Chapter Four

Damon woke up to the rustle of the wind against leaves. He opened his eyes slightly and found himself underneath the shade of a tree. His neck was tense, as if he hadn't slept well. He sighed. Victoria. That little vampire b–… he sighed again. She had tricked him; he had fallen putty in her hands. And no one does that to Damon Salvatore… no one. He got up from under the tree and brushed the dust and leaves from his jeans and jacket. God, he was mad. Right now, he would kill Victoria if he felt like it. But that was the worst part; he didn't want to kill her. In fact he wanted to do the exact opposite. Well, maybe not exactly the opposite. And even though he felt raging mad he channeled his anger towards feeding.

Damon snacked on a helpless damsel in distress who was painting her backyard fence. After that scrumptious feeding he decided to cruise by the boarding house. He parked his black Ferrari on the driveway and barged in the house where Stefan was rummaging through some of his old diaries while Victoria and Natalie were nowhere to be found. That was unexpected, Damon thought.

"Victoria and Natalie left for girl talk this noon," said Stefan not taking his eyes from the old, yellowed diaries.

Damon went to the kitchen and opened the Elena-fridge where Stefan stuffed food for her when she stayed and stuff. He saw a Sun Drop six-pack and he frowned. Damon took the pack out and showed it to Stefan.

"I didn't know Elena liked this," he said questioningly.

Stefan finally looked up. "Oh," he said continuing to read. "They're Victoria's."

Damon raised an eyebrow and put the Sun Drop back inside the refrigerator. He walked to leave but Stefan appeared in front of him. "She told me, you know?" said Stefan, smiling amused.

Damon rolled his eyes. "What could she have possibly told you? Nothing happened."

Stefan grinned. "Yes, other than the fact that she practically drained you of blood, leaving you unconscious! Oh, and by the way, she said your blood tastes weird."

Damon pushed past Stefan and slammed the front door on his face. Stefan smiled as he watched his brother speed towards Victoria.

"I know how you feel, honeybee," said Victoria patting Natalie's hand. "Stefan can be a charmer and many girls have fallen for him bad. Just thank God you didn't meet him whilst his years of rage."

Natalie looked up, her eyes red and filled with tears. "Years of rage?"

Victoria nodded sympathetically. "The years when Stefan first got turned and he was deranged by the blood. He couldn't control himself. He was a monster."

Natalie sniffled. "Yeah, that must've been hard times."

"They were," said Damon appearing out of nowhere behind Victoria's back.

Natalie wiped her eyes quickly but it was too late. "Don't bother, Natalie. You're not the first girl that I've seen crying over Stefan Salvatore."

Natalie clenched her jaw and stared at the street silently.

Victoria turned around to glare at Damon who grinned cynically at Natalie. "Do you mind? This is girl time," said Victoria with the same mocking.

"Well, then it'll have to be girl-and-good-looking-guy time, Victoria, because you have some explaining to do," said Damon dragging a chair from the nearby table in the café where they were hanging.

Victoria brushed Damon's hair out of his eyes and edge closer to him. "What happened, D? Big bad vamp got scared?" she said in a sing-song voice.

"Scared of what?" he asked pretend-confused. "Of your Sun Drop? Because that's what you have to explain."

Victoria stared at him. "Are you freaking serious?"

Damon grinned and turned to Natalie only to find out she had left. He looked inquiringly at Victoria who glared at him. "Thanks a lot, Damon. Now you've angered her!"

Damon stood up following the raging Victoria. "How is this my fault? She's the one that took off!"

Victoria crossed her arms and scowled at him. "Don't play innocent."

Damon looked at Victoria with his puppy dog eyes and Victoria rolled her eyes. Although she also smiled. "What's this about the Sun Drop? Why would you care?"

Damon leaned back on his chair. "I don't. I just wanted to get rid of Natalie."

"Why?" asked Victoria exasperated. "We talked about this! If you're going to be extra rude to her I'll just pack my bags and leave."

Damon looked at her seriously. She glared back and before she knew it he was gone. Victoria sighed and put her head between her hands.

She suddenly felt something. A life force. An incredibly powerful life force. It grew stronger, meaning it was probably getting closer.

She hated Damon Salvatore. She hated him with all her heart and soul… if she had any of these. She was going to make him pay. He was obnoxious, arrogant, cocky, disrespectful… and Victoria loved him. She could see it when she looked at him, even when she was angry with him her eyes seemed to shine and her whole self seemed to glow. Then again, he also saw some of this in Damon himself. But she could feel he was holding back, as if all this was too good to be true and he couldn't bring himself to trust her. He was right; Victoria was too good for him. He was a jerk and he deserved what he got: pain and rejection.

Natalie found herself at the front door of The Grill and without thinking it twice barged in and sat on a stool in the bar. She compelled the bartender to give her a bottle of beer which she gulped down quickly. She didn't understand Victoria's and Damon's love for extremely strong drinks like whiskey or vodka, those were too much for her taste, she preferred a good old beer. In fact, when she first met Victoria it had been in a party of hers and she had an immense array of drinks. Natalie had asked for the least strong drink she had and Victoria had pulled out a huge bottle of Don Q Crystal rum. Natalie had left without a word.

She sighed and asked the bartender for another bottle when someone passed a hand down her back. She turned around with a glare and saw a middle-aged man with heavy-lidded eyes and a lazy, stupid grin. "Never touch me again," she said, letting a little bit of her vampire show.

Considering the lack of reaction from the man she suspected he was way too drunk to even see properly. The man fell on top of her and put a hand around her shoulders. She pushed him off brusquely but he came back coming. A few people at The Grill had stopped to look and this made Natalie angrier.

"Get off me!" she yelled and the man pulled her out of the stool with a hard yank and squeezed her butt. She slapped him hard and he staggered back messing up a pool game.

The young man that was about to make a shot threw the pool stick angrily on the floor and pushed the man off the billiards table.

"Get away from me, kid," he said with a gravelly voice. He grabbed Natalie on the waist and the man, galvanized by his rude behavior towards Natalie, grabbed his collar and told him to get out unless he wanted trouble.

The man, as drunk as he was, punched the young man hard in the face. The boy looked up with a hand on his nose, blood washing down his mouth, chin and neck.

Something snapped in Natalie and she lunged towards the boy. But instead of attacking him she grabbed him by his arm and dragged him outside. She gave him a push and he stumbled down on the asphalt.

"Don't come back until you've obliterated the smell of your blood unless you want me to kill you!" she yelled and apparently her vampire was showing because the boy's eyes got wide but then a sense of recognition crossed his features.

"You're a vampire," he whispered.

"What?" Natalie blurted.

"I know what you are," he said standing up, his blood and face smeared with that delicious smelling blood of his. "I know all about you…"

"You're c-crazy, you know that?" Natalie said nervously. She'd blown it this time she had really screwed it up this time.

"Don't worry," he said with a surprisingly cute, boy-ish smile. "I won't tell…"

Natalie looked at him doubtfully. He kind of reminded her of someone with those deer-like, brown eyes and charming, sweet smile. But she couldn't seem to put a finger on it.

"Hi," he said walking towards her with his arm extended. "My name's Jeremy."

She shook his hand slowly and let go. "My name's Natalie. Natalie Joulihann,"she said with a flirty smirk.

Victoria looked around for anyone who looked suspicious but didn't see anything too shady besides a teenage boy handing a heavily pierced girl a wad of cash. She tried to feel where this force was coming from but it was still too vague. She got up and went to search for the intruder.

The force led her to the cemetery where it grew stronger, it felt like a throbbing pulse hammering on her head. Whoever this person or vampire or even witch perhaps was they had a lot of power. She tentatively hid behind a tombstone when she heard a girl giggling. She frowned and peeked to look. There was indeed a girl, about sixteen. She was fairly pretty, for a human. She had sleek brown hair and sea blue eyes that contrasted beautifully with her almond colored skin. But there was also a boy. He had messy, sandy-blonde hair, tan skin like that of someone who spent their entire days at the beach, gorgeous hazel eyes and a mischievous grin to match. He was one of those guys girls fell head over heels for. One of those guys who had their first kiss at age ten and drank beer for the first time at thirteen.

She rolled her eyes when his eyes traveled from the girl's eyes to her large chest. This seemed normal enough and Victoria decided to ditch this lovey fest. She froze when she heard the girl gasp in pain. She turned to look and saw the guy nuzzling the girl's neck. She seemed to be struggling but he put his hand on her head and caressed her hair. Her breath began to slow down and she stopped struggling. A tear fell out from her eye and Victoria stood there frozen.

Suddenly, all sense came back to her. This guy was a vampire and he was killing this defenseless girl! She was about to confront this jerk when she stopped. Was she any better than him? Sure, she stopped feeding when she got here. Mostly to not upset Stefan but she hated those wretched blood bags, they were stale and cold and… lifeless.

Before she could act on what the vampire was doing he had already let go of the girl and had wiped his glossy, red mouth. He smirked at her still body on the cold, cemetery ground. He leaned on a tombstone and he turned his head slowly and his eyes met hers. What happened next had happened so fast a human mind wouldn't have been able to grasp it.

She saw him about to lunge at her but in a second she was on top of him, her pale hands surrounding his strong neck. He laughed and she felt the vibration in her bones. In a blink of an eye he had dragged her to the nearest platform where someone's deteriorated body laid inside. She looked up at his hazel eyes and seductive grin.

"You shouldn't have done that, my pretty," he said in a husky voice.

"Don't call me that!"

He smiled. "Fine, should I call you my ugly?" he asked mockingly.

"No!" She threw him off her body but she was too slow and when she was about to stand up he had grabbed her neck and lifted her above ground.

She struggled. "Don't play games with me, sweetheart. They always end up broken."

She frowned and made choking noises. "I'm s-sorry… P-please, stop. Y-you're… h-hurting me," Victoria said whimpering.

His face fell and he dropped her, but not before she kicked him in his stomach. He doubled over and groaned. She walked around him, inspecting every aspect of his cocky self. He wore expensive looking jeans, a white v-neck, Doc Martins and a rugged leather jacket.

Oh boy, she thought. A dead ringer for Damon Salvatore.

"It's not polite to stare," he said straightening up. "And obviously you're big on manners and stuff."

She stopped in front of him and looked him up and down. "What makes you say that?"

He smirked. "C'mon," he said spreading his arms. "You have that look in your face, the look of a prissy, goodie-goodie nineteenth century girl."

She grimaced. "You know nothing about me," she spat at him.

He rolled his eyes and crossed his arms. "Sure I don't."

"Well if you know so much about me why don't you tell me?" she asked defensively. People like him brought the nineteenth century in her.

He smiled. "Why don't we get a drink and I'll tell you? I saw a bar near… The Grill?"

"No!" she blurted out. "We can't go there. Too many humans."

He grinned. "So you do want to go talk…"

"Shut up," she said. "Fine, but only because I need to know your intentions."

He raised his eyebrows and gasped mockingly. "I think you can see what my intentions are," he said with a secretive smile.

I shook my head and turned around to head for the town. "Are you coming or what?" I said turning around and in a millisecond he was in front of me. "Good," I said as we walked together.

Elena came to the boarding house after a long day of hanging out with Caroline and Bonnie. It had been nice getting out of the house. The tension between the Salvatore brothers and her plus the new guests had been too suffocating.

She dropped her purse on the couch and plopped down on it and turned on the TV. She settled on watching Oprah. Stefan appeared next to her and she jumped up frightened.

She laughed. "Stefan, you scared me!" She leaned in for a kiss.

Stefan smiled at her. "What?"

"Nothing," he said smiling to himself. "I just love you."

She was about to say 'I love you' back when Damon stormed in.

"I hate Natalie Julihanns with all my withered, cold, black heart!"

Elena rolled her eyes and Stefan chuckled. "You're so melodramatic, Damon," he said standing up and walking towards his brother who was serving himself a glass of whiskey.

Damon glared at Stefan. "I am not," he said and gulped down the entire glass. "She's just so…"

Stefan smiled. "I believe someone's a little bit jealous," he said mockingly.

Damon glared at him and shook his head. "You're so stupid, Stefan," he said matter-of-factly.

"No, I think you're jealous of Natalie because she's stole Victoria from you," he said grinning.

"Natalie hasn't stolen anything from me, okay? She just needs Victoria because she's hurt and she needs girl time and blah blah blah!"

Stefan muffled a laugh and Elena stood up to pat Damon on the back. "Look, Damon, I hate to say it but… Stefan is right."

"What do you mean 'I hate to say it'?" asked Stefan offended.

Elena laughed and trailed a finger along his lips. "It's just an expression, Stefan."

He smiled and wrapped his arms around her. "It better be," he said jokingly.

"It is," she said leaning for another kiss.

"Get a room," they heard Damon mutter.

Elena turned to look at him but his eyes were staring at the door with a shocked expression. She followed his gaze and saw Natalie with a boy. He had brown her like hers and big, brown eyes. It was Jeremy.

"Jeremy, what are you doing here?" she asked letting go of Stefan and stomping towards Jeremy.

"Um, nice of you to tell me about Natalie, Elena," he said accusingly.

Elena crossed her arms. "Excuse me but I don't need to explain anything to you."

Jeremy rolled his eyes and shook his head exasperated. "She's a vampire," he protested. "Don't you think that after all that's happened I deserve a heads-up?"

"I found him getting into a fight at The Grill," said Natalie for the first time. "He noticed I was a vampire and I told him about you guys, that's when he told me he was your brother."

"Good to know," she snapped at Natalie.

Elena's face jerked sideways and the mark of a hand began to appear on her cheek. Damon and Stefan shared a look and before Elena could lunge at Natalie Damon had dragged Natalie out of the way and Stefan had carried Elena a few feet away.

"You're gonna pay, Natalie," she spat at her. "You'll find out who's the Salvatore's girl! Let me go, Stefan," she exclaimed but he just dragged her away as she struggled.

"Don't talk to me like that, little girl," Natalie yelled. "I'm older than you and I could snap your neck like a twig, or don't you remember last time?"

"Not a smart move, honey," whispered Damon in her ear.

"Don't tell me what to do!" she yelled at him.

In a flash someone had pushed Damon away and had dragged her to the couch. She was about to fight off when she saw it was Victoria.

"What the hell is going on here?" she exclaimed looking at everyone and frowning a little when her gaze fell on Jeremy.

Natalie saw that Elena had calmed down but Stefan was still gripping her arm as if she were a disobedient little girl.

"Natalie and Elena decided to demonstrate us what a cat-fight is," said Damon like his usual self.

Victoria looked at Natalie reproachfully. "Is that right?"

"Don't patronize me," she muttered.

Victoria sighed and walked over to Stefan and Elena. "I'm sorry, it won't happen again–"

"It better not!" interrupted Elena.

"Behave," muttered Stefan sternly and Elena clenched her jaw but said nothing.

Stefan nodded and smiled at Victoria. She smiled back and gave him a kiss on the cheek. "I missed you, Stef," she whispered.

"Me too," he mouthed.

Two pairs of hands began clapping simultaneously and stopped abruptly. Natalie looked up to see a guy with dark blonde hair, scheming eyes and a bad-boy smirk standing in the doorway. Apparently he was a vampire because he had not been invited in and had not entered even though the door was wide open.

He was looking at Damon with an amused and suspicious expression and Damon was staring back with the same look.

"Who are you?" Natalie asked.

He turned to smile and her breath caught in her throat. Goodness, he was attractive, she thought.

"I'm Zac Callas, your worst nightmare."