The Supernatural Diaries {Book One}

162 Candles: Party Planner

DAMON & CAROLINE

Elsewhere in the town, Caroline was walking back to her car in the parking lot when she was suddenly confronted by Damon. She tried to walk past him, but he cut her off causing her to sneer. "Look, dungeon boy, I'm done being your little slave girl," she declared. "You seriously hurt me and I will be damned if you think..."

Damon leered at her intensely, his electric blue eyes dilating significantly, making her pause in her rant. A second later, Caroline blinked, shook her head, and then gazed up at Damon with a smile.

"Oh, my God, where have you been?" she asked cheerily. "It's really good to see you."

Damon smirked, "That's much better. You wanna throw a party at the Grill tonight."

"Well, why don't you do it?" she said.

"Because then Stefan and his BFF won't come," Damon explained, not that she was gonna remember this conversation. "I need a lot of people. Big crowd. Invite everyone."

Caroline nodded excitedly before pausing. "And why am I having this party?"

"Because you are gonna help me solve this town's little vampire problem," Damon replied, pointing his finger at her. "And I want my crystal back."

"But Bonnie has it," Caroline remarked.

Damon forces himself not to role his eyes. "I know that. Get it from her."

STEFAN, LEXI, & DAMON

"So, this Elena girl," Lexi began as she sat down in the chair adjacent to the couch Stefan was sitting on in the main living room. "She'll come around. I'm sure of it. Have you had sex yet?"

Stefan rolled his eyes at his best friend. "No, she's with Dean. Or was. Kind of," he stammered. "Honestly, it's all been kind of murky since she found out the truth. I don't know what their status is any more than they do most likely."

"Well, maybe you need to find out what their status is so you know whether or not to shoot your shot," Lexi suggested.

"And go against the "bro-code"? I don't think so," Stefan scoffed.

"Fair enough, but even still I think you should still try to find out what's up with them, even if only to ease your own nerves," Lexi responded.

"Look, I just want Elena to be happy even if it's not with me," Stefan announced.

"Wow. That sounded all mature and grown-up," Lexi mused.

"Well, I'm not getting any older," Stefan joked.

Lexi laughed mockingly, as she began unpacking a cool container holding blood bags. Stefan noticed what she was doing and instinctively recoiled from the blood.

"Want some?" she asked after taking a sip.

"No," Stefan rejected, standing up and moving across the room, struggling not to breathe in the metallic scent of blood as it permeated the living room.

Lexi frowned slightly. "Relax. I didn't kill anyone for it. This phlebotomist I went out with a few times, he's my supplier," she explained defensively.

Stefan clenched his jaw and swallowed thickly as he folded his arms, drawing a negative response from his friend.

"Oh, don't judge, okay?" Lexi groaned. "Listen, I tried the animal diet. Lasted three weeks."

"Doesn't matter 'cause if I started again, I'd just, I don't know if..." Stefan trailed off.

"You could stop," she finished empathetically.

"Hey, Lexi, I would never, ever judge you," Stefan consoled.

"I'm just jealous of your restraint. I have none. I delight in hedonism," Lexi countered. "Speaking of which... What are we doing tonight?"

As if on cue, Damon walked into the room wearing his signature smirk on his face. "Funny you should ask," Damon remarked.

"Well, I wasn't asking you," Lexi snarked.

Ignoring her snide comment, Damon continued speaking. "There's a party, at the Grill. You'll love it. Banquettes, tacky wait staff. All of Stefan's friends."

"Yeah, I don't want a birthday party," Stefan said.

Damon couldn't help but roll his eyes at his little brother. Of course, he thought the party was for him. He thinks everything is for him. Whether it's Dean, Katherine, Elena, or a random fucking party at the Grill. It's always got to be for Stefan.

Well, he was just about sick of everything being for Stefan!

"Well, it's not for you. It's a party party," Damon clarified, with a little too much venom in his voice. "No one's gonna know it's your birthday. Caroline is throwing it."

And that seemed to trigger Stefan's defense mechanism. "Damon, stay away from Caroline."

"We're friends. It's cool," Damon smiled. "Besides, I just had a meeting with the Sheriff, who is a member of the Founder's Council and she said they were gonna start looking into people who came to town around the time people started turning up dead. Which means, it's important for the town to see us out and about like normal folk to avoid suspicion. Until Dean gets back to mediate the Council, we need to blend."

Then he looked down and saw the chilled blood bag kit that was laying out on the table and cringed. "Ugh! I prefer mine at 98.6," he gagged dramatically before leaving the room once more.

Once he was out of earshot, Lexi grinned and said, "Let's go. Please?"

Stefan let out a sigh before nodding in surrender.