chapter 6

Show me how to lie, you're getting better all the time
And turning all against the one is an art that's hard to teach
Another clever word sets off an unsuspecting herd
And as you step back into line, a mob jumps to their feet

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

The next day, Jade was sitting at the diner table, sipping coffee, of which the temperature reminded her of hell, but she didn't pay the slightest attention to it at the moment. Eyes focused ahead, her brain worked like a machine. She wondered if she was living in some cheap 80's slasher movie. How is this possible? Was it even possible? Vampires? Her rational side didn't allow this thought into her head, but something else whispered to her that it was indeed, true. She felt it inside herself, in her blood, in her bones, that that thought was completely rational, as if she had everything well explained, but none of the evidence was handed to her on a silver platter. It was as if she already had something on the tip of her tongue, and just as that thought was coming to the surface, someone cut off that tongue and sunk it back in.

Maybe she's finally out of her mind? Maybe it's time to admit that she needs help, that she's not as well off as she was before? What was the trigger? Mystic Falls? That would make sense. Given the fact that her brain is being gifted with new ditches all the time, it probably resembled Emmental cheese right now. Add in the mysterious bruises, horrible headaches, messages which she didn't remember sending, magic teleportations, and you have the perfect candidate for an experimental shock therapy.

"I think it's time for you to put me in a mental asylum." Jade said in a calm voice without any emotion, tone absolutely serious. She sat in the kitchen, finding that she would go more crazy if she sat in her dark room, which slowly began to merit the term burrow. Caroline came down a while after her, but Jade didn't pay much attention, too buried in her sick musings.

Caroline snapped her head up in a flash, eyebrows so high, that they disappeared into her hair. "What?" She hissed with a grimace on her face, pushing her head toward her creepily still sister.

"You heard me." Jade replied, nonchalantly taking a sip from her coffee, eyes still pointed ahead.

Caroline sighed, placing her hand on her hip. "What the hell are you on about?"

Jade let out a tsk. "Well, I tried to tell you few days ago, but you told me to go and fuck myself." She chirped, swallowing the lava in her cup.

Caroline scoffed. "I did not tell you that." She gestured with her free hand in Jade's direction. She was scheduled to meet with Katherine that day, to give her an account of her strange plot to play double agent. A small part of her was grateful for that, because she didn't know what she was supposed to say to Jade, when everything that was bothering her was her fault. Maybe not entirely hers, but she was certainly partly responsible.

"You as well could've." Jade cocked her head to the side, tearing her gaze from nothingness to connect with her sister's.

Caroline exhaled deeply. "What's wrong, Jade?" She asked in a mocking tone, hoping it wasn't what she thought it would be.

"Oh, if you ask so nicely." Jade patronized with a forced smile. "Not much, beside the fact that I'm probably losing my mind. The usual." She shrugged.

"You are not losing your mind." Caroline countered. No, we've just been messing with it practically the moment you arrived to town.

"How can you know?" Jade put her mug down with a loud slam.

"Well, do you take your meds?" Caroline asked.

"Yes, I take my━" Jade scoffed in disbelief, pushing herself further in her chair. "What does that have to do with anything? What does it have to do with the fact that since I came here I've lost my memory like ten times, I keep finding myself in places I don't remember coming, I have fucking bruises all over my body, especially on my fucking neck?" She pointed her finger at her neck, which still has some yellow spots on the sides of it, barely visible now. Caroline's lips tightened at the sight. "My brain feels like it's being put in a blender at full speed, and I know I'm not hallucinating, so don't even think about it."

"Are you sure you're taking them?" Caroline asked, immediately regretting it.

"Am I sure?" Jade breathed in disbelief. "Really?" She abruptly stood up from the chair, Caroline flinched. "Are you trying to piss me off?"

"No, but what you're saying now is insane!" It's not. But it's better to let her think that it is, than risking her life, messing with the whole supernatural business.

"Insane." Jade repeated, chuckling humorlessly. "Well, that much I figured." She cocked her head to the side, flashing her eyebrows up and down. "And yes, I'm taking them. Otherwise you'd be picking pieces of my brain off the fucking carpet right now!" She exclaimed, pointing at said carpet.

Caroline let out an annoyed grunt. "I'm just trying to help you!" She yelled, pointing her hands in Jade's direction. She really was trying, although Jade didn't know it. Anything was better than getting her caught in the middle of a Pierce-Salvatore-Gilbert war over some ancient, transparent pebble. And then there's the matter of the Lockwoods/werewolves on the side. No biggie.

"How? How exactly are you trying to help me?" Jade fumed, joining her hands like in a prayer. Because god, give her the strength to not punch her right there, right now.

"I don't know!" Caroline yelled again. "Maybe take some more?" Caroline froze when the uttered words came back to her, she wasn't even thinking what was going through her mouth. She just suggested to her sister, a former drug addict, that she should start taking more psychotropics. Good fucking job.

Jade also went still, slowly turning her head to Caroline's direction. "Do you just━"

"Girls!" Liz Forbes exclaimed, walking down the stairs and tightening her robe. "What the hell is up with the screaming?"

"Oh, nothing." Jade chirped in an innocent manner. "Just Carrie's mission in life is to drive me even more crazy." She mused, her lips formed into a malicious smile, eyes shooting daggers in her sister's direction.

Caroline huffed. "And you can't say anything to Jade, because it's like talking to a wall." She gave her a tight, fake smile.

Liz sighed, setting some water to boil. "Too early, too early." She whispered to herself. Sighing again, she turned around to her daughters and pointed a finger at one. "Jade, you're not crazy." She redirected her finger to her younger daughter. "Caroline, you two are sisters for a reason." Jade let out a snort and Caroline opened her mouth to argue.

"Not a word." Liz ordered, narrowing her eyes. Caroline let out an annoyed huff and went over to the fridge, defeated.

"Damn, sheriff. Chill out." Jade raised her hands defensively with an amused look and returned to her seat a the table.

Liz huffed a laugh and poured the hot water into her mug, the coffee already in it. "Caroline, your dress is ready to be picked up from the dry cleaning, just got a call."

Jade ears perked up. "Dress? For what?" Please, don't tell me there's another ev━

"Oh, the masquerade ball is tonight, Caroline didn't tell you?" Yup, there is.

"No, she didn't." Jade drawled, slowly pulling her gaze from her mother and implanting it on her sister, who looked strangely nervous. Interesting.

Liz hummed, acknowledging the answer. "Oh, in that case. You should come, socialize a little. I can't, because I have a shift, but I think Carol would love to see you."

"No, mum." Caroline hissed, closing the fridge. Like that would be what should be missing from tonight's party. Jade running around, who has a nose and eyes like a hunting dog when she notices something is wrong. One careless step and Katherine doesn't just kill Caroline, but Jade as well. Splendid. And also the whole plan will be in vain, because as Caroline will try to keep her sister on a leash, Katherine will be out of her sight. And vice versa. God, help her.

Jade raised her eyebrows at her sister's reaction. Well, that was amusing. Say no more, she already made up her mind after seeing that.

"Why not?" Liz furrowed her eyebrows, not knowing the issue.

Carolinie cleared her throat. "Um, I think it's not Jade's cup of tea, isn't it, Jade?" Caroline looked at Jade, biting her lip. Don't even think about it or I swea━

"I would love to come, mum." Jade said sweetly, resting her face on her bent arms, a mischievous smile firmly on her lips.

"Oh, great." Caroline muttered, rolling her eyes. She just couldn't wait.

Jade let out a snort. "Keep rolling those eyes and maybe you'll find a brain back there." Jade teased with an amused smirk. Caroline just responded with a glare.

"That's great." Liz chirped, ignoring her daughters' eye battle. "Do you have a dress or...?"

"Mum, who do you think you're talking to? I always have an emergency bombshell dress." Jade replied, tone dead serious. Liz just tightened her lips and nodded slowly, agreeing with the statement. "Besides, masquerade ball? Really?" Jade snorted. "Wasn't there some kind of picnic recently? This town is beginning to resemble New Orleans with the number of events and parties." Liz laughed, nodding her head in amusement. "What's even the reason behind this one?"

Liz kissed her teeth. "Some kind of help for the homeless? I don't even..." She trailed off with a grimace.

"Yeah, me too." Jade mumbled and took a sip from her coffee, noticing that Caroline had already left the house.

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

Jade sat in a chair at her vanity, a cloud of scattered makeup products around her, soft rock playing softly in the background. She had decided on classic cat eyeliner that elongated her eyes, on her lips the color of blood red. She was just in the process of curling her hair into thick waves that fell lightly over her shoulder blades, when she began to contemplate the upcoming evening.

She could not ignore Caroline's strange behavior. The girl clearly didn't want her at that ball, but for what reason? She didn't know. But she would find out, just watch. Something wasn't right, Jade could sense that. And even if everything would be okay, Jade will go for the sheer satisfaction that her sister doesn't want her there. She's petty like that, that didn't change.

Finishing her hairstyle, she pushed back from her chair and walked to her door, on which her already ironed black dress was hanging. It had a square neckline on thin spaghetti straps, its length reaching mid-thigh, tight enough to wrap perfectly around her body. She figured there was something missing from it, so she borrowed long leather gloves from Caroline, and a lace, black mask she had rummaged from the abyss of her teenage closet. The only thing missing from her outfit was her knee-high platform leather boots, which were waiting for her at the door.

At this point she thought that she began to slowly run out of clothes, she will have to ask Cami to send her some boxes. Or eventually return to New Orleans. She hadn't decided yet. Overall, there was nothing keeping her here. Caroline had recovered from the accident and was back to her annoying self again, Vicki had moved out of Mystic Falls, her father was lying peacefully behind bars for the time being, and her mother.... well. With her mom, as it was, so it is. For now. Jade hasn't had much of a chance to talk to her, due to the fact that her mom is hardly ever home, and when she is, Jade isn't or she sits holed up in her room trying not to get crazy.

However, all that had happened in the meantime━Jade was unable to ignore it. All the time she had the image of the dozen bags of blood in her mind, the Latin inscription constantly on the tip of her tongue. All the craziness with her memory... something was wrong. She doesn't know what yet, but she'll find out. She feels as if she is close, as if something has escaped her falcon eyes, the key to solving the mystery. It irritated her tremendously, who wouldn't? Altough bypassing the need to annoy her sister, Jade had a strange feeling━as if something was pulling her to agree to coming to the party. As if she had a need to be there, invitation or not. Jade thought it was rather strange, since she heard about it a few seconds before accepting it.

After putting on her dress, the Forbes woman examined herself in the mirror, checking to make sure everything looked the way she wanted, that her hair didn't stand out anywhere, and that her eyeliner was even and sharp. She looked hot, she thought as she mentally high-fived herself. Her black outfit perfectly complimented her sleeve of tattoos on her right arm, which extended to her collarbones, although half of them are going to be hidden under her long gloves. From under her tight dress, half of a snake protruded, reaching to her knee, which was decorated with a tattoo of broken glass; on the sides of her legs she had a variation of different insects, such as beetles, moths and dragonflies. On her tibia was a dancing troubadour, which had a smiling skull instead of a head. The rest of the leg was decorated with various animal skulls, a pair of spiders and rat skeletons.

Satisfied with her appearance, she walked to the door once more and picked up her boots. Sitting down on the bed to put them on, she bent down and grabbed one with her right hand. She furrowed her eyebrows in confusion. There was nothing wrong with the boots, it was her hand that got her attention. On her middle finger was a silver ring with a Black Spinel stone sitting in its center. More specifically, the ring from Marcel━the same ring she lost on her second day in Mystic Falls.

"The hell?" She softly murmured to herself.

She found it? When? Where was it? The questions swam in her head. Yesterday it wasn't here yet, so she must have found it during her lonely homestay with a bottle of whiskey. Okay, bottles, plural. Don't judge her, hard times, ya know? She smiled, looking at the ring. She missed it━it reminded her of Marcel. Well, and it matched her current outfit perfectly, duh.

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

Jade stood near the entrance to the Lockwood mansion with a cigarette between her red lips, a black lace mask over her eyes. One thing she had to admit, those rich fuckers knew how to throw a good party. The outside of the entire house was covered with multicolored streamers and curtains, a huge masquerade mask hung over the main entrance, and the entire yard was lit up with twinkling lights. A crowd of guests slowly invited themselves inside, some of them watching the performance of fire dancers in the courtyard, all dressed formally with some kind of mask on each face.

Taking another puff from her cigarette, she noticed Elena Gilbert accompanied by some dark-skinned woman climbing the stairs to the entrance of the house. Their gaze locked, and the brown-haired girl let out a wink, a mischievous smirk on her red lips. Jade furrowed her eyebrows at the weird exchange. The fuck was that? She looked around herself, searching for any member of their weird squad, but found no one. She was alone. That was weird, it was the first time she saw Elena with such expression. It didn't suit her, it was downright fucking disturbing.

She exhaled the last of her cancer stick with wide eyes, giving up on bothering to explain what had just happened. She threw the bud into the nearest bin, and walked to the front door, heels of her boots making a satisfying click sound with each step.

"Good evening, Carol." She said in a singing voice, standing at the door. She didn't know the point of greeting each guest individually, she, herself wouldn't even bother to stand there and invite each of the million people present inside, but okay. Carol looked at her with a questioning gaze, clearly not recognizing the girl. Jade rolled her eyes and took off her mask for a moment, looking at the woman with expectant eyes.

"Jade Forbes?" The older woman exhaled, putting her hand to her collarbones and narrowing her eyes.

Jade rolled her eyes, putting her mask back on. "No, the Easter Bunny."

Carol shook her head, a smile on her lips. "Oh, my God! You're so... big!" She breathed in amazement, altough Jade raised her eyebrow at the use of the word big. Carol clared her throat, soft 'sorry' escaping her lips. "I mean... look at you, you're all grown up." She gestured to Jade, looking her up and down.

"Yeah, that tends to happen." Jade muttered under her nose.

Carol gave her a pointed look, to which she replied with a grin. The older woman shook her head in amusement. "Your mother mentioned that you came back, I guess there's no such thing as home, right?"

Jade clenched her jaw. "No, there isn't." She said pleasantly through gritted teeth. There is. It's called hell. "This is an outstanding party, Carol. Say hello to the homeless from me." She mused cheekily, to which the older woman just sighed, feeling evaporated already.

"Of course..." She breathed and Jade let out a smirk. Carol stepped aside, expanding her arm in a welcoming manner. "Come in, honey. Have fun."

"Oh, I surely will." Jade drawled, noticing a familiar blond head among the dancing crowd. She snapped her eyes to the older woman again and smiled. "You look stunning, Carol." She said, already walking away from her, eyes fixed on nervous Caroline.

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

With quick strides, she headed toward her sister, carefully watching each person who passed. Caroline looked lost in thought, her gaze focused in one direction. Jade followed it and saw no one other than Matt, laughing with some girls. Ouch. Jade knew about their breakup, silently rooting for it to happen, she won't lie. She didn't have anything against Matt, but he and her sister... didn't sit right with Jade. Matt was... fine, but her sister deserved someone who would really understand her, love her with all his might, always put her first, and Matt... he wouldn't be able to do that. Finally being by her sister side, she snatched the champagne glass from her hands.

"Fuck him." She blurted and downed the content of the glass.

"Hey! Find your own." Caroline hissed, taking the glass from Jade's hands. She sighed, trying to think of something to occupy her with.

Jade shrugged her shoulders. "You're a child, you can't drink." She smirked.

Caroline snorted. "P-uh-lease." She sassed. "And that's coming from you?" Caroline raised her eyebrow, eyeing her sister from head to toe.

"Blame United States Code, not me." Jade mused.

"Yeah, right." Caroline mumbled, stealing a glance at cheery Matt.

Jade caught the lost lovers glance and rolled her eyes at the way she averted her gaze when Matt was looking. "Oh, the drama." She muttered to herself. "Okay, spill. Do you love him or not, because I'm kinda getting confused vibes over here."

"Doesn't matter. It's over." Caroline muttered, feeling her phone vibrate. She pulled it out, and when reading the word 'your turn', chill went down her spine. Of course it had to happen when she had a tick stuck to her in the form of her older sister. She bit her lip, looking for anyone familiar around her to help.

Jade noticed her sister's nervousness and titled her head in interest, watching her carefully. "What's going on?" She asked.

"Oh, nothing." Caroline tried to sound lighthearted, yet dozens of escape plans were forming in her head. What she didn't know was how much money she would have to take out of the piggy bank if she locked Jade in the closet for the rest of the party.

Jade scrunched up her face. "Caroline, you can't lie for shit. What's up?"

"Nothing, I just need━"

"What?"

"Not your business. I need to go." Caroline tried to walk past her sister, to which Jade took a step to the side, blocking her way.

"Then where are you going?" Jade asked, her voice stern and not willing to take no for an answer. After hearing no response, she continued. "Well, maybe you can tell me why you didn't want me here then?" She angled her head, slightly looking upward━Caroline was unfortunately a bit taller than her. She pierced her eyes with her own.

"That's not━that's not true." Caroline stammered, not looking her sister in the eyes.

"Oh, really? Then what was that in the morning, huh?"

"Nothing." Caroline said through gritted teeth, eyes widening seeing Jeremy in the distance. Jade followed her gaze and saw little Gilbert making some gang signs at her sister. She turned back with a raised eyebrow, full on suspicious now. "Caroline, what the fuck is going on?"

Caroline groaned, grabbing her sister by the arm. "Ugh! You're so annoying." She mumbled, dragging her to more secluded place.

Jade snorted. "I'm annoying? I'm not the one acting shady all the time." She said, confused by her sister action. "And what the fuck are you━"

"━Oh my God" Caroline interrupted, finiding some abandoned room to talk freely. She grabbed her sister by the shoulders and released the power of compulsion. "You won't approach me, the Salvatore brothers, Bonnie, Jeremy or most importantly, Elena tonight. You will have a good time at the party and then you'll go straight home."

Jade looked into her sister's eyes, stunned so completely that her eyebrows disappeared under her hair. She blinked a few times, trying to understand what had just happened.

"What the absolute fuck ." Jade spat, carefully accenting each word. "Was that supposed to be?" Caroline's eyes widened in shock. Jade scoffed, amused by the order. She licked her lips and tilted her head, taking a step toward her sister. "If you think that━"

Suddenly, Jade felt a sharp pain searing through her head. She stumbled backwards slightly, catching herself on a nearby desk to keep her balance. With her free hand, she grabbed her head, trying to magically stop the pain. She closed her eyes and gritted her teeth, taking a deep breath to try and steady herself. She could feel the pain slowly subsiding, and she opened her eyes, relieved that the worst of it was over.

"Jade?" Concerned, Caroline approached her sister quickly, having no idea what was going on. . "Jade, what's wrong?" Caroline asked, trying to get her attention. But Jade didn't seem to hear her, eyes wide, breathing rapid. Caroline was starting to feel scared. She turned her attention to Jade's hand that was clutching her hair. Noticing a silver and black ring that reeked of vervain, Caroline gritted her teeth. She could have looked more closely, Caroline was too young as a vampire, she didn't have her senses as sharpened as Damon or Stefan. Fuck, fuck, fuck. She repeated in her head.

On the other hand, Jade felt as if a locked door in her brain had been knocked out.

As if the wooden dam in the rushing river had collapsed.

As if the locked bird had managed to escape from its cage.

Because she remembered.

last night, forbes residence

"What?" Jade breathed, completely bewildered, eyes fixed on the Gilbert girl, who currently was snooping through Jade's room. She had opened the closed, rifled through the contents, and was now examining her dresses. Jade could hardly believe her eyes.

Jade's shock quickly faded and was replaced with anger. She stepped forward and grabbed the girl by the arm, forcefully turning her around to face her. "What do you think you're doing? Get the fuck out of my room!" She yelled, her voice shaking with rage. She was about to beat the bitch up, but the girl pushed her with such force, that she stumbled back into to vanity.

"Now now, don't make it harder than it needs to be." Katherine tsked, making herself comfortable on the bed again, her legs crossed.

"What the hell are you talking about?" Confused, Jade pushed herself off the dressing table, face contorted.

"First of all, I'm not Elena. I'm Katherine, the prettier one." Katherine introduced herself, wicked smirk decorating her face.

Jade blinked. "Did you hit your head?"

"No, why do you ask? Did you?" Katherine eyed her up and down. "I didn't push you that hard." She huffed, making an eyeroll.

"What the fuck is happening?" Jade muttered under her nose, taking a big gulp out of her whiskey.

The vampire heard her and sighed dramatically. "A lot. But don't worry, I'm here to the rescue."

Jade nodded, kissing her teeth. "Rescue. Right. To what, may I ask?"

"To your 'oh no, im losing my mind' issues." Katherine mocked.

Jade furrowed her eyebrows. "How the fuck━" She stopped herself, making a realisation. "Oh, I'm gonna kill her."

"That's my job." Katherine stated, knowing exactly who's she talking about. "But, don't worry. You're little sister didn't peep a thing. I found out on my own, you're quite interesting."

"What?" Jade hissed, confused. "That was you? You were following me? What the fu━"

"━Much more perceptive than I thought, kudos to you." Katherine interrupted with an amused look.

Jade exhaled with raised eyebrows. "Okay, this is too weird. Get out of my room." She pointed to the closed door.

"But I thought you wanted to know more about vampires." Katherine pouted, not moving from her place on the bed.

Jade froze. "What did you say?" She breathed.

Katherine let out a loud tsk. "You know, I was an only child, so maybe I don't get the whole family dynamic. But tell me, isn't convincing your mentally ill older sister that she's crazy━a bit of a blow below the belt?"

Jade looked at her with wide eyes, lips parting. What the fuck was happeni━

"That's what I thought." Katherine smirked. "So, vampires. Intriguing creatures, we are. We live on human blood, death is a foreign concept to us, unless you have a piece of wood with you. We are as strong as a one-man army and faster than the blink of an eye. Oh, and let's not forget the best perk, mind compulsion! Oh yes, that's probably my favorite." She let out a knowing smile and flashed her eyebrows at bewildered Jade.

Jade cleared her throat. "I'm sorry, did you say 'we'?"

Katherine rolled her eyes with a groan. "That's what caught you attention? Ugh. Yes. We. Can you keep up?"

Jade poked her cheek with her tongue, nodding rapidly. "So, let's pretend for a second that this is real, because I'm still trying to figure out what the hell, are you Gilbert━"

"━Call Caroline and ask for Elena." Katherine ordered.

"What?" Jade hissed, twisting her face in a grimace.

"Just do it."

So she did. She pulled out her phone and dialed her little sister's number, while eyeing Katherine carefully, who was now checking her nails, completely unbothered.

"Hi J, what up?" Caroline's voice echoed through the phone.

"Hey... Carrie, where are you? I thought I could... make some dinner." Jade asked, making her way to Katherine, who was now starting to rummage through her nightstand.

"Oh, I'm at the Salvatore house with Bonnie and Elena. I'll be home late, don't wait up." Caroline replied, laughter were heard in the distance.

"Oh, okay." Jade smacked Katherine's hand, which was about to open one of her old sketchbooks. Katherine rolled her eyes and closed the drawer. "So... Elena's and Bonnie are there, huh?" Jade asked, narrowing her eyes at the girl sitting in front of her.

"Yeah, why?" Katherine smiked, giving her a 'I told you so' look.

Jade drew a sharp breath, trying to comprehand the situation. "Um, nothing, bye-bye!" And with that, she ended the call and sat beside Katherine on the bed.

"Told ya." Katherine smirked, pushing herself to a sitting position next to Jade.

"Prove it." Jade spat before she could talk herself out of it. Katherine raised one of her eyebrows. "That you're a vampire." Jade explained.

Katherine rolled her eyes and brought her face closed to Jade's. Jade look at her deep brown doe eyes, and couldn't help but thinking that they had some... glint in them. Something she had never seen in Elena's. Katherine's had a spark in them, like the night sky, that made Jade feel like Katherine was looking into her soul.

"Bang your head against the wall." She compelled the blonde with a smirk. Jade widened her eyes when her body moved without her permission toward the nearest wall. Her head made contact with the hard surface faster than she could even think about it. She hissed and grabbed her pulsing forehead.

"Convinced now?" Katherine cocked her head, mischievous smirk firm across her face.

"Yes, bitch. Yeah, I am." Jade hissed, massaging the forming bump on her head. "My eleven-year old nightmare is becoming a reality. There are more Elenas in the world. Kill me now." She muttered under her nose. "I'll get you back on that, by the way."

Katherine snorted and rolled her eyes. "Back to the topic, JJ." She sassed, Jade grimaced at the new nickname and sat beside the brown haired girl again. "You know, this little perk can do more than just make you do things. It can also erase memory. Convenient, isn't it?" She snatched the whiskey bottle from blonde's hands. "Being on the subject, how are your memory holes? Not good, I bet." She mused amusingly and took a sip. Jade opened her mouth to say something, but got interrupted.

"But don't worry, you're not losing you mind. It was just played with, like some kind of ping pong ball. I'm here to make some thing more... filled, you can say."

Jade narrowed her eyes. "So spill, creepy evil twin. Before I find some pretty sharp pencil."

Katherine huffed a laugh. "I like you, JJ. You don't let people push you around. When you have a choice in the matter, at least." She tsked and shrugged her shoulders. "You don't stand a chance with me though, so don't even think about it."

She clasped her hands. "So. Your little sis? Vampire. Damon Salvatore? Vampire. Stefan Salvatore? Dingdingding, also a vampire. Bennet girl? A witch. Sweet Elena?Doppelgänger. They've been fucking with your mind the minute you stepped in town."

Jade blinked, trying to process the new information. Few second passed and Katherine smacked her across the head. "Are you deaf?" Jade smacked the girl back. "Bitch, I'm processing."

"Then process faster, I don't have the whole night. Also, touch my hair again and you'll die."

"Likewise." Jade grumbled and tightened her ponytail. She sighed. "They've been... compeling me, you're saying. These entitled motherfuckers."

"Yup. You've had to deal with their true nature a few times, truth be told. You even knocked Damon to the ground. Not gonna lie, I got bit turned on from that, JJ. He also then gave you that bruise on your neck when he wanted to kill you." Katherine mused, to which Jade mumbled a quiet 'lovely'. "Hm, what else. Oh! There was the moment when you were face to face with your bloodlusty sister when she wanted to eat Matty-blue-eyes."

Jade ran a hand through her face in bewilderement. "Why are you telling me this?" She squinted her eyes at the girl next to her.

Katherine smirked. "Like I said, I like you, JJ. You remind me of myself, in a way. Besides, I love chaos." Jade let out her own smirk. "And it seems like your sister can't do a simple task correctly." Jade was about to comment on that, when Katherine interrupted.

"By the way. Haven't you lost something? Silver, black, shiny?"

Jade furrowed her eyebrows at that. "Yeah, my ring. What about it?"

"Look under your bed."

Suspicious, she did as she was told. She rummaged her hand for a few seconds and found the silver bastard. "How did you━"

"━Honey, that little thing reeks of vervain. I could smell it probably from ten blocks away. Before you ask, vervain is a cute, little purple herb that is highly toxic to vampires. Also, it repels compulsion. You have a little angel over you, whoever got you that." Jade widened her eyes, looking at the ring.

Marcel fucking Gerard, you bastard.

"But your stupid ass lost it, and you've been paying the price ever since." Katherine taunted and smacked Jade's hand that was about to put on the ring, the jewelry falling on the bed.

"Ah-ah." She tsked, wiggling her finger, to which Jade raised her eyebrow.

"Before you do that, I have a little favor to ask you."

"Jade, can you hear me?" Caroline's voice snapped her out of her incoming memories.

"Oh, you little bitch..." Jade muttered, slowly standing up straight.

"What?" Caroline breathed, looking quizzically at her sister.

Jade pulled herself together and was now looking at Caroline with such cold eyes she had never seen before. At least not fixed on her. The younger Forbes shivered as if someone had walked over her grave.

"I remember. I don't know how, but I remember." She spat, her eyes blazing with rage. She clenched her fists and took a deep breath, trying to contain her anger. Then she said in a low, controlled voice. "I know what you did. I remember."

"Jade, I can explain." Caroline uttered, guilt washing over her whole body. She knew she had to face the consequences of her actions sooner or later, but she was not sure if she was ready for it.

Jade stepped closer to her sister, her face only inches away. "No." She said. "There's nothing to explain. I know what you did, and I won't forget it." She spat, her voice full of venom. After a moment, she chuckled darkly. "No pun intended."

Her sister stepped back, eyes wide with shock. "Jade, I'm sorry." She whispered, her voice trembling. "I never meant to hurt you. It wasn't only me━"

"No, it was your vampire pals Damon and Stefan, too. I know. You were toying with my mind from the day one. But you. You had the audacity to call me crazy. Making me feel like I was losing my mind. And then when I tried to talk to you, the only thing I heard was fucking meds? That I was insane?" She exclaimed, her voice shaking. She felt her throat close up.

Caroline eyes started to gather with tears. "I was trying to protect you! You don't know how much danger I was trying to keep you away from! I was just trying to do what was best for you."

Jade shook her head, not believing what she was hearing. "That's not your fucking choice to make! You had no right to make that decision for me. You can't just decide what's best for me without consulting me first. I'm not a fucking child, Caroline!"

She stepped toward her sister again, poiting her finger at her. "You have no fucking idea how I felt. Every day I wondered what was wrong with me, if my psyche had finally broken down. And it was bullshit! I felt like I had no control over my life. I was just a pawn in someone else's game."

"I knew." Caroline whispered.

"What?"

"I knew how you felt."

Jade shook her head slightly in disbelief, starting into Caroline's eyes. "And you did it anyway." She said lowly. Caroline averted her gaze, unable to look Jade in the eye any longer. Jade scoffed and turned her back at the other blonde.

"I didn't want you get killed in a crossfire, Jade! I couldn't get you into the middle of this!" Caroline exclaimed.

Jade scoffed. "Too fucking bad! I'm in the middle now!"

She stepped away, her eyes flashing with anger. "Just remember." She said, her voice low and dangerous. "What goes around, comes around." She turned and walked away, leaving her sister standing alone.

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

Jade had been sitting on a bench near the Lockwood house for half an hour, smoking her fifth cigarette in a row. She couldn't fucking believe it. Fucking vampires. Everything that had been bothering her since day one, her memory, the bruises, everything. They erased her memory like some puppet with no will of its own, no real feelings. Who the fuck gave them the right?

If they were competent, they would have at least give her some kind of explanation, instead of leaving her alone, clueless, with no memories. Everything would be fine, Jade wouldn't even dip her little toe in the supernatural world.  It's not her problem that they don't have a shred of brain cells in their indestructible heads, that they couldn't even compel her properly.

Then there's the matter of her ring. Fucking Marcel Gerard. As soon as she steps her foot back in New Orleans, the bald man is fucked. Mark her words.

She dropped the bud of her ciggarette into the nearest bin and began to walk slowly towards the entrance of the house. Her head still lost in thought.

What she couldn't believe most was Caroline's behavior. How could she? Bypassing compulsion, because despite her fury, she could understand that her sister had her safety at heart. But telling her that it was something wrong with her? Gaslighting her into thinking that she was going insane? It was too fucking much. Caroline had crossed a line and Jade was not willing to forgive her easly for it. She felt betrayed, and her heart was broken.

But before she could think of a plan for revenge, Jade felt as if someone had just stabbed her in the stomach with a knife. All she could let out was a piercing scream.

She clutched her abdomen, more specifically the place where she felt the agonal pain. Her eyes almost popped out of their sockets when she saw that her hand was covered in blood. Her heart raced as fear took over her body.

"What the fuck?" She mumbled in shock.

She was already about to start climbing the stairs when she felt the same stabbing pain in her upper arm.

She winced and let out a cry, silently thanking Satan that most of the party guest were inside, so no one actually saw what was happening.  She stopped in her tracks and grabbed her arm, gritting her teeth in pain. "Oh, for fuck's sake." She muttered when she tripped on the stairs, deeping the unmerciful pain.

"Jade? Oh my god, you're bleeding!" Jeremy Gilbert's concerned voice rang in her ears.

"Yeah, no fucking shit." She deadpanned, trying to get up on her own, but immidiately slipping. Jeremy grabbed her by the waist and picked her up, but froze when he heard the same scream, not so far away.

"Jeremy! It's Elena!" Bonnie's shouted from the bench in the bushes.

Jade shrugged herself out of his embrace, hissing in pain in doing so. "Get your hands off me, dipshit."

Jeremy rolled his eyes, and helped her walk nontheless toward his sister and Bonnie. He immidiately let her go, seeing his sister in a familiar state. "Oh my god, Elena!"

"Jeremy? Jade? What are you━" Elena froze when her eyes landed on Jade's bloody body, seeing that she has the same wounds as her. Bonnie's eyes darted between the two of them like ping pong balls.

Jade widened her eyes, making the same realisation. "What the━You know what, I'm not even gonna ask. It's clearly━" She stopped, when she felt the familiar searing pain in her head. She clenched her jaw and grabbed her head again with the bloody hand.

"Jade, what's going on?" Bonnie quickly asked, scanning with her eyes between Elena and Jade and seeing that Elena is fine. Fine as she can be.

Jade's mind opened once more, letting the forgotten memories flood back.

"What do you want?"

Katherine pulled a little glass vial from the pocket of her pants and a small knife from her inside pocket of her leather jacket. "A little of your blood."

Jade raised her eyebrows. "Why the fuck would I give it to you?"

"Oh, JJ. You talk like you have a choice."

Katherine flashed in front of her and grabbed her chin, connecting their gaze. "You will slice your wrist open with this knife and fill this vial with your blood." Jade gritted her teeth, but nontheless took the knife from Katherine's hands and did as she was told.

"Pleasure doing business with you, JJ." Katherine mused, niping her finger with one of her fangs and smearing it on bewildered blonde's lips. Jade automaticly licked it off and watched as the wound on her wrist closed itself, just like her throbbing head bump.

That was cool, she thought to herself. She turned her blazing eyes to the brunette. "Why the fuck do you even want it?"

Katherine smirked. "Just a little punishment for your lying sister. She had an important task, you see, and she failed. The Salvatore brothers are planning something, so I'm gonna link myself with you and Elena. If they try to do something to me, they're gonna do it to you, too. Clever, isn't it?" Katherine's eyes twinkled with mischief. "But now." Before Jade could do anything, Katherine's fingers were back on her chin, pupils dilated.

"You'll forget about our little chat, you'll forget about me and everything I told you. The next time Caroline compels you, you'll remember our conversation, but you won't remember the blood or that I compelled you. If you start to feel pain, you will remember the rest. And you will attend tomorrow's ball at Lockwood's, with or without an invitation. In the next five minutes you will put on the ring, wash the remnants of the blood and drink, until you pass out."

"That clever little bitch." Jade spat, collapsing next to bloody Elena. The three of them look at her with confusion. "We're all linked. Me, Katherine and Elena. Whatever the dumb and dumber are doing to her, they're doing to us."

"How do you even kno━" Elena whimpered through pain, but Bonnie interrupted her.

"Jeremy get them to stop! Now!" She shouted, the young Gilbert didn't need to be told twice, as he quickly took off to find the vampires.

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

Jade smoked a cigarette while leaning on the door of her car in the Lockwood road parking lot. What a fucking night. Her first day on the other side of the coin and she almost died. Lovely. She took a deep breath and exhaled, watching the smoke drift away. Jade saw the strange looks of Caroline's gang at the sight that Jade more or less knew what was going on, but she ignored it. She didn't bother to explain, forgive her, she had a slightly different task which was keeping herself alive. Questions can wait, she had plenty of her own, believe her.

Whatever spell Bonnie did helped, she no longer felt such pain. The fact that Damon Salvatore lent her his fucking blood, straight from his wrist also helped. As bizarre as it may sound. And he was weirdly enjoying it, fucking creep.

The case with Katherine probably interested her the most. Why did she help Jade and be the only one to be honest, only to almost kill her later? All in all, it wasn't even her fault, it was the Salvatore brothers. What a fucked up town, but she guessed she had to start getting used to it at this point.

She was just about to get into the car when the voice of none other than Elena Gilbert resounded from behind her.

"Hey... you're okay?" She asked awkwardly.

Jade exhaled through her nose. "Yeah, getting there I guess. You?" She shot the other girl a pointed look.

"Yeah." An awkward silence passed over them. Then, Elena cleared her throat. "So, you know?"

Jade expected this question as soon as she heard her voice. "Yup. Thanks to lovely Kitty Kat."

"What? Why would she━"

Jade snorted. "She didn't like the way your squad were fucking with me."

Elena shot her a guilty look. "Jade, you have to understand━"

"━Yeah, yeah. Don't bother." Jade shook her head and threw her ciggarette on the ground, stomping over it. She was about to pick it up, when she saw a weird guy with a mask over his face behind Elena. He was about to lounge at the brown haired girl, when Jade grabbed her hand and yanked her behind herself, giving a swift kick to the guy's abdomen. Elena's eyes widened in shock.

"It's not nice to creep on girls." Jade spat. The masked man growled in anger, as he walked toward Jade, his fists clenched. He lunged forward with a punch, but Jade was ready. She dodged to the side, striking him in the chest with a powerful kick. The man stumbled back, but quickly regained his footing. He swung a hard punch, but Jade blocked it with her forearm. She shot him a glare and muttered. "I'm starting to think you need a lesson in manners." She then spun around and delivered a powerful roundhouse kick to the man's head, sending him crashing to the ground.

The man got back on his feet and charged at Jade, catching her off guard. She tried to block his punches, but he was too fast for her, a vampire, she realised. He managed to land several punches and kicks, eventually knocking her down. Shocked, Elena watched as the masked man grabbed Jade by the throat and lifted her off the ground. She tried to rush in and help, but was too late. The man squeezed Jade's neck until she fell unconscious.

In a split second, the masked man turned his attention to Elena and grabbed her by the arm, dragging her away before she could do anything. She screamed and kicked, but the man was too strong. Elena's screams only seemed to anger the man more and he quickly struck her in the face with a powerful punch, rendering her unconscious. He then threw her over his shoulder and ran away into the night.

a/n: 1k reads!! i'm over the moon, thank u!!

daddy elijah's coming

and isn't jade such a bad ass?? i want to be her ngl

AND SHE FINALLY KNOWS