Chapter 2 – The Dinner Party

A/N: First of all, I would like to thank everyone who reviewed and/or started following my story. I really appreciate it! Secondly, I would like to explain a couple of things. So first of all, this story takes place in the beginning of season 2. Although you will have to give me a little grace because I had squeeze in some extra days deviating from what happens in the first episode to provide background story to Celeste, introduce her to characters, etc, so the plot won't happen all in one day the way it does in the first episode of season 2. Secondly, I am going to be pretty much following the storyline from the show, however, as the seasons go on I will probably do some things differently/add some things so be prepared for that. If I do get to season 4 it will definitely deviate from the season while still keeping the core plotline, I just really dislike season 4 and where the story ends up going, so I will probably be changing some things. Not mention the fact that my OC and Damon will be getting together eventually so season 4 would have to be very different to work with that. Lastly, I'm going to do my best to update once a week. Without further ado here is the second chapter, please read and review!

Disclaimer: I do not own Vampire Diaries.

Celeste groaned as her alarm clock kept incessantly beeping. She slapped her hand around on her bedside table before her hand found the snooze button. Sitting up, she rubbed her eyes and stretched before getting out of bed. In a matter of minutes she had emerged out of her room dressed and ready for the day. Checking her watch briefly she happily realized she had just enough time to grab a cup of coffee before having to be at the school for her first class. Quickly draining her glass of coffee, she grabbed her supplies and headed out to her car to leave.

Her first class went very well. She felt like she was connecting with the students and that they were enjoying it. As she was organizing her stuff in between classes, she heard a soft knock on the door.

"Come in!" Celeste called out as she kept rifling through her supplies.

"Um, Miss Morrison?" Celeste looked up to the see the owner of the voice. It was a girl who had long brown hair, olive skin and kind, brown eyes.

"Please, call me Celeste," Celeste smiled at the girl before asking, "What can I help you with?"

"Well, my name is Elena Gilbert and I actually live across the street from you. I was wondering if you wanted to come over for dinner and meet my family and just welcome you to the town." Elena smiled kindly at Celeste. Celeste was kind of taken aback by this invitation and wasn't even all too sure how Elena knew that she lived across the street from her. Mentally shrugging in her head, she thought, what it could hurt to meet some people and get connected.

"Oh, that is really nice of you. I would love to. When were you thinking?" Celeste answered her.

"Great. Does tonight work for you?" Elena asked hopefully.

"Well, since I don't know anyone here in this town it's not like I have plans or anything," Celeste laughed answering her.

"Sounds perfect, see you around 7," Elena smiled before leaving the classroom. Celeste was happy that she would be able to get to know some people from the town, but at the same time she was nervous about getting close or attached to anyone. She had found in the past that she usually brought pain to the people in her life, which is why she tended to stay isolated. Shaking these thoughts from her head she convinced herself she was just being paranoid and needed to get out more and that this was the perfect opportunity. Stealing a quick look at her watch, she realized her next class was going to start in a few minutes and she needed to get her materials together.

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Elena breathed a sigh of relief as she walked out of the art teacher's classroom. She was going to come to the dinner. Luckily, Elena didn't have to worry about her Uncle John since he had left town after Katherine attacked him because Stefan threatened him to get him to leave. Even though they still had the slight problem of Katherine, those problems could wait a night. As she walked to her locker she looked up and saw Stefan waiting for her by her locker.

"How did it go?" He asked.

Elena smiled and answered, "She's going to come, although I haven't even thought about what to cook for dinner."

"Don't worry about it, I'll take care of it," Stefan smiled before kissing her on her forehead. Elena smiled gratefully at him before grabbing her books and they both left for their next class.

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Celeste dumped her supplies on her kitchen table after arriving home from a long day of teaching. Looking at her watch she saw that it was 4:00, she had enough time to go on a run and still be back in time to shower and be able to get ready for the dinner tonight. She quickly changed then headed out the door for her run. She shivered slightly as she started to stretch; the weather was starting to get a cool crisp to it. After one last quick stretch, she put in her ear buds and started jogging, not knowing that she was being closely watched by a figure in a car parked near her house.

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Katherine Pierce stared at Celeste as she started jogging in the opposite direction. Katherine had heard about her before. She was a supernatural entity, there were very few like her left in the world. Katherine smirked as she got out her phone and dialed the familiar number. The phone rang once before the man on the other line answered.

"Yes?" He answered impatiently.

"Hello, James. It's so nice to hear your voice again. I trust you are well?" Katherine purred to James Armenta.

"What do you want, Katherine?" His voice had suddenly gained a hard edge to it.

"I know where your precious specimen of divine nature is. I'm just dying to get a taste of her blood; word on the town is she's a rare breed." Katherine smoothly said, fully knowing she was toying with the man's brain.

"Don't you touch her, you don't know what her blood does to animals like you." He growled into the phone, "Now tell me where she is. Now."

"Now, now, James. Don't get testy; patience is a virtue you know. Besides, right at this moment, it seems to me that I'm holding all the cards. I'm sure you wouldn't want Celeste to suddenly die—her species is going extinct, as you all too clearly know."

"What do you want, Katherine?" James asked, his voice as hard as steel.

"I want to know what her blood does to vampires and what she is capable of. In return, I will keep her in relatively good condition until you arrive and take her back to that hell hole that you call home," Katherine knew that James would go for this arrangement enthusiastically. He was, after all a desperate man, and desperate men do desperate things, no matter what the cost is.

"We don't know what blood of her kind does to vampires yet, we haven't been able to get a vampire who was willing to taste a sample," James smoothly lied. Katherine hesitated before replying.

"You're lying," she said in sing song voice before it dropped into a dangerous tone, "do not underestimate me, James. I will kill her without a second's thought. Now, let's try this again, answer my question."

James heaved a defeated sigh before answering, "Fine. There have been different side effects when vampires drink her kind's blood. We have had cases where they drank her blood and they died within a day. There have been others that have drunk her blood and they were enhanced. They were stronger, faster, and harder to kill. We are still trying to figure out why it enhances some vampires and kills others. She also can't be compelled by any normal vampire. That's all I know, I swear."

"Interesting….well she is in Mystic Falls, Virginia. I will refrain from killing her, but don't keep me waiting, James." With that, Katherine hung up the phone. She smiled to herself, her plan was coming together quite nicely.

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Celeste patted her hair dry as she stepped out of the shower. She had half an hour before she had to be at Elena's. It passed all too quickly and before she knew it she was walking across the street with a bottle of wine in her hand. She didn't know what to bring tonight so she decided on wine, it was pretty much always a safe bet to bring some sort of alcohol. Celeste paused before she hesitantly knocked on the door to Elena's house. A woman with reddish hair opened the door and smiled at her encouragingly.

"Hi, you must be Celeste. I'm Jenna, Elena's aunt." Jenna introduced herself.

"It's very nice to meet you. I brought wine, I wasn't sure what to bring so I thought you could never go wrong with a bottle of wine," Celeste smiled.

"That's a safe assumption," Jenna laughed before inviting her in. Celeste glanced around as she walked behind Jenna towards the kitchen and dining room. It was a nice homely house. As they walked into the kitchen, Celeste saw another teacher she recognized from the school and Elena was with a boy who she assumed was her boyfriend.

"Hey Celeste, it's so good to see you," Elena said warmly before saying, "this is my boyfriend, Stefan. And that's Alaric Saltzman, you probably recognize him from the school." Celeste shook Stefan's and Alaric's hand as Elena introduced them to her. Celeste frowned in confusion as she heard another knock at the door. She thought that these people were all that were going to be here tonight. Elena barely suppressed a groan before going to the door, knowing it was going to be Damon. When she opened it, Damon was standing there holding some sort of pie with a smirk on his face.

"Glad you could make it," Elena said sarcastically as he pushed past her and walked in the house. Celeste glanced up as the newcomer walked into the kitchen then quickly glared at him.

"Celeste, this is my brother, Damon," Stefan introduced Celeste to Damon. Celeste nodded curtly to Damon without smiling.

"Oh we have already met, brother." Damon smiled at Celeste. "We had a very pleasant conversation."

"By pleasant conversation are you referring to the fact that you were a dick or when you tried to barge in my house? I'm a little fuzzy on the details," Celeste snapped.

"Okay, let's open the wine, shall we?" Alaric said, quickly pouring Celeste a glass and handed it to her. Thankfully, before the tension in the room could get any thicker, Stefan announced that dinner was ready. He had offered to cook so Elena didn't have to worry about it. Not to mention that he was a better cook than she was anyway.

As they were all enjoying the food Damon said to Celeste, "So word on the town is that you are an art teacher, Celeste. What's that like?"

"Well, Damon," She spat his name, "it's pretty much self-explanatory…I teach art to students. This food is delicious, Stefan. Where did you learn to cook like this?" But before Stefan could answer, Damon spoke up again.

"Hmm, interesting. I couldn't teach brats their age. All their drama and hormones….it's not really my forte," Damon grinned.

"Probably because you have the maturity of a 7 year old…" Celeste muttered to herself. Then speaking up, she asked, "What do you do, Damon? Besides being a jerk in your spare time."

"Oh, you know, nothing as cool as an art teacher," he smoothly evaded her question, then continued, "what made you decide to come to Mystic Falls? Not many people have even heard of this town, let alone move here all on their own." Damon asked, giving her a searching look. Stefan glared at Damon, apparently Damon was unclear that they were subtly trying to find out information about Celeste.

"To be honest, I don't know why I moved to this specific town. It just sort of stood out to me. I was looking for a small town to start over in. Is that answer satisfactory to you, Damon?" Celeste eyed Damon with an eyebrow slightly raised and waiting for him to answer.

"Well…I was hoping for a more exciting answer but I suppose that will do." Damon then added, "Although one would wonder why out of all the small towns, you chose this particular one? I mean, it does seem like a coincidence don't you think?" He stared at her questioningly.

"God, you are impossible." Celeste grumbled.

"Damon, knock it off. Celeste is a guest in this house and you need to stop being such a dick." Alaric said sternly. Damon rolled his eyes at Alaric but decided to shut up and just try to enjoy the dinner.

The rest of the dinner was spent in idle chit chat and getting to know each other. Although Damon and Celeste didn't talk to each other they were both able to swallow their prides and at least be civil to each other. After they had eaten dessert, Celeste decided it was time for her to make her exit.

"Well, I am going to go. Thank you, all of you, I had a really great time and I appreciate you guys taking the time to get to know me. I look forward to getting together again." Elena stood up as Celeste began walking to the door and walked her out.

"I'm so sorry about Damon, Celeste. He can be really pushy and rude, but he does have a good heart. He is really rough on the outside, but on the inside he is a really good guy," Elena said as they stood outside on the porch. "Anyway thank you for coming, I will see you at school." Elena smiled at Celeste.

"Yes, I will see you at school," Celeste nodded to her, before walking off toward her house. Elena watched as Celeste went inside her house, before she herself walked back inside and shut the door.

Celeste ran a hand through her hair before she sat down at the table. That was an interesting dinner. She couldn't figure Damon out, she wondered why he wanted to know so badly why she had moved to Mystic Falls. He couldn't possibly know what she was, right? Celeste shook her head, willing those particular thoughts to disappear. There were very few people in the world who knew what she was and she was determined to keep it that way. Suddenly, her phone started ringing and she looked down at the screen. It read: James Armenta Calling. She growled in frustration and answered it.

"What?" She snapped into the phone.

"I know where you are, Celeste. I will come and bring you back where you belong."

"How do you kn…" But James had already hung up the phone. She resisted the urge to throw her phone against the wall. Was there no where she could go where he wouldn't find her? She put her face in her hands and leaned her head on the table.

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Elena finished brushing her teeth and walked out of her bathroom back into her bedroom and was startled to find Damon sitting on her bed.

"Oh god, you scared me." She gasped looking at him questioningly.

"Just doing my part in the neighborhood watch," Damon said to her, his words slurring slightly.

"Well, thanks for, um, looking out for us, for me." Elena stumbled over her words, still slightly puzzled why he was there.

"That's me, your trusty bodyguard. Calm in crisis," he said sarcastically.

"Have you been drinking?" Elena asked cautiously. Damon nodded, holding up two fingers to make the "a little" sign. "And you're upset…that's not a good combination," Elena sighed wearily.

"No, I'm not upset. Upset is an emotion specific to those who care," Damon all but spat out.

"Damon, come on. That's a lie. You care."

"You're surprised that I thought you would kiss me back?" Damon stood up and asked accusingly. He was, of course, referring to the fact that he kissed Katharine thinking that she was Elena. "You just can't imagine that I believed that you would want to?"

"Damon…." Elena softly spoke, not entirely wanting to open this particular can of worms right at the moment. But he continued on as if she hadn't even spoken.

"That what we have been doing here means something? You're the liar, Elena. There is something going on between the two of us and you know it!" Damon's voice rose slightly as he spoke to her. He got even closer to her and continued, "And you're lying to me, and you're lying to Stefan, and most of all, you're lying to yourself. I can prove it."

"No," Elena said desperately, but knowing that Damon wouldn't listen to her. He grabbed her face and starting kissing her, Elena struggled slightly before totally pulling away from him.

"Damon, don't! What is wrong with you?"

"Lie about this," He said and tried leaning down to kiss her again.

"Stop it! You're better than this, come on." Elena said desperately.

"That's where you're wrong," Damon said as he leaned down, but Elena shoved him away and all but yelled at him, "No, no, Damon! I care about you. Listen to me, I care about you. I do… But I love Stefan. It's always going to be Stefan."

Damon grimaced as he heard her words. Those were the exact words Katherine had said to him earlier that night when she rejected him. Elena looked at him with concern in her eyes, she could see that he was hurting but she didn't know why. Suddenly, Jeremy appeared at the doorway, hearing the commotion that they had made.

"Elena, what's going on?" He asked, taking in the fact that Damon had Elena's wrist firmly in his grasp. Elena quickly pulled her wrist out of Damon's hand.

"Nothing, Jeremy. Just go back to bed."

"No, it's not okay, Elena," Damon glanced at her before looking back at Jeremy, "He wants to be a vampire." With a flash he was in front of Jeremy, pinning him against the wall.

"No, Damon. Stop it!" Elena cried out.

"You want to shut out the pain? It's the easiest thing in the world. The part of you that cares just goes away, all you have to do is flip the switch and snap!" With that, he snapped Jeremy's neck like he was breaking a toothpick.

"Damon! NO!" Elena screamed and ran to Jeremy on the floor and slumped to the ground next to him, sobbing. Damon looked at her then staggered backwards and was out into the night within a second.

Elena cradled Jeremy's head in her lap, slowly rocking back and forth. In the midst of her tears, she looked down and saw that Jeremy had her Uncle John's old magic ring on. She began crying even harder, in relief. The ring protected whoever was wearing it from any type of supernatural death. She sat there cradling Jeremy's head to her chest, waiting for him to wake up.

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Celeste didn't know how long she had fallen asleep with her head on her kitchen table. But, she woke with a start and shook her head. Her dreams had consisted of James' looming face and needles and things she had buried back in her mind long ago. Rubbing the sleep from her eyes, she stood up and stretched before walking up the stairs. Suddenly, there was a knock at the door. Frowning slightly, she walked back down the stairs and opened the door. Her eyebrows rose in surprise when she saw Damon standing there.

"What do you want?" Celeste asked crossing her arms over chest protectively. Celeste stared at him more closely and saw how bad he looked. His hair was disheveled and his eyes were full of….sadness? That couldn't be right, she thought. Damon Salvatore didn't feel sadness or regret, or anything for that matter.

"What do you want?" She asked again, waiting for him to reply.

"I'm upset." He simply stated. Celeste resisted the urge to roll her eyes.

"Why are you upset?" She asked, trying to sound like she cared even though she still didn't trust him.

"I ruined everything I had. I think I just lost the one person who actually cared about me," Damon said softly, surprising her with his brutal honesty. Celeste thought for a moment before replying to him.

"Well, Damon, if that person truly cares about you, you can't do anything that they would make them stop caring about you. Everything is worse at night. Go home and get some sleep," She gently spoke. Damon stared at her for a moment, with an emotion in his eyes she was unable to read, before he walked away and disappeared into the night.