Taking a swig of some whiskey, Aurelia swayed her hips to Bon Jovi, one of her favorite artists of the 80's, and coincidentally, Stefan and Lexi's, too. She danced all the way into the sunlight at the parlor, next to Lexi, laughing as the two held hands and fooled around.

Stefan sat on the couch, drinking straight from the bottle Aurelia just drank from, he slumped even more onto the couch, smiling at he admired and somehow danced while he sat.

"Damon!" Aurelia heard Stefan exclaim. She looked at the brothers, grinning as she continued to dance. "Help me celebrate my 17th high school graduation."

"And my 31st!" Aurelia chimed in. Damon turned the music off.

"Hey, you remember my friend Lexi, of course." Stefan said, gesturing to the recently resurrected blonde in the parlor.

"Lexi, back from the dead." Damon said. "Goody." Lexi waved at him, before speeding to him and pinning him up against the wall.

"What's up, buzzkill?" She asked, as Aurelia jumped over the couch, sitting next to Stefan as he wrapped his arm around her back and rested it on her shoulder.

"Stefan, you're just gonna sit there and let her enact her ghostly revenge on me?" Damon asked, his voice strained. "You too, Aurelia?"

"You reap what you sow, buddy." Stefan said. Aurelia laughed again.

"Let's be very clear," Lexi stated. "Whatever time I have left here, I sure as hell don't plan wasting on you. You got me?"

"Yeah, got you." Damon said, as Lexi released him and he took a breath of air. "So, if you and Ric are all flesh-like and real-seeming, that means something went horribly wrong when Bonnie tried to put that veil up." He said. "And here you three are, having dance party USA."

"You're right." Stefan said. "How selfish of me to be indulging in these precious moments with my formerly dead best friend and my currently alive best friend." He said. "I should be sacrificing my own happiness for the good of others, right?" He took the bottle, raising it to Damon. He pulled it down, looking at Aurelia. "I should be upstairs grooming my hero hair."

"Are you drunk?" Damon asked. Stefan looked up at him.

"I don't know, mom." He said, making a face. "Am I?" Aurelia burst out into laughter at his face, and he smiled mischievously, messing up her hair.

"Hey, no!" She protested, as Lexi took the bottle. Damon abruptly snatched it from her

"Okay." She said.

"Well, I guess that's some way to celebrate our supernatural apocalypse." The raven-haired vampire took a gulp from the bottle. "Now, care to hazard any guesses on what the hell went wrong?"

!

The door-bell rang, and Aurelia adjusted her clothes, walking downstairs from a sober-up shower. She looked up to see Damon answer it.

"Who is this?" She asked, looking at a shorter-blonde-haired man. Her eyes trailed to a large tattoo on his right arm. "Oh." She said. "Hunter, huh?"

"Galen Vaughn." He said, with a smirk. Suddenly, he pulled out a gun, shooting Damon in the shoulder. Aurelia tried to help him, shutting the door.

Before she could, he kicked it open, and shot her straight on her collarbone as she yelped in pain. "What the hell?!"

"Got a little message for you, laddie." He said, his Scottish accent thick. "Straight from the mouth of the witch Qetsiyah. We want Silas, and we want the cure."

!

"Ah." Aurelia said, pulling out the bullet from her collarbone. Vaughn looked at her and Damon, who was looking at his wound.

"Yeah, borrowed it from my jarhead friend, Connor." Aurelia looked at Damon. "Shoots wood like lead." He added, holding up his gun.

"Come on, man. I didn't kill you. And Aurelia doesn't even know you." Damon said.

"No, but you left me on that island, where I starved to death." Vaughn said. "There I was, all alone, until Qetsiyah found me and reminded me of my supernatural destiny- cure Silas, and then kill Silas. End of-" Vaughn gagged, before falling to the ground, dead. Behind him stood Stefan, holding his bloody heart. Aurelia rolled her eyes.

"Not a day without peace, huh?" Stefan only raised his eyebrows.

!

Aurelia rubbed her unhealed wound uncomfortably, slightly pissed that she had to be shot by a bullet laced with werewolf venom. The signs were there. She had bandaged it up, adding gauze and everything so that it wouldn't stain whatever she was going to wear. She knew she had a little over a day at least, so she could graduate if Klaus didn't show up.

What annoyed her most was that she couldn't even siphon the bite.

Her head stung a little, but she paid no attention to it, walking back to Stefan.

"So, the veil's down until tonight," Lexi stated, looking at Vaughn's dead body. "He dies and goes to the Other Side and what? Comes back all over again? How long does that take?" She asked. Stefan handed her a glass of blood as Aurelia approached them.

"Isn't there a rulebook over there or something?" She asked. Lexi laughed.

"You know," She said to Stefan. "You're missing your chance to weigh in on the Great Elena Cure Debate." Aurelia huffed.

"I can hear them arguing about it upstairs." She said.

"Well, what am I supposed to do? Tell her it's her choice? Because that worked out so well." Stefan said. "You know, it's funny, those two are there arguing about how to protect the world, when they have yet to address their biggest issue."

"Enlighten us." Lexi said, gesturing to herself and Aurelia, who had gone to stand next to her.

"The sire bond's gone. Elena's emotions are back. She finally knows how she feels." Stefan stated.

"And what if whatever she feels..." Lexi glanced over to Aurelia. "Is for you?" She asked the Salvatore brother. He paused, and Aurelia looked at him, waiting for his answer.

"I love her." Aurelia looked at him with a frown, as she felt a pit of jealously forming in her stomach. "But I don't know. If she doesn't feel that way, maybe that's exactly what I need to hear to get my ass out the door." Aurelia pressed her lips into a straight line. "Maybe I will move to Australia. I can live in a yurt."

"Cheers to that, mate." Aurelia said in an Australian accent, holding up a glass of bourbon she poured for herself. The three clinked their glasses, laughing, when Aurelia groaned, moving her shoulder a little.

"What happened?" Stefan asked in concern. Aurelia shook her head, her expression still wearing discomfort. "Come on, tell me."

"Or don't." Lexi said, taking the collar of her shirt and pulling it down slightly, revealing the white gauze. She pulled some on it off, revealing some of the wound.

"Lexi!" Aurelia scolded. "That hurt!" She quickly stuck it back on, but Stefan held her wrist gently, stopping her.

"What was that?" He asked. Aurelia shrugged it off.

"It's alright. It's nothing." She lied.

"It didn't look like nothing." Lexi said. Aurelia glared at her. Stefan looked at the 399-year-old.

"Aurelia." He warned.

"Fine!" She exclaimed. "When Vaughn shot me, the bullet was laced with werewolf venom." She admitted. Stefan raised his eyebrows in shock, and Lexi mouth opened to form an 'O'.

"No, no, no, no, no." Stefan mumbled. "You're kidding me, right?" He asked.

"Unfortunately, no." She said meekly. "It was only one bullet, Stef. I have time. Besides, Klaus is coming. I sent him a graduation letter."

"What-" Vaughn suddenly sat up with a gasp, and the three vampires looked at him, Stefan giving him the death glare.

"Here." Damon seemed to come out of nowhere, as he tossed the cure to the hunter. Aurelia guessed Alaric would've retrieved it from Silas and given it to him.

"The hell are you doing?" Stefan asked.

"Digging up Silas." Damon answered. Aurelia was puzzled at first.

Isn't his body still with us?

She then realized his plan, going along with it as Damon left, Vaughn following him.

Elena walked up to them, and they were all speechless.

!

"We have to do something." Elena said. pacing around the living room. "If those hunters give that cure to Silas-"

"They're not giving it to Silas." Stefan interrupted. Aurelia nodded. "Wherever Damon is taking Vaughn right now, it's to stall because Damon hasn't had time to bury Silas' body yet." Elena stopped pacing. "And that's all you need to know right now."

"Okay, fine, we're stalling the hunters, but Damon and Aurelia are still dying!" Stefan closed his eyes briefly, sighing heavily.

"It was only one bullet, and it was laced." He said. Aurelia clapped once.

"Goody, you're accepting it now." Stefan glared at her.

"We still have some time." He continued. "I will go to New Orleans and beg Klaus if I have to."

"Then it's settled." Jeremy said, walking into the room. "You're going to your graduation." Aurelia noticed him carrying two sets of a cap and gown, something student typically wore when they graduated. "Caroline bought yours, too. Aurelia." He said, as she walked to him and took it.

"Graduation? No Jer, I never even sent in my college applications." Elena said.

"But you are a vampire." Aurelia said. "Compulsion?"

"I can't, not if Jer can't' be there."

"Lexi will keep me company." Jeremy said. "You're going." Elena looked over to Aurelia and Stefan, who gestured for her to go get her stuff.

"But-"

"Elena." Aurelia sang. "I'm also going, and I'm the one who has a wound on her chest." Elena sighed.

"Let's go graduate."

!

"Klaus, now is not the time to decide that you are over me." Caroline said into her phone as a voicemail. "I'm gonna call you every ten minutes until you get your ass here to save Aurelia and Damon's lives." She kept her phone, spotting Bonnie as the witch walked up to her. "Where is everyone?"

"I'm here!" Matt said, appearing out of nowhere.

"Where have you been?" Caroline asked.

"Oh, you know, making summer plans, escaping a hunter's bomb with Rebekah."

"Where's Elena?" Bonnie asked. "We can't do this without her."

"We're here." Elena said, walking up to the group with Stefan and Aurelia, all in their red caps and gowns. "Thank you for today." She told Bonnie.

"I can't believe it." Caroline said, excitedly. "We're actually all here. We are all here together!" She looked at Bonnie, who wiped away a tear. "Bonnie Bennett, are you crying?"

"It's our last hurrah before you guys go to college." Bonnie said.

"Before we go to college!" Caroline corrected. "You're coming, Aurelia, right?" Aurelia nodded.

"Wouldn't miss it for the world. Besides, it's your first graduation, while it's my 31st." She added. "Admire yourselves today."

"Well, I kinda sorta missed the deadline. You know, being an emotionless bitch and all." Elena said.

"Hence, the perks of being a vampire- we can go wherever we wanna go! We could choose our own roommates. We-we could get a quadruple room!" Aurelia laughed at the bubbly blonde's enthusiasm.

"I'm happy that we're all here." Bonnie said.

"Aw-" Caroline said. "Group hug!"

"Ah, I don't- I don't hug." Stefan tried to make an excuse. Aurelia just pulled him in.

"Get over yourself!" She said, as the six friends came in for a hug.

!

"Welcome parents, family, and friends!" Mayor Hopkins- Bonnie's father- said into the mic as he opened the ceremony. "What a beautiful day for graduation. Thank you for joining us on this day, as we celebrate our graduates. So, let's get started." He began to list out the graduates' names, as each of they went up on stage.

Aurelia stood around the middle of the line, with her last name starting with a 'P'. She looked in front at Caroline, who seemed excited. She smiled, before the pain on her chest increased. She let out an uncomfortable groan.

Once it had gone, temporarily, Aurelia looked behind her, to Stefan, who she had caught looking at her.

Maybe it was just a glance.

The two exchanged genuine smiles.

"Now, not to play favorites, but I'm especially proud of this next graduate." The Mayor said. "My lovely daughter, Bonnie Bennett."

Aurelia clapped for her friend as she walked up onto the stage. A few more names were called out, including Matt's. Aurelia grinned widely when she saw her sister walk up onto the stage. She clapped and cheered loudly for her, as she smiled at her.

"Elena Gilbert." She clapped once again happily. Several moments later, she heard her name.

"Aurelia Parker." She smiled, walking onto the stage and shaking the Mayor's hand.

"Congratulations." He said. She nodded once.

"Thank you." She left the stage, waiting for Stefan.

"Stefan Salvatore." She cheered loudly as he left the stage jumping at him to hug him. However, she immediately pulled away as she felt a harsh pain.

"Are you-" Stefan stopped at the sigh of her wound slowly creeping up her neck. "Oh."

She frowned, bringing her hand to her neck, before hissing in pain. "Ah, it's spread quite a bit." She said, trying hard not to freak out.

She blinked twice as the pain in her neck intensified. Stefan gently moved her collar to take a look at her wound. He refrained from revealing his shock to her, so as to keep her from freaking out.

The venom had caused the wound to spread, not only to her neck, but to her right shoulder. "It's all fine right?" She asked, trying to look at the wound. Stefan covered it before she could, however, putting up with a smile.

"Yeah." She smiled back at him, before hugging him again, gently. When she pulled away, he frowned at her slightly pained expression. "You okay?"

"It just hurts, that's all." She said, when she began to cough a little. Stefan knew that wasn't the most accurate answer.

"'Rel, you're anyway weak, as much as I hate to admit it, and you've got werewolf venom in you veins now." He said. "Come on, let's find Caroline. She's probably still calling Klaus."

"Wait," Aurelia said. "We should call Damon up to check on him." As if on cue, Stefan's phone rang. He pulled it out, looking at the caller-ID. "Ric." Stefan answered it, placing the phone next to his ear.

"You know how Damon went to stall Vaughn?" Alaric's voice came. "Well, we've hit a bump on the road."

"Wait, what?" Stefan said. "Elaborate, please."

"I killed Vaughn and threw him into the quarry, and I took the cure before that. Unfortunately, Damon's been shot a couple more times." Aurelia's eyes widened in horror. "He only has sometime left."

Caroline and Elena walked up to them, their smiles disappearing as they saw their frowns. Caroline noticed Aurelia's wound first, and moved to ask her several questions, but Aurelia shook her head.

"Call Klaus, Care. Now." She said, coughing thrice right after, as Elena walked to her and held her, to prevent her from falling.

"'Lia, what's happened?" She asked. Aurelia's coughs ceased, and she looked at Elena.

"It's Damon." She said. "Turns out, he was shot a few more times, and Alaric doesn't think he has much time left."

!

"I would love nothing more than to get out of here before Vaughn comes back to life. But Damon won't take the cure. He wants it for Elena." Alaric said hurriedly. Aurelia quickly took the phone from Stefan.

"Ric, just hang on for a but, okay? Caroline's calling Klaus again." She said. "If we're unsuccessful, please remind Damon that shoving the cure down his throat and turning him human is the only way he'll live now." She said, looking at Caroline, who hung up on her phone, shaking her head at Aurelia.

"Aurelia, we are past the point of Hail Mary phone calls!" Alaric said. "What do you want me to do; watch him die or force feed him the cure?
Aurelia looked at the other three vampires, remaining silent. "Aurelia?!"

A high-pitched noise shot right through her head, and a torturous pain embedded itself in it, as she dropped her phone, holding back a scream as she held her head.

Stefan, Caroline and Elena felt the pain, too, and Aurelia saw a brunette walk towards her. She looked at her, and then at Caroline, holding her hand up.

She was the witch who tried to kill Bonnie right before she killed Aurelia. "Remember us, Caroline?" She said, as several other witches came behind her.

Suddenly, the pain stopped, and the witch was decapitated by a graduation cap. Aurelia let out a breath of relief, her breaths labored as she eyes landed on a man in a suit, his dimples showing as he smirked.

"There are plenty more of these to go around." He said, his British accent thick. "Who's next?" A pause as he began to devilishly smile. "I can do this all day."

Aurelia smiled at the sight of none other than Klaus Mikaelson standing there, before she noticed him looking at Caroline, who had turned to him, smiling.

~