Beyond the Blood

Chapter Nine

The next few days went by fairly normally; Vicky remained in hospital whilst they monitered her condition, but she would be out soon. Matt had showed up the day after she'd been found and said that she'd woken up but that she remembered next to nothing about her attack. The doctors reckoned that this was to do with traumatic stress and the huge amount of blood loss she'd experienced. They hoped that something might come back to her soon, something that would help them identify and corner whatever it was that had attacked them.

Autumn had been busy helping Caroline for those days; Halloween night was upon them, and being Caroline she wanted everything to be perfect. The school gym and hallways were unrecognizable – bedecked in streamers, cobwebs, fake spiders, skeletons and such like – it was certainly a talking point for all the students. Everyone and their friends were coming to the Halloween party that night, and all anyone was talking about was what they were coming as. Of course Elena and Autumn had coordinated on their outfits, they always did. One year that had both gone as Wednesday 13 from the Addams family; that had really freaked people out. Apparently being twins was bad enough, having two Wednesday's was just downright wrong.

School had just finished, history having been the last period of the day, and everyone was heading home to get ready for the party. There was a buzz of excitement in the air as everyone discussed and finalized their plans.

"Alright," said Caroline when they reached her car, "We'll all meet back here at seven thirty?"

"Yes, for the final time Caroline, we will all be here," said Bonnie with a roll of her eyes.

"It's important!" said Caroline, "I'm sure you'll look fabulous – see you later!"

"Do you think she's excited?" said Stephen dryly as Caroline got into her car and drove away.

"Just a bit," said Elena, "Well it's the first 'big' event of the year that she's organized, she wants it to be amazing"

"I'm sure it will be," said Stephen, "You guys have worked pretty hard on it,"

"Pretty hard?" asked Bonnie with a grin, "Caroline's been working us like slaves for the best part of four days,"

Stephen grinned and then scanned the car park.

"What're you looking for?" asked Elena

"Damon," said Stephen, "He's supposed to be picking me up – my car's got a flat and I haven't had time to change it yet,"

"Over there," said Autumn as a flashy sports car drove into the car park, dodging students who were attempting to leave.

"Obviously," said Stephen as his brother drove towards them, braking within inches of his brother's legs.

"Nice ride!" came the holler from the other side of the lot, Damon smiled across at whoever it was as he got out of the car.

"You're kind of blocking the way," said Bonnie pointedly, looking at the way he'd stopped.

Damon shrugged nonchalantly, "Well they can just drive the other way around,"

Autumn couldn't help but grin at his arrogance; normally she wouldn't find it funny at all, because normally it was a show that someone was putting on to cover up their inner fears – when Damon was arrogant it was because he genuinely did not give a shit.

"Well on that note," said Bonnie coldly, "I'm gonna go – see you guys at the party tonight,"

"See you later Bonnie," said Elena and then yelled after her, "What are you going as?!"

Bonnie turned as she walked, "A witch!" and then she continued on her way.

"Alright," said Stephen turning to Elena, "I'll guess I'll see you later"

"Yeah," said Elena

"Still not going to tell me what you're going as?" he asked with a glint in his eye.

"Nope," said Elena teasingly before turning to Autumn, "And don't you tell either!"

"Oh so it's coordinated?" guessed Stephen with a grin, "Oh the hints…"

"Well you'll just have to show up to find out," said Elena with a giggle on her lips.

Stephen didn't reply, he just leaned and pecked her on the lips – cutting off the sound. Autumn just looked pointedly over the couple at Damon who rolled his eyes. She couldn't help but giggle a little herself as the couple detached themselves.

"Ready?" asked Damon, "Finished with the PDA's?"

Stephen just shrugged before moving towards the car, "Yeah"

"Oh by the way guys," said Damon with a mischievous grin, "I will also see you later – I'm chaperoning this ere thing,"

Stephen looked over his brother with an eyebrow raised, "Whose arm did you have to twist to get that?"

"Nobody's of course," said Damon, "I was in the Grill earlier when your history teacher was in there. He mentioned that they were short a chaperone, so I volunteered,"

"A bit late for the costume run, no?" asked Autumn with a grin.

"Do I look like the costume sort of guy?" asked Damon looking across at her.

"I guess it depends on the mood," said Autumn a sparkle in her eyes, vaguely wondering why she was being so bold.

Damon didn't say anything in reply, he just smirked before giving her a little nod and getting in the car. Autumn saw Stephen scowling at his brother as they backed away, and when she turned around she saw a similar one upon her sister's features.

"What?" she asked innocently

"Damon, really?" Elena asked as they walked towards their own car.

"What about him?" asked Autumn, "He seems like a nice guy"

"Not exactly the vibe I get from him," said Elena, "And he's at least four years older than you,"

"What vibe do you get from him?" said Autumn testily as they started the drive home, "And so? Who cares about age gaps? It's not like I'm twelve wanting to date the quarterback"

Elena just looked across at her, "He seems unpredictable and a bit… dangerous"

Autumn shot a scathing look at her sister, "He does not seem dangerous… and maybe I like the unpredictability. Every other guy around here is so boring. And anyway, I'm not dating the guy – we flirted for approximately ten seconds."

"He doesn't seem like the sort of guy to do stuff by halves," said Elena warily

"Good," said Autumn, "Neither do I. But as I said, not that it matters – we flirted for a tiny amount of time and we've hung out a few times. Hardly tantamount to us going steady."

Elena didn't say anything else about it as they drew up to the house. She probably figured she wasn't going to win that one, or that she would give it another go later.

They split up inside the house to get ready before they helped each other out on costumes and make up. They had a pretty cool idea when it came to what they were wearing, and both had kept mum on what it was.

As they finished doing their initial going out routine they convened in Elena's room to get dressed. They're costumes had both been hung up in Elena's costumes for a few days, locked away to keep them secret from Jeremy who would've undoubtedly blabbed to somebody. Jenna had helped them put them together and they were all pretty pleased with the results.

"This was such a good idea, El," said Autumn as they looked at them laid out on the bed.

Elena grinned across at her sister as she grabbed her costume. They had decided to go as Batman villains – Elena as Harley Quinn, Autumn as Poison Ivy. It took them an hour to get ready, as they did each other's hair and make up – the argument of earlier almost forgotten. Autumn knew the hatchet was hidden, not buried, however.

Jeremy had decided that he wasn't going to go to the dance, he was going to go over to Vicky's – recently out of hospital - and chill there, so as Autumn and Elena drove back to the school they were alone.

The school was already fairly busy when they arrived and got out of the car into the darkness. They would wait for the others inside; it being pretty damn chilly outside with it being October, the air clear and fresh. Other pupils passed them taking in their outfits with looks of awe, if it was one thing the Gilbert twins did well it was costumes.

"Wow, you guys look awesome," said Bonnie as she found them, her own costume looking pretty cool. She'd gone for the traditional witch look, with the pointy hat, ragged looking dress and lots of purple make up.

"Glad you like it," said Elena, "It took me ages to make this corset"

"You made it?" asked Bonnie

"Well yeah, it's difficult to find a shop-bought one in different colours," said Elena with a shrug, "Jenna helped out with the materials"

"I think Stephen's going to fall over when he sees you," said Bonnie

"Well that was the general plan," said Elena with a giggle, "Shhh, they're coming now"

Autumn looked up as she saw Damon's car pull into the lot, through the open door they were stood by. She quickly readjusted her own costume – regardless of what Elena thought, she knew exactly what she was doing.

The two guys themselves appeared to dressed as vampires; both wearing all black, collars turned up against their necks, boots on their feet. It suited them both well – Damon's shirt showed off his toned chest through the material.

"Wow, you guys look scary," said Elena, giving both of them a moment to recover as they both clearly checked them out. The two girls were quite a sight: Elena in harlequin pattered tights, black shorts and a red and white corset, with a black bra peeking over the top; Autumn wearing light green leggings with a gold leaf pattern running up them, a green body form leotard, with a red short sleeve jacket done up on the first button only – she had also dyed her hair for the occasion, changing it from its regular brunette to a deep mahogany colour.

"And you look… amazing," said Stephen, his eyes raking over his girlfriend's form, unable to restrain himself no matter how gentlemanly he normally was.

"But you've forgotten one thing," said Autumn looking over the two guys, "Neither of you remembered your fangs!"

Damon grinned across at Stephen, "How could we have forgotten that Stephen?"

Stephen shrugged and proffered his arm to Elena who took it with a small smile. Bonnie followed after them, leaving Autumn with Damon in the doorway.

"Aren't you supposed to be chaperoning?" she asked looking up at him.

"Supposed to be," said Damon, "May a chaperone you in?"

Autumn grinned and took Damon's arm, in a mirror of Elena and Stephen as they entered the dance hall.

"I'll take that thank you," said Damon taking a red punch cup off someone as they tried to get past.

"But it's just fruit juice," the guy protested. Damon took one sniff at it and raised his eyebrow at the varsity player.

"I wasn't born yesterday," he said and the guy huffed and walked off, deciding it was probably wise not to argue.

"Got your serious hat on tonight?" said Autumn as she watched Caroline attempting to some last minute organizing of minute details.

"Well I might as well do my job properly" said Damon with a shrug, "So what have we got going on here?"

"Well you've got the haunted house, which is in here," said Autumn, "They druid room – Bonnie's idea – which is over there, the dungeon-"

"Dungeon?" asked Damon, "Sounds kinky"

"Definitely not that sort of dungeon," said Autumn with a giggle, "And then over there is the enchanted forest,"

"Seems like this has been really well thought out," said Damon

"Well what do you expect?" Autumn asked, "Caroline and I organized it,"

"Good job," said Damon as he looked around the room, "Uh-oh we're being glared at"

"By who?" asked Autumn and then seeing her sister looking across at them, "Yeah Elena and I had a bit of a falling out earlier,"

"Oh yes?" asked Damon

"Yeah she doesn't really like us hanging out," said Autumn apologetically, "Apparently she thinks your dangerous,"

"Does she now?" asked Damon thoughtfully looking across at Elena again, "Wonder where she got that idea from,"

"Well dressed like that – you could be!" said Autumn with a grin, "Anyway, I promised Matt a dance – see you a bit later?"

"For sure," said Damon and they parted ways. Damon watched her go, the costume she was wearing doing very little to leave her body to the imagination, and he liked what he saw – the red hair definitely suited her as well. He chuckled at his brother's thinly veiled words that had come out of Elena's mouth. Stephen didn't like seeing Damon and Autumn anywhere near each other because of Damon's track record with women – particularly human ones. Well, on that note, Damon wasn't even sure that Autumn was human. He hadn't ruled out that she was, but the mystery surrounding her seemed a bit deeper than that answer would offer solution to.

Autumn went and found the others, dancing with Matt as promised, and then moving around the different rooms – even though she knew exactly what was going to happen in each – having organized it herself – she affected to scream in the dungeon as 'Vlad the Impaler' ran after her. After an hour or so she detached herself from the group to go and get some air outside; it was getting a bit stuffy in the gym with all those people.

She stepped out into the cool night and headed away from the school buildings slightly, she glanced up at the sky where the full moon was glowing in the darkness. She felt relaxed and at peace as she took in the beauty of the moon, feeling zen in the darkness. She almost forgot the chill of the night as she allowed herself to wind down for a moment. She was disturbed when she heard a voice coming from around the corner of the building which she decided to investigate – most people were still inside.

"What do you want?" came a worried male voice, stuttering in fear. Autumn sped up a little bit, and rounded the corner with the hope of helping the man. She spotted two people next to the bleachers, one of them clearly threatening the other; she recognised the one with his back up against the metal frame as Mr. Tanner, her history teacher.

"Nothing," said the other voice, another male voice, deep and scratchy in it's tone, "I'm just hungry"

And with that the more dominant figure bit Tanner's neck, his strong arms holding the body of Tanner secure as the gulping sounds of a throat swallowing liquid were heard. Autumn would've screamed but she was frozen to the spot at the sight, so impossible and yet really happening in front of her very eyes. She wondered if she was hallucinating, or if she had somehow fallen asleep and she was in a terrible nightmare.

She watched almost in slow motion as Mr. Tanner's body fell to the floor in graceful arc, the thud as it hit the floor seemed to bring her back to her senses. She turned on heel and began to run, to find someone, anyone. There was a sound nearby like the whipping of the wind and then a hand was on her shoulder, spinning her around, and then one at her throat.

The sight in front of her made her let out a yelp of fear; it was a man – but not a man. His eyes had darkened to pools of liquid ebony, red veins pulsed underneath, and long fangs elongated from his gums in a picture of terror. She tried to shake herself, in attempt to wake up from this horrifying nightmare.

"Please don't hurt me," she begged, her voice coming out dry and hoarse. Her brain wasn't even trying to process what was going on right now, she just wanted to stay alive.

"Just in the wrong place, wrong time huh, sweetheart?" asked the man leaning in close, his hands stronger than she could ever imagine. She couldn't seem to move as she looked into his eyes, those terrifying eyes of ultimate darkness. She tried to struggle, to break free, but his grip was holding her close as he leaned in, his mouth touching her neck. A pulse of fear and anger shot through her and as it did the man yelped, letting her go momentarily, looking at his hands which had gone bright red, as if burned.

Less than a second later she regained her wits, and started to back away, but as she did so there was another noise like a cheetah in the dark and a black figure had collided with her would-be attacker. It sounded like two boulders colliding as his back hit the floor, her rescuer crouching above him, holding the man down with a hand on his chest as a fist connected with his jaw.

Her attacker gripped the other man by the collar, their bodies twisting over so fast that their hands and bodies were a blur. He didn't try anything else, just twisted out from underneath the rescuer, got to his feet and was gone faster than the speed of sound. Autumn's eyes had been transfixed on the scene before her as she tried to piece together what she had seen. Her eyes moved to the figure on the floor, who she hastily recognised as Damon. She didn't move towards him, however, she didn't feel as if he represented safety to her at that moment in time – his body was heaving with adrenaline, and his breath was short.

Damon got to his feet and spun around to take in the sight of the terrified and perplexed girl in front of him, her arms hugging herself almost instinctively.

"Autumn…" he started but his voice was hoarse. She didn't say anything, just looked at him with a mixture of confusion and horror on her pale face.

"You're bleeding," Damon said motioning to the girl. Autumn put her hand up to her neck, realizing the thing must have tried to attack her in the same way he had Tanner, there was a small amount of blood coming from a tiny puncture wound on her neck.

"Damon," she said simply, her voice just becoming to come back to her, "What… happened? What was that? How did you…?"

So many questions jumbled together in her brain, each jostling for position on the edge of her lips. Damon looked at her with something close to pity – she didn't want him to pity her.

"I think you need to come with me," said Damon, holding out his hand to her.

"What about that man?" she asked looking away into the darkness, "What if he comes back?"

"He won't" Damon assured her.

For some reason Autumn trusted his answer, "What about Tanner?"

"Someone will find him," said Damon gently, "I will tell Stephen"

Autumn closed her eyes to try and reach a sense of clarity, her answers lay with Damon, but as she had just seen him take on god knows what with seemingly an inhuman amount of strength, she wasn't sure her safety did.

"I'll help you," said Damon stepping closer to her, his piercing blue eyes catching hers, "Come with me"

And she did. She took his offered hand, and stepped with him into the darkness. She figured that it was safer to be with him than it was to be out here, when whatever had attacked her might come back. Damon seemed like her best option at that moment of a thousand implications.