CHAPTER SEVEN
chasing a vampire at halloween!

Vicki Donovan was missing. After completing her transition by feeding from Logan Fell's now dead body, when Damon killed him, the newly-turned vampire ran away into the darkness, and nobody saw her for the whole weekend. Bonnie and Iylah had been with their Grams for the two days that they had off. Meanwhile, with the Gilbert's, Elena continued to keep an eye on her younger brother, Jeremy, who expressed his worries about Vicki's disappearance, all while dealing with her current breakup with Stefan. Also, Caroline had dragged Quinn along through multiple stores during the weekend, to find costumes for the Halloween party that the High School was organising.

"I have got your costume." Caroline sang, making her way towards Bonnie who stood by the lockers in the hallway. The blonde held Bonnie's costume in her hand, walking beside Quinn as she handed the clothing to the Bennett girl. "It's all here."

Bonnie opened the bag to pull out the Halloween costume that Caroline picked out for her, only to roll her eyes and give her best-friend an 'are you kidding me?' look, because of the witch costume she was now holding. "Seriously?"

Quinn sighed, clicking her tongue. "I told you she wouldn't like it." She reminded her adopted sister who groaned.

"Ah, come on." Caroline rolled her eyes and leant back against the lockers. "Can someone please be excited that it's Halloween? I just wanna have fun, you know, just some silly, fluffy, Damon free fun."

Bonnie reached her hand in the bag, pulling out a familiar necklace. "Hey, isn't this the one you got from Damon?" She asked, referring to the yellow crystal necklace between her fingers.

"Yep. Wear it. Toss it. I don't care." She answered with a shrug. "I just want it gone."

"Hey, have you seen Elena? And Iylah? I thought she would've been with you." The Henderson girl pointed out, and Caroline nodded.

"Yeah. Do we know what they are wearing?" The blonde-haired girl mentioned, pulling away from the lockers.

"I'm not sure." Bonnie sighed. "Iylah was with me and Grams all weekend and the last I saw her was when she left the house this morning. And Elena, I haven't talked to her. Maybe she's with Stefan."

The blonde practically rolled her eyes, and leaned her back on the lockers once again. "Riding to his castle on his white horse." She replied bitterly.

Quinn gave the blonde a look as Bonnie spoke up, noticing her tone. "Don't be bitter. It provokes wrinkles."

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"Coffee is our friend. It's the caffeine. It circulates through our veins and it warms our body so we're not so cold to the touch." Stefan explained to the Donovan girl, as he and Elena sat with her at the table. The two vampires had mugs in their hands filled with hot coffee, while Elena listened.

"Well, what if I wanna drink human blood?" The newly-turned vampire shrugged, as Iylah entered the room from the kitchen, with two cups of hot chocolate in her hands — one for herself, and one for Elena.

"Thanks." Elena muttered as Iylah passed her the hot drink, and turned back to the vampires still in conversation.

"You're gonna have to learn to live with that urge and fight it on a daily basis one day at a time."

"Oh, god." Vicki rolled her eyes. "Don't start with that whole twelve steps thing. School counsellor has been down that road, and it doesn't work for me."

"It can work. It's your choice, Vicki." Stefan tried to tell her.

Her eyes lit up in wonder. "So you've never tasted human blood?" Vicki asked.

The Salvatore vampire hesitated to answer before eventually speaking up. "Not in a long time."

"How long?"

"Years and years." Stefan shared. "I'm not proud of my past behaviour."

Vicki groaned. "Does this sketchy feeling ever go away? It's like I have a massive hangover. This daylight thing is a bitch." She sighed, standing up from her chair. "Ugh. I need more blood. Where's your bathroom? I have to pee." The vampire then pulled a face at her own words. "Why do I have to pee? I thought I was dead."

As Vicki left the room, Iylah tilted her head, using her free hand to gesture over to the direction that Vicki just went in. "Huh," She spoke, making the other two look up at her. "she does have a point."

Elena pursed her lips, and tried to hide her smile with a sigh, before Stefan turned his head to look at her. "I'm going to, uh... I'm gonna get her some more." He nodded, getting no response from the girl. "Right. I'll be quick." As Iylah moved aside, he backed away from the table and stood up from his chair to leave.

"And I'm gonna raid their fridge." The Hale witch announced quickly, and followed Stefan into the other room, with her next words spoken through a mutter. "Hopefully, not everything in the fridge is blood bags." The girl hoped, considering there must have been proper food in there from when their human nephew, Zach Salvatore, lived there, but he was killed by Damon around a month ago.

Elena stood up to her feet and hung around near the step to the next room, watching Vicki start to make her way back from the bathroom, as a sigh escaped the new vampire's lips. "False alarm. My body's feeling really funky. It's a good funk, but it's weird."

The Donovan girl had walked straight past her to get to her phone. Elena hummed, watching Vicki start to dial a number in her phone, which caught her interest. "Who are you calling?"

Vicki looked over at the Gilbert. "Jeremy."

Alarm bells rang off in Elena's head. As, now that Vicki was a new transitioned vampire, she hasn't learnt how to control the bloodlust yet, and as the girl mentioned earlier, and how she sounded too excited on wanting to drink human blood, Elena grew worried at the thought of the new vampire feeding from Jeremy. "Vicki," She began shaking her head. "you can't see Jeremy anymore."

"Oh, come on, don't you start." The Donovan girl rolled her eyes. "I'm gonna see whoever I wanna see."

"Even though, you could hurt him?"

"I would never hurt Jeremy." Vicki insisted.

Elena slowly walked towards the girl. "I know you think that, but I can't take that risk. You're gonna have to let Jeremy go now."

"Oh, really?" Vicki's eyes narrowed into a glare as she put her phone back down on the table. "And how long have you been preparing the 'you're not good enough' speech? I'm assuming it predates the whole vampire thing."

"All I am saying is, Jeremy is not getting involved in any of this." Elena argued, making Vicki scoff out a chuckle. "I mean it, Vicki."

"Or what?" The smirk on her face dropped, as she rushed forward to grab Elena by the throat before pushing her against the wall. "Let's get one thing straight, you perky little bitch." The girl struggled for breath, now on her tip-toes as the vampire's hand tightened around her throat. "You had my brother whipped for fifteen years. Fifteen years and then you dumped him. When I look at you, that is all I see, just so you know. And I'm gonna see Jeremy whenever I wanna see Jeremy," Vicki forcefully tilted Elena's head to the side. "because I have some fun new toys to pl—" Her words got cut off all of a sudden before she could finish her threat, when she released her hand from Elena's throat and dropped to the floor unconscious.

The Gilbert girl coughed instantly, trying to catch her breath as she stared at Vicki on the floor with her brows furrowed, until she saw Iylah standing in the doorway to the next room, with her hand clenched into a fist. "I'm sorry," The witch walked further into the room, and tilted her head down at Vicki. "what were you saying?" Iylah hummed, turning away from Vicki and towards Elena with a look of concern. "Are you okay, El?"

The brown-haired girl exhaled deeply. "I am now, thank you, Iylah."

"It's what I'm here for." Iylah smiled softly at the Gilbert girl, and pressed her hand on her back to guide her away. "Don't worry, she's fine. It's just a simple spell. She'll wake up in a few."

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After Stefan checked in on the both of them, after he heard what had happened between Elena and Vicki, the Gilbert girl dragged Iylah away towards the car, and dropped her back off at home before returning to her own. Jeremy was still inside the residence, attempting to get in contact with Vicki to see if she was okay.

As a way of trying to get Vicki off his mind, Elena brought her brother along to the Halloween party at the High School, not knowing that Jeremy was only going so he could meet up with the Donovan girl in secret.

So, the Gilbert's arrived to school. Elena decided to go as a nurse, whilst Jeremy went in ordinary clothes, with a black hoodie over his top.

Iylah saw the two approach from her spot next to Quinn who was dressed in a green tube top, black jeans, green jacket and a green cap with the letter L for Luigi in the middle, the other half to Iylah's costume that resembled Mario. Iylah had turned to her friend to make a quick excuse so that she could leave, and then ran over to where Elena and Jeremy were.

"Hey, guys." Iylah breathed out, once she reached the siblings and glanced down at their Halloween costumes. "Nice costume, El." She complimented the brunette, before directing her eyes over to her best-friend and stifled a laugh. "And broody, you went with a black hoodie?" She looked back over at Elena and smirked. "Oh, can you just feel the Halloween spirit coming from him, Elena?" Iylah commented sarcastically, following them along with a skip in her steps as Elena chuckled.

"Oh, piss off." Jeremy rolled his eyes, and tried to hide the smile on his face as he wrapped his arm around Iylah's shoulder and into a soft headlock, making her squeal.

"Get off me." Iylah exclaimed, shuffling her head out of his arms and shoved him. "You stink!"

"Oh, I'm so offended." Jeremy pretended to care, as he put a hand to his heart, and Iylah narrowed her eyes at him.

"You should be." The Hale girl ran up behind him and jumped, wrapping her arms around him in a headlock like he had just done to her, forcefully moving his head forward as they carried on their way into the school building.

"Iylah!" Jeremy let out, making Iylah giggle when she let go of him. Meanwhile, Elena followed the duo with a knowing smile on her face.

As they entered the hallway, Matt was the first to find them, as he walked over and smiled when he recognised the costume Elena was wearing. "You went with last year's costume too, huh?"

"Yeah. I didn't know that I was coming till an hour ago." Elena explained.

"Me neither." Matt replied, making Elena chuckle slightly before the Donovan boy turned to Jeremy and noticed his costume. "And you're going as... you?"

The Gilbert boy merely blanked him and walked away from them, making Iylah roll her eyes at his attitude. "Just ignore him." She told Matt. "He's on his man-period."

"Meaning, he's not talking to me right now." The Gilbert girl interjected. "We got into a fight."

The boy nodded. "Yeah, I got into it with Vic too when she got home. I'm trying not to smother her tonight, but part of me didn't wanna let her out of my sight."

Elena raised her brows in shock. "She's here?"

"Yeah. You can't miss her, she's a vampire."

Iylah looked down to the floor, muttering quietly under her breath so that Matt couldn't hear her say. "That's ironic."

Elena's breaths became heavier when she started to panic. "Where did Jeremy go?"

Matt saw this and looked at his ex-girlfriend with his brows knitted together. "Elena, what's the matter?"

"I...I've gotta find him." Elena exhaled deeply and grabbed Iylah's hand to pull her along. "Come on, Iylah."

∘₊✧──────✧₊∘

"Thank God." Elena sighed in relief once she and Iylah saw Stefan come round the corner, with his other hand gripped onto Vicki behind him.

Stefan furrowed his brows, noticing the panicked expressions on their faces. "What's the matter?"

"We lost track of Jeremy. I was worried." His ex-girlfriend replied.

"What's going on?" Matt walked over in suspicion after he spotted his older sister standing with the four of them.

"Hey. Uh, everything's fine." Stefan reassured the Donovan boy that nothing was wrong, obviously not wanting to cause a scene.

But, Vicki took this as an opportunity to make an escape, and quickly pushed Stefan away from her and snapped. "I told you to quit bothering me."

Elena saw what she was trying to do and quickly interjected. "No, Vicki, don't do this."

The new vampire simply ignored her, and turned to her younger brother. "Matt, he won't leave me alone." Vicki continued to put on an act, in hope that he would intervene and take her away so she could leave their sight. Because in the end, Stefan was the one stopping her from having fun. But, as he told her multiple times, he was only doing that to prevent her from feeding on other students in the school.

Matt seemed to buy whatever his sister was doing and faced the Salvatore with a glare. "You need to back off, man."

Iylah crossed her arms over her chest and subtly rolled her eyes at the Donovan's, as Elena tried to step in. "Matt, it's... it's okay."

"No, it's not okay." He was quick with his answer before flickering his eyes back onto Stefan. "What the hell is your problem?"

Iylah's eyebrows then pinched together when she moved her head slightly to see that Vicki had now disappeared. The eighteen-year old had obviously sped off, using her new enhanced speed, to make her escape while the four of them were distracted by the argument between the boys. "Stefan," Her feet were already moving forward as she shouted out. "she's gone!"

The fifteen-year old was first to run off round the corner, with Elena behind her. As Stefan went to follow, he was stopped by Matt who put his hand on him to turn him around, but Stefan retaliated by pushing him against the wall. "I'm trying to help her." Was all that Stefan said before he also disappeared, to try and find Vicki.

Iylah and Elena were currently making their way through the hallway, searching for either Jeremy or Vicki, when someone turned to Iylah, dressed as Count Dracula, and scared her. The Hale girl scowled. "Ha-ha, very funny." She rolled her eyes at the person, walking further away from them with Elena by her side, when the witch muttered under her breath. "Jerk."

The girls carried on searching for the pair, trying to ignore the flashing lights and what everyone else was doing around them. Meanwhile, Stefan was doing the same and used his vampire hearing to try and pick up on Vicki or Jeremy's voice.

As Iylah and Elena rushed out the back entrance, their ears perked up at the noises coming from in between the buses, before a familiar scream was heard. "No! Aah!"

Iylah was first to run off in the direction where it came from, as Elena grabbed a wooden plank to use as a defence weapon. The witch decided to go around the back of the buses to get to the couple, using all the strength she could muster, to grab Vicki's shoulders and pull her away from Jeremy, brutally shoving her towards the next school bus, causing the new-transitioned vampire to smack against the vehicle and fall to the ground, having not expected Iylah's presence. She then plastered a frown on her face, tilting her head down at the Donovan girl who hissed. "Well, that's not a nice way to treat your boyfriend." Iylah commented in a mocking-manner, angering Vicki more, as the vampire snarled at her.

"Vicki, no!" Elena screamed. The Gilbert girl was standing in the middle of the school buses at the front, when she spotted the Donovan girl about to charge at Iylah. So, Elena rushed forward, and with the wooden plank in her hands, she swung it at the back of Vicki's head. She managed to stop her from attacking Iylah, as Vicki's attention was now on her. Elena knew the blonde could handle herself, but she also didn't want to risk the witch exposing her abilities in front of Jeremy, unless she necessarily had to.

Vicki was fast. She snatched the wooden plank off of Elena and threw it to the ground. She growled, speeding forward and threw the Gilbert girl into a pile of garbage. Vicki snarled at her, before she spun around to Iylah, who was currently stood in front of Jeremy protectively. Just as Vicki went to speed towards the witch, Stefan, who came out of nowhere, turned the vampire around and pushed her against the front of the bus, making her grunt as her back hit the vehicle.

Iylah and the Gilbert's watched as Vicki struggled in Stefan's hold. "Vicki." Jeremy tried calling out to her, but he got nothing. Vicki then managed to push the Salvatore boy away from her, before she disappeared once again.

Stefan panted, looking around him for any sign of Vicki, like he was waiting for the girl to pop out of nowhere and possibly grab either one of the three people he was trying to protect. "Go." He looked between the three of them. "Get inside. Go!" The Salvatore boy ushered them away, wanting them somewhere safe before Vicki decided to show her face again.

Elena was holding her side in pain, as she rushed past Stefan and grabbed Jeremy's hand, since he already had a grip on Iylah. As Elena pulled them along, Stefan continued to search for Vicki.

Elena managed to open the door, and take a step inside, before she was pulled back outside by the Donovan girl, who had already knocked Iylah and Jeremy to the ground. Suddenly, Elena screamed at the top of her lungs as Vicki was biting her.

However, all that had stopped, when Stefan came up behind Vicki, and stabbed her with a wooden stake. Vicki pulled away from Elena, whimpering as blood trickled out of her mouth. Stefan pulled the blood-covered stake out of Vicki, who gasped.

"Vicki!" Jeremy cried, starting to push himself off the ground, as the girl slowly turned around with tears running down her cheeks. "Vicki." This got Stefan's attention, as he moved forward and held Jeremy back, who continued to cry out her name, watching as she slowly desiccated. "Vicki! Vicki!"

Iylah covered her mouth with her hand, watching the scene as tears spilled in her eyes. She may not have been close with Vicki, and must admit that the Donovan girl did annoy her at times, but she didn't deserve to die.

Elena finally tore her eyes away from Vicki's dead body on the floor, and to Stefan. "Get him out of here." She begged the Salvatore to bring Jeremy away with Iylah, so he wouldn't have to continue looking at the dead body.

"Come on, Jere." Iylah put her hand on Jeremy's back to guide him away, as Stefan followed, with his phone to his ear after he dialled his brother's number. "Let's get you home."

"What?" Damon answered his call.

"I need your help."

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"Where is he?" Elena asked Stefan, as soon as she walked up the steps to her front porch that Stefan was standing on. She had to stay back with Vicki, until Damon arrived to pick up her body, before she could go home.

Stefan nodded behind him, gesturing towards the house. "Inside. He's with Iylah at the minute." He answered the girl who furrowed her brows at the mention of Iylah. Elena had assumed that Stefan must have dropped her off at home before taking her brother here, but obviously not. Noticing her confusion, Stefan sighed. "Jeremy asked Iylah if she could stay over, and she was unsure at first, but seeing how he was, she said yes. She's already contacted her Grandma at the house, obviously leaving out what actually happened."

Elena merely nodded at him. This had happened before, when their parents died, and Jeremy had Iylah around their house quite a lot, sleeping in the spare bedroom, so he wasn't alone. Of course, he had Elena and his aunt Jenna, but there were some things that you would share with your best-friend, that you wouldn't normally share with your family. Elena stepped inside her home and shut the door behind her, leaving Stefan outside, as she quietly made her way upstairs to check on Jeremy and Iylah.

She stopped when she got upstairs, and met eyes with Iylah straight away, who was sat in front of a teary-eyed Jeremy on his bed. Iylah looked back at Jeremy as Elena walked over to stand at the wall next to the doorway of Jeremy's room, when she heard Iylah start talking. "Do you understand what happened tonight?"

Her voice was soft and gentle when talking to the grieving boy. Iylah had her hands on his crossed arms as Jeremy looked up at his friend. "No." He whimpered. "I don't understand. I mean, I know what I saw, but I don't understand."

Iylah took a deep breath. "She was going to kill your sister."

"Now's she dead. Vicki's dead."

Iylah frowned at his words. She hated seeing him like this. "Oh, Jere, I'm so sorry—" She leaned in to console him with a hug, but he shook his head and cried. "Just make it stop. It hurts."

"Shhh. It's okay. I'm here." Iylah continued.

He exhaled deeply. "Why does everybody have to die on me?" Jeremy asked, as tears spilled in his best-friend's eyes. "I mean, I even almost lost you once, Iylah."

"Hey." She gently squeezed his arms, getting him to look back up at her. Iylah sniffled through her tears, as she carried on. "Listen to me, Jere. I am not going anywhere. Ok? I'm afraid you're stuck with me." Her last words were an attempt to get at least a chuckle out of him, which she managed to do, while Elena listened from outside Jeremy's bedroom, silently crying to herself as she heard her brother sob into Iylah's shoulder.

Remembering Elena was outside the room, when the Gilbert girl peered inside, Iylah motioned her to come in, knowing that Jeremy also needed his sister. Slowly, Iylah pulled away from the boy as Elena approached the bed, and kept her hand on Jeremy's arm. "I'm gonna give you two a minute. I'll be right outside." She said to her heartbroken friend, before standing up from the bed to let Elena take her place.

"Thank you." Elena quickly muttered to the Hale girl in gratitude before she left the room.

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author's note!

i hope you enjoyed reading this chapter! the fact that writing this episode made me realise that the episode where Grams dies is coming up soon and i'm gonna have to write iylah and bonnie's reactions to that :((

and the next chapter is where lexi comes in! 🥹

thanks for reading, i love you all!! <33