❪ 𝓢𝑰𝑿 𝓕𝑬𝑬𝑻 𝓤𝑵𝑫𝑬𝑹 ❫ ⚰️ ˖ ׁ ⁩ 𓂃
𝚃𝚅𝙳  ⸻  ✸ 🔮⭑.ᐟ
❝ 𝖪𝖨𝖢𝖪 𝖧𝖨𝖲 𝖠𝖲𝖲, 𝖩𝖤𝖱𝖤𝖬𝖸 ❞

✦ ╮ 𝟎𝟒. ❝ 𝖥𝖠𝖬𝖨𝖫𝖸 𝖳𝖨𝖤𝖲 ❞ ── .✦

❝𝗨𝗚𝗛!❞ 𝗦𝗧𝗘𝗙𝗔𝗡 jolted out of his sleep, knocking his niece off of his chest in the process.

"Bad dream?" Damon asked, sitting in the chair in his brother's room, "Do you know how easy it was to get into your head just now? You really need some human blood. It might even the playing field. Football reference. Too soon?"

Stefan speeds to the other side of his bedroom, picking up a knife from the desk and launching it towards Damon, sending it right into his chest.

Damon stood up, pulling the knife out, "Alright, I deserved that. But I just wanted to let you know, they caught the culprit. The animal responsible for killing Coach Tanner and all those people."

"What are you talking about?" Stefan asked him in confusion.

"It was a mountain lion. Really big one." Damon says, "It attacked a hunter this morning. It's all over the news. 'Deadly Beast Captured. All's well in Mystic Falls'."

"Why would you cover your tracks?"

"I've decided to stay a while." Damon tells him as Anastasia woke up and stood up from her uncle's bed, "Spend time with my daughter. I'm just having way too much fun with you and Elena."

"You can't touch her now." Stefan says.

"Well, the vervain keeps me out of her head. Maybe that's not my target. But believe it or not, Stefan, some girls don't meed my persuasion. Some girls just cant resist my good looks, my style and my charm and my unflinching ability to listen to Taylor Swift." Damon says.

"I'm going to Jeremy's, Uncle Stefan." Anastasia tells him after checking her phone for any messages, "I'm gonna go check on his since his fight last night. And to see Elena."

"Don't stay out too late." Stefan kisses her head as she walks by her father, ignoring him on the way out, "Love you."

"I love you, too."

彡☆

"MORNING." ELENA smiled at the girl as she opened the front door and let her inside the house.

"Morning." Anastasia smiled back, following Elena into the kitchen where her Aunt Jenna sat, glaring at the TV.

"To repeat, the animal terrorizing Mystic Falls has been caught." The news guy spoke.

"Scum ball. Scum bucket." Jenna mumbles.

"Who are you talking to?" Elena questioned her aunt.

"Him." Jenna nods her head in the direction of the television. "The news guy, also known as Logan 'Scum' Fell. Did your mom ever tell you why I moved away from Mystic Falls?"

"Oh, no way." Elena says, "You and him? He's cute."

Anastasia tilted her head as she looked at the TV, "He's okay."

"He is not cute." Jenna tells the two teenage girls, "There's nothing cute, or okay, about him."

"Aunt Jenna, this is Anastasia. Anastasia, this is my Aunt Jenna." Elena introduced the two to each other.

"Anastasia? As in Stefan's niece?" Jenna asked.

She nods, "That would be me."

"You are so much prettier than Jeremy described." Jenna smirked, before noticing the box Elena was sitting on the table, wiping the dust off the objects in the box. "What are you doing with that?"

"I went yesterday and got it from the same deposit box. Mom had told Mrs. Lockwood she would loan it to the Founders council for their heritage display." Elena tells her.

"Is that Grandma Beth's wedding ring?" Jenna picked up a ring from out of the box as Jeremy walked into the room and smiled over at the Salvatore girl.

"Originally it was Great-Great-Grandma Mary's wedding ring." Elena tells her.

Jeremy walked over and picked up an old pocket watch, "How much do you think this stuff is worth? You know, like an ebay?"

Elena snatches it out of his hand, "You're not gonna find out."

"That stuff is mom and dad's. You can't just give it away." Jeremy tells her.

"I'm not giving it away. It's called a loan, Jeremy." Elena tells her brother as the doorbell rings.

As soon as Elena and Jenna had their backs turned, Anastasia watched Jeremy reach back into the box and pulled the pocket watch back out and put it into his pocket.

"Stacie and I will be in my room." Jeremy tells his Aunt, pulling the girl along with him towards the staircase.

"Keep your door open!" Jenna called after them.

"What is with you and pulling me places?" Anastasia asked, waving at her uncle as the two passed by.

"You cleaned my nose blood last night." Jeremy says as she started up the stairs, "I think I can pull you place. And maybe if I pull enough, you'll let me drive your car."

Stefan laughed from below them, "Good luck with that. I can't even drive her car."

"I will one day!"

"Over my dead body."

彡☆

"I DIDN'T mean to upset you." Zach wheezed out as Damon choked the only human relative he had.

"This is not upset, Zach." Damon tells him.

"What's going on?" Stefan walked into the room.

Damon dropped Zach to the ground, "Having a family moment, Stefan. Spending some quality time."

Stefan walked over to Zach after Damon leaves the room, going to help his nephew up, "Hey, are you okay?"

Zach refuses hims help, trying to gain his breathing back, "No, I'm not. And neither are you, and neither is Anastasia. How many more people have to die before you see that?"

"I see it. Alright, Zach? I see it." Stefan tells him.

"Then why aren't you doing anything about it?" Questioned Zach.

"I can't, Zach. I can't. It would take human blood. It's the only way that I could stop him, and I can't do that."

"The vervain could weaken him if he ingested it." Zach tells him, standing up, "It would give you the upper hand."

"Vervain hasn't grown here since 1865. Damon saw to that." Stefan said, "The little that I had, I gave it to Elena. What?" He follow Zach down to the cellar and the vampire looks shocked at the purple plants that were being grown, "You've been growing it."

"It's just something that's been passed down through the generations. Blood only runs so deep when you're related to vampires. Damon would kill me if he knew I had it." Zach said.

"But you're telling me. Why?" Stefan asks.

"Because I trust you, and I trust Anastasia. And you're gonna need it if you want to get rid of him." Zach said, "But what are you going to tell Anastasia?"

"I'm going to tell her the truth." Stefan tells him, "I've never lied to her, and I'm not about to start now."

彡☆

ANASTASIA LAUGHED as she ran down the stairs of the Gilbert house just as the doorbell rung, Jeremy running behind her.

Catching her by the waist, he pulled the door open to reveal Tyler. With a roll of his eyes, the Gilbert boy went to close the door, but Tyler pushed it open again.

"I'm here for my mom." Tyler tells him, eyeing Jeremy's arms around the green eyed girl's waist.

"It's right here." Elena came out of the kitchen, holding the box of stuff.

Tyler nods, taking it from her hands.

"Yeah, be careful with it, dick." Jeremy says, getting hit by Anastasia, "Ow, princess."

"Hey! Not now, okay, guys?" Elena looked between the two teenage boys, "Please?"

"I'm fine. He's just a punk." Tyler says.

"I got your punk."

"Look, Tyler, maybe you should go." Elena tells the boy standing on her porch. "Tell your mom that I'll see her tonight."

"Hey!" Tyler stopped the door before Jeremy could close it, the Salvatore girl standing behind him as she watched the two of them, "Would it make a difference if I told you I actually like Vicki?"

Jeremy looked back at Anastasia for a moment, Vicki's words from the night before going over his shoulder, "Not even if you meant it."

彡☆

"ARE YOU really going to this Founders party?" Jeremy asked, sitting at his desk while Anastasia laid on his bed.

"I don't want to, but I have no choice but to go." She says, "Besides, Elena told Uncle Stefan that she'd make sure I'd go since I texted him to try and get out of going."

"Didn't work, huh?" He laughs.

"Not in the slightest."

Elena stormed into the room, crossing her arms over her chest.

"What now?" Jeremy rolled his eyes.

"The pocket watch. Where is it?" Elena asked.

"What watch?" Jeremy glances at Anastasia.

"The one you stole from mom's box." She says, "Look, Mrs. Lockwood just called me, freaking out. It was on the list, Jeremy. And she can't find it, and she thinks she's the one who lost it."

"Maybe she did. Maybe Tyler took it."

"Don't even play that card. Jeremy, you took it. If I go online, am I going to find it on ebay? Is that you you pay for your pot?" Elena asked her brother.

"Screw you." Jeremy stand up and walks over to the bookshelf in his room. Leaning down, he pulled the pocket watch out and walked back over to his sister, "I would never sell this, okay?"

"Then why did you take it?" Elena asked her brother.

"Because, it's supposed to be mine." He tells her, "Dad said it goes to the firstborn son. His father gave it to him, and now what?" Jeremy slapped it into her hand and sat on the corner of his bed.

"And he was going to give it to you." Elena realized.

"Yeah."

"Look, Jeremy, it's still yours, okay? Mom promised Mrs. Lockwood. What do you want me to do?" Elena asked him.

"Just take it and get out." Jeremy tells her, falling back onto the mattress and pulling Anastasia close to him.

Elena watched the two interact, frowning as she saw the girl whispering in her brothers ear, watching him verbally relax.

彡☆

STEFAN KNOCKED on his niece's bedroom door and went inside the bedroom.

After calming Jeremy down, she decided to come back home and get ready to go to the Founder's party.

"Hey, kid. I need to talk to you." Stefan sits on her bed, "Can you, uh, can you sit for a minute?"

"Sure. What's wrong?" She asked, taking a seat next to him.

"Eloise, I really don't want to talk your father away from you, but I do have to stop him. If not, who knows what he could do or who he'll hurt next." Stefan tells his niece, "And I need you to be on board with the plan. Give me the word and I'll leave him alone, for you."

"Why are you telling me this? Why not just do it and get rid of him?" Anastasia asked him, looking down at her feet.

"Because I made a promise to a six year old that I would never lie to her." Stefan says, "And I didn't want you to hate me if I didn't tell you and you found out that I got rid of your father."

"You know, I always wish that when Dad comes into whatever town that we're in, he's actually there to be an real father. And I get disappointed every time I find out his true intentions of being there. I get disappointed each and ever time because I think that I'm actually going to have a relationship with my dad, that he's finally there the be a father, and he never its." Anastasia lets a tear roll down her cheek.

"I know." Stefan pulls her into a hug, kissing the top of her head, "I know."

彡☆

"DID I just see you talking to Logan Scum Fell?" Anastasia walked over to Jenna with a teasing smile on her face.

"Yes, yes you did. But all I did was insult him." Jenna winked at the young girl before the two went their own way.

"The Founding Families in Mystic Falls welcome you to the Inaugural Founder's Council celebration." Elena read from the very first registry as Anastasia joined her and Stefan. "Wow, look, it's the original guest registry. Look at these familiar names - Sheriff William Forbes, Mayor Benjamin Lockwood. Is that Damon Salvatore? And Stefan Salvatore?"

"The Original Salvatore brothers." Damon walked over to the three, Caroline in toe. "Our ancestors. Tragic story, actually. Damon even had a daughter that Anastasia was named after."

"We don't need to bore them with stories of the past." Anastasia told her father with a forced smile on her face.

"It's not boring, Stacie." Elena looked at her before she turned to look at Stefan, "I'd love to hear more about your family."

"Well, I'm bored." Caroline says, "I want to dance. And Damon won't dance with me."

"Mm-hmm."

"Could I just borrow your date?" Caroline asked Elena.

"Oh, uh." Elena stuttered to get out as she had not clue what to say.

"I don't really dance." Stefan tells her.

"Oh, sure he does." Damon says, "You should see him. Waltz, the Jitterbug, the Moonwalk. He does it all."

"You wouldn't mind, would you, Elena?" Caroline asked.

"It's up to Stefan."

"Well, sorry but I'm not gonna take no for an answer." Caroline says, pulling Stefan away.

"I think I'm gonna follow them." Anastasia says before looking at Damon, "Make sure you tell her how shitty of a father Damon was. You know, leaving his daughter behind to be taken care of by her uncle because he was too busy hating his brother."

彡☆

"DAMON TOLD you to ask me to dance, didn't he?" Stefan asked as he and Caroline danced, Anastasia off to the side, listening in to the conversation.

"Now why would he want to do that?" Questioned Caroline.

"Champagne, sir?" A waiter walked over to the two.

"Would you like one?" Stefan asked Caroline, grabbing two and thanking the waiter after.

"Okay, just tell me if you see my mom." Caroline said, taking the glass from his hand.

Anastasia watched in anticipation as Caroline took a sip from the glass, a breath of relief leaving her lips, knowing the plan would soon work.

❱ 🌿⋆｡˚

"UNCLE STEFAN." Anastasia walked over to her uncle, Caroline, Elena and her father after coming back from using the bathroom.

"What's up?" He turned, raising an eyebrow.

"Is it okay if I leave now? I'm bored and kind of sleepy." She tells him, a yawn escaping her lips as soon as she was finished with her sentence.

"Yeah. Call me when you get home so I know you got there safe." He kissed her forehead before she turned and walked off.

Once she knew she was far enough away from the Lockwood mansion, and away from prying eyes, she used her vampire speed and left, slowing down as she got to the street that Elena and Jeremy lived on.

She noticed the two figures on the porch, lips locked together. A frown replaced the smile on her face as she noticed that it was Jeremy and Vicki.

Turning back around, she sped off just as Jeremy pushed Vicki off of him.

"What?" Vicki frowns, looking at him.

"I - I can't." The Gilbert boy shook his head, "I did a lot of thinking, and I want to be with Anastasia. Especially, since I always seem to be second to you when it comes to Tyler."

"What? No, you aren't." Vicki shook her head.

"Where did you just come from?" Jeremy asked, watching the Donovan girl look down at his feet, "Goodnight, Vicki."

❱ 🌿⋆｡˚

"ELOISE IS never going to forgive you." Damon croaked out as Stefan turned his back to go back upstairs. "For putting me down here and injecting me with vervain."

Stefan smirked, looking over his shoulder to look at his brother, "I think she will. After all, it was her idea to put the vervain in Caroline's drink."