"What?" Tony laughed, "That's ridiculous! Vampires aren't real!"
"You also said the Hulk wasn't real."Rhodey replied flatly. Tony then got a panicked look on his face,
"A vampire? As is 'I'm going to drink your blood vampire'?"
"What other vampires do you know?"
"Oh lord! This isn't good!"
"Hey, calm down. Damon and his brother are the good guys...I think. Catherine...Catherine is linked to them somehow. She's what came after me."
"That explains the blood loss and mauled marks." Tony said absently, wrapped in his own head,
"Tony?" Rhodey asked,
"What?"
"The Salvators know you're Iron Man."
The next morning Pepper walked home. When she closed the door she sadly had a welcoming party.
"Where were you last night?" Tony grilled, his arms folded,
"At Damon's. You said stay away from the house, somewhere safe. I did." Pepper replied defensively.
"A vampire is safe?" Rhodey asked. Pepper laughed,
"Vampire? Where are you getting..."
"Cut the crap, Pepper." Tony growled, "What ever your little boyfriend did to his head, I knocked it out. We know everything."
"Including you saying he's Iron man!" Rhodey yelled,
"I didn't!" Pepper yelled back, "They already knew."
"How?" Tony snarled.
"How am I meant to know?" Pepper snarled back, "Elena was trying to help Rhodey. So he wouldn't remember Cathrine, or the attack."
"Oh this Elena is involved to? Do you know how at risk we are now Pepper?" We will have to move again at this rate..."Tony babbled. Pepper knew there was a way to shut him up and leave the subject.
"There are ten rings." She cried,
"What?" Tony asked in shocked,
"The Mandarin had ten Makuhan rings. Odds are he'll need your help to find them, so lay low, stay in the armoury and..."
"No." Tony snapped, "You don't get to tell me what to do. You have put us in more danger than we were already in..."
"Tony, I..."
"Shut up. You've put Elena and those vampire brothers in danger from finds them and gets to you. He will use you to get you to use to get me. Don't you understand how badly you've screwed up? Because you were trying to make me jealous."
"Oh get off your high horse your not all that."
"I hope your happy with yourself Potts, your such an idiot sometimes!" Tony yelled, Pepper gasped and her mouth dropped open in shock, as did Rhodey's.
"Tony, maybe you should calm down..."Rhodey started putting his hand on his shoulder. Tony shook it off.
"I don't need to calm down. I'm sick of her screwing up and making things harder for me. The temple of Sacrifice, you get captured, Temple of Wisdom, I have to save you. From the Maggia the Tong I have to clean up your messes. Now you got vampires involved? You idiot. You really screwed up again. I hope Gene finds you, I hope he take you the hell away from me. I don't even want to look at you right now, you stupid little idiot." Pepper had tears in her eyes, Rhodey was still trying to calm Tony down, "Why are you still even here? Get out of my sight!" Tony yelled,
"Tony, I..." Pepper cried,
"GET OUT!" Pepper burst into tears and ran up to her room. She started to get changed out of her date clothes and pulled on her normal clothes. She packed up her things again, luckily she hadn't unpacked much and threw her bags outside the window and they landed in the bushes below. She shimmied down the drainpipe and ran for the car. Putting the bags in the boot she locked the doors and started to cry.
"What was that?" Rhodey yelled at Tony, "You must have her upstairs crying her eyes out."
"Like I care." Tony growled,
"What is with you?"
"Nothing, get off my back." Tony said heading for the armoury,
"Whatever man, I'm going to check on Pepper."
"Fine." Rhodey shook his head and knocked on Pepper's door.
"Pepper? Hey Pepper It's Rhodey. Can I come in?" He heard nothing and pushed the door open, "What the..." All her stuff was gone, her window was open. He heard the car start up, "Oh no." He ran for the from door as she pulled out of the driveway. "Pepper! Pepper come back!"
"I'm sorry Rhodey I can't stay here if that is how he thinks of me. I'll bring the car back later." She called driving off.
Stefan and Elena were having a Damon intervention.
"You can't sleep with every girlfriend you bring home. I mean how old is she 16?" Elena asked,
"17. And I didn't sleep with her." Damon replied defensively.
"Then why did you close the door?"
"I may have made out with her...but I did not sleep with her." Damon smiled cockily,
"Good God Damon." Stefan sighed. They then heard the doorbell.
"And that's my cue." Damon smiled and ran for the door, "Hellooo-oh, Pepper. Pepper what happened?" He asked showing real concern. Pepper was crying her eyes out and had all her bags packed,
"Can I stay with you guys for a while?" She cried. Damon nodded and pulled her into a hug, she cried softly into his shirt,
"Damon who was it?" Elena asked stepping out into the hall, seeing him and Pepper, "What happened?"
"I don't know, could you bring her bags in?" Damon asked nicely. Elena was surprised. He seemed genuinely worried for Pepper. Elena stepped past them and brought Pepper's things in.
"I'm sorry." Pepper cried,
"Hey, hey, hey," Damon put his hands around Pepper's face and held it to look at him, "Don't be." She smiled and wiped her tears off, "What happened?"
"Tony..."
"What did the asshole do now?" Damon asked. Pepper talked him through what happened. "He really said that to you?" Damon asked in shock handing Pepper a glass of water in the kitchen. She nodded absently, "I'm going to kill him." Damon growled.
"Don't." Stefan warned,
"He's right, I just need to give him a few days to cool off." Pepper shrugged,
"Why do you always forgive him?" Damon asked, "All he ever does is use you." She shrugged again.
"It Tony. He can be a real jerk sometimes,"
"A lot of the time." Elena corrected,
"But he's a hero, and he's my hero."
"Some hero." Damon mumbled, "I don't understand why you didn't leave sooner."
"Well I wasn't being yelled at half as much and when I was it was because he was jealous." Pepper sighed,
"Of what?" Stefan asked,
"Gene and Damon, now he just doesn't care."
Damon drove the car back, Rhodey came out to thank him,
"Pepper is staying at ours for the foreseeable future." Damon informed Rhodey,
"Tony didn't mean what he..."
"Yes, I did." Tony said walking out, "Every word." He smiled,
"Oh looks like I have the displeasure of meeting Tony Stark." Damon spat,
"Wow, Pepper found herself a little guard-dog. Oh I'm sorry, does the word dog remind you of wolves, Vampy? I may have been able to remove that memory block you put on Rhodey." Tony growled,
"That's impossible." Damon gasped,
"And yet I did it." Tony turned back fro the house, "Oh and tell Pepper, next time don't send her pet to do her dirty work." He slammed the front door and headed for the armory.
"Asshole." Damon snarled,
"Right now," Rhodey said, "I agree. Tell Pepper if she needs anything let me know."
"I will do, Thanks Rhodey." Damon waved walking off.
Tony got to the armory and fell to his knees and screamed,
"Now, now. Calm down." A voice in the darkness said,
"Why did I have to do that?" Tony cried,
"Because I told you to." The voice laughed. "And as long as you stay away from anything Potts..."
"Pepper." He growled,
"Fine, Pepper and her little bodyguards give you." The voice stepped out from the shadows, "You'll have to do what ever I tell you."
"What if I don't want to!" He cried in a strained voice,
"My dear Tony, that isn't for you to decide."
"Catherine, please...don't make me do this." Tony begged. Catherine got down on her knees and grabbed Tony's face, forcing him to look her in the eye.
"This would all be easier if you didn't resist." She laughed then looked him dead in the eye, "Your going to capture and trap the Salvatore brothers in the caves under the church where I was supposed to be trapped by whatever means. Including harming Elena or Pepper. Your going to drive everyone away from you, and you're going to destroy anyone who gets in your way, questions?"
"Why do you want to hurt Pepper?" Tony asked still trying to fight the compulsion,
"You fool, haven't you figured it out? Some genius! Pepper Potts, is my key to finding the Mandarin and taking the rings for myself."
"You won't be able to work them, only a member of the Khan family..."
"You still don't get it. Gene's mother was a vampire, one of the originals actually. Gene had a human father, he's human yes. But his sister, Katerina Khan, was sent away, I was given a family and well running from another original...blah blah blah my how I became a vampire story. Me becoming a vampire got them killed. But I found my real mother... 10 years ago I found her. Gene was only 7. Ghang came along and had her killed, never told Gene the truth. You know his backstory from there don't you? Know what have you learned?" She asked sarcastically,
"Oh my gosh, Your Gene's sister. Waaaaaaaay older sister." She hit him,
"Way older was not necessary. But to answer your question thats why I need her, to get to him, to get to the rings and those Darling Salvatore brothers won't get in my way."
"What happens to Pepper when its done?"
"I don't know, we'll let Gene decide that. What do you care, she thinks you hate her. She's moved on from you. And now your going to do exactly the plan, repeat it to me." She growled. Tony tried to resist the compulsion but eventually gave in,
"I will capture and trap the Salvatore brothers in the caves under the church where you were supposed to be trapped by whatever means. Including harming Elena or Pepper. I'm going to drive everyone away from me and I'm going to destroy anyone who gets in my way."
"I'm glad we understand each other." Cathrine smiled.
OHHH SHOCKER! Catherine's been compelling Tony! Thanks for all the awesome review, you guys are awesome!
Keep reading and keep reviewing! Yay
