The Tragedy of Being a Whitmore

Chapter 12: The Turning Point

December 2, 2009

Amelia stared dully out her window as she debated whether or not she was going go to school. She looked at the dead leaves lying on the ground and felt sad that fall was just about over. Soon, it would be much too cold for Amelia. Eventually, she sighed and decided that she couldn't just not go to school and she got dressed in sweatpants and a sweatshirt. Amelia didn't think she had ever gone to school looking so bad, but she just didn't care.

She got to school early, and played a sad tune on the piano, singing along quietly to the lyrics. When the bell rang, she didn't want to leave, but she knew that students would soon be coming into the band room, so she packed up her things and headed to class. She ignored Bonnie and Elena in the hall as they tried to call her over to them.

Amelia frowned when she saw that she had 17 missed calls from Damon and several text messages. She didn't want to speak to him ever again, but if he had called so many times, it sounded a little important. She ducked into the bathroom and pulled out her phone, listening to the voicemail.

"Look, Amelia, I'm so sorry about what I did the other night. I don't know what came over me. I was just so upset and I couldn't control myself. But that's not why I called-" The voicemail cut off and she saw she had a second one. "There's another vampire in town. The Sheriff discovered a body this morning. I need you to use the Gilbert Compass to help me track it down. I wouldn't ask you if it wasn't important. I know you're so concerned about keeping this town safe, so-" The voicemail cut off again. She didn't bother to look through her texts.

Amelia sighed, but called him back anyway. "Amelia, listen-" Damon started.

Amelia cut him off. "No, Damon, you listen! I will help you track down this vampire, but after that, I don't want to hear a word from you, do you understand me? And don't you so much as think of touching me again, because I will set you on fire so fast it will make your head spin and I will laugh, as I watch you burn. Do you understand me?" She asked, breathing heavy from her spiel.

Damon was quiet for a moment before he said, "Understood."

Amelia frowned. "I want you to drop off the Gilbert Compass in my truck at the school and then I will go get it. Once I track down this vampire, I will place it somewhere safe, leave, and then call you so you can go get it." She hung up. Amelia took a few deep breaths before heading back to her locker to put her things in there. She waited a few minutes to make sure Damon was gone by the time she got to her truck. He was indeed no where in sight and she picked up the compass out of the bed of her truck, hidden under some sort of cloth.

Amelia took a deep breath and began tracking, aware that she was yet again, putting herself in danger.

When she finally arrived at some old warehouse, the compass locked onto it. Amelia set the compass down, hidden underneath some leaves and swiftly walked away, looking over her shoulder. She called Damon. "Amelia-" He started.

Amelia interrupted him and told him where she was before hanging up. She was almost out of sight of the compass when she heard the sound of a vampire approaching her quickly. She spun around, panicked, and gave the attacker a "witchy migraine" as Damon so fondly called it. She stopped immediately when she recognized it was actually Damon. "I-I'm sorry." She muttered. "I thought it was the vampire."

"It's okay." Damon groaned, straightening up and moving towards her. Amelia stumbled back away from him, afraid. Damon frowned when he saw the fear in her eyes. "I'm not going to hurt you." He said softly.

Amelia scoffed, a lump in her throat. "Yeah, I've heard that one before." She cleared her throat. "The compass is under those leaves over there." She said before turning around and walking away.

"Thank you!" He called after her. Amelia didn't turn around, didn't respond. Amelia got back into her truck which was parked a few blocks away. She sat in the drivers seat for a few moments, taking deep breaths, and closing her eyes.

Out of nowhere, she was assaulted with a vision of Damon being shot several times by Logan Fell. She yelled in pain as she felt sharp stabbing pains in her abdomen, leg, stomach. How was Logan Fell even still alive? The Salvatore's had killed him! She couldn't believe that he was the vampire behind the body found this morning.

Amelia found herself back in her own body. She rubbed her painful skin gently. There were no wounds, but they felt real. Amelia sped off towards the warehouse, and parked quickly, jumping out of her truck. Amelia had a small voice in the back of her head telling her to leave him there, to let him suffer. But she just couldn't do it. No matter what Damon had done to her, she couldn't just stop caring about him. As Amelia hesitated in the parking lot, she groaned as she felt three more sharp, blinding pains in her abdomen. She ran up the steps and into the warehouse, ready to kill Logan, but she only found Damon, groaning in pain on the ground.

"Damon! Where is he? Where's Logan?" Amelia yelled, running over to him.

Damon groaned, "Logan left… how did you know?"

Amelia paused, "I-I had a vision. A-are you okay, Damon? Is there anything I can do?"

Damon groaned, "Yeah, you can drive me back to my place and help me remove these damn wooden bullets. God! That hurts like a bitch." He yelled when she helped him up. Amelia walked him to her truck, having a hard time supporting his weight.

"Try not to bleed on my truck." She said stoically as she drove towards the Salvatore Boarding House.

Damon glared at her but said nothing. When she turned off her engine, Damon hopped out and fell on all fours.

"Well, that wasn't too smart, now was it?" Amelia taunted, looking at him with her hands on her hips.

"You're just enjoying this, aren't you?" He grimaced, glaring up at her.

Amelia pulled him to his feet and helped him upstairs to his bathroom. Amelia was surprised when he stripped down to his underwear, handed her some heavy duty tweezers, and chugged down some Bourbon saying, "Make it quick."

To the best of Amelia's ability, she pulled out all of the wooden bullets. She tried to ignore the feel of his soft skin under her hands, and how handsome he looked. Amelia grimaced as he groaned and swore. She sent out soothing waves to calm him down, and to help ease his pain.

Damon frowned, "Did you just do something to me?"

Amelia paused, but wiped off the leftover blood on him. "I can sort of… sense emotions, I guess you could say? I just… tried to relieve your pain is all."

Damon raised his eyebrows at her. "Wow," He said. "I've never heard of a witch being able to do that."

Amelia frowned, "Never?" She asked, feeling like a freak.

Damon pulled on his jeans and said nothing. He handed Amelia his soft, button-up, black shirt to help him put on. Amelia sighed but helped him with it anyway. Amelia tried not to touch him. Tried not to still be afraid of him.

Damon pulled out his phone and scrolled through his short contacts list to find Stefan's name. He put the call on speaker when Stefan answered. "Logan Fell is a vampire. And when I find him again, I am going to destroy him, limb-from-limb." Damon threatened.

"What happened? Are you okay?" Stefan asked, quietly.

"No. I'm not okay. I was ambushed, I was shot. Now I'm vengeful. I just gotta find him." Damon ranted. Amelia was about halfway through his buttons. If her would just quit moving.

"Well, there's no need, he's here at the school." Stefan said.

"You're kidding me? Why the hell is he there?" He asked, angrily.

"He's working the crowd." Stefan replied.

"Stefan!" Amelia interjected. "Please, look after Caroline, and my friends!" She finally finished his last button.

"Amelia? What're you doing with Damon?" He asked, confused.

"I'll be right there." Damon replied, hanging up the phone. He looked at Amelia. "Go home, Amelia. I'll take care of this.

Amelia looked at him worriedly. Damon sighed and he pulled her close to him. Amelia could feel her heart racing in her chest. Fear, uncertainty, confusion…

"I'm so sorry about… everything I've done, Amelia. I'll try to do better, I promise." He murmured into her hair, rubbing her back soothingly. "Go home." He whispered, and then he was gone.

Amelia laid on his bed for about an hour, thinking, before she sighed and left the house. She was surprised to see a topless Stefan come up the stairs the same time she was going down them.

"Amelia…" He stammered. "I didn't know you were here."

"I was just leaving… Have a good night." She grimaced before walking out the door and starting her truck. Amelia took a deep breath and leaned her head against her cool steering wheel. She felt so conflicted about Damon.

She was about halfway to town, lost in thought, when a man was suddenly standing right in front of her truck. "No!" Amelia gasped, slamming on the breaks. She felt her truck hit him, and she flipped several times, glass shattering all around her. Amelia coughed as she finally landed, still, upside down. She glanced around her, and she was startled to see the dark figure that she had hit, lying on the ground. She gasped when he rotated his arm back into place with a sickening crunch and began to stand. Amelia realized that she was not in control of herself and that this person was not human. She reached for her necklace, only to realize it was not on her. "No, no, no, no, no!" She muttered frantically as she looked around for it in her truck. It must have fallen off in the accident. Amelia screamed as the figure approached her and stood right next to her. She stared at black boots, right next to her face, feeling helpless. She tried to open the door, but it wouldn't budge.

Just when she thought her heart would explode, the figure ran away. Amelia held her breath for a moment when a figure suddenly appeared right in front of her. "No!" Amelia yelled and frantically tried to get away, pulling at her seat belt. Amelia let out a cry when she realized it was Damon.

"How're you doing under there?" He asked her gently.

"Damon!" Amelia cried.

"You're stuck." Damon observed.

"It's my seatbelt. I c-can't-" Amelia cried tugging at it frantically.

"Sh, sh, sh." Damon soothed, "I'm gonna get you outta here. I want you to put your hands on the roof. Just like that. One, two, three…" Damon pulled her seatbelt off, and helped her out of the car.

Amelia wrapped her arms around him. "D-Damon. My necklace - I-I-I can't find it! It's in here somewhere, and that man appeared, and I-I c-couldn't do anything. I thought he was going to kill me!" She sobbed. She felt her knees buckle and Damon held her up.

"Are you okay? Can you stand? Is anything broken?" Damon asked. He tried setting her on her feet. Amelia felt so tired. She couldn't keep her eyes open. "Woah, easy there. You're fading fast, Amelia. Look at me, Lia, focus. Look at me." He said, pulling on her lip, trying to keep her awake.

Amelia felt his soothing hand smoothing her hair down. Her knees buckled and her world went dark.