About Two Hours Later: Elsewhere 

"Alright, later man." Tyler dismisses his work partner as he heads back to his car. For the past Friday and weekend, he's been working off his 'sentence' after getting caught with Vicki Donovan by his parents at the founder's party. A double-bladed sword, that moment was, since he ended up pissing both parties off at the same time when he thought he could please both. It's given him a lot of time to reflect on what he's done, how he acts, and what Y/N's told him. 

As his buddy's car drifts away, leaving him as the last person on the premises, he has nothing left do but get in his own car and head home. While in the middle of the parking lot, he stops in his tracks when he hears a weird sound of wind rustling, much different than how it usually sounds. He looks around, but doesn't see anything, or any coyote eyes staring at him through the shadows. So, he just shrugs it off.

Pulling out his keys, he then opens up the trunk where he tosses his bag inside before closing it shut. Then, he heads into his driver's seat where he prepares to take off. Let's hope that today's been enough for his asshole dad to be satis-

"Hey, Ty."

"Whoa!" Tyler jumps in his seat as he snaps his head to the side and see Vicki Donovan suddenly in his passenger seat. How the heck did she get in here? And how did he not notice her. "Vicki?" He utters, extremely surprised to find her here of all places.  "Shit, I..... everyone's looking for you." 

"I know." Vicki responds in a somewhat raspy voice, sobbing onto the car's rubber and her body shaking in a very out-of-control-way. Tyler doesn't need to be a psychologist to notice how horrible she looks. 

"What's wrong, Vic?" 

(Bro, the subtitles keep changing the short version of her name from Vick to Vic. Make up your mind!) 

"I'm so cold..."

"Are on drugs? Everyone thinks you're off on a bender." Tyler questions her, noticing a few of the symptoms he occasionally catches her on, especially when they were still dating. Or, you know, fucking, however you want to put it. 

"I wish...." Vicki shakingly says, the weaker she sounds makes Tyler get more concerned. 

"What happened in those woods, Vicki?" Tyler asks her, noticing how much she looks like she's seen a ghost, and not the cartoon kind. It makes him wonder if it was just a simple drug deal gone wrong like the news stated. "Those kids that were killed, what did you see?" 

Sniffing, Vicki lifts her head up, showing her face to Tyler which looks like a huge mess. Her face looks almost scorched from all of the hot tears she's let out. "I'm so scared..."

"Come here."  Tyler pulls her into an comforting embrace, which Vicki surprisingly accepts. "It's okay, I'll take you home." He assures her. When Vicki then pulls away, she says something that doesn't make a whole lot of sense to him.

"I can't control it."

"Control what?" 

"I am so...... hungry, Ty." Vicki says in a very desperate voice, only confusing Tyler more. "And it won't go away."

"What are you on? What drugs did you take?" 

"I want it. I'm so hungry, Ty." Vicki growls, suddenly pulling Tyler closer to her in a very weird hold. She puts her face deep into his neck, rubbing against it as if conflicting with herself what she's going to do with his jugular. 

"O-Okay, look, I'll get you something to eat, just...." Tyler winces, now getting a little uncomfortable with the way she's putting herself all over him. "Just sit back- L-Look, let's just get you home." He advises.

As soon as he softly pushes her back down though, her eyes suddenly turn black, as well as her veins surrounding it. "Vicki?!" He exclaims, before the girl suddenly grabs and tries pulling him closer to her growing teeth. "What is wrong with you?!" 

He struggles against her, and easily beats her grip before dropping himself out of the car with a thud when he hits the concrete. As he begins crawling away in slight horror, Vicki lets out a unnatural sounding growl before jumping out and hopping on top of him, allowing her to see her pointy K-9's under the lamp post's light. 

"VICKI, NO!"

Before she can bite him, however, Stefan Salvatore suddenly comes in and grabs her by her shirt, lifting her up and pulling her away. "AGH! Let go of me!" Vicki aggressively yells as she fights his hold, which she also doesn't seem to stand a chance against. 

Now terrified, Tyler rapidly gets up and prepares to flee only to bump straight into another stranger's chest with what probably isn't tomato sauce on his face. "W-What's going on here, Stefan? What's wrong with her?" He then asks the guy he knows while the black-haired individual stares at him with a blank expression. "A-And why is he covered in blood?" 

"You don't talk." The Damon cuts in with a commanding tone. 

"Screw you, dude."

"Dude?" Damon questions, squinting at him, unimpressed. "Really? Dude?" 

"Damon, don't!" Stefan orders his brother with a look, knowing exactly what he's thinking of doing to silence him.

"Oh, come on. Who's gonna miss this idiot?" Damon responds with a dismissive tone, which sparks Tyler's temper as he abruptly comes in and punches the guy right in the face. It goes about as well as you expect, with Damon not feeling a damn thing. 

"Oh, don't you hurt him." Vicki barks as she glares at Damon, knowing firsthand how her own killer handles his own temper. Damon grabs Tyler by the neck and grips it hard enough that it chokes him a little. The jock grabs onto his much strong hand as he starts gagging. "No!" 

"Forget what you saw here, tonight." Damon orders, his eyes pulsating as he looks into Tyler's. "None of us were here." He adds, a very important detail. Then, he uppercuts him with a fist that sends him flying over his own car. 

Tyler lands with a thud, and when he gets back up....

No one's there.

Wait, who is he looking for, again? 

And why did he just fall onto the concrete? 

____________________________________________

Salvatore Boarding House: 

"Come on, I got her...." Damon and Stefan carry a now dead asleep Vicki back to the mansion, knowing that she's not in a state to be complying with anyone but her bloodlust. "Geez, for a drug addict, this girl packs a lot of weight." 

"That's because she's now a Vampire, Damon." Stefan reminds him with a look.

"Still..... she must be stealing the Grill's stash while they aren't looking." Damon comments as they carry her inside..... Only for them to suddenly fall back when her body bumps against the invisible shield at the door. "Oh.... Goddammit...." 

"Here, I got it." Stefan tells him as he somehow finds a silent way to invite Vicki into the house. Then, they bring her upstairs and towards a cousion in Stefan's bedroom, where they'll be able to keep an eye on her and notice when she'll wake up. "Alright, there we go, now we'll just have to wait...." 

"Well, goodie, guess that means I can finally get some rest after another night's killing." Damon remarks with some finger-guns as he turns around to head to his own bedroom. He doubts his brother's changed it into something else like a red room. "Found that, uh.... strong teammate of yours in the woods, as well as another one of the men looking for us. To their credit, they put up a better fight than the others did before I killed them." He mentions, before quickly stopping and turn around. "But don't worry, I took care of that, too." 

"You're a monster, you know that?" Stefan says in a dark tone and black expression, to which Damon amusingly snorts Right, like he was the reason they became Vampires the first place... "You may have escaped earlier but let me make this clear...." He steps towards Damon till he's face-to-face. "I captured you once, I can easily do so again." 

"Scary, Stefan, really." Damon sarcastically replies, before turning back to get some shut-eye. "See you later! Don't interfere with my business next time!" 

Stefan scoffs as he watches him leave, before glancing back at the sleeping Vicki. He knows he's gonna have a lot on his hands with this particular transition, but she's Elena's friend, so he'll have to try his best. 

Then, the door rings. 

"Mind getting that?" Damon requests from across the hall, way too lazy to answer it himself. "I need to take a shower, got a lot of human's blood on my face." He mentions, as if that couldn't easily be solved with a sink. 

Stefan goes to check it out, anyway, if only to get his brother to shut up for a few seconds. When he opens the door, however, he finds only a small bag in what seems to be made of plastic wrap. Upon picking it up and giving it a good look, he sees that it's some kind of thin rectangular thing being covered by the stuff, most likely a photo. 

He steps back inside, closes the door behind up, and rips the wrap apart. What he sees next on the photo catches him by surprise. 

Him and Damon..... at the parking lot no more than thirty minutes ago. 

Stefan glances back outside before doing a double-take of the photo, confirming that this is actually what's on it. He then flips it around, causing him to find a message written in blood red.

I Know. 

Stefan blinks. 

That doesn't sound good....

_____________________________

_________________________________

L/N Residence: The Next Morning

After leaving that copy of the photo at Stefan's door, Y/N could not sleep, no matter what he or any other force of nature tried. All night, he's been up, going through the real life knowledge of Vampires combined what he's seen, what Katherine's hinted, and what he's looked up. From the curse of the sun, the bloodlust, and pretty much every single weakness he can imagine. However, there's just one problem, the internet can't be trusted. 

Thankfully, Y/N knows that Stefan and Damon have been leaving subtle clues behind that only a person who knows that Vampires exist would catch. As said from a famous quote by a famous move, "The strength of the Vampire is that people will not believe in him." In other words, Stefan and Damon's strength against him is gone. Well, mentally anyway. Now, with Damon and Stefan no doubt having to skip school to take care of their missing victim, he has time to plan. 

In simpler terms, he now believes in Vampires, and indefinitely, he's going to kill one of them. 

He's grabbed all weapons that he knows he can use for self-defense, self-made wooden steaks, and guns armed with wooden bullets. Now, that would be hard to find or at least tiring to make in retrospect. But thankfully, Y/N has a head start, his father packed quite a few of the stuff for his own protection. 

Also, Damon doesn't know he's alive, bringing another element to his table. Of course, he knows he'll find out eventually, but when he does.... It's going to be on his terms. 

But enough about self-seething, time for school. Assuming he can keep a straight face while everyone else doesn't know that his father is.....

Dead. 

______________________________________

Mystic Falls, Virginia: 1864

The Confederate soldiers march down the road, past the town as they prepare for battle. There's been sightings of Union troops deploying nearby, and the plan is to attack them before they attack us. They're set up in a camp in the middle of the woods, so they can possibly find a way to surround them. 

"I'm telling you, it's a woman, a good looking one at that." One of the Confederates gossips as he and the others take the moment to rest at their posts, their mugs no longer holding strong coffee, but hard liquor instead. "I mean, if one does look like how Damon suggests, part of me doesn't blame him for staying behind." 

"No way, is it possible." A taller soldier with a mustache comments. "I've met Stefan back when I lived in Virgina, he courts more women than a..... a shingleback lizard. Damon's just having a moment of jealousy." 

"Oh, have faith. You're just sodding because you're ex-wife managed to seduce the son of-" 

"Oh for the love of- stop bringing that up!" The tall soldier sheepishly barks before the teaser can even finish, causing the entire circle to laugh out loud at him. He stands up, to act serious, only to feel something heavy down between his legs. "Ah! I have to go relieve myself, but I'll be back with some words!" He promises with a point towards the man that mocked him. 

"Oh, yeah, go on, my friend, maybe you'll find a naked woman in the bushes." The soldier, thin and packing a wicked grin, just mockingly quips again, earning another drunken laugh from his comrades. 

"Gosh, would I give to see a woman slave, right now...." The first soldier from earlier mummers to himself, his thoughts completely far from innocent. 

Father in the woods, the tall soldier stomps past the trees to find a preferred area of privacy, all while grumbling to himself. About how he's gonna make them see, who's gonna be laughing eventually, his wife will be dead the next him he sees her, ect. 

Eventually, he finds a promising tree with an second completely covered in shadow. So, he walks over, glances around to make sure no one's looking, and unbuttons his pants. "Paul, when they have their hands on you, I swear I will find a way to...." He grumbles some more, his eyes mostly shut as he relives himself. 

However, when he finishes and puts his pants back on, he opens his eyes to find a message scratched into the tree. 

YoU bElOnG tO tHe WeNdIgO nOw

This, understandably confuses him, so he reads it one more time.....

And is then suddenly grabbed and pulled behind a tree, where a monster roars before tearing him apart with his claws. 

_________________________

The Mystic Grill: Present Time 

With not one, but two members of the council dead, and the Vampire killer who did it still on the loose, it's safe to say that the situation hasn't improved in the slightest. No, it got worse. Because now they don't have the watch, nor do they have the normal way of using the news to write it off. Instead, they have to quite literally write it off. 

While Mrs. Carol Lockwood sits on a random table she picked, she waits for her husband with the new status report. And eventually, Mayor Richard Lockwood stomps back to the table after talking with a Deputy, showing an evident frustrated look on his face. "We never should've trusted that Logan-" He begins ranting as soon as he sits down, abruptly pausing when her realizes he's raising his voice. "Weasel, with the watch. He got himself and the supplier for another one of our weapons killed, the idiot." 

"How many are we dealing with?" Carol asks him, trying to maintain a professional face while in a public place.

"Well, the corner thinks one." Richard answers, phrasing it as if he doesn't exactly believe it himself. "Something about the wound radius and the jaw pattern, and how both Raymond and Logan died ten minutes before each other-"

"Are we in danger?" Carol asks next before he can even finish, her facade breaking in a manner of seconds of her trying to keep it up. "I mean, if it found the watch, then it knows we know. And could it come after us? A-And should I even be saying, it? Or is it- Or is it a she? or a he?" 

"If it has any historical knowledge of this town then it'll know where the watch came from." Richard answers her first question, not bothering with whatever weird stuff she just stuttered on the spot. "So yes, we could very well be in danger."

"So what do we do?" 

"Just keep it quiet. We can't have the entire town aware of this." Mayor Lockwood tells her with a tired expression. However, he knows that she'll be wanting them to find a way to get rid of the deadly animals quickly despite the element of surprise now gone. This makes him look down as he tries scouring some options. "Look, I...... I may know someone, but hunters tend to keep themselves a secret just as much as Vampires do." He hesitantly brings up, not wanting to get his hopes up too quickly. "Hopefully, it will find it before it finds us." 

Carol nods, semi-satisfied with the plan.

However, none of them can tell that Damon has been listening on their conversation the entire time, thanks to his super-hearing. 

A Hunter, huh? 

____________________________

Mystic Falls High: 

When Y/N gets to school, he finds students and staff alike carrying haybales and pumpkins and setting them up in various places, trying to create a new atmosphere for the following night. This causes him to remember that since Halloween's coming up, there's going to be this massive costume themed party tonight with pretty much the entire campus looking like a haunted house. Honestly, the idea does sound kind of cool, since he doubts other schools openly do stuff like this to their own building. At least he got a costume before all the.... you know, stuff happened. 

He goes through the original schedule as normal, first period, second period, then he's one of the students that has lunch in the middle of 3rd period, and then of course, there's the one after that. (Pretty sure there used to be more back in 2009, but you get the point.) However, he notices that he hasn't seen as many familiar faces as he usually does. More specifically, you know who?

What are they doing, he wonders? Have they found Vicki and are trying to hide her? Are they still looking? Or could they be covering her body?

Well, it turns out to not be the last one, according to discussion Y/N has with Matt while they sit together during said lunch. "And then, she suddenly calls me, tells me she's okay and not to worry about her, and hangs up the phone." Matt finishes testifying to his friend with a semi-stressed look on his face. 

"Geez, that's rough....." Y/N comments with a mixed look, trying to remain empathetic in spite of his own personal problems.  Matt can't help but notice that his choice of lunch food is a little bigger than one student would normally carry. But meanwhile, deep down, he's gotten a worse feeling about Vicki now when he thinks about what happened at Jeremy and Elena's house with more context. But despite what she is, he knows that Matt still loves his sister, because she's all he has left. 

He knows that better than anyone. 

"What else did she say?" 

"Just that she needs time to figures things out, as if that's supposed to give me some kind of knowledge in the loop." Matt mentions, obviously confused on what the heck that's supposed to mean. "Well..... how am I supposed to not worry when you say things like that? Especially after...."

"What happened to her friends." Y/N finishes for him with a knowing expression, though putting 'friends' a bit more loosely. "Well, look, if she says she's fine, she's probably fine. I'm sure that...." He pauses mid-sentence, not wanting to reference something that could make him sound crazy. ".... that if she really was in danger, she would tell you where she is." He tells him with a shrug, the only kind of assurance he can offer. 

"I guess you're right." Matt comments with a conflicted nod. "Still..."

"Hey, man." Another guy casually slides into the conversation, and they both turn to see Tyler walking towards them looking a little nervous. "I heard they're putting together a search party for Vicki."

"Oh, um....." Matt and Y/N share a look, a little taken aback and mixed by how friendly he's appearing to them. "Actually, she just called, she's okay." He mentions to Tyler, who blinks in slight relief. 

"Oh, good. That's great. I figured you must have been going out of your mind." Tyler comments with a small nod, seemingly glad to hear that. "I was just gonna offer.... you know, if there's anything I could do...." He tells him, once again seeming genuine about that. It makes Y/N blink at him a little, what the heck was he doing in the past couple days? 

"I appreciate it, thanks." Matt replies with a nod, to which Tyler returns the gesture before walking off to find his own table. Once he's gone, Y/N and Mat look at each other with weird looks. "You saw it too, right? That's not just me?"

"No, no, I, uh..... definitely saw it." Y/N confirms before blowing out some air, that Tyler was.... way too nice. Like, really way too nice. Maybe it's just because it involves Vicki, so it's got him involved. But...... I guess that means he'll be less of a dick for now. 

Strong emphasis on, 'for now.' 

Once the bell rings, Y/N then says goodbye to Matt as he finds his next class. While walking down the hallway, he spots Bonnie and Caroline talking with the latter handing some kind of neckless to the former. Though, he thinks nothing of it. "Hey, Car, hey Bonnie." He casually greets them, trying to maintain a good vibe. 

"Hey, Y/N." Bonnie greets back while Caroline politely smiles as he walks past. However, Y/N quickly remembers something and stops to immediately turn back around. 

"Hey, have you girls seen Elena or Stefan lately?" Y/N queries, grabbing their attention again. He knows that none of them or the others know that Daman, and probably Stefan and Elena too think that he's supposed to be dead with his body hidden and covered up somewhere.  "None of them were in History class earlier today, and I don't think it was because of the frequent substitutes." 

"Elena? She...." Bonnie begins slowly, as if perplexed by it herself when she remembers it. "She was here, but then suddenly took off after first period to go find Stefan, who I think's been skipping class again lately." She tells Y/N, who glances down with a thinking expression on his face. 

"The fact that he hasn't gotten detention or suspended for that is beyond me." Caroline comments as she leans against the lockers, remembering how he did it for four days straight. 

"Huh....." Y/N hums, trying to put some pieces together. Sounds like scenario A has been confirmed. They're trying to hide Vicki, and Vicki's making it difficult for them. Meaning only one thing....

She might have been turned into a Vampire. 

 "Okay, thanks." He tells them with a nod. 

"Hey, sorry that I didn't respond to any of your calls and texts earlier." Bonnie brings up before Y/N moves to continue on his way. "I kind of took the 'no contact' part of staying with Grams all weekend very seriously." She says while making a sheepish face. 

"Oh, it's fine. Me and Matt eventually got it figured out." Y/N tries to assure, before glancing off to the side. "Well, that was, until Vicki ran off again and went missing a second time...." He remarks with a frustrated mutter. 

"What happened?" 

"Well, Vicki came to Jeremy's house, acting like she was both high, hungover, and withdrawn at the same time." Y/N brings up with a weird look, obviously keeping out the Vampire parts he's figured out. "Then, right as we were about to take her home, she knocked Jeremy and Matt around like bowling pins and disappeared in a similar fashion." He finishes, with Bonnie crossing her arms as she seems to be taking that in an inquisitive way. 

"And let me guess, you thought her going off the bender was her being possessed by the Devil?" Caroline jokingly remarks with a brow, not trying to sound as judging as it sounded. "Needed some expert help?" She nods towards Bonnie.

"Pretty much, yeah." Y/N lies/admits with a shrug and sheepish smile. "But hey, it would've been pretty interesting if it was actually straight out of The Exorcist, wouldn't it?" He brings up, causing Caroline to giggle. 

"Yeah..." 

"Anyway, I gotta go, bell's about to ring." Y/N mentions as he then starts jogging down the hall. "See ya!" 

While Caroline watches him leave with a smile, still thinking that it was just the drugs, Bonnie still has her eyes on the floor, thinking otherwise. 

What if it wasn't? 

____________________________________

Mystic Falls, Virginia: 1864

Back in the Salvatore mansion, Lander L/N was purposefully waiting in a certain person's bedroom with the body of the decapitated, jawless, and legless soldier whose arms might also be twisted backwards. He did make sure to get a good meal out of him before he took him back to the house they've been gifted in staying in. Also, he made sure the body stopped bleeding before she eventually dragged it back to down. 

"You ever think that maybe Damon doesn't deserve a witch like Katherine?" Lander casually queries the dead soldier, before nodding his head as if he responded. "True, true. Though I think her version of love is very..... twisted from others." 

Eventually the doors slam open, and a originally tired Katherine abruptly stops in her tracks as soon as she sees both living and non-living things in the room. "Ah, Mistress Katerina, welcome back home." Y/N playfully quips and waves as if raising a toast. "Sorry, but I don't think this guy's got anymore blood in him to drink. Isn't that right?" He turns to the body, and then nodding again as if the corpse's whispering to him. "Exactly, whatever your name was, exactly." 

"Lander, have you lost your mind?!" Katherine hisses before quickly shutting the door behind her. "We agreed that you would keep your feasting on soldiers in the woods at all times, not bring them back home!" 

"Well, how else would I get people to notice me?" Lander queries with a playfully fake pouty face. "Soldiers are boring anyway, they're so absorbed in fighting and talking that I don't even have to try luring them into my traps, and you forcing me not to change any whether makes it even more...... uneventful." He complains as he stands up and pushes the body's head a little too strongly that it falls on its side. 

"The end of the comet is coming, once the war is over, you'll be able to eat however you want without trouble." Katherine reminds him with a glare, not-at-all pleased with his antics as of late. "Don't let your ego in the way of-"

"My ego?" Lander cuts her off, stopping from checking himself out in Katherine's mirror and turning towards her with a now serious look in his eyes. "You are the one who played with my heart, got me involved in your crazy world, and then once you convinced me of eternal food, tossed me away so you could with a bunch of weak men who so easily allow you to sleep with the other." He criticizes her, showing that he isn't as accepting of his situation as she probably thought. 

"I taught you about your soul, and you were the one who wanted to become what you are now." 

"And now here I am." Lander agreeingly says, but then starts taking steps closer to her. Katherine tries backing away until she reaches the wall, allowing him to get too close for comfort. "And now.... you're stuck with me, and you'll deal with whatever chaos I put you through....." He leans into her ear, whispering. "Like it.... or not." 

With that, he then finally exits the room, leaving Katherine with a dead body and her thoughts about she'll deal with her new living situation. 

Maybe it wasn't as perfect as she originally intended. 

______________________________________________

L/N Residence: Evening

Y/N thought about joining the search party for Vicki, but then remembers that she's most likely in the Salvatore boarding house or a place where the brothers don't want her found. Of course, he could just show up there out of the blue and confirm it for himself. But part of him doesn't want to, part of him wants to stay in the shadows, seeing if the others will tell them, unknowingly revealing a massive chill to their spine, or if he can catch a certain someone off-guard.

So instead, in his room, he's been mostly walking out the mansion while it's once again gotten to feel very empty. Only this time, it feels like he's being haunted by a ghost, daily and constantly. It's wiped the usual charismatic smirk off his face, replacing it with a hardened, serious expression. The fact that Damon's been allowed to kill people and get away with it like cleaning up a spilled lunch has given Y/N motive for his new goal. 

Even if it costs him his life. 

*RING* 

*RING*

Y/N snaps out of his inner monologue to check his phone. Seeing that it's a call from Matt, he finds no reason not to answer. "What's up?" He greets in a friendly manner. 

"Hey, so..... good news, sort of." Matt reports with an interestingly mixed tone of voice. Meanwhile, Y/N idly strolls around his home while talking with him. "Vicki's here...." He says, causing Y/N to blink. "She just suddenly came into my house."

"Really?" Y/N queries, humming a bit to himself as he looks outside and sees how dark it is. Guess that means that he should make sure he has everything for the party, since it is going to be pretty darn big. "That's great, right?"

"Yeah, I guess...." Matt mummers, causing Y/N to squint his eyes a little. Did something happen? Did he run away again, or did....? "I-I mean, yes, it's good, sorry. It's just that she and I got into an argument, and it's just.... I'm feeling a little weird." 

"Guess that makes sense...." Y/N comments with an understanding tone of voice, having a few guesses as to what that argument entailed. Though, he's 75% sure that it involved her 'drug use' if you know what he's saying. "Honestly, I think she and Jeremy should've quit that crap long ago, but...... Elena's been doing the 'kill his buzz' stuff for me." 

"Heh, I don't doubt it." 

"Hey, um..... what are you going as?" Y/N then queries in order to add some more light-heartedness to the conversation, before hanging up and such. "I was thinking something like The Mysterious Stranger from Fallout.... or maybe something else with a trench coat. I'm feeling trench coat-y today." 

"I'm sorry, did you say 'coat-y'?" Matt asks with a likely brow from the other line. 

"Yeah, and you once called Elena good-y once, so don't you start talking." 

"Fair point." Matt admits with a chuckle. "Um.... probably a nurse, I've thought about becoming one once I left, I think Elena did too." He shares with Y/N who just listens to him talk. "Though, that might just be because I once thought about having the same job as her...... truth is, I don't think I'm sure about my future yet."

"Well, keep thinking about it then, because your reasoning was one of the creepiest things I've heard." Y/N remarks with a face, causing Matt to chuckle again. 

"Speaking of, what are you and your dad going as? Assuming he's going too, of course."

Y/N briefly pauses. "Won't be coming." He quickly says in a blank tone, allowing his frown to show since no one's around. "Hey, did Vicki say where she went?" He then asks the guy, against his better judgement. Thankfully, it takes the direction away from his dad.

"No, that's part of the reason we fought..... She still isn't saying anything about what happened." Matt says with a sour tone. "Though, it might have had something to do with Stefan." 

Y/N pauses searching through his father's closet. "Stefan?"

"Yeah, he came by earlier about a few minutes after Vicki did. But.... Vicki really did want him inside. And I mean really didn't want him inside." Matt explains to Y/N causing him to get really interested in the topic now. "So, I sent him away, because I didn't know the whole story." 

She didn't want him inside? 

"Why?" Y/N asks him next, hoping that he really answers. "And I mean, why to both."

"I don't know, man. But with how Stefan knew where she was, I didn't want to risk putting Vicki at unease, so I just went with it." Matt answers, clearly frustratingly confused by being out of the loop of the whole situation. "Part of me worries about just bringing her to the Halloween event, but.... you know how much saying 'no' will accomplish." 

"Yeah..." Y/N distractedly responds, realizing what this means. "U-Um, anyway, I gotta go, I'm starving." Y/N responds before hanging up the phone. Well, that was only a half-lie. He marches down the kitchen and immediately grabs the first food that makes his mouth water before devouring it relentlessly. 

Scenario A was definitely what happened that night.... And somehow..... they've let Vicki escape. Good thing he now knows that he better arm himself before going back to Mystic Falls High. 

He's gotta make sure he stops her from doing something stupid.

___________________________

Lockwood Mansion: 

Meanwhile, in the mansion, it turns out that Mayor Lockwood did indeed know a guy who knows a guy who knows a healthy amount of deadly people. And despite his rep, he's decided to invite him to town to see if he is what he says he is. 

"This is crazy, a Hunter?" Sheriff Forbes criticizes the plan as she marches around the living room being used for this meeting. "I thought we agreed that we were gonna be subtle about this. 

"We are. And it's one way or the other. The watch is gone, and we're still looking for a way to harvest those herbs from Raymond's house without Y/N knowing about it." Mayor Lockwood brings up, trying to make the point that they kind of need some more med-kits if they're gonna recover from this blow. "I've already invited him here, like it or not." 

"He's reckless, he does what he does for entertainment, not saving lives." Forbes seethes as she tries her best not to shatter her professional tone despite her clearly being against this choice of action. "You might as well publicly tell the town that we've been lying to them about Vampires roaming the Earth." 

"If he wants to be paid accordingly, he'll fall in line." Mayor Lockwood says, seemingly sure about that statement. 

"That's not a-"

*SCRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAATCH!!!!*

Upon the deafening sound hurting their ears, everyone in the room's attention gets drawn with a man walks in, taking his nails out of the wall. "I recommend using a different choice of words, Mayor." The man in grey and green camo attire suggests as he walks inside with a terrifyingly dead expression on his face. "I don't 'fall in line' at all." 

Everyone, The Sheriff, The Mayor, and the other members of the council, all share a silent look, clearly put at unease by just having the man's presence in the house. Finally, someone breaks it. "I didn't mean it that way." Richard claims with a sheepish tone, although it looks more like he was just embarrassed at having him hear that. "I'm sorry." 

"I'm sure you are." The man quips with a look, before it's returned by Forbes. 

"Give us one good reason why we should buy you.... skills." Liz queries, putting a sceptic flair on 'skills' when she says it. "Vampires have hardly ever been confirmed or killed, have you even steaked one before?" 

The man looks her up and down before making some kind of noise with his voice box as he steps across the room and pours himself a drink. "Miss, I didn't get into this game chasing bats and spiders." He remarks as he turns back to look at the both of them before taking a sip. 

"This Vampire's killed two of our own as well as evaded our sight for an entire month." Sheriff Forbes points out, still turning out to be the only one that's challenging his legitimateness. "What makes you think you can catch it faster than that?"

"Faster?" The man raises a brow before letting out a very dry chuckle. "I can find that thing in a day." He claims, causing the others to once again share a look.

"How?"

"There's a Halloween event going on at Mystic Falls High tonight, right?" The hunter brings up with a knowing expression, obviously hinting at where he thinks the best place is to look. "If I was a Vampire, I'd go there. Hiding bodies you drain of blood is much easier during these holidays. People either mistake it for probs or are too drunk to notice."

"We aren't supplying any alcohol there." Richard chimes in, intending to defend that part instead of paying attention anything else. 

"People spike the juice bowl all the time, including me." The hunter points out, though they decide to assume that he means he spikes it with vervain and leave it at that. "Here's the deal..... I get paid for every Vampire heart I manage to carve out. I always make sure there's more prowling around before I declare a job well done." 

"And what about-"

"What's your price?" Mayor Lockwood asks before Caroline can question anymore aspects of his character, causing her to give him a subtle glare. "Mr....?"

"Wolf..... just call me Wolf." The man requests during his introduction before glancing down at his small cup. "Five thousand for each Vampire I find during my tour." He declares, causing a few of them to look at each other with wide eyes at such an amount. "For that, you get the head, the heart, the fangs...." He finishes his drink with one final gulp.

 "The whole damn thing." 

_____________________________________

A Few Hours Later:

Before Y/N leaves the house, he heads to the bathroom, grabbing a random med-kit for the heck of it before finding himself staring at his reflection in the mirror. There, he then realizes that he's not actually sure what kind of 'stop Vicki' he has in mind. 

Is he planning to simply knock her out, talk to her, or possibly..... kill her? 

No, he shouldn't, not to Matt. He knows that with his mom always trying to find a guy that replaces his the one that left him, Matt pretty much has his relationship with her strained, leaving only Vicki left. So if that were to happen......

How would he hide it? He's got no compulsion. 

Oh right, Damon and Stefan probably would. They wouldn't want the people who know to be on their back, even if it wasn't them who delt the final blow. They can easily find the time to clean it up, it's easy when it's their kind doing it.

 No..... that's not going to happen. 

So, he does what he can to hopefully set up a better ending despite the bad omen that's been corrupting the town he's been in. He takes out his phone, and tries something he's not sure will do something or not. After all, he's only personal when it comes to Jeremy. 

He texts Vicki.....

You: Whatever you're thinking of doing...... don't do it. 

Now, Y/N puts his costume on, gives himself a quick lookover, before heading out the front door. 

Let's get find her first before the brothers do. 

_____________________________________________

Mystic Falls High: 

Oh boy, the school really went all out when creating this little event. Whether it's so the town can attempt to distract its residents from all of the death going on, or just purposefully giving opportunities for Vampires to show up. Either way, it's not as fun thanks to the knowledge that's currently imprinted onto Y/N's meaty brain's forehead, you know, if it had a forehead. 

 Y/N's in costume, but he only wishes that he came here for the sake of having a good time, it's now clear everyone's a skeptic to the supernatural. The reality of it not being a fun thing for fiction actually makes them to terrifying to be around, especially when they seem to have a lack of control.

At least, that's what he hopes is the reason for Vicki coming here, and not because she already planned your most scary horror movie scene yet involving a bunch of Vampires. 

In his attire that looks like he ripped it off of Ash Williams, Y/N does his best to 'casually' walk through the fabric that football players usually go through and down the path with a bunch of Halloween decorations everywhere. At one point, that when he spots a few friends that he plans to just wave and pass before his sense of humor kicks in.

He quickly snaps his head at what Caroline and Bonnie's costumes are. "A..... witch?" He asks as he stands right in front of them. "Really?" He raises a brow at both of them, the hidden joke in this scene in front of him entirely obvious. 

"It wasn't my idea...." Bonnie retorts before shooting a subtle glare towards Caroline, who just unapologetically smirks. 

"It's called 'living up to your legacy' Bon." Caroline claims with a cheeky look, which Bonnie doesn't seem all that amused about. "I thought someone like you would understand...." She quips with a humorous tone. 

"Witches don't actually dress like this...." Bonnie points out the obvious as she shows it off a little, though just to prove her point. The way it looks so cheep and somewhat see-through you'd think that the blond was setting her up for..... some stuff. 

"Well, it looks good on you." Y/N comments as he pretends to look her up and down in a judging manner. "So.... maybe you're just saying that to deceive us, aren't you, witch?" He playfully questions while doing ghost hand gestures, causing Bonnie to roll her eyes.

"Is this really gonna be our running joke?"

"Hey, Y/N." Tyler Lockwood steps in and he carries a tray now holding only three cups filled with some kind of liquid that doesn't seem like your average juice. "Cider for the ladies?" He offers with a smirk. "It's a Lockwood special." 

"Oh no." Bonnie declines with a small wince. "Last year, I was hung over until Thanksgiving." She brings up with a worried look, deciding not to suffer that same fate again. However, this causes Y/N to raise a brow at her. 

"Didn't you party like.... three days before Thanksgiving?" He points out, causing her to give him a look.

"It's called a time-" She tries to explain, but just shakes her head and takes it as him purposefully ruining her joke. "You know what? Nevermind." 

"Lightweight." Carloine pokes as she on the other hand, takes one of the dangerous looking cocktails. "I am going to drink until someone is hot enough to make out with." She declares with a determined expression, causing the guys to share a look and chuckle.

"Sounds like a plan." Tyler says with a nod. He briefly extends towards Y/N, extending the tray towards him. "You want one?"

"Well, those were pretty intoxicating last time, but I'm not-" Y/N proceeds to begin declining, knowing that he has important business. But then.... he suddenly finds himself taking it all back without even thinking. "You know what? Sure, yeah." He smiles and takes the third drink. The three of them all clink their glasses together before taking their first gulp. "Whew..." The strong taste and punch of the cider almost immediately kicks in by the first drink, practically supporting Bonnie's time exaggeration. 

"Sure you're not gonna go back to hitting on someone?" Tyler queries with a brow, suspecting him to be pulling another girl by tonight. Y/N gives him a not-amused look at first, until he instead clicks his tongue. 

"You know what? That's a good idea, check this out...." Y/N points at him before calmly taking the fake broom that goes with Bonnie's costume. "Hey, Bon, wanna find a secret area in one of the special lit rooms and put this thing to better use~?" He jokingly asks before showing off an illusion where it looks like he's giving the thing a blow job without actually putting it in his mouth. 

The shared moment of laughter quickly ends someone accidently bumps into the back of Y/N, breaking his little trick. "Geez, okay...." He mutters while taking his drink back from Tyler. However, as he watches the two jerks who don't apologize leave, he spots someone in the crowd walking towards the building. 

Matt.... and Vicki Donovan. 

"Uh.... I just remembered something I gotta do while I'm here." Y/N tells the others with a now more alerted tone of voice that he fails to hide. "I'll see you guys later tonight?" He suggests, causing the others to share a confused look.

"Um..... sure?" Tyler replies with a shrug, hoping that a teacher didn't force him to detention work at this hour. 

"Hey, wait!" Bonnie calls out as Y/N begins to leave, splitting the current group into two's. Caroline and Tyler have their own conversation while the 'Witch' catches up with him. "Are you alright?"

"What?" Y/N utters, nervous that she caught on so easily. 

"Well, you usually stop being 'chill' Y/N when something bad happens or happened." Bonnie comments with a knowing expression, referencing stuff like what happened at The Falls when everyone was carrying Vicki's body on a table. "If you're willing to be honest, can I help with anything?" 

"Oh, um...." Y/N hesitates at first, eventually declining her offer. "No, no, it's nothing as that extreme." He assures her, somehow managing to lie about every detail. Guess what Bonnie, it involves Vicki again, it involves someone potentially dying again, and this party we're in? That's also gonna play a part too, like last time. Isn't that awesome? "If I'm having trouble, I'll call you, but.... I think I got it." 

Bonnie is obviously scanning him for any detection of lying, but either she lacks skill in that department or Y/N managed to put up a good poker face as she lets out a sigh. "Alright, make sure you do that." She says with a nod, about to turn away until she seems to remember something. "Also-"

She softly touches Y/N's arm before he turns around again, and freezes. The hard grip she suddenly puts on his arm causes him to turn around again to see her expression. "Bonnie?" He says her name with a concerned brow, noticing how spooked she looks after a split second. "Hey, Bonnie-" 

"What are you planning to do, Y/N?" Bonnie abruptly asks him with a haunted expression on her face. This causes Y/N blink as he has no clue what the heck she's talking about. 

"Bonnie, you.... you sure you don't need one of the Lockwood ciders?" He queries as he extends the glass to her with a shaky chuckle, feeling put off by her sudden change of expression. "You look like you just saw a bus full of orphaned children get bombed." 

"Y/N-"

"Actually, you know what? Just take it." Y/N strongly encourages, practically forcing the thing into her hands. "I gotta go!" He tells her again before speed-walking towards the school building being used as a major part of the Halloween event. Bonnie is left the Lockwood special and a very perplexed feeling. 

When she touches him, she saw both him and........ Jeremy and....

Blood?

_______________________________

Mystic Grill: 

At the Grill, older adults also plan to head towards the school's famous Halloween event, thanks to the pride of it being a rarity in comparison to other towns. However, even the older couples have planned to pre-game before they get there. "How many martinis have you had?" Richard questions his wife with a judging brow. 

"Oh, don't start with me...." Carol mutters, causing Richard to sigh as he notices how easily she's letting the secrecy of the Vampires who now know of their awareness drink her into a stupor. She's gonna have an entire keg of beer at this rate. 

"Can we go now?" Mayor Lockwood impatiently says with a sigh. He slams down the rest of his own cocktail before checking the time on his watch.  "You know we're late for the Halloween party, let's go."

"So go ahead. I'd like to finish my drink." Carol defiantly responds with a snarky look, to which Richard mentally raises his hands up in surrender before leaving her alone to drink all of her worries away he knows that'll just come back the next day. 

While alone for a few seconds, Carol feels someone's eyes on her back and turns around to see a dashing man with black hair giving her an overly friendly look while gesturing with his own glass. The woman returns the smile, and a few seconds later, Damon Salvatore approaches and sits across from her. 

However, on another side of the table, the same hunter from earlier observes the both of them with suspicion. The man sitting across from him notices his stare and gives him a curious look. "You think that's-" He bein to ask, only for the hunter to quickly shush him.

 With no one looking, he then pulls out a similar compass looking object that's awfully similar to the Gilbert watch. He calmly places it on the table, and in seconds, it begins cranking itself in multiple directions. The two anxiously watches as it takes a while before eventually pointing in Damon's direction. 

"We should also head to the Halloween party.... Gabe." The hunter suggests, obviously referring to the ones that everyone else is going towards. "Stay here for a second." He orders, and the other man nods as he stands up from the table, heading to grab their stuff from the car.

"Sure thing, Wolf." 

_________________________________________

Mystic Falls High:

When Y/N steps inside, he finds that the entire school body managed to out-do themselves in comparison to last year's event. The place has a Illuminant metamerism kind of lighting going on, and some of the rooms even have a small strobing light going off, thought those are obviously behind closed doors with a warning sign on the front before anyone considers going through them. 

The aesthetic definitely fits the holiday, he's gotta give it that. Makes him wish that he was currently in an ignorant state right now, in a mood to party and let loose. However, tonight's not that night. 

Hidden in plain sight, Y/N walks through the crowd with a somewhat more serious expression in comparison to the other students around him. And since he's death will most likely get debunked if Elena and Stefan ever show up, he has to find this girl quick before she drains someone. 

Gosh, listen to him, assuming the worst in people now..... Guess seeing some things really does that to you.....

As he finds himself in one of the dark blue hallways, he spots a teenage girl in a Vampire costume. But despite her red lipstick and black circles around her eyes, she's easily recognizable.  Vicki Donovan. Back in the mission, Y/N's about to approach her, only for someone else to march over and grab her instead. 

Stefan Salvatore.

Y/N freezes before he watches him take the girl and drag her into a pale red room so quickly, he would've missed it if he blinked. He slowly walks up to it where his instincts tell him to stay behind the door, deciding not to give himself away so quickly. Instead, he simply puts his ear against the open creek and listens on the conversation they are currently having. 

"What? You're following me now?" He hears Vicki speak in a frustrated tone.

"You didn't really give me much of a choice." Stefan replies calmly. Y/N then hears some marching footsteps getting closer, only for them to abruptly stop. He assumes this to be Stefan preventing her from leaving the room.

"You..... let me out of here!" 

"You shouldn't be here, Vicki. Crowds like this, it makes it even harder for you to keep yourself under control." 

Under control..... so he was right. Vicki really did escape from whatever place the brothers put her in. 

"I'm fine."

"Really?" Stefan skeptically questions, followed by a hum from Vicki that he doesn't sound like he buys either. "No headache? Your stomach's not screaming at you? You're not feeling lightheaded or anxious or cranky, like if someone looks at you the wrong way you could just rip their head off?" He adds, and there's no response from Vicki. "You wanna know what that's called? It's called hunger. And it's only gonna get worse and worse every minute you pretend like it's not controlling you."

The more he hears this, the more Y/N's fears get confirmed. Vicki's a Vampire.....

She's a Vampire....

Hearing it confirmed to him doesn't make Y/N feel satisfied, it makes him feel woozy inside. He steps away, finding a private corner where he takes some deep breathes, but his brain keeps repeating the haunting words to him. 

Vicki has just turned into the same thing that....... that has killed other people..... that has killed his father. 

It makes him both angry, blood red angry that it makes him want to use the gun he has hidden under his jacket. But then.... he also feels hesitance, the human side of him pleading to not jump the gun on taking out something that wasn't responsible, and only a victim of circumstance. But then.... the angry side counters with a sentence that if Vicki hadn't been messing with Jeremy's heart, she wouldn't have gotten herself in that situation multiple times. If she wasn't in those woods, his father wouldn't have run into Damon's lust for killing. 

With his conflicted thoughts, Y/N's takes a long while before heading back to where the pair was..... and finds them no longer in the room, as evident thanks to the door being wide open. 

Their gone, and for some reason.....

Y/N doesn't like it. 

__________________________________

Meanwhile: 

Elsewhere, the hunter duo have made it to the party where they decide to split up at multiple areas of the massive party. They have enough trust in each other's skills and instincts that they'll be able to handle any they find on their own. Wolf is patrolling the outside area while Gabe heads inside, dressed as nothing but himself in comparison to everyone else. 

Once again, his professional hunting exterior is more easily comparable than a sore thumb amongst its unharmed brethren. However, since he has a filled up holster under his jacket and his belt which also hides behind his leather jacket, he pretty much has to be as stoic as possible so it doesn't reveal itself to anyone, causing a chain reaction of screaming and panic. 

As the teens around him drink, get high, and laugh amongst themselves, Gabe casually patrols the area, trying to avoid being in a place where he's not next to somebody else. He's doing his damn best to blend in however he can. 

During which, while in a area full of webs and laughing skeletons called The Druid Room, a horny couple breezes past him and practically rams into his shoulder without apologizing. This causes his compass to start freaking out his well, grabbing his attention. In a few seconds, it points straight towards said couple, causing him to snap his head towards them as they turn a corner, out of view.

Although it's not clear which one exactly the Vampire is, or they're both the creatures, one thing's obvious..... he's found his targets. Gabe pockets the compass back in its place as he begins to follow them, trying to match the pace as they seemed to be jogging somewhere to a moment of privacy to either fuck or for one to suck the blood off the other. 

Through The Druid Room and past other hallways, Gabe finds himself in a more private stairway that also has a back exit door as told by the obvious sign above it that everyone's seen a thousand times before. Guessing where they went, he then pulls out his phone before making his move. 

Surprisingly, Wolf ends up calling him first before he can dial the number in. Gabe obviously picks up. "Hey, my compass spotted one outside, harassing some girl." Wolf reports from the other end. "He went inside, I'm following but I think he's using a bit of his speed, where are you?" 

"Uh, I'm in some kind of stairwell I think the school staff uses." Gabe tells him as he glances upward, seeing how high the square loop of stairs is. "Actually, I was about to tell you that mine caught one as well.... maybe two going out the back. I'm not sure." 

Wolf takes a moment to process this information, throwing his circling plan out the window now that multiple Vampires have been confirmed. "Alright, you go after yours someone gets hurt, trail back inside the school if you get to yours first.... I'll do the same." He advises his gameplan, wanting to deal with these as quickly and quietly as possible. 

However, Gabe doesn't respond..... that's because on his end, his phone has fell to the ground, stained with his own blood.

"Gabe, you copy?"

"Gabe?!" 

___________________________

On another side of the wall that stairwell was in, Y/N goes another way he knows will take him out of the school.  Past the fake prisoner getting the electric chair, past the creepy dudes dressed as Vampires, he's practically marching at this point as he drops whatever casual exterior he was trying to represent, though his unaware fellow teenagers don't seem to notice as they're too busy having fun. So much so that it makes Y/N envious of them. 

No, seriously, one of the jocks is laying down on a table, where he and some other kids use his 'torn open' stomach to eat his fake guts, spaghetti and meatballs disguised as eyeballs. That is just... something you don't do everyday. 

Finding another back exit, he takes it and twists the left where the school's busses are. There, he hears the smacking of lips together where only teens in love can make. Jeremy and Vicki. Wait.....

No..... she wouldn't....

"Ow!" He hears Jeremy suddenly squirm in pain, causing Y/N to quickly pick up the pace towards a jog before finding the two of them together, and thankfully, he gets there right as he spots Vicki starting to do a little bit more than kissing. She straight up starts sucking on his lip that's been cut open. "Vicki, Vicki! What the hell?!" 

With that panicked expression, Y/N realizes that Vicki really is losing control, so as her face begins to change in front of Jeremy's own eyes. He reaches inside his jacket and the cocking noise that follows quickly grabs their attention.

"Get the hell away from him, Vicki!" Y/N orders with a serious loud voice as they both turn around to see him holding a actual gun and pointing it at the girl's chest. 

"Step away!" 

_____________________________________________

Back inside, Wolf follows where he thinks his Vampire quarry went in the school building. His older age almost makes him stand out even more if there weren't other adults now arriving to the Halloween party. He pulls up a small map and quickly finds the stairwell Gabe mentioned during his call. 

The bastards killed his partner, he's not letting them get away with that. 

He marches down the hallways, past all of the Halloween shit he spots until eventually finding the back exit that had the staircases. This is definitely the place. He considers calling out Gabe's name at fist, but he knows how stupid that could be, even if he wanted to get his hopes up. 

Slowly pulling out his gun, he scans the area and only two seconds in does he find a trail of blood, getting wider and wider as it leads up to a storage closet. Taking a deep breath, Wolf take slow steps towards the closet, waiting for any kind of trap or body to discover. 

 Ready, he opens the door.....

And finds only the pool of blood.... nothing else. 

"What the....?" Wolf utters as his non-gun hand reaches for his steaks. Wait a second....... this isn't blood. 

It's corn syrup. 

*BANG!*

*BANG!*

*BANG!*

The gunshots almost distract him before he hears footsteps behind him. Quickly turning around, Wolf snaps a wooden steak into the Vampire that comes towards him, or so he thinks until it's suddenly grabbed right before it reaches the dead person's eye. "Not falling for that one again." Damon quips with a smirk before rapidly grabbing Wolf by the shoulder and hurling him into a row of boxes below the second staircase. 

Wolf groans as he hits the floor, causing Damon to get excited as he prepares for a second drink. However, he's suddenly met with a bag that the hunter throws at him, causing it to puff out some kind of white powder. 

No... not just any powder.... vervain. 

Damon starts coughing hard as he finds himself on his knees, unable to get his breath back while he lets out more coughs that make his mouth burn more and more. "You think I didn't prepare for anything?" Wolf questions as he confidently stands over, behind him, grabbing his steak off the ground. "You Vampires are all the same, quick to be arrogant, and quick to fall." 

He then raises the steak..... 

Before suddenly getting stabbed in the back by another. Wolf cries out in pain as he then falls to the ground thanks to the wood impaled in his back, inches away from his heart. However, that soon changes when he turns around..... find Gabe to be the one holding the weapon.

"Gabe?" He whispers in shock, before realizing what happened. "But... we always put vervain in our...." 

"I forgot to do it tonight.... I'm sorry." Gabe admits before eventually forcing him around, and driving the steak further through his chest. Wolf eventually loses his body's ability to pump blood, and he eventually collapses onto the concrete, dead. 

"Ooooh. Thanks chap." Damon says while still coughing out some of the last of the vervain he accidently inhaled. "I knew there had to be more than one of you, if the council's this determined to put me down."

"Not just you..... every Vampire in town." Gabe mindlessly adds, giving away more information to his soon-to-be killer. "What do you want from me, now?" 

"Simple..." Damon turns to him with a smirk. "Kill yourself." 

Gabe robotically grabs his head with both hands, and twists it. It take a while, but the crunch eventually comes as the man joins his fellow hunter as a corpse. Damon chuckles to himself as he already plans how to get rid of the bodies later. 

That is, until he gets a call from Stefan. 

____________________________________________

At the busses, the situation gets more tense fast. 

"Y/N, what the fuck?!" Jeremy exclaims, both shocked and horrified. "Why do you have a-?" 

"Jeremy get out of here, now!" Y/N yells as he takes off the safety, showing the vampire standing between the two boys that he means business. "Vicki...... this has wooden bullets.... don't make me this pull this trigger. " 

"W-What are you doing, Y/N?" Vicki stutters, seemingly taken aback that she has steel being pointed at her. The memories of Logan Fell and his gun flashback into her brain. "I-It's.... It's not what i-it looks like...." 

"Don't." Y/N demands with a glare, his mind and heart struggling with whether she's being genuine or is trying to trick him as part of her new blood system. "I know what you are, and I just saw what you did." He growls as her. Jeremy still stands in the back, not wanting to run away like Y/N told him to. "Vicki.... please..... please, don't give me a reason to shoot you. I know you just turned and I really, really want to believe that you're not the other Vampire is like." 

"I-"

"Don't move!" Y/N quickly raises the gun back at her again when she tries taking a step closer to her. "Here's what's gonna happen, you're gonna let Jeremy walk away before you kill him, and then I'll consider taking you back to Stefan despite me being pretty pissed at him right now." He declares, giving a look that says it's non-negotiable, no matter what kind of pleading eyes Vicki shoots his way. 

"Y/N...." Jeremy then says his name, causing Y/N to glance in his direction. "Please, put the gun down, you're scaring me...." He says with an actually scared expression. "And I think you're scaring Vicki."

"Jeremy..." Y/N sheepishly replies, taking a big swallow. "Please get out of here, I don't want her to hurt her."

"But...."

"Jeremy, please-" 

The debate gets cut off when Vicki super-speeds over and backhands Y/N across the mouth. He falls to the ground, with his gun thankfully falling next to him. But Vicki clearly seeing him as a better substitute to quell her urges doesn't it give him much time to defend himself. 

Y/N tries shoving her off of him, but she surprisingly proves to be much stronger as she holds him down, her K-9s extending. However, before she can deliver a kill, Y/N looks to the side and grabs a wooden plank off the ground next to a bunch of trash bags, slamming against the side of Vicki's head. 

The impacts breaks the plank in two, but Y/N doesn't care about that as he tosses the side he's holding to the ground before he kneels down and grabs his gun. "Vicki, please!" He tries pleading with her another time, but the girl only response with a hungry growl as she charges towards him right as he frantically pulls the trigger. 

*BANG!*

*BANG!*

*BANG!* 

The loud gunshots that follow as Y/N loses his grip thanks to Vicki's crushing hand no doubt gets to the eardrums of everybody at the Halloween party, as screams go off in the background. Vicki pins Y/N against the bus, and is almost ready to kill him. But during the struggle, Y/N's eyes begin to glow in a similar way they did before, and he suddenly has enough strength to shove her away and onto the parking lot. 

Y/N points his gun down, his heart's voice abruptly getting louder than before to shoot. But.... something inside stops him, and his glow quickly fades right after as he instead backs up into one of the busses that's opened. In the sidelines, Jeremy is thankfully now gone. However, he is only hiding behind said bus, still not wanting to leave his girl's side despite her literally trying to kill the both of them. 

Vicki stands up and is about to super-speed towards Y/N, but he quickly shuts the bus's doors before she can bite her. However, this doesn't seem to do too much since when Y/N starts retreating farther into the vehicle, the doors shatter and slam open. 

Y/N stands there helplessly as Vicki stomps inside, her face completely changed to one of blackness. Her eyes read nothing but hunger, hunger for blood. While he's trying not to cross a dangerous line, she doesn't seem to be that conflicted as she starts getting closer to him, causing Y/N to begin backing up until his back hits the rear of the bus. 

"It's okay Y/N.... I just need some blood...." Vicki tells him, however the creepy way she says it while smirking doesn't make him feel all that more comfortable. "Can't you spare me..... just a little bit?" 

With her tilting her head, as if waiting for an answer. Y/N finds himself now having to make of the two decisions he's been struggling with. "Okay, you want some blood?" He queries with a brow, Vicki begins to show her fangs as she runs out of patience. 

"It's right........ HERE!" 

As Vicki super-speeds towards him, Y/N pulls out his steak, causing her to run right towards the pointy end. She gasps at the pain before he drives the weapon further in until it reaches her heart. "I'm sorry...." He whispers in tears as he feels Vicki's weight getting lighter in his hold. "Why didn't you just.... stop?" 

Pulling it out, Vicki falls to the ground, her skin decaying in seconds which gives him the hint that she's now dead for sure, unable to come back no matter what she is. "I'm gonna kill him, and I'm gonna make at least one of them pay for doing this to you." He silently promises her before shaking turning around and opening the bus's rear door. 

As he falls out, he hears Jeremy running next to him. "Where's....." He seems to have trouble getting the question out, too scared by what he's going to hear. "Where's Vicki?" He asks Y/N, who doesn't seem to have the guts to look him in the eye, only shake his head.

"I'm sorry, brother...." Y/N weakly apologizes, slowly standing up. "I'm so.... so sorry." He repeats before forcing himself to look at Jeremy with eyes that confirm the worst. 

"No..... " Jeremy utters, glancing down. "No, no, no, no, no, no, no. Vicki!" He frantically looks inside the bus, and sees the damage for himself. "VICKI!" He runs into the bus, uselessly shaking her body as if it's going to wake her up. "No, Vicki, come on...... Vicki, talk to me or something, please... VICKI!"

"I couldn't stop her." Y/N says in a sad time, walking up and touching Jeremy's back. "I wish I knew how.... but I couldn't."

"Was it the drugs?" Jeremy questions both him and himself after a few seconds of silence, turning towards him. "Was it because I was stupid enough to fuel her addiction? Or does the world just keep wanting to take it all away from me?"

 "If you want to blame someone, please blame me....." Y/N pleadingly requests as he grips his shoulder tighter. He failed him by being so foolish that he could just walk in and talk her down, not even having a Plan B in his back pocket. "Don't blame yourself." 

However, despite the tears now falling, Jeremy shakes his head, surprisingly refusing to do so. "You should..... you should get out of here." He advises him. "When the cops come, I promise to tell them it was self-defense." He says with an earnest look despite his emotions. 

Y/N nods gratefully, giving him one more apologetic look before turning around and leaving the scene. As guilty as he feels, he doesn't want to be here when the others come, if they beat the police here.

And with that, Jeremy's left alone, able to do nothing else but sit there next to Vicki's body, her blood all over his shirt and arms. Now alone, he's able to let everything come out, the once happy memories he had despite the coldness of the past now tainted with blue. Since this will be what he'll remember when he thinks of her..... death. 

After a few seconds, Jeremy can barely hear the doors nearby opening thanks to him preferring to stay in his own world. But eventually, he hears that voice, her voice. "Jeremy?" Elena calls out, before opening the bus door and seeing everything. "Oh my gosh...." She silently says in shock, before running up to and kneel beside her brother. "Jeremy?" 

He doesn't respond, instead he just hugs her, sobbing. 

Stefan eventually comes out as well and sees Vicki's body for himself. He doesn't say anything at first, feeling that it's not his place to ask questions. But..... when he sees the steak driven through her heart, Stefan can't help but ask the important question. "Jeremy..... who did this?"

"I d-don't...." Jeremy sniffs mid-sentence. "I don't know." He lies, sort of sticking to his promise as he prefers to tell it to the authorities, not a stranger. Stefan looks at him, the way he glances down would just mean that he's still grieving, but he's able to tell that he's not telling the truth. 

Despite the risk, he goes for it one last time. "Jeremy, who..." Stefan closes his eyes for a second before continuing. "Who killed her?" 

Since he seems so damn persistent on knowing, Jeremy grips his fist a little bit. "She..... she tried to kill him." He begins, trying to fight the demons that try to argue otherwise. "And now she's dead, Vicki's dead..."

"Who?" 

Jeremy bitterly looks up and him before saying it.

"Y/N.... Y/N did it."

Stefan and Elena then both freeze, before looking at each other. 

What did he just say? 

________________________

As he walks outside, Y/N comes across a dead body in the middle of the woods. Despite it seemingly trying to be subtle, he can tell that it was staged. The tip of the steak coming out of the chest instead of through it like it is kind of a dead giveaway. 

Blinking, he looks down, already getting reminded of what he's done despite not needing it thanks to it being ten seconds ago. Then he spots something, a book hanging out of his breast pocket. Y/N kneels down curiously and finds himself opening it. 

There, he sees it all, facts about Vampires. How they act, how they feel, their urges, their strengths, their weaknesses. Whoever killed these people clearly had no interest in it if it's still in this guy's inventory in plain view. 

 Tucking in his own pocket, Y/N then continues his walk out of school grounds. 

He still has a great deal of thinking to do before he considers reading it. 

Finding himself back in the school's parking lot, Y/N can already see all of the police vehicles arriving and setting up roadblocks for any potential lookers. Guess father's friends know when to act fast. 

"Y/N!" A voice loudly calls out to him, and he turns around to see Matt running up to him. "Y/N, have you seen....." He's about to ask him something before pausing once he notices a wound. "Whoa, what happened to your arm?" He queries, and Y/N squints before looking down and seeing some bloody scratches on his arm that he somehow noticed. 

"I..... fell and got landed on some of the Halloween props." Y/N quickly makes up an excuse with a very dry tone, but trying to mix up the best normal look he can muster. "What's up?" 

"I-I can't find Vicki." Matt tells him, causing Y/N's veins to practically scratch at him. "She totally bailed on me." He shares with him in a frustrated voice, obviously not knowing the true story. Now, Y/N almost has a hard time finding words to say. To make some kind of crime show reference right now feels disrespectful. 

"I don't where she is, man...." Y/N manages to say, giving him a shrug as he struggles to fight the guilt in his eyes. "That girl goes wherever she wants to, you know?" 

"Yeah, pretty much." Matt comments with a chuckle, before looking down with a sigh. "Is this what I'm in for? A lifetime of worrying about her?" He questions out-loud, feeling like he's now in strike three. 

Y/N looks at him for a few seconds, almost still as a rock. "Well.... I'm not much of a sibling expert, but...." He glances down, before giving him a earnest smile. "I think that's what makes you a good brother." He tells him, having to stop himself from saying anymore, less he breaks. 

Matt slowly nods in response. "Thanks...." He whispers, before just shrugging. "Maybe she went home." He guesses before glancing back at all of the police deputies. "I hope she went home." 

"Probably." Y/N comments in a very quiet voice, and Matt walks off, probably staying a little bit more to make sure she's still here before heading home. 

Y/N, on the other hand, just immediately does the latter, knowing the true answer.

Damnit......

_____________________________

Mystic Falls, Virginia: 1864

Lander is no longer in the Salvatore mansion. Even though he has a bed, he now hates that place with every fiber of his being. Instead, he's in a cave, his new cave where he will continue his feast. Katherine will expect him to just dump these guys in here every time he's hungry. 

But no longer, will he listen to her.

Now, he's going to do whatever he wants. 

Damn Katherine.....

Damn her to hell.

_________________________

Present Time:

Y/N stares at the Gilbert house while on his motorcycle, knowing well that Elena and Jeremy are in there, in despair because of him. He thought that maybe, just maybe, there a shred of humanity left in those.... things that took his father. He fooled himself into thinking he could convince himself out of revenge. 

But now, he sees the truth. 

That some monsters just can't be redeemed. 

Damn Damon.....

Damn him to hell.

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https://youtu.be/_DgngA3rMl0

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(A/N) Hello gentlemen, I know I said I was going to update on Tuesday instead of Monday, but I found myself getting back in my Skyrim phase, and things got ignored from there. However, I've managed to get myself to write the final part of this chapter until 1:00 AM on Tuesday, so you would not have to wait too long. 

I think this is my first Episode with an angst ending, since I feel like I kind of failed on that mark when I killed off Raymond. (I wanted to try and crank that feeling of sadness and anger inside you). 

But anyway, still proud of what we got here. This pretty much marks the new arc of Y/N's journey, The Hunter Arc. 

Plz vote and comment, any counts as feedback, and I'll see you in the next one.