The Death Girl// The Fourth Book in The Other Gilbert Girl Series

Memorial

   "Hey, sorry I'm late." I say to Matt and Jeremy as I walk up to them.
   "No problem. We were just loading the car with the lanterns." Jeremy tells me. I nod and grab a box.
   "How are you doing?" Matt asks me.
   "Except for the fact that my 1000 year old vampire boyfriend left me to leave town. I'm great." I say and place the box in the trunk. "Look I know you guys are all happy he's gone. You don't need to pretend to care. I'm fine." I tell them and we all walk back to grab another box.
   "Jeremy? Phoebe?" I hear and look up to see a familiar young girl around my age. It's April, Elena used to babysit her and I used to have playdates with her all the time. Her, Jo and I were all really close.
    "Picture an emo pixie cut and braces." She says.
   "April!" I squeal and rush over to give her a hug. "Oh my gosh! I haven't seen you in forever." I say and she laughs.
   "Matt, do you remember April. Elena used to-"
   "Babysit you yeah. I remember." Matt cuts Jeremy off.
   "Yeah, before I got shipped off to boarding school by my dad." She says and I freeze. Oh god. Her dad who just died.
   "Your dad, I am so sorry about your dad." Jeremy says and she just gives us a small smile.
   "Thank you." She says and I take her hand in mine. "I guess, I sort of don't know how to answer when people say that." She tells us.
   "That's exactly you answer. I'm sorry too. I'm here, if you need someone." I tell her and she smiles a little bigger.
   "Thank you, Phoebe." She says and I bring her into a side hug.
   "Your dad was pastor young right?" Matt asks.
  "He of the faulty gas line." She says. "Sorry I haven't figured out what to say about that either. Wow, I am being a freak. I'm just, you know, not much for grief. I have to go register or something." She says.
   "I can take you." I tell her.
   "No, that's okay. I remember where it is. I don't want to keep you." She tells me and I nod. "I'll see you guys at the service." She days and we all nod as she walks away.

Later I'm sitting next to Caroline and Tyler as the service is about to start when Stefan walks in next to us.
   "What're you doing her Tyler?" He asks.
  "Being sensitive to the community's loss." He says and I hold back a smile.
  "Hm. With a hunter out to get you?" He asks.
  "I'm not letting a hunter stop me from where I'm supposed to be." He tells him.
   "Also, if he shows his face, I'm gonna kick his ass." Caroline says and I nod.
   "Me too. I can take a vampire, I can take a hunter." I say and lift my dress to show my gun and stake. I also have my wooden hair pins.
   "Before we begin the mass, we would like to open the floor who would like to share a memory about our late friends on the town council. I know that April Young wanted to say a few words about her dad. April? April? Are you still here, Honey? Is there anyone else who would like to share a recollection or memory about Pastor Young?" Ms. Lockwood asks. I look around and with April no where insight Elena starts to stand up.
   "Stefan stop her." I say as I make my way up to the front. Stefan doesn't stop her and we both make it up there at the same time.
   "Earlier, when I spoke to April, she was nervous about speaking. Now that I'm up here... so am I." She says and I take her hand and nod. She moves over a little bit and I take the microphone.
   "When I was younger, April and I were close friends. When I found out my parents had adopted me I was beyond upset. I couldn't understand how someone could just give their kid up. When I was at their house one day Pastor young said something that always stuck with me. He said 'sometimes it's not the people who are our blood that are our family. It's the people who stay, and who are there for us.' He helped me realize that no matter who my birth parents were, Miranda and Grayson Gilbert, they were my parents. Now is the time that we lean on each other and overcome this loss." I say and then Elena stares straight forward and Stefan makes his way up front. I take Elena back to her seat with Stefan's help and the priest starts to speak before they play a song. I stand with them. "What's wrong?" I asks Stefan.
   "Blood." He he tells me. I go to look but he stops me. "It's a trap." He tells me.
   "The hunter..." I say and he nods. We turn back to the front.
   "The blood, Stefan. I can smell it there's so much." Elena tells him.
   "I know. It's alright. Just remember what we talked about. Focus, push back. Come on, you can do this." Stefan tells her as he holds her.
"What's wrong with her?" Matt asks.
"She's hungry. She hasn't fed." Stefan tells him.
"So get her out of here." Matt says.
"We can't. There's someone watching us." Stefan tells him.
"Then I'll leave, I'm not a vampire but he'll follow me. I'll beat his ass." I tell Stefan.
"No way, no one is leaving." He tells me.
"Come on. I can take him. I'm more than just a pretty face." I tell him but he shakes his head.
"You do that, Damon, and you risk exposing all of us." Stefan says and it must mean Damon said he was going to kill him.
"Stefan, I'm losing it." Elena tell him.
"Don't do it Damon, please."
"God Damon, if anyone is going to kill him, it's gonna be me." I say and I know he'll hear me.
"Wait, wait, wait, Elena. Feed from me. It's okay, everyone will just think you're upset. Feed from me." He tells her and then Stefan passes her to Matt's arms. "It's ok. You're ok. I'm here." He tells her and then she starts feeding from him
"I'm ok. But the blood. There's so much. It's got to be April. We have to help her." Elena tells us when she pulls away.
"Elena we can't risk it." Stefan tells her.
"But I can. I can go help her and stop him." I tell Stefan and he pauses.
"Damon says that you're not going on some suicide mission. He promised your dad he'd look after you so you're not dying." He tells me and I'm taken back. Damon promised my dad? I look back at the doors and then Damon and he's glaring at me and mouths 'not a chance'. I sigh and look back up front.
"Excuse me. I just wanted to say a few words about Pastor Young." Tyler says up front and everyone sits down. I leave the pew and go to walk out but Damon grabs me and makes me sit next to him.
"What about no, don't you understand?" He tells me.
"Let me go, Damon." I say and go to leave.
"I'm not Stefan. I won't let you and your sister go on suicide missions, anymore." He says and tightens his grip on my arm.
"Back in first grade, I was a brat who couldn't be bothered with team sports. Didn't care much about anything that didn't affect me. But he was the one that made me understand how important it is to be apart of a team; a community. Of giving yourself up for the sake of--" Tyler is cut off by a wooden stake flying into his chest. Damon let's go on my arm for a second and I follow people out of the church hall. I make my way up the stairs and into the balcony. When I get there I see April lying against the wall. I rush over to her and check her wounds. She's bleeding pretty bad and someone needs to heal her.
"April!" I hear from beside me and turn to see Elena. She pauses when she sees all the blood.
"Elena. You need to go." I tell her but she doesn't move. "Leave Elena." I say as veins appear under her eyes. I take out my gun and get it ready in case she trys anything. "Elena, walk away. You can do it. Just get some control. She goes to attack and I pull my gun and aim it at her but Caroline pushes her back.
"She's not dead, but if you feed on her, you will kill her!" Caroline tells her.
"Let go of me!" Elena fights.
"Look at her! Look at her, Elena. It's April. April Young. She's not a warm body for you to feed on. She's your friend." Caroline tells her and then Elena calms down. "She's an orphan. Just like you. And she's scared, just like you were." Caroline kneels next to her and feeds her some blood. I put my gun back into my holster on my thigh.
"Please don't hurt me, please." April says after she wakes up. I take her hand to help calm her.
"We're here to help, April. No one is going to hurt you." I tell her and she cries again.
"Why did he do this?" She asks me.
"I don't know, but we're going to help you. It's ok." I tell her and she nods. Elena kneels next to her.
"April listen to me. Everything's going to be ok. You're going to get through this. Just like my sister and I got through it. And we're going to help you. I promise." Elena compels her.
"I'm going to be ok. You're going to help me." April repeats.
"You watched the funeral from up here so that you could grieve alone. It was a beautiful service. People said really nice things."

I'm at home changing out of my dress. I change into jeans and a t-shirt and my dad's Yale hoodie. I'm making it a habit to carry weapons with me incase we get a surprise vampire. Don't get me wrong, I love some vampires and they're my family and friends, but if anyone is a threat to them, like this hunter, I will kill them. My phone beeps and it's a message from Hunter.

Meet at Highschool

I text back ok and head downstairs.
"You get a text, too?" Jeremy asks and I nod.
"Come on. I'll drive." I tell him and we walk out to my car.
When we get to the high school Bonnie, Matt, Elena, Hunter, and Stefan are here. When Damon shows up he immediately asks why we're here.
   "We're finishing the memorial we didn't get to have earlier. We need to start healing Damom. We've all lost so much, especially recently. I think we're numb to it. We push it away, we make a joke out of it, ignore how we feel. Time to just let ourselves grieve." Stefan says passing around Lanterns.
   "So you're lighting lanterns?" Damon asks.
   "Yeah, yeah. We need to do this."
   "What we need to do is find out who this hunter is and what he knows about the death of the council. We have more important things to be doing right now than this." Damon explains.
   "Not tonight, we don't. This is for my uncle Zach, my friend Lexi. For Alaric." He says and lights his passes it to Matt.
   "This is for Vickie." He says and passes it to Caroline.
   "This is for my dad. And Tyler's." And passes it to Hunter.
   "For my Uncle, Lexi, Alaric." He says and passes it to Jeremy.
   "This is for our parents, for vickie. Anna, Jenna. And Alaric." He says and goes to pass it to Damon.
   "No way. I'm not doing that." He says and walks away and I follow him.
   "Did you really promise my dad?" I ask him and he turns around.
   "Yeah, I did." He says and sighs.
   "I miss him, too. We all miss him and I know you  do to. It's okay to miss him." I say and pull him into a hug.
   "He was really proud of you, ya know." Damon tells me and pulls away.
   "It's hard not to be, I am pretty awesome." I tell him and he laughs.
   "Yeah, now go back and do what the other children are doing." He tells me and I nod. I head back and Bonnie is holding the lighter by waiting. I nod to her and she nods back.
   "This is for my grams." She says and passes it to me.
   "This is for my Grayson and Miranda; my parents, for Isobel, Jenna, for Finn, and for my dad." I say and light it. I hold the lighter put for Elena and she stands up and takes it.
   "This um.. for my mom, my dad, and... Jenna. Everyone that we've all lost; everyone that this town has lost. And for me. I guess." She says and I watch as everyone lets go of their lanterns before I let mine go. And I watch as mine floats away.