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Chapter Two- Memorial
Audrey's P.O.V
I climbed up the stairs to the balcony of some building and spotted a gagged and unconscious April Young sitting on the floor a few feet in front of me. I started towards her to help her when I saw the puddle of blood forming around her. My eyes turned red and my fangs grew before I ran at April, going for her neck…
I opened my eyes and sat up in bed, turning to see Damon sound asleep next to me. I ran a hand through my hair in an attempt to calm myself down. It was just a bad dream, I kept telling myself, I was a vampire now, not a psychic. Plus April hadn't been around Mystic Falls for years so there was no way she was here now. I looked at the clock on the bedside table to see that it was almost five, so I decided to get out of bed and head into the bathroom to take a shower. When I was done I wrapped a towel around myself and walked out of the bathroom to see that Damon was still sleeping. I quietly walked across the room so I didn't wake him, I had almost made it to the door when I stepped on a floorboard and it groaned loudly under my feet. I flinched, looking back at the bed, but Damon was still asleep. I let out a sigh of relief before turning back to the door but instead Damon was standing right in front of me.
" How the hell did you do that?" looking at the now empty bed and back to him
" I'm faster than you give me credit for." Damon said with a smirk, " Why are you up so early?"
"No reason." I lied, trying to go around him but he stopped me
" Audrey?"
" I had a bad dream and I couldn't sleep, okay?" I snapped, " Now, I would like to get dressed if you don't mind."
Damon didn't say a word as he moved out of my way.
" Thank you." I said, opening the door and heading to my room to find something to wear.
A few hours later I was in my room when I heard Damon and Stefan talking in the living room.
" It would be a big mistake." I heard Damon tell Stefan
" No it wouldn't." Stefan argued, " If I can get Audrey used to animal blood right out the gate…"
" You're reaching." Damon interrupted.
" Maybe she'll bypass all the things we went through." Stefan finished
" Delusional!" Damon exclaimed as I started to walk downstairs
" Maybe she will actually have a shot at this."
"Wrong!" Damon said, " You're just wrong, Stefan."
" She won't be able to handle it if she hurts someone, Damon." Stefan snapped, " Her compassion her Achilles heel and everything is magnified right now."
" Than you better hope she's not a fan of Bambi." Damon said, " She needs human blood, Stefan, from the vein."
" Oh come on, you now what happens." Stefan said, " You name me one vampire that didn't kill at least one person when they were new."
I stopped when I heard this and immediately thought about April and my dream.
" You name me one that went on the bunny diet and didn't kill dozens." Damon told him
"If she kills someone she will crumble." Stefan told him, " How much pain do you think she can take before she shuts off her humanity?"
" It happens to the best of us at least once." Damon said matter-of-factly , " We get over it, Stefan."
"No, I think I'd like it if she skipped that part."
" She can't learn to control the bloodlust , if she never actually experiences the bloodlust." Damon said
" Would you two stop it." I snapped as I walked into the room, causing both brothers to look at me " If you guys would knock it off with the back and forth I could tell you that I want to try the animal blood."
" What?" Damon said angrily
" As much as I hate to admit it, Stefan's right, I don't want to hurt anyone." I told Damon, " I know you're not going to be on board with this."
" Nope. I say rip off the proverbial band-aid and let it bleed." Damon said, " You're a vampire Audrey, be a vampire."
" Do you want to go now?" Stefan asked me and I nodded, Stefan walked ahead of me and I began to follow.
" Vampires eat people." Damon said, stopping both me and Stefan, " It's part of the natural food pyramid." Than he looked right at me, " You're going to be miserable."
Stefan headed out the front door and I looked at Damon once more before following after him.
After a good hour long trek through the woods next to the boarding house, Stefan and I saw a deer eating a little ways ahead of us.
" Close your eyes." Stefan told me and I did
I felt a rush of air next to me and when I opened my eyes, the deer was bleeding from its neck and Stefan held it down. I made my way over to them and sunk down to my knees before sinking my teeth into the deer's neck. Quiet honestly the blood was disgusting, especially compared to human but if it meant that I wouldn't hurt anyone than I had to at least try to stomach it. A minute or so later I pulled back and the deer got back to it's feet and ran off.
" Don't worry about him." Stefan said as I stood up, " Bigger animals are more resilient."
Stefan handed me a napkin and I cleaned the blood off from around my mouth.
" You did it. I know it's hard but you can do this." Stefan told me, and I nodded
" I can't do it." I told Stefan, who was standing next to me, trying to teach me how to use vampire speed
"Alright, it's like the starting line of a race, right? So you just push off with every ounce of strength that you have." Stefan told me, " Just concentrate, okay?"
" I can't concentrate when you're looking at me like that." I said, " It's freaking me out."
"Okay." Stefan said with a laugh, " How about we race back to the boarding house?"
"Sounds fun." I told him, " Especially the part where I get to tell Elena about your epic loss."
" Not a chance." Stefan said, " Ready, set, go!"
With that we both took off. Stefan and I were neck and neck and we where halfway back to the boarding house when I started to feel sick. I stopped in my tracks and fell to my knees before puking up the deer blood.
Third Person P.O.V
Damon was sitting at the Mystic Grill bar drinking when Sheriff Forbes walked over to him.
" That seat's taken." Damon told her as she is about to sit down on his left
Liz looked at Damon for a minute before setting down a newspaper in front of him and walking around to the seat on the other side of him.
"Faulty gas line leads to tragic explosion at Young farm." Damon read the heading of the newspaper aloud before setting it down and looking at Liz, " Really?"
" It's better than 'Town Council blown up. Police have no suspects.'" Liz said, before looking at Damon accusingly, " Unless the perpetrator is right next to me."
"Well, don't look at me. I always take credit for killing people." Damon told her but Liz continued to give Damon the same look , "Seriously, stop looking at me like that, Liz. If I was going to kill twelve people, I wouldn't blow them up, I'd have a dinner party."
"The explosion was sparked from inside." Liz informed him, " This wasn't an accident."
"You say that like it's a bad thing." Damon said, "The Council's dead, Liz. I see that as a win."
"I've known some of the Council since I was a kid." Liz snapped, " They were my friends."
" Well, your friends tried to kill your daughter." Damon reminded her, then noticing someone coming towards them, "Who's the new guy?"
"Excuse me, Sheriff." the man said, " Hi, um, I was wondering if I could speak to you for a minute about the explosion at the Young farm."
"I'm sorry, Mr..?" Liz began, trying to find out the mans name
" Oh, Connor Jordan." Connor introduced himself, holding out his hand, on which he was wearing a black biker glove, and Liz took it, shaking his hand.
"Are you with the insurance investigators?" Liz asked Conner
" No, no, I'm more of an independent contractor." Connor said before seeing Damon, "Can we speak in private?"
" Sure." Liz said
" Thanks." Connor said and the two walked away
"Nice to meet you too, Mr. Busybody Guy." Damon said to himself before talking another sip of his drink
Over at Mystic Falls High; Jeremy, Matt, and Jace were loading boxes into Jace's car.
"So, what are these again?" Matt asked, as they walked back to get more boxes
"They're paper lanterns." Jeremy explained, "The student council made them for after the Memorial. We light them up in honor of all the dead."
"Nobody thought fire might be a little inappropriate?" Jace questioned
"Yeah, I wouldn't make that crack in front of Audrey." Jeremy told Jace
" How is she?" Matt asked
" I guess she's fine, considering." Jeremy told him
"If there's anything I can do, you know, short of giving her a ride, you'll let me know, right?" Matt said, " I'm only alive because she told Stefan to save me first. She's a vampire because of me, so I'd like to pay it back or forward or whatever."
"Yeah." Jeremy told him
The trio picked up more boxes and were about to head back to the parking lot when someone stopped them.
" Jeremy!" A girl about Jeremy's age called , Jeremy seemed a little confused that this girl knew his name, "Picture an emo pixie cut and braces."
"April?" Jeremy said, setting down the box and walking over to her
"Yeah."
"You look great!" Jeremy said before turning back to Matt and Jace, "Matt, you remember April? Audrey used to…"
"Audrey used to babysit you" Matt finished for Jeremy, " Yeah, I remember."
" We haven't met, I'm Jace." Jace introduced himself
" Nice to meet you Jace." April said before looking at Matt, "Yeah, before I got shipped off to boarding school by my dad."
"Your dad." Jeremy repeated, " Oh my God, I am so sorry about your dad."
"Thank you." April said awkwardly, "I guess. I sort of don't know how to answer when people say that."
"Your dad was Pastor Young, right?" Matt asked April
"He had the faulty gas line." April replied, making Matt slightly uncomfortable, "Sorry, I haven't figured out what to say about that yet either. Wow, I am being a freak. Um… I'm just, you know, not much for grief, I guess. I have to go register or something, I think." April said before rushing off, leaving Jace, Jeremy, and Matt to watch her as she left
Audrey's P.O.V
When Stefan and I got back to the boarding house, I immediately headed into the study and took out my phone to call Aurora. Unfortunately her phone went to voicemail.
"Hey, Aurora, it's me. I'm back, I um- can you call me? I've been having some adjustment issues." I hung up as Stefan came into the room, " Hey."
" Hi." Stefan smiled
" What's that for?" I asked, seeing the bottle of whiskey he had in one hand and two classes in the other
" I thought we should celebrate." Stefan told me
" Celebrate what?" I asked him
"Your first feed." Stefan said, setting the glasses down and filling them, " I know it was disgusting and traumatic and it was horrible, but you did it anyway. You survived it."
" Well, um, I wouldn't say I survived it. It actually kind of made me sick." I reminded him
"Listen, I choked it down for a month before I could stomach the taste. It gets easier." Stefan said confidently, handing me one of the glasses, "This, on the other hand, will go down like silk."
" Thanks." I said, I was about to take a sip when my phone went off telling me I had a text. I pulled my phone out ,looked at the message, and then back at Stefan.
" What is it?" Stefan asked, concerned
"It's Damon, he said Pastor Young and the other council members are dead."
" Please tell me you didn't do it." I said to Damon as I walked up to him at the Grill
" That seats taken." Damon told me
" But there's no one here." I said, and then I realized where I was standing, " This is where Alaric used to sit. Sorry."
I moved around and stood on the other side of him.
"Better?" I asked
" Much."
"Did you set off the explosion that killed the Town Council?" I questioned
"Am I wearing my 'I Blew Up The Council' t-shirt, why does everybody keep asking me that?" Damon snapped
"Did you?" I asked again
"No." Damon answered, "Anything else?"
" Yes, something's wrong." I told him, "I can't keep any of the animal blood down."
" Well, there's a shock." Damon said sarcastically, turning to look at me
" I think I need your help."
"Of course you do. Pick your meal." Damon said, pointing to people around the room, "You've got Asian fusion. Mexican. What about some good old American comfort food?"
" No. No, no human blood. Stefan's right, I have to at least try to get through this without hurting anyone." I said and Damon finished his drink before getting up
"Fine, come one." Damon said, grabbing my hand and pulling me away from the bar and into the bathroom.
Damon let go of me and turned to lock the door so no one else could come in.
" What are you doing?" I asked as he walked up to me
" Giving you what you need." Damon said before biting his hand, causing it to bleed, " Drink."
" What?"
"You're a new vampire, Audrey. You need warm blood from the vein. Maybe this will do the trick." Damon said, " Or not."
I looked down at his hand and back up at him. Damon nodded so I grabbed his hand and began to drink. I closed my eyes and rested my head on his chest as I drank. We stumbled back and hit a wall and I could feel Damon stroking my hair as I continued to drink deeply.
The next day I was laying out memorial pamphlets in the church when Matt walked up to me.
"How are you feeling?" Matt asked, handing me a few more pamphlets, "A little strung out?"
" I'm fine. It's just my emotions are all over the place." I told him, "Everything's heightened. I mean just the sight of all the names of the dead makes me want to cry for a week."
"You didn't have to volunteer." Matt reminded me
" People died. People we've known our whole lives, so yeah, I did." I told him, I looked towards the front of the church and I was shocked by who I saw, " Is that?"
" April Young." Matt answered, " Yeah."
" Oh, wow." I said, setting down the pamphlets and heading over to April, "Hey there." I said talking a seat next to her .
" Hey." April greeted, " Long time, no see. Not since…"
" Miranda and Grayson's funeral." I finished for her
" Yeah." April said sadly
I gave her a quick hug before pulling back and asking, " Are you going to survive this?"
"They want me to speak. I guess all the kids who lost somebody can." April said looking down, "What am I supposed to say? I'm sorry my dad didn't fix the gas line But, if I don't say anything then… I mean, what if nobody does? My dad and I didn't always get along or anything ,but everybody still deserves to have nice things said about them at their own funeral, you know? I mean, for my mom's funeral, everybody said these really nice things."
" You say what you want to say or you don't say anything at all." I told her, "And don't worry about your dad, everyone in this town loved him."
"Yeah." she said, sounding like she was about to cry, " Until two days ago."
"Even still." I said, taking her hand to calm her down, as soon as I did this though I could feel the blood rushing in her veins and I started to feel sick again. " I'm sorry. I have to go." with that I got up and ran downstairs to the bathroom. I made it to the toilet before I began to puke up blood. I stood up shakily I ,headed to the sink and when I got there I threw up again. I looked at myself in the mirror and saw that blood was all over the front of my dress as well as the bathroom.
" I'm here. I'm here." Damon said over the phone as I was cleaning up the blood from around the sink, " Where are you?"
"I'm in the basement bathroom." I told him, then the doorknob began rattle, " Is that you at the door?"
"Not yet." Damon said as someone knocked on the door
"Sorry, there's someone in here!" I yelled to the person on the other side of the door, " Damon, hurry."
I hung up my phone and turned the water on as I continued to clean the blood up from around the sink before moving to the toilet.
" You again." I heard Damon say to someone on the other side of the door, "Stalking small town funerals?"
" Oh, Damon, thank God." I said, opening up the door and taking my dress and bag from him, I looked over at the guy that had been knocking on the door, " Sorry, I spilt coffee all over my dress." I looked at Damon again before shutting the door and changing into my dress
Third Person P.O.V
" We haven't met. I'm Connor. Jordan." Connor said, holding out his hand with his vervain soaked glove
"Damon. Germaphobe." Damon said to Connor before saying to Audrey through the door, "Everything okay in there?"
" Yeah, just a minute!" Audrey yelled back as she put all the blood stained paper towels in the bag Damon had given her.
"So, what brings you to Mystic Falls?" Damon asked Connor, " Bible salesman?"
"No" Connor began with a laugh, "Actually I'm in environmental clean up."
" Oh."
" Heard you had a bit of a pollution problem." Connor said
"Huh, well, I was unaware" Damon smirked, "I breathe pretty easy."
The two guys turned to look at the door as they heard it open and saw Audrey come out.
" I'm so sorry that took so long." she apologized, moving next to Damon
" No problem." Connor said with a smile
"Well, enjoy your stay. We love visitors and the scenery is to die for." Damon gasped, "Funeral pun. Too soon. Sorry."
Then Damon wrapped his arm around Audrey's waist and they both headed out of the church.
April was sitting in the balcony of the church, trying to write her speech, when Connor came up next to her.
"Sorry, you scared me." April told him, standing up, "I was just practicing my speech for later."
Suddenly Connor stabbed April in the stomach and she gasped in pain as Connor set her down on one of the church pews. April pulled her hand away from her wound and saw that her hand was covered in blood, then see began to feel blood dripping from her mouth.
Audrey's P.O.V
" Did you bring the blood bag?" I asked Damon as we walked across the church grounds
"Would you mind saying that a little louder?" Damon said sarcastically as we moved behind a tree. He pulled out a blood bag and handed it to me, " Here."
I ripped open the top of the blood bag and began to drink but I couldn't even get any of the blood down.
"No, I can't." I said and Damon took the blood bag from me, "It tastes like…. What's wrong with me?"
"I don't know, maybe it's your psychic blood rejecting the transition." Damon said, wiping away some blood that had dripped down my chin
" I'm dying, aren't I?" I asked him
" No, you're not dying." Damon told me, "You just need to drink from the vein."
"No. No, I don't – I can't risk killing anyone, Damon." I said, remembering my dream of April, " Maybe I'm better off dead."
" Don't you think like that." Damon said, grabbing me by the shoulders, " Audrey, you'll be fine. Okay?"
The church bell rang and everyone started to go into the church.
" I have to get back inside." I said before walking around him and heading into the church
Third Person P.O.V
After Audrey had gone into the church Damon picked up the blood bag that had fallen to the ground and stuffed it into the bag he was holding. Damon began to walk away when he saw Stefan coming towards him.
"Ah, great."
" What's in the bag, Damon." Stefan asked his bother
"Mid-service snack. Church always gets me hungry. The whole blood Christ thing, you know." Damon said but the look Stefan gave him told Damon that he didn't believe him, " I brought it for Audrey."
"Are you really that intent on having your way?" Stefan snapped
"It's not my way, it's the only way." Damon said
" If she hurts someone, she'll be desperate to turn the guilt off." Stefan said, " Maybe even desperate enough to shut off her humanity."
" What and become a Ripper?" Damon asked
" I can't let her be anything like me." Stefan said, looking away
" Well, God forbid, she's anything like me." Damon said, " That's really what you're thinking. She's gonna go off the rails eventually, anyways, Stefan, so the faster we can make it happen, the sooner we can get her back on track."
" She's strong. If we help her, she can survive this."
" She's starving, Stefan!" Damon shouted, "She hasn't been able to keep blood down for days."
" What are you talking about?" Stefan asked in confusion, " She told me she was fine."
" Well, then she lied." Damon told him, " Your four legged protein shake was a bust. The juice box is a no go. She can't even keep my blood down."
" She drank from you?" Stefan asked
" Oops. Did I say that out loud?" Damon said before walking away
Audrey's P.O.V
I walked down the aisle in the church and took a seat next to Matt, Jeremy, Elena, Aurora, and Jace.
" You okay?" Jace asked me and I nodded
" April was looking for you." Jeremy told me, " She wanted help with her speech."
" Where is she?" I asked, looking around but not seeing her anywhere
" I don't know." Jeremy said, shrugging
Third Peron P.O.V
Up in the balcony, Connor was loading up a gun as he sat next to April, who was know bound and gagged. He finished loading the gun and aimed it at the podium in the front of the church.
Audrey's P.O.V
"Before we begin Mass, we'd like to open the floor to anyone who would like to share a memory about our late friends on the Town Council." Mayor Lockwood said from the podium, "I know that April Young wanted to say a few words about her dad. April? April, are you still here, honey?" Everyone waited for April but she never showed so Carol continued, "Is there anyone else who would like to share a recollection or a memory about Pastor Young?" When no one volunteered I took a deep breath and stood up, " Come on up, Audrey."
I walked up to the podium and when I looked among all the people I saw that Damon had just walked in and taken a seat next to Stefan.
"I uh – when I talked to April earlier she was kind of nervous about coming up to speak. And now that I'm up here, I'm kind of nervous too. The worst day of loving someone is the day that you lose them." I stopped suddenly when I started to smell blood
" Do you smell that?" I heard Caroline say and then Tyler reply, " Blood."
" Nobody move." Damon said from next to Stefan, " Don't turn around. It's a trap."
" I, um…" I said, trying to think of something to say, but all I could think about was blood. As veins started to pop up under my eyes, Damon came up next to me and wrapped his arms around me.
"It's okay, it's okay." Damon said as he brought me back to my spot next to Matt, " I got you, I got you."
" The blood, Damon, the blood, I can smell it. There's so much." I said as I leaned into Damon's side
" It's alright." Damon said, " Just calm down and focus on something else."
" What's wrong with her?" Matt asked Damon
" She's hungry." Damon told him, " She hasn't fed."
"So, get her out of here." Matt said
" I can't." Damon snapped, " There's somebody watching us. I'm gonna go rip his head off now, Stefan."
" You do that, Damon, and you risk exposing all of us." Stefan replied
" Well, I think the risk will be slightly diminished when I, you know, rip his head off." Damon said
"Damon, I'm losing it." I said
" You have ten seconds before I go old fashioned on the new guy."
"Don't do it, Damon." Stefan pleaded, " Please."
" Three, two, one." Damon counted down
"Wait, wait, wait, wait. Audrey, feed from me." Matt suggested, earning looks from me and Damon, " It's okay, everyone will think you're upset. Just feed from me."
I looked up at Damon and he nodded, albeit reluctantly, before letting go of me so I could go to Matt.
"It's okay. You'll be okay." Matt said as I move his collar and sink my teeth into his neck. After a while I pulled away and it was the first time in days that I didn't feel sick
" Thank you." I said to Matt, covering up the bite mark with his collar . I wiped the blood from my mouth before turning back to Damon, "The blood. I can still smell it. It's got to be April. We have to help her."
" Audrey, we can't risk it." Damon told me
"Then I'm gonna do it!" I said, trying to get past Damon to no avail
" Excuse me." Tyler said from the podium, causing me to look up at him, "I just wanted to say a few words about Pastor Young." Everyone sat down as Tyler continued, "Back in first grade, I was a brat who couldn't be bothered with team sports. Didn't care much about anything that didn't affect me. But he was the one who made me understand how important it is to be part of a team; a community. Of giving yourself up for the sake of…" Suddenly there was a gunshot and Tyler fell to the ground. I ran up the aisle and got to the stage the same time Caroline , Elena, and Stefan did.
" I'm gonna kill that bastard." Tyler said after Caroline pulled the bullet out of his shoulder
"Damon's way ahead of you." Stefan told him, then to me and Elena, " Stay here, I have to help him."
" What about April?" I asked him
" I got it." Aurora told Stefan as she came up to the stage, " Go."
" I have to call an ambulance." Carol said after Stefan had left
" No, he's fine." Aurora said
While everyone was distracted with Tyler, I walked away to go and help April. I made my way to the stairs and went up them to the balcony and I spotted a gagged and unconscious April Young sitting on the floor a few feet in front of me. I started towards her when I saw the puddle of blood forming around her. My eyes turned red and my fangs grew before I ran at April, going for her neck. Before I could get there Aurora grabbed me.
"She's not dead, but if you feed on her you will kill her!" Aurora told me
"Let go of me!" I said, trying to get free
"Look at her! Look at her, Audrey! It's April. April Young. She's not a warm body for you to feed on. She's your friend." Aurora said, calming me down, "She's an orphan. Just like you. She's scared. Just like you were."
Aurora let go of me when she realized that I wasn't going to attack April, then she went over to April and started to give her some blood to heal her.
"Please, don't hurt me. Please." April cried when she came to
" No one's gonna hurt you." Aurora told her, "No one's gonna hurt you.." She stood up and looked at me, "She needs you. You can make her forget all of this."
" Why did he do this?" April asked
" No, I – I can't, Aurora." I said, " You have to do it."
" No. The only way you're going to learn is if you do it yourself."
" No, I can't." I repeated
" Yes, you can." Aurora said, "You just need to believe what you're telling her. Okay?"
"April, listen to me." I walked over to April and kneeled down in front of her, "Everything's gonna be okay. You're gonna get through this. Just like I got through it." I began to compel her, "I'm going to help you. I promise."
" I'm gonna be okay." April repeated, " You're gonna help me."
"You watched the funeral from up here so that you could grieve alone. It was a beautiful service. People said really nice things." I said and a big smile spread across April's face.
Third Person P.O.V
Jeremy, Matt, and Jace were talking as they stood around the bar at Mystic Grill, waiting for the food they had ordered.
"That was insane." Jace said, " How do you think they'll cover this one up?"
"An assassination attempt on the Mayor's son." Jeremy suggested
" Altar boy goes postal." Matt said
" Hey." Connor said to Matt as he took a seat at the bar, gesturing to his neck," What happened there?
"Uh, girlfriend went a little overboard." Matt said with a slight laugh before walking away with Jace
" Nice ink." Jeremy said, seeing a large tattoo on Connor's arm
When Jeremy left, Connor looked down at his bare arm, seeming slightly confused.
" What ink?" Matt asked Jeremy when he had caught up
" You didn't see his tattoo?" Jeremy asked, "It was huge."
" He didn't have a tattoo." Jace told him
" Yeah, he did." Jeremy said as the three of them walked out of the Grill
After Connor left the Grill he went back to his trailer and sat down at the table. He picked up the letter he had found in the oven of Pastor Young's house and began to read it.
'Dear April, I'm sorry for what you're going through. What I did was a necessary sacrifice and I'm afraid it's only the first of many more sacrifices to come. There's always been an evil that spread through Mystic Falls, but now a greater one is coming. My death is but the first in the war ahead. I will see you again when we all find our salvation. Until then, I love you. Dad.'
Audrey's P.O.V
I got back to the boarding house after April had been taken care of, my mind racing about what had just happened. I had been so sure that my visions were gone now that I was technically dead, but apparently I was wrong. I heard Damon moving around in his room, so I went up the stairs and into his room.
" I'm gonna kill him." Damon said when he saw me
" Connor?" I asked
" Yes, Connor." he said, taking off his shirt and walking over to the closet to grab another, " The bastard shot me."
" Are you okay?" I questioned him
" I'll be fine." Damon replied, turning around to face me, buttoning up the shirt he had just put on. He took in my dejected look before asking, " What's wrong?"
" Nothing?" I lied, looking at the floor
" You're lying." Damon said as he walked over to me, " So what's wrong?"
" My visions are back." I said, looking up at him, "Or I guess they never went away. Either way I can still see the future."
" I thought they stopped when you drowned." Damon said
" Me too." I said, starting to tear up
"It's going to be okay, Audrey." Damon tried to assure me
" No it's not, Damon." I snapped, " I'm a psychic vampire. It's hard enough being either one of them, but both? I can't do it."
" Audrey listen to me." Damon began, bringing his hand up to caress my heck, causing me to calm down slightly, " I'm not gonna let you go through this alone. I will help you get through this, okay?"
I nodded and Damon wrapped his arms around me.
" You can be really sweet when you try to be." I said, pulling back to look at him
" Don't get too used to it." Damon said with a smirk, making me roll my eyes
" I love you." I smiled
" I love you."
I gave Damon a quick kiss before turning to walk away but Damon grabbed my hand and pulled me back so there was no space between us. Before I could say anything, Damon's lips were on mine. As our lips moved in sync, I quickly unbuttoned Damon's shirt and he shrugged it off. I pulled my dress over my head before we moved to the bed. As our kiss began to get more passionate I heard my phone start to ring and I pulled back.
" I have to get that." I told Damon as he kissed my neck, " It might be important."
" I'm sure whoever it is can wait." Damon said before bringing his lips back to mine
I ignored my phone and after a while it stopped. Unfortunately, whoever was calling me didn't let up and, my phone started to ring again.
" Damn it." I said, pulling away from Damon, grabbing my phone and answering it, " Whoever this is, it better be important.
"Audrey, I need you and Damon to come to Mystic Falls high." Stefan said
" We're a little busy." I told him, " Can it wait."
" No, it can't. Meet me here in fifteen minutes." Stefan said before hanging up
" Okay then, looks like we have to meet Stefan." I told Damon
" Ugh." Damon groaned,
" I don't like it either." I said, getting off the bed and throwing Damon his shirt, " I'm gonna change and I'll meet you at your car."
I didn't wait for Damon to respond before grabbing my dress off the floor and heading over to my room.
After I had changed into a pair of jeans, a red t-shirt, my leather jacket, and a pair of black converses; Damon and I headed to the school. We got there the same time Bonnie did.
"What are we doing here?" Damon asked Bonnie as we got out of his car
" I don't know." Bonnie said, "Ask Stefan."
Bonnie, Damon, and I walked up to Caroline, Aurora, Stefan, Elena, Matt, and Jeremy who were sitting around the tables outside of school.
" Stefan, what are we doing?" Damon asked his brother in annoyance
" We're finishing the memorial we didn't get to have earlier." Stefan said, handing out paper lanterns, "We need to start healing, Damon. We've all lost so much, especially recently. I think we're numb to it. We push it away, we make a joke out of it, ignore how we feel. We've never just let ourselves grieve."
" So, you're lighting lanterns?" Damon said in disbelief
" Yeah. Yeah, we need to do this." Stefan said
" What we need to do is find out who this hunter is and what he knows about the death of the Council." Damon told Stefan, "We have more important things to be doing right now than this."
" Not tonight, we don't." Stefan argued, "This is for my uncle Zach and my friend Lexi and for Alaric." Stefan lighted his lantern before handing the lighter to Matt.
" This is for Vicki." Matt said, lighting his lantern
" This is for my dad." Caroline said, "And Tyler's."
" For Audrey's dad." Aurora added
"This is for our parents." Jeremy said, looking at Elena, "For Vicki. Anna. Jenna. And Alaric."
Jeremy tried to hand the lighter to Jeremy but Damon didn't take it.
" No way. I'm not doing that." Damon said before storming off
" This is for my Grams." Bonnie said when she got the lighter
Bonnie handed me the lighter and a lantern.
"This is for my mom, my dad, Jenna, everyone that you've all lost, everyone that this town has lost. And for me, I guess." I said, lighting my lantern and letting it float away.
Everyone else let go of there lanterns and we watched as they drifted away.
When the lanterns we gone everyone left except me, Elena, and Stefan and we were now sitting on the top of the table.
" I can't believe Damon just left like that." Elena said to me
" I'm not." I told her, " I knew he wasn't gonna go for the lanterns, it's not really his style when it comes to grieving."
" Do you want a ride back to the boarding house?" Stefan asked me
" No, I'm gonna go talk to Damon and I'll get a ride back with him." I said, getting off of the table
"You know where he is?" Elena asked me
" Yep. I'll talk to you guys later. Okay?" I said as I headed toward the cemetery
Thanks to my vampire speed I made it to the cemetery in record time. As I walked through the cemetery I could hear Damon talking a ways ahead of me.
" They're floating lanterns in the sky, can you believe that?" Damon said, taking a pause before continuing, " A Japanese lantern is the symbol of letting go of the past. Well, here's a news flash, we're not Japanese! Do you know what they are? Children. Like lighting a candle is going to make everything okay or even saying a prayer or pretending Audrey is not going to end up just like the rest of us murderous vampires. Delusional, exasperating, little children. I know what you're going to say; 'It makes them feel better, Damon.' So what?"
I took a couple more steps and I would see Damon a few feet in front of me, talking to what I knew to be Alaric's headstone. I decided not to interrupt his venting and just leant against the tree I was next to and wait.
" For how long? A minute, a day? What differences does it make?" Damon continued, taking a seat on one of the cemetery benches, "Because in the end, when you lose somebody; every candle, every prayer is not going to make up for the fact that the only thing that you have left is a hole in your life where that somebody that you cared about used to be."
As he spoke Alaric appeared next to him on the bench.
" And a rock with a birthday carved into it that I'm pretty sure is wrong. So, thanks, friend. Thanks for leaving me here to babysit. I'm just stuck taking care of the kids. You owe me big."
" I miss you too, buddy." Ric said even though Damon couldn't here him
"He misses you too." I said, moving to take a seat on the other side of Damon, " He's sitting right next to you."
Damon looked on the other side of me before turning back to me.
" How did you now that I was here?" he asked
" Cause I know you." I said, rolling my eyes, " You grieve by drinking, usual with your drinking buddy, who happens to be here. I put two and two together." I set my hand on Damon's and he turned to look at me, " You don't have to go through this alone, Damon. I'm here for you."
" You two are so sweet, I think I might be sick." Alaric said jokingly
" Oh, please." I said to Ric, " Have you seen you and Damon? Talk about a bromance."
" It's not a bromance!" Damon and Ric said at the same time
" Aw, cute. You guys even denied it at the same time." I smiled before turning to Damon, " You ready to go?"
" Yeah." Damon answered, standing up and bringing me up with him
" See you later, Ric." I said
" Bye." Ric said with a smile as Damon and I walked away
Authors Note
Sorry it took so long to get this chapter up but it has been a crazy week. Hopefully the length of this chapter will make up for the wait. Well, anyway, make sure to review because reviews are the reason I write. Until next time…
Audrey;D