Chapter 3
"You just had to invite them over!" Carmen cursed her in a flurry as she rushed around her newly decorated house, making the last minute touches she had yet to finish. "I swear if you get any blood on my new floors I'll snap all three of your necks."
Sarah rolled her eyes from her place on their white suede couch To say that Carmen just decorated this place was an understatement. She wasn't lying when she said that she was going to make this house look like the cover of a home magazine. It was gorgeous. In one day, she had managed to decorate all of the 4 bedrooms of the house, re do the kitchen, bathrooms, and foyer, and make the living room absolutely fabulous. The room was a a forest green color with white furniture, even the fireplace was white. The floor was light brown wood, polished to perfection, seriously she could see herself in it. Her favorite aspect would have to the way it looked out to their garden, through double doors that led to their deck.
"Just calm down Car, they're just coming over to talk." Sarah said with a heavy sigh. "They won't destroy anything...at least I hope they won't."
Carmen glared at her. "That is not reassuring." she muttered to her before traveling around the couch to sit in her newly bought chair. "You thought about what your going to say to them?" she asked the girl.
Sarah nodded, staring at the floor. "Yep, and it all sucks." she mumbled in a pout. "How are you supposed to say 'Hey, yeah sorry I made you guys believe I've been dead for the past 145 years. And I know I never bothered to contact you at all, but lets be best friends again like the good old days.'" Sarah rambled, suddenly becoming annoyed with herself. "I sound stupid."
"You sound confused." Carmen told her in a serious tone. "Hun, all these years, you've done nothing but wallow in self pity, and frankly its a real downer at parties." That earned her a glare from the younger vampire. "Oh don't give me that look, its true. It's time for you to find some kind of happiness. You can't spend all of eternity feeling sorry for yourself and being mad at the world. Trust me, I've been there." she grimaced at the last part.
Sarah cocked her head at the woman. "You're right."
"Of course I am." Carmen said just as the doorbell rang. "Oooh, I'll get it!"
"Carmen!" Sarah exclaimed, finding herself too late to catch the woman before she zoomed off to the the door.
Carmen smirked at her "daughter" as she opened their front door, revealing none other than the Salvatore brothers and a young blonde girl. "Hello, you must be the infamous Damon and Stephen." she greeted, flashing her pearly whites. "Come in, Come in! Sarah hasn't shut up about you two since yesterday." Carmen teased, looking back at the said girl mischievously.
Sarah glared at the woman as she stood in the foyer, a good distance away from the three vampires that entered her home. Damon glanced at her before looking at the woman who was ordering them to take off their shoes.
"Who are you?" he asked, staring at the woman in confusion.
"Where are my manners?" Carmen said, a cheeky smile reaching her lips. "I'm Carmen Grigori, Sarah's mother." she said, holding out her hand.
That made the two brothers look at Sarah questioningly, who merely shrugged, a smile reaching her lips. Stefan was the first to shake her hand. "It's nice too meet you, I'm Stefan."
"So we've established." Carmen joked before turning to the blonde, who merely stared nervously at them from behind Stefan. "And who is this?" her smile growing soft as her blood wafted to her nose. The thing about Carmen that always amazed Sarah was her ability to know anybody just through their scent. She could tell you what you were, who your relatives were, where you had been that day, and your hobbies just by the smell of you. It was a skill that Sarah had yet to begin to fathom.
The blonde stepped forward, a little flustered and nervous. "Hi, I'm Caroline." she told her, holding out her hand.
Carmen shook it, cocking her head slightly at the girl. "It's a pleasure to meet you Caroline." she said softly, a change from the dominate tone she had with the men beside her. "A newborn huh? How about we get you some fresh AB, hm? I'm always well stocked." Carmen offered, taking the girls hand and leading her to the kitchen.
Caroline looked back at the brothers with a scared expression as she was pulled away. Sarah watched after them as they left the three of them alone.
"Don't worry, Carmen's really flamboyant but she's harmless unless prompted." she told them before gesturing toward the living room. "We can talk in here."
The brothers were hesitant around her, she could tell when they surveyed every escape route in the room when they sat down on the couch. She could also spot the stake hidden underneath Stefan's sleeve and the vervain in Damon's pocket. They didn't seriously think she was this dangerous did they?
She sat down in front of the two men, back straight with alertness and anxiety. The way the were staring at her made her nervous to no end. She felt like a child sitting in the principal's office.
"I guess this is where you start asking me questions." she told them tentatively. "I'll be as honest as I can be, but I can't make any promises."
Stefan was the first to question her, leaning forward in his seat with a seriousness in his eyes. "Who turned you?"
She sighed, anticipating the question to be first on the list. "Katherine. Apparently I was inferring with her plans of sneaking around the Council and she was going to kill me. She didn't though." her eyes shot to Damon for merely a second. "She was kind enough to turn me." she spat out the last part bitterly. "Two nights before the vampires were all locked inside of the tomb."
"How do you know all of this?" Damon asked, his voice emotionless and annoyed. "How do you know about the Council and the tomb? You disappeared before any of that could happen."
"I've been keeping tabs." she told him blatantly. "On Mystic Falls, on you, even on Katherine. I couldn't come back here unprepared now could I?"
Damon gave her a hard look. "And while you were keeping tabs, you didn't even bother to at least let us know you were alive?"
She returned his glare with equal malice. "It wasn't my fault. And it wasn't like you tried to find me either Damon. You didn't even know I was dead."
"There was a fucking funeral, what else was I supposed to think?" Damon yelled at her, gripping the arm of the couch tightly, his strength cracking it a bit.
"Hey, hey, hey! Don't take your anger out on my new couch!" Carmen warned him as she walked into the living room with a glass of wine in hand. She handed the glass to Sarah, who smiled at her gratefully. "Thought you might need this." she told the girl gently, before her expression turned serious. "Remember, any blood on my floor-"
"You'll break our necks I know." Sarah finished for her as she walked back out of the room. "Thanks Car."
Stefan looked after the beautiful vampire. "Who is she?" he asked, obviously amused.
Sarah sipped her wine before smiling. "Carmen is a very old vampire. I don't know how old, but she's pretty old. She's been with me since the night I turned." she told them.
"And what happened that night?" Stefan asked. "I mean, what happened to you after Katherine-"
"I woke up in Carmen's room in the old Inn just outside of Mystic Falls." she interrupted him. "I didn't remember anything except that I was so scared and in complete pain." she told them in a shaky tone, her eyes boring into the wine glass. " Carmen said she would take care of me, that she would never let a newborn wander by herself. For the past 145 years I've been keeping a low profile until I could come back and face my demons." she tore her eye from the glass to look at her best friends. "And until I was fully trained."
"Trained?" Damon questioned. "Trained for what?"
Sarah smirked at that and let her eyes trail to the bowl of fruit that sat in the middle of the coffee table. With barely a thought, an apple rose from the arrangement and drifted fluidly around the table before resting into her hand. Damon and Stephen stared at her with wide eyes.
"I'm kind of a witch."
~*Save Me*~
"A fucking witch." Damon breathed in annoyance as he walked down the dark streets of downtown Mystic Falls that night. After that eventful reunion with Sarah, he had raked his brain in the Boarding House trying to figure out how to process the information he'd received that morning. Sarah was back. That was clear point in his mind. He let a smile pass his lips at the memories of their childhood. They used to raise hell together, always getting in and out of trouble in so many different ways it made his head spin. Even though most of the trouble was his fault, she always took partial blame. She always had his back. And when she disappeared those 145 years ago he almost tore apart half of Virginia looking for her. He sighed. 'What the hell am I gonna do?'
"Hey Salvatore." Damon whipped his head around to the source of the voice to see, much to his surprise, Carmen sitting there giving him and imploring look.
"What are you doing here?"
Carmen raised an eyebrow at him. "I'm sorry, I am a resident of Mystic Falls, I thought it was my legal right to be able to walk around the neighborhood."
Damon gave her an annoyed look. "Look, don't joke with me. You don't even know me or what I could do to you."
Carmen rolled her eyes. "Oh please son, I could make you cease to exist in exactly 5 seconds." she said, the look in her eyes telling him that the threat was far from empty. "I just came here to talk."
"About?" Damon inquired.
Carmen sighed. "Sarah." she told him. "As confused as your feeling right now, multiply that by ten and experience it for 145 years. That's how Sarah has been feeling since the night she was turned. She needs you now. And as much as I hate to admit it, we could use as much help as we can get right now."
Damon gave her a confused look. "What do you mean?"
"You think a half witch half vampire can walk around and not go unnoticed?" Carmen asked him. "Vampires would, and have, killed to get their hands on her. A witch without the limitations of a human body, a vampire with magic. Very valuable, and very bad people are after her now and I can't protect her by myself." she said. "She's powerful, but she hasn't fully grasped her full potential. Not yet. She's very vulnerable."
"So your asking me to be Sarah's personal body guard?" Damon asked slowly, still grasping what he was just explained.
Carmen shrugged. "More or less."
"I don't need to be asked to protect her." Damon told her. "I'd do it with the simple mention that she was in danger."
"Good, then we're in agreement." Carmen told him. "And another thing, I'll take over training your new born, Caroline was it? Your doing a terrible job, the girl gets her knickers in a twist at just the sight of blood. She'll be under my scrutiny for now on."
Damon raised an eyebrow at her. "O.K?"
Carmen flashed him a perfect smile. "Good. So glad we could have this chat Damon. I'll be seeing you." she told him as she walked away. Just as Damon was about to do the same she was in front of him in the blink of an eye, a deadly look on her beautiful face. "And one more thing," she began, her voice dangerously low and venomous. "If you even think of breaking Sarah's heart, I will rip yours out and shove it down your throat." she threatened. "Again, so glad we could have this talk." and with that, she was gone.
Damon was pretty sure his heart stopped beating for a couple seconds.
~*Save Me*~
