Amelia Gilbert

Seeing Vicki this way felt unreal. She had gotten onto a bad track. She was at the wrong place at the wrong time. It was all down to bad luck that she was here.

And one man.

"You should go, I've got this." Damon appeared from round the cars. I glanced up at him. He was still in his chaperone attire; black jeans, white tee and a black leather jacket. How could he be so calm about this when I was such a mess? I didn't even like Vicki, but I still felt sick over her death. "C'mon, up and at 'em, you don't want to be here when she starts to smell."

I glared up at him from the ground. "How can this not affect you? This is your fault!" I snapped at him, just wanting something from him, any sign that he regretted what he did.

"You confuse me for someone with remorse." He looked down at Vicki's body and then back at me. His eyes scanned over me, over my scratched arms. "You should go, Amelia."

"You should go and get yourself a soul!" I hissed back at him, rising from the ground. "How can you do things like this and not feel anything? How can you go through life hurting people? Hurting the guy who is your brother, over and over?"

"Mia." he said lowly, almost a growl. His brother was a sore subject. His use of my nickname caused me to lash out. The anger took over me and I tried to shove the son of a bitch as hard as I could. He looked down at me as I did, and I went to slap him. I just wanted him to feel something, but it was stupid. He grabbed my hand tightly, tugging me towards him. I winced, but was determined not to give in. He leaned real close to me, using my wrist to pull me closer. "None of this matters to me, none of it." he said sternly, twisting my hand. It was when he noticed the scratches, at least smelt them and saw the blood sliding down my arm that he threw my hand back at me causing me to stumble back from him.

I clutched it to my chest.

"Are you happy now? Because someone is dead, someone lost a sister and a daughter, how can that not matter?" I scoffed, pointing down at Vicki. "It matters, Damon. It matters and you know it." When he shrugged, my hand threw at him again. A loud sting echoed off his face.

His brows narrowed and he turned his head back to me, a look of evil spread on his face, enough to make me shiver. I saw him inhale.

"Mmmm," he hummed, his eyes piercing into mine. I suddenly didn't feel so brave anymore. "You need to leave, Amelia." His eyes flickered down to my arm. "Your wounds are bleeding-" his jaw tightened as if he was controlling his neck move. "And you… need… to leave." His eyes rejoined mine and this time, they were more dangerous than I had ever seen them focus on me. He was tempted by my blood.

"Tell me why." I challenged. "Why did you do it? Why? I told you not to, I told you let her go, to let her live, but then you went and turned her anyway!" My voice increased in volume and I could no longer control what was coming out of my mouth. "All you had to do was not be a complete ASSHOLE for one day and you couldn't even do that!" I felt my voice break, and I knew I was crying, but I didn't care. "Because of YOUR stupid ego-" I pushed him again, "-you had to turn her for what? To get one over on Stefan?" I scoffed and went to push him again, but this time, he grabbed my wrist and pulled me against him. "Let go of me!"

His head came real close to mine. "Are you stupid? You confuse me for someone who actually gives a damn and as for you, I couldn't care less about you." He snarled through clenched teeth. His eyes flashing with anger. Maybe he did feel something, but anger was the only way he could show it. Maybe there was hope for him after all. "You had your chance to escape and you really should have taken it." He lurched my arm up until it was level with his face. I couldn't even tug against my arm, he was that strong. He observed the blood trickling down my arm. Veins stretched under his eyes. He pressed his nose to my wrist and inhaled deeply. His fist clenched as he exhaled. He looked like a starved man, but I knew that wasn't true so why was my blood affecting him so much? He looked down at me, his forehead resting against my wrist. His eyes were hard, but his jaw was tense as if he was battling with himself not to do this. A drop of blood dripped from my arm, catching his attention. "You have no idea." I heard him murmur. He closed his eyes and slowly ran his tongue from my wrist, across my cuts, up to my arm where the cuts ended. He trembled and hissed and threw my arm away from him. "Get out of here, Amelia." He snapped, turning away from me. "Now." I thought he was going to kill me. Damon showed no mercy for anyone so why should he show me any? Why was he reluctant to drink from me?

I took off, heading towards the door that led back to the party. It had been blocked off by Stefan on the outside to make sure that no one would come through and see... Vicki. I opened it up and looked one last time over my shoulder at Damon. He had watched me leave; his eyes were still on me. Dark and dangerous. His lips were tightened together, his fist still clenched, it looked like it was taken every ounce of his strength to not chase after me. His stare was so hypnotic, I had to force myself to push open the door and go through.

The party was still going like nothing had happened, because for them, nothing had happened.

"Mia!" I turned around to see Matt, my insides turned. I turned away at first, not sure I would be able to handle facing him. "Mia." I heard him repeat, his hand coming to my shoulder.

"Matt… buddy..." I breathed out shakily. "Hi."

"Whoa, what happened?" He asked, noticing that I was bleeding.

"Oh, it's just… special effects," I said, turning my arm from him, but he grabbed it back.

"What happened?" He repeated. "Whose ass do I need to kick?"

I couldn't help but smile at that. Matt always looked out for me. I felt horrible at what has happened to him, and that he didn't even know what had happened. Matt was like a brother to me, I never wanted him to hurt either and I can't believe I was going to have to lie to him.

"I don't know, some idiot tripped me up, I didn't see who it was." I told him, struggling not to cry. "My arm hurts so I'm going to go home and rest."

"I can't find Vicki." Dammit, Matt, why did this have to happen to you? You're such a good guy. I bit my lip; I was really hoping he wouldn't ask me that. "She totally bailed on me."

"I don't know where she is." I lied and I felt horrible about it. How could I live with this on my conscience?

"Is this what I'm in for? A lifetime of worrying about her?"

My eyes watered up and I had to turn away so he wouldn't see.

"You're a good guy, Matt."

"Maybe she went home..."

"Maybe…" I replied, sending him a fake smile. "I really have to go. I'll see you later, Matthew." And I hugged him.

"Are you sure you're ok, Mia?" I never hugged Matt as a goodbye so this was probably very weird for him.

"Yeah, fine." Was all I could say. I pulled away and headed out the door.

As soon as I did, I felt eyes water as I walked aimlessly into the car park.

"Mia!" I heard my name again. Dammit, not now. I tried to ignore him, but he jogged up behind me. "Hey, what's wrong?" He moved in front of me, noticing my face.

"Nothing, I'm fine." I dismissed, trying to turn my head.

"I know you, and I know that you're not." Tyler said sternly, placing his hand on my waist. I turned my head and could only shake it. "Do you want a lift home?" I nodded, unable to say the word yes.

Tyler put his arm around me and guided me to his car and as soon as I was in, I couldn't hold it in anymore. I burst into tears as he drove me. It was so awkward and I didn't want him to see me like this. I didn't want anyone to, but it all came crashing down on me. I felt bad for Tyler as he probably didn't know how to handle this situation. He had no idea why I was crying either and how nothing he said would make that go away.

By the time he arrived at my house, I was cried out. Although the situation hadn't changed, I felt a lot better after getting it all out. I wiped my eyes and checked the mirror to fix my makeup.

"Thanks for the lift." I said to Tyler and went to get out, but he grabbed onto my hand, pulling me back in.

"What's going on, Mia?" He asked, leaning towards me. I swallowed, what was I going to tell him? "It's not like you to… I mean nothing gets to you." His eyes studied my face, which probably looked a mess right now. "Is it about your… parents?"

I didn't want to use them as an excuse, but right now I couldn't see a way out. "Sometimes I just slip." I told him.

"If you need to talk, you still have my number, right?"

"You still have the same number?" He smiled and nodded. "Ok. Thanks for the lift." This time, he didn't stop me as I got out of the car. I turned back to wave and he drove off. I wiped the rest of my face clean and hoped that no one would be able to tell. Elena and Stefan were outside the house. "Is Jeremy inside?" I asked them.

"Yeah." Stefan replied. I nodded and pushed open the door. I saw a note on the side from Jenna, saying she was out with Logan and would be back later. It was good that she wasn't here, this would have been hard to explain.

I walked up the stairs and I was scared about what I was about to see.

Nothing could have prepared me.

His eyes were pink, swollen. His face drenched with sweat and tears. His arms were wrapped round his legs and he was shaking. He looked confused, like his brain couldn't process what had happened tonight.

"Jeremy?" I said softly as I sat beside him. He continued to stare off into mid space.

Elena placed her hands on his shoulders and sat on the other side of him. "Do you understand what happened tonight?" He didn't reply, his mouth trembled.

"No, I don't understand." He finally croaked. "I mean, I know what I saw, but I don't understand." He uttered as the tears came down his face. His eyes blinked hard as if they were starting to sting him.

"She was going to kill me." Elena whispered.

"And now she's dead, Vicki's dead." He cried. He was trembling all over, and I couldn't stand seeing him like it, I couldn't. "Make it stop, it hurts." He sobbed. I rubbed my hand up and down his back. His cries were so sad, so desperate. I felt the burning return to my chest. We couldn't leave him like this. "Why does everybody have to die on me?" We both hugged him as he continued to cry, until I couldn't take it anymore and walked out.

I met Stefan outside. He was leaning against the wall, looking down at the ground. "I wanted to help her, but instead I-" He couldn't bring himself to continue. "How's he doing?" He asked me, nodding his head in Jeremy's direction.

Elena walked out of the house and stood by my side. "He's a mess." she answered Stefan. "I don't want him going through this again, he's just a kid." She looked to me and I nodded in agreement.

"What can I do? What can I do to help? I'll do anything," Stefan said, desperately.

"Can you make him forget?" I asked. Stefan remained quiet. "I don't know how he will ever get passed this, I just want him to forget tonight. We should have protected him, it's the least we could do."

"If I did it, there is no guarantee that it would work. Because of who I am, because of how I live, I don't have the ability to do it right." Stefan replied, frowning. I had experienced first-hand how his compulsion does not stick. I couldn't make Jeremy forget and then remember the pain all over again.

"I can do it." I heard from behind.

I slowly turned to see Damon. He walked up to us. "I'll do it, if that's what you want." He looked down at me.

I glanced at Stefan and Elena. "It's what I want." I told them both.

"It's what we want." Elena nodded at me.

I turned back to Damon. My cuts had dried off and the skin started to swell around my cuts. "What do you want him to know?" Damon asked me.

"I want you to tell him that Vicki left town, and she's not coming back." I told him, trying to think of what he should know. What would hurt less. "But he shouldn't look for her or worry about her, he is going to miss her... but it's for the best."

Damon stared down at me, taking in what I was telling him. Why was he helping? Had he suddenly grown a conscious? Did he have remorse? His eyes travelled around my face and it's like he could see right through me. I never understand that expression until now. It's like he saw all the tears I had just been crying despite the evidence no longer there.

Damon nodded and I watched him walk into the house. Elena took a seat next to Stefan. I walked over to the other side of the porch to give them time to talk. I sat down and was reassuring myself that I was doing the right thing by wiping his memory. I was getting rid of his suffering. I almost wish someone had done the same for me a year ago. It needed to be done. So much has gone on these past few days. I had seen so many sides to Damon that I was getting dizzy.

"It's done." Damon revealed stepping out of the house. He turned his head to look at me.

"Thank you." I said quietly as I walked past him and into the house.

I was still nervous approaching Jeremy's room, but when I poked my head round, I saw that he was fine and on his phone.

"You alright?" I asked him.

He turned his head. "Yeah, you?"

"I'm good." I replied.

"What happened to your arm?" Jeremy asked.

"I had a brawl with Matt, I won."

He chuckled at that and it made me smile.

"Are we still making Jenna a Tinder?" He asked me.

I walked into his room and sat at his desk, loading up his laptop. "Of course we are, dear brother." After what happened tonight, despite him not feeling the pain anymore, I still needed to spend time with him. "I've got a good photo on my phone we could use."

"I can't wait to get rid of Fell and we need to do it before she brings him home for dinner." Jeremy said, pulling up a chair next to me.

"We should just do a hidden camera stunt, show Jenna what a jerk he is when she's not around." I said to Jeremy as the laptop loaded up.

"Yeah, he was such a dick, do you remember when he broke my action man?" Jeremy shook his head, still bitter. "Jenna is going to thank us for this."

"Maybe she'll be so happy she'll finally let us have that trampoline." I told him. We set up Jenna's profile, making her irresistible. "Time to match make. Is it swipe left or right?" I asked Jeremy.

"Uhh..." Jeremy scanned the page. "Swipe left for rejection."

"Ah ok, here goes."

Left.

Left.

Right.

Right.

Left.

Right.

"What?! Why did you swipe right?" Jeremy demanded. "He looks like a tool."

"A rich tool. We need a rich uncle to buy us that trampoline." I said to Jeremy.

"Oh! Good point, ok."

Left.

Left.

Right.

Right.

"We have a match!" Jeremy said, pointing to the screen, open it! "He's messaged us already. He's keen."

Jeremy clicked opened the chat.

Do you know your abc's? The guy said.

I gave Jeremy an odd look, but he didn't seem to think this was weird. "Ok, we need to sound smart." Jeremy said to me and began typing.

Yes I do.

Jeremy leaned back and waited for the response.

Cause I'm going to give you the 4th letter ;)

Jeremy's face scrunched up in confusion. "What?" He said, glancing at me. "D?" he said in confusion. "What does he mean he's going to give us the D?"

"Really?" I looked at him. "You don't get it?"

"The D..." Jeremy repeated. "I'm going to give you the D..." He said out loud before loudly gasping. "What! How dare he think we're that easy? We want to be romanced! This guy is not our future uncle." Jeremy shook his head.

Wanna fuck?

*Make love

"Where's the delete, button?" Jeremy said, looking around the page. "This is ridiculous, is this what life has come to?"

"We have another match!" I said excitedly. "Fingers crossed this one isn't a complete jerk."

Jeremy opened the window.

My penis is small

Jeremy looked at me. "Well, he's honest, there's that."

"Next." I demanded.

Left.

Right.

Right.

Left.

Left.

Daaammn Jenna, are you a haunted house? Because I may cry after I come inside you ;)

I looked at Jeremy. "This may have been a bad idea."

The new guy continued. Ha, just kidding, do you have a boyfriend?

"This guy could still turn it around," Jeremy said to me.

No (: I wouldn't be on here if I did.

"That's good." I said in response to Jeremy's reply.

Ah, awkward, lol, you should probably know that I'm married.

"For god's sake." Jeremy grumbled and began typing back.

That's one lucky lady.

"This is not going how I thought it would at all." I said to Jeremy, sighing. "Guess we won't have a new rich uncle after all."

Let me eat you out.

The guy continued.

"And they say chivalry is dead." Jeremy crossed off the window.

"I think it's safe to say we should probably shut down this profile."

"Agreed." He replied, clicking at the mouse, but before he did. "Whoa… whoa… whoa..."

"What?"

"Look!"

A profile suddenly came into view and there was the decision to either swipe left or swipe right.

"That little toad." I said, shaking my head.

Logan Fell… was on Tinder.

"And screenshot," Jeremy said, pressing the keyboard.

"Wait, if we show this to Jenna, we'd have to come clean about creating a profile for her!"

"We could say it was our profile." Jeremy quickly came up with.

"But the age restriction is eighteen!"

"Oh damn… wait, I've got it!" Jeremy replied, spinning his chair round to face me. "We post it through the door, anonymously and put the letter A on it, like Pretty Little Liars."

I stared at him. "It's not the worst idea." I turned to the laptop and deleted Jenna's profile. "I really hope we don't run into any of these men on the street." I said. "Or Jenna runs into them."

"Oh god yeah, we would say goodbye to that trampoline." Jeremy blew out.

"Night Jer," I said, getting up and leaving his room.

It felt fun to hang out with Jeremy. For that moment, it felt like I had gotten my brother back. I went downstairs and raided the cabinets. I needed something sweet after the day I've had. I settled on chocolate ice cream and took the tub, along with a spoon, up to my bedroom.

I settled on my bed and loaded up my laptop. I began to do some online shopping. I was lying on my stomach and had my legs, behind me in the air, typical teenage girl fashion.

"That would suit you."

I jumped at the sudden voice causing me to spill the ice cream down my shirt.

I sat up and glared over my shoulder at Damon. I shivered as it slid down my skin. "Look what you did." I scowled.

"I can lick it off if you want." He offered with a smirk.

"What are you doing here?" I asked angrily as I grabbed a tissue and began cleaning myself up. "Are you forgetting what happened today?"

He held his hands up. "I'm not one to hold a grudge, I forgive you."

I scoffed. "Not one to hold a grudge? Forgive me?"

"You're doing it again, Mia." I narrowed my brows in confusion, "You're repeating everything I say."

"It's because what you say is complete rubbish!" He shuffled on my bed and kicked his shoes off, "Don't make yourself comfy, you're not staying."

"I think I will." he replied, reaching for and taking MY ice cream.

"Damon!"

He put a spoonful in his mouth. "Mmm, chocolate, my favourite." I stared at him like he was crazy. He is crazy. "You're cuts are healing up nicely." He nodded to my arm. "I can speed up the healing process if you like."

"Damon… get out!"

His brows narrowed. "That's rude."

"And give me my ice cream!" I reached for it, but he held it out of reach. "You don't even need it!"

"As long as I keep a healthy diet of blood-" The corners of his mouth tugged into a smile as his gaze wandered from my eyes, "-my body functions pretty normally." He took another big spoonful.

"Stop eating my ice cream!"

"No."

"I'll punch you."

"It won't affect me."

"I'll stake you."

"I'll suck your blood."

"I'll tell…"

"Tell who?" Damon raised his brows.

"Someone! Just give it to me!"

"Think of it this way Mia, this way, I'm protecting you."

"From what?"

"From losing your amazing figure." He let his eyes wander.

"That's a load of crap." I accused. "You just want the ice cream for yourself."

Damon gasped, "Language Amelia! What would Stefan say? That's not how a lady should talk."

"A lady shouldn't have a guy in her bedroom either, so you should leave." I stood up and put my hands on my hips. He just continued to eat my ice cream. I reached for it. He pulled it just slightly out of my reach. I moved forward and reached again. Damon put the ice cream tub on the other side and disappeared for a second. I looked around in confusion, but then I shrugged and reached for my ice cream. The next thing I knew I was pinned under Damon. "What the hell?" I squirmed against him.

"I wouldn't do that if I was you." he warned.

"Stop it!" I moaned. "I've had a very long day! I just want to eat ice cream and pretend like this stupid day didn't happen." I glared up at him. "If I can get the ice cream, will you leave?"

"Go for it." He challenged. I shoved him so that we started to roll over and we kept rolling over… until we actually fell off the bed. I landed on Damon. I pushed against his chest and stood up, then ran around the bed to get to the ice cream when I felt him grab my ankle. I fell down to the ground.

"Why?" I called out.

"Mia?" I looked towards the door to see Aunt Jenna standing there.

"Err, hi Jenna, you're back!" I looked around to see Damon had vanished. I let out a sigh of relief. I would not know how to explain that one, so sometimes Damon ultra fast speed came in handy. "How was your date?"

"What are you doing on the floor?" She asked me suspiciously.

"I… fell?"

"Right." She stared at me doubtfully. "The date was fine."

"So you'll see him again?" I pulled a face.

"Don't start, it's late. Goodnight."

"Night." I replied.

As soon as Jenna closed the door, I glanced up from still being on the floor to see Damon lying on my bed with the tub of ice cream in his hand.

I sighed heavily. I went outside where I retrieved myself another spoon. I don't know what was going on or why Damon kept showing up here. "Isn't it fun to share?" He taunted as I returned to the room.

"Shut up, dick."

"I don't think I deserve that."

"You tripped me up, that hurt."

"Someone needs to learn to let go of the past."

"It happened two minutes ago!" I protested. "Besides, that's a little hypocritical coming from you."

"Stick to your side!" Damon said as he battled my spoon.

"It's my ice cream!" I then slapped his spoon with mine causing the ice cream on his spoon to splatter on his shirt. "Opps!" I covered my mouth with my hand.

"You think you're funny, don't you?"

"Just a little."

Damon looked at me challengingly before digging his spoon into the ice cream.

"Damon, no!" I held out my arms. "It was an accident!" I scuttled off the bed. He stood up, "Don't!" He stepped closer. "Stop it! I don't like it!" I tried to run, but he was too quick and wrapped his arm around my waist, pulling me against his chest. I shivered as I felt the ice cream pour on my shoulder and travelled down under my top. "Damon!" I squealed, "I didn't put that much on you!" I grabbed the rest of the tub and scooped out some with my fingers and slid my hand against his face. He gasped and looked at me. "Whoops." I shrugged innocently.

"You're going to pay for that." He tutted.

I cannot believe we were doing this.

"Now we're even!"

"Oh Amelia, we are far from it." He wiggled his brows and smudged the ice cream over my lips. I leaned back from him, trying to push his hand away from me.

"Ugh, look at me." I said, looking down at my ice cream covered clothes.

"I am."

I looked back at him, and my smile faded when I saw how close we were. I saw his eyes flicker down to my chocolate covered lips and then back up to my eyes where he searched them, as if he were searching for permission.

"Mia? What the hell?" I spun round to see Aunt Jenna looking gobsmacked. "What did you do?"

"I um… split it..."

"Yeah! I can see that!" She circled me, "What the hell is wrong with you?"

"There is an honest explanation to all this…"

"Oh yeah?"

"Ok well, no there isn't."

"Go shower." She instructed me, shaking her head. "And clean up this mess! What the hell did they teach you at that boarding school?"

"I'm going… I'm going!" I picked up my towel and headed into my bathroom. I looked around my room and even once Jenna was gone, he didn't re-appear.

I closed the door behind me in the bathroom.

Let's just hope Damon doesn't show up in there.