「 . 𖦹˙—⋆ 𝐃𝐄𝐀𝐓𝐇 𝐖𝐈𝐒𝐇 𝐋𝐎𝐕𝐄 」
⤿ 𝘛𝘏𝘌 𝘗𝘖𝘚𝘚𝘌𝘚𝘚𝘌𝘋 𝘉𝘌𝘕𝘕𝘌𝘛𝘛 🪦 ˖ ࣪. ࿐
𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘃𝗮𝗺𝗽𝗶𝗿𝗲 𝗱𝗶𝗮𝗿𝗶𝗲𝘀 ┆𝘴𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘰𝘯 𝘰𝘯𝘦
❪ ﹆ ━ 𝘩𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘺 𝘳𝘦𝘱𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 ⋆⭒˚.⋆ ❫

❝ what? i'm a 𝒗𝒂𝒎𝒑𝒊𝒓𝒆 who likes
pop-tarts, 𝒔𝒖𝒆 𝒎𝒆 ❞

          𝐒𝐈𝐋𝐄𝐍𝐂𝐄 𝐅𝐈𝐋𝐋𝐄𝐃 𝐓𝐇𝐄 locked bedroom door as Charlotte sat in a chair with her knees pulled up to her chest and tears filling her eyes as she thought about the last twenty-four hours.

 She didn't know how long she had actually been sitting in the room, but she knew that it had been hours since her mother's lifeless body flashed in her mind.

On the other side of the door, Stefan stood with his arms crossed, hoping for any sound to come from the room, before he moved forward and knocked on the door. "Lottie? I'm headed out...are you going to be okay?"

Not one word is spoken from the room, even with his vampire hearing he couldn't hear not one little sound. With a sigh, he turns and walks away.

▭

          𝐄𝐋𝐄𝐍𝐀 𝐋𝐄𝐓𝐒 𝐎𝐔𝐓 a relieved breath as she walked out of the double doors of the school, her eyes locking on Stefan's figure from where he was sitting on one of the benches, and the heels of her boots click on the ground as she walks towards him.

"Hi." Stefan stands up, hands going inside the pockets of his jacket.

"You weren't in class. I was worried." Elena smiles at him.

"Yeah, I got your messages." He looks down at the ground and then back up to her. "I'm sorry I didn't get back to you, but...what I wanna say shouldn't be said over the phone."

Elena raised an eyebrow with a teasing smile on her face, "A simple I-didn't-kill-my-brother text would've sufficed."

"I didn't kill my brother as much as he....deserved it. He has you to thank for that." Stefan tells her, his mind racing with the thought of Charlotte as he talked to his girlfriend.

"So what did you wanna tell me?"

"I won't be coming to school anymore." Stefan says, earning a confused look from the Gilbert girl standing in front of him, "I'm gonna back off and keep my distance. It's the right thing to do."

"Back off from school or.....from me?"

Stefan has a hard time trying to gather his thoughts as he looks anywhere but at Elena.

"Thank you for telling me." Elena crosses her arms over her chest as tears gather in her eyes.

"It's better this way." Stefan said, not wanting to hurt the girl in front of him. "Especially, since I have Charlie to think about now."

"Yep, I got it." Elena can't help the jealous feeling deep down at the mention of the brunette girl that she hadn't actually been introduced to the night before.

Stefan nods his head, "You're angry. That's good. It'd be easier if you hate me."

▭

          𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐑𝐋𝐎𝐓𝐓𝐄 𝐖𝐀𝐋𝐊𝐒 𝐃𝐎𝐖𝐍 the stairs of the boarding house, free to walk away now that the sun had gone down and it was dark outside.

Stefan looks up from putting his jacket on, smiling softly at the brunette teenager, "Hey, you doing okay?"

"As okay as I can be with a dead mother." She crossed her arms over her chest as she falls into one of the chairs in the living room. "Are you going somewhere?"

He pauses as he takes in the frown on her face and the red rimming her eyes from where she had been crying, "Elena wanted to talk to me about her friend Bonnie. Do you want to come with? Get out of this house?"

She declines his offer, but gives him a soft smile as thinks about being there when Damon got back from wherever he had been this whole time, "Actually, I could use the fresh air."

"Okay. Come on, kiddo."

"You know, you're not that much older than me." Charlotte walks out ahead of him, "So, stop calling me "kiddo", makes you look weird."

Stefan laughed, throwing his arm around her shoulders, "There's the Charlotte, I know."

▭

          ❝𝐇𝐄𝐘.❞ 𝐄𝐋𝐄𝐍𝐀 𝐏𝐔𝐋𝐋𝐒 open her front door to reveal Stefan, but her smile drops a bit as she sees the girl behind him, leaning against the support beam to the porch, before walking out. "Thanks for coming. I wouldn't have called if it wasn't important."

"I know that."

Elena pauses for a moment, letting out a sigh before walking out and closing the door behind her. "He threatened her, Stefan."

"What would Satan in leather want with your friend?" Charlotte asked, having gotten the full story from Stefan on the way over there.

Stefan fights off a smile at the nickname the Branson girl had been calling Damon for years, "Lottie."

"What? I'm sure he's been called worse."

"She has this necklace, Caroline got it from Damon and she gave it to Bonnie, and now Damon wants it back." Elena paces back and forth in front of the two vampires, one which had a bored expression on her face. "He's tormenting her."

"Over a necklace?"

"It's not just any necklace. It has to do with Bonnie's heritage. Used to belong to one of her ancestors who lived here during the Civil War." Elena turns to face Stefan, "When you and Damon lived here."

"Emily?"

Stefan turns to Charlotte, "You remember that?"

"Dude, I used to beg you to tell me stories about your human life when I was little, I remember something." She shrugged. "Plus, photographic memory."

"Charlie's right." Stefan turns back to Elena, his arms crossed over his chest, "Her name was Emily. She was Katherine's handmaid and a witch."

"You know? About Bonnie?"

"The first night that you invited me over for dinner, I made the connection."

"And Damon knows."

"Of course Damon knows." Charlotte rolls her eyes, hands shooting up in surrender at the look that Stefan shot her way, "Sorry. I'll keep my mouth shut."

"And for some reason, he wants that necklace."

"What does it look like?" Stefan questioned.

"It's, um, an antique iron setting with a--,"

Stefan cuts her off, "With an amber crystal. I know it. It belonged to Katherine. Emily gave it to her, which means, that....,"

"What?" Elena questions as Stefan trailed off.

"I don't know, but I'm gonna find out. Let me talk to Damon."

"Will he tell you?"

Stefan sighed, "I'll....I'll get it out of him. Uh, can Charlie stay here?"

"What? No, I'm coming with you!" Charlotte stands up straighter, hands falling to her sides as she looks over at the vampire that she considered her uncle even though they were nowhere near related in any way.

"I don't need to give Damon a reason to kill someone else I love." Stefan sighed, "I promised your mom that I would look after you if anything happened to her, I'm keeping that promise. And if that means keep you away from Damon for a couple hours, than so be it. Elena?"

Elena has a frown on her face as she watches the way Stefan talked and treated the brunette standing on her porch, his voice knocking her out of her thoughts and she cleared her throat, "Yeah, sure. She can stay for girls night."

"Oh, yippee. A sleepover with a witch, a human and a walking barbie, just what my cold, black heart wants." Charlotte sends a sarcastic smile towards both of them, walking towards the door, "Invite me in."

"Charlotte." Stefan voice is stern.

"Please, invite me in."

Stefan just raises an eyebrow.

"Okay, I'll be nice."

▭

          𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐑𝐋𝐎𝐓𝐓𝐄 𝐒𝐈𝐓𝐒 𝐀𝐖𝐊𝐖𝐀𝐑𝐃𝐋𝐘 on the counter in Elena's kitchen as the Gilbert girl and her blonde friend pulled food out of brown paper bags in silence. Elena had invited the Branson girl in as soon as Stefan left and she had met Bonnie.

The vampire knew that if Bonnie shook her hand, she would have the same feeling of death and darkness she had whenever she met Stefan so she settled for just a smile and a wave as she told the witch that she was a germaphobe and didn't really like when people touched her.

But she mostly said it because as soon as the bubbly blonde was introduced to Charlotte, Caroline had tried to pull her into a hug.

From where she was sitting, Charlotte could see Elena shoot the blonde a look as Bonnie walked back into the kitchen.

A harsh sigh leaves Caroline's lips as she turns towards Bonnie, "I'm sorry. There, I said it. If you want the ugly ass necklace, keep it. It's yours."

Bonnie takes a minute to answer, but when she does it makes Charlotte wish that she had popcorn as she watched the friends, "Will you hate me if I tell you I threw it away?"

"You threw it away?!"

"I know it sounds crazy, but the necklace was giving me nightmares. I had to get rid of it." Bonnie tells her, not wanting to make one of her best friends more mad than she already seemed to be.

"You could have just given it back to me."

"Why? So you could give it back to Damon?" Elena questioned, the three girls not noticing the amused look on Charlotte's face.

"Screw Damon."

"Amen, sister!" Charlotte holds her glass filled with lemonade up, the blonde looking back at her in amusement.

"Are we doing manicures or what?" Caroline questioned, "Who has their kit?"

"Mine's in my bag." Bonnie tells her.

"So, Elena...?"

"Hmm?"

"How long do you think this fight with Stefan's gonna last?" Caroline asked, Charlotte raised an eyebrow, "Is it, like, a permanent thing?"

"I don't know, Caroline." Elena sighed.

Caroline scoffed, "Why are you such a little liar, Bonnie?"

"What?"

"Caroline!"

"Oh, I'm so happy I stayed." Charlotte laughs, bringing her glass up to her lips to drink the lemonade.

Turning around, Caroline is holding the necklace in her hands, both Bonnie and Elena looking at it as if it had set them on fire.

"Okay, Blondie was right...that is one ugly ass necklace."

▭

          ❝𝐈'𝐌 𝐍𝐎𝐓 𝐋𝐘𝐈𝐍𝐆 to you, Caroline.❞ Bonnie argued with Caroline, the four girls surrounding the middle counter as the necklace laid in the middle of it, "I swear."

"It's true. I watched her throw it into a field." Elena backs-up her best friend.

"Well, then explain it."

"Emily."

"Who's Emily?" Caroline asked, but gets ignored.

"The ghost."

"Oh, the ghost has a name now?"

"Caroline, please." Elena holds her hand up to stop the blonde from talking, making Charlotte tilt her head in disbelief at the way the two were acting towards someone that they claimed was their best friend.

"I wonder why she won't leave me alone."

"Okay, what is going on?" Caroline raises her voice, "Why am I not a part of this conversation? You guys do this to me all the time."

"That's not true." Elena tries to deny it, but even Charlotte can see right through the lie.

"I haven't known any of you but all of five minutes and even I can tell that the two of you treat her differently than the way you treat each other." Charlotte rolled her eyes, "People like the two of you are exactly why I don't have any friends and I keep to myself."

"That's because I can't talk to her!" Bonnie tells the brunette then turns towards Caroline, "You don't listen."

"That's not true."

"I'm a witch." Bonnie revealed to her friend.

"And don't we all know it?"

"See? that's what I'm talking about. I'm trying to tell you something." Bonnie shook her head, "You don't even hear it." And then she walks out of the room.

"I listen." Caroline turns to Elena, "When do I not listen?"

"Right now, apparently."

▭

          ❝𝐃𝐎 𝐘𝐎𝐔 𝐇𝐀𝐕𝐄 pop-tarts?❞ Charlotte sits at the kitchen table, her head being held up by the palm of her hand as Elena listens into Bonnie and Caroline's conversation.

"What?" Elena turns towards the brunette vampire with a confused look on her face, "Pop-tarts?"

"What? I'm a vampire who likes pop-tarts, sue me." Charlotte shrugged, leaning back to cross her arms over her chest.

"My brother has a stash." Elena moves towards one of the cabinets and pulls it open, grabbing the box of strawberry pop-tarts and tossing one over to her.

"Thanks."

"Elena, you and Charlotte can come in now! We're done!" Caroline called from the other room, Elena leaving the kitchen with Charlotte slowly following after the Gilbert girl, "Well, there is just way too much drama in this room. So what do you guys wanna do?" She gasps, "I have an idea. Why don't we have a seance?"

"I don't think that's a good idea." Bonnie denied as Elena makes a noise of disagreement at the blonde's words.

"Come on. Let's summon some spirits. This Emily chick has some serious explaining to do."

Charlotte shrugged her shoulders with a taunting smirk on her lips, "I'm in."

▭

          𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐅𝐎𝐔𝐑 𝐆𝐈𝐑𝐋𝐒 sit in a circle in Elena's bedroom floor, the room only being lit up by some candles that were sitting around the house, their hands connected together.

"What are we doing?" Bonnie breaks the silence between them.

"I don't know."

"Shh. Be quiet and concentrate." Caroline tells them, "Okay, close your eyes. Okay, now take a deep breath."

Charlotte closes her eyes, following Caroline's instructions but she has to keep herself from smiling in pure amusement, not believing that they were really doing this.

"Bonnie, call to her."

"Emily, you there?"

Charlotte cracks up, ducking her head at how Bonnie says it, clearing her throat and sitting up straighter as Elena elbowed her, "Sorry, sorry."

"Really? Emily, you there?" Caroline opens her eyes, "That's all you got? Come on."

"Fine. Jeez." Bonnie closes her eyes along with the other three, "Emily....I call on you. I know you have a message. I'm here to listen."

Nothing happens for a few moments before the candles seem to get a little bright, scaring three of the four girls as they all drop hands.

"Did that just....,"

"Yeah, it just happened." Caroline gasps, bringing her hands up to her arms as a sudden chill fills her body, "It's just the air conditioning."

The candles grow brighter again.

"Ask her to show you a sign." Charlotte spoke up, bringing her hand up to scratch the inside of her wrist.

"Ask her." Caroline repeats after Bonnie shook her head, "Emily, if you're among us, show us another sign.

"See? It's not working."

The four sit in silence as nothing happens, but soon they all jump as the shutters on Elena's windows fly open, hitting the walls harshly.

"Oh, shit! I wasn't built for this ghost bullshit!" Charlotte stands up.

"No, I can't. I'm done!" Bonnie stands up too, ripping the amber necklace from her neck, landing right in the middle of the five burning candles before going out, "Get the light. Please get the light on."

"Hold on. I got it." Elena turns the lights on to her bedroom.

"You guys, the necklace, it's gone."

They all look at the floor where the necklace was in fact gone.

▭

          ❝𝐎𝐊𝐀𝐘, 𝐅𝐔𝐍'𝐒 𝐎𝐕𝐄𝐑, Caroline.❞ Elena tells the blonde as everyone searches for the necklace in the room, "You made a point and I get it. Now give it back."

"What?" She stands with her arms crossed over her chest, "Well, I didn't take it."

"What? What happened?" Charlotte questioned as she noticed the look on Elena's face, turning towards the entrance of her bedroom door.

"I don't know. Nothing." Elena walks towards the door, "Jeremy, are you home?"

"Um, guys." Bonnie calls out, slowly walking towards Elena's bathroom.

The four slowly walk towards the bathroom too and as soon as Bonnie bends down to pick the necklace up from the bathroom, the door slams shut, dividing the Bennett girl from the others.

"Bonnie?!"

"You guys, open the door!"

"Bonnie! Bonnie!"

"Bonnie, what's going on?!"

"I'll check the hallway!" Elena tells Caroline and Charlotte before running out of her bedroom.

After a few more minutes of yelling, screaming, lights flickering, and banging on the door does everything stop and Charlotte can hear with her vampire hearing as the door unlocks and they push it open to find Bonnie covering her face as she's on her knees in the middle of the floor.

"What happened? Are you okay?"

"Obviously, she's not okay, Elena." Charlotte rolls her eyes at the Gilbert girl.

Bonnie slowly moves her hands from her face, moving her head to look up at the girls, "I'm fine."

"Unbelievable." Caroline scoffed, shaking her head in disbelief, "You were totally faking it."

"Caroline, come on."

"No, you scared the hell out of me." Caroline says before walking away.

Charlotte raised an eyebrow as she looks at the Bennett girl in front of her, "Bonnie?"

"I'm fine. Everything's fine." Bonnie's voice is a little different as she walks by Charlotte and Elena, the two girls sharing a confused look with each other.

▭

          ❝𝐈 𝐂𝐀𝐍'𝐓 𝐁𝐄𝐋𝐈𝐄𝐕𝐄 I fell for it.❞ Caroline argues with Bonnie as the Bennett witch walks out of Elena's room.

"Are you okay?" Elena asked Bonnie.

"I must go."

"She's leaving, I'm leaving."

Charlotte sighed, "Stefan was my ride."

"You guys can't leave." Elena tries to stop her friends from leaving her house.

"Oh, I can. I've had enough freaky fake witch stuff for one night." Caroline crosses her arms over her chest.

"Thank you for having me." Bonnie catches the attention of the three girls, "I'll take it from here."

"Where are you going?" Elena questioned as Bonnie moved down the stairs.

"Back to where it all began."

"Back to where — I can't believe this is how my night is going."

"Bonnie! Bonnie!" Elena calls out as the girl rushes down the stairs, "Oh, my God. Emily!"

Bonnie turns around to look up at the three, "I won't let him have it. It must be destroyed."

"Wait!" Elena rushes down the stairs, but the door slams shut behind Bonnie as she walks out and Elena can't get the door open, "Charlotte! Help me get the door!"

"Fuck my life." The brunette sighs before rushing down the stairs to try and help Elena get the front door open.

"What's happening?!"

"I don't know." Elena keeps pulling on the door with Charlotte but it's no use, "The door, it's not. Aah!"

"I hate it here!" Charlotte yells as the door opens and Jeremy is standing there.

"Charlie?" Jeremy's head tilts as he takes in the brunette girl standing in his doorway with his sister and Caroline.

"Oh, uh, hi." She sends him an awkward wave, scratching the back of her head.

"I'm out of here, alright?" Caroline says before leaving the house.

"Wait, the two of you have met?" Elena looks between the two of them in confusion.

"We met at the party at the Grill." Jeremy says, "I sat with her until Stefan and her sister got there."

"What are you doing?" Elena questions the vampire as she watches her pull her cellphone from her back pocket as Jeremy walks further into the house, "Charlie?!"

"Just shut up! God, I'm so tired of hearing your voice! Get your keys, you're driving." Charlotte says before rushing out of the house.

"Hello? Lottie?"

"Stefan, thank God! I am never having another sleepover with your clone and her friends ever again!" Charlotte says but is quiet enough that Elena can't hear her, "Listen, the little witch friend, she's being possessed by Emily. And don't say that I'm crazy, because I know what a possessed bitch looks like!"

"Let me talk to him." Elena tires to grab the phone from the Branson girl as they get into her car.

"Ah, ah, ah! If you even think about grabbing my phone out of my hand, I will grab your skinny little wrist in my bare hand, and I will break every bone in it to the point no doctor will be able to fix it. Do we understand?"

Elena stares at the vampire in fear and disbelief, moving her body slightly away from the girl as much as she could in the car.

"Drive, bitch!" Charlotte rolled her eyes, "God, humans."

"Charlotte Grace!"

"Ooh, not the middle name. Anyway! Bonnie, Emily, whoever the hell she is, said something before she left." Charlotte moves her free hand around as she spoke, "Said that she wasn't gonna let him have it, it must be destroyed. Now, if my detective skills are still as great as they were years ago, I'm guessing by "he", she meant Damon and by "it", she means the necklace." And then she left."

"Okay. Do either of you know where she went?"

"How would I know? I've only known her for a few hours."

"Charlotte!"

"Okay, okay! I'm a vampire that panics under pressure Stefan, you know this! She said she was going back to where it all started." Charlotte rolled her eyes before turning to Elena, "Any idea where Bonnie would go? Or where Emily might take her?"

"Uh..um."

"Hello, spit it out!"

Elena swallows back her fear as she remembered what Bonnie had been dreaming about, "Fell's church by the old cemetery. That's where she took Bonnie in her dreams."

"Fell's church. Elena said she took Bonnie to Fell's church in her dreams."

"Alright, the two of you stay there. I'm gonna go find her." Stefan hangs up.

"Well, step on it!"

▭

          ❝𝐀𝐖! 𝐈 𝐌𝐈𝐒𝐒𝐄𝐃 all the fun parts!❞ Charlotte stands in front of a ring of fire that Bonnie/Emily currently stands in the middle of, Damon and Stefan standing further back.

"Bonnie!" Elena screaming, finally catching up to Charlotte since the vampire instantly left her to her self as soon as she parked the car.

"No!" Damon screams out as Bonnie/Emily tosses the necklace up into the air, little sparks scattering in the sky as it explodes.

The fire goes out around Bonnie and Charlotte can see the confused look on her face as she looks around her.

Angry, Damon rushes at Bonnie, sinking his teeth into her neck as she lets out a blood curling scream. Stefan pulls Damon off of the witch, throwing him away from her as Charlotte rushes to her knees, bringing her head down to listen to Bonnie's chest.

"She's alive but barely." Charlotte tells them before, pulling the sleeve to her leather jacket up and biting into her arm, bringing it down to Bonnie's mouth, "I can save her. Come on, Bonnie. Drink."

"Her neck." Elena pushes her hair back as she looks down at Bonnie's healing neck, "It's healing."

"Is she really this stupid?" Charlotte points her thumb in Elena's direction, "Of course it's healing. That's what vampire blood does to a human. You sure know how to pick 'em, Uncle Stefan."

▭

          ❝𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐑𝐋𝐎𝐓𝐓𝐄, 𝐂𝐀𝐋𝐋 𝐌𝐄 right now.❞ Stefan has his phone pressed to his ear as he stands in the empty bedroom she had been staying in, "You can't just run off and not tell me where you're going. The sun is going to be up soon. I'm serious. Call me."

▭

          𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐑𝐋𝐎𝐓𝐓𝐄 𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐍𝐃𝐒 𝐈𝐍 the middle of the large living room, the living room that had once belonged to her, her mom and Lee. Tears fill her eyes as she looks over all the framed family photos, her bottom lip wobbling as she hears footsteps behind her.

"Charlie? What — Where's your mom?"

A harsh sob leaves the teenagers mouth as she turns around to face Lee, "She — she — she's dead."

"Char — what?" Lee quickly makes his way over to where his girlfriends daughter was standing, grabbing her face gently between his hands, "What are you talking about, kiddo? Where's your mom?"

"She — we were at a party, we wanted to go but Uncle Stefan didn't and we talked him into it." More tears fell from her eyes as she tried to explain what happened through her sobs, "We — we were having a good time, and all of a sudden these cops came in, and they took mom away. He killed her, Damon stakes her in the heart."

Lee can feel himself begin to cry as he brings the teenager into his arms, one arm around her shoulders and his empty hand holding the back of her head as she cries loudly into his shoulders. "Shh, it's okay. I got you." He kisses the crown of his head, "I got you."

𝗔𝗨𝗧𝗛𝗢𝗥'𝗦 𝗡𝗢𝗧𝗘

it may seem like there's some elena bashing in this chapter and that's because it is, but charlotte and elena haven't gotten used to each other just yet, but over time they'll like each other. i'm not saying her and elena will have a close friendship because jeremy will be her bestie for the restie when the vampire can walk in the sun.

but until then, who should charlotte be closest to? like which girl do you think she will get along with better and which guy do you think she'll get along with better? i'm thinking that i want caroline and charlotte to be the closest and i want her and tyler to be good friends.