up, standing to go ask for a refill. When she turn twirled around from the counter, her eyes found the stranger she met the other night sitting at a table having a drink.

"Here ya go." The lady behind the counter said catching Emily's attention. For a moment she forgot why she was there before her eyes landed on the to go cup she asked for.

"Thank you." She smiled before her eyes moved back to the table.

Emily wasn't sure where this sudden burst of confidence came from and her boots moved against the floor until she was right in front of his table.

Vincent looked up, a little surprised and smiled. "Stalking psychopath from last night." He said pointing at Emily. 

     "I recall you being the stalking psychopath. Since you're the stranger here."

     "I'm not the stranger here, at least you know my name." Vincent pointed out.

"Right." Emily took defeat. "My name's Emily." She informs him.

"Would you like to have a seat Emily?" Vincent offered, gesturing to the chair in front of him.

Emily turned back to the table the girls were at. Only Caroline was there, when her eyes moved towards the bathroom she found Bonnie walking Ruby in. She turned back to Vincent, nodded and took the seat.

     Emily tried her hardest not to stare, but the teen couldn't help it. She observed him, his formal clothes, midnight blue eyes, and golden blonde hair. Compared to the rest of him his hair wasn't very tamed at the moment, it was tousled like he'd been running his hands through it frequently.

"Instead of staring into my soul, you could ask me questions." Vincent spoke, breaking Emily out of her trance.

      Emily jumped to the offer. She never liked not knowing things, she's always been a curious girl, something her parents never saw as a bad thing. The habit was something others found annoying but to Grayson and Miranda Gilbert it was something to admire, so Emily never felt bad about it. "Where are you from?" She asks.

"I was born here, but i've been in New York for awhile." Vincent answers.

"Are you visiting or moving back here?"

"Undetermined. I'm staying with my uncle at the boarding house."

"How old are you? Drinking age?" Emily questioned her eyes moving towards his drink.

"Nineteen. The bartender didn't ask for any ID. Poor service." Vincent responds. "Of course I didn't mind." He added tapping his glass.

     Before Emily could jump to her next question he cut her off. "Where are you coming from?" His eyes trailed down the outfit Ruby picked out for her.

     "This thing at the falls, me and my friends are sobering up and waiting for any news."

     "News?"

     "Oh, at the party a girl we know was attacked in the woods. There's been these animal attacks lately-" Emily's sentence faltered as she watched Vincent stand from his seat urgently. "Everything okay?"

     "Yes, I just have to go." He vaguely replies, pulling on his coat. He took money out of his pocket and laid it on the table, and left so abruptly, leaving Emily to wonder what the hell just happened and where he was heading in such a hurry.

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At the Salvatore house, Vincent roamed around the vacant place. At least he thought it was vacant until he hear a thud upstairs. Vincent quickly jetted up the steps in an unnatural speed. As soon as he entered his brothers room he was pushed up against a book shelf. "What the hell Vince!" Stefan yelled in his face.

Vincent already knew what his brother was talking about. The attack Emily told him about. "It wasn't me!" Vincent shot back. "I'm not that stupid Stefan. And I know it wasn't you either, which means there's another vampire in town." Stefan searched his brothers eyes before releasing him. "Where's Zach?"

     "Downstairs, why?"

  "I'm going to go speak with him about this, people in this town still know, and if you're planning on staying here I'll have to clean this mess up." Vincent claimed running his hands down his coat.

     "Or you could just leave."

     "I only came to check up on you Stef-"

     "And now you've done it, and can head back to wherever you came from."

     Vincent sighed and looked away, trying to act as if his brothers words hadn't wounded him. "I'm going to go speak with Zach." He muttered. Then he exited the room and made his way to his nephew Zach's office area.

Before Vincent could get a word out Zach stood to his feet. "You and your brother have to leave. Our town has been doing good, you guys can't just run through and leave destruction in your path."

"It's wasn't me or Stefan who killed that couple, or attacked that girl tonight." Vincent elks him.

"I'm having a hard time believing that!" Zach hissed as he held up a newspaper of the couple found dead a few nights ago. Zach continued to yell at his uncle, not having a care in the world that Vincent would snap his neck in a matter of seconds if the wrong thing slipped out of his mouth.

The vampire patiently waited for Zach's rant to finish, when all of a sudden Vincent's body went rigid as he focused on his hearing. Outside the house he could hear grunts and the familiar voices of both his brothers. Meaning Damon was in town and that he wouldn't be leaving anytime soon, an neither would Vincent.

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A/n: This is the most consistent I've ever been with updating. I'm hoping school starting again doesn't jinx it. Hope you enjoyed this chapter.