CHAPTER FOUR
founder's party!

After talking to Caroline, Bonnie followed the girl to a table in the Grill, with Iylah and Quinn in toe as the Bennett questioned. "You're taking Damon to the Founder's Party? What about me?" As the party was coming up, she was struggling to find someone to accompany her.

"Go with Elena."

"She's asking Stefan." Bonnie told Caroline as the group sat down at the table.

Caroline sighed. "Okay, go by yourself." She said bluntly, causing Bonnie to pull a face as she put her bag on the floor next to her chair.

"Gee, thanks." Bonnie replied sarcastically before looking over at Iylah and Quinn who reacted with a chuckle. Turning back to the Forbes girl, Quinn opened her mouth to ask her.

"Wait, Care. What about Mama Liz?" From what she's heard from Iylah, and what she had seen at the dinner that Friday, Quinn wondered. "Is she okay with you bringing Damon?"

"And I'm supposed to care why?" Caroline asked rhetorically, making Quinn look back at her best-friend as they shared a strange look that Caroline didn't see, since Bonnie grabbed her attention once again.

"He's older sexy danger guy." She pointed out to the blonde Forbes, making Iylah pull a face at her description of Damon.

Caroline furrowed her brows. "Older sexy danger guy?" She echoed before the confused expression on her face changed into more of a smug one. "Is that an official witch twitter tweet?"

"No more witch jokes, okay?" Bonnie spoke in a serious matter, reminding herself of what went on at the last game. "That whole Mr. Tanner prediction thing has me freaked."

"Okay." Caroline stayed quiet for a moment until she spoke again to point out. "And Damon's not dangerous. You know, he just has a lot of issues with his brother. You know, like major, deep-rooted drama." She spoke from what Damon has told her.

Iylah sat up on her chair and looked at the blonde in question. "Like...?" She was asking for Caroline to elaborate as the other two looked at the Forbes in wonder.

"I'm not really supposed to say anything."

Iylah chuckled. "Caroline Forbes, when have you ever kept a secret in your life?" She rhetorically asked, causing Quinn to nod her head, agreeing with her best friend.

"Exactly." She hummed.

"Okay." Caroline gave in before looking mainly at Bonnie as she mentioned. "But you can't tell Elena."

"No."

∘₊✧──────✧₊∘

The Bennett-Hale cousins and Quinn were at the Gilbert residence, currently setting up with Elena at the kitchen table to get their nails done for the Founder's Party, when the doorbell rang.

Jeremy made his way downstairs and opened the door. But as soon as he saw Tyler standing on the other side, he quickly went to shut it, however the Lockwood boy pressed his hand on the door and stopped Jeremy from slamming it in his face.

"I'm here for my mom. I was supposed to pick up a box—" Tyler stated as Elena was walking up to the door with the box in her hands.

"It's right here." She called and held it out to him once she reached the front door, before warning the boy. "Please be careful."

"Yeah, be careful with it, dick."

As Jeremy said that, Elena was quick to intervene before their bickering could escalate. "Hey." She called, looking between the two. "Not now, okay, guys? Please?"

"I'm fine. He's just being a punk." Tyler shrugged at Elena.

"I got your punk." Jeremy snapped at him, which got a sigh from his sister before she turned to the Lockwood in attempt to stop them once again.

"Look, Tyler, maybe you should go." Elena calmly advised the boy. "Tell your mom that I'll see her tonight." She smiled slightly before turning back around and returned to the kitchen.

"Still fighting over Vicki?" Iylah raised a brow at Elena as soon as she entered the kitchen, waiting until the girl pursed her lips and nodded, causing her to hum sarcastically. "How original."

The girls chuckled slightly as Bonnie started to sit down at the table with Iylah and Quinn following her actions. Bonnie grabbed a choice of two nail polishes and examined them. "Delicate Flower versus Naughty Vixen."

"Tough call. Can we mix them?" Elena requested from the kitchen as Bonnie passed her cousin one of the nail polishes to look at before looking back over at Elena with a smile.

"Look at you, getting all pretty for your date." She said as Elena returned from the kitchen and put a paper towel on the table. "You seem happy-ish."

"I was just gonna mention that." The Henderson girl agreed with Bonnie.

"I am-ish." Elena replied before taking a seat next to Bonnie and sat opposite to Iylah and Quinn as she continued. "Tonight's gonna be a good night. But, don't let that stop either of you from telling me whatever it is you wanted to tell me as soon as you all walked in the door."

Elena looked at them knowingly, which they tried to ignore. Iylah and Quinn simply sent the girl an innocent smile, leaving Bonnie to say something, trying to avoid sharing what Caroline revealed to them at the Grill the night before. "What if I tell you in the morning? I don't want to ruin the night."

"Bonnie, out with it." Elena pushed her to confess what either of them were hiding. But, Iylah still wasn't sure that what Caroline had told them was completely true.

"Okay," Bonnie sighed in defeat. "but it has to go in the vault because Caroline will kill us if it gets back to Damon that she squealed." Elena simply gave her a look. "Apparently, Stefan has a very interesting back story."

"Uh-huh." Elena let out, allowing her best-friend to continue confessing what Caroline passed on what she heard from Damon about Stefan. "Do you know what happened with his ex-girlfriend, Katherine?"

"I know that they both dated her and that's why they have issues." Elena only said what she was told, and Bonnie nodded before continuing what she was saying. "Yeah, they both dated her, only she chose Damon and that drove Stefan mad. So, he did horrible things to try and break them up. He manipulated Katherine. He filled her head with all these lies until finally it worked and she turned against Damon."

"Why is it always a love triangle?" Quinn chimed in with a groan, before Iylah turned to her with pursed lips.

"We've been watching too many tv shows." Iylah muttered, explaining for the both of them as the Henderson girl nodded.

"Yeah, that's it."

"Anyway..." Elena brought the conversation back after chuckling at their funny commentary. She looked back at Bonnie to respond to what she just said. "That sounds like one person's side of the story, meaning Damon's." She spoke in disbelief, and to be fair, Iylah was beginning to agree with her. As much as she knew about both Salvatores' supernatural secret, she had no idea about what happened in their past.

Bonnie shrugged. "I just wanted you to know."

"Anyway, his past relationships are none of my business." Elena continued.

"Unless he's a calculating, manipulative liar." The Bennett girl mused while fiddling with the nail polish in her hand. "That's your business."

"Stefan is none of those things." Elena was quick to defend, disagreeing with what was being said about her boyfriend.

"Yeah?" Bonnie was quick to turn to her and ask rhetorically. "How do you know?" She reminded the girl, especially since they haven't been going out for very long. So, how much did she really know about Stefan?

∘₊✧──────✧₊∘

It was later on in the evening, and the Lockwood Residence was crowded with people. Elena along with Caroline had gone off somewhere with their dates, Bonnie was getting a drink and Quinn and Iylah started off the party by taking pictures with Quinn's camera.

In the middle of this, Quinn was currently taking a humorous photo of Iylah when Jenna came up behind the Hale and photobombed her. Iylah let out a laugh as she turned around to the woman before they approached Quinn to see the picture, and show Jenna other ones that they've captured so far.

"Jenna." The three girls heard a male voice from nearby that Jenna could recognise instantly, and she mentally rolled her eyes.

"I can't hide now, can I?" She whispered to Quinn and Iylah who silently shook their heads, looking at her with a wince. "Damn it." Jenna muttered under her breath before turning around to look at Logan Fell. "Hello, Logan."

"We'll leave you two alone." Iylah excused herself and Quinn, squeezing Jenna on the shoulder with her hand and whispered. "Good luck." After that, the two girls walked away with Quinn putting a hand to her heart in sympathy.

"Oh, poor Jenna." She mentioned as they left the room to explore somewhere else, making Iylah chuckle at her words. Soon finding themselves in the display room, the girls found Elena stood by Stefan, looking at the original guest registry.

"Sup, guys." Iylah called, gaining their attention as the couple turned their heads. Elena was first to smile upon seeing the girls.

"Hey, girls." She responded, before motioning to what was in front of her. "We were just looking at the original guest registry. Wow. Look at all these familiar names." She pointed out, unaware of the panicked expression that Stefan was wearing, but Iylah managed to notice. "Sheriff William Forbes, Mayor Benjamin Lockwood." Elena stopped right there as soon as she recognised two of the names in particular. "Is that Damon Salvatore? And Stefan Salvatore?"

Just in time, Damon walked in with Caroline, and unbeknownst to the others, his words practically saved his brother from having to explain what it was himself. "The original Salvatore brothers. Our ancestors. Tragic story, actually."

"We don't need to bore them with stories of the past." Stefan wanted to change the subject, but failed to so when his girlfriend spoke.

"It's not boring, Stefan." Elena mentioned to the Salvatore. "I'd love to hear more about your family."

"Well, I'm bored. I want to dance." Caroline said, chiming in with a whine before she gave her date a pointed look. "And Damon won't dance with me." The raven-haired Salvatore pursed his lips, letting out a sound of agreement with Caroline who turned to Elena. "Could I just borrow your date?"

Iylah and Quinn looked between the two, slightly widening their eyes as they waited for Elena to answer. "Oh, uh..." She chuckled awkwardly, and glanced at Stefan.

"I don't really dance." Stefan politely told the girl, before furrowing his eyebrows at his brother who next spoke, seeming as though he was pushing his brother to dance with his date.

"Oh, sure he does. You should see him. Waltz, the jitterbug, the moonwalk. He does it all." Damon explained.

"You wouldn't mind, would you, Elena?" Caroline asked her friend who smiled awkwardly.

"It's up to Stefan." Elena sighed.

However, before Stefan could reply, Caroline had stepped in. "Well sorry, but I'm not going to take no for an answer." She grabbed his hand, pulling him away from the four of them.

"Come on, Moon. Let's go dance!" Quinn quickly grabbed her friend's hand and pulled her away in excitement, swinging their hands back and forth as Iylah squealed.

"Wait, I need to find Bonnie." She stopped Quinn in their tracks, wearing a worried expression. "I just want to make sure she's okay."

"I know." Quinn sighed. "Alright, how about one dance where we show off our Chandler Bing style moves? And then, we will go find Bonnie." At her proposal, Iylah chuckled lightly and shook her head.

"Quinn, as much as I'd love to do that," The Hale witch started off by saying. "this is a very formal party, where Carol Lockwood is the hostess."

Quinn scoffed. "I don't care."

"Yeah... neither do I."

∘₊✧──────✧₊∘

A couple hours later, Elena returned to the house after dancing with Stefan and found Iylah, Quinn and Bonnie sat down in a quieter room. She then approached the trio and sat down next to Bonnie as she informed them about what just happened with her and Stefan.

"This is my fault. I planted doubt." Bonnie spoke, blaming herself for putting words in Elena's head to make her suspicious of Stefan. "I'm a doubt-planter."

"It's not your fault." Elena shook her head as she disagreed with her words. "I just— I feel terrible because I said I wouldn't get in the middle of it and then that's exactly what I did. I got all snotty."

"We get it though, El." Iylah spoke softly, causing Elena to turn to her. "I mean, just because people don't like talking about their past, in one way, it doesn't necessarily mean that they are hiding something bad. It could just mean he's not ready to talk about it yet." She shrugged, knowing that if that was the case, she could relate to that. "But, in your case, I'd understand if you feel suspicious because you haven't known Stefan for as long as us, so of course you might question him."

Quinn hummed, taking a sip of her drink before swallowing it. She pointed at Iylah next to her in agreement. "What she said."

Elena chuckled lightly. "Thank you, Iylah."

Before the girls could carry on their conversation, they were interrupted when Carol Lockwood had walked into the room, approaching them. "Elena, honey, there you are." She stood next to the chair that Quinn was sat on. "I notice the watch still isn't in the collection."

"Oh, I'm sorry, Mrs. Lockwood." Elena started to say, remembering that she gave the pocket watch back to Jeremy and decided to lie. "I couldn't find it. I guess, it's still packed up in my parents' stuff somewhere."

"I see." Carol smiled politely. "Well, please let me know if you do find it." She told the Gilbert girl who nodded her head, letting out an 'okay' before watching Carol leave the room.

After that, the four girls resumed talking amongst themselves until they decided to leave the room and go somewhere else. Quinn stood with Jenna who was telling her about the lunch date she has with Logan Fell.

Meanwhile, Iylah stood next to the vanity mirror in the powder room and talked to Caroline until Elena appeared, walking up to stand next to the Forbes girl. The two friends greeted each other before Caroline opened her mouth and struck up a conversation. "So how are things with Stefan?"

Elena quickly shared a look with Iylah before she looked back at her reflection and responded to Caroline's question. "Great. Just great." The girl feigned a smile before reapplying her lip gloss.

"Really?" Caroline asked, surprised. "Well, my radar must be off because I was getting all sorts of other vibes."

As Elena went to speak, her words got caught up in her throat when she noticed something under Caroline's scarf. "What is that?" She questioned, making Iylah look up from the floor.

Caroline hummed in question before standing up straight, when Elena tried to lift her scarf up to get a closer look. Her action made Caroline flinch and pull away from her. "D-Don't." She let out a nervous chuckle.

However, Elena ignored her objection and lifted up her scarf as Iylah walked around her to look at the now visible giant bite mark on her neck. "Oh my god. Caroline, what happened?" The Hale girl asked, looking just as shocked as Elena.

"Nothing, okay?" Caroline pulled away once more as she tried to shake it off. But, failed to prove it was no big deal as Elena next spoke. "That is not nothing. Did somebody hurt you?!"

"No, okay, it— Nothing, it just..." Caroline spoke nervously. "My mom would kill me."

Iylah stood slightly behind the blonde, narrowing her eyes and Elena watched as she quickly pulled the back of Caroline's cardigan down, only to see another giant bite mark on the back of the girl's shoulder. "And that's another one, Care. That is definitely not nothing." Iylah reminded her.

"Did Damon hurt you?" Elena asked, shocked.

"No." Caroline denied yet again as she pulled her cardigan back up. "Of course not."

Elena went to search for more bite marks, though failed when Caroline finally snapped and backed away from her. "Just leave me alone, okay?" And without another word, Caroline brushed past the two girls and stormed out the room.

Iylah turned away from the door with a loud sigh, before looking at Elena. "What are you thinking?"

"Come with me." Elena grabbed her hand before pulling Iylah out of the powder room with her as they looked around for where Damon was. Soon finding themselves outside, Elena let go of Iylah's hand when she spotted the boy in the crowd. She stormed towards Damon in anger before shoving him. "There is something seriously wrong with you. You stay away from Caroline, or I will go to her mother, the Sheriff. Got it? Stay away from her." She stepped around him before leaving to go and find Stefan.

Thankfully, Iylah had disappeared from Damon's view as the Salvatore turned back around before he rushed back inside the house to find Caroline, angry that Elena had seen the bite marks that he left on the blonde's body.

Standing at a far distance, Iylah waited for Elena to finish her conversation with Stefan, and once she saw the boy leave, she walked over to the girl with a frown. "Do you want to go find Caroline?"

"Yeah." Elena sighed. "I want to make sure she is okay."

Meanwhile, Caroline stood in the front garden in front of Damon, and out of everyone's view as she cried out while he began to feed on her. He knelt to the ground with her, leaving her lying on the grass as he stood back up straight.

"What the hell?" Damon collapsed on the ground in pain as Stefan slowly stepped out of the dark shadows and walked up to his weakened brother on the ground.

"I knew I couldn't spike your drink." He began to confess. "So, I spiked hers."

Damon suddenly groaned in pain before his body turned to the side and he fell unconscious. Stefan furrowed his brows before turning his head to the side and widened his eyes at the small figure that was walking up to them with their hand dropping down next to them.

"Iylah?"

∘₊✧──────✧₊∘

megan speaks!

i hope you enjoyed reading this chapter! i cannot wait until i finish this act so i can get onto season two with katherine hahaha!

please don't be a ghost reader! i absolutely love to read your comments, and they inspire me to write more when i see that you guys are enjoying it.

thanks for reading, i love you all!! <33