CHAPTER V ―

IT REALLY IS!

"𝐓𝐎𝐍𝐈𝐆𝐇𝐓, 𝐍𝐈𝐆𝐇𝐓 𝐎𝐅 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐂𝐎𝐌𝐄𝐓. 𝐖𝐎𝐔𝐋𝐃 𝐘𝐎𝐔 𝐋𝐈𝐊𝐄 𝐀 𝐏𝐑𝐎𝐆𝐑𝐀𝐌?" 𝐁𝐑𝐎𝐎𝐊𝐄 𝐒𝐌𝐈𝐋𝐄𝐃 𝐀𝐓 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐓𝐎𝐖𝐍𝐒 𝐏𝐄𝐎𝐏𝐋𝐄 𝐀𝐒 𝐒𝐇𝐄 𝐇𝐀𝐍𝐃𝐄𝐃 𝐎𝐔𝐓 𝐅𝐋𝐘𝐄𝐑𝐒 𝐀𝐁𝐎𝐔𝐓 𝐓𝐎𝐍𝐈𝐆𝐇𝐓𝐒 𝐂𝐎𝐌𝐄𝐓. The man grinned and took a flyer from the strawberry blonde, and Brooke turned back to the conversation she was having with Bonnie. "No, he didn't call."

"Or text." Elena chimed, earning a glare from her cousin. She shrugged, handing another flyer to a person passing by.

Bonnie cringed. "That's an important milestone in any relationship.

"Yeah, well," Brooke shrugged. "It just wasn't meant to happen."

Elena and Bonnie looked at each other, rolling their eyes. "You always say that."

"Yeah, and I'm always right."

"Put yourself out there, Brooke!" Bonnie encouraged her. "C'mon, it won't be that bad."

"Bonnie's right, Brooke." Elena nodded in agreement, giving her cousin a pointed look.

"I am!" Brooke rolled her eyes. "Maybe not sleeping with every guy I cross paths with, but I have no problem finding myself a suitable date for a night. We all know my phone is filled with enough numbers to keep us all busy on Friday's nights for the next few years."

The three girls looked at each other and all burst out into a fit of giggles, before going back to handing out tonight's comet flyers.

...

Zach Salvatore barged into his Uncle's room upstairs, glaring. "What is Damon doing here? Everest, I don't mind. You, I tolerate. But Damon?" Stefan sighed, continuing to pull on a shirt over his head.

"'Cause I came home," Stefan explained. "He wants to make my life miserable. That's how he enjoys his." Zach shook his head.

"Well, he's putting us all at risk. The girl in the hospital could talk."

"She won't." Stefan stated, firmly. "I took care of her."

Zach's eyebrows raised. "Really?"

"I'm not sure, Zach." Stefan took a deep, unneeded breath. "I'm not as strong as Damon."

"So, what happens if it doesn't work?"

"I don't know. I'll deal with it."

Zach's jaw clenched. "Is she worth it, Uncle Stefan? The girl you came back for?" It was a low blow, but at this point, Zach Salvatore no longer gave a shit as he walked out of Stefan's room, leaving his Uncle to contemplate if this was the right decision...

...

Later that night, Brooke found herself gathering candles for everyone with Caroline. "And here I thought Stefan was the good guy," Caroline tsked, her hands too, full of candles.

Brooke hummed. "Here, Care and I got some more candles." The two girls handed them out to everyone.

"Thank you." Brooke looked up for her green eyes to catch Stefan's. She raised an eyebrow.

"Oh, well, if I would've known it was you, I would've taken it back." Brooke snarked, pursing her lips as she began to walk away.

"Alright, I deserved that." Brooke scoffed.

"Yeah, and then some." Stefan quickly walked in front of the strawberry blonde, stopping her in her path.

"And I know that, Brooke... I was wrong. The other day?" He looked into her green eyes, knowing that this was the wall she put up around herself. "That wasn't about you. My brother and I, we don't have the greatest relationship."

"You didn't even tell me you had a brother."

"I'm tell you now..." there was a brief pause before Stefan spoke again. "I have two siblings."

Brooke's eyes met his. "Two? I know about Damon..." she could tell Stefan wasn't exactly comfortable talking about it, but she was going take all she could get, before Stefan clammed up on her again.

Stefan nodded, looking up at the stars as they all awaited the comet. "There's Damon and we had a younger sister, Madelaine. She was fourteen and we lost her... I think that's why Damon is how he is. He blames himself." how, Stefan wouldn't exactly say, and he hoped Brooke didn't push.

A hand slipping into his own startled Stefan for a moment and he found himself staring at Brooke's ivory colored hand in his tanned one, her skin delicate and soft against his rough hands. His eyes found Brooke's. She gave him a small smile. "This doesn't mean you're off the hook, but I get it."

They stared into each other's eyes a little longer than "just friends" before they both turned to look for the comet. "You know, that comet...it's been traveling across space for thousands of years. All alone."

Brooke nodded. "Bonnie think's it's a harbinger of evil."

"I think it's just a ball of...snow and ice, trapped on a path that it can't escape. And once every 145 years, it gets to come home." Stefan explained. "I am sorry about the other day, more than you know. I wasn't myself and I'm sorry."

"Take me out to dinner after this and I might let you slide on this one." Stefan smiled to himself.

"I guess we can call it a date?" Neither of them looked at each other, but stole a glance or two out of the corner of their eyes.

"I guess we could."

The two stood there in silence, the only sound around them were the soft sound of chirping crickets and people chatting as they all awaited for the one thing that everyone was prepared for...

A sound of gasps broke through the crowd as a ball of light glided across the sky, outshining all the stars and Stefan found himself looking at the girl besides him. "It's beautiful," Brooke gasped, her hand tightened on Stefan's.

Stefan hummed in agreement. "It really is."

...

A short while later, Brooke and Stefan sat inside the Grille in a booth towards the back of the Grille, chatting and laughing at each other's stories. "I remember my mom freaking out about the water on Aunt Miranda's floors and Miranda just walks in and laughs with the rest of us." Stefan chuckled at the story.

"It sounds like Miranda was a good mom and aunt." Brooke took a deep breath, nodding with a fond smile.

"She really was."

"Have you seen my sister?" Matt's voice suddenly broke through the bubble both Brooke and Stefan had been absorbed in. The two looked at him with a frown, shaking their heads.

"No, we haven't," Brooke frowned. "What's going on?"

Matt took a deep breath, trying to calm his anxiety. He ran a hand through his blonde curls. "I can't find Vicki anywhere, no matter where I look. She's missing." Stefan stood up from the table and put his hand on Matt's shoulder.

"I'll go take a look, see if I can help." Brooke nodded, looking at Matt and then Stefan.

"Thank you, Stefan." She smiled at him. "I'll take care of Matt, I'm guessing Elena's already out there looking." Stefan nodded and disappeared before Matt could say anything. "C'mon, Matt. Let's go look for your sister."

...

When Stefan got to the rooftop, he found Damon dangling Vicki over the edge. "No! No!" Vicki sobbed as Damon glanced at his brother, a smirk on his lips.

Stroking his fingers along her tanned skin, Damon continued to smugly glance at his brother. "Shh, I'm not gonna drop you."

Turning to his brother, Damon met his green eyes. "Not bad. Have you been eating bunnies?" Damon mocked.

Stefan scowled. "Let her go."

"Shh. Really? Ok-" Damon smirked, pushing Vicki into his brother's arms.

"I won't let you hurt her, Damon." Stefan snapped as Vicki let out a confused sob.

"Relax, brother. I'm not a monster." Damon teased.

"What's happening?"

Ignoring Vicki's question, Damon turned to Stefan. "I don't need her to be dead, but... you might." Damon motioned to Vicki with his eyes as Vicki sobbed.

"What attacked you the other night?" Damon suddenly questioned Vicki as she tried to think.

"I don't know. An animal."

Damon smirked. He knew his brother's compulsion would be weak. "Are you sure about that? Think. Think real hard. What attacked you?"

Trembling in recognition, Vicki paled. "A vampire."

"Who did this to you?"

"You did!"

"Wrong!"

"Don't." Stefan begged as Damon locked eyes with Vicki.

"It was Stefan."

Shaking his head, Stefan could only plead. "Don't."

Still with a cocky smirk on his face, Damon motioned for Vicki to walk forward. "Come here."

Grabbing the brunette by both sides of her head, Stefan stood defeated. There was nothing he could do.

"Stefan Salvatore did this to you." Damon compelled as Vicki repeated his compulsion in a low, monotone.

"He's a vampire. A vicious, murderous monster."

Vicki's eyes filled with fear as she trembled. Vicki was beyond afraid. Stefan had attacked her. It wasn't an animal that attacked her in the woods. It was a vicious, murderous monster. Stefan was the vicious, murderous monster. He was a vampire...

Shaking his head, Stefan pleaded. "Please, Damon. Please don't do this."

Averting his eyes from Vicki, Damon smirked at his brother. "If you couldn't fix it before, I don't know what you'll do now."

Ripping the bandaged from Vicki's neck, Damon briefly inhaled before shoving Vicki into his brother's arms. Vicki let out a shrill shriek and struggled in Stefan's grip.

"Ugh! Your choice of lifestyle has made you weak. A couple of vampire parlor tricks is nothing compared to the power that you could have, that you now need. But you can change that. Human blood gives you that."

Vicki continued to struggle in Stefan's grip.

"No!"

Ignoring the girl's screams, Damon narrowed his blue eyes at Stefan. "You have two choices. You can feed and make her forget. Or you can let her run, screaming "vampire" through the town square."

Laughing bitterly, Stefan shook his head. "That's what this is about? You want to expose me?" Stefan tried to ignored the tantalizing smell of Vicki's blood.

"No! I want you to remember who you are."

Shaking his head, Stefan's brows knotted together. "Why? So what, so I'll feed? So I'll kill? So I'll remember what it's like to be brothers again? You know what, let her go. Let her tell everyone that vampires have returned to Mystic Falls. Let them chain me up, and let them drive a stake through my heart, because at least I'll be free of you." Stefan snarled.

"Huh. Huh. Wow. Come here, sweetheart."

Damon's eyes forced Vicki to walk forward as she cried out.

"It's okay."

Clutching the girls head in his hands, Damon leaned down to whisper in Vicki's ear. After repeating some words, Vicki's eyes glazed over before she forgot about the whole conversation.

"What happened? Where am I? Oh, I ripped my stitches open. Ugh..."

As the girl held her bleeding neck, Stefan grimaced, but took a step forward. "You okay?"

Vicki shrugged. "I took some pills, man. I'm good."

"It's good to be home. Think I might stay a while. This town could use a bit of a wake-up call, don't you think?"

Stefan took another step forward. "What are you up to, Damon?"

"That's for me to know and for you to...dot dot dot," Damon's smirk widened. "Give Elena and Brooke my best."

─ ✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:*✧ ─