"I don't understand why I have to stay cooped up here. Why can't I just go home?" Vicki asked, obviously filled with boredom. The curtains were closed and only a small sliver of light could be seen. This was all Damon's fault. His fault we're spending our day stuck here trying to help Vicki. If he hadn't turned her we wouldn't be here in the first place! I'm sat next to Damon in a small chair as Stefan started to speak.

"Because you're changing, Vicki. And it's not something you wanna do alone," Stefan explained, looking down then back to Vicki. That's true, I remember when I was in transitioning... I wasn't alone though, I had my now late older brother Jason with me. Maybe that's somehow worse. But after the fire, well... I can only assume that my dear brother had perished. So I should be thankful I had him for as long as I possibly could.

"There's nothin' about that Logan guy I killed in here. Not a word. Someone's covering it up," Damon said from beside me, taking the newspaper he had held in his hands that we were both inspecting and abruptly started to fold it up, catching me by surprise. He grabbed the Gilbert Watch, causing me to look down at it, even more intrigued.

"What is that?" Vicki asked, eyeing the watch in the eldest Salvatore's hand. Nothing you should know about, I thought, but didn't realize I had said it out loud until Vicki decided to talk again, "You know, I didn't think vampires could get headaches until I heard your voice, Char." I sent her a look as Stefan held a look of amusement whereas Damon held that unreadable smirk on his face.

"Much to our delight, we have a lady fight, Stef," Damon said, before looking back down at the watch to answer Vicki's question, "This is a very special, very old compass. What was Logan Fell doing with it? Aren't you curious?" Damon looked from Stefan to the watch. I'm sure as hell curious, I don't know about those two. Our lives are at jeopardy, with them knowing about vampires and all.

"Well, if you're so worried that somebody's onto you, why don't you just leave town, Damon?" Stefan asked defensively, turning to look at him. Damon gave Stefan a look that read something along the lines of 'you know I can't'. It was a look Stefan had apparently knew all too well. "You've waited this long. You can wait longer. The oracle said it would be on your own terms," Stefan said to Damon.

"Yes, little brother. And I say right now," Damon shrugged, turning to look at me as his eyes lingered a little longer than usual. Oracle? What did they mean? What did this oracle say? But before I could have a chance to ask, Damon spoke again. "We should all be worried," Damon added, looking at Stefan.

   "Hey, um, I'm hungry. Do you have anything to eat?" Vicki asked, looking over at Stefan. Stef stood up and reached for a brown cup on a plate, handing her the cup. He handed it to her and she took it, inspecting it. "What is it?" Vicki asked, looking at it with a disgusted grimace gracing her features. She even sniffed it, making me scrunch my nose up.

   "It's what you're craving," Stefan said, sitting down as he leaned forward, his hands clasped together with his arms on his thighs. He seemed to be waiting for her response and reaction to the liquid I could smell from here, the animal blood. My eyes started to turn red and veins popped out under my eyes like goosebumps rising. I heard Damon smirk and mutter something about how he loves a girl with no control. I sent him a glare as he looked over at Stefan.

   "Heh. Don't lie to the girl. It's so not what you're craving, but it'll do in a pinch, right, Stef?" Damon said, as we inspected the now folded paper. I pinched his arm gently as he looked down at me, giving me an intimidating look. A man older (in both ways), wiser, and sexier than me. Who wouldn't submit to him? I couldn't help it, I had stopped pinching him. "Obedient. Never thought I'd see that side of you," Damon smirked, and I slapped his chest as he put his hand over it in mock pain.

   "What is it?" Vicki asked quickly, still inspecting the drink as if it were laced with vervain or drugs. Well I already know she wouldn't have a problem with that, but to each your own. If she wants to unhealthy things to her body then she can be my guest.

   "Yeah, what is it? Is it a skunk? Saint Bernard? Bambi?" Damon jokingly said, his eyebrows raising up at the 'Bambi' bit. I gave him a pointed look once he said that, and he gave me an innocent smile. Oh how that smile could make a girl melt... however, I am not that girl, and I will not be melting for an eternal ass anytime soon. Actually, that's a good nickname for Damon, Eternal Ass. I don't think he'd like it, but I find that it suits him perfectly.

   "Go on. Give it a try," Stefan encouraged kindly, causing me to smile. But then Damon opened his mouth again, causing me to almost groan. Almost.

   "She's new. She needs people blood. She can't sustain on that stuff," Damon started to speak, as Vicki had just started to drink the animal blood. It was actually rabbit, I helped Stefan drain it earlier.

"Yeah, why can't I have people blood?" Vicki nodded, looking from Damon and I to Stefan. She had a smile on her face that made me shiver. "People blood"? Who calls it that? And why would someone even want it anyway? It doesn't have the delicious taste of animal blood, anyway. Animal blood is like vampire chocolate, it's hard to sustain on it, but it tastes better than any regular food.

"Because it's wrong to pray on innocent people, Vicki," Stefan said, looking over at me. "Take Charlotte for example. Char, you might actually want to leave for this," he said, pointing to the door. Damon looked over at me and I shook my head, an encouragement to just go on. "Alright. Well, Charlotte's Family was killed by a vampire," Stefan said, as Damon added something about me being stupid for ever letting that girl into my home. "It ruined her life, turned it upside down. Now her mom and dad are dead, her brother is dead, and her best friend. She's stuck as an undead vampire now for eternity." I winced a little as he told my story, making me wonder if I should have ever told him the story in the first place.

Vicki looked sold, like she had just decided she wasn't going to drink human blood any more. Then, Damon spoke up again. "You don't have to kill to feed. Just find someone really tasty and then erase their memory after wards. It's so easy," Damon said in encouragement, and he must've smiled because Vicki had a large and creepy grin on after looking at him.

"No, no, no. There's no guarantee that you can control yourself, okay? It takes years to learn that. You could easily kill somebody, and then you have to carry that with you for the rest of your life, which, if I haven't made clear, is eternity," Stefan started to lecture Vicki. Funny, I was given the same lecture decades ago when I had met him and he had found out I was drinking human blood. I stopped drinking it as a birthday gift to him because his birthday had been coming up, and speaking of his birthday... It's really soon! If I remember correctly, he turns one hundred and sixty-two this year. Oh how time flies by. He was about in his early one hundred twenties when I had first met him.

"Don't listen to him. He walks on a moral plane way out of our eye line," Damon explains, sitting the compass down. "I say snatch, eat, erase," he said to her, making an "erasing" hand gesture. Vicki smiled just a little, and I hit Damon on the arm.

"We should really put a muzzle on you," I muttered to him, and he rolled his eyes. It's true, there are times where Damon's two cents are appreciated, but there are times where it's totally unnecessary.

"Hey, look at me. We choose our own path. Our values and our actions, they define who we are," Stefan said wisely. Wow, didn't I know I was living with Gandhi over here.

"Okay, count deepak. I am outta here," Damon said, standing and throwing the newspaper down on a table. "And Stef, just know that nothing is going to stop me from staying here and doing what I have to to keep my destiny as it should be. Yes, she said I could do anything on my own terms, but I've waited over eighty something years for this, and I won't let this slip from my fingers. You know what the Oracle said will happen, she's predicted everything else, down to the birth of Sarah."

"And where do you think you're going?" I questioned, crossing my arms. Truthfully, my question was going to be who this oracle this, but maybe I'll never find that out. Damon replied curtly to me something along the lines of, "None of your business, Little Flame." My heart skipped a beat at that. It reminded me of a nickname I had when I was a little girl, Little Angel. It felt so familiar, in fact it almost felt like Damon had been the one to call me that. But Damon obviously couldn't have, so it was probably my own father.

"Can I have some more?" Vicki asked, finishing up the blood and dipping her finger against the rim of the glass, licking the blood off of her finger. Stefan looked to me and I groaned, however I still stood and gently took the cup, walking over to the blood bags of animal blood that Stefan and I had made just for this, putting a whole bag in there and handed it to Vicki, who looked ravenous. I myself was quite thirsty, too.

I was sipping on my own glass of blood when I heard Stefan and Elena downstairs. I stood up and when Vicki started to stand, I gestured for her to sit back down for now, which she did. I walked down there, sipping on my glass of blood. However, it would probably look like punch if Elena were to see it. I had arrived as soon as Elena started to answer something to Stefan, "So, she's a vampire with issues? What am I supposed to do? Because I'm lying to everyone that I care about. What's gonna happen to her?"

"A vampire with guy issues," I corrected, but Stefan shook his head, saying not that. "Okay. A vampire with guy, drug, and impulsive issues," I rephrased, and that caused Stefan to nod. I did somewhat like and somewhat not like Vicki.

"I'm gonna keep her here with us until I know that she's safe," Stefan assured Elena, as Vicki walked downstairs. She asked how long that would be, and I realized she had not listened to me at all. Elena looked a bit shocked, as Stefan replied, "We can talk about that later."

"Hey, Vicki. How are you?" Elena asked her, seeming like she was genuinely worried for her. Vicki obviously didn't find it genuine, because she seemed to be rather bitter about it all.

"How am I? You're kidding, right?" Vicki asked, obviously not believing she was genuine. Then again, who would believe that when Elena had been telling Jeremy to stay away from Vicki?

***

"Coffee is our friend. It's the caffeine. It circulates through our veins, and it warms our body so we're not so cold to the touch," Stefan explained, holding a warm cup of coffee to his hands. I was holding one too, but mine was a cappuccino, it's coffee, just tastier.

"That's very true. Caffeine is our very hyperactive friend. Think of coffee as that one party animal best friend," I offered, causing Vicki to smile a little. Though I could be doing other things with my free time, Vicki needs help. So though we could've avoided all of this if Damon hadn't turned her, I'm glad to be helping her.

"Well, what if I wanna drink human blood?" Vicki questioned simply.

"You're gonna have to learn to live with that urge and fight it on a daily basis one day at time," Stefan explained, and my mind went back to the first few days of the animal blood diet... I had drank cups of human blood with my animal blood to get used to it, but after the human blood was also taken away, I didn't know if I could stand animal blood. Then I had thought about Stefan, and how it was only fair and right to try, for him at least. To actually put my effort into it, because it would help him. It came down to would I rather have human blood, or would I rather keep the guy who's like my brother in my life? I obviously chose the latter

"Oh god! Don't start with that whole 12 steps thing. School counselor has been down that road, and it doesn't work for me," Vicki explained, not believing that any of this could work.

"It can work. It's your choice, Vicki," Stefan explained to her, as I started to sip on my cappuccino.

"So you've never tasted human blood?" Vicki asked Stefan, and my eyes widened. We don't talk about that... we don't really go there.

"We don't really go there," I explained, "It opens up wounds that don't need to be reopened. Let's just say, Stefan's had human blood, but doesn't particularly like it, and he isn't proud of what happened when he did drink it." Stefan gave me a grateful look, sending me a smile. I knew it would be easier on him if I just explained for him.

Vicki decided to stray from the sensitive topic, asking a more "sensitive" question, "Does this sketchy feeling ever go away? It's like I have a massive hangover. This daylight thing is a bitch. I need more blood. Where's your bathroom? I have to pee. Why do I have to pee? I thought I was dead."

"Just because you're dead doesn't mean your organs fail, Vick!" I called, laughing. I put my head in my hands as I stood, saying goodbye to Elena and Stefan. I was heading back upstairs, retiring to my bedroom. Enough vampire drama for one day.

***

I was sitting on the couch, blasting my music in my headphones completely so I could drown everyone out, but when I saw Stefan, Damon, and Vicki, at the door, I pulled them out, causing them all to give me concerned looks. What? It wasn't that loud. "What are you doing?" Stefan asked Damon.

"She's been cooped up in your room all day. She's not Anne Frank," Damon simply explained, opening the front door. However, it was stopped by Stefan. Stefan held the door shut as I rolled my eyes at the two. Such bickering children sometimes. But I love them, even Damon. But just a little bit.

"No no. Hey hey...Now's not the time for this," Stefan argued, holding the floor closed. He gave Damon a look, and Damon looked back at him.

"If you're gonna teach her. Teach her. Show her what it's all about," Damon simply explained, as Vicki was literally bouncing she was so excited.

"She could hurt someone," Stefan argued.

"I'm not takin' her to Disneyland. We're going in the front yard. Come on," Damon explained, opening the door and letting Vicki out. Bad idea... we all followed after them, me shutting the door behind us as we started to walk, and Stefan had called out hat it was a bad idea, just as I had thought.

"She's a vampire Stefan, she should know the perks," Damon explained, all four of us still walking. When Vicki asked, Damon said, "Like..." He had used his speed and sped behind her, tapping her back once he saw her looking around for him.

"Whoa. How did you do that?" Vicki asked, very intrigued and wowed by it all. Stefan seemed thoroughly unimpressed, but I thought it was sweet and cute that Damon was showing her the ropes. He sped behind her again, and whistled to get her attention when she looked for him again.

"Damon, stop," I said to him, softly and lowly. However, he didn't listen to what I had said, in fact that only seemed to encourage him more. He had a large smirk plastered to his face as he stared talking to Vicki. This time, he seemed more confident. I had just provoked him, challenged him. He considered it challenge accepted, then.

"Come on Vicki, live a little. And you too, while you're at it No pun intended," Damon said, lookin at her, then me, then gesturing towards the wooded area-ish. Vicki used her inhuman speed and sped away from us, through the shrubbery and away. It didn't look like she was coming back either, great. We have a runaway vampire on the loose, ladies and gentlemen. Stefan looked even more unimpressed and a little pissed at Damon. Damon seemed unapologetic and said, "Uh...my bad."

I growled and stalked towards him, obviously not intimidating him a bit. He just looked amused and as if he were trying to refrain from laughing. Why did I have to be so small?! That's the only way I can pass as a seventeen year old, because I'm so small! I glared and and hit Damon's arm after each word, "No. Kidding." I had hit his arm rather hard, actually causing him to flinch for one second, before returning to normal. Apparently he didn't want to seem weak with me around.