Hello, my loyal readers. I'm sorry about the wait and I'm trying to work on writing enough to chapters to get through the rest of the semester. Enjoy and review!
Chapter 10: How to Be Damon Salvatore
The next day Damon woke up to find Caroline sitting at the end of his bed. "Good morning, Damon." She said chirpily. "It's Saturday and since I don't have to go to school today I can spend the time helping you adjust to your new life." Getting up, Caroline walked over to the closet. She pulled out some clothes for him - a black, long-sleeved shirt and pair of pants. "Go get a shower while I put together your outfit for the day and then we can go over our plans for the day."
After Damon Gilbert went into the bathroom and closed the door he turned the shower on. He had to admit that Damon Salvatore had a much better bathroom than he had. Turning up the heat of the water as high as possible his limbs began to relax.
Several minutes later Damon heard voices in the other room. He knew it was rude to eavesdrop but he couldn't help it. Honing in on the voices he recognized Elena's. She was arguing with Caroline. "Care I don't think you should be here. Did Damon compel you again?"
"Of course, not." Caroline snapped. "I'm a vampire. Vampires can't compel other vampires. I think. I mean they can't, right? Because that would be just wrong."
"Stefan never mentioned a vampire being able to compel another vampire before. But there a lot of things that happen that we don't know about." Elena sighed. "I just want you to careful because we both know this is just another scheme of Damon's to get attention or something. We always have to remember Damon is dangerous. In spite of him being my friend…" Hearing Elena swallow loudly Damon decided to finish the shower and enter the conversation.
Stepping into the room with a towel wrapped around his waist Damon examined a wary looking Elena and an unhappy looking Caroline. "If you two want to finish your conversation don't mind me." Walking over to the bed Damon picked up the clothes that Caroline laid out for him. "Thanks, Care."
Turning to back into the bathroom Caroline stopped him. "Damon, what happened the first time we met?"
Damon thought about his answer. "I don't remember. I guess we were like babies because I literally do not remember when we didn't know each other. We went to kindergarten together. You were there when I broke my left foot during the bicycle accident. We used to have snowball fights. You were my first kiss. And you wore a yellow gown after I told you to wear a blue one for the formal dance last spring."
"Damon, you are so not funny." Elena fumed as her cheeks reddened. "You know you have done some really nasty things to Caroline and this mind game is not okay. So, I suggest you stop now."
Feeling himself becoming frustrated Damon could not understand the sudden anger that was beginning to rise. "Look, Elena, I know we don't know each other that well," Damon began to which Elena began to scoff. Suddenly feeling the anger turning into burning rage Damon shot forward startling Elena and Caroline.
Taking a deep breath to try to calm down Damon glared at Elena as she stared up him with narrowed eyes. "I don't know you at all. I don't know Damon Salvatore either. I don't know why I'm stuck in his body. I really hope this is a dream because I just want my old life back. I don't want to be a vampire. I want to go to school. I think I want to be a doctor. But one thing I do know is that you do not get to judge me because if you had your entire life upended one day I would hope you would show a little sympathy."
Relaxing Damon took a large step backward with his hands up. "I'm going to go get dressed."
After shutting the door behind him Damon heard Elena tell Caroline that she was going to go home but to be careful. "If he really believes this game he's playing things are worse than I thought. Be careful, Care." He heard the door bedroom open and shut. Then he heard a light tap on the door to the bathroom.
"Can I come in?" Caroline called.
Jerking his pants on Damon replied, "Sure."
Caroline opened the door and walked inside while Damon buttoned the other Damon's shirt up. "That was weird, huh?" she asked, looking at him with wide, sad eyes.
"Yeah, I'm sorry I lost my temper like that. I guess the other Damon has control issues or something." Damon looked in the mirror and frowned. How could they look exactly alike and act so differently. Leaning against the counter he peered into his own eyes. "So, if I'm a vampire, where are my fangs?"
Giggling, Caroline came over to stand beside him. "You have to get angry about something and then. Garr." Snarling Caroline's eyes darkened and her fangs slid into view. Damon jumped away. "Sorry." Ruefully, Caroline allowed her human features to return. "But, really, we have a lot of things to do today. So, let's go."
Damon allowed Caroline to lead him outside to a blue Camaro that he recognized as Elena Salvatore's. Only he supposed it was his now. Hopping into the driver's side of the car, he decided against a seat belt and waited just long enough for Caroline to get into the car before he pressed his foot down on the gas. "I feel a need to speed."
Laughing, Caroline leaned back into her seat. "Be careful. You don't want my Mom pulling us over, do you?"
"Nope." Damon said popping the p without realizing that that was Damonism he shared with his alternate self. "Where are we going?"
"We're going to the Grill to see your best friend, really your only friend, Alaric," Caroline responded while looking at the streets passing by.
"Wait. My best friend is Mr. Saltzman? As in the new teacher, Alaric Saltzman?" Damon's eyes were wide as he stared at Caroline. That was surreal. "Do I have a girlfriend?"
Biting her lower lip Caroline seemed to be wavering on what to tell him. "You kind of sleep around a lot."
"You're kidding, right?" Damon asked.
"No." Caroline shook her head emphatically. "You are a major man whore. I mean big man whore."
Chuckling, Damon began to grin. Maybe there were perks to this life after all."
"Ugh, now you're beginning to act like the Damon I would not waste my time on." Caroline declared as they pulled into the parking lot of the Grill.
"He couldn't have been that bad. Could he?" Damon questioned her zooming to the other side of the car to open her door.
"Yeah, he could. And he was. We were involved for a while and he was cruel to me and used me. Now, we deal with each other only when we have to." Shouldering her purse Caroline began to walk deliberately toward the door of the Grill in that way that said she was on a mission.
"Care, wait." Damon called jogging after her. "Whatever he did I'm sorry."
Looking into space Caroline nodded. "You know it's not your fault and maybe he'll be nicer to humans now that he's stuck being one again." This thought seemed to cheer her up considerably as she walked into the Grill. "There's Ric." She strode across the room toward the history teacher, who was drinking alone at the bar.
"Hey, Ric." Caroline greeted her teacher perkily.
Adjusting his position on the bar stool Ric smiled at Caroline. "Hey, Caroline… and Damon. Okay. Is this a prank?"
Shaking her head Caroline sat down next to the teacher. "No. Damon isn't feeling too… Damony. So, we thought you could you help with that."
Raising an eyebrow Alaric inspected his friend who was eyeing the bottles of alcohol. "Do you want a drink, Damon?"
"Yes, but my parents say I shouldn't til I'm of age. But I'll take a beer." Damon replied politely.
"So, what kind of hex did Bonnie put him under and what did he do to deserve it?" Alaric asked Caroline while looking genuinely concerned due to Damon's odd answer.
"He's not under a spell. Or I should say that Bonnie didn't do this to him, I think." Thinking about it Caroline pulled out her phone and began to text quickly. Waiting impatiently for an answer Caroline began to tap her foot while placing her hand on her hip. When her phone beeped she opened the message and read it quickly. "Nope. This wasn't Bonnie. But now that you brought it up this could be the work of a witch. Couldn't it?"
Alaric nodded as he ordered a beer for Damon and a coke for Caroline. "With vodka," Caroline told the bartender looking into his eyes.
Damon was observing Caroline's actions. "When are you going to teach me how to do that?" he asked her.
Caroline smirked as Alaric handed Damon his beer. "When you're old enough to learn how to use it properly," she informed him with glee.
Damon's eyes went wide when a wonderful smell hit his nostrils. "What is that smell?" Shifting his head to the right, he began to search the area for the source of the smell. His gaze faltered on the sight of a young man eating a cheeseburger. However, it wasn't the cheeseburger that interested Damon. It was the Band-Aid on the boy's hand.
Sniffing the air Damon sucked in the coppery scent. He could almost taste it on his tongue. Closing his eyes he saw a red liquid and felt its warmth sliding down his throat. Letting out a low growl Damon began to walk toward the boy. "Damon," he heard Caroline cry out as she reached out to grab his arm.
"Damon, stop it!" Caroline begged, quietly as she tried to hold him back. Damon shrugged her off. "Damon, no. You can't feed on him in here." Giving up, Caroline sped forward and caught the cheeseburger eating boy off guard. She led him outside with Damon pursuing them.
"You cannot kill him." Caroline warned Damon when they walked around the back of the Grill. Turning to the boy, she looked deeply into his eyes. "My friend is going to feed on you. You will not scream because you're not in pain. You're safe. When he's done you'll go home and you won't remember any of this." The boy nodded.
Steeping up to the boy Damon felt his new vampiric instincts kicking in. Sinking his fangs into the boy's neck there was no resistance and he drank his fill. Oddly, Damon was beginning to think that this being a vampire thing wasn't as bad as he thought as he watched Caroline bite into her wrist and begin to feed the boy her blood.
"What are you two doing?" Came a voice from behind Damon and he turned around to see Elena frowning in disapproval.
Smiling Damon sped over to her. "I'm learning how to be a vampire. Want to see?" Before the girl could answer Damon scooped her up and sped out of the parking lot. He could hear Caroline yelling after him but he was far too fast and the feeding seemed to only increase his speed.
Setting Elena on her feet Damon walked over to a swing set. "You know when Care and I were kids we used to love to get on the swings. My Mom and her Dad would bring us and we would scream higher until we were hoarse. Then my parents died and her Dad left. Then we had to learn to rely on each other because we both lost a parent. We thought we put our lives together to make a whole. Weird, huh?"
Sitting down next to him Elena looked up at the sky. "No. That's not weird. My parents died, too."
"I'm sorry." Damon said soberly.
"Can we just sit here for awhile and be quiet?" Elena. asked, feeling an odd kinship with Damon as he stared up at the sky with an oddly open expression.
"Yeah," Damon said beginning to push his swing back and forth as he and Elena pushed themselves closer to the sky with each push.
I hope to see you all next week.
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