For Scarlett it seemed like morning had come far too early for her, she could have sworn that she had only shut her eyes for a few minutes and somehow it was morning. Another day living in the mad house with two vampires had come again and Scarlett was somewhat forced to see what madness was going to be heading her way. Damon was still here unfortunately and it seemed like he wasn't going anywhere anytime soon. Scarlett suspected as much as he seemed to be having too much fun messing around in all their lives to actually pick up the hint that he wasn't wanted. But recently things had been a bit quiet on the Damon front, a little bit too quiet for Scarlett's liking for the last week and a half and she couldn't help but worry that her local deranged mad man was up to something. That really didn't bode well and it made Scarlett rather anxious as they were all still dealing with the fallout from Tanner's death. It had been covered up too quickly as an animal attack for Scarlett's liking and it made her all the more suspicious that the someone on the founders' council was playing a huge part in covering things up. Probably Sheriff Forbes if Scarlett had to venture a guess. She couldn't help but worry even after Zach and Stefan had tried to reassure her that they would have heard something by now. Scarlett supposed they were right and she really needed to get her mind of this whole vampire thing as she needed to meet Zach at the hospital in half an hour. She had the misfortune of being summoned there to have a whole bunch of tests done today including a stress test. That was going to be the tricky one as Scarlett had been stressed out even more so than usual because of her house guests. Her doctor was going to freak out if blood pressure was elevated. It was something that Scarlett was really not looking forward to today. She's actually prefer to spend the morning with Damon and that was saying something as she wasn't too fond of him.
"Well if it isn't Red, my favourite little niece!"
Scarlett couldn't help but grimace as she had spoken way too soon, that saying of 'speak of the devil and doth he appears' quickly came in her head. Damon always seemed to show up when you always least suspected it. Looking up from where she was sitting on one of the couches in the living room tying up her shoelaces, Scarlett saw Damon or more aptly the Brother Grimm as she had taken to referring to her not so favourite vampire uncle. If it wasn't the fact that Scarlett had been concentrating on her shoelaces, Damon coming out of nowhere would have probably scared her to death in a literal sense. The guy was always sneaking up on her out of nowhere and even though Scarlett had tired of it a while ago, her heart on the other hand hadn't.
"What the hell have I told you about sneaking up on me? It's creepy and I don't like it! Besides I am your only niece Uncle Damon or have you forgotten that as you've over done it with the booze already this morning. There are no other little nieces or nephews for you to pester unless you and Uncle Stefan have some bastard great grandchildren running around that we don't know about. I know it's a bit early for profanity but I think I can say it in this context as I am descended from a bastard Salvatore although the political term is born out of wedlock but I didn't want to confuse you so early in the morning as I doubt they used the term out of wedlock in your time. You old timers tend to have a hard time with keeping up with all these modern terms."
"Somebody is very snarky this morning." Damon noted in amusement as he took a seat in an armchair with a hideous pattern on it that Scarlett knew to be almost as old as Damon himself.
"I suppose I am, just a little bit… But at least I'm not all bright, shiny and wanting to be kicked in the face because I like messing with everyone in my family and making their lives hell. You killing my history teacher has just made my life so much more difficult so thank you for that Uncle Damon. I really appreciate it. My life already wasn't hard enough being related to vampires but you going around switching between killing people, attacking them or using them as your own personal blood banks has just made it even harder. The fact that you have shown no remorse and seem quite proud of what you've done is even more unbelievable. Your selfishness manages to astound me of all people… You could at least try to clean up your own messes instead of having others do it for you. We both know that story on the news about mountain lion who was terrorising the town being caught is a bunch of crap. There is no mountain lion." Scarlett sarcastically stated which only caused Damon to yawn in boredom. She couldn't believe the nerve of this guy, nothing seemed to faze him in the slightest.
"What did you care about any of this? Especially whether Tanner is alive or dead? From what I hear you hated him more than one else in town, I did you a favour when you think about it Red. I couldn't have that ass picking on my niece." Damon replied with a cocky grin and Scarlett couldn't help but frown as she had no idea how Damon had suddenly become so insightful into her life. The guy was certifiably egocentric and was only concerned about making everything all about him. How the hell would he know anything about her life? Scarlett never gave Damon any real insight into her life especially about the Tanner thing. Zach didn't know how bad the Tanner thing had been and other than him, the only person Scarlett had confided in about it was Damon. There was no way that confidence Stefan would break her confidence and tell about Damon about it.
"You've been eavesdropping on my conversations, haven't you? I know that you are the big bad vampire with little to no humanity but would it kill you to let me have a somewhat normal life for more than ten minutes at a time. Unlike you Uncle Damon time is a precious commodity for me, I'm actually getting older by the day and getting that much closer to death. Not that you care Uncle Damon but it's not easy being related to vampires, do you really think we wanted to isolate ourselves from the rest of town? No but because you always like to come into our lives and make a splash we have to take precautions. Uncle Zach never had a family because of you, he didn't want to put them in danger when you came for a visit. I don't want to be like that, I don't want to be forced to put my entire life on hold for you. I have things that I want to do in my life, I have aspirations and dreams that I would like you to achieve." Scarlett barked in irritation as she was becoming sick of Damon's attitude and behaviour. He was so self-righteous and a massive pain in the ass.
"Chill out Red, you're becoming all squirrelly for god knows what reason. If anything you should be grateful to me as I did you a massive favour for free. That Tanner guy seemed like an utter ass and from what I hear, nobody really going to miss him. If anything I've done a personal service to Mystic Falls." Damon coolly replied with a nonchalant shrug of his shoulders and Scarlett couldn't believe that he was justifying killing Mr. Tanner.
"Grateful? I should be grateful that you've killed yet another person… Have you lost your freaking mind? Clearly all the blood and booze that you've been consuming finally gotten to your head and another thing stop calling me Red. I may not be as ancient as you Uncle Damon but I'm not exactly a child anymore and I don't need you to try and protect me in your weird and warped way! I was doing perfectly fine before you arrived and trust me I'll be fine when you finally leave." Scarlett retorted and Damon just laughed which annoyed Scarlett a lot more than it should have; she didn't know what exactly she was doing that he found hilarious.
"You know if I had a little sister, I bet that she probably would have been just like you."
"I'm not sure whether that is an insult or a compliment that is being tossed my way but honestly I honestly think it's a good thing that it was only you and your two brothers because any sister of yours would have probably lost her mind. Although it's a good thing that dear old Grandpa Giuseppe had another son besides you and Uncle Stefan otherwise I wouldn't be here." Scarlett said with a fake smile.
"Don't know whether that was a good thing or not." Damon replied and Scarlett scoffed, her uncle was definitely deluded and seemed rather oblivious to it.
"Whatever Uncle Damon, you've already told me that you think I'm great and if you try and take that back you'll just look like a complete and utter idiot. Well more so than you already do and I don't think that ego of yours could handle that embarrassment."
"Whatever little one, moving on from this tedious topic what is up with that cat of yours? It always hisses whenever it seems me." Damon questioned much to Scarlett's amusement and she glanced over to there the said cat was idly laying on top of the one of the many couches in the living room. Lucrezia seemed to be indeed glaring at Damon with as much venom as a cat could manage.
"It has a name and she's called Lucrezia and the reason why she doesn't like you Uncle Damon is because she can sense evil." Scarlett quipped and felt mighty proud of herself and that jab and even Damon couldn't help but laugh. Couldn't deny that it was funny, even for Scarlett with her lack of a sense of humour or so Damon had informed Scarlett whenever she had berated him for doing something that she deemed stupid.
"So niece of mine, are you going to the founder's party?"
"Of course not, where would you get a stupid idea like?" Scarlett replied as she reached for her school bag and put the textbooks she had left on the couch in her bag. Not that she needed them but Scarlett now felt she couldn't leave anything out anymore in case Damon decided to snoop through them for his own entertainment.
"And why not? We are one of the founding families and some of our family heirlooms are being put on display there or so I'm told. But back to the point Red why aren't you going? It's your duty as a Salvatore to go this heritage party and represent the family" Damon demanded and Scarlett could afford to laugh as for once in his very long life, it seemed like Damon didn't already have the answers. "What may I ask is so funny niece of mine?"
"Uncle Damon, as old as you may be and you are really old… You really have no clue about how things work in Mystic Falls these days. We may be one of the founding families but the Salvatore's don't attend any of the events here in town, especially ones hosted by the founding families. We may have wealth and status here but that doesn't mean we are wanted here, We've been persona non grata for like the last few years, ever since my dad died. Why do you think that Uncle Zach and I are here? The Salvatore's aren't wanted. This town hate us and would have tried to run us out years ago if we weren't a founding family. Uncle Zach and I have made a point to not attend founder's events." Scarlett explained with a weary sigh as she would prefer not to be having such a pointless conversation so early in the morning.
"Well it looks like things are about to change for the better Red as Stefan and I are both going and you should come as well. You're a Salvatore and you deserve to be there no matter anyone else in this town says. Plus, it's a party, it'll be fun and it will give you chance to do something other than work, study or sleep because you really need to get out more Red. It's kind of unhealthy how much you stay inside…"
"The vampire is telling me that I need to go out more, how ironic." Scarlett said with a shake of her head. "Look Uncle Damon I don't like people in this town and I don't like people in general which is probably due down to the fact that I'm related to vampires so I'm just going to stay in like I always do when it comes to these stupid events."
"Is this because you don't have a date? Is that why you're being more uptight than usual? Does Uncle Damon need to find little Red a date for the big party?" Damon asked and it was clear that he was enjoying this.
"Bite me."
"No thanks, but I will offer to let you tag along with me and my date despite how insulting you've been to me this morning." Damon quipped and Scarlett just rolled her eyes as she had no idea this conversation had leaped from Tanner being dead to her somehow being a lonely spinster without a date to the heritage party.
"I don't need my creature of the night Uncle organising play date's or offering to let me accompany him and his underage date to this party like some third wheel. I already have the sad desperate loser version of little orphan Annie going for me with the dead dad and the deadbeat mom which is more than enough for me to handle. I don't need you interfering in my life more than you already have done Uncle Damon, you've done enough damage for several lifetimes in the short time that you've been here."
"Hey! You're my sad desperate loser niece and I say that you're going, end of story unless you want to get grounded."
"Like hell you can ground me." Scarlett said narrowing her eyes at Damon.
"Try me."
"Fine I will go to this stupid party but don't expect me to stay long or be polite to be people because that just really isn't me. Although you could pay me but you don't exactly have any money nor can you get a job and it's not like your eligible for social security, well you only qualify for one of those and they didn't even have social security in your time seeing as you are that old!" Scarlett retorted as she got up off the sofa and grabbed her bag before making her way out the door, she needed to get as far away from her crazy ass Uncle as possible.
