Authors Note: OK new chapter. I seriously apologize for the late update- it's weird, I knew everything that I wanted to happen in the chapter, but when I started writing it, the first couple of paragraphs just didn't sound right to me. I'm still not completely happy with how it turned out, but hopefully I haven't disappointed anyone and I'm really hoping that it was worth the wait. Enjoy...
Peyton lay on the ground, her hands clutching at a mound of dirt, forcing herself to stop from crying out in pain. Damon tilted her body forwards, seeing the sharp wooden stake embedded just above her shoulder blade; leaning her backwards, he looked at her once again with what he hoped was a look of reassurance. "That bad, huh?" Peyton choked out, knowing even before seeing Damon's facial expression the extent of the injury.
"It's nothing- barely even a scratch." Damon lied, hoping to put her mind at ease and in doing so avoid hysteria. The wound, though it was lucky that the stake had not perforated a lung, was now bleeding out profusely. As his mind began to run through the list of different options he had to try to fix the problem he noticed Peyton's breaths had become more shallow and laboured, her eyes drifting closed. "No, no… Come on, you need to stay with me. Promise me…" Damon said; his voice laced with concern. "Promise me you'll stay awake." He continued, a feeling of dread crossing through him, refusing to accept the possibility of anything worse happening. He saw her give a small nod, her eyes beginning to water.
"OK, good." Damon responded, tilting her body forward once again, more gently this time. "OK…" Damon whispered, more to himself this time. "We need to stop the bleeding." Quickly dismissing the idea to take the stake out of Peyton until he at least had some kinds of supplies to slow down the rate at which blood was pouring out of her, he pressed his hands around the wound, trying to estimate how far into her back the stake had gone.
Damon looked back at Peyton, seeing a single tear travel down her cheek, he thoughtlessly wiped it away. "Damon." Peyton croaked out, his hands cupping either side of her face. He looked at her expectantly. "Your eyes…are really blue." She sighed, smiling. Damon laughed in spite of the situation, glad that she wasn't giving him a last goodbye speech; she was still fighting, and for that he was truly thankful.
Peyton's eyes started to drift closed once again, but this time she forced them open. The only thing that reassured her was the excruciating pain; when she stopped feeling the pain, then she was dead. The pain meant that she was alive. So she clung to that feeling, hoping she would stay awake long enough to survive. She watched Damon assess the injury once again in only a number of minutes, seeing his expression darken. Both of them were suddenly brought out of their thoughts and fears by a male voice coming from a few hundred metres in front of them.
"Well, I was aiming for you but this works out pretty well. Once I kill you, I get a nice little snack for the road." The man said, addressing Damon. Peyton tried to make sense of what he was saying; he confirmed what she already knew- that he was aiming for Damon. A snack for the road? She quickly dismissed that comment; clearly she must have misheard him. Though she couldn't see him clearly, she watched Damon's face register a whole host of emotions from disbelief, to confusion and then finally an anger so strong that she had never seen on him before. She whimpered slightly as Damon, moved to get up, inadvertently digging his knees into her back. And suddenly the anger disappeared from his face, as he looked down at her once again. He carefully readjusted his body, quickly apologetic before he looked up from Peyton's face once again to look into the eyes of the man that he had killed just weeks before Peyton had arrived back in Mystic Falls. "I'm going to kill you." That much Damon was absolutely certain of. "I don't know how you managed to survive, but I promise you are going to wish you stayed dead." Damon stated, already mentally having thought of several different ways to make Logan suffer slowly.
To his credit, Logan just laughed off Damon's words. "Well, you're going to have to catch me first." He said, speeding off into the forest, leaving Damon watching after him, cursing to himself. He looked down at the blonde lying in his arms still bleeding out, truly torn; part of him wanted vengeance, wanting nothing more than to track Logan down and make him pay. But the other part of him knew that he couldn't leave Peyton alone, not like this. He quickly got out his phone with one hand, his other arm still supporting Peyton's cold, blood-sodden body. Dialling the number, he put the phone to his ear, waiting only a few seconds before a reply came. "I'm at the clearing of the woods. I need you to meet me there now." He hung up without waiting for a reply and looked back down at Peyton. "I'm going to be right back, OK?" He said, leaning down so his forehead was resting against hers, he closed his eyes, trying to ignore the fact that he could hear her heartbeat had slowed down considerably from a couple of minutes ago. "I'll be right back." He repeated himself, opening his eyes again, he laid a brief kiss on her forehead. "But you're going to keep your promise." He said. "Peyton!" He said a little louder this time, when she stayed quiet. "You're going to keep your promise, right?" He said, sure that his tone sounded lame and desperate. Eventually she gave out a very weak reply of "yeah". "OK." He said, nodding, he began to get up only then noticing Stefan leaning down to take his place.
He looked to his younger brother, never more grateful for Stefan being there when he needed him to be. "Take her to a tent and stay with her, try and…just make she stays awake." Damon instructed Stefan, taking one last glance at Peyton before running off into the woods, following the general direction Logan had taken.
He ran for about half a minute, before he reached the centre of the forest, waiting there in silence, listening out for any sounds that would tell him where Logan was. He didn't have to wait long before he heard some branches and twigs snap to the left of him; too loud to be an animal, when he rushed off in the direction of the sound. He stopped again, listening to the forest sounds, zoning out the sounds of the babbling people from the fields.
He sensed the attack well in advance this time, effectively swerving out of the way to miss a broken off branch aimed directly for his chest, causing Logan to run a couple more metres past Damon before he turned on his heels, facing him once again.
"So, tell me something- how are you still alive?" Damon said, after Logan managed to dodge an attack from Damon.
"I don't know- why don't you tell me. "Logan answered back a little breathlessly, "I mean, after all, I have you to thank for this." He said, gesturing to himself, allowing his face to transform to that of the creature he once swore to hunt, before returning to its normal human disguise.
Damon frowned, suddenly understanding, "You're the new vampire in town." He said unnecessarily, angry in himself that he hadn't worked it out a little sooner. "Who turned you?" Damon asked, curiosity getting the better of him- he could make Logan suffer after he got some answers.
Logan let out a short breathy laugh, "Believe me, I want to know the exact same thing. Because, you see, the last thing I remember is you killing me." Logan shouted, ducking another punch Damon launched at him.
Damon smiled "Right, so you can't recall anyone feeding you blood before you died?" Damon asked, astounded at the man's stupidity. Before Logan could respond, Damon began again, "You know what that doesn't matter, you aren't going to be alive much longer now anyway." And before Logan could sense what was coming, Damon had pinned him against a tree and had already picked up the branch Logan had previously discarded, launching it with as much force as he had, into Logan's chest, missing his heart by mere inches. Damon tilted his head, observing the pain etched on the man's face, soon deciding that it wasn't enough, he pushed the improvised stake further into Logan's body, watching as his face contorted in pain.
"So what was your master-plan? Kill me and then what? Just carry on knocking off every person in town. You really thought you would get away with that?" Damon knew that he had been a vampire for more than a century, but even so, did Logan really think he could survive like that? He had been on the founders council long enough to know they weren't completely stupid when it came to their knowledge of vampires.
"Why the hell not?" Logan wheezed out, the pain of the wooden branch still lodged somewhere between his heart of lungs, distracting him only slightly from the vengeance he had planned to carry out on Damon. "Matter of fact, I was going to start with that cute little blonde you left. Peyton, wasn't it?" He finished, knowing that the pain that was about to come was worth it just for the look that crossed Damon's face in that moment.
Damon's mind quickly flashed back to Peyton, reminding himself that as much as he wanted to spend hours torturing Logan before finishing him off, this couldn't take too long. He had to get back to her, make sure she was still… Damon quickly stopped himself from finishing his thoughts, looking at Logan's face and wanting nothing more than to wipe the smug look off it, he grabbed another branch from the ground, pushing it through his stomach, twisting it around. "Wrong answer." Damon responded, watching as Logan screamed in agony.
Damon released him from his grip, suddenly remembering the gun, loaded with wooden bullets that Liz had given him at the start of the evening that was tucked into his jeans. Getting the gun out, he counted nine wooden bullets, and stood for a couple of minutes, watching as Logan had fallen to the ground trying to get the pieces of wood out of his body. Just as Damon saw he was beginning to pull one of the branches out of his chest, Damon shot him in the hand, as Logan's screams echoed throughout the forest. "You know, I don't think I'm going to enjoy a kill quite as much as this one." Damon said, kicking Logan in the face.
Damon waited for Logan to stand up, using the same tree Damon had just pinned him against for support. And then he preceded to shoot him two more times; in both knees.
Seven more bullets and then he's dead. Damon thought to himself. Seven more bullets to cause as much pain as is supernaturally possible. After three more shots in the chest; steering clear of his heart, Damon hauled Logan up once again, holding him by his shirt collar, he punched him and then went to apply pressure into the wound closest to his heart, knowing right then that Logan Fell wanted nothing more than to die.
"I didn't ask for this! I didn't want this life." Logan said, his voice strained with the pain he was feeling after having two wooden branches and five bullets shot into his body. "I was a successful reporter! And now…"
Damon let out a sigh "Excuse me while I get out the violins!" He responded, thinking to himself that if Logan was expecting sympathy from him, he was even stupider than he originally thought.
"And you took that away from me!" Logan continued, ignoring Damon's interruption, his anger returned in full force. "This is your fault. You killed me."
"I kill everybody. That doesn't make you special." Damon replied, the lack of remorse, or even caring, apparent in his voice. Before Damon could see what was coming, Logan's fist connected with Damon's face, with a force Damon had to admire for someone who was as injured as Logan. His hand automatically went to his cheek, his face beginning to sting from the hit. He got out the gun and shot him in the other hand, as Logan clutched his newly fresh wound, trying to dig the bullet out.
"Why don't you just get it over with and kill me already?" Logan exclaimed, his voice a mixture of exasperation and pain.
"You know, before I knew it was you, I was planning on doing just that. It would have been quick and painless" he considered for a minute, before he amended himself "…more or less." Damon knelt down, "But then you hurt her." Damon said, thinking back to Peyton in some tent somewhere, bleeding out and promised himself this wouldn't last much longer. "She had nothingto do with this. Nothing. You shouldn't have done that." Damon said, shaking his head, getting up and taking the gun out of his back pocket, looking down at the snivelling reporter turned vampire, this time aiming the gun at his heart.
"I was aiming for you! She got in the way." Logan said, his voice pleading, though by this point they both knew that he was already dead.
Damon expression became deadly serious, as his eyes examined Logan's face one last time. "Yeah, well next time, make sure you don't miss." And with that, Damon shot Logan three times in the chest. He stood over his body, waiting for Logan's form to change ashen white, as his eyes glazed over- this time; Damon was going to make sure he stayed dead. And with that he ran back through the forest, knowing the smell of blood would lead him back to Peyton.
…
Since Stefan had removed the stake from Peyton's back, she had been drifting in and out of consciousness; never staying awake for longer than a couple of minutes before losing consciousness once again. Stefan knew that she was a lot better than when Damon left her; but he also knew that normally when he was in this kind of situation he would get as far away as possible. He wasn't like Damon, he hadn't spent his entire lifetime drinking human blood, he couldn't control his urges as well as Damon- and where he was; knowing he had to stay with her because nobody else could, that was torture. And it wasn't just dangerous for him; if Peyton woke up and noticed the transformation on his face; the bloodlust in his eyes, it would bring on a whole new host of problems that he just wasn't ready to deal with.
After what felt like hours, Stefan decided he would try to find Damon, knowing he couldn't trust himself to stay in the tent any longer with just him, an unconscious person and a lot of human blood. As he got up to leave, quickly checking on Peyton, taking note that her heart-rate was definitely now a little stronger, Damon came rushing in. He gave Stefan a suspicious glance before moving over to Peyton, examining the wound on her back for a couple of minutes before looking back to Stefan.
"I tried to stop the bleeding as much as I could and I gave her some of my blood when she was quite out of it. She's better, but…" Stefan explained, trailing off.
"But your bloods not my blood- the animal bloods not nearly as effective as the real thing." Damon said; finishing Stefan's thoughts whilst cutting through his wrist with the stake that was originally meant to kill him. Damon looked up from Peyton to Stefan, standing at the entrance. "You should wait outside. They way you're looking at her right now…you need to wait outside."
Damon leaned over Peyton, holding her body forward so she was in sitting position; he put his wrist against her mouth willing her to be conscious enough to drink. Stefan was right; she was definitely a lot better than when he had left her- the bleeding, on the whole, had stopped and Stefan had bandaged the wound up as well as he could with no proper supplies. As Peyton began to come to again, she started to fight against Damon's hold, trying to break free. "No, come on…You need to drink this-it's going to help." Damon said, whispering against her face. Eventually she started to drink more, clutching at his arm, feeling the strength it gave her almost instantaneously. "There we go…" She drank for another ten minutes before she passed out again, as Damon wiped the blood from his wrist onto his jeans- the wound healing within seconds. He sat by her side for a while in silence, on the opposing make-shift bed, thinking over everything that had happened in the last couple of hours. He thought back to how just yesterday he was looking forward to today; how drama-free and boring the town had been lately. And now…
He walked over to her, sitting on the bed beside her, he lifted the shirt Stefan had used to stop the bleeding and saw most of the flesh had reformed over the injury. The worst of it was over and he knew that she was going to be okay, but he still couldn't help but feel guilt; and that wasn't good. He was feeling that emotion too much lately. Letting out a sigh of frustration, he got up from the bed and walked out of the tent to see Stefan standing nearby.
Stefan turned to face Damon, as he approached him from behind. "She's going to be okay." Damon said, walking to stand next to his brother, looking out at the people walking around the fields, completely unaware and ignorant of everything that had happened whilst they were getting drunk or looking up at the damn sky. Stefan simply nodded in response, choosing to remain silent, waiting for Damon to explain what had happened instead of asking him question after question, positive Damon would just snap at any moment, considering the mood he was in right now. "There's a doctor on site- Liz had one called in here in case there were any attacks. He should check over her, maybe redo the bandages." Damon said, still preoccupied by other thoughts.
"I'll find him." Stefan offered, "It would probably be easier if we compel him- a stake wound is a hell of a lot harder to explain than a bite wound." Stefan continued, taking Damon's silence as a form of agreement.
As Stefan began to walk away, Damon broke his silence. "It was Logan…the vampire was Logan." Stefan shook his head in disbelief, unsure what to say. "I don't know how, but it was Logan the entire time. He's dead- we should probably get rid of the body." He continued.
"I'll bury the body after I find the doctor." Stefan replied, waiting for Damon to nod before he walked away.
….
Damon didn't know how long he stood waiting outside the tent, as if on guard duty, when Stefan returned with the doctor who walked straight into the tent, carrying a bag of medical supplies. Stefan took his place standing next to Damon, crossing his arms over his body. Damon turned to face him, "The body is pretty much in the middle of the woods- shouldn't take longer than two minutes to get to it."
Stefan nodded, before asking "And he had no idea who turned him?"
"He was completely clueless." He answered simply; knowing Logan would have no reason to lie.
"If it was someone from here, we could be dealing with more vampires and attacks." Stefan reasoned, knowing the situation was far from resolved.
"I can't think about that tonight." Damon responded, shrugging his shoulders, rubbing his eyes from exhaustion. Just as Stefan thought Damon was done talking, he began again. "He was aiming for me." Damon looked at Stefan, finally voicing the thoughts he had been scared to say aloud all night. At Stefan's look of confusion, Damon continued "Logan was aiming for me and she jumped in front of me." Damon shook his head, laughing to himself in disbelief "Why would she do that?" He asked, looking at Stefan but not really expecting an answer from him. Before he could respond, Damon continued, now determined to tell voice all of his conflicting emotions. "She could have died and it would have been my fault."
Stefan shook his head, "But she didn't die, Damon. Don't think like that."
Damon genuinely laughed at Stefan's reply. "You don't get it Stefan, if she died…" He trailed off, unsure how to finish the sentence. "I've killed a lot of people- I mean a hell of a lot more than you could possibly know about. And I've never…" He began, before letting out a sigh of frustration. "I've never felt responsible for their death's- I've never even cared. But when she was there, when she was bleeding and I thought that she was going to… I have never felt responsible for the deaths I've caused. But tonight I felt so responsible for her..." He sighed, looking to his brother in confusion. "That's not me Stefan; that's not who I am." He finished, shaking his head.
Before Stefan could think of what to say in response, the doctor emerged from the tent. "I've bandaged her up and given her something for the pain. She's asking for you." He said, looking to Damon, causing Damon to walk past the two of them without another word.
Damon walked in to find Peyton sitting up in the bed, standing sheepishly at the tent opening, unsure what to say.
"Hey." He eventually settled on, clearing his throat and alerting her to his presence.
"Hey." She smiled weakly.
"Are you feeling better- you look better." He said, taking in how much more colour had returned to her face.
"I'm better." She said, nodding, "Just a little sore- the doctor said I should be feeling like that for a couple of weeks." Peyton only then realized that she was sitting in front of Damon topless, wearing only a bra. Immediately she covered herself, using the bedcovers, flushed with embarrassment.
"Stefan had to take it off to get to the-" Damon began to explain.
"I know." She replied quickly.
"Your T-shirt has got blood all over it." Damon continued.
"Right." Peyton agreed, wondering how long it was going to take her to use replies that consisted of more than two words.
"I can get your overnight bag." Damon offered.
"OK." She said, nodding as she watched him leave, only after which she realized she should have asked if he knew where it was. Once he was gone, she crossed her legs on the bed, her right arms reaching back over her shoulder to touch on the bandaging the doctor said not to remove whilst her skin was healing. Apparently, she had been "lucky" that the cut wasn't any deeper otherwise she would have needed serious medical attention. Though she simply smiled at the doctor, she thought to herself that it felt like a serious wound-it felt like it went deep enough into her skin. But at the same time, sitting on the bed now, she didn't feel any pain at all- yes painkillers were effective, but could they really have been that strong? Did she just over-react to an injury that was never going to be serious enough to kill her?
Before she could deliberate any more the extent of the injury, Damon returned with the bag Caroline had packed for her, moving over to her bed, smiling as he dropped it on the ground at her side. He then moved backwards, silently turning around as she began to root through the bag for a shirt. Upon finding a plain black sweat-shirt, she slipped it on, brushing her hair back out from under the shirt. "OK" Peyton said; indicating Damon could turn around again.
"So, you should go home." Damon began hesitantly, placing his hands in his pockets, "Sleeping here isn't going to be good for you. I'll get Caroline." He said, turning to leave.
"No!" Peyton said, causing Damon to look up in concern. "I mean I don't want to worry her. Besides, it's just going to ruin her night- I can just tell her in the morning." She expanded, getting up from the bed and reaching down to pick up her bag.
"I'm sure she would want to know." He responded, taking the bag from Peyton's hands, thinking to himself what the perfect gesture of thanks was for someone who took a stab in the back for you.
"I'm going to be fine." She said, repeating what Damon had told her earlier in the night, she took the bag back off him, carrying it over her good shoulder. As she began to walk away, she suddenly realized "I drove here with Caroline. You can give me a lift back."
"OK." he agreed, jumping at the suggestion. "Stefan has the keys- I'll just get them from him." He said.
"Damon?" She called out to him; he looked at her expectantly, noting the hesitancy in her tone. "About the guy who attacked me…or you…whatever-is he…" She began to ask before Damon cut her off, shaking his head.
"You don't need to worry about him. I took care of him." Damon answered.
"What exactly does that mean, Damon?" She asked, unsure if she wanted to know the answer.
"It means just that. There's no reason for you to be scared. I promise you, you will never have to see him again." Damon replied, with a tone of finality in his voice that told her that the conversation was over; he didn't wait for her to respond, instead leaving in search of Stefan. Peyton lay the bag down at her feet, rubbing her eyes in exhaustion as a mixture of both relief and dread, both in equal measure, took hold of every one of her thoughts, as she deliberated over the meaning behind Damon's words.
…..
When Damon returned, she followed him silently to the car park; noticing Damon was walking the longer route, cutting through the middle of the field, completely avoiding the spot that the unexpected ambush had happened. Only when she got in the car and he began driving did she realize that he wasn't going to voluntarily explain anything that happened while she was unconscious, or in fact, offer any conversation at all.
"Is Stefan going to be alright finding a ride back home?" Peyton asked, hating the fact that she was engaging in small talk considering everything that they had been through tonight.
"He'll manage." Damon responded, keeping his eyes on the road. In fact, Peyton thought to herself, he hadn't managed to maintain eye contact for longer than a few seconds when he was with her before he averted his eyes elsewhere.
"Can you tell him thank you from me, for staying with me?" Peyton asked. Damon nodded his head in response, remaining silent. "But if you are going to leave me with anyone in the future, I would choose someone other than your brother if I were you." Peyton smiled, attempting humour to lighten the mood.
"What do you mean?" Damon frowned, his eyes shooting up from the road.
"Well, you know…" Peyton said, thinking this wasn't the reaction she was expecting from him. "He's just seems a little queasy around blood- he couldn't even look at me." She answered, trying to recall what little she remembered between her spells of unconscousness.
"He didn't…" Damon began, his face suddenly full of concern, as he considered for a moment before saying, "Never mind, ignore me." His eyes moved back to the road and a couple more seconds of excruciating silence passed before Damon looked to Peyton "It kind of runs in the family. I'm not so good around blood either."
Peyton thought for a minute before replying, "You weren't so bad." He turned to look at her, and a feeling of relief washed over her as she saw a genuine smile grace his face before disappearing behind the sombre, serious look that he had been wearing all night.
"Oh, you can just drop me off at Caroline's." Peyton told him when she noticed he was driving towards her own apartment. "I said I would stay and wait for her there until she got back."
"Sure." Damon replied after Peyton had finished explaining.
"Do you need instructions?" Peyton asked, realizing this was probably the most formal conversation she had ever had with Damon, and hopefully ever would have- serious and Damon just didn't go well together.
"No, I've been there before." He answered.
"Right, of course…" Peyton replied, chastising herself at such a stupid question.
It took Damon a couple of minutes before he realized what he said, quickly back-pedalling. "No! I didn't mean like that. I know her mom. I sometimes do favours for Liz."
"Favours?" Peyton asked, raising her eyebrows.
"Yeah…" Damon considered for a moment, "It's complicated."
Peyton let out a short laugh, startling Damon, "Is anything ever just simple with you?" She asked, smiling.
Damon smiled in response, looking at her; he replied "You know I was half-expecting you to end that sentence with some joke about me being simple-minded."
"Well, I didn't have to- you did that job for me." She answered back, grinning as she turned to look at the empty road ahead of them. Suddenly remembered something, she turned to look at Damon, her eyes wide. "What's the time?"
Damon furrowed his brows before looking down at the watch on his wrist. "12.30. Why?"
Peyton let out a sigh of relief, leaning back in the seat when she realized how much it ached when she did so. "Just checking I didn't miss the meteor shower." She answered.
"You know I personally don't see the big hype about it. I mean I've seen a couple in my lifetime and it's really not that big of a deal- just a bunch of rocks and dust flying across the sky."
Peyton smiled, letting out a long sigh, "That was the probably the perfect opportunity to use some of your best material on me and you blew it."
He smiled in return, shrugging his shoulders, "My best material has absolutely no effect on you." he replied matter-of-factly. "So, why are you so bothered about missing the meteor shower?"
"I've always wanted to make a wish under a shooting star."
Her answer caused Damon to groan in response, rolling his eyes he turned to her, "Do you know before the whole myths about wishes and shooting stars existed, there were myths about meteor showers being seen as bad omens? Besides," he continued, after a second thought, "you really think your wish will come true?" He asked; his face the perfect picture of cynicism.
"Not really, but it's worth a shot." Peyton said, shrugging her shoulders.
"And what would you wish for?" He asked, wondering what she could want so badly to feel the need to wish for it.
Peyton thought for a moment, looking out the window, and then turned to Damon, answering "I would wish for my karma to all cancel out… I wish I could start afresh."
At this, Damon couldn't help but laugh at her. "So now you believe in karma too?"
She raised her eyebrows towards him, "I never used to. But in the space of one year, I have nearly died twice. Clearly I must be pissing someone off."
"Karma's just a load of BS."
"What makes you so sure?" She asked, frowning.
"Trust me, if karma existed, I would be monumentally screwed beyond belief. I don't believe in karma and neither do you." He stated, turning to look at her.
"I guess… But just in case I get run over by a car next week…" She trailed off.
"I'll keep an eye out for your name in the obituaries." He smiled as she laughed.
"That's all I'm asking. And I'm counting on you to make sure I get a damn good gravestone message." She replied, stretching her legs in the car and turning the AC on.
"Ah, that's one thing I hate about funerals- the gravestone messages are always so dull and generic: "devoted mother, caring father, dear friend"." Peyton tried to suppress a laugh at the fact that what Damon hated most about funerals were the messages on the grave, not the fact that somebody he knew had just died. "But your message would be something like 'Peyton Sawyer: music-loving, no-nonsense, bad-ass bitch.'" He continued, as she let out a short bust of laughter.
She considered for a minute before she said, "'and yours would read "Damon Salvatore: hated by all.'"
Damon shook his head, smirking "Try 'Damon Salvatore: envied by all.'".
Peyton rolled her eyes, muttering. "Or how about just 'Damon Salvatore: deluded.'"
Damon smiled, ignoring her last comment, and they continued driving in silence until he spoke up again, "I've got it. 'Tragically misunderstood. Utterly flawed. Beautifully broken.'"
Peyton considered each phrase carefully before slowly nodding her head. And then, as a thought dawned on her she turned to Damon, asking him "Is that meant to be yours or mine?"
He contemplated her question for a minute, before finally answering "Both of ours I guess." He smiled, as he pulled up into Caroline's driveway, taking the key out of the ignition. He watched as Peyton got her bag from the backseat and just as she opened the door to leave, he called out for her to wait. She turned to him, raising her eyebrows at him questioningly. "I don't feel right about you spending the night here alone."
Peyton smirked, "You know of all the ways of trying to get an invite that has to be the most original."
"I'm serious, Peyton." He answered genuinely, causing the smirk to fall from her face. "I can just stay with you until Caroline gets back in the morning. I just don't want you spending the night alone." He finished, shocking Peyton with the direct honesty in his words.
Peyton considered rejecting him, but she saw the pure concern in his eyes and realized, though she would never admit it to him, that she also didn't want to spend the night alone tonight. "OK" She agreed, nodding her head; this time she didn't argue when he took her bag for her. When they got to the door, Peyton reached into her jeans pocket taking out a set of keys, as Damon looked at her suspiciously, "What? Caroline's not the only person who can make copies!" She responded defensively, turning the key in the hole and pushing the door open. She walked into the house, quickly de-activating the alarm and turned the lights as she walked through the house, upstairs to Caroline's room. Only after she dropped her bag at the foot of the bed and close the window in the room did she remember Damon, and turned to see him standing sheepishly by the staircase outside the room. "You can come inside." Peyton said, opening the door a little wider to let him through.
Damon walked in, looking around the room, he commented "She's redecorated since the last time I've been here."
Peyton scowled at him, throwing a cushion at his head, possibly a little too forcefully, which he caught just in time, as she lifted the covers and got into the bed; careful to lie on her side, so to avoid any discomfort to her back; her body facing the wall.
Damon stood for a moment, unsure what to do with himself before he grabbed the chair by the desk, dragging it over to the door and facing the bed. He sat down, folding his arms over his body. He listened carefully for a couple of minutes, and hearing that Peyton's breathing hadn't slowed down enough to mean she was sleeping, he spoke. "In the car, you said that this was the second time this year you nearly died."
"I was shot." Peyton said, sensing his question before he asked it.
"Ah, been there." Damon replied knowingly, "Hurt's like a bitch, doesn't it?" As he subconsciously touched his chest, still able to feel the scar left by the bullet.
Peyton turned over, so she was now facing where Damon was sitting. "Hell of a lot worse than a stab wound." She agreed, noting from funeral conversations to life-threatening injuries, how there subjects seemed to be leading back to morbid routes. Then again, she considered, given the events of tonight she shouldn't be so surprised.
"Well either way, I can guarantee you that my bullet wound hurt a hell of a lot more than yours." He continued, glad for the darkness in the room to hide the flinch that appeared on his face at her mention of tonight's attack.
"I almost died!" She exclaimed incredulously.
"I did die!" He replied, just as expressively.
"OK! Fine you win!" She conceded, stifling a yawn as she stretched her legs in the bed.
"Hey Peyton?"
"Hmmm?" She murmured, as her eyes began to drift closed; the exhaustion of the night finally having caught up with her.
"Your eyes… are really blue." He said, unable to keep the smirk off his face.
She frowned at first, unsure what he meant when she suddenly remembered what she had said to him. She groaned, half out of embarrassment, half out of anger. "Oh god!" She considered for a minute, before smiling into the pillow, as she whispered "Just be lucky I didn't say 'I love you'".
Damon frowned, but before he could question what she meant, her eyes closed shut, heavy with sleep. And like Peyton, Damon's eyes also closed shut, though he was not fortunate enough to be claimed by sleep; instead he replayed the events of the night over and over, as if watching it on a movie screen, his mind constantly playing through scenarios that didn't end with him lying on the floor with Peyton in his arms as a pool of blood surrounded them.
….
"Damon?" Peyton called out anxiously into the darkness for him.
"What's wrong?" He answered; his eyes snapping open in alarm.
She rubbed the sleep from her eyes, wiping the beads of sweat that had formed on her face from the nightmare she had just woken up from. "Nothing. I was just checking you were still here."
"I'm here." He replied, clearing his throat and re-adjusting his position on the chair.
"How did you know him?" She asked, deciding that they couldn't continue tip-toeing around the subject neither one of them had touched upon since they had left the campsite.
Damon sighed, aware that there were too many lies he had told her to keep track, instead opting for the truth; well as much of the truth he could divulge without revealing the existence of vampires; that he definitely planned on keeping hidden.
"He used to be a reporter that went off the radar just before you came into town. And lately, there's been a lot of missing people lately; more than there should be for this dreary town." He thought for a second, before adding "That's why I was there tonight. Liz told me to keep an out for anyone suspicious. Never thought he would have been behind it though…" He finished, thoughtfully.
"Why did she ask you?" Peyton frowned.
Damon shrugged the question off, "She trusts me."
Well, she figured, the odds were that somebody in this town had to trust him. Though, with the amount of people in this town that seemed to openly despise him, it did seem less likely. "And you trust her?" She asked cynically.
Damon chuckled, "I don't trust anybody."
Peyton smiled faintly, well at least that hadn't changed.
"How many people?"
"What?" Damon asked, confused by the sudden change in topic.
"How many people went missing?"
"Enough. Some men, but mostly women."
"Well, it's a good job you were there to stop him then." Peyton replied, seemingly satisfying all of the questions that she had for him for now.
"I guess so…" Damon answered less than convincingly, wondering if all of his would have been avoided if he had just not showed up. Logan definitely wouldn't have found that he was in the woods and so wouldn't have felt the need to exact revenge. He wouldn't be walking with Peyton, inadvertently endangering her life. Then she wouldn't have been hurt.
"Do you think they are all dead?" Peyton asked, bringing him away from his thoughts and back to the present. "All the missing people, I mean… do you think he killed them all?"
"I know he did." Damon replied certainly, sure without a shadow of a doubt that they were probably all stacked up in some warehouse somewhere, blood-drained and decaying.
Peyton felt a shiver run through her spine at the thought; all those people died alone, terrified and fighting for their last breath. She pulled the covers closer to her face, as if trying to find warmth and security in the blankets that covered her. Just as she was about to allow sleep to take hold of her once again, she heard Damon speak, his voice so quiet at first she thought she imagined it.
"What?" She asked, turning to face him, his face only clear by the moonlight shining through the windows.
"Why did you do it?" He asked again, louder this time, finally voicing the one question he kept going back to, the one thing he needed an answer to.
"Why did I do what?" She asked.
"Why did you jump in front of me?" He said, his voice louder still, unable to mask the anger in his tone.
"I don't know!" Peyton exclaimed, startled by the sudden change in Damon's mood. "I saw that he was coming towards you and I…" She answered defensively.
"You what, Peyton? Why did you do it?" He said, not caring that he was shouting now.
Peyton suddenly got up from the bed, pissed off that she had woken up to this. "You know what I did!"
Damon stood up now too, throwing the chair back in frustration, "But why? Why did you do it?"
"Why does it matter?" She shouted back, raising her voice to match his. "Is it some ego thing? Are you just pissed off that you didn't get to play the big hero?"
Damon laughed in response, breaking the tension that had filled the room for an instant, before he went back to shouting. "You think that's what this is? Some bruised ego? You could have died, Peyton! Back there, you could have died. So I really need you to tell me why you did it." He finished, his wide blue eyes, glistening in the darkened room.
Peyton frowned, sighing as she tried to calm her anger. "I saw him coming towards you, and I saw he had something in his hand. And the way he was looking at you, I knew he was going to kill you!" She said, finally lowering her voice to a normal speaking tone, "And I figured if I got in the way, then maybe… It's not as if I was trying to get hit. I just… He was going to kill you, Damon." She finished, dropping down to sit on the edge of the bed.
Damon let out a long sigh, but honestly unsure of what he was expecting her to tell him. This was his chance to apologize; this was where he could say a thousand different things to make everything okay between the two of them again. But he was Damon and apologizing wasn't his style, which is why instead he said "It was a stupid thing to do." And he walked out the room.
…
Peyton woke up for what felt like the hundredth time in the space of a couple of hours, restless and no longer tired, the argument she had had with Damon still fresh in her mind. Finally deciding that she wasn't going to be able to sleep the night off, she got up, walking to the adjoining bathroom. She opened the tap, splashing cold water on her face, looking at her reflection in the mirror. Hesitating at first, she turned around, peeling away at the bandages on her back she was greeted by a fresh trickling of blood that she assumed must have been caused by her constant moving in the bed. "Damn it." She muttered, getting a cloth from the cabinet and running it under the running water, she dabbed at the blood, cleaning away most of it, she re-applied the bandage, and threw the cloth in the trash-bin. Taking one last look at her self in the mirror, she dried her hands and walked back into the connecting room. Jumping back, she was startled to see a figure at the bed, only to discover it was Damon.
"I thought you had left." She said; the contempt in her voice clear.
Damon sighed, "I said I would stay with you until Caroline got back."
"Well, you can go. I don't need a babysitter." She replied flatly.
"I said I would stay, I'm staying." He answered back, in a tone that left no room for argument. Reluctantly, she moved to the bed, sitting next to him, her head facing the window.
Damon frowned, he turned to face her. "Are you okay? Your back- it's okay?" He asked, the faint smell of blood driving the vampire half of him to ravenous hunger, whilst the other half of him was full of concern.
"I'm fine. It started bleeding in the middle of night, but I cleaned most of it away." She said, quite frankly confused at how Damon could switch from anger and rage to concern and hesitancy all in the space of a few hours.
Damon nodded in understanding; the two of them simply looking out the window, watching the night sky turn to dawn in silence. As the sun began to rise up, Damon finally broke the silence. "You missed the meteor shower."
Peyton smiled weakly, shrugging her shoulders "I wasn't really that bothered, Just a bunch of rocks flying across the sky, right?" She said, tilting her head in his direction.
"Right." He smiled. "I don't do apologies, Peyton." He said, feeling the urge to say all the things that he had left unsaid.
"Well that's just… shocking." She replied, widening her eyes.
Damon shook his head, turning to face her "Just let me finish, Peyton." He said, shocking her into silence, she waited in silence. "What you did tonight… You need to promise me that you will never do something like that again."
"Damon, he was going to kill you!" She said; annoyed at how they were having the same argument all over again and irritated at how he refused to acknowledge her point.
"I know! And if something like that happens again, you won't try to stop them." He answered, desperate to make sure that she understood what he was expecting of her.
"Damon-" She began again.
"No! No 'Damon'." He said, turning his body so he was now facing her fully, his eyes wide with frustration. "If that happens again Peyton, I need you to tell me that you won't get involved. In fact, I need you to tell me that you will run the other way and not look back."
Peyton raised her eyebrows, "So, the next time some crazy psychopath comes at you with a knife you just want me to run away?"
"Yes." He said, fully aware that even though Peyton they would not be put in that situation again, with the amount of people he had pissed off in his lifetime, it was more likely to happen again than not. "So, can you do that for me?" He asked, fully expecting only one response from her, he looked at her in anticipation.
"Okay." She whispered after a moment's consideration. "Yeah, okay." She said; her voice more confident this time, finally seeing a look of satisfaction on Damon's face. "But can you hear me out for a second?" Peyton asked, waiting for him to nod before continuing. "If I hadn't stopped him and he had killed you… then what's to say he wouldn't have just killed me too?" Damon opened his mouth to reply, but found he didn't know what to say. "If it happens again, not that it would, but if it does, fine, I'll stand by and just watch… But, if I didn't do what I did, then we both would have died."
She paused, looking at Damon and for the first time that night she understood why he had been so angry and insisting that she promised to run away next time; he felt guilty.
"This wasn't your fault, Damon." She whispered, shaking her head to emphasise her point. He looked at her, and frowned; the guilt he was feeling now tenfold, as he thought to himself If only she knew.
At that moment, they both heard the front door downstairs open and close, simultaneously looking towards the bedroom door. "Caroline's back." Damon announced, looking at his watch and realizing it was almost 6am. "I should go."
Peyton nodded in response. "Ok". She stood up, as he walked towards the door.
As an afterthought, he turned around, holding onto the door handle he said, "I'll stop by later on, just to check on you… if that's okay."
"That's fine". She agreed, deciding now wasn't the time to lecture him on how she didn't need anyone to look out for her.
"I'll see you later on then." He said, walking at the door, he met Caroline at the top of the staircase. "Caroline." He nodded in her direction cordially, and walked down the stairs and out of the house.
Caroline frowned, slowly walking to her bedroom, scared to find a less-than fully dressed Peyton, lying on her bed. She let out a sigh of relief, when she saw Peyton, fully clothed, sitting on the bed, smiling faintly at her.
"I just saw Damon… did you two hook up or something?" She asked frowning, as she collapsed onto the bed; never fully appreciating the wonders of a mattress before a night of camping.
"What? Oh… No." She answered, only then realizing how everything must look to Caroline.
"Then why was he here?" She asked, frowning, as she bunched up all the pillows surrounding her and getting herself comfortable.
"It's a long story." Peyton said, unsure where to begin. "What about you and Matt? Have you two sorted out your issues?"
Caroline sighed, "It's another long story… And I asked first, so spill." She smiled, as she watched her friend ready herself to tell her everything that happened since she had left Caroline alone with Matt what seemed like days ago now.
…..
Damon parked the car in front of the boarding house and got out, a resolution that he had formed on the drive back still clear in his mind. He walked in to find Stefan sitting in parlour, writing in his journal that he would no doubt have mocked him for any other day. Stefan looked up to see Damon walking towards the kitchen, opening the fridge and getting out a packet from his stolen blood-bank reserves.
"You've been gone a couple of hours." Stefan said, seeing just by looking at him that Damon's mood had visibly improved since he had last seen him.
"I was with Peyton." Damon replied, ripping open the bag and pouring it into a glass as he began to drink from it.
"Is she okay?"
Damon nodded between sips "She's going to be fine." He finished gulping down the rest of the drink, when he went to pour himself another. "Did you bury the body?" He asked, suddenly recalling Stefan's offer to get rid of the reporter.
"Yeah, I got rid of him…" Stefan furrowed his brows, confused at Damon's almost chipper mood. "Are you okay, Damon?"
Damon looked at his younger brother, a wicked smile crossing his face, he patted his brother on the back. "I'm okay. Actually, I feel pretty great." He said, finishing his second drink in no time and closing the fridge.
"You want to tell me why?" Stefan asked, aware that Damon was only ever in this much of a good mood after he had killed someone.
Damon considered his question for a minute, before answering. "Sure why not? I made a decision on my way here."
"OK… What decision was that?" Stefan asked, shaking his head.
"Well, I realized I've been wasting time since I've been here. I got distracted. Stupid mistake, little brother."
Stefan sighed, rolling his eyes "Damon, will you just tell me what you're talking about."
"Katherine!" Damon exclaimed, as if the answer was obvious. "I'm bringing Katherine back." Damon laughed, as he walked up to his room, driven by a renewed feeling of excitement and anticipation.
Author's note: OK, thoughts? I know you may be annoyed with the ending, but the way I figured, Damon spent 150 years loving Katherine, and that wouldn't just go away, so I wanted to write that in. Also, want to say a BIG thanks to all the reviews, and I promise that you won't have to wait nearly as long for the next chapter! Hope you enjoyed it and I will definitely respond to reviews in the next chapter but I figured I should get this chapter out asap. So, thanks again to everyone who reads and reviews-you guys are amazing!
