The Tragedy of Being a Whitmore
Chapter 13: Bloodlines
December 3, 2009
Amelia Whitmore woke up, feeling sore and uncomfortable, in an upright seated position. She groaned at the sunlight that was blinding her, and the rocking motion of the vehicle that made her stomach feel uneasy. She looked around and saw Damon in the driver's seat. "Morning." He said to her cheerfully.
"Where are we?" Amelia asked, confused.
"Georgia." Damon replied, seriously.
"Georgia?" Amelia repeated, surprised.
"How're you feeling? There's no broken bones - I checked." Damon said, smirking.
"Sore." She replied, turning the rearview mirror to look at her face. It was all scratched up, and she had a bruise on one of her cheeks. She was relieved to see her talisman back on her neck. "My truck… I hit a man… Only, he couldn't have been a man, he must've been a vampire. And my necklace, it was gone. I couldn't do anything… Who was that?"
"That's what I would like to know." He replied ominously, flipping through the radio stations.
"Damon where's my phone? No one know's where I am. The last time you kidnapped me Liz grounded me for weeks! I need to call her. And my poor truck… Pull over, Damon, please. I need to think."
Damon sighed, but pulled over as she requested. She got out of his car slowly. She bent over, in a lot of pain. She flinched when she felt Damon's comforting arm around her. He looked concerned. Amelia gave him a half smile as he handed her back her phone. "I'm fine." She lied.
She checked her phone to see that she had several missed calls and texts from Liz. Amelia groaned and quickly dialed her number.
"Young lady, you- " Liz started.
"Liz, please! I'm so sorry. I fell asleep at Bonnie's last night. I'm so sorry I forgot to tell you." She lied.
"One of my deputies found your truck - totaled by the way - on the side of the road! What happened? Are you okay? Where are you?"
"I'm fine. Bonnie gave me a ride back to her house. I'm so sorry, Liz. I'll explain more later. I've got to go." She hung up, groaning. Liz was going to kill her, and she didn't have a vehicle anymore.
Amelia looked at Damon, pouting. "My truck is totaled." She sighed. "I worked so hard to save up for it too…"
Amelia dialed the number for her work. When one of the receptionists picked up, she asked to speak to their manager. "Hi, I'm so sorry about such short notice, but I won't be able to make it in today. I was in a bad car accident last night and my sister was attacked by some lunatic."
Amelia's manager sighed, annoyed. "Okay, Amelia, but you're only part time, so you don't have any paid time to use. You'll have to pick up an extra shift to make up for it."
Amelia agreed and hung up, climbing back in Damon's car. "Why're we in Georgia, Damon?" She asked, putting on her seatbelt.
"I have a friend - she own's a little place outside of Atlanta. I need to talk to her."
"What happened to my truck?" She asked, as they listened to some classical rock station. Amelia preferred alternative rock.
"I pulled if off to the side of the road. I don't think anyone will bother it."
"So that vampire I hit last night… Do you know him?" She asked.
"I've never met him, I wouldn't know him. It's not like we all hang out together at the Vamp Bar and Grill." He joked.
Damon finally pulled into the parking lot of a small pub called, "Bree's Bar." Amelia sighed and followed him inside. As they neared the bar, the bartender's eyes widened in shock. "No, no it can't be. Damon?" She asked, hopping onto the bar and swinging around to the other side of it. Amelia noticed that she was taller than Damon. She wondered if it was because of her heels. "My honey pie." She said before grabbing onto him and laying a huge kiss on him. She moaned as they made out right in front of her. Amelia was feeling angry and jealous, so she focused on those huge heels of hers and made one of them break in half, causing her to slip and fall. Damon held her up and Bree looked at her, surprised. "Well, well, well, Damon. Should I be jealous that you brought another witch into my bar?" She asked rather loudly. Amelia glanced around, worried that someone had heard her, but no one seemed to have heard. Amelia was surprised to have met another witch, but she recognized the magic that exuded from her. Bree stepped out of her heels and went back to the other side of the counter. She lined up several shot glasses and began pouring as she yelled, "Listen up, everybody!" She yelled, "Here's to the man that broke my heart, crushed my soul, destroyed my life, and ruined any and all chance at happiness." She said cheerfully, setting shot glasses in front of Damon and herself. "Drink up!"
"Here, here." Amelia muttered pouring the shot down her throat while Damon glared at her.
"Whoo!" Bree shouted, feeling the burn on the alcohol. "So, how'd he rope you in?" She asked her conversationally.
"I'm not roped in, actually… He's -." Amelia corrected.
Bree interrupted her, "Honey, if you're not roped, you're whipped. Either way, just enjoy the ride." She laughed.
Amelia played with her shot glass, "Okaaayyy…" She drawled, annoyed. "So, how did you two meet?"
"Hm, hm, college." Bree chuckled.
Amelia looked at Damon, surprised. "You went to college?" She asked.
"I've been on a college campus, yes." Damon replied, sarcastically.
Bree began to tell her story, "About twenty years ago, when I was a sweet, young freshman I met this beautiful man and I fell in love and he told me about his little secret. Made me love him even more. You see, I had a little secret of my own that I was dying to share with somebody. I'm sure you can relate." She winked at her.
"Mm." Amelia agreed.
"Changed my world." Bree said, dreamily, twirling her dark hair around her finger.
"Please, I rocked your world." Damon said arrogantly.
Bree laughed and looked over at Amelia, "He is good in the sack, isn't he?"
Amelia blushed, and she felt dumbfounded. Damon looked over at Bree conspiringly, "She's a virgin." He whispered, dramatically.
"Damon!" Amelia yelled, shocked, turning even more red than she had been before.
Bree sighed, "But mostly, he's a walk-away-Joe." She took another shot before asking, "So, what is it that you want?"
Amelia excused herself to use the restroom. She groaned when she saw herself in the mirror. She looked like a wreck. Her hair was a mess, her sweatpants were wrinkled, and her face looked wretched. Amelia sighed and pulled half of her hair up and out of her face, leaving the rest of it down. She was happy to notice that her face had already started to heal though, and she didn't feel quite so sore. She walked out to the car and sat on the hood for a few minutes, her head in her hands, thinking. She jumped when she felt a comforting hand on her arm. "Are you okay?" Damon asked, his icy blue eyes, looking at her worriedly.
"Why do you care?" Amelia asked, staring at her feet.
Damon lifted her chin up so his eyes met hers. "You're my friend." He said, softly. "One of my only friends, and I've just recently realized how close I came to losing that." His icy blue eyes probed her softer, light blue eyes. "Now, c'mon." He said more cheerfully. "I bet you're hungry. Lunch is on me."
Amelia picked at her fries, but wasn't feeling very hungry. "C'mon, what, you don't like pickles? What's wrong with you?" Damon joked, snatching her pickle from her plate.
"Ah ah ah!" Amelia protested, snatching her half eaten pickle from his lips. "I love pickles." She said, eating the rest of it. "I just haven't been very hungry lately…" She trailed off.
Damon frowned at her. "You need to eat, Lia. You've been losing a lot of weight, lately." He stated.
Amelia changed the subject, "How can you even eat, anyway? I mean, aren't you technically… dead?"
"It's not such a bad word. As long as I keep a healthy diet of blood in my system, my body functions pretty normally." He said cheerfully, as he stole some of her fries.
Amelia smiled before shaking her head. "This nice act… Is any of it real?" She inquired, seriously.
Damon gave her a look, as if to remind her of the conversation they had just had out by the car.
Bree came over and set another beer in front of Damon. Amelia was feeling bold. "I'll have a rum in coke, please." She ordered.
Bree smiled at her and said, "Coming right up." Amelia felt a strange vibe coming from Bree, but she chocked it up to just being jealous of the attention that Damon gave her.
When her coke arrived, she clinked glasses with him before taking a long swig.
A little while later, Amelia found herself doing shot rounds with half of the bar. She managed to swallow the burning alcohol and slam her shot glass down on the bar faster than anybody else, including Damon, "That's three!" She giggled excitedly. She glanced at Damon, who had a bit of alcohol running down his chin. "Do you need a bib?" She teased.
Damon coughed, "Sorry, I can't unhinge my jaw like a snake."
"Hm, whatever. Who's next? Bree, another round please?" Amelia laughed.
One of the female bikers looked over at her and said, "Honey, you should be on the floor."
"I am not even drunk." Amelia giggled. She shakily climbed onto the bar, holding her hand above her head and hopping saying, "My tolerance is way up here!"
"Woah, easy girl!" Damon helped her down.
Amelia giggled. "Oops."
Damon was trying to teach her how to play pool, and even Damon had to admit that it was not easy to teach a drunk girl how to play pool, when her phone started ringing. Amelia looked down to see that Liz was calling her. She answered the call and jogged out of the bar.
"Hello?" She asked.
"Amelia? Where are you?" Liz asked.
"Uhh, hold on, it's loud in here." She said, throwing on her coat and stepping outside.
"Are you okay?"
"Yeah, I'm great, why?"
"I got a call from the school- " Liz began, but Amelia tripped down the steps and her phone went flying.
Amelia groaned and picked her phone back up saying, "Hello?"
All of a sudden, a man grabbed her from behind and threw a hand over her mouth, silencing her. Amelia dropped her phone as he pulled her away.
About twenty minutes later, Amelia found herself on top of a very tall, very complicated metal structure of some sort. Damon came into view and Amelia yelled, "Damon, run!"
Out of nowhere, the man that had attacked her started beating Damon with a metal baseball bat. "Ow!" Damon yelled, "What the hell?!"
Amelia tried so hard to incapacitate the man, to kill him even, but she was just so drunk. She couldn't feel her magic. She couldn't do anything, but climb down the treacherous structure she was on which was no easy feat even if she hadn't been drunk.
The man sped away and started pouring gasoline on Damon. She somehow reached the bottom without dying and ran towards him, "Damon, no!" She shouted. Right before she reached them, the vampire turned towards her and glared at her menacingly.
"Who are you?" Damon seethed.
The vampire shook his head, "That's prefect. You have no idea."
"What're you talking about, what did he do?" Amelia yelled.
The vampire turned towards her, "He killed my girlfriend." He turned back to Damon and poured more gasoline on him. "What did she do to you, huh? What did she do to you?!"
"Nothin.'" Damon grunted, painfully.
Amelia's mind was whirring, "I don't understand." She cried, wrapping her arms around herself.
"My girlfriend went to visit Stefan. And Damon killed her, got it?" He yelled, before kicking Damon in the head. Damon groaned in pain.
"Lexi? Lexi was your girlfriend?" Amelia realized, feeling nauseous. "She told me about you. She said that you were human."
"I was." He said, pulling out a lighter.
Amelia tried to stall. "Lexi turned you?"
"If you wanna be with someone forever, you gotta live forever." He replied.
Amelia cringed as Lexi's boyfriend kicked Damon in the head again. She tried to reach her magic, but she couldn't feel anything. Amelia shook her head, stalling. "She loved you!" She blurted. "She said when it's real, you can't walk away."
"Well that's a choice you're not going to have to make!" He yelled at her.
"Don't." She begged. "Please, I love him! Please!" She shouted, pleading.
"I'm doing you a favor." He said, the flame coming to life.
"Lexi loved you. And she was good and that means you're good, too. Don't do this, I'm begging you! Please."
Lexi's boyfriend picked up Damon and looked at him for a minute before throwing him hard into a metal wall.
"Thank you." Amelia said quietly.
"It wasn't for you." He said before running away.
Amelia ran over to him. "Damon! I'm so sorry. I-I couldn't feel my magic. I shouldn't have drank so much-."
Damon groaned, "Did you mean what you said?"
Amelia played dumb, "What do you mean?"
Damon looked at her, "When you said you loved me?"
Amelia looked away from him. "I was just trying to save you." She helped him up. "C'mon, let's go home."
"In a minute," He groaned, "I have something I have to take care of first."
The two of them walked in silence back to the car for what felt like an eternity. "Stay here. Lock the doors. And… don't look inside." He advised as he walked in the bar. Amelia rested in the car, too tired to think, and she fell asleep within seconds.
That next morning, she woke up and she asked him, "Why did you bring me with you?"
"Well, you're not the worst company in the world, Lia. You should give yourself more credit." He said.
"Seriously?" She asked, not believing him.
"I know. You were there in the road, all damsel-in-distress like. And… you're not the worst company in the world, Lia."
Amelia sighed, looking at the scenery. "I used to be more fun."
"You did okay." Damon stated.
Amelia suddenly realized smugly, "I saved your life."
Damon looked over at her and said in the same tone, "I know."
"And don't you forget it." Amelia teased.
Amelia and Damon chatted the rest of the way back to Mystic Falls. They argued playfully about the radio, and when Amelia began singing along to that new Taylor Swift song, Damon groaned. Amelia learned that he liked alternative rock like she did, but that he mostly enjoyed classical rock. They ended up listening to a lot of Bon Jovi, as the pair both enjoyed him immensely. Amelia listened attentively as he told her about when he met Bon Jovi.
The conversation became more serious. "Damon, you can't keep kidnapping me like this. If my social worker were to find out, or CPS, they could take me away from Liz and put me back in the foster care system." She said worriedly, biting her nails.
Damon rolled his eyes, "Don't worry, I'd sort it out for you." He winked at her, "Perks of being friends with a vampire."
"I'd rather it not come to that…" Amelia trailed off, watching the trees blur past her.