❪ 𝓢𝑰𝑿 𝓕𝑬𝑬𝑻 𝓤𝑵𝑫𝑬𝑹 ❫ ⚰️ ˖ ׁ ⁩ 𓂃
𝚃𝚅𝙳  ⸻  ✸ 🔮⭑.ᐟ
❝ 𝖢𝖠𝖭'𝖳 𝖡𝖤 𝖥𝖱𝖨𝖤𝖭𝖣𝖲 𝖠𝖭𝖸𝖬𝖮𝖱𝖤 ❞

✦ ╮ 𝟎𝟔. ❝ 𝖫𝖮𝖲𝖳 𝖦𝖨𝖱𝖫𝖲 ❞ ── .✦

╭ ‧₊˚⊹ 𝗠𝗬𝗦𝗧𝗜𝗖 𝗙𝗔𝗟𝗟𝗦,
𝗩𝗜𝗥𝗚𝗜𝗡𝗜𝗔 𝟭𝟴𝟲𝟰

STEFAN SALVATORE STOOD ON THE FRONT PORCH OF HIS HOME as a carriage arrives, and out steps the one and only, Katherine Pierce.

"You must be Miss Pierce." Stefan walked down the stairs to greet the woman that would be staying in his home for the time being.

"Please, call me Katherine."

A small giggle is soon heard before a small body crashed into Stefan's leg, holding tightly onto it.

Stefan grinned, reaching down to pick up his four year old niece, Anastasia Salvatore. "What have we said about running, Anastasia?"

"Not to do it, because I could trip, fall and hurt myself." She smiled brightly, her small hands holding onto her Uncle's face, kissing the tip of his nose with another set of giggles leaving her lips.

"And who might this beautiful lady be?" Katherine asked, smiling at the green eyed girl.

"This is my niece, Anastasia Eloise Salvatore."

"But you can call me Eloise!" The girl grinned, "Uncle Stefan and Grandpa do."

❱ 🌿⋆｡˚

╭ ‧₊˚⊹ 𝗣𝗥𝗘𝗦𝗘𝗡𝗧 𝗗𝗔𝗬, 𝟮𝟬𝟬𝟵

"WHAT ARE you?" Elena asked the two, "What are you? Both of you."

"You know." Stefan says.

"No, I don't."

"Yes, you do." Anastasia speaks, "Or you wouldn't be here."

"It's not possible." Elena denied, "It can't be."

"Everything you know....and every belief that you have is about to change. Are you ready for that?" Stefan asked her.

"What are you?" Elena repeats again, looking between the two Salvatore's.

"We're vampires." Stefan and Anastasia spoke in sync, each with different emotions in their voices.

"I shouldn't have come." Elena starts to back away from them.

"No. No." Stefan grabs her arm, "Please."

"No." Elena gets out of his grip and runs for her car, only to be blocked by the two now standing in front of her. Letting out a gasp, she looks behind her, "How did you both do that?"

"Please don't be afraid of me." Stefan tells her, "Of us."

"Let me go." Elena tells him.

"No. Elena, there's things that you have to know and understand." Stefan tries to reach out and grab her arms.

"Let me go!"

"Elena, please."

❱ 🌿⋆｡˚

"ELENA." STEFAN stood behind her in her bedroom.

She tries to run out of her bedroom, but Stefan closes the door before she could make it.

"I would never hurt you. You're safe with me."

"All those animal attacks, those people who died-,"

Stefan cuts her off, "No. That was Damon."

"Damon?"

"Yes. I don't drunk human blood, and neither does Anastasia. That's not how we choose to survive, but Damon does. I'll explain everything to you, but I beg you, Elena, do not tell anybody."

"How can you ask me that?" Elena asked him.

"Because you know this is dangerous for so many reasons. You can hate me, but I need you to trust me."

"Just go. Just go, please. God." Elena said, "If you mean me no harm, then you'll go."

"I never wanted this." Stefan tells her.

"Stefan." Elena stopped her before he walked out, "Tell Anastasia to stay away from my brother."

❱ 🌿⋆｡˚

STEFAN STANDS outside the Gilbert home, waiting on his niece to talk to Jeremy after telling her what Elena told him, when his phone starts to ring, "Hello?"

"I want my ring."

"Where are you?" Stefan asks his brother.

"I'm at the sizzler. I had a buffet. Where's my ring?"

"I don't have it. Where are you? What have you done?"

"No, what have you done? You're the one that locked me in the basement alongside my daughter and starved me, so whatever I've done, whoever I've sucked dry is on you, buddy."

"You're being careless. How many more animal attacks is this town gonna believe, huh?"

"I know how to cover my tracks, Stefan. Where's my ring?"

"I gave it to Zach to hide. Probably shouldn't have killed him.

"Ah, you almost got me. Where is it?"

"I'll get it back, but I need more time."

"What? Did you fed-ex it to Rome? Where is it? I want my ring, Stefan, or my next stop's Elena's."

"I want you dead. Don't give me another reason to make it happen."

"Don't give me another reason to rip you apart."

"Yeah? Is that gonna be before, or after, you get your ring back?" Stefan asks.

"Just get it."

❱ 🌿⋆｡˚

"WHAT ARE you doing here?" Jeremy asked once he noticed the Salvatore girl standing in his doorway with a frown on her face, "You can sit down."

"I'm not staying." She shook her head, crossing her arms over her chest with a frown on her face, "Uh, I need to talk to you."

"About what?" He stands up from the chair he was sitting in and sits his headphones down.

Anastasia bites her lip as she looked down at her feet, "Elena found out something about my uncle and I. And she doesn't think we should hang out anymore."

"What? Elena can't tell me who I can and can't be friends with." Jeremy shakes his head, walking closer to the girl.

"I think you should listen to her this time." Anastasia held her hand out so that he couldn't walk closer to her, "We can't - we can't be friends anymore, Jeremy. I don't want to disrespect your sister with what she wants."

"What? No, no!" Jeremy exclaimed, shaking his head. He grabbed the Salvatore girls arms, pulling her closer to him. "You are not about to end our friendship, our - our, whatever this is that we have going on just because my sister is pissed off at your uncle and doesn't want us to hang out with each other. I'm not letting it happen!"

Anastasia smiled sadly at him, leaning up to press her lips against his for a brief moment, "Goodbye, Jeremy."

❱ 🌿⋆｡˚

"YOU SAID you would explain everything. That's why I asked you both to meet me here." Elena sat in front of Stefan and Anastasia in front of the Grill. "When you google "vampire" you get a world of fiction. What's the reality?"

"We can tell you whatever you wanna know." Stefan tells her, Anastasia playing with the chipped nail polish on her fingers as she thought about her talk with Jeremy last night.

"I know you eat garlic."

"Yes."

"And somehow, sunlight's not an issue." Elena looks between the two.

"We have rings to protect us." Stefan held his hand up, "Anastasia, she has a ring, a necklace and a bracelet. I wanted her extra protected just in case."

"Crucifixes?" Elena asked.

"Decorative." Anastasia mumbled, now plucking at the loose threads on the rips in her jeans.

"Holy water?"

"Drinkable." Stefan answered.

"Mirrors?"

"Myths."

"You said you don't kill to survive." Elena said.

"Animal blood keeps me alive, but not as strong as Damon. It can be very powerful." Stefan tells her. "Anastasia drinks from blood bags."

"And yet you let him get involved with Caroline?"

"Forcing Damon not to do something is much more dangerous, believe us." Stefan says.

"He was hurting her."

"He was feeding on her. He was able to take away her memories of being bitten using a form of mind compulsion." Stefan explained, "She never knew what was happening to her. If he wanted to kill her, he would have."

"Is that supposed to make it okay?" Asked Elena.

"No, no. None of this is okay, Elena. We know that."

"Are there any others, aside from you two and Damon?"

"Not in Mystic Falls, not anymore."

"Not anymore?" Elena questioned.

"There was a time when this town was...very much aware of vampires, and it didn't end well for anybody. That's why it's important that you don't tell anyone." Stefan tells her.

"I can't promise that."

"Elena...give us today. We will answer any question that you have, and when it's over, you can decide for yourself what you wanna do with what you know. It'll be your choice."

"Her choice?" Anastasia looked at her uncle in disbelief, "If she tells anyone, we'll be dead."

"Anastasia, please." Stefan held his hand up to stop his niece from talking.

❱ 🌿⋆｡˚

"STOP HERE." Stefan says as the three now were in Elena's car.

"What are we doing here?" Elena asked as they got out.

"I want to show you something." Stefan tells her, wrapping his arm around his niece's shoulders.

"In the middle of nowhere?" Elena asked.

"This...didn't use to be nowhere." Anastasia mumbled, thinking back to where the never spot they were standing on used to be a big beautiful house that her four year old self would be in, getting into all kinds of trouble, but getting away with it because she had not only her father and Uncle wrapped around her finger, but her grandfather too.

"Use to be our home." Stefan smiled down at his niece.

"It looks so..." Elena trailed off as she looked at what remained of the house.

"Old?" Stefan finished for her, "It's because it is."

"Wait. How long have you...."

"I've been 17 years old since 1864, and Anastasia has been 17 since 1877."

"Oh, my god."

"You said you wanted to know. We're not going to hold anything back. Half a century before the Boarding house was even built, this was my family's home. Damon and I....we were both born here. The Salvatore brothers, best of friends."

❱ 🌿⋆｡˚

╭ ‧₊˚⊹ 𝗠𝗬𝗦𝗧𝗜𝗖 𝗙𝗔𝗟𝗟𝗦,
𝗩𝗜𝗥𝗚𝗜𝗡𝗜𝗔 𝟭𝟴𝟲𝟰

"WAIT. WHERE did you learn this game?" Stefan asked his brother as they ran out of the house, four year old Anastasia sitting on the steps as she played with some of her toys.

"Camp outside Atlanta. One of the officers picked it up at Harvard. Catch." Damon threw the ball to his younger brother.

Stefan caught the ball, "Wait a minute. What are the rules? What are the rules?"

"Who needs rules?" Katherine spoke as she walked out of the Salvatore house, "Mind if I join you?"

"Uh, well, you could, uh - you could get hurt. My brother likes to play rough." Stefan tells the woman.

"Somehow, I think that you play rougher." Katherine says, taking the ball from Stefan's hands and running off.

"Why are you just standing there? That is a girl who clearly wants to be chased." Damon tells his brother, "If you don't do it, I will."

Stefan looked at his brother for a few minutes before running off in the direction that Katherine had gone.

"Eloise, princess, let's go have a look at the sunflowers in the garden." Damon turned to his daughter, who was quick to jump up and run into his arms at the mention of the beautiful flower that she loved so much.

❱ 🌿⋆｡˚

╭ ‧₊˚⊹ 𝗣𝗥𝗘𝗦𝗘𝗡𝗧 𝗗𝗔𝗬, 𝟮𝟬𝟬𝟵

"YOU KNEW Katherine in 1864?" Elena asked, "Damon made it seem like..."

"Damon was trying to make you think that...that I was still heartbroken. He saw that I was happy with you, and he wanted to ruin it." Stefan tells her.

"All because you loved the same girl 14 years ago?"

"She wasn't just any girl."

❱ 🌿⋆｡˚

╭ ‧₊˚⊹ 𝗠𝗬𝗦𝗧𝗜𝗖 𝗙𝗔𝗟𝗟𝗦,
𝗩𝗜𝗥𝗚𝗜𝗡𝗜𝗔 𝟭𝟴𝟲𝟰

"HA! ANASTASIA and I won. What's our prize?" Katherine asked Stefan as the three of them were playing in the garden.

"What would you like it to be?" Damon's voice rang out.

"Daddy!" Anastasia shouted happily and ran into her father's arms.

"There's my princess!" Damon grinned, scooping the four year old up in his arms and kissing her face multiple times as she let out the cutest mess of giggles.

"They extended your leave?" Stefan asked.

"I was simply having too much fun to return to battle." Damon says, "And I missed my princess."

"Your commitment to the confederacy is inspiring." Stefan tells him.

"Well, this works out wonderfully for me." Katherine speaks up.

"How's that, Miss. Katherine?" Damon asked, still holding onto his daughter, who was cuddled into his chest as Stefan began to make funny faces at her.

"Now, I'll have both of you here to keep me entertained." Katherine says, "First and foremost, I'll need someone to escort me to the Founder's Ball."

"With pleasure." The brothers say together, "I would be honored."

"The smart and kind Salvatore brothers, both coming to my rescue." Katherine smirked, "How will I ever choose?"

❱ 🌿⋆｡˚

╭ ‧₊˚⊹ 𝗣𝗥𝗘𝗦𝗘𝗡𝗧 𝗗𝗔𝗬, 𝟮𝟬𝟬𝟵

"SHE CHOSE me. I escorted her to the ball at the original Lockwood Mansion." Stefan tells Elena.

"The first Founder's party...where you signed the registry." Elena says making Stefan nod his head.

"I didn't care that I had gotten something that my brother wanted. I didn't even care if I hurt him. I only knew that I wanted her." Stefan tells Elena.

"So he was upset." Elena says.

"That's the thing about my father." Anastasia says, causing Elena to gasp in shock at the fact that Damon wasn't Anastasia's uncle like Stefan, but her father, "He didn't get mad. He just gets even."

"What Damon wants, Damon usually gets. I didn't know it at the time, but...turns out that night...Katherine was with him, too."

"So he stole her from you, not the other way around?" Questioned Elena.

"Turns out she wasn't ours to steal." Stefan tells her, "She could control my mind and Damon's. She's compelled each of us to keep the secret from the other. She wanted all of us to be together forever. Didn't work out that way, but...Damon and I, looks like we're stuck with each other...like it or not."

"Is that Damon's ring?" Elena asked as Anastasia pulled a cloth from the ruins of the house and sticks it onto her finger to keep it safe.

"I took it from him, but I have to give it back." Stefan tells her.

"No, don't, Stefan. Keep it hidden." Elena tells her.

"Elena, if we don't give it to him, he'll retaliate in the only way that he knows he can hurt me." Stefan said.

"And how is that?" Elena asked.

"By hurting you."

❱ 🌿⋆｡˚

"THE MIND control, you said Katherine used. Do you ever do that to me?" Elena questioned Stefan as he opened the door for her and Anastasia got into the backseat, "Or my brother?"

"Never." Anastasia mumbled, closing the door and laying her head against the seat as she listened to what her Uncle had to say.

"No. That necklace, it contains a herb called vervain. It protects you from being compelled. I wanted to protect you from Damon's influence. But I also wanted to...protect you from me." Stefan tells her, "Elena, you should never take that necklace off...because no matter what happens after today, no matter how you feel about me....you'll know that you were free to make your own choice."

❱ 🌿⋆｡˚

THE FRONT door to the Gilbert house opens up as Jeremy sat on the floor after being pushed by Vicki to reveal Elena, Stefan and Anastasia coming around the corner.

"What's going on?" Elena asked as Anastasia rushed to help Jeremy off the ground.

"Are you okay?" She asked, looking for any marks or puncture wounds.

"I'm fine, Stassia."

"Elena, back up." Stefan says, walking over to Vicki. "Vicki, look at me. Focus. You're gonna be fine. Everything's gonna be fine. Guys, take her up to bed. Shut the blinds. She's gonna be okay. Come on. Come on."

Matt and Jeremy walked up the stairs with Vicki, the latter looking down at Anastasia with a frown.

He had been calling her since last night when she ran off after kissing him. He wanted her to know that whatever Elena said, wasn't going to keep him away from her.

"You guys know what's wrong with her?" Elena looked between Stefan and Anastasia.

"Yeah."

"What is it?" She asked.

"She's transitioning." Anastasia said.

"Transition into what?" Elena looked at her.

Anastasia looks at her with a dead look, "A fucking unicorn."

"Eloise." Stefan looks at his niece before turning to Elena. "A vampire."

"What?"

"Dad must have gotten to her. She's new. She hasn't completed her transformation yet." Anastasia said.

"H - how does she do that?"

"She has to feed on human blood." Stefan explained to her.

"And what if she doesn't?"

"She'll die." Stefan says, "She may only have a few hours."

"She's upstairs with him right now." Elena used her finger to point upstairs as she paced back and forth.

"It's okay. She doesn't know what's happening to her yet." Stefan said.

"So when is she gonna know?"

"Right now, she doesn't remember anything. A part of her is still human, but slowly, the deeper she gets into the transition, the memories will start to come back, and then she'll know she has to make the choice." Anastasia said.

"The same choice the two of you made?" Elena asked.

"Vick! Vicki!" Matt yelled as his sister opened the front door and ran outside.

Jeremy rushed down the stairs, "She was fine, and then she just - she just freaked out."

"I'm gonna go look for her. Call me if you hear anything." Matt said before he left.

"I can track her." Stefan said.

"Go."

"Anastasia, stay here just in case she comes back." Stefan tells his niece before he left the Gilbert house.

❱ 🌿⋆｡˚

THE SKY had gotten dark and there was still no word from neither Matt or Stefan about if they had found Vicki or not.

Anastasia wanted to help, but she was told to stay in the house and even if she wanted to do a tracking spell to find Vicki, her witch side enabled her from doing so and she needed something valuable that belonged to Vicki in order to do it.

"Maybe we should check in with Matt." Jeremy says, helping Elena clean up the dirty dishes that Vicki had pulled out of the fridge.

"He'll find her when he finds her." Elena tells him.

"Well, what are we supposed to do?" Jeremy asked, glancing at the quiet Salvatore girl.

"We wait. We're supposed to wait."

"I don't know what's wrong with her." Jeremy says.

"She'll be fine. It'll all be fine." Elena tells her younger brother.

The doorbell goes off and the three of them rush to see who it is.

Anastasia grips Jeremy's arm as Elena opens the door to reveal Damon standing there.

Elena tries to push the door closed but Damon was much stronger than she was.

"Jeremy, go upstairs." Elena tells her brother.

Jeremy looked down at Anastasia who was giving him a pleading look before he actually made the effort to go upstairs.

"You're afraid of me." Damon smirked, "I'm gonna go out on a limb here and guess. Stefan and Anastasia finally fessed up.'

"Stay away from me." Elena tells him.

"Hey, there's no need to be rude. I'm just looking for Stefan and my daughter. May I come in? Oh, wait. Of course I can." Damon walked into the house as Elena backs away from him, "I've been invited in. We can cut to the chase if you want. I'm not going to kill you right now. That wouldn't serve the greater agenda. So....where's Stefan?"

"He's out looking for Vicki." Anastasia tells her father.

"Don't either of you look at me with those judge little eyes." Damon tells both girls, "Girl's gonna thank me for what I did to her."

"Did you thank Katherine?" Elena asked.

"Mm. Got the whole life story, huh?" Damon asked.

"I got enough."

"Oh, I doubt that." Damon says, before glancing at his daughter, "Tell your uncle I'm looking for him." The he looked at Elena, "Oh, tip for later, be careful who you invite into the house."

❱ 🌿⋆｡˚

ANASTASIA WATCHED Jeremy's chest rise and fall as he slept in his bed. She could hear the sounds of Elena crying after telling Stefan that she couldn't be with her.

Anastasia knew Elena wanted her to stay away from him, but she didn't think that she could.

The green eyed Salvatore girl ran her fingers through his hair before she kissed his forehead. She goes to stand up, but a hand caught her wrist before she could get up.

"Stacie?" Jeremy mumbles sleepily.

"Hey, Jer." She whispered with a small smile. "I was just leaving. I need to get home."

"Can you - can you stay with me?" Jeremy asked.

"I - I don't-,"

"If Elena is gonna make us stop hanging out, then I just want one more night to be able to hold you in my arms."

Anastasia studied the boy for a few moments before kicking her shoes off and laying in his bed.

Jeremy wrapped his arm around her waist, pulling her closely into his body.

"Thank you." He mumbled, kissing the back of her head.

❱ 🌿⋆｡˚

ELENA WALKED up the stairs after she finally stopped crying and peaked her head into her brother's room to check up on him.

A frown fell upon her face as she noticed Anastasia laid with her back to his chest, her little brother holding onto the Salvatore girl as if she would just disappear.

The Gilbert girl didn't want her brother falling into the world of vampire's and all things supernatural creatures that could be roaming around the world.

And she planned on keeping them apart even if it hurt both the teens in the process.