❪ 𝓢𝑰𝑿 𝓕𝑬𝑬𝑻 𝓤𝑵𝑫𝑬𝑹 ❫ ⚰️ ˖ ׁ ⁩ 𓂃
𝚃𝚅𝙳  ⸻  ✸ 🔮⭑.ᐟ
❝ 𝖯𝖮𝖶𝖤𝖱𝖲 𝖮𝖥 𝖯𝖤𝖱𝖲𝖴𝖠𝖲𝖨𝖮𝖭 ❞

✦ ╮ 𝟬𝟮. ❝ 𝖳𝖧𝖤 𝖭𝖨𝖦𝖧𝖳 𝖮𝖥 𝖳𝖧𝖤 𝖢𝖮𝖬𝖬𝖤𝖳 ❞ ── .✦

❝ 𝐎𝐑𝐈𝐆𝐈𝐍𝐀𝐋𝐋𝐘 discovered nearly five centuries ago, it hasn't been over Mystic Falls in over 45 years. Now, the comet will be its brightest right after dusk during tomorrow's celebration. Are we bothering you, Mr. Salvatore? Ms. Gilbert? ❞

Anastasia wasn't playing attention to anything as she was more focused on the fact that her father was back after fifteen years of not seeing him.

She wouldn't be lying if she has that she was happy he was back, but she had a slight clue as to why he was actually back. And it definitely wasn't because he missed her or promised Stefan an eternity of misery.

────୨ৎ────

❝ 𝐇𝐄𝐘, 𝐉𝐄𝐑𝐄𝐌𝐘! ❞ Anastasia jogged over to Jeremy who was currently on his way towards Tyler to confront him about not going to see Vicki since she was left in the woods nearly to die by her father. "I got your text this morning. How was Vicki?"

"Doctor's, say she lost a lot of blood." Jeremy tells her, "Hey, Tyler!"

"Oh, why do I feel like this is gonna end with one of them on the ground?" She mumbled to herself, watching the scene unfold in front of her.

"Hey, I'm sorry to interrupt. I was just wondering how Vicki's doing since you guys are so close. Is she okay?" Jeremy asked the Lockwood boy.

Tyler stood in front of the two girls next to him, arms crossed over his chest, "She's fine. Now get out of here."

"How bad is she? Do they know what attacked her? Is she going to make full recovery?" Jeremy questioned, "Was she happy to see you? What room number is she in?"

"I'm going to kick your ass." Tyler tells him, glancing over at Anastasia for a split second.

Jeremy stepped closer to him, "Yeah, you keep saying that, but when are you actually going to do it? Huh? 'Cause I vote for right here and right now."

"Why do I find that hot?" Anastasia whispered to herself.

"Walk away, Gilbert." Tyler says, "It's your final warning."

"No, this is your final warning, dick." Jeremy tells him, "I'm sick of watching you play Vicki. You hurt her one more time, I swear to God, I will kill you."

"Damn, that was like a death threat. Did you hear that?" Tyler asked the two girls standing next to him as Jeremy stormed off with Anastasia following after him.

"Is his dad a dick?" Anastasia asked Jeremy as they walked away, "I bet his dad's a dick."

Jeremy looked at the girl for a moment before cracking a smile and chuckling as he shook his head, "You are something else, Anastasia Salvatore."

────୨ৎ────

𝐒𝐓𝐄𝐅𝐀𝐍 𝐒𝐀𝐓 on a picnic table as he listened to Matt and Elena's conversation from a few feet away.

"They're keeping her overnight to make sure there's no infection, but she should be able to come home tomorrow." Matt tells Elena.

"That's good news."

"Yeah."

"Did you get in touch with your mom?" Asked Elena.

"Called and left a message. She's in Virginia Beach with her boyfriend, so...we'll see how long it takes her to come rushing home."

"Vicki's lucky that she's okay."

"I know, and now there's talk of some missing campers."

"Did she say what kind of animal it was that attacked her?" Elena questioned.

"She said it was a vampire."

"What?" Elena asked in disbelief.

"Yeah, she wakes up last night and mutters "vampire" and then passes out." Matt says.

"Okay, that's weird."

"I think she was drunk. So, what's up with you and the new guy?" Matt asked.

"Matt, the last thing I want to do is hurt you."

"You know, I'm - I'm actually gonna go back to the hospital. I want to be there when Vicki wakes up, get the real story about last night."

"Okay."

Stefan pulled his phone out of his pocket, calling Anastasia's number and pressing the phone against his ear as he walked away from the table, "Hey, where are you?"

"I'm with Jeremy. Why? Is something wrong?"

"No, ju - just stay where you are. I'm gonna go by the hospital that Vicki's in and clean up your father's mess." Stefan tells his niece.

"What? What do you mean?"

"I just overheard Matt tell Elena that Vicki said it was a vampire that attacked her." Stefan says, "Look, I know he won't actually touch you, but be careful when you get home, okay? Stay away from your father."

"Got it."

────୨ৎ────

𝐄𝐋𝐄𝐍𝐀 𝐖𝐀𝐋𝐊𝐒 up to the Boarding House and knocked on the large wooden door, only for it to slowly creek open after her knuckles touched it.

"Stefan?!" Elena calls out as she steps into the house before walking further inside, "Stefan?"

She looks around the house in awe as she searched for any sign of Stefan. As she looked out the small window, a crow flew inside and she gasped, turning around and bumped into a person that she had never seen.

"I - I'm sorry for barging in. The door was...." Elena looked over at the front door and found it shut instead of open like it was when she first got there. ".....open."

"You must be Elena." Damon says, "I'm Damon, Stefan's brother and Anastasia's...uncle."

"He didn't tell me he had a brother." Elena tells him.

"Well, Stefan's not one to brag. Ana on the other hand, loves me." Damon says, "Surprised she hasn't talked about me. Please, come. I'm sure Stefan will be along any second."

Elena followed him further into the house, "Wow. This is your living room?"

"Living room, parlor, Sotheby's auction. It's a little kitschy for my taste." Damon tells her, "I see why my brothers so smitten. It's about time. For a while there, I never thought he'd get over the last one. Nearly destroyed him."

Elena looked at him confused, "The last one?"

"Yeah. Katherine, his girlfriend." Damon says, "Oh, you two haven't had the awkward exes conversation yet."

"Nope."

"Oops. I'm sure it'll come up now. Or maybe he didn't want to tell you because he didn't want you to think he was on the rebound." Damon said, "We all know how those relationships end."

"You say it like every relationship is doomed to end." Elena says.

"I'm a fatalist. Hello, Stefan."

Elena spun around to find Stefan standing behind them, Anastasia standing right behind him with a look that could kill.

"Elena. I didn't know you were coming over." Stefan said, keeping his gaze on his older brother and making sure to keep Anastasia away from her father.

The Gilbert girl walked towards Stefan, "I know. I should have called, I just..."

Damon cut her off, "Oh, don't be silly. You're welcome any time. Isn't she, Stefan? You know, I should break out the family photo albums or some home movies. But..I have to warn you. He wasn't always such a looker."

"Thank you for stopping by, Elena." Stefan's gaze never left his brothers, "Nice to see you."

"Yeah, I should probably go. It was nice to meet you, Damon."

"Don't lie to him, Elena." Anger was in Anastasia's voice as she glared at her father, "Damon always shows up when he knows that he's not wanted."

Damon frowned at his daughters words, "Great meeting you too, Elena."

"Stefan?" Elena says as he doesn't move as she tries to go around him. "Stefan?"

Stefan finally moved out of her way, pulling his niece along so that the human girl could walk by to leave.

"Great, gal." Whoo. She's got spunk." Damon says to his brother, "You on the other hand, looked pooped. Did you overexert yourself today? Let me guess...hospital."

"Someone had to clean up your mess, Dad."

Well, were you successful?" Damon asks, "Did the powers of persuasion work? Remember, if you don't feed properly none of those little tricks work right."

"How long was Elena here?" Stefan asked.

"Were you worried, Stefan? Scared we may be doomed to repeat the past? Isn't that why you play your little game, "I'm a high school human", while taking care of my daughter?"

"I'm not playing a game." Stefan says, "And I'm only doing for your daughter, what you seem to not be able to do."

"Of course you are." Damon ignored the part about not being able to take care of his daughter, "We all know the closest you'll ever get to humanity is when you rip it open and feed on it."

"What kind of game are you playing, Damon?" Stefan asked.

"Guess you'll just have to wait and see, won't we?" Damon smirked, kissing the top of Anastasia's head as he walked by her, "You look beautiful, baby girl."

────୨ৎ────

❝ 𝐖𝐇𝐀𝐓 𝐈𝐒 Damon doing here? Why did he come back? ❞ Zach asked, standing in Stefan's bedroom.

"'Cause I came home and brought Anastasia here." Stefan answered, doing up the button's on his shirt, "He wants to make my life miserable. That's how he enjoys himself."

"Well, he's putting us all at risk." Zach says as Anastasia happily bounced into the room and made herself comfortable on her uncle's bed. "This girl in the hospital could talk."

"She won't. I took care of her." Stefan tells him.

"You sure?"

"I'm not sure, Zach. I don't know how well it worked. I'm not as strong as Damon." Stefan tells him, putting his jacket on.

"So what happens if it doesn't work?"

"I don't know. I'll deal with it." Stefan shrugged.

"Is she worth it, Uncle Stefan? This girl you came back for?" Zach asked.

Stefan ignores him, turning to his niece, "Ready, kiddo?"

Anastasia stood up from Stefan's bed, "Yep."

────୨ৎ────

𝐀𝐅𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐋𝐎𝐒𝐈𝐍𝐆 her uncle, Anastasia decided to walk around on her own before deciding to go into the Grill where she found Elena along with Caroline, Tyler, Bonnie and Matt.

"Come with me." Jeremy walked by, grabbing her arm and pulling her towards the group, "Hey, has anyone seen Vicki?"

"You're her stalker, you tell us." Tyler says from his seat.

"I can't find her."

"She probably found somebody else to party with. "Tyler says, "Sorry, Pill Pusher, I guess you've been replaced."

"What's with the pull pusher?" Elena looked between the two boys.

"Ask him."

"You wanna do this right now?" Jeremy asked, Anastasia hold him back.

Elena looked at her little brother, "Are you dealing?"

"She's never gonna go for you." Tyler spoke, going back to the topic of Vicki.

"She already did." Jeremy says and Anastasia can't help the smirk growing on her face, "Over, and over, and over again."

"Yeah, right."

"You slept with Vicki Donovan?" Caroline asked in disbelief, "I mean, Vicki Donovan slept with you?"

"There's no way."

"And I didn't even have to force her into it." Jeremy says, recalling the party the other night.

"What the hell is he talking about, Ty?" Matt asked, looking at his best friend.

"Nothing, man. Just ignore him, he's a punk." Tyler said.

"You know what? How about all of you shut up and help me find my sister?"

"We'll check the back." Bonnie tells him.

I'll check the square." Matt tells them.

"I'll come with you."

"Oh, no. No, no." Elena pulls her brother towards her, "You are coming with me."

"Don't worry." Anastasia put her hand on Jeremy's shoulder, taking notice that it calmed him down just a bit, "If it makes you feel any better, I'll go with Matt."

────୨ৎ────

❝ 𝐇𝐄𝐘. ❞ Matt walked over to Stefan with Anastasia in toe.

"Hey." Stefan spoke, giving his niece a look.

"Have you seen my sister??" Matt asked him.

"No, sorry."

"Can't find her. She's missing." Matt tells him.

Stefan's eyes shift over to his niece who gave him a pleading look, "I'll keep an eye out for her."

"Hey, I saw you at the hospital yesterday." Matt tells Stefan and the green eyed girl behind him looked at him in shock.

"Did you?"

"What were you doing there?" Matt questioned.

"Visiting."

"Visiting? You know, Elena and I, we've known each other for a long time. We might not be together right now, but I look out for her." Matt says to Stefan, "And I'll always look out for her."

"You really have to stop screaming." Damon's voice filled Anastasia's ears.

"No, please, stop. Don't..."

"Shh, I'm not gonna drop you."

"Excuse me." Stefan says, "Eloise, come on."

"I'll text Jeremy if I find her, Matt." Anastasia says before running after her uncle.

As soon as they were far enough away, both of the used their vampire speed to get to the top of the roof where Damon was holding her over the ledge of the building.

"No! No!" Vicki cried.

"I gotta do it. I'm not gonna drop you." Damon looked over his shoulder at his brother and daughter, "Not bad. Have you been eating bunnies?"

"Let her go." Stefan tells his brother.

"Shh. Really? Okay." Damon says.

"No! No, no, no!" Vicki begged.

"Ugh! Relax!" Damon tells her.

"What's happening?" Vicki cried, on her knees on the roof of the building.

"I don't need her to be dead, but...you might." Damon says to his brother before looking down at Vicki, "What attacked you the other night?"

"I don't know. An animal." Vicki answered.

"Are you sure about that? Think." Damon crouched down to be face to face with her, "Think about it. Think really hard. What attacked you?"

"A vampire."

"Who did this to you?!"

"You!"

"Wrong!"

"Don't." Stefan says, pushing his niece behind him just a bit.

"It was Stefan."

"Dad, don't!" Anastasia exclaimed.

Damon ignored his daughter, grabbing Vicki's face and starring into her eyes until her pupils dilate, "Stefan Salvatore did this to you."

"Stefan Salvatore did this to me." Vicki repeats him.

"He's a vampire. A vicious, murderous monster." Damon continued to compel her.

"Please, Damon. Please don't do this." Stefan begged his brother, feeling his niece tense up from behind him.

"If you couldn't fix it before, I don't know what you can do now." Damon ripped off the bandage from Vicki's neck and pushed her into Stefan, making Anastasia stumble back and fall to the ground.

"Ana, are you okay?" Stefan turned his head to look down at his niece.

"I'm fine." She mumbled, standing up and glaring at her father.

"Your choice of lifestyle has made you weak. A couple of vampire parlor tricks is nothing compared to the power that you could have, that you now need." Damon tells his younger brother, "But you can change that. Human blood give you that."

"No!" Vicki cried.

"You have two choices. You can feed and and make her forget." Damon says to Stefan, "Or you can let her run, screaming "vampire" through the town square."

"That's what this is about?" Anastasia spoke up, "You want to expose Uncle Stefan?"

"No! I want him to remember who he is." Damon tells her, "Both of you!"

"Why? So what? We'll feed? So we'll kill? So we remember what it's like to be one big happy family again?" Stefan asked him, "You know what? Let her go. Let her tell everyone that vampires have returned to Mystic Falls. Let them chain us up, and let them drive a stake through our hearts. Because at least I'll be free of you. And Anastasia won't have to have such a terrible father that only sees her every 15 years!"

"Huh, huh. Wow. Come here, sweetheart." Damon pulled Vicki off of the ground.

"No!"

"It's okay." Damon says before leaning down to whisper into her ear.

"What happened? Where am I?" Vicki asked, bringing her hand up to feel her neck, "Oh, I ripped my stitches open."

"Vicki, you okay?" Anastasia asked her.

"I took some pills, girl. I'm good." Vicki says before she walks off.

"It's good to be home." Damon says, watching his daughter hug his brother, "Think I might stay a while. This town could use a bit of a wake up call, don't you think so?"

Stefan holds onto his niece tightly, hand on the back of her head as she kept her arms around him, "What are you up to, Damon?"

"That's for me to know and for you to...dot, dot, dot." Damon smirked, "Give Elena my best."

"I hate you." Anastasia's voice made Damon stop in his tracks, "I hate you so much!"

"Oh, sweetheart." Damon turned to look at his daughter and brother, "You don't hate me. That's just your mind tricking you."

"No, I hate you." She lets a tear roll down her cheek, "I mean, you abandoned me when I was four, left me so my uncle could take care of me! You don't even know anything about me!"

"I know plenty about you, Princess."

"Really? Then what's my favorite color? What's my favorite decade? My favorite movie?" Anastasia spit out questions, "Who's my best friend? What about my favorite flower?"

Damon didn't say anything as he looked down at his feet.

"Exactly. Uncle Stefan, I wanna go home."

Stefan kissed her head, "Come on, I'll take you home."

────୨ৎ────

𝐒𝐓𝐄𝐅𝐀𝐍 𝐀𝐍𝐃 Anastasia walked into the Grill, finding Mat putting another bandage over Vicki's neck.

"She said you guys found her wandering around." Matt tells them.

"Yeah." Stefan answered, his niece still too upset about her father to talk.

"So, um, thanks." Matt tells him.

"You're welcome." Anastasia gave him a small smile, the Salvatore's moving towards Caroline and Bonnie.

"Uhh, it's just so much drama." Caroline says, "Every notice how the druggies are the biggest attention whores?"

"Yeah."

"Excuse me." Stefan speaks once he's close enough, "Hi."

"Hi." Bonnie says.

"Um, have you guys seen Elena?" He asked.

"I think she went home." Bonnie says and Stefan goes to walk way, wrapping his arm around his niece before Bonnie decided to keep going, "I'm gonna give you Elena's cell number and her email. She is big on texting, and you can tell her I said so."

"Thank you."

Stefan reached out for it, brushing his hand against Bonnie's.

"Bonnie? You okay?" Anastasia asked her.

"What happened to you" Bonnie asked him in a whisper, "That's so rude. I'm sorry. Excuse me."

"Yeah, she kind of just wigs out. It's like her thing." Caroline tells them.

────୨ৎ────

𝐃𝐀𝐌𝐎𝐍 𝐎𝐍𝐂𝐄 again stood in his daughter's bedroom as she slept. He had just gotten back from being with Caroline and wanted to check up on his daughter.

"Any light blue color." Stefan's voice made the eldest Salvatore brother look up at his brother who leaned against the door frame, "The 60's, The Outsiders, Kol and sunflowers."

"Excuse me?" Damon asked, walking closer to his brother.

"Her favorite color, her favorite decade, her favorite movie, her best friend's name and her favorite flower." Stefan tells him before walking away.