"What happened? What is this place?" The girl was scared, he could see that.
"Welcome to my crib." Damon answered with a mocking tone.
"Why are we here? How did we get here?" She lifted herself up from the hardwood floor and walked slowly taking in the enormous room.
"Calm down, will you? I decided to turn you, that's all. " His smile was wide but it didn't reach his eyes.
She turned around and stared at him. She was right beside him in only a second, her hand touching his shoulder.
"Can you turn me back? Please?" She begged.
He moved a bit, letting her hand fall from off his shoulders.
"No, it can't be done. Why would you want that when you can have so much fun like this." He was lying. The fun was no longer there. But he couldn't say that to her, she should enjoy her new life, embrace it just like he did a long, long time ago.
"But I don't want this. I was perfectly happy as a human. Why did you do this to me?" Her voice trembled.
Because he was alone. He needed someone to talk to, someone who could listen to him without judging his every word.
"I was bored." He looked down to see her green eyes staring at him.
"That's your excuse, you were bored."
He laughed.
"You don't kill people when you're bored, Damon!" She yelled at him.
And then she cried, a lot. After that she slapped him a couple of times and later on she broke five gigantic chandeliers that were from Damon's human days. All that while cursing very loudly.
Damon was waiting for her little scene to be over, a glass with human blood in his hand.
"Are you done?"
She sighed and sat next to him, her face a complete mess.
"Yes." She answered silently.
"So, tell me a bit about yourself..." He waited for her to interrupt.
"Abby." She layed back in the leather couch and crossed her arms.
"I don't want to."
He frowned.
"That's fine by me, I was just trying to be polite." He took a sip and offered her his glass.
She shook her head, he smirked.
She was biting her lip, trying hard to resist. She turned her body so she wouldn't face him anymore.
Now, all he could see was her straight jet black hair falling down her tiny waist.
"Come on, Abby. You're gonna have to do it sooner or later. And waiting isn't the smartest thing to do..."
"I don't want to." She sounded like a five-year-old.
The bell rang. Damon was at the door in no time.
He was definetly not expecting this.
"Hello, Damon." Her smooth, sensuous voice greeted him.
"Katherine. What do you want?" His tone was ice cold. He wanted nothing to do with her.
She stepped inside like she owned the place.
"Sure, come in." He grunted.
He couldn't help noticing her almost cat-like walk. It was impossible to see that back in the old days. Women always wore those long, heavy dresses.
"What do you want, Katherine?" He was getting slightly irritated.
"She's here." She announced and smiled. It was an unfamiliar smile to him. Considering her smiles were always linked to revenge, yes this one was quite different.
"Abby." She said.
Now he was confused.
What the hell did Katherine want from that Abby girl? She was just a slut he'd picken up earlier from a bar near the highway.
"Yes?" To Katherine's surprise the girl appeared in the hallway.
"Hi, I'm Katherine." She hugged Abby, who was slightly uncomfortable from all the sudden closeness and then stepped away to look at her more carefully.
"You look just like him." Her green eyes shot a glance at Damon and he simply shrugged.
"We have so much to talk about!" Katherine squealed, and Katherine never squealed.
"Ok..." Abby gave in.
"What the hell is going on?" Damon asked out of curiosity after watching Katherine slip a ring exactly like hers into the girl's ring finger.
"I'll tell you later. She's coming with me by the way." Katherine informed him and both of them walked outside the house.
And there he was, all alone once again. He knew he deserved it, but it just wasn't nice to feel that way. Rejected. Forgotten. Unloved.
"I'm home!" Damon rolled his eyes. Katherine was really annoying him and she seemed to be extremelly happy for some reason.
She walked through the big room and went upstairs where Damon was lying in bed.
"Where are Stefan and...Elena?" She was obviously still hurt about the whole Stefan choosing Elena over her thing.
"They had plans. Why?" She shrugged her shoulders.
"Just making conversation." She tucked a lock of hair behind her ear and sat at the foot of his bed.
Damon frowned.
"Katherine." She looked at him curiously.
"Yes?"
"I thought you were done with this. You told Stefan you understood his decision, so why are you here? I know it's not about me and it never was, you made that perfectly clear..." Damon began.
"I am done with both of you. I haven't been around in about six or seven months, right?" She was playing with her hands.
"It's been hard, being away from..." She looked up at Damon.
"Stefan." Damon added and Katherine nodded.
"Yes. But I'm good now. I was trying to stay busy but that didn't work much so I tried going back to my roots." Damon winced.
"Your roots?" Katherine laughed awkwardly and carried on.
"The place where I lived while I was human." Damon nodded silently.
"It was a very small place no one ever visited, but it was beautiful. I was very happy there, so I wanted to go back." She sighed.
"I was fifteen when I met this boy named Sergei.
He was my first love, and luckily our families found they could benefit from our union so we got married a few months later." Damon was surprised, he hadn't heard anything about it.
"What happened with him?" He asked, he was actually interested for once.
"Well, I got pregnant. You have no idea what it was like to feel someone growing inside of you, it was so... amazing. I had the perfect life. We weren't wealthy but we were happy, and that was enough for me. When the baby was born, that's when everything changed. That's when I changed." Her face suddenly fell. Damon felt like he should say something to make her feel better but... that wouldn't be right. So what if she had actual feelings? She had been a complete bitch towards him, she didn't deserve his comfort.
"After the baby was born, a vampire showed up in my bedroom and I guess he couldn't resist all the blood around... And that was it. Just like that, my entire life had changed." She seemed lost in thought.
Damon sat up firmly, his head against the headboard now.
"I'm sorry to interrupt your story but I don't see why you're telling me this."
Katherine got up and stared out the big window that faced the even bigger backyard.
"After I became a vampire, I went to my old house and I saw Sergei singing to the baby. I wanted to go inside and be with them forever, but I knew I couldn't. So I left. I left and never looked back. It was the hardest thing to do, it hurt so much that I decided to shut down my humanity." Damon got up from his bed.
"Is that an excuse for what you did to us?" He growled.
"No!" She yelled.
"I'm just trying to tell you something... I wanted to be with Stefan because he reminded me of Sergei. I realised that a long time ago and I came back to see if I was right. I was." Damon looked surprised. Was Katherine actually admitting that she didn't love Stefan?
"When I left this town, I decided to find information about Sergei and my baby girl. He never remarried, but my girl who Sergei named Katerina had three kids, and they had kids and-" Damon interrupted.
"I get it, they all had kids. Move on." Katherine sighed.
"Alright. I found out that Abby, the girl you turned...is my descendant." Damon froze.
"So? I thought Elena was your-" Now Katherine interrupted him.
"I don't know that, and I don't really care. I want nothing to do with her." She made a disgusted face.
"Fine, relax." Damon asked her.
"Look Damon, I'm not here to hurt you or anything... It's just that Abby refuses to believe me. She said you told her a lot of things about me before turning her and how I ruined your life, so now..."
"You want me to tell her that you're not lying." Katherine nodded.
"I swear you will never see me again. Please, Damon." She was begging him. And she did say she'd never come back if he did, so...
"Fine." He agreed.
"Abby, please come in." Katherine ordered nicely. Damon frowned.
"She was outside the whole time?" Abby rolled her eyes. Katherine cleared her throat.
"Look...Abby. She's not lying. I've seen her lie, you know I have and she's telling the truth. You should go with her, you'll be alright." He was being honest, after all that's what Katherine asked him to do.
"Really? She won't hurt me?" The girl seemed confused, and she had every right to be.
First, a drunk vampire shares his entire story with her. Then, he turns her into one of his kind and now another vampire comes in and tells her they're related.
"No. She won't. Right, Katherine?" He looked straight at her.
"Never." Katherine responded.
"OK. I guess I'll go with you, then." She smiled weakly at Katherine, waved Damon goodbye and walked outside the house.
"I'll make it up to you." She smiled, wearing the same huge smile she had just a few hours ago.
"You don't have to. You can just go." He held the door for her and closed it after she left.
She was gone. Finally.
The only thing that bothered him was that without Katherine or Elena or even Stefan around, he couldn't distract himself anymore. There was no way he could stop himself from thinking the one thing that made him miserable lately, the same reason why he had been drunk earlier, why he'd turned that innocent girl.
He was feeling tired. He had been awake for almost two days, he needed to rest.
Suddenly he felt something pulling his arm.
"Leave me alone!" He mumbled.
"Fine, I'll leave then." Damon opened his eyes. Katherine again.
"I thought you were already gone." He turned around in his bed, trying to fall asleep again.
"I said I'd make it up to you before I left." She turned him around and he growled.
"Really? What did you do?" He wasn't paying attention at all. He was tired and grumpy.
"I brought her here. When Abby told me all the things you two talked about, I must admit I was quite surprised." Katherine smirked.
He sat up straight, his eyes open wide.
"I was drunk. Whatever she told you, it wasn't true." He shook his head.
"Oh, is that right? Well, then I should tell her to go home." She walked a couple of steps towards the bedroom door.
"Who are you talking about?" He asked.
Damon got downstairs taking his time, walking at human pace.
And there she was, looking out the window. She was always beautiful, but now... He didn't know if it was the sunlight that gave her skin an angelic glow or the fact that he hadn't seen her in such a long time.
"Damon." She said tonelessly turning around to see him.
Her blonde, silky hair was let loose. She had a blue strapless top that matched the color of her eyes. She was wearing black skinny pants that traced her incredible long legs until they reached a pair of brown leather boots.
"Caroline." He gasped. He thought he'd never see her again. Not after all that happened between them.
"I'm only here because Katherine threatened to kill me if I didn't." She crossed her arms over her chest.
"That's right, I did. Thanks to you I have a second chance of happiness Damon, and I wanted to give the same thing to you." Katherine walked towards Caroline and gently pushed her into a black chair.
"You'll stay here because I say so, and you'll listen to Damon." Katherine turned around and smiled at him.
"I'll be outside in case she tries to leave." Caroline glared at her and now stared at Damon.
"Thanks, but that won't be necessary." Both Katherine and Caroline frowned in confusion.
"Look, Caroline. There's a lot of things I need to tell you, but I fully understand if you don't want to hear them. If you want to leave, you know the way out." Caroline got up from the chair and turned towards the exit.
Damon sighed.
"Actually, I think I'm kind of curious..." She confessed and turned her gaze back to him.
"Since I'm not going anywhere, I guess you can leave now Katherine." Caroline ordered and Katherine winced.
"Fine. Enjoy eternity, Damon. Blondie."
"So...you were saying?" The girl asked as she sat back on the chair. He cleared his throat and sat on a coffee table in front of her.
"I've been thinking a lot lately and... I figured out why I was such a dick all this time. I thought that I was in love with her and that I wanted revenge because she picked Stefan over me but then I realised that there was really nothing there." Caroline frowned but didn't interrupt him.
"During my human days, I saw in Katherine a chance to be happy so I didn't care what she was. I was so convinced that I loved her and that she loved me back that I just gave myself to her without thinking it straight. "
"All these years I was looking for her in order to find an answer, something that might corroborate my theory and when I found her again it just wasn't the same." He sighed.
"When I died, I didn't care about wasting my life because I knew Katherine would be waiting for me, waiting for us to start a life together. But then I saw that she didn't care about me at all, she was only using me."
Caroline laughed sarcastically.
"Gee, that sounds familiar." Damon looked into her eyes.
"I know. That's exactly my point. I don't understand why I did all those things to you, I guess I was just trying to find some sort of answer that might prove me wrong. Something saying that my life hadn't been wasted over nothing. But it was, and I shouldn't have dragged you into this." Caroline rolled her eyes.
"So that's your excuse, right? For ruining my life I mean."
"No, I'm not asking for your forgiveness. I don't deserve it. I only want you to understand that it wasn't the real me who did that. I was taken over by this darkness all this time and I only hurt everyone I loved."
Caroline frowned. Was he being serious? He did look sorry.
"That's not true." He looked at her.
"You helped Stefan and Elena thousands of times, and you helped me too. It's not your fault that I'm a vampire Damon, we both know that. It was just easier to blame you. You were only trying to help and I appreciate that, sort of." He grimaced.
"I wanted to thank you, Caroline. For being around when I needed you."
"I didn't choose to be with you, you forced me."
"I didn't force you all the time. You should know that. We spent a lot of time together without you being compelled and I didn't value those moments. You would listen to whatever I said, and nodd along. I felt like someone actually understood me for once." He said.
"Well, that's because I did. I do. I know what it's like to be used, and not just by you, but by most people I know. I always let them because I thought that it'd make me important or different than the rest but in the end of the day, it was just me. So I get how you feel Damon, I really do." Caroline explained.
"I'm glad to hear that. I wanted you to hear me out, and you did." He walked towards the front door. Caroline walked a few steps after him, confused.
"I'm sorry about everything, I really am. But you don't have to see me anymore. I'll leave soon, I promise." He told her.
"Why?" She asked.
"Because... I've been horrible to you and this town, I shouldn't be here."
"Damon, this is your town. Your home, you belong here and deep down you know that. You shouldn't go away, that's not what I want." He searched her blue eyes.
"What is that supposed to mean?" She smiled a bit.
"Don't you see it? We're the same thing. You'll never find someone that will understand you the way I do, Damon." Now he was smiling.
"But what about-" She placed a finger to his lips.
"That doesn't matter anymore. We can't hold on to every mistake we've made, if we do that then we'll never get to move on." She said.
"Caroline, you make me feel things I didn't know I could feel anymore. Whenever I see you, everything's better. You make the world a better place." A tear was running down her cheek as they both stared into each others' souls.
"I didn't know this before, but I do now. I love you, and I always will. " He was running his fingers through her beautiful hair.
"I love you too Damon, I always have." He pressed his lips into hers and they kissed like it was the end of the world.
Finally, his life had a purpose. He would never feel rejected, forgotten or unloved again.
They continued to kiss passionately even though they knew that the world would never end, at least not for them.