Amelia Gilbert
I'm one of the most unfit people, but even I didn't stop running until I was far away from the Salvatore house.
"Mia?" I heard my name. I turned my head as I was jogging to see Jenna, in her car, driving slowly next to me. "What the hell are you doing?"
It was all on the tip of my tongue. Everything wanted to come out, but Jenna would have probably of dropped me off at the nearest psychiatric hospital. I needed to talk this through with Elena and Stefan before I put Jenna in dangerous.
"Jogging!" I replied.
"In a bikini top?" She questioned, looking at me strangely.
"It's very hot out." I said, coming to a stop. I was way out of breath. "Can I get a lift?"
"Kind of defeats the purpose, doesn't it?" Jenna stopped the car and pushed open the car door. "For future reference, I'm not ok with this."
"I don't particularly enjoy jogging either." I replied, putting on my seat belt.
"The bikini part, Mia. Who knows who's lurking around out here?" She had no idea out how right she was. She turned the car around and headed in the direction of our house. "I do not believe that you've jogged all the way here from our house. You don't jog, Mia."
"I did it at boarding school, Jenna." I lied. "Haven't you noticed how fabulous I've been looking?"
"No."
"Well, thanks." I tutted. "You look nice, got a date?" She glared at me. "Oh, you do, who's the lucky guy?"
"Who do you think?"
It felt normal being in a car with Jenna. It was easy to forget the last twenty four hours. Almost too easy.
"Listen, I don't improve of Logan Fell, so I don't think you should see him anymore." I tapped her knee. "I'm glad that's out of the way."
"That's funny. Last time I checked, I was the guardian." She reached over and patted my knee. "I'm a big girl, I'll be fine."
"At least bring him around the house. I'll provoke the fear of God in him so he doesn't mess up this time." I replied.
"Dear God, no." She shook her head as she pulled up in front of our house. "Get out of the car; you've already made me late."
"Thanks for the lift, Jenna."
"Get out!"
"Ok! Jeez!" I put my hand on the door handle. "Just remember, don't do anything I wouldn't do..." She gave me a look. "Like date Logan Fell."
"Out!" I opened the door and got out. I started making my way to the door when Jenna called out to me. "And dammit, Mia, put some clothes on. Elena has Stefan around."
I stared after her car as she drove away. "How rude."
When I walked through the front door, Elena looked like she was rushing towards it, and Stefan was close behind. She skidded to a stop when she saw me.
"Mia!" She lunged at me, her arms wrapping around me tightly. "We were just coming to get you!"
"You took your time, I had to break myself out." I said, pushing her away. "And then I had hitchhike home. How could you leave me for that long with that psychopath?! I am lucky to be alive!"
"How did you escape?" Stefan asked me, walking round me as if he was checking for any… marks.
"He let me go, but he has something up his sleeve." I told them, eying Stefan as he continued to circle me. "He sent Vicki over here!"
"She's already here." Elena replied, looking towards our living room.
My eyes widened. "That's not good..."
"Why?"
"Where's Jeremy?" I demanded, heading towards the living.
"Mia, what's going on?" Elena grabbed my arm.
"He turned her into a vampire!" I yelled in a whisper. "We need to get her away from Jeremy now." I walked into the living room.
Vicki was on the couch; she was bending over and covering her eyes. Jeremy was by her side, trying to comfort her.
"Jeremy, get away from her!" Elena practically yelled, creating alarm in our brother's eyes. She wasn't playing it cool at all.
"What? Why?" Jeremy shot back.
"She… uh, she-" My twin began to stutter.
"She has an STD!" I announced, moving over and grabbing Jeremy's arm, trying to pull him from her.
"Mia, get off me." He ripped his arm free from me.
"This is the worst hangover ever." Vicki moaned into her hands.
"I'll get you a drink." Jeremy said to her. "Don't be a bitch." he then said to Elena and then he looked at me before leaving the room.
"I don't know about you, but I am really not liking his attitude these days." I leaned towards Elena.
Stefan put his arm under Vicki's and lifted her up. "We need to take her upstairs and close the blinds. She is going to be ok. She just needs to complete the transformation."
"How does she do that?" Elena asked him.
"She needs to feed on human blood." I replied for Stefan.
"This is insane." Elena whispered, shaking her head. Stefan lowered Vicki down and cupped Elena's face.
"It's going to be ok." he soothed her. "I'll take care of this."
"Uh, Stefan..." I said as Vicki started to rise.
He turned around, but was instantly shoved into the wall. Vicki grabbed one of our chairs and threw it against our window, breaking it open. We all ducked as shards of glass scattered around. When I looked up, Vicki was gone.
This… was not good.
"What the hell happened?" Jeremy came running into the room. He skidded to a stop when he saw the broken window.
Elena and I looked at each other. What the hell were we supposed to tell him? "She just broke our window. Jer, you are not seeing that girl anymore!" I put my foot down.
"What did you do to her?" Jeremy demanded.
"Us? She broke our window! How are we the bad guys?" I said as Jeremy got out his phone.
"Vicki, tell me where you are or where you want to go, I'll come get you, just please call me." Jeremy hung up the phone. "What is going on?"
"She took a bad drug, Jeremy." Elena covered.
I looked at Stefan. "That's probably a better lie than the STD one."
"Then I need to find her." Jeremy said sternly.
"I'll start looking." Stefan told us and headed towards the door.
"I'm going too." Jeremy went to follow Stefan, but Elena and I looped our arms through his as he past. "You're not stopping me."
"When Vicki comes down, she's going to need you here, where she'll know where to find you." I told him sternly. "If Stefan finds her, he'll call us." To my surprise, Jeremy stopped fighting us and nodded.
"I was worried she'd start messing with that crap." he said, moving towards the couch. "She promised me she wouldn't do the hard stuff. I should have known not to believe her." Elena sent a guilty look my way. "I'm going to make some coffee, it's not like I'll be getting any sleep tonight anyway." Jeremy said, getting up and heading towards the kitchen.
"I hate lying to him." Elena said, once Jeremy was out of earshot. "I can't believe this is happening. How is this happening? How is any of this real? This whole time… how does no one know about this?" She shook her head. I stayed quiet and leaned back against the couch. I didn't even know how to begin to process all that was going on. "What did he do to you?" She asked me.
"Nothing much, just scarred me for life." I muttered. "We are way over our heads with this, Elena."
"I know." she whispered. "Did he hurt you?" I shook my head. "You need to stay away from him, ok?"
"You don't need to tell me twice, Elena. I just spent the last twelve hours trying to escape from him." I grabbed a hair band that was on the side and tied my hair up. "What about Stefan? He's a... good vampire? Is that why they don't get along?"
"No, there is more to it." She told me with a sigh. "Do you remember when we spoke about Katherine?" I nodded. "And you know they were both in love with her?" I nodded again. "She turned them both." Elena spent the next half an hour telling me all that Stefan had told her.
"Maybe we should check in with Matt." Jeremy said, returning this time with coffees for us all. "He's going to want to know about this."
When Matt called trying to find his sister, we had to tell him the same story we told Jeremy. I hated lying to Matt, he was my best friend and we had to keep him out of an important secret. He had no idea how much his sister's life was about to change.
"He will call when he finds her." I told him. Matt was now out looking too, which probably wasn't the best idea, but I knew what siblings would do for each other. There was no convincing him to sit this one out.
"Well what are we supposed to do?" Jeremy demanded, "I feel useless just sitting here and waiting for some call that may never come."
"We wait, Jeremy." Elena said sternly.
"I'm thinking of calling Liz, but I don't want to get Vicki into trouble." Jeremy rubbed his hands together.
"We should just let Stefan handle this." I told him, glancing at Elena.
"I don't know what made her take it this far." Poor Jeremy, I could see how much he cared for her, but they could never be together after this. It was too dangerous.
"She'll be fine." Elena lied. "It'll all be fine."
The doorbell rang then. I sighed and got up.
"I'll get it."
Despite saying that I would get it, Jeremy still followed me to the door, probably thinking that it would be some news about Vicki.
I opened the door to find the very man I had escaped from earlier. I tried to slam the door on him, but he shoved it open with his strength, almost breaking it off the hinges.
"Hi, Mia." Damon smiled.
"Jeremy, go upstairs." I told him sternly.
Seeing it wasn't Vicki, Jeremy did what he was told and headed upstairs, leaving me with… him.
Damon smirked and leaned against the door frame. "You're afraid of me again, aren't you?" He chuckled, "Cute, real cute."
"What are you doing here?" I turned around to see Elena, she was trying to look like she wasn't afraid, but it was failing, miserably.
"You're afraid of me too. I'm going to go out on a limb here and guess… Stefan finally 'fessed up?"
"You can't come in." I told him sternly.
"No need to be rude, I'm just looking for Stefan." He looked between us. "May I come in? Oh wait…" He stroked his chin. "Of course I can." He smirked and stepped in. "I've been invited."
I knew how to handle this.
"I resend your invitation!" I threw at him, expecting him to go flying out of the house, but he didn't move. "What the-" I looked to Elena. "It works on True Blood..."
Damon closed the door and walked towards me. "I like your hair up, it shows off that pretty face." I stepped back from him. "We can cut to the chase if you want; I'm not going to kill you two right now… that wouldn't serve my greater agenda." He stepped closer, looking between us. He pointed at Elena. "Elena…" He then pointed at me. "Ah Mia, how can I forget the woman who slept in my bed last night?" He grinned. Elena shot me a look, but I just rolled my eyes. His smirk then dropped and he turned serious. "So, where's Stefan?"
"Not telling you." I crossed my arms.
"He's out looking for Vicki." Elena told him coldly and walked into the kitchen. I looked back at Damon.
"You can leave now." I told him. I went to follow her, but he grabbed my arm. My back was now against the staircase and my chest was pressed up against his.
"Again with those judgy little eyes." He stroked my cheek with the back of his hand. "That girl is going to thank me for what I did to her."
"Did you thank Katherine?" He stared at me for a moment, his eyes dropped and then reached back to mine; he half smiled and stepped away from me.
"Got the whole life story huh?"
"I got enough." I responded.
"Oh I doubt that." He said spitefully. His attitude then changed dramatically, he smiled again and walked towards the door. "Someone broke your window."
"Thank you, captain obvious." I should be scared to say that to him, but I knew he weirdly liked it and it could keep me alive. I was rewarded with a smirk.
"Tell my brother I'm looking for him."
I could see Elena in the kitchen calling someone and I knew that someone was Stefan. Damon probably knew that too.
He opened the door and stepped out, the door was closing, but then he stuck his head round it. "Oh and tip for later, be careful who you invite in the house."
"A little late for that, we've already invited the devil in." I said, stepping towards the door. "Since we're giving out tips, do you know any on how to take back an invitation?"
"How about you offer me that feeding bargain again and we'll talk." I closed my mouth and crossed my arms. "No? I didn't think so. See you soon."
Again with that - I'll see you soon.
Barely ten seconds later, the doorbell rang again.
"For god sake, leave us-" I opened the door to see Jenna. "Oh, it's you."
Elena came up from behind me. "Oh, it's just you."
Jenna looked a mixture of confused and very angry.
"What the hell happened to the window?!" She yelled, backing off the porch and pointing to the broken glass.
"It was Logan Fell!" I blurted out.
Later that night
I was lying on my bed, it had been hours and I still had no clue what happened to Vicki. Jenna was very mad about the window and had to put cardboard up against it until someone could come fix it in the morning. Elena rationally covered it as someone throwing a rock at our window.
I couldn't sleep and knew I probably wouldn't tonight.
So I was just lying here, thinking over and over about what had happened.
Along with being afraid of vampires, I was afraid someone was going to break into our house since the window was already broken. So when I felt movement in my room and shadows passing, I hugged my duvet tighter against my chest. When I felt my bed dip, I let out a sharp scream and jumped up, grabbing a bat that I kept under the bed. (Good reason I do!) and hit whoever it was.
Whoever it was, gripped my bat hard and walked me backwards until my back hit the wall. The bat, along with my hands was pinned above my head.
"Calm down, it's me." a familiar voice said sternly.
I blinked into the darkness until the face became clearer. "That still doesn't make me feel any better!" I wrestled against him. "What are you doing here?!"
"I was invited." he replied, keeping my arms effortlessly above me.
"Stop using that excuse! Elena invited you in, not me!" I stopped squirming against him and just looked at him. "Let me go."
Damon backed off, but kept my bat in his hands. "You keep a bat under your bed?" He raised a brow.
"Yeah, just in case." I shrugged.
"In case a vampire snuck into your room?" He asked, with a smile.
"No, a burglar." I replied. "For a vampire, I'd just hang some garlic around."
He smirked. "Myth."
"Really?"
"Mia." I heard Aunt Jenna knock at my door. "Why were you screaming?"
"I wasn't screaming, I merely shouted." I replied, putting my finger over my lips at Damon. I didn't know what Damon's intentions were, but against everything I knew, I didn't feel like I was in danger. "I saw a spider."
"Are you serious?" Jenna said, "You scared me to death, I thought we had a burglar! I've just been downstairs with a hair brush and… I'm going back to sleep."
I heard her footsteps get fainter until I knew she was out of earshot.
I turned back to find Damon had made himself comfortable on my bed
"You're a terrible liar." he said.
I spread my arms out. "What are you doing? Get off my bed."
"No." He replied, fluffing up my pillow. "It's comfy, I think I might stay here the night."
"Oh hell no, you need to leave right now." I tried to shove him off, but as usual, he was unaffected by this. "Damon, you can't stay here!"
"I let you sleep in my bed last night." He caught my wrist this time as I tried to push him off and pulled me onto the bed.
"Like I had a choice!" I scoffed. "Go!"
"Why?"
"Because… you kill people, that's why!"
"That really bothers you, doesn't it?" He sat up causing me to lean back.
I shook my head at him, bewildered. "What are you doing here, Damon?" Was I even meant to wake up? "You weren't here to kill me, were you?"
He looked at me flatly. "No. Would you stop thinking the worst of me?"
I looked away from him. "How can you act so normally, but be what you are?" I couldn't believe we were having this conversation… in my room… and at this time.
"You don't seem so scared of me anymore, why's that?" He asked, looking genuinely interested.
"I'm still cautious of you." I replied, sitting up on my knees. "But you really can't stay here tonight."
Damon leaned back; I shouldn't be surprised that he wasn't going to listen to me. "She fed."
"What?"
"Vicki fed," he revealed, watching for my reaction.
"Did you really have to turn her?"
"She was on a path of self destruction with or without me." Damon revealed, staring back at me. "You might want to check out your brother." I was surprised when Damon threw a packet of white powder at me.
"Is this..."
"Yep," Damon replied, "she left in my bathroom."
I shook my head. "Jeremy wouldn't do that." I told him, moving to my bathroom. I went over to my sink and turned on the water. I then dumped the stuff down the drain. I looked in the mirror to find Damon watching me. "Where's Vicki now?" I asked him.
"Beats me." He shrugged. "Saint Stefan is desperate to find her and convert her to his vegetarian ways."
I walked past him back into my room. "Why do you hate him so much? I mean, that's what all this is, right? To punish him?"
"You heard the story, you tell me." He started unbuttoning his shirt.
"What-what are you doing?" I asked, putting my hands on my hips.
"Getting ready for bed, what does it look like?" Damon gave me an odd look like I was the weirdo here.
"You're not staying here!" I protested.
"It's only fair you repay the favour, especially as I was SO nice to you today." He flicked off his shoes and threw his shirt on my floor. I picked it up and threw it back at him.
"Get dressed and get out." I pointed towards the door.
"Goodnight, Mia." He laid down on my bed.
"You cannot be serious; you're not sleeping in my bed!"
"Look Saint Stefan is protecting Elena outside, so I'm protecting you… inside. Night." He switched off my lamp, and I switched it back on. "This better be important."
"He's protecting us from you."
"I'm no threat to you." He turned the lamp off.
I turned it back on.
He suddenly sped so my back was against the wall.
"No threat, huh?" I shot at him.
Although he had his chest pressed up against mine, keeping me pinned to the wall, he held up his hands with a smile.
"Vicki is a hungry vampire whose emotions have been heightened. She has a grudge towards a little brunette who she thinks her boyfriend still holds a torch for." Damon said, looking down at me. "Meaning, you need protection."
"If Stefan is protecting us, why do you need to be here? And when have you ever been concerned with protecting us?" I asked him.
His eyes flickered down. "Cute PJs."
"Answer the question, Salvatore." I squinted my eyes at him.
"Because if Vicki did happen to come here, who do you think Stefan will save first, you or Elena?"
"That still doesn't explain why you care, you wanted me dead earlier." I pointed out.
He frowned. "No, I didn't."
"I don't get you at all." I told him.
"That's because you're tired and you need to sleep." he said to me and I suddenly felt very tired.
"Are you compelling me?"
He leaned forward, placing his hand beside my head, looking into my eyes. "Come lie down with me." He backed off me and allowed the compulsion to take its effect.
When I was lying down, I glared up at him. "I hate you."
"Goodnight, Mia," he said and laid down next to me.
I could feel the tiredness he told me to feel overcoming me until my eyes felt heavy and my body light.
