A Dangerous Desire

Secret Agent, Man.

Victoria POV:

When I got home from the grill that night Damon was waiting by my front door.

"What are you doing here?" I asked suspiciously, hoping he hadn't conned an invitation in by Matty.

"Nice place, really denigrates the phrase white trash." Man, he was a d**k.

"What do you want?" I ask again running out of patience. 

"Watch it" he warns,  "just because I am allowing you to live a few weeks longer than you should doesn't mean I won't go to extreme lengths to teach you manners."

 I kept any further smart remarks to myself and let him get on with his showboating.

"I believe there was a certain promise of information... you know to prove your usefulness. Time to pay up." 

Right, I had forgotten, "your dad's grave," I tell him.

"What?"

"If you don't find it morally objectionable you should dig up your father's grave. Buried with him is Emily Bennet's grimoire. Since she did the spell to seal the tomb then..."

"How to unseal the tomb would also be in there... and I assure you there is nothing I find morally objectionable, well apart from filling my tank with regular, now that's just sinful." He moves out of the way allowing me to get to the door.

"Gonna invite me in?" He asks

"Don't you have some digging to do?"

"Just want to make sure I can access you to make you suffer in unimaginable ways if you're lying to me."

"I'm sure you'd find a way around it."

"hmm, I'm sure your right," he says and boops me on the nose and sauntered away.

"Until then my little secret agent."

3rd Person POV:

At the boarding house Elena and Stefan shared an epic moment and an epic kiss, she left and Stefan stayed up waiting for Damon to come home so he could warn him away from Vicki. Stefan was intrigued Victoria had a bracelet laced with vervain it gave him an idea on how to protect Elena.

Finally, around 1 am Damon came in covered in dirt.

"What... where have you been?" Stefan stumbled to ask thrown off by his brother's dirty appearance. 

"Aw, baby brother worried about me. Hey, I thought you'd be happy me taking the time to hide my kills." Damon said hinting he was covered in dirt because he just buried someone instead of the truth he had recently unburied their father.

"I'd be happier if there weren't any kills to hide," Stefan tells him.

"Well, that's just wanting your cake and eating it too, very greedy." 

Stefan gives up talking to Damon and goes up to bed. 

Damon opens his jacket and produced the grimoire he had dug up. He can't help the devious smile that comes to his face, it was a good night. 

(A/N: because Damon was distracted with Victoria and digging up his dad's grave he didn't compel or sleep with Caroline)

Vicki had a whole week before she found herself in another episode. In that time she worked with Damon giving him just enough to keep her useful but not too much that he didn't still need her, it was a hard line to walk. She kept up with classes, broke up with Tyler, and showed up for all her shifts at work.

People were starting to talk about the changes in her. Even Elena had to admit that she wasn't responsible for Jeremy's downturn. He was still hanging around the stoners and disappointing his sister and aunt. Vicki tried to help but she honestly had enough on her plate. She still made sure to text him once a day so he didn't feel abandoned by her. She didn't want to add to his reasons to check out but she also didn't want to be responsible for pulling him through this either.

The texts would ask him to come over and have dinner with her and Matty or hang out with her after work or get together to study before school but he almost never took her up on it.

Jeremy had always thought Tyler was the reason things never progressed between him and Vicki but now Tyler was out of the picture and still, she was treating him like a little kid. He hated it, he was glad she was doing better but it just left him feeling more alone. She still texted him every day but it was never that intimate connection he needed to feel so he kept using in order to numb the pain.

Victoria POV:

I had convinced Damon not to ask for Bonnie or Shiela's help in opening the tomb, it was going against their ancestor and helping vampires two things they wouldn't be likely to do plus Bonnie was too young and inexperienced and Shiela was too old and frail for such a big powerful spell. He needed to find a witch in her prime, one that was actually fond of him who would willingly do him this favor and not screw him over first chance she got for forcing her to do the spell.

He thought about it and eventually came to the same conclusion I had, Bree. He hadn't killed Lexi yet so he was still in her good books, plus she'd help keep him away from Caroline and probably rock his world again. Even in the show after he killed Lexi she seemed down for one last ride.

Thursday finally came and it was the Friday Night Bites episode apparently that episode spanned two nights the first where Damon crashes Elena's "like Stefan" dinner for Bonnie and the next where Tanner dies. Bree was supposed to arrive in the next week so that still left Damon with too much free time to terrorize his brother and the humans of Mystic Falls. Which put Tanner in a very dangerous spot.

3rd Person POV:

Stefan is struggling to connect with Elena's friends but she has a plan.

"Here's what we're going to do. Are you free tonight?" She asks.

"Yes."

Elena smiles, "perfect. Dinner, my house. 8:00. You, me, and Bonnie. You two will spend some quality time and she'll get to see what a great guy you are. Mission accomplished."

Before Elena knows what's happening Stefan sharply turns and catches a football, she follows it's trajectory and pieces together what Tyler had just tried to do. Stefan doesn't seem too bothered he just throws it back.

A little later...

Victoria knowing the general plot of the episode texts Damon to let him know Stefan tried out and made the football team and that Elena was hosting a dinner get-together to help Bonnie get on board the Stefan train.

D: That's it? Some secret agent you are.

V: What can I say it's a slow week.

D: Well, I say we make it more interesting, you and I are crashing that party.

Later that night Damon and Victoria are walking up to the Gilbert porch,

"This is a bad idea," Victoria tries to tell Damon but he is way too pleased with himself,

"This is a great idea!"

"I am not in the inner circle yet, this is only going to make them wary of me," she tries to explain to him.

Damon just scoffs, "no, it'll make them protective of you, now shut up and follow my lead." 

He rings the bell and waits for Elena to answer the door, a few seconds later Elena opens the door, it's clear she is surprised to see Damon and Vicki there.

Damon smirks, "hope you don't mind, Stefan told me you were hosting dinner, I thought it'd be a perfect chance to get to know my brother's new friends."

Vicki holds up the cake, "we brought dessert,"

Elena struggles to keep up with what's happening but her manners eventually overrule her uncomfortableness and she tries to invite them both in, "Oh... uhh."

Stefan comes to the front door hearing his brother, he's surprised to see Victoria, he looks at her wrist but the bracelet she was wearing the other night is gone. He looks back over to Damon harshly

"What are you doing here?"

Damon smiles loving getting one over his brother, "waiting for Elena to invite me in."

"Oh, yeah, you can..."

Stefan is quick to interrupt desperate to keep his brother from gaining access, "no, no, no. He can't, uh...he can't stay. Can you, Damon? We're just...finishing up."

Elena shakes her head, "It's fine. Just come on in."

"You have a beautiful home, Elena," Damon comments as he crosses the threshold. 

"Thank you."

[The Living Room.]

"I cannot believe that Mr. Tanner let you on the team. Tyler must be seething. That makes me like you all the more Stefan," Victoria tells the younger Salvatore brother. 

"Well, just as long as you're not liking him too much." Bonnie mutter under her breath.

"That's what I always tell him. You have to engage. You can't just sit there and wait for life to come to you. You have to go get it," Damon replies trying to be as unnerving as he can while still playing the polite guest.

Victoria decides to jump in and try to smooth over the uncomfortable atmosphere, "yeah, I get that. deciding to turn over a new leaf and fighting for how you want your life to be not just accepting what you were stuck with is hard but since turning things around myself I have found it's worth it." 

Stefan smiles sadly at Victoria not liking that Damon had dragged her into this.

"So Elena, hear you're on the Cheerleading team, You know, you don't seem like the cheerleader type." Damon pivots changing the conversation not liking the little moment between his brother and his underling. 

"Oh uh, my mom was a cheerleader, and I've just always done it," Elena explains.

"I'm sorry, Elena... I heard about your parents. I know what it's like to lose both your parents. In fact, Stefan and I have watched almost every single person we've ever cared about die."

"Wow, captain buzzkill, nice segue," Victoria says trying to chastise Damon a bit,

"We don't need to get into that right now, Damon," Stefan interjects

"Oh, you know what, you're right, Stef. I'm sorry. The last thing I wanted to do was bring her up. Mmm."

Later Elena is in the kitchen with Damon cleaning up, Bonnie is in the bathroom and Stefan uses this time to approach Victoria.

"Hey,"

Victoria looks over to Stefan, "hey, sorry about this. Really didn't expect agreeing to one date meant I'd be crashing whatever this was supposed to be."

Stefan smiles and shakes his head, "don't worry about it, this is all Damon. So umm what happened to that bracelet that you were wearing the other night."

"Oh nothing, it just didn't really go with my outfit today."

"I think it would go with everything, it's very beautiful," Stefan says staring deep into her eyes, "you should always wear it," he adds trying to compel her.

Victoria plays along, "I should always wear it."

Bonnie comes out of the bathroom and sits down on the couch. 

Victoria decides to excuse herself to help Elena in the kitchen and Bonnie follows.

Damon comes out and Stefan confronts him.

"They are people, Damon. She's not a puppet. She doesn't exist for your amusement, for you to feed on whenever you want to. She is trying to turn her life around, you should let her."

Damon scoffs, "please of course she exists for my amusement, They all do. They're whatever I want them to be. They're mine for the taking. And you of all people should know its only a matter of time before she falls off that wagon, I'm just helping her along."

Stefan clenches his jaw having had all he can stand of his brother, "all right look you've had your fun. You used Victoria, you got to meet Elena, good for you. Now it's time for you to go."

Damon smirks, "that's not a problem. Because...I've been invited in, and I'll come back tomorrow night and the following night and I'll do with your little cheerleader whatever I want to do. Because that is what is normal to me."

Later that night in Elena's bedroom:

"Tonight wasn't so bad. I had fun," Elena says looking over at Stefan,

"Hmm. That makes one of us."

Elena tilts her head, "come on. Your brother isn't as bad as you make him out to be... although I don't really see him and Vicki as a couple, it kinda seemed like she didn't want to be here tonight."

Stefan nods, "yeah if she wants to stay on this new path we need to do everything we can to keep her away from Damon."

"Okay, I trust you," she tells him endearing herself even more to him.

"Thank you," he tells her sincerely.