「 . 𖦹˙-⋆ 𝐒𝐈𝐗 𝐅𝐄𝐄𝐓 𝐔𝐍𝐃𝐄𝐑 」
⤿ 𝘈 𝘍𝘜𝘓𝘓 𝘔𝘖𝘖𝘕🪦 ˖ ࣪. ࿐
𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘃𝗮𝗺𝗽𝗶𝗿𝗲 𝗱𝗶𝗮𝗿𝗶𝗲𝘀 ┆𝘴𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘸𝘰
❪ ﹆ ━ 𝘣𝘢𝘥 𝘮𝘰𝘰𝘯 𝘳𝘪𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘨 ⋆⭒˚.⋆ ❫

"𝗧𝗛𝗔𝗡𝗞𝗦 𝗙𝗢𝗥 coming, Ric.❞ Stefan spoke as his brother let the history teacher into the house, Elena siting next to him with a coffee mug in her hands and Anastasia sitting across from her on the other couch.

"Can I get you something to drink? Coffee? Bourbon?" Damon asked as he gestured to an empty chair.

"Bourbon in your coffee?" Anastasia smirked up at the history teacher.

"Elena mentioned you needed my help." Alaric says, sitting by Anastasia's feet.

"Yeah, we were hoping you could shed some light on the Lockwood family." Stefan said.

"Now, why would I know anything about the Lockwood's?" Asked Alaric.

"Well, you wouldn't." Damon sat down in a chair, "But your dead, not-dead vampire wife might."

"Isobel's research from when you guys were at Duke together." Elena tells him.

"You said that she had spent years researching this town." Stefan says.

"Isobel's research here in Mystic Falls rooted in folklore and legends but at the time I thought much of which is fiction." Alaric tells them.

"Like that amazing vampire story." Damon smiled.

"Aside from vampires, what else?" Elena asked.

"The lycanthrope."

Anastasia tensed up beside the male as Damon and Stefan looked towards each other.

Elena sat up in her spot, "Wait, like werewolves?"

"No way, impossible, way too Lon Chaney." Damon shook his head.

"Is it?" Stefan asked his brother.

"I've been on this planet for one hundred and sixty some odd years, I've never com across one." Damon said, "If werewolves exist, where the hell are they?"

"Why do you suspect the Lockwood's?" Alaric questioned.

"Because vervain didn't affect the mayor at Founders' Day but the Gilbert device did and it affected Ty." Anastasia answered.

"And at the school carnival his Uncle Mason exhibited inhuman behavior when he fought with one of the carnival's workers." Stefan said.

"And when he beat you at arm wrestling." Anastasia smirked.

Stefan ignored his niece, "It suggests it's some sort of a supernatural entity."

"We were hoping that Isobel's research could help us figure out what it is." Elena tells the history teacher.

"Well, all her things are still at Duke. I mean her office is still there." Alaric said, "She's technically still missing."

"So we can get access to it?" Damon asked. "Ric, we need to know what we're dealing with. If this wolf-man thing is true, I've seen enough movies to know it's not good. It means Mason Lockwood is a real life Lon Chaney and that little Tyler punk may just very well be Lon Chaney Junior, which means Bella Lugosi, meaning me, is totally screwed. And so will my daughter."

ˑ༄ؘ ۪۪۫۫ ▹▫◃ ۪۪۫۫ ༄ؘ ˑ

"IT'S BEEN A while."

Jenna and Alaric stand by the front door, where he was waiting on Elena to grab her things so him, Elena and Damon could go to Duke while Anastasia stayed with her Uncle to help out Caroline, having decided that she would take up Tyler's invitation to the Swimming hole on the Lockwood property.

Anastasia sat on the steps of the porch as she pretended not to listen in to their conversation.

"Well, the school has been keeping me busy." Alaric tells her.

"I want you to know it means a lot to me that Elena had a connection to her mother." Says Jenna, "I appreciate you bringing her along today."

"Ugh, just kiss already." Anastasia mumbled under her breath.

"Yeah, I figured it was time to take care of my wife's things, you know." He said, "Look, Jenna, I know things between you and I have been a little start and stop, and I'm sorry for that but maybe once I can..."

"Uh..no, don't do that." Jenna shook her head, "Not the half, maybe apology, hope for the future thing."

Damon honked the horn for the car.

"Elena?! Are you coming?" Jenna called up to her niece before looking back at Alaric, "Do what you need to do, okay?"

"Come on, kiddo." Stefan pulls his niece up as he walked by her.

"Hey, are you okay?" Elena asked her aunt.

"Yeah, just men and their baggage." Jenna tell her.

Anastasia slapped Alaric on the shoulder, "You should have kissed her."

ˑ༄ؘ ۪۪۫۫ ▹▫◃ ۪۪۫۫ ༄ؘ ˑ

"I DON'T KNOW how to make a day-walking ring." Bonnie tells Stefan and Anastasia as the three sat in Mystic Grill.

"Emily made mine. She made Damon's, too. Instructions must be in the Grimoire." Stefan tells the witch.

"That doesn't mean I can cast the spell." Bonnie shook her head, looking over at Anastasia, "Can't you make them?"

"Uncle Stefan thinks you should do them instead." She shrugged as her phone vibrated against the table.

"Bonnie, you know how to drop vampires with a single look, okay? I think you can figure it out." Stefan tells her.

"Caroline killed someone, Stefan. I can't make it easier for her to do it again." Bonnie said.

"No, we're not making it easier for her; we're just giving her the chance to survive." Stefan leaned forward, "Listen, every day that she's cut off from her old life - from you, from Elena, from Matt - it'll make it that much harder for her to hold on to her humanity."

"And how do you know she won't hurt anyone else?" Bonnie asked.

"I don't, but if we don't do everything we can to help her or at least trust the fact that she can keep it together, we might as well just stake her right now." Stefan said.

"I don't know if I can trust her, not with this."

"Then trust me." Stefan tells her, "Trust Anastasia."

ˑ༄ؘ ۪۪۫۫ ▹▫◃ ۪۪۫۫ ༄ؘ ˑ

CAROLINE TWISTED THE daylight ring in her hand, "So, I don't get to choose the ring I have to wear the rest of my life?"

"Hey, if you don't want it...." Bonnie trailed off as she stood in front of the window.

"No, no, she wants it."

"Now what?" Caroline asked.

"Now is the part where I explain the rules. The witch who spells the ring has the power to de-spell it. So if you ever do anything to hurt anyone...."

Caroline cut her off, "I'm not gonna hurt anyone."

"You are a vampire. That means the urge to kills is part of who you are. The minute you let it take over, I will stop you."Bonnie tells her.

"Bonnie, you're supposed to be my friend."

"I can't ignore what happened, okay? If you want to be friends, you have to prove that the Caroline I remember isn't gone." Bonnie tells her, "Now, put the ring on the bed."

Caroline puts the ring on her bed, "Do you really think I meant to kill that guy at the carnival?"

"He's still dead. Now, do you want me to cast the spell or not?"

Anastasia watched as Bonnie opened the curtain, the sun shinning on the ring.

Bonnie looks at it and closes her eyes before opening them up, "All done." She gave the ring to Caroline who puts it on her point finger.

"So that's it?" Caroline asked, "I mean nothing witchy happened. You know, no flickering lights, no gust of wind. Have you ever done this before?"

"Caroline..."

"What? I just wanted to make sure that it worked."

Anastasia rolled her eyes as she stood up and yanked the curtains open, "It worked."

"What if it hadn't, Ellie?!" Caroline exclaimed.

"She's all yours." Bonnie whispers to Stefan before leaving.

ˑ༄ؘ ۪۪۫۫ ▹▫◃ ۪۪۫۫ ༄ؘ ˑ

"IS IT ME, or did Aimee Bradley's ass get hot?" Tyler asked as he walked over to where Matt and Anastasia stood, the latter with a cup filled to the brim with beer in her hand. "Well, not as hot as yours, Loise."

Anastasia playfully rolled her eyes at him.

"All class." Matt tells him.

"Where is Forbes?" Tyler asked, leaning against Anastasia's legs.

"I wish I knew." Matt says.

"You guys are on the outs already?" Anastasia asked with a raised brow.

"No. We're fine. I'm fine. I'm just not sure what she is." Matt tells his two friends, noticing Mason's car pull up. "What's your uncle doing here?"

"I wanna say hello to Uncle Mason."

"You stay here." Tyler tells her before he walked away.

"I'm telling Jeremy you're crushing on Tyler's uncle now." Matt smirked, crossing his arms the best he could with his cast on.

"Matty, just because I'm dating Jeremy doesn't mean that I can't window shop." Anastasia smirked, bringing her cup up to her lips as she drank some of her beer.

"Hey Aimee." Matt says as the dark skinned girl walks over to them just as Anastasia's phone starts to ring again.

"I'll leave you two to it." Anastasia jumped off the tailgate of Matt's truck and walked off, giving her Uncle and Caroline a smile as she pressed the phone against her ear, "County Morgue, you stab 'em, we bag 'em. How may I help you?"

"Very funny, Sweetheart."

"Hmm, Lijah. It's too early for your annual call." She says, looking around to make sure her uncle wasn't around and found him talking to Caroline.

"I was calling because there's a full moon tonight."

"I'm well aware. It's marked on my calendar." Anastasia tells him. "Lijah, you don't have to worry about me."

"I'm always worried about you, Anastasia. Just, promise me you'll be careful and stay inside tonight."

Anastasia bit her lip before nodded, "Okay. I promise."

ˑ༄ؘ ۪۪۫۫ ▹▫◃ ۪۪۫۫ ༄ؘ ˑ

STEFAN LOOKED AROUND for a sign of both his niece or Caroline, worried after the phone call he'd gotten from Elena but he couldn't find either one of them. Pulling his phone back out, he dialed Caroline's number first, only to hear the phone ringing from her purse which sat on the tailgate of Matt's truck.

"Answer your phone, Anastasia." Stefan groaned, calling his niece once more.

"Hello?"

"Where the hell are you?" Stefan asked as he looked around.

"Uh, I'm walking around the woods."

"Stay where you are, I'm coming to find you." Stefan tells her, "We need to find Matt and Caroline."

ˑ༄ؘ ۪۪۫۫ ▹▫◃ ۪۪۫۫ ༄ؘ ˑ

WORRY LACED ANASTASIA'S body as she followed after her uncle, coming across Mason's car.

"Eloise, stay back." Stefan says, walking closer to the car.

"Uncle Stefan, don't do tha-,"

Mason, in wolf form, jumped through the back glass of the car and knocked Stefan down as it did so.

Anastasia froze in her place as the wolf caught her eye, letting out a whimper before it ran off in the opposite direction of which she was standing.

"Are you okay? Are you hurt?" Stefan rushed to his niece, grabbing the sides of her face to look her over.

"No, no. He didn't come close to me." She pushed his hands away, "Almost like it knew not to touch me."

"Come one. Let's go find Caroline."

ˑ༄ؘ ۪۪۫۫ ▹▫◃ ۪۪۫۫ ༄ؘ ˑ

"CAROLINE! YOUR FACE!"

Anastasia could hear Matt's voice before she could see him, rushing away from her uncle's side to tackle the blonde off of Matt, "Caroline! Stop! Stop!"

"Ana, check on Matt." Stefan pulled Anastasia off of Caroline, pushing her towards Matt's direction.

"Oh, my god." Caroline looked over Stefan's shoulder, towards Anastasia and Matt, who had fainted from the loss of blood.

"No, no, no, stop. Listen to me." Stefan tells her, "We need to get out o f these woods now. We need to leave."

A loud growl rang out through the woods, causing the three vampires and the human to look around.

"What was that?" Asked Caroline.

"You, me and Anastasia, we're gonna run. It's going to follow us. We need to lead it away from Matt." Stefan says, "You need to run as fast as you can. Do you understand me?"

"I'll be right back." Anastasia whispers to Matt as she stands up.

"Go, go!"

The three vampires take off running towards the old ruins of the Lockwood property when Caroline comes to a stop, and off them breathing heavily.

"Wait! What is it?" The blonde asked.

"It's a werewolf." Anastasia groaned.

"He will try to kill us and he can." Stefan says just as Tyler comes above ground.

"Hey! What are the three of you doing?" Tyler asks them.

"What are you doing?" Stefan asks him.

Mason rushes into Caroline, sending her onto the floor with him on top of her, growling. Stefan rushes towards the wolf, pushing him off of her as Anastasia moved to stand in front of Tyler and Mason's wolf growled at Stefan.

"NO!" Tyler yells, making the wolf look towards him before it runs off as the Lockwood boy turns towards Anastasia, "Are you okay?"

"I'm okay." She nods, "I'm okay."

ˑ༄ؘ ۪۪۫۫ ▹▫◃ ۪۪۫۫ ༄ؘ ˑ

"YOU'RE NOT GOING to remember what I did to you, or what you saw me become." Caroline compelled Matt as Anastasia stood never to her, making sure that the blonde was able to do it correctly.

"We were just making out in the woods." Matt spoke, in a daze.

"And then an animal attacked you and bit your neck."

"It's weird. It just came out of nowhere."

"What are we gonna do about Tyler?" Caroline asked as she and Anastasia walked back over to Stefan.

"Anastasia took care of it and I will get Matt on vervain." Stefan tells her, "It'll keep you from being able to compel and also to keep you from drinking his blood."

"I can't believe I hurt him."

"We know."

"He is the one person on this entire planet that I never wanted to hurt." Caroline tells the niece and uncle.

"It's not going to get any easier. You're just gonna have to work that much harder." Anastasia tells her.

"I shouldn't be with him, should I?" Asked Caroline, a sad look on her face, "Because if there is any danger...,"

"I'm the last person to make that kind of decision for you. If I had followed my own advice, I would have walked away from Elena a long time ago." Stefan tells her.

"And I would've walked away from Jeremy, even if it would've killed me inside."

"You ever think you should?" She asked, looking between both of them.

"We know we should have." Stefan started.

"But we just can't."

ˑ༄ؘ ۪۪۫۫ ▹▫◃ ۪۪۫۫ ༄ؘ ˑ

"KISS HER." ANASTASIA pushed Alaric in Jenna's direction, making her way up the stairs and into Jeremy's room, "Hey, you."

Jeremy spun around in his desk chair, grinning at his girlfriend as he stood up, "Hey. Thought you would've gone home after the party."

"Well, I thought about it." She wrapped her arms around his neck, smiling as his went around her waist and pulled her closer to him. "But then I decided that after the night I just had - I just wanted to sleep in the arms of my boyfriend."

"Hmm, you just wanna sleep?" Jeremy grinned as he kissed down the side of her neck.

"I think I have enough energy for one more activity." She says, squealing loudly as he grabbed the back of her thighs and wrapped her legs around his waist.

"I love you." He mumbles against her lips as he lays her down on his bed, moving to hover over her body.

Anastasia smiles as she grabbed the sides of his face, thought about what Caroline had said floating around in her mind, along with the thoughts of what would have happened had Mason Lockwood bitten her, "I love you."

ˑ༄ؘ ۪۪۫۫ ▹▫◃ ۪۪۫۫ ༄ؘ ˑ

THE BRIGHT SUN peaks through the window of Caroline's bedroom as she wakes up and notices a figure standing next to her bed, "Elena?"

"Nope. Try again." The girl titled her head to the side.

"Katherine."

Katherine moved to sit on Caroline's bed as the blonde backed away from her, "Don't be frightened. We're going to have so much fun together." She smiles.