***

EVERYONE WAS OUT preparing for the carnival. Cheerleaders in their uniforms, football players in their gear. And Elena, Bonnie, and I stuck decorating. They were talking as Elena wrote things down on a clipboard. "Katherine looked just like you, it was freakish," Bonnie explained. Katherine... The thought of her made me shiver. Not only did she do this to me, she probably killed my brother, too. She almost killed me... She would have, if Damon hadn't been there.

"She is my ancestor. Hey, I moved the student booth into the cafeteria," Elena explained.

"Your vampire ancestor and she didn't just resemble you like a family member would. She was you," Bonnie explained. 

"I don't— I don't know, I can't explain it. It's creepy, that's all I got," Elena explained, looking over at me. "You know, you're lucky you don't have an evil doppelgänger, Charlotte. Because trust me, it's a lot more work than you think."

I chuckled, nodding. "Believe me, I know. I've met your evil doppelgänger before. She was the one who turned me, and the one who killed my doppelgänger, Corinthia." I was kind of grateful. If she was anything like Katherine, I would want her dead. I can't tell Elena about our little encounter with Katherine. Not yet.

"Exactly. Evil. I mean, how do you know she's not still out there pretending to be you?" Bonnie questioned.

"I don't but I could sit here and be tortured by the not-knowing or I could get these prizes to the ring toss," Elena explained, taking plastic bags full of prizes and opening them to set them up.

"Have you talk to Damon since he killed Jeremy or tried to kill Jeremy?" Bonnie asked, and my eyes widened. Damon tried to kill Jeremy..? That's something I would have to ask him about later. Why the hell would he try to do that?

"No Bonnie, I haven't and I won't and I don't want to talk about Damon or anything else that's vampire related okay?" She gave a bag full of plushies to Bonnie and I and sent me an apologetic smile, "Except you, Charlotte. You're my only Vampire exception. You're one of the only ones with a shred of humanity left inside you."

"Okay, I'm sorry, I'll focus. We have to make Caroline proud or she will kill us. I don't know how she does this all of time," Bonnie explained.

"Well because she's not human, obviously," Elena replied.

"Obviously," Bonnie replied, and we all chuckled at that. Caroline was a forced to be reckoned with.

***

Damon and I were in the living room when Stefan walked in. Damon was pouring himself a glass of 0-Negative, and I had went out for a bite a few hours prior. I had some deer, a couple wolves. Virginia was full of wild animals.

"Care for one?" Damon asked Stefan, pouting the blood from the bag into a glass.

"No, thank you. I'm not hungry, just ate," Stefan dismissed, as he walked further into the room.

"Are you worried that one day, all the forest animals are gonna band together and fight back? I mean, surely they talk," Damon joked with a smile, Stefan and I both smiling a little at that. The once snarky comments between them were now becoming more silly, and lighthearted. And my tender tender heart couldn't have been more happy about that.

"I'm just happy that's a blood bag and not a sorority girl supplying your dinner," Stefan said, pointing at the bag with a smile. Damon had a smile on his face, but ruined any ideas I had of them being brother-brother again when he spoke:

"I like this. You, walking on eggs shells around me because you think I'm gonna explode. It's very suspenseful. Is Elena worried too? I bet I'm your every conversation," Damon said with a smirk, trying to get into Stefan's head.

"Have you heard from Katherine?" Stefan asked.

"I think the Lockwoods have a family secret because the Gilbert device affected them but vervain didn't so they're not vampires, they're something else," Damon explained, changing the subject.

"Is this your new obsession?" Stefan asked him.

"I think that he may be on to something Stef.." I said softly, motioning for Damon to continue, "Keep.. Keep going, Damon."

"Think about it, you'd rather some unknown supernatural element running rampant upon our town, fine, I'll drop it," Damon said sassily.

"We haven't seen the last of Katherine, you do know that right? We have no idea what she's up to," Stefan explained, looking at Damon.

"Sure we do. She came back to profess her undying eternal love for you so I'm gonna let you deal with her because I have more important things to do like explode. Cheers!" Damon called, holding up his glass of blood as he walked out of the room.

***

I was at the now open Carnival with Elena and Bonnie. The two were taking as I listened. I've spent so much time with Elena that I think Bonnie deserves her turn.

"The ring toss is out of Bart and Homer dolls and Team Jacob T's," Bonnie explained, as we walked at a fast pace.

"Okay, I can grab some from the science club. Also we lost a speaker in the karaoke room," Elena explained.

"Hey, all good Elena, take a beat, look around. This is a huge success," Bonnie said with a smile.

"You mean I can do more than just freak vampire havoc?" Elena said in mock surprise.

"Go figure," Bonnie said, in mock surprise as well. I smiled at the two of them, watching all the pretty lights of the carnival. Bonnie was talking a repair man, but I wasn't paying attention to it. I was paying attention to the carnival. The old fashioned, small town carnival. I usually stay in big cities with Stefan, with the occasional small city, but little towns like Mystic Falls were a never. I saw city lights galore but it didn't have anything against these bright carnival lights.

***

Elena and I were talking when Damon approached us out of nowhere. "Elena, Charlotte."

"What do you want, Damon?" Elena asked harshly.

"I know I'm the last person you want to see right now but I need you to come with me," Damon said to Elena, as I had already moved to stand beside him.

"Whatever it is I'm not interested. And neither is Charlotte," Elena said, gently taking my arm, causing me to move over to where she was.

"Yeah, I need you to come with me right now, Elena," Damon said sternly, a serious and solemn look on his face. He was practically radiating authority off of him. Elena looked at him, and he motioned his head for us to follow. He started walking off, and Elena reluctantly stopped what she was going as we followed him to whatever important thing this may be..