[𝐈] 𝕽𝖊𝖘𝖘𝖚𝖗𝖊𝖈𝖙𝖎𝖔𝖓 | 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗩𝗮𝗺𝗽𝗶𝗿𝗲 𝗗𝗶𝗮𝗿𝗶𝗲𝘀

𝕮𝖍𝖆𝖕𝖙𝖊𝖗 𝕿𝖜𝖊𝖓𝖙𝖞-𝕿𝖜𝖔: 𝗙𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗙𝗮𝗺𝗶𝗹𝘆 𝗣𝗿𝗼𝗯𝗹𝗲𝗺𝘀

Chapter Twenty-Two
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Founding Family Problems

March 5th, 2010
It had been a longspun night of filtering through those letters, reliving through every emotion, every heartbreak, every new lifetime as the memories hit me in gargantuan waves, each wave more explosively robust than the last. Flames incarcerated every last memoir, every last word down to the closing letter, I was finished with Katherine Pierce, finished with having enemies who could be lurking in all shadow as I walked this road of hybrid-ism alone. Today was the opening celebration of a new park in Mystic Falls, this town always appeared to have something going on, rehashing previous statements of their concealed, unlawful acts of obtaining money. For families which lacked century-old vampire funding, they did quite well for themselves, considering the very few jobs in our small town. Stefan and Elena were also still fighting, something about Katherine endangering everyone's lives, it made no opposition to me. What really mattered was keeping Caroline safe from Katherine's fury. If she was as insecure as she told Stefan she was, her life would be next on the chopping block. My new friend, Mason Lockwood, had also texted me last night, stating that he was on the outs with my brother but didn't want our friendship to come in between, it was nice to at least have a non-vampiric friend around here, apart from Bonnie and Elena, of course. That friendship had outstretched to Tyler, now that he knew about the curse Mason and I had discussed some parts of it with him, nothing more than he needed to know. However, if Mason was going to threaten Damon, maybe even bite him to prove a point, let's just say it would be remarkably pernicious to our unusual friendship.

Picking out whatever I could find to match (a sleeveless summer dress coloured a yellow amber with matching shoes and a white long-strap handbag) I simply threw it on, using my curling tongs to manipulate the frizzy hair which rested upon my head. I hated these continuous get-togethers, nevertheless, they extended the period of normalcy as we blended in with the townsfolk. Mason had texted me midway through curling my lashes to coat them in a thick deceiving layer of mascara, he had told Sheriff Forbes about Damon and Stefan, however he vouched for my innocence, claiming I was some human they had incorporated into the mix to cover 'human relations', whatever that was supposed to mean. Pulling the cord out from the wall, my heeled feet rumble down the stairs so quick I almost snapped my own neck legging it for the car, hoping to get to either of my brothers before they did anything stupid, like urge Mason into publically executing them.

I arrive to see Damon unmistakably choking whilst Stefan guides him over to a nearby table. Locking the car, my feet have a mind of their own as I race to help my oldest brother, looking at Stefan in confusion before he whispers 'vervain' in my ear, to which I respond with Mason's plan of attack; luring them out to the council.
  "Go get some water, I'll stay here." I press, ushering Stefan away as he speeds off to rummage for anything other than vervain infested lemonade.
  "Let me convince him to side with us, I'm a lot older than him, maybe-"
  "You said it yourself, the 'wolf' is dunzo. We have a plan." Damon rasps back, referring to my own abilities as he curtly cuts me off, coughing at the recurrence of pain in his throat as Stefan returns with unpoisoned bottled water, cracking open the lid for Damon to swallow, relieving himself of the herb's wrathful sting. We all debate before coming to the alike conclusion that my new friend was now another dead friend to add to the 'mourn later' pile. He had attacked my brother, now he was going to pay.