My Ink Is Made Of Coffee.

Let's talk about coffee. Coffee is my favorite beverage in the world. Green tea is the only other thing that comes close (man, I wish I had some now).

Not only is coffee warm, creamy, and delicious, but it really helps me get what I need done. 

Whenever I have late nights with writing or blogging or just because I have to get things done, coffee is right there beside me. It is there for me. It is my best friend. There are so many projects of mine, I wouldn't have finished without it. 

I could go on talking about coffee all day long, no really, I could, Lily hmu for a coffee conversation(; Hahaha. But for now, I just thought I would tell you how I take it. 

I actually like my coffee a lot of different ways, there are so many different flavored creamers and syrups out there these days. But I like my everyday coffee plain and simple, and a little bit sweet. I don't put much sugar in my coffee, I always use more cream, but I like flavored creamer. Irish Cream is my favorite, but anything raspberry, hazelnut, or pumpkin does the job as well. And whenever we don't have flavored creamer (because we often don't ): ), a simple pack of hot cocoa does the trick as well (I'd like to think my Church friend's for teaching me that).

I also really enjoy getting coffee out. McCafe is my quickest fix, as I can walk to my neighborhood McD's. I don't like the hot coffee from there, I won't even get it if I'm having breakfast there. I almost always order the regular mocha frappe. But every once in a while, if I'm in the serious mood, I'll get a vanilla iced. 

Starbucks is my favorite when I'm going out for coffee. We don't really have any other coffee shops out here in Mobile, anyways. We used to have several (there was one I really liked next door to a shop called Aimee's Bridal - noooo, that's not why I liked it!(; But they closed their doors about three years ago), but Starbucks ran them all off. 

Anyways. There are a couple of different drink orders I get at Starbucks. It mostly just depends on my current mood (or on the season). My MAIN drink order is a white chocolate frappe with raspberry mixed in. But I've recently gotten into the iced coffee kick, and I like their plain iced with liquid sugar instead of the granulated. During the fall seasons I like to get either the pumpkin spice or nutmeg. But the came out with something new this year. Praline something? Anyway, I got that once, and it was sooo good. I'll probably be getting it as soon as the season starts this year! My final drink order that I sometimes get is actually just the bottled mocha coffee. It's really good when I go with some friends but I don't wanna spend much money, myself. And of course, I always have to get my cake pops!

Now that I've told you how I like my coffee, I'd like to know how you like yours!(:

Black & White Stories~

There are a few pictures on Tumblr that I love more than anything. One of these pictures have been coming up on my dash a lot more often lately, and it inspired me to write a story on it...

There are a few pictures on Tumblr that I love more than anything. One of these pictures have been coming up on my dash a lot more 

And I hope I have this one day. 

Freckles. Through the dark, sticky sky that’s all she can see, his freckles. 
The stars above his bare back barely give them enough light to see. But the truck bed below her holds them both up.
He leans down to kiss her. But he can’t see her, and so, they bump noses. He laughs, but really he’s covering up the moan that came from rubbing up against her nose ring. He always loved that little thing. 
She found his mouth finally. It tasted of limes and champaign. It was a good idea to have a picnic out there. 
He had packed it up all special for her. He even brought he favorite desert. The desert was eaten first, and everything else was mostly forgotten. Except for each other’s lips. 
She caught his bottom lip between her teeth, and tugs. His breath hit her mouth, oh so warm, and she pulled him even closer. 
The night would be endless, they both knew that, and just maybe they were ready for it. 

**You can find a rebloggable post of this story here. 

http://faithliesin-me.us/post/114117420657/wonderfulsenses-18-freckles-through-the

Thanks for reading! Feedback would be awesome. :D

Nessa's Story Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ

I arrive in a long yellow bus, a few other kids and me. I don't talk to them, of course. I never talk to other kids. Not when it feels like they're always talking about me. 

I don't what I was expecting when I was told that the school was in the mountains, but I was definitely expecting a lot more snow. There is some snow, here and there, in sparkly patches, but for the most part, everything is an emerald sea. 

Everyone piles out of the bus, but I stay close to the side. I don't like touching people. I don't really like people. 

There seems to be a long walk to the building that assumes the school, with more emeralds and tons of footprints. I can see the grandiose building from here. The double-story is made of brownstone, with a newer looking addition made of grey stone. There's even a balcony and a brass dime built into the original part. It makes me want to find a flying carpet. 

We start the walk. 

I push down the sleeve of my jumper as a few kids brush past me and I feel electricity on my arm. 

"What do you think is over there?" an accented voice asks me. 

All I can see are the pastures made of jade, but I don't think she's talking about that. 

She pushes a tangle of sandy curls out of the way so she can squint at whatever it is. "It looks like a sport's court."

Once she said that, I could see what she was looking at. It's a large concrete slab that does indeed look like a sport's court. Only it's chock full of odd contraptions and playground equipment. 

"For a nuclear war," I mutter. 

She laughs, "You're funny."

I look down, "Thank you."

"I like you," she holds out her hand. I shake it, and if she gives me her name, it's fuzzy. I don't give her mine. 

"Well, now we've fallen behind," she says. And I don't have any time to respond as she grabs my arm and ruses me into the moving crowd. 

"Don't." I feel claustrophobic among all the tangled limbs. I keep bumping into them.  

I lose the other girl. I panic. I put my hands over my ears, and somebody puts their own hands over them. "Are you okay?"

"Don't," I say. 

"Okay," he moves his hands. 

I look up at him. I don't know what gets to me more, the concern in his brown eyes, or his brown eyes. 

"Are you okay?" he bites his lip. 

I shake my head. He's wearing a red zip-up sweatshirt that looks really warm, and I want to ask him if I can wear it. My knit jumper just isn't doing it anymore.

"Don't like new places?" he lifts a corner of his mouth. 

I shake my head again, "I'm claustrophobic."

"Oh," he looks down. "I'd say I'm claustrophobic too, but I'm just not." He looks back at me, and I look away. 

"Uhm, what usually helps it?"

"I- I don't know," I say. "I usually stay away from situations that elicit my fear."

"That's always a good idea."

I nod. I caress my arm. I can't get that electric feeling away. 

"Why did you come here?" the boy asks. 

"I want to learn to be less scared"

"Hmm," he nods. "I should probably be more scared."

I ask, "Are you serious?"

"No," he whispers. "Right now I'm very scared."

I smile at him, because, for once in my life, I'm not. 

How I Wrote Eight Books in One Year.

You're probably asking yourself, "How does she stay so motivated?" Well, you might as well answer yourself, "She doesn't."

I don't do motivation. At all. I don't even think I can. Because I try, and then pfft- nothing. What I do do (hahaha, I know, I said "doodoo"!) is competition. 

When I was eighteen, I found this really helpful authors' community online. It was for new or indie authors to help get feedback from each other and inspiration for new ideas. There, I made this really awesome author friend (I have a few, it's kind of amazing). She's quite a bit older than me, with kids my age, but we still get along well. 

Anyways. I read this author's personal story even before I started talking to her. And in it she stated that she wrote all seven of the books in her series in only one year. And I never forgot that (well, obviously not, since I'm writing this four years later).

I was living on my own at the time, but a few months later I had to move back home due to things that were out of really anyone's control. I had to find distractions because of the things that happened, and I decided to throw myself back into my writing for good. I thought about the author's community, but by that time I didn't care about sharing my writing anymore. But I thought about my friends story. 

And that was when I decided I could beat her (in a very friendly way, of course). So I decided to write eight novels in only a year. I'd already written one, so I only had to write seven more. I settled on an average word count I wanted all of them to be, and calculated. Then I divided by the number of days I had left in the year to get the number of words I would have to write daily. And then I started writing daily. Some days I couldn't write as many as others and had to double up the next day. Some days I didn't get any sleep at all. But all of that didn't matter, because in the end, I finished my goal of eight books in a year with just a few days to spare. And I'd never been so proud of myself. 

Since then I've finished only one other book, about twice as long as the others, and have started about fifteen or so more projects. 

The eight books that I wrote in a year were all part of a series. One is meant to be a stand alone with a follow-up series, but I'm now working on shortening the other seven into a follow-up trilogy (one is a novella and will be a special epilogue at the end, as it's a prequel story about one of the side characters). And, currently, I am putting the stand alone through its final edit before sending it to agents for publishing. 

I really hope I get published soon. It's my dream to live nothing but a life of writing, and that's all I've lived for the past few years. But I have to get serious enough to start making money from it. I can't do anything else, and I have a lot of hospital debt. But one day. One day. 

Schmedules Schedules.

Well. I finished that schedule I said I would docyesterday. So, I thought I'd show it to ya!

For Sundays I have written down, "Need to just hang out with Maddison, rest, and read."

And the I have listed:

Protein shake when I wake. 

75 book quotes on Tumblrly. 

Write a post for Blogspot. 

Queue. 

Mondays just have: Protein shake, CRAFTS, queue. 

Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays are all the same:

Protein shake and book quotes whence I wake up. 

Write a Blogspot. 

Write, write, write, write, write/research. 

Queue. 

Friday is another day I spend with Maddison, so those aren't quite as filled up. They are listed:

Protein shake. 

Tumblr quotes. 

Blogspot. 

Fun stuff with Maddison. 

Read until q/bed!

And Saturdays:

Protein shakes. 

Tumblr quotes and blogspot. 

R

E

A

D

Queue. 

Now watch me forget to do all of that. 

And I forgot that I have to clean up after my cats everyday. 

Schedules Schmedules.

I've always been able to keep up little routines: routines with my blog, routines in the shower, and nighttime routines. But keeping a schedule is entirely different. And entirely something I've never been able to do. 

I meet with my therapist once a month for work on my anxiety and panic attacks, and the past couple of sessions have been spent learning how to handle my chronic illnesses without too much anxiety or feeling distressed (WHICH I AM NOT GOOD AT), and one thing my therapist - Melissa - thinks would be good for me is to set up a schedule. And I've been trying. 

The first thing I did is pick which day of the week (because I've found I can only do it once a week) I should set aside to work on my crafts for my upcoming Etsy shop. I decided on Monday. And I'll tell you why. We keep my niece every Friday afternoon and Sunday (pretty much the whole day), so I thought it would be best to work on my crafts while I still have some energy from being with Maddison. So I have my Sundays settled up. 

But then I have so much to do during the rest of the week, that I can't get everything done in a day. Sunday's are obviously out to do ANYTHING because seven-year-olds are serious distractions, and for the three hours we have her every Friday, I always try to plan something for us to do (we have a fun project planned for day after tomorrow). And then, of course, I always just wanna lay around doing nothing after she goes back home. 

But there's sooo much to do every day, and only four and a half days to do practically none of it??? I mean, there's writing, setting up a queue every night on my blog, making book quote edits for said blog, writing posts for this blog, taking my cats out for an hour or two, and making sure I get enough calories in a day (also something Melissa and I are working on ): ). And that's just the stuff I have to do everyday. That's not accounting for the other stuff I have to fit in a week, like, doctors appointments, errands, chores, and writing articles for online magazines. I have no idea how to fit it all in!

Even if I make sure to do the book quote posts in the morning (with a bit of writing in between), the queue at night, a post for this blog every afternoon, and at least two magazine articles a week, everything else falls through the cracks. I have no idea how to get everything else done! And anyways, all I ever do is sleep anyway. 

I realize this is mostly just word vomit (a term taken from my friend (hey Lily!)), but I thought I would just get this stress off my chest. Maybe I'll be able to come up with an actual schedule to post tomorrow. 

Thanks for reading!

10 Things You Need To Know About Werewolves:

10. About Wolfsbane. 

Just like vampires and garlic, werewolves are repulsed by wolfsbane. But it's more than that. According to myth, vampires just don't like to get close to garlic, but wolfsbane can actually kill weres. Wolfsbane is poisonous to anyone really, but a werewolf can die by simply smelling it. In some modern literature, though, werewolves try to consume the plant to cure themselves of the lycanthropy disease. But I don't see, exactly, how that would work if it's supposed to kill them. In The Mortal Instruments, Ryan Jordan keeps wolfsbane of his apartment fire escape. Cassandra Clare never really makes an explanation on this (except that it helps Jace identify him as a werewolf), but it's probably so he can make himself immune to it, so he can't be killed by it. 

9. About What They Eat. 

Once a human is Turned into a werewolf, they take on the eating habits of an ordinary every day wolf. I mean, not like to the point where they're hunting smaller animals or anything, but when they order their steak rare, you'd better bring it back practically mooing. Werewolves can, of course, continue eating like a regular human (unlike vampires who have to train themselves to eat again), it gives them more of a sense of normalcy. But they have to eat MORE. Because now they're feeding that animal hunger. Have you ever seen 17 Again with Zac Efron? You know that part after he first wakes up a teenager and he's piling all of this food to make the world's most disgusting sandwich? Okay, imagine that, but even more disgusting. 

8. About How They Live. 

It's easier for a werewolf to lead a normal life than it is for a vampire. In The Mortal Instruments almost all of the werewolves (except for the really wild ones) hold actual day jobs. Remus Lupin is a high school teacher (granted it IS a magical high school, but nobody discovers his secret until the Shrieking Shack). And several of the werewolves in Vampire Diaries double as college students. However, in City of Lost Souls, Jordan explains that most werewolves feel the need to leave home after their Turned so they don't hurt their loved ones (like he did) when they're experiencing their first Change. He described the feeling of being on the run for the first couple of years. And somewhere in the same series (City of Glass, maybe?) Luke Garroway explained that he had to pretend he'd killed himself to keep Valentine Morgenstern from killing him. But that has nothing to do with the actual process of Turning into a werewolf. 

7. About Wolf Packs. 

Wolves are pack animals, so it would make sense that werewolves are too. The Mortal Instruments series goes pretty in depth in explaining that. Once you're Turned into a werewolf, you have to join a pack. If you don't, you're considered wild. Or you can join the Praetor Lupus. The Praetor is a group of werewolves who work to keep the downworlder law in order. In the Shadowhunter world, all downworlders are pack creatures (yes, that includes vampires, weird as it is), and it's the Praetor's job to place pack less creatures into a pack. That's why Jordan sticks so close to Simon. It was his job to get the Daylighter into the New York vampire clan. But he ended up just sticking around with the Nephilim instead. 

Also. Each pack has to have a leader. And in the werewolf packs you have to challenge the current leader to a battle and then kill him/her to become the new one. 

6. About What They Look Like. 

Now this isn't something that can be answered straight up. In every werewolf story I've watched or read, the werewolf looks different. Sometimes they look like an even more vicious version of a wolf. Sometimes they look like a half-wolf/half-human creature. And sometimes they're described in such a way that I can't even imagine them. But if you see a Changed werewolf, you're obviously going to know it's a werewolf. It's the signs when they're not Changed that you need to know to look out for. But it's more a way they act then a way they look (though some werewolves have silver streaks or sideburns to their hair, like Mr. Fantastic). But they just ACT more animalistic. More vicious and ready to fight. They have more of a growling gruffness to their voice. And they tend to have really big teeth. 

5. About Their Blood. 

So, you don't just get bitten by a cat and then turn into a cat, right? But think about it this way, if you get bitten by a poisonous spider then you'll die (or get turned into Spider-man). So how is that? Something in saliva of the poisonous spider is changing your blood and attacking it. And if you think about it, the same thing happens when you get bitten by a werewolf (minus the whole dying thing). You can't just get bitten and be something new entirely. You have to be changed, or your blood does, rather. There's something in werewolf blood that makes them, well, werewolves. And that is, believe it or not, demon blood. Yup, werewolves are part demon. Lycanthrope is a disease that comes from demons. But that doesn't necessarily make them bad; there are some good werewolves. Just like there are good warlocks. All you have to do is make sure the demon part of you overrides the human part. After all, they're not undead. 

4. About How They Love. 

Wolves are a possessive animal, right? No, really, I'm asking because I'm not 100% sure about this nugget of knowledge. But it feels right to me.  Because what really feels right to me is that werewolves are a possessive creature. Vampires feel possession because they can't feel love (no soul, remember), however werewolves CAN feel love, but they still have a possessive kind of love. Touch their mate, and they'll rip your throat out, right? I sure wouldn't want to get anywhere near the mate of a werewolf. And in Disney's Wizards of Waverly Place, Mason Grayback explained that werewolves are also loyal lovers and may feel something for someone they met three hundred years back (although I don't think werewolves are supposed to be immortal, silly Disney).

3. About Killing Them. 

From my knowledge of paranormal stories, werewolves seem to be easier to kill than vampires. Like iron is to a vampire, silver is a werewolves main weakness (which makes me wonder why Wolverine's claws were injected with silver. Maybe to make him immune to it?). If you attack a werewolf with a non-fatal blow of silver, it takes them much longer to heal. And if there is silver actually in the wound, they can't heal at all. You can slowly kill a were this way. Or you can do it quickly with a single shot to the head or heart by a silver bullet. Werewolves can have their heads chopped off, die by fire or poison, or just plain old die of natural causes. You can kill werewolves other ways too, you can bleed them out for instance, but I don't know them all. 

2. About Changing. 

So the stereotype is that a werewolf only Changes when the moon is full, right? And some things do follow this stereotype; ie. Harry Potter and Vampire Diaries (to a point) But other things state that only the FIRST Changing has to be during a full moon. In Wizards of Waverly Place, the werewolves change every night, and the pure breds (those who are werewolves because both of their parents are) can stop the Change halfway if they want to. They can also Change whenever they want (which the call Wolfing Up) or when they're angry. After the first time, werewolves in TMI can Change whenever they want, and it hurts less with each time. They tend to Change to battle. In the Vampire Diary novel I just finished yesterday, Bonnie McChallough dates an Old werewolf. The Old Ones are the originals, but with weres it passes down through generations, so if an Old One has a kid, then that kid is Old as well. Old Ones are weres from birth, and can Change whenever they want. They also can stop a Change at the full moon, but it's extremely painful. 

1. About Turning. 

Surprisingly, there are actually several ways to Turn a werewolf. Being bitten is the most common way. But you can also be born into it. That's a little complicated in the Vampire Diaries series, though (other than with the Old Ones, of course). Your family can be cursed with Lycanthrope for eternity, passing the gene on through generations. But even if you have the gene, you have to go through a special ritual that involves spilling the blood of the innocent to completely Turn. Another way to Turn in Vampire Diaries is to get impregnated by a werewolf (your young will also be werewolves). The final way to become a were is to be born of one. 

A Bonus Thing You Need To Know About Werewolves: Turning Them BACK. 

Guess what! Werewolves can be changed back to humans completely. Or at least in Vampire Diaries they can. All you have to do is cut off one of its four paws. I do not, however know, if they get their hand or foot back when they're human again. The vampires never went through with it. 

• The Mortal Instruments, Cassandra Clare

• 17 Again starring Zac 

• Harry Potter, J.K. Rowling

• Vampire Diaries, L.J. Smith

• Spiderman, Stan Lee

• Disney Channel's Wizards of Waverly Place

10 Things You Need To Know About Vampires:

10. About Their Fangs. 

I never thought that there was a possibility of vampires being able to hide their fangs until I first read Cassandra Clare's The Mortal Instruments series. Her character Simon Lewis, the best of the protagonist, becomes a vampire in only the second boom. Clare constantly described his fangs as coming out only when he was thirsty (or hungry?). Dumb me, though, says imagined his fangs as being every one of his teeth. It took me until she described his fangs as canines to realize he had regular fangs, and to realize that's how all vampire fangs work. And ever since reading The Mortal Instruments, I've noticed only two things where vampires have their fangs out all the time. The first thing is Vampire Academy, but those are different species of vampires, so of course they'll be different. The second is Wizards of Waverly Place (one of the vampires didn't even get her teeth until episodes after her appearance), but do you really expect Disney to use the special effects for that?

9. About Their Reflection. 

It is a known myth all around that vampires cannot see themselves in mirrors. Some go as far to say they can't see their reflections at all, but other say it's just something special within the mirrors. Stefan Salvatore, in Vampire Diaries, explains that legends say that mirrors reflect the souls of the people looking on them. "That's why primitive people are afraid of mirrors; they're afraid that their souls will be trapped and stolen." (Vampire Diaries 2, The Struggle, L.J. Smith) So, people believe that since vampires song have souls, their reflections can't be seen. But I don't quite believe that. If a ghost, which is the metaphysical of the dead can be seen in a mirror, then why can't vamps, the physical of the dead? Plus, mummies can too. 

8. About The Daylight. 

Okay, so vampires are definitely not supposed to go out in the sunlight, everybody knows that. The sun turns their skin into pure ashes (though in Vampire Diaries they simply just die unless their an older vampire). And this is one rule that all writers do not try to break. But that doesn't stop them from bending it. In Wizards of Waverly Place they simply mention the vampires walking around with umbrellas, or the sun is just blocked with clouds. Which I feel like could still kill them.. But whatever. Vampire Academy takes a much more complicated route. Richelle Mead writes about three different types of vampires. Dhampir, who only have enough vampire blood to give them superhuman strength, are perfectly fine in the sun. Moroi are like vampires with souls, and can go out in the sun too. But they'll start to feel a little sick of they're out for too long. Strigoi are the soulless vamps and WILL turn to ashes in the sunlights. Other stories and shows use objects to protect their vampires from the sun, but my favorite rule bender is Cassandra Clare. When her character Simon Lewis was first Turned, he couldn't go out in the sunlight. None of the vampires could, there were even times when the Nephilim led them out in the sunlight to kill them (fun fact: Demons die in the sunlight as well. In one scene, before Simon Turned, he used an arrow to smash a grimy skylight to kill Abaddon with the sun). But then, in the second book, Jace gives him some of his blood to make sure Simon survives. Because of the amount of angel blood in Jace's body (another story for another list), Simon becomes known as a Daylighter, a vampire who can roam around the sun. Man, I really wanna be a Daylighter. 

7. About The Blood They Consume. 

You hear the word "vampire", and your first thought is that they drink blood, and you're scared, right? But in most vampire societies, it's actually illegal to drink human blood. Doing so is punishable by a very painful vampire death. No, most vampire societies stick to drinking animal blood. But, as always, there are a few expectations to this rule. In Vampire Academy, out of the three species of vampires, only one does not need to consume blood to stay alive - or dead? And that's Dhampir. They're mostly human with just a touch of vampire blood to allow them to the protect the second species, Moroi, from the third species, Strigoi. Strigoi are the bad vampires, so they consume whatever blood they want, but Moroi have blood banks. They find impressionable humans who agree to live at the banks as a source of food for the vampires. They aren't allowed to kill the Feeders, but the humans do tend to go a little crazy after too much interaction with the Moroi. In Wizards of Waverly Place, they make a joke about Juliet, Bridgit Mendler's character, feeding at a blood drive. 

6. About The Subtle Differences In Their Appearances. 

Twilight is the only vampire depiction on know of where the mortal can tell who the vampires are (I've never read or watched Twilight, and frankly I don't want to, but I do know more or less how it starts). When the protagonist first meets Edward Cullins, she tells him that she knows what he is based on how he looks (and there's a hilarious meme on Tumblr.com about it being a Pokemon Trainer instead of a vampire). But in most everything else, vampires can just blend in among mortals. But in vampire reality, they look nothing like mortals. Their skin is effervescent (but they don't sparkle like in the Twilight films), their faces are cruel, and their eyes are empty like their hearts. In Mortal Instruments, Simon's eyes are brown, buy once he Turns, they became a deeper and emptier brown (though, maybe, they went back to being a golden brown after he became a Daylighter), and in Vampire Academy the Strigoi's eyes are red. Remember, the eyes are the windows of the soul, and as we've discussed before, vampires have no souls. 

5. About The Way They Love. 

This is the thing about vampire rumors and myths that get me most. In nearly everything I've read, vampires fall in love. Love! Simon is in love with two girl's in The Mortal Instruments, two vampires are in love with Elena Gilbert, in Vampire Academy Vasilissa Dragomir dates Christian Ozera while Rose Hathaway is in love with Dimitri Belikov and dates several other guys. And in Twilight, Robert goes as far as getting married. But the thing is, vampires aren't supposed to have souls. And it's our souls that allow us to love. So I don't know how you can expect vampires to love when they don't have souls. Cassandra Clare wrote it best with her character Camille Belcourt. Camille was probably the oldest vampire in The Mortal Instruments before (spoiler alert) she was killed by a little girl, and it's sort of described that the older she got the more metaphorically heartless she became, and there the less able to actually love. She dated around, but she never stayed around. She was only with someone when needed them for her own selfish motives. And THAT is exactly how I feel vampires truly are with love - or possession, rather. 

4. About The Blood That Is Inside Of Them. 

Here's something I bet you don't know about vampires. Their blood is PURE. Since they're dead, they have no need for white cells or anything of that such, their blood is just, well, just that. Blood. It's partially demon blood. So, the blood of a vampire actually runs redder than the blood of any other creature. It's like the red of kool-aid or the One Direction logo. And a vampire had to run completely dry of its blood before it will die. 

3. About How To Kill Them. 

A lot of people think that - other than the sunlight - there's really only one way to kill a vamp. And that's by piercing their heart with a wooden stake (because apparently wood is worse for them than any kind of metal (other than blessed metal) is). It's true that you can kill a vampire that way (which is odd considering their hearts don't actually beat), but there are many other ways. Vampires are immortal, but they are not immune. So, we'll discuss the other ways. Sunlight actually is kind way, I believe we've discussed this. You can trick a vampire into going out in the light, or you can find a way to being the sunlight inside. And then there's fire. Yeah, yeah, nearly anything can be killed with fire, buy to vampires, it acts much the same as sunlight; they can't get close to the stuff. Holy water is another element that kills vampires. If it touches their skin, it kind of melts it. Like the wicked witch in The Wizards of Oz. They can also drink the blood of an animal or human with holy water in its system, and die that way. And then there's chopping off their heads, because even though they don't have beating hearts, they apparently have brains. 

2. About Their Souls. 

As I've already mentioned several times in this list, vampires don't actually have souls. Because for a human to be Turned, they actually die first. The process in which a human becomes a vampire is actually kind of complicated. They have to have enough of their blood consumed to die, but they so have to consume enough blood of a Vampire. And then they have to be buried so that when they awake, they can crawl out of their own grave. The first thing they're going to want to do is eat, and that's when they realize how soulless they really are. But, again, a few exceptions have been made. In Vampire Academy, out of the two types of vampires that consume blood, one doesn't have a soul, but one does. Simon recovered his soul, I believe, when he became the Daylighter in The Mortal Instruments. And in Wizards of Waverly Place, Juliet's parents gave her a soul so she could love. 

1. About Their Heart Beats. 

Now, this is the one that really kills me. Kills, get it? In a lot of things I have read, the vampires have a heart beat. However, one of the most distinguishing factors of a vampire is that they don't have a heartbeat, and it's the distinguishing factor that gets overlooked the most. The vampires in Wizards of Waverly Place and Vampire Diaries all have heartbeats. Even in Vampire Academy, two of the three types of vampires have heartbeats (though, I guess those are the "living" vampires). But Cassandra Clare got it figured out when she described that all of the hearts of her vampires don't beat, nor do her vampires breathe. And because vampires are dead, they also don't need to eat or drink anything that isn't blood. But can train themselves to do so to look normal (and in Vampire Diaries, there is a drink, Black Magic Wine, that can keep them satisfied if they can't get to blood). In The Mortal Instruments, Simon trained himself to be able to drink coder again, similar for the taste, just before his vampireness was taken away. And Camille learned to drink red wine because it looks like blood. 

A Bonus Thing You Need To Know About Vampires: About Garlic. 

It is a known myth that vampires are repulsed by garlic. Supposedly, people used to hang garlic from their doorways to keep spirits away (which rhymes). But a lot of new stories say that those spirits weren't actually vampires. Instead, new things are used to keep the vampires away. In Wizards of Waverly Place it's pumpkin, explaining the tradition of Jack-o'-Lanterns on Halloween. In Vampire Diaries it's a plant called vervain, it keeps their spirits away. And in The Mortal Instruments it's holy water, which also kills them. 

*I do not actually believe in vampires. I compiled this list from various novels and shows. Or maybe I just know because I am a vampire. Mwa ha ha!

• The Mortal Instruments, Cassandra Clare. 

• Vampire Academy, Richelle Mead. 

• Wizards of Waverly Place, Disney Channel Original. 

• Vampire Diaries, L.J. Smith. 

Twilight, Stephanie Meyers. 

A Vampire Diaries Fanfic: Snow Queen~

*This is set in the book series just after the Founder's Day parade, as if Damon did everything they thought he did and Katherine is really dead. And I'm so proud of it!

Her struggles became wilder, more uncoordinated, and then they stopped. They stopped...

Elena Gilbert broke the surface of the water and took in a gasp of air. Cold, fresh air. 

"Damon!" she slapped the hard surface with both hands, and then swam to the muddy bank. 

"Chase me onto the bridge," she pulled Honoria Fell's newly soaked dress over her head, and spat out more water. 

"Make me crash Matt's car," she tossed the tattered piece of clothing aside. Maybe she would bury it later. Or burn it. 

"Cause me to almost drown," she pulled off her camisole, and, shivering in just her bra and panties, wrung it out before pitting it back on. 

"What am I going to do about pants?" she looked down at herself. 

"Oh, my God... Elena!" screamed Bonnie. 

"Bonnie!" Elena called, standing up. "I'm over here!"

"Oh, my God!" Bonnie shrieked again. "How did you get over there?!"

"A storm chased me into the river!" she yelled. 

"Well, how are you going to get back over here?" Meredith's voice broke as she tried to scream. 

"Well, I can't swim across! The water's frozen!"

But then, without a flash, Stefan jumped across the lake, gathered Elena in his arms, jumped back, and started peppering her with kisses. 

"Wait, wait," Elena freed her face of her fiancé's lips. "Wait, I still need pants."

And then, as if to relieve all of the tension surrounding them, her friends started to laugh. 

"What? I'm serious," she crossed her legs as if to keep her dignity. 

"We know, Lovely Love," Stefan stifled his smile. 

Elena huffed. 

"Here," Meredith started unbuttoning herself. "I'm wearing shorts underneath." She pulled off her pants, and Elena took them gratefully. She then took off her jacket, which she also gave to Elena to hold just long enough to take off her sweater. She put her jacket back on, and then wrapped the sweater around her waist like a true 90's kid. She pulled the whole look off with her olive-legged gracefulness. 

"Thanks," Elena said. Once she put Meredith's pants on and rolled them and rolled them and rolled them up, Stefan slipped his jacket over her shoulders. 

She turned back to him, "Can I stay at your place tonight? I'm afraid Aunt Judith and I got into a fight, and I think it will do her some good to worry about me a little.

"Lovely-"

"I think," Meredith broke in, "that we should all stay at your place tonight, just to be on the safe side."

;

Elena ended up falling asleep as soon as they got to the boarding house, curled up in the long pants and leather jacket. 

Meredith was sent on an errand to pick up clothes for the three girls, and Matt, because they needed to keep him safe too, and, also... he needed to know about his car. 

In the morning they were all up early to discuss everything, including Stefan and Damon being a vampire. Elena's friends weren't as surprised as she thought they'd be. They'd just jumped right into the conversation as if they'd been talking about a high school football game. 

"So, Damon is definitely behind the killings," Elena said as she accepted a cup of coffee from Meredith.

"I still can't believe that douchebag crashed my car," Matt gritted his teeth. 

"Technically, I crashed your car," Elena said to him. And then to everyone else, she said, "We have to figure out what he wants."

They all looked at her. 

"What?" she sipped her coffee. 

"Well, no offense," Bonnie said reluctantly. "But we all kind of know what he wants."

"How?" Elena leaned forward. "Did you have a vision?"

"I didn't have to," she looked down. 

"It's kind of obvious that he wants you," Meredith spoke up for her. 

"What? Why?" Elena narrowed her eyes at her. 

"You're the light to his darkness," Stefan muttered. 

Matt looked away. 

"What?" Elena asked. 

"Do you ever wonder why people fall so easily for you?" Matt turned back to her. 

Elena shook her head. 

"It's just that you're so, just so," he groaned in frustration. "Good. You're just so good, Elena. You make everyone else want to be good."

Bonnie abruptly turned out of the room. 

Elena barely watched her go. "Are you saying that I make Damon want to be good?"

Meredith said, "I think that Damon may be attracted to you in the same way that dark is attracted to light."

"You think Damon came here because he was attracted to my light? Like I'm a lighthouse or something?"

"I do," Stefan said. 

Bonnie came bouncing back into the room with a fresh cup of coffee, but Elena saw that her face was wet as though she'd had to wash it. "You do what?" she sat down next to Stefan. 

"Think that Damon was brought here by Elena's light."

"Oh, yeah," Bonnie nodded solemnly. "I think so too."

Elena flopped back on the floor. Her head bumped against Matt's knee, and he patted her blonde curls.

Bonnie frowned. 

"What are we going to do?" Elena asked. 

"Maybe," Meredith picked at the rug she was sitting on. "Maybe we should just go on with life as normal until we figure out his next move, or, at least why he wanted to kill Elena. 

Stefan sighed and looked around the room, "Everyone else agreed?"

;

"Wait, what are those?" Elena and Stefan went to school together Monday. Elena hadn't been back home since before the Founder's Day Parade. Stefan and she had spent a quiet evening at the boarding house alone the night before. 

"Stop," Stefan eyed the new security devices warily. They were like the ones you walk through at an airport to make sure you weren't concealing any weapons on you. "Don't go through through those."

"Why not?" she looked at him. 

"Elena!" Sue Carson was in line to go through one of the security things, in fact, she was next to go through hers. She waved Stefan and Elena over. "I heard you were in a car crash this weekend. How are-"

Sue stepped through the device. Suddenly, she stood stock-straight and her sympathetic look was replaced with one that was completely blank. 

"What happened to her?!" Elena was on the verge of hyperventilating.

"Vampire blood," Stefan sniffed. "He's turning them all into his little drones."

"Like Vicki Bennett?" Elena turned on him with wide eyes. 

"Exactly like Vicki Bennett," he replied. 

"But why?" Elena really was about to hyperventilate. 

"I don't know," Stefan said. "But I think we've discovered his next move."

;

"Thank God none of you went through one of those security devices." Elena had texted all of her friends a 911, and they all met up in their empty History class. 

"Bonnie felt something off about them, and with luck Matt and I were both with her." Meredith was distributing hot coffee again. "We came in through the back door."

"So did we," Elena gestured between her and Stefan. 

"Why does he want us like that!" cried Bonnie.

"I don't think he wants Elena like that," Matt said. 

"No, neither do I," Stefan looked thoughtful. "He would've known I'd sense the mist of vampire blood coming down."

"Well, can anyone think of a reason why he would want everybody but me like this?"

"The Snow Dance is coming up," Meredith suggested. 

"What?"

Suddenly, Bonnie's head turned to look out the window. "Something has happened during every main event, thus far. Something big is going to go down during the dance."

"Bonnie?" Elena asked. 

"What?" Bonnie looked around in shock at all of the faces looking at her. "Oh, no! What did I say that time?"

Matt took her hand, "You said that something big will go down at the dance."

Bonnie bit her lip, and looked away. 

Elena moaned, "What are we going to do?"

"I have a plan," Meredith said. "And we're gonna need help. But I know just who to ask."

At that moment Alaric K. Saltzman walked in the room, and asked bewilderingly, "What are you guys doing here?!"

"Speak of the devil," Meredith grinned.

;

Everybody broke out in shouts. 

"What do you mean you're going to ask him to help us?" asked Matt. 

"No, no, no," Bonnie said at the same time that Elena yelled, "He's a spy!"

And then, much more quietly, Stefan said, "He's not a spy. He's a vampire hunter."

"No, I'm not!" Alaric raised up his hands. "I'm not a spy or a hunter."

"Then what are you?" Stefan crossed the room dangerously. 

"I'm just a researcher," he said. "An experimental psychologist."

"You mean you study on psychics?" Bonnie hid behind Matt. 

Matt fixed Alaric with a death glare. 

"No! Well, actually," he said. "I wouldn't mind doing a study on you-"

"You won't touch her!" Matt shot him down. 

"Fine, I won't," Alaric held up his hands again. "But she's a great example of why I'm here. I don't need to prove supernatural powers exist, I already know they do. What I'm doing is studying the psychological effects they take on the people who have them." He asked Bonnie, "I often wonder what it does to you?"

Bonnie buried her head against Matt's back, "I don't want to talk about it."

"You will not look at her anymore," Matt seethed. 

Elena lifted her eyebrows. She wondered when it was that Matt had become so protective of her little red-headed friend. 

Alaric pointedly turned to Stefan, "I came across this case where this woman was all messed up psychologically from a vampire bite. She swore she could see visions, though I was never able to prove that was true. But it started this fire in me, and it was like all of a sudden that was all I could research on."

"And then Principal Newcastle called you to come check things out after our History teacher was killed," Elena put two and two together. 

"Exactly!" Alaric looked around excitedly, avoiding Matt and Bonnie. "And I'm so glad he did."

"Why?" Stefan narrowed his eyes at him. 

"What, a case where the vampire is still in the area?" Alaric's eyes were wide. "How could I pass that up?"

"You can't tell anyone that I'm a vampire!" Stefan shouted. 

He sobered, "I was talking about your brother."

"How do you know Damon is my brother?"

Meredith raised her hand shyly, "Uhm, I kind of told him."

"Wait," Elema looked from her best friend to her sub-History teacher. "What's the connection between the two of you?"

"There isn't one," Meredith blushed. "I just figured out the brothers were vampires before you even told us the other night, and I put everything with Alaric together."

"Oh, I love you so much, Meredith," Elena threw her arms around the taller girl. "Thank you for not telling anyone else."

"Uh, she told me," Matt lifted a tentative hand. 

"And me," Bonnie said in a tinny voice behind him. 

"Oh," Elena was on the verge of tears. "I love you all so much."

"So, uh," Alaric cleared his throat. "What were you going to ask me to help with?"

"You have to get them to cancel the Snow Dance," Meredith said. 

"I can't do that," he said. 

"What?" Matt huffed. "We're supposed to trust you, but you can't do this one thing for us? People's lives are in danger-"

"It's impossible," Alaric cut in. "Newcastle thinks this town needs the Snow Dance so that things can go on as normal. I've asked him to cancel before, and he won't."

"Well," Meredith pursed her lips. "What about getting on to chaperone it?"

"I can do that," Alaric sighed, but when he looked at Meredith, he had a smile on his face. 

Elena couldn't help but wonder again. 

"Then none of us can go as just students," Meredith said. "We'll all have to be on the lookout for Damon and what he plans on doing at the dance."

"You mean we can't bring dates? Because I was planning on asking somebody," Bonnie's eyes wandered toward Matt. 

"No, we need to stick together," Meredith said. "I'll 'go' with Alaric since everybody knows I have a crush on him, anyway."

Alaric turned bright red. 

Meredith pressed on, "It's pretty obvious that Elena and Stefan will go together. And that just leaves Bonnie and Matt 'together'."

Bonnie tried to hide her smile. 

Elena looked from one of her girlfriends to the other. What had she missed out on while she was so caught on getting Stefan?

Meredith asked, "Are we all agreed?"

"I think so," said Matt. 

"Then we have our plan 'A'," Elena said. 

;

"What are you doing here?" Aunt Judith asked. 

Elena blanched, but then she remembered that she had been sent home by Alaric early. Her aunt had probably thought she was at school. 

Elena sat down at the kitchen table, "Things aren't going good at the moment. I actually came home to talk to you about them."

"Okay." Aunt Judith sat down at the table as well. She took Elena's hand. 

"I didn't mean to get so mad at you at the Founder's Day parade," Elena couldn't meet her aunt's eye. "It's just that I was so hurt. You called my fiancé a murderer."

Judith's eyes traveled down to the Lapis Lazuli ring on Elena's left hand. 

"I told you then that I couldn't say who murdered Mr. Tanner," Elena looked up at her. "But I can tell you now. It was Damon."

"Damon?" Judith's hand tensed. "But he was such a nice boy. I thought-"

"He's Stefan's brother. That's why everybody suspected Stefan. Because Damon is a vampire." Elena swallowed, "And so is Stefan."

Judith jerked her hand back, and started spatting out curse reversing words at Elena. 

"No!" Elena screamed. "I'm not a curse! And neither is Stefan!"

"You bring a murderer in this house-"

"Your boyfriend brought the murderer in this house!"

"That- That- Thing of yours is a vampire! They kill people!"

"Not Stefan! He only drinks animal blood!"

"So he kills animals," Aunt Judith's eyes were wild. 

"Oh, come on, Aunt Judith," Elena said. "We're not vegetarians in this family."

"How long have you known?"

"Only since Halloween."

"The night your teacher was killed." Judith backed into the kitchen counter and reached for a knife. "He's cursed you if you think he's innocent!"

"I'm not cursed!" Elena threw up her hands, sobbing. "He is innocent!"

"Get out of my house!" Judith screamed. "You're not Elena. You're a monster that has taken her place. Get out of my house, and give me my niece back!" She held up the knife, ready to throw it. 

"Stop," a chilling voice behind Elena spoke. Damon stepped out of the shadows. 

Judith put the knife down, and froze with a look of interest at Damon. 

"You don't want to hurt Elena," Damon shook his head. Elena could feel the Power pouring out of him. "You don't want to argue with her. In fact, this conversation never even happened. Elena never came home. She's still staying at Bonnie's or Meredith's or whoever it was that talked to you last. She's still mad at you. And all you really want to do is take a nap."

Judith walked over to the kitchen table, sat down, and fell asleep right there with her head on the tabletop. 

"You influenced her."

"I had to," Damon turned around. "She was going to kill you."

"You've been killing people left and right!" Elena gasped. 

"I've only killed one person," Damon swung on her. "And I had my reasons for doing that."

"Well- Well, what about Vicki Bennett and all the other students you're turning into drones?" Elena asked. "They don't know what they're doing!"

"I have my reasons for that as well."

She stared him down. "Get out of my house."

He paled. "Just let me talk to you."

"The time for talking is over. You've turned my own aunt against me."

"I just saved your life from her!"

Elena set her jaw. She wasn't scared of this vampire anymore. He couldn't do anything to her that she couldn't do herself. "You're not invited here anymore."

Something in his face broke, but he quickly covered it with a look of contempt. "There are other places I can find you. You'll be my Dark Princess yet"

And then he stalked out. 

;

"Spying on your pet, little brother?" Damon stepped down from the Gilbert porch to find Stefan standing in the yard. 

"I heard yelling," he answered. 

"From how far?" Damon smirked. 

"Fine, I was just down the road," Stefan said. 

"You know," Damon circled him. "Elena doesn't like to be stalked."

"You've been stalking her."

"On the contrary, little brother," Damon stopped just inches from his face. "I've been protecting her."

"From what?"

"From you."

Stefan swung at him, but he was nothing but a dark mist as Stefan's fist connected. 

;

"Is it okay to be this pretty when something terrible is going to happen tonight?" Bonnie looked at herself in the mirror. She was wearing a little strapless number whose bodice was made entirely out of pink rhinestones and skirt was made out of pink tulle. 

"We're undercover, we have to look beautiful," Meredith came up beside her. She was wearing a royal purple dress whose skirt touched the floor. It was covered with one layer of elegant but sparkly tulle. She looked like the Aztec Goddess to Bonnie's mischievous pixie. 

"Please stop worrying, Bonnie. You're going to give me stress ulcers," Elena said. She wasn't even dressed yet. Her simple silver silk gown was laid out across Meredith's bed. 

"I think I already have them," Bonnie held her stomach. 

"I highly doubt that," Meredith patted her curly red head. 

"I don't." Bonnie met Elena's eyes in the reflection of the mirror. "Because of what I'm about to ask."

Elena reddened, "What?"

"Can I- Is it okay- I mean-" Bonnie huffed, "Would it totally violate the girl code if I went after Matt?"

"Bonnie," Elena looked at her seriously. "I don't think now is really an appropriate time to talk about going after any guys."

Meredith made a vicious "cut" action next to Bonnie. 

Bonnie ran out of the room. 

Meredith signed, "I tried to tell you."

"Bonnie!" Elena ran after her friend, catching up with her halfway down the stairs, "Just let me explain."

"No, you let me explain!" Bonnie turned on her. "You did everything, everything, to make sure you ended up with Stefan even though you knew things were dangerous. You even made Meredith and me blood promise - which is entirely stupid, and I didn't even want to do it - that we would die if we didn't help you in anything having to do with him! And now I'm bound to this stupid promise. But you broke Matt's heart. And he's nice, and he's a great guy, and he would've done anything for you. And maybe you broke my heart a little bit too. You're so selfish, Elena. You take every guy I've ever wanted, and then you just throw him in the dirt! You didn't even ask if I liked Matt first!"

"I," Elena sat down, "am a horrible person."

"I didn't say that," Bonnie wiped at her eyes. "I said you're selfish. There's a slight difference."

Elena let out a dry laugh. "I was so caught up in my problems with Stefan, that I didn't even see your major heart eyes for Matt. And you," she looked up at Meredith, "I had no idea you were crushing on our sub-History teacher, which give me one quick moment to say 'Ew' over."

"It's okay," Meredith shrugged. "You did almost die."

"Oh, my gosh, you did!" Bonnie threw her hands over her mouth. "I'm a terrible, terrible person for saying those things to you!"

"Did you like Matt before I crashed his car in that lake?"

She removed her hands, and nodded. 

"Then that's no excuse," Elena shook her head. "I'm the one that should be sorry. And I am. To both of you."

Meredith grinned.

Bonnie asked, "So where did we leave off on the whole Matt and girl code thing?"

Meredith and Elena both laughed. 

;

That blue tie brought out his eyes so bright. Bonnie could barely even breathe.

"Are you okay?" Matt touched her hair. 

"We should get inside," she swallowed. "We need to find an entrance that doesn't have one of those security devices."

"Well, the front entrances are out," Matt looked around. 

"What about a window?" she asked. 

"They're all bound to be locked," he shook his head. 

"We could try the History classroom."

They didn't have any luck with the window to the History class, though, and after walking all the way around the school, they found only one entrance without a security device. 

"This door is bound to be for Elena," Matt ran a hand against the hinge. "It's all the way in the back."

"And it's locked," Bonnie frowned.

"These aren't the kinds of locks you can break, either," he said. "They're voice activated."

"I'll have to call Elena," Bonnie pulled out her cell phone. "She's about ten minutes behind us."

"What's up?" Elena answered on the third ring. 

"Okay, so, the only way in is the teacher's entrance in the back," Bonnie explained. "And, uhm, it's voice locked."

Elena swore. 

"What could the password be?" Bonnie asked. 

Matt nudged her arm, and pointed. 

"Oh, God, and hurry," she said. "There are teachers coming around the side, and they look positively droneish."

"I don't know!"

Panic flooded Bonnie's voice, "Then ask Stefan! This is a vampire we're talking about, after all!"

"No, this is Damon we're talking about," Elena sounded a lot calmer. "My Dark Princess."

"My Dark Princess," Bonnie told the lock. "My Dark Princess!"

"No, it's programmed to Damon's voice," she said over the phone. "Matt has to be the one to say it."

"Matt!" Bonnie cringed as the teachers came close enough for Bonnie to identify them. The cafeteria lady was even among them. 

"My Dark Princess!" Matt yelled in frustration. 

"Listen," Elena said, still the voice of calm. "Matt has to sound like Damon. Tell him to whisper it like he would."

"Matt," Bonnie's voice shook. "You have to whisper it like this," she dropped her voice to a low, seductive whisper, "My Dark Princess."

The teachers were close enough for Bonnie to reach out and touch. 

"Hurry! They're going to get us, and I don't want to find out what they want with us when they do!"

"My Dark Princess." Matt yanked the door open, and pulled Bonnie into the school with him. 

They both turned, and slammed the door shut. 

Bonnie started sobbing. "I thought they were going to get us!"

"You know," Matt studied her. "You are the only girl I've ever seen that still looks beautiful when she cries."

Bonnie's heart soared. That was the most romantic thing anyone had ever said to her. 

Suddenly, they were kissing. Bonnie didn't know who started it, and she didn't really care. 

Matt's thumbs worked at wiping her tears, as his mouth worked at making hers one with it. Bonnie thought his lips were soft, but then she felt his tongue, and knew it was the softest thing ever. 

She had always thought that kissing someone she really liked would feel like fireworks, but this felt comfortable, like going to a place you never realized was home. And she liked that much better. 

Matt was the one to pull away, and he did so reluctantly. His thumbs were still under her eyes, his fingers curled in her hair. He said, "I thought Elena was the only girl I could ever love."

"I love you too," she pressed herself against him again. 

;

"Okay, Elena said you have to say it quiet and seductively?" Meredith read her cell phone screen. "I guess like Damon would."

Alaric whispered the password, and they went in. The room they were in was dark, but they could make out the outline of another door. 

"What part of the school is this?" Meredith asked. 

"It's the teacher's lounge," he said. "Teachers use this door so they can go out and smoke sometimes."

"How responsible," Meredith rolled her eyes. 

"Don't worry, I never smoke."

She grinned. 

They crept outside. The hallway was empty, but partially lit. 

Alaric said, "And the gym is... Which way?"

"Come on, Mr. Substitute Teacher," Meredith said. "I'll show you."

As they walked, he kept talking, "You know, after all of this is over, I have to go back to Duke so I can finish my dissertation in the fall semester. I know you did well enough on your SATs to get into Harvard, but..."

She eyed him. 

"YoucouldjustaseasilygetintoDuke," he said in one long breath. 

"Are you asking me to move to college with you?"

"Yeah," he rubbed the back of his head. "I guess I am."

"Let's see if we survive this first," she said. 

A slow smile spread across his face. 

;

"I'll say it," Stefan said. 

"I have to be the one to say it," Elena pushed past him. "It's programmed to my voice as well. I mean, sure, it probably knows your voice too, but not in the way we want it."

"You know what, you're right," he said. "Go ahead."

Elena leaned into the voice lock, and almost as if she was making love to it, whispered, "My Dark Princess."

The lock clicked, and she was in. Stefan eyed her for a moment before following her. 

"Do you think it's a trap?"she asked. "Putting the only entrance I could come in the farthest from the dance?"

"Only one way to find out."

;

They made it to the gym without any problem, and the first thing Elena did was locate her friends.

"Look at all of them," Bonnie was crying. "They're not the people we've always known."

Matt wrapped his arms around Bonnie, pulling her into his chest. His jaw was tightened protectively. 

Elena did look at all of them. Every student or teacher in the room, minus the five people with her, we're standing around mindlessly staring at the ceiling or walls. There wasn't any emotion on their faces at all. They didn't look like the same people she grew up with.

She asked, "What did he do to them."

"I made them harmless," a voice spoke from the make-shift stage at the front of the gym. 

Elena stepped forward, but Meredith grabbed her arm. She moved into the protective circle of her best friend. 

"You still don't get it, do you?" Damon came out. He was still dressed in all black, but he was wearing a tux. Elena's heart jumped to her throat. 

"Get what?" she swallowed around the lump.

"That all I've wanted to do is protect you."

"That's a lie!"Stefan jumped forward. 

"No, you're the liar!" Damon sent out such a wave of Power that Stefan shrank back. 

"Do you know about Katherine?" Damon asked Elena. 

Elena was scared of not answering him, so she nodded. 

"Do you know what my little brother did to her?" he spat the words out in vile contempt. 

"He loved her."

"He killed her."

"She killed herself!" Elena cried. 

"Because he wouldn't have her if she wanted both of us."

"Neither would you," she said. 

"That's the story he always tells, isn't it?" he asked. "I loved Katherine so much it hurt. I was just a human back then. But it was the same kind of love I see on the faces of your human friends."

Elena looked around. Bonnie and Matt were practically eating at each other's eyes. Meredith's lips were so close to Alaric's they looked like they'd melted together. But had Stefan ever looked at her like that? Had he?

She turned back to Damon. He was looking at her like that...

"I told Stefan that I couldn't fight for Katherine. I told him that it would hurt too much to lose her like that. I told him that he could have her to himself."

Elena looked back at Stefan. His green eyes were hard set. 

Damon said, "But he told her that her blood had been defiled when she took some of mine, and that he wouldn't have her anymore."

"Stefan..."

"It was a long time ago, Elena," his voice was hard as well. 

"But you lied to me."

"What would you have said if you'd known the truth? You would've called me a monster!" Stefan asked, "What would you have said about Damon?"

"None of this justifies why Damon killed our History teacher."

"Oh, for God's sake!" Damon rolled his eyes. 

"He did it out of self-defense," Matt spoke up. 

"What?"

"The mutt is right. Well, it was more defense of others." Damon gestured to Bonnie, "Your little redbird here, she was doing that report on the Celtics and the Druids, and it scared your teacher. When she asked him to play as a sacrifice he went berserk. He was going to kill her."

"Bonnie," she looked at her little friend. 

Bonnie's eyes were wide and filled with tears, but when she spoke, her words came out strong, "It's true."

"Why didn't you tell any of us?" Elena asked. 

"I didn't have any proof!" she cried. "I suppose I should thank you, Damon?"

"It's not in my ways to accept thanks."

"But all of this still doesn't explain one thing!" Elena said. 

"What's that?" he asked. "I'll be happy to explain it."

"Why you did this," she gestured around the room, "to all of my friends."

"You think they're your friends?" he seethed. "You don't belong in this town, Elena. You know it, they know it. They don't want you here anymore than you want to be here. The only difference is, they were going to hurt you to get you out."

"They," she gestured to the circle of four humans around her, "would never hurt me."

"Of course not," he whispered. "But they're not pure human, are they? Bonnie, with her psychic powers. Meredith and Alaric know about the supernatural. And I don't know what's so special about Matt, but he's too pure to ever want to hurt you."

"Aren't they?" she was looking out at the mindless people, but her voice was weak. 

"Think about it," he said. "Caroline was going to tear you down in front of the whole city at that stupid parade of yours. Vickie Bennett has been calling you "one of them" ever since I accidentally happened upon her that one day." 

"That was an accident?"

"Of course it was! I didn't know anybody was actually in that Church when I sent my powers out to try to find my brother."

"That was the day he saved me," she gasped. 

"Of course he saved you. He's always thought you belong to him. Just like Katherine. Because you look like Katherine."

"Damon," Stefan growled. But Damon sent out another tendril of power that made him shrink back.

Damon stepped closer to Elena, and lowered his voice so that only she could hear him, "You're his little pet, his "Lovely Love". You're nothing but a human to him. His lesser."

"We're equal," her voice shook. 

"You'll never be his equal," he whispered sympathetically. "Vampires love humans possessively, even I can admit that. I know that's how Katherine loved me, how he loved Katherine. But I was never like that. I didn't want her, I wanted to be with her."

"You just see me as her."

"No, I don't," he lightly touched the ends of her golden tresses. "I've never seen you like her. She was the moon, you are the sun."

"You think I'm the sun?" tears ran down her face. 

He nodded. 

"I'm the light to your darkness?"

"I want you to be my equal," he touched his lips to her ear. "I don't want to keep you as a human pet, something I'll have for just a few years before I have to throw you away. I want you to be by my side forever, because I know I'll love you forever."

Elena swallowed. 

"I know that you swore you'd have Stefan or you'd die, but that was before you knew who he was. And I'm telling you, you will die before you ever have him. But you don't have to die if we have each other."

Elena felt her body move closer to his. 

"Tell me, princess," he said. "Did you ever really love him?"

She slipped the Lapis Lazuli ring off and let it fall with a clang on the floor. 

Damon sighed against her ear, "Do you feel the same about me?"

She shook her head. 

He pulled back to look at the pure love on her face. "Will you let me make you my Princess of Darkness?"

Without a word, she tilted her head back and pushed her hair off her neck. 

He sank his fangs into her skin.