A/N: Hello! First off, sorry for the late update. This chapter has been a pain to write, especially after the drama and angst of the last chapter. I hope you like it...
Disclaimer: I don't own the Vampire Diaries or Damon (sadly) but I do own the lovely Scarlett, and she's pretty cool!
Scarlett groaned as her alarm blared loudly, signalling that she had to get up and face another day. Her eyelids felt incredibly heavy, and she almost had to prise them open before squinting at the bright sunlight that filtered through her gauze curtains. Sitting up in bed, Scarlett rubbed her eyes with the heels of her hands in an attempt to rid them of the vestiges of sleep. She glanced at her night stand without thinking and frowned. There, sat quite innocently on top of her copy of Shakespeare's Sonnets, lay a single pink peony and perched beside it was a small, white card. Scarlett didn't have to look to know who had put it there. Cautiously, she reached out and picked up the card, raising it to her eyes to read it.
Thank you, D. Scarlett turned the card over, but there was nothing else; just two words and an initial. A dull ache rose in her chest and she hastily put the card back on the night stand before climbing out of bed and walking into her bathroom. She let the hot water of the shower wash away the tears that had dried on her skin from the night before, closing her eyes and revelling in the quietness of the morning. No doubt she'd soon be sick of the quiet, once Stefan and Damon were gone…
Drying herself off, Scarlett quickly dressed in dark green jeans, a black long sleeve t-shirt and black knee high boots before pinning her hair into a messy bun. She grabbed her school bag and ambled down the stairs. School was one place she really didn't want to be today – no doubt she'd run in to Mr Saltzman, and Scarlett didn't think she'd be able to handle that conversation at the moment, considering how out of control her emotions were. As she walked towards the parlour, she heard the unmistakable sound of her godfather's voice.
"So, any idea of where you'll go?" Scarlett entered the room at the same time Stefan entered from the dining room. Damon was stood by the window, gazing out at the large garden.
"I dunno… London maybe. See some friends," Damon replied absently. Stefan glanced at Scarlett with a smile as he strolled towards her, but the redhead's face remained solemn as she watched the two brothers.
"You don't have any friends, Damon." At that, Damon turned from the window and faced Scarlett, a smirk curving his lips, but when Scarlett met his gaze all she saw in his pale blue eyes was emptiness.
"Scarlett's my friend, aren't you Scar?" The empath shrugged noncommittally, ignoring the butterflies that had sprung to life in her stomach. Damon raised an eyebrow at her action before turning to Stefan. "And I also have you, Stefan. So where are we going?" Stefan stopped by his goddaughter's side, trying to ignore the tension in her posture, and turned to face his smiling brother.
"We are not going anywhere. I'm gonna live my life as far away from you as possible." As Stefan spoke, Damon slowly made his way across the room, his eyes never leaving Scarlett's face. It didn't look like she had slept very well; there were lilac shadows under her eyes and her already fair skin looked deathly pale in the sunlight.
"But we're a team. We could travel the world together – we could try out for the Amazing Race." Scarlett rolled her eyes at Damon's comment as he threw her a quick smile. A slight headache was beginning to form, and she reached up to gently rub her temple.
"Mmm… That's funny," Stefan said, his voice dripping with sarcasm. "Seriously, where are you going? Cos we're not staying in this town." Before Damon could answer, the doorbell rang causing Scarlett to frown. No one ever rang their doorbell; usually people just walked right in. She saw Damon and Stefan exchanged glances out of the corner of her eyes as she quickly made her way to the front door and pulled it open.
"Sheriff Forbes, how are you?" Caroline's mum smiled at Scarlett.
"I'm good thanks, Scarlett. I'm actually here to see Damon Salvatore – is he in?" Scarlett could already hear footsteps approaching from behind.
"Uh, yeah sure…" Scarlett glanced to her side as Damon appeared beside her, his hand settling on the small of her back.
"Sheriff, what a surprise," Damon said warmly. The sheriff glanced nervously at Scarlett before speaking.
"I'm sorry to bother you but… we need to talk." Damon hesitated for a moment, throwing a quick glance at Scarlett before nodding and dropping his hand to his side.
"Come in," he said, ushering the sheriff into the house. The three of them made their way into the parlour where Stefan was standing, his eyebrows drawn together in a slight frown. "Why don't we talk in the garden," Damon said brightly before leading Sheriff Forbes out onto the large terrace behind the house, shutting the door firmly behind him. "I hope you understand the secrecy; Stefan and Scarlett don't know about this yet and I'd like to keep it that way." The sheriff nodded in understanding.
"Of course. Technically, Scarlett is supposed to be a member of the Council, as the only surviving Williams family member, but she's not eighteen… Kids are too young to be brought into this."
"So, what do you need?" Damon asked with a smile as the two of them came to a halt a few yards away from the house. The sheriff turned to him, and Damon could see the desperation in her eyes.
"There's been another attack," she said bluntly, causing Damon's smile to falter. "A female victim; her throat torn out, completely drained of blood… It fits the pattern.
"I'm sorry, I don't understand. I thought we solved that problem when I staked the blonde one," Damon queried softly, glancing over his shoulder at the house. He could see Scarlett glaring at him from inside the house and was certain that Stefan was relaying every word of this conversation to the empath.
"We're thinking she must have turned someone," Sheriff Forbes explained. "Or multiple someone's, I dunno. The story for the town is another animal attack, but I'm not sure how long we can keep lying to them. The Council's in an uproar – we thought we were past this." Damon nodded his head slowly, his brain whirling with possible solutions to this new problem. One thing was for sure; there was no way he or Stefan would be leaving if there was another vampire loose in Mystic Falls. Stefan wouldn't leave Elena or Scarlett in danger, and Damon had the strangest urge to protect the redhead, which meant this new vampire had to die.
"So, uh, what do we do?" Damon asked, keen to find out if the sheriff had any plans for tackling the problem. The sheriff looked him straight in the eyes.
"You're the only one who's ever taken on a vampire; we were hoping you could tell us." After a few more minutes, Damon and the sheriff went back into the house. The vampire's eyes quickly took in Stefan sat silently on the sofa and Scarlett sitting at the piano, her fingers trailing idly over the keys. Damon calmly escorted Sheriff Forbes to the door.
"Thank you for stopping by," he told her as he opened the front door.
"Let me know what you come up with," she replied with a smile which Damon returned.
"Absolutely." As soon as he shut the door, Damon found himself pressed up against it, Stefan gripping the front of his shirt tightly as he glared into his brother's eyes. Scarlett didn't even blink as the two vampires stared each other down.
"What is wrong with you; you killed somebody?" Stefan asked incredulously. Damon forced Stefan to let go of his shirt and take a step back before pushing away from the door. His blue eyes glanced towards Scarlett who had turned to face them, one eyebrow raised in question.
"Get off me. A, don't touch me," Damon said firmly as he brushed past his brother and strolled back into the parlour. "B, if I had I wouldn't have been so obvious about it. C, there's another vampire in town." Stefan gazed at his brother in disbelief.
"That's impossible," he said quietly. Damon smirked at his brother's naivety.
"Obviously not," he said sarcastically.
"Who could it be?" Scarlett asked as she stood up and moved to where the brothers were standing, her schoolbag slung over one shoulder. Her fingers were nervously toying with the vervain filled locket around her neck, so Damon reached up to take her hand, lacing his fingers with hers. He didn't miss the frown that flickered on Stefan's face at the action.
"What do we care?" Damon asked with a sigh as his thumb brushed lazily over the back of Scarlett's hand. "We're leaving anyway, right?" Stefan's eyes quickly met Scarlett's before he gazed at the back of his brother's head.
"No, I can't leave now and you know that," he said firmly. "How are we supposed to find this person?" Damon smirked as he glanced over his should at Stefan.
"Let me handle this, Stefan," he said calmly. Damon tugged gently on Scarlett's hand to draw her attention back to him. "Fancy taking some time off school to go and hunt vampires?" he asked, flashing her a charming half smile. Scarlett shrugged one shoulder.
"Sure. I don't really feel like facing my possible biological father today, and it's not like I need an education," she said, her voice laced with sarcasm. Damon felt a genuine smile tug at his lips as he led her out of the house, his hand still entwined in hers. Scarlett started to walk to her car but Damon pulled her back. She turned to him with a frown and he shook his head slightly.
"We're not taking a car," he said quietly. "I thought we could use more… traditional methods." Scarlett raised one delicate eyebrow before taking a step closer to him.
"Fine – how do you want to do this?" she asked. Damon thought about it for a moment before letting go of her hand and wrapping his arm tightly around her waist, pulling her delicate frame firmly against his body. The top of her head barely reached his nose, and the smell of jasmine wafted towards him on the breeze. Scarlett kept her expression resolutely bored, blocking her mind off form everything but her own feelings. She closed her eyes, knowing that she'd end up being sick if she kept them open while they were moving at such high speeds.
Damon was transfixed by Scarlett's face, her pale skin glowing gently while the sunlight set fire to her hair. The confusion she caused him was getting stronger by the minute. Everything about her called to him, and he was almost certain that she had feelings for him too. But for once in his life, he didn't want to toy with those feelings. The sooner he found and killed this new vampire and left Mystic Falls, the better things would be for Scarlett.
Damon's grip on Scarlett tightened ever so slightly before he took off into the forest at vampire speed, all of his senses on high alert in order to track the mystery vampire. He took Scarlett all over Mystic Falls, everywhere he thought they could possibly find a lead before finally stopping behind some old warehouses. Scarlett stumbled away from Damon and bent at the waist, taking a deep, steadying breath.
"I will never get used to travelling like that," she mumbled and Damon smiled as he gently rubbed the small of her back, feeling her tense under his touch. Scarlett immediately stood straight and moved away from him, staring determinedly up at the warehouse next to them. "So he's here then?" she asked, avoiding Damon's gaze. The dark haired vampire frowned at Scarlett's odd behaviour, but didn't have time to ponder it. Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out the strange gold compass he'd taken off of Logan Fell's body not so long ago.
"I'm not sure, which is why you're going to use this." He placed the compass in Scarlett's hand and she flipped it open, watching as the arrow spun in every direction. "You stay here and let me know what happens," Damon said before speeding off before Scarlett could reply. The empath huffed in frustration.
"And how am I supposed to do that?" she said out loud, even though she knew he wouldn't be able to hear her. Just then, her phone started to vibrate in her pocket, and when Scarlett pulled it out she saw Damon's name flashing on the caller ID. Hitting the answer key, she raised the phone to her ear. "You could have given me some warning before leaving me alone with a hungry vampire on the loose."
"Keep your panties on, Scar. It's not like he can get you while the sun's up." Scarlett could practically hear Damon smirking, and her eyes narrowed dangerously, blue eyes flashing.
"That's beside the point. At least with you here I know I'm not going to get eaten," the redhead said, her gaze never leaving the compass as it started to slow down, flicking in different directions before finally coming to a standstill, the arrow pointing straight at the warehouse in front of her.
"Are you sure about that?" Scarlett shivered at the suggestion in Damon's voice, suddenly very glad that he wasn't near enough to see her reaction.
"The arrow's stopped," she said, choosing to ignore Damon's comment. "What do you want me to do now?"
"Wait there, I'll be right back."
"Can you hurry up? This place is creeping me out," Scarlett said as she slowly crept towards the warehouse door, reaching out with her mind to try and sense the rogue vampire.
"I wouldn't go in there if I were you," Damon's voice came from behind her, causing Scarlett to gasp and spin quickly to face him. She hadn't realised how close he was and suddenly Scarlett was pressed up against Damon's chest, her eyes flying to his to find him gazing down at her, his pale eyes burning with an emotion Scarlett had never seen before. The redhead quickly glanced away, tucking a flyaway strand of hair behind her ear to try and hide the blush that had risen in her cheeks.
"Well, without you here the compass worked pretty well," Scarlett told the dark haired vampire at her side. "Apparently what, or should I say who, we're looking for is in there." Damon nodded as he took the compass from Scarlett's hand and returned it to his pocket.
"Do you sense anything from inside?" Scarlett's eyebrows drew together and she closed her eyes, letting the barriers around her mind relax. She could feel Damon's emotions reaching out to her, but she quickly blocked them off; she didn't even want to think about how the vampire was feeling, let alone feel his emotions herself. After a moment of silence, she opened her eyes and locked eyes with Damon.
"He's angry. Very, very angry. And confused." Damon nodded as he began to stroll towards the door. Scarlett hurried to catch up with him but before he reached the door, Damon turned, causing Scarlett to bump into him once again.
"Where do you think you're going?" the vampire asked as he smirked down at Scarlett.
"With you," she replied simply, moving to walk past him. Damon took her arm in a tight grip and pushed her away from the door.
"Oh no you don't. Stefan already wants to kill me; I don't need to give him another reason. Go to school or go home." Scarlett glared up at him.
"You can't go in there alone," she began, but Damon cut her off.
"I am more than capable of taking care of a newbie vampire without the help of a hormonal teenage girl, so please – leave." Scarlett's jaw dropped at his words and she had to repress the urge to slap him. Now was neither the time nor the place.
"I'm not leaving, Damon," she said firmly. Damon let out a frustrated sigh as he rolled his eyes at the determination he saw in Scarlett's face.
"Fine, but you're not going in there," he told her. Just as Scarlett was about to argue, Damon pressed a finger against her lips, effectively silencing her. "Listen to me very carefully. I don't know what I'm going to be facing in there. What I do know is that you are safe if you stay out here in the sunlight. So please, Scar, wait here." Damon's icy blue eyes stared intently into Scarlett's, searching for any sign of rebellion, but after a moment her shoulders slumped and she nodded once in submission. Closing his eyes, Damon leaned forward and rested his forehead against hers, relief flooding through him. "Thank you," he murmured, before turning and walking to the door of the warehouse, breaking the lock and entering, leaving Scarlett to wait impatiently outside.
As soon as the door closed behind Damon, Scarlett began to pace restlessly in the shadow of the warehouse. Cautiously, she opened her mind until she could feel Damon's consciousness brushing against her own. He seemed fairly calm, which reassured her a great deal. A minute later, gunshots rang out from inside the warehouse, and Scarlett felt a crippling pain radiating throughout her body. One word overtook her thoughts - Damon.
Scarlett didn't think as she scrambled up the stairs and opened the door, running into the darkened warehouse. Her pace slowed as her eyes grew accustomed to the dim light and her wide-eyed gaze flew around the room, searching for the eldest Salvatore. As she rounded a corner, she finally saw him collapsed on the floor, blood pouring from where he'd been hit by multiple bullets.
"Damon." The vampire's gaze flew to Scarlett's as he heard her whisper his name, and for the first time since they had met, Scarlett saw them fill with panic.
"Scar, run!" he shouted, trying to drag himself towards her. Scarlett did run, she ran towards him, but before she could reach him something hit the side of her head and everything went black.
Damon growled as Scarlett slumped to the floor beside him, unconscious. Logan Fell stepped out of the shadows behind Scarlett, his eyes fixing on the trickle of blood that had blossomed at the redhead's temple.
"God, I'm hungry," he murmured, taking a step towards the unconscious empath. Damon snarled and tried to launch himself at the other vampire, but Logan turned the gun on him and fired once more, a wooden bullet lodging itself in Damon's thigh, causing the raven haired vampire to gasp in pain and collapse back on the floor. "I also have tonnes of these wooden bullets, so… nothing funky."
"Just let her go. You don't wanna do this; trust me," Damon said as he tried to prise a bullet out of his shoulder. Another shot rang out and Damon cried out in agony as yet another bullet ripped through the flesh of his arm.
"That's what you get," Logan said almost cheerily, a slight smirk curving his lips. Damon's eyebrows lowered in confusion as he stared up at the man who had repeatedly shot him.
"For what?" he asked uncomprehendingly. Logan bent down, leaning his hands on his knees as he glared at Damon.
"You made me like this."
"I killed you, I didn't turn you," Damon grunted as he managed to dig one of the bullets out of his chest. He glanced at it before flicking it away, his gaze travelling to Scarlett who was still unconscious. Damon could hear the steady beat of her heart and her even breathing, letting him know that she wasn't in immediate danger, but blood was still dripping from the wound at her temple. He knew that he had to keep Logan's attention focused on him to keep Scarlett safe, so he quickly turned his attention back to the new vampire.
"I know what you and your brother are," Logan explained as he twirled a blood soaked wooden bullet between his fingers. "I've been watching the two of you; I knew you'd show up here, although I didn't think you'd bring little Scarlett Williams. But I'm glad you did, because I have some questions."
"Me first," Damon gasped as he dragged another bullet out of his body. "Who turned you?" Logan straightened, his eyes darkening in anger.
"How should I know?" he yelled. "Last thing I remember is I'm about to stake your brother and then you grab me. That's it! Until I wake up in the ground behind a used car dealership on highway four. Somebody buried me…"
"It happens," Damon replied sarcastically, hissing as another bullet came free, this one from his thigh. Logan crouched down, his face inches away from Damon's own.
"You bit me. It had to be you," he accused.
"You have to have vampire blood in your system when you die; I didn't do that," Damon explained harshly. "Some other vampire found you, gave you their blood." He fell back onto the floor, exhausted and drained. He could hear Scarlett's heartbeat speeding up – she'd be awake soon.
"Who?" Logan asked.
"That's what I wanna know." Logan growled in frustration.
"Dude, it's not like the welcome wagon was waiting with a bunk cake and a handbook; it's been as learn as you go process," the new vampire fumed. "You know, one minute I'm a small town, on the rise news guy, and the next thing I know, I can't get into my house because my foot won't go through the door."
"You have to be invited in," Damon said as he attempted to pull another bullet out of his arm.
"I know. I live alone," Logan replied. Damon couldn't help the chuckle that escaped him at the vampire's words.
"Oh, that sucks."
"So now I'm at the Ramada, watching pay per view all day, eating everything in sight, including housekeeping." Damon scoffed derisively.
"Hey, it could be worse," he said quietly.
"All I can think about it blood, and killing people. I can't stop killing people, I keep killing," Logan said, his eyes wide and mad as he waved his gun around in the air. "And I like it. I'm conflicted." Damon's eyed flickered to Scarlett as he heard her breathing hitch slightly. Logan was too busy rambling to pay attention to the redhead who was slowly beginning to stir.
"Welcome to the club," Damon said mockingly as he tried to ignore Scarlett's harsh breathing and the renewed dripping of her blood onto the concrete floor. His eyebrows drew together in confusion as he processed what Logan had said. "Wait a minute… The cops only found one body."
"I left one, I was tired," Logan said casually. "But I've been hiding the rest of the bodies; they're right back there." He gestured towards some kind of cage set further back in the room.
"You're kidding me…"
"They're just piling up," Logan said gleefully as Damon stared at the pile of twisted, mutilated corpses stacked inside the cage, his eyes widening in disgust. A soft groan to his left drew Damon's attention back to Scarlett, and he watched as her eyes fluttered open. Scarlett's head was pounding as she lay on the cool concrete floor. As her vision cleared, her gaze was caught by a pair of crystal blue eyes; eyes that she recognised.
"Damon," she whispered, her voice barely breaking the silence. Damon tried to smile reassuringly at her, but he was in so much pain that it came out more as a grimace.
"Finally, you're awake." Scarlett's eyes flashed towards the new voice, and upon seeing Logan Fell, she tried to push herself into a standing position only to fall back against the floor, her vision swimming. "Don't worry, Miss Williams. You won't be going anywhere for a while," Logan said as he took a seat next to her. Scarlett tried to shuffle away from him, but his hand on her back made her freeze in place. Damon growled threateningly, but Logan simply smiled in response and began to gently stroke Scarlett's back. "Why am I so overly emotional?" he question the older vampire. "All I can think about is my ex-girlfriend. I wanna… be with her and bite her and stuff." Damon's gaze never left Scarlett has he replied.
"Well you probably love her. Anything you felt before will be magnified now. You're gonna have to learn how to control that." Scarlett closed her eyes and concentrated on her breathing, trying to ignore the fact that Logan was repeatedly stroking her, almost as though she were a cat.
"What about walking in the sun?" Logan asked, causing Damon to subtly glance down at his ring. "I'm a morning person. You can walk in the sun which, by the way, is pretty cool. The council would never suspect you; that's not in the journals."
"The journals?" Damon questioned, focusing on the new information Logan had given him rather than answering the new vampire's own question. He needed to distract Logan long enough to think of a plan to get Scarlett safely away from him.
"Yeah, the Founding Fathers, they passed down journals to their kids. Come on man, you gotta tell me. How can you walk around in the sun?" Logan stopped stroking Scarlett, his hand hovering above her head.
"Who turned you?" Damon asked again, once again ignoring Logan's question. The new vampire's face darkened in anger.
"How do you walk in the sun?" he repeated. Scarlett felt his hand grasp the back of her neck and her eyes flashed open in fear, her dark blue gaze meeting Damon's. She could feel Logan's agitation, but her mind was too unfocused to try and use her empathic abilities to calm him down.
"Who turned you?" Damon wasn't going to let the question go. Logan's eyes narrowed in a glare.
"You know, I've been really nice so far," he said, forcing his voice to remain calm as he stood up, dragging Scarlett with him. The redhead groaned as her vision swam again and she stumbled slightly, falling against Logan's side. "But I will kill her unless you answer my question." Damon smirked slightly at his threat even though his nerves were drawn as tight as a bow string.
"Kill her and you'll never know," he said scathingly as he pushed himself into a standing position. Logan raised his gun, pointing it directly at Damon's chest, but Damon didn't back down. "You're not answering my question."
"You first," Logan insisted. Scarlett's eyes flickered between the two vampires as she took slow, deep breaths in an attempt to stop herself from passing out.
"Seems that we're at a bit of an impasse then, doesn't it?" Damon said as he glared at Logan. The new vampire smirked slightly as he glanced down at Scarlett.
"I have things to do; people to kill." Damon and Scarlett exchanged worried glances at Logan's words. "I guess I'll be needing a little bit of a head start." Without further warning, Logan fired the gun, offloading several wooden bullets into Damon's body. Damon collapsed to the floor, groaning in pain.
"No!" Scarlett shrieked as she launched herself towards him, but Logan pulled her back. He caught her chin in his hand and forced her to look up at him, his fingers digging into her skin as a sick smile twisted his mouth.
"Where do you think you're going?" he asked menacingly. Scarlett watched as his eyes dilated and quickly realised that he was trying to compel her. She forced herself to relax, letting him think that it was working. "Don't help him, and don't leave. I might want a snack when I get back."
"I won't," Scarlett replied, her voice devoid of emotion. Logan smiled at his accomplishment before turning and stalking out of the room. Scarlett didn't move, didn't breathe until she had counted to sixty in her head then, when she was sure that Logan was gone, she flew towards Damon, falling on her knees at his side. Her hands hovered over his body, unsure of how she could help him. "Damon, tell me what to do," she said urgently. Damon gritted his teeth against the pain as his eyes took in Scarlett's pale, blood stained face.
"You need to get the bullets out," he told her quietly, his hands clenching at his sides.
"How?"
"Use your fingers. Just get them out, Scar. I can't heal until they're out." Scarlett jerked her head in agreement and Damon watched as her jaw tensed in determination. His shirt was already ripped and bloody, so Scarlett quickly tore what was left of it off, holding back a gasp at the sight of dozens of bullet holes marring Damon's perfect skin. Taking a deep breath through her nose, Scarlett picked a wound and carefully eased her finger inside, feeling around for the bullet.
Damon's eyes never left the empath's face as she set to work prising each bullet from his torso. He should have been writhing in agony, yet for some reason he felt incredibly calm. Scarlett's fingers were cool against his skin, and as she worked she murmured quiet words of comfort and support to him.
"What are you doing?" Damon asked, his brows drawing together in a frown. Scarlett glanced away from his chest to meet his gaze, her fingers stilling.
"Getting the bullets out. I'm not hurting you, am I?" she asked, her voice laced with worry.
"No. In fact, I've never felt more relaxed…" Scarlett returned her attention to removing the bullets from Damon's chest.
"So it's working then. Good." She pulled the last bullet from his shoulder and tossed it on the pile with the others before wiping her bloody hands on the tattered remains of Damon's shirt. The vampire gingerly sat up, looking down to inspect the redhead's work.
"What do you mean? What worked?" he asked as he watched the bullet holes slowly begin to close over.
"It's just something I wanted to try; emotional transference. I wasn't sure it would work because my powers have been off for a couple of days, but I'm glad it did," Scarlett explained, throwing Damon a nervous smile. Giving a quick nod, Damon tried to stand up but his legs gave out and he quickly collapsed back to the ground.
"Damnit." Scarlett took one look and Damon and knew exactly what she needed to do.
"Let me help you," she said quietly, inching closer to him. Breathing heavily, Damon raised his pain filled gaze to the empath's. She gave him a soft smile before tugging up the sleeve of her shirt and holding her wrist out to him. Damon shook his head in protest but Scarlett wasn't having it. "Damon, you have to. Let me do this."
"I don't know if I'd be able to stop, Scar," the vampire whispered, his gaze boring into her dark blue eyes. She didn't even flinch at his words, didn't hesitate to answer.
"I trust you." Her gaze was firm as she held her wrist up to his mouth. Damon carefully took hold of her hand, holding her stare as he felt his fangs elongate and the veins under his eyes protrude. Scarlett smiled reassuringly at him and watched curiously as he gently bit down on the inside of her wrist. There was the oddest pulling sensation as Damon started to drink. It was uncomfortable, but it wasn't painful.
Damon closed his eyes as Scarlett's sweet blood filled his mouth, and he couldn't stop the groan of ecstasy from escaping. Her blood really did taste like heaven; he could already feel his strength returning, and he'd only had a couple of mouthfuls. After a final gulp, Damon pulled back and opened his eyes. Scarlett was watching him, an unreadable expression on her face.
"Better?" she asked, the barest hint of a smile curling her lips. Ignoring her question, Damon quickly got to his feet pulling Scarlett with him.
"I need a new shirt, and you need clean clothes," he said as he pulled Scarlett from the warehouse. The redhead glanced down at her blood stained trousers as she hurried to keep up with Damon.
"Clothes can wait; we need to stop Logan," she argued. Once again, Damon ignored her, pulling her tightly against his body and wrapping an arm around her waist.
"I'll get my baby brother to deal with him, we're going home." Before Scarlett could so much as open her mouth to protest, Damon took off at vampire speed, trees flashing past them at a dizzying rate. In a matter of seconds, they were stood in the entrance hall of the Boarding House. Damon swiftly let go of Scarlett and stalked up to his bedroom, leaving the redhead alone and confused. Once in his room, Damon shut the door and pulled his phone from the pocket of his jeans. He flipped it open and hit the speed dial for Stefan, waiting impatiently for his brother to answer his call.
"Damon?" Stefan's voice sounded worried as he finally picked up.
"Logan Fell's a vampire," Damon told him without preamble. "And when I find him again, I am going to destroy him limb by limb." Walking over to his closet, Damon dragged out a shirt and stormed over to the mirror in the corner, carefully examining his body to see if his wounds had fully healed.
"What happened? Are you and Scarlett okay?" Stefan asked.
"No, I'm not okay," Damon hissed in reply as he tried to pull a new shirt on single handed. "I was ambushed, I was shot, and then I had to sit and watch Scarlett get knocked out and I couldn't do a damn thing to stop it. Now I'm vengeful."
"But Scarlett's okay, right?" Damon rolled his eyes slightly at the paternal tone to Stefan's voice.
"A bump to the head, she'll be fine. But we've got to find Logan."
"No need, he's here at the school."
"You're kidding?" Damon scoffed. "Why the hell is he there?" The door to Damon's bedroom opened and the vampire glanced up to see Scarlett leaning against the frame wearing new clothes. She had a bandage wrapped around her wrist and her blue eyes were dark with worry.
"He's at the school?" she mouthed, prompting Damon to nod at her in confirmation as he tried to do up the buttons of his shirt. Without thinking, Scarlett walked up to Damon and quickly took over buttoning his shirt, her delicate eyebrows drawn together in a frown.
"He's working the crowd." Stefan's voice pulled Damon's focus away from Scarlett and he mentally shook himself as he tried to sort out his priorities in his mind.
"Well I'll be right there," he told his younger brother before hanging up his phone. Scarlett finished with the last button and looked up to meet Damon's gaze.
"I'm coming with you," she said determinedly, but Damon shook his head.
"You've gotten into enough trouble for one day, Scar. Don't make me lock you in the basement." Scarlett was about to argue with him when she picked up on a powerful emotion radiating from the vampire in front of her. It felt like… protectiveness. Damon wanted to keep her safe. Ignoring the butterflies that had erupted in her stomach, Scarlett took a step back and folded her arms over her chest.
"Stay safe," she said quietly, causing Damon to frown at her.
"You'll stay here? No arguments?" he asked, perplexed.
"No arguments," the empath confirmed. "Just, stay safe." Damon hesitated for a moment before leaning forward and placing a tender kiss against Scarlett's temple before speeding from the room. Alone in Damon's room, Scarlett decided to try and distract herself so that she wouldn't worry about him and Stefan. The redhead had never seen the inside of the elder Salvatore brother's room, and since she was all alone in the house, now seemed like the perfect opportunity to explore.
Damon's room was much larger than she had anticipated, and seemed to be almost empty of anything but functional furniture. There was a bed, a dresser and a night stand, but apart from that the room was, for lack of a better word, Spartan. Moving towards the bed, Scarlett perched on the edge and picked up the open book on the night stand; Dracula by Bram Stoker. The redhead's lips turned up in a smile at the irony. Making herself comfortable against the headboard, Scarlett began to read, her gaze flying across the pages.
Time passed quickly, and after a while the empath heard a car pull up outside the house. Placing Damon's book back where she'd found it, Scarlett hopped off the bed and ambled to the window to see who it was. However she quickly turned away when she caught sight of Elena and her godfather in a passionate embrace. The redhead heard the front door open and decided to stay hidden in Damon's room for a while longer. A few moments later footsteps passed outside of Damon's room and Scarlett felt a rush of lust and love sweep through her body. Closing her eyes she forced the emotions away, hastily erecting the barriers around her mind as she hurried down to the kitchen which just so happened to be as far away from Stefan's room as the redhead could get without leaving the house.
Scarlett decided to wait up until Damon got home – they had a lot to talk about. Her head was in a spin. She had given up trying to deny the fact that she had feelings for the vampire. After the kiss they'd shared, it was quite obvious that she liked him a lot more than she should. But that didn't change the fact that he was leaving. Or that he was trying to get Katherine, the girl he'd been in love with for over a century, out of a tomb. The empath was so immersed in her thoughts that she didn't even register the fact that Stefan had walked into the kitchen wearing nothing but a pair of pyjama pants.
"You okay, Scarlett?" She blinked rapidly to focus and smiled up at her godfather.
"Not as good as you, I imagine," Scarlett replied teasingly, laughing at the bashful grin that spread across her godfather's face.
"We didn't bother you, did we?" he asked sheepishly.
"Not at all. Just keep it down, I'm going to bed." As she walked past Stefan, Scarlett bumped him with her him. "Go get her, tiger," she joked before skipping out of the room. Scarlett kept her gaze on the floor, a small smile on her face as she walked towards the stairs. Looking up, her eyes widened as she watched Elena scrambling down the stairs, tears streaming from her dark brown eyes. Scarlett hurried towards her friend, her face full of concern. As she opened her mouth to ask what was wrong, the brunette shook her head, placing a finger against her lips to signal Scarlett to be silent.
"Drive me home?" Elena mouthed, and Scarlett nodded in response before ushering her friend out of the house. She quickly led the brunette to her 4x4, jumping into the driver's seat and starting the ignition as Elena scrambled in beside her.
"Elena, what happened?" Scarlett asked quietly as she pulled away from the house and turned on to the main road.
"Did you know?" Elena asked, her voice harsh as tears continued to tumble down her cheeks.
"Know what?" Scarlett replied as she kept her gaze on the road.
"Did you know that I look like her?" Scarlett let out a frustrated sigh at Elena's question.
"Look like who? Elena, what are you talking about?"
"Katherine! Did you know I look like Katherine?" Elena finally exclaimed. Scarlett felt the blood drain from her face at her friend's words.
"What do you mean?" she asked, her voice shaking. It wasn't possible. There was no way Stefan, her godfather, would keep something like this from her.
"I mean there's a picture of Katherine in Stefan's bedroom and I look exactly like her. Like I'm a twin or something," Elena explained between sobs. Scarlett's heart was pounding in her ears as she drove down a darkened, foggy stretch of road outside of town.
"That's impossible," she murmured. "There's no way…" Scarlett trailed off as a figure took shape in the middle of the road. She heard Elena gasp beside her as the empath slammed her foot on the brakes, but not in time. Scarlett screamed as her car ploughed into the figure before somersaulting along the road and landing on its roof. Everything was silent. Scarlett opened her eyes and groaned in pain as her seatbelt cut into her chest, suspending her upside-down. Turning to her right, she gasped as she saw the bloody gash across Elena's forehead.
"Elena," Scarlett murmured, her voice breaking slightly as she tried to breathe properly. The brunette didn't move as blood dripped down from her head and pooled on the roof of the car. Scarlett slowly reached out to press her fingers against her friend's neck, checking for a pulse. She was rewarded with the feel of a steady throbbing against her fingertips and sighed in relief.
A cracking sound drew Scarlett's attention back to the crumpled body in the road. The empath watched in horror as the figure slowly started to uncurl, its limbs snapping back into place. Scarlett felt her heartbeat spike as she struggled to free herself from the seatbelt. Her terrified gaze didn't leave the figure, which she now knew could only be a vampire, as it stood up and began to stride towards the overturned car where she and her best friend lay helpless. As the vampire stopped mere feet from the car, Scarlett let out a final, petrified scream before closing her eyes and preparing for the worst.
Not the best ending, I know. Not the best chapter, to be honest, but the next chapter will be so much better! Reviews, ideas and comments are so very welcome.
Ps:- the piano piece that Scarlett played in the last chapter was 'Moonlight Sonata, Movement 1' by Beethoven. Really moody and beautiful, have a listen. Also, if you guys have any song suggestions that you think would suit Darlett (as my favourite couple has been called) please let me know!
Much love xx