A/N- Here goes chapter 14... Wow this is a long story huh? Anyway well I hope everyone likes it, and I know there was less Daroline in this... I'll try and do better next time, but I need space for plot too! Please let me know what you think, I am loving the reviews I keep getting for the previous chapters so don't stop now. Oh and if you want to know what I think my character look like, I have posted links on my profile page so you can check that out. REVIEW tc...
Imp A/N- I want to introduce another or maybe two more couples into this, and If you guys could tell me whom you want I could make the most popular ones happen. It's between Bonnie, Stefan, Katherine and Armaan. After reading this chapter you'll get a good view of Armaan's character. Please leave me a review telling me which couple you guys want.
Chapter 14
Stefan and Damon watched as Katherine's growled at the sight of Arabella and moved ahead to undoubtedly rip her head off when a man emerged from behind the witch and Katherine immediately stopped in her tracks
"You're getting sloppy Katerina" the dark haired, dark skinned man said with a slight Indian accent and Katherine relaxed her posture and sighed in relief "She's no use dead" the man added as he walked in the room casually and Katherine moved aside to let him and nodded her head at him and the two others entering behind him. The other man was fair skinned and had piercing blue eyes whereas the girl holding onto Arabella's arm tightly was dark skinned and had the most beautiful big brown eyes. Damon and Stefan looked at each other confused wanting to ask many questions but couldn't find their voice. Damon sat back next to Caroline who was still blissfully unaware in her sleep and put a hand on her shoulder protectively, he did not like the new arrivals.
"Why did you bring her here?" Katherine asked confused pointing towards Arabella and Stefan nodded at her question; he didn't like the witch either
"Like I said Katerina... sloppy" the first man mocked leaning his head to look at her intently and she rolled her eyes
"Well I'm sorry I was too busy running for my life" she countered annoyed
"Or you were distracted" he replied glancing at Stefan pointedly and she huffed and punched him on the shoulder
"Sam called us after he heard about what happened with you" the girl said speaking for the first time "We thought we should go pay our witch a visit" she added menacingly tugging on the witches arm and she winced in pain.
Damon coughed loudly annoyed at being ignored far too long, and Katherine jumped at the sound, it was as if she had forgotten they were even there. She turned to look at his pissed off expression and sighed
"Oh sorry...Guys this is Armaan" she said pointing at the dark skinned man who was obviously the leader "This is Naina and this is Aryan" she added pointing to the woman who nodded at both of them and then at the fair man who hadn't spoken a word yet.
"This is Stefan" she continued pointing at Stefan "And this is Damon" she finished pointing at Damon, and looked at both of them angrily when they showed no sign of response
"Who's that?" Armaan asked curiously pointing at sleeping Caroline and Damon tensed instinctively
"Oh... that's Caroline" Katherine said
"She's sleeping" Armaan commented incredulously and Katherine snorted and mumbled a yeah while shrugging her shoulders. "And she's a vampire" he added confused and Katherine merely shook her head, it would take too long to explain Caroline to him.
Damon huffed visibly not at all happy with Armaan's constant commentary on Caroline but was cut across before he could snap at him
"Introductions later" Naina said airily "What do we do with her?" she asked shaking the witch in her hand like she was a rattle
"Do you have an extra room" Armaan asked but Katherine cut him across
"Wait... first tell me why she's here"
"Come on Katerina, one of Nico's witches right in front of us and you just left there. What better way to get to her than her own worker as our guide?" Armaan said and Katherine scrunched up her face as she took in his words... she should have thought of that, but she was too distracted with getting Stefan to safety.
"She was too strong for me..." Katherine began and Naina laughed at her reasoning
"You could have weakened her enough to get her to comply" Armaan said amused and Katherine scowled when she realized it was true, but she wasn't going to admit that.
"Whatever... she's here now, did you weaken her too?"
"She's frozen... she won't be able to use her powers for a while" he replied and Katherine nodded while Stefan and Damon looked at each other confused not understanding a word. But Damon decided there were more important things that the dude's weird vocabulary
"So you think she'll lead us to Nico?" Damon asked skeptically
"She has given me her word" Armaan said threateningly looking at Arabella who gulped but nodded her head, and that moment Damon was truly afraid of Armaan but he would never let it show.
"Why would she take us to Nico... she works for her" Stefan pointed out and Armaan simply stared at the two of them letting them know in no words that he thought that they were utterly stupid, and Stefan was starting to not like him too. Katherine had a scowl on her face which suddenly turned to realization as she yelped a small 'Ah!'
"You killed her mate" she said slapping a hand to her forehead and Armaan laughed softly when she added "I really am off my game"
"If she helps us find us Nico then I have promised that I will kill her and if she doesn't and leads us to a trap I will turn her and she will have to live a long long life of misery without him and I'll make sure she can't kill herself" Armaan explained and Stefan and Damon were stunned by his brutality, he had killed her mate and forced her to do as he said so that she could die and not have to live without him. Damon could understand it a little bit, if Arabella felt for that vampire anything like he did for Caroline he wouldn't have wanted to live either.
"But no... Nico's vampire's were on their way when we left" Stefan said recovering the fastest "They would have informed her that Arabella let us go, whatever connection she had with Nico will be revoked."
And again Armaan fixed them with that nonplussing stare and Katherine could see that Damon was about to explode so she intervened
"You got there before her vampire's left right?" she said turning to Armaan who nodded "He killed them; Nico won't know that Arabella let us leave. So we basically have an inside person who pretty much will do everything we say" Katherine added more to Damon and Stefan than anyone else and Armaan gave her a cheeky smile and she scoffed
"Ok ok fine... I should have thought of this myself, but I don't think I could have fought them on my own" Katherine defended and Armaan rolled his eyes and let out a bark like laugh
"You expect me to believe that... I've seen your massacre's Katerina, you know that one time..." Armaan began before Katherine hurriedly cut him across
"We should really wake up Caroline" she said desperately "Caroline... Caroline time to wake up Blondie..." she added in a sing-song voice and Damon tried to shush her but sighed when he felt Caroline stirring slightly and sat down next to her putting a hand on her hip when she groggily made an attempt to get up from the couch, but it was like she was embedded in it
"Damon" Caroline said as her eyes fluttered open and Damon shook her shoulder to get her to look at him while Katherine rolled her eyes muttering 'How cliché' under her breath
"How long was I sleeping..." Caroline mumbled while yawning "I have to call Bonnie... and and... uhm who are these people Damon" she said shyly when she noticed the four new people in the room and her eyes widened when they fell on Arabella and her fear stricken face and she gasped when she saw her bloody clothes
"Take her to another room please" Damon pleaded looking at Arabella and Armaan shot him a confused look when Stefan intervened and directed Naina and the witch to a spare room.
"This is Armaan and Aryan and the girl who went in is Naina..." Katherine said in a bored tone as she pointed everyone out and Caroline stood up and smiled sweetly at all of them and Damon had to control his eye roll
"Hello" Caroline said extending her hand to Armaan which he took with a surprised look on his face "I've heard a lot about you"
Armaan shot an incredulous look to Katherine at this comment and she simply shrugged nonchalantly and looked away embarrassed. Armaan watched Caroline with growing interest as she moved forward to shake his brother's hand and attempted to speak to him
"Ah he doesn't talk" Armaan supplied before Katherine could give her version and Caroline's eyes widened as she turned back to look at Aryan
"Oh... I had a cousin whom I learnt a little sign language..." she began excitedly
"Enough socializing Barbie..." Damon snapped annoyed tilting his head telling her to come next to him; he really didn't like her anywhere near Armaan... that dude freaked the crap out of him.
Katherine glared at him warningly and he didn't understand it but he took the leap of faith by trusting her... she had proven herself quite a few times until now and she knew Armaan better than anyone of them there.
"So what exactly have you heard about me?" Armaan asked curiously and Caroline opened her mouth to answer but Katherine cut her across hastily
"You know we should really meet Sam and see what he found out... lots of things to do, so let's get to it" she said clasping her hands and everyone including Damon gave her an amused look
"Why are you so embarrassed?" Damon asked forgetting to be pissed at Armaan and focusing on getting some dirt on Katherine. She got saved from answering when Stefan and Naina walked into the room
"She's nice and secured" Naina commented arrogantly when she plopped onto the sofa and earned a disapproving look from Damon "So what now?"
"Patience Naina... patience" her brother replied as annoyed as Damon
"When do we leave?" Katherine asked keenly, patience was not her virtue, Damon opened his mouth to answer but Armaan was too fast for him
"Once we speak to Sam"
"So tomorrow?" Katherine asked looking at Armaan, who sighed at her impatience, she was worse than a child
"Yes" he replied exasperatedly and Caroline giggled causing Damon to roll his eyes
They sat there discussing some more strategy before everyone left with their assigned jobs as Armaan called it. Stefan and Naina left to go get Sam and get some more information from his witch, Katherine was not particularly happy with their pairing and Damon couldn't help but smirk and comment at her possessiveness to which she simply glanced at Caroline suggestively and he shut up immediately. Point taken. He was standing alone on the balcony watching the nightline and hustling bustling of a million or so cars... really wasn't India supposed to be a poor country or something and yet he had seen more fancy cars here than back home. He heard Katherine approaching him from behind but didn't show it hoping that she would just go away... wishful thinking right?
"You can't be so Damon around Armaan" she greeted leaning against the balcony railing
"Damon?" he asked confused
"Yes... Damon, all arrogant, 'I'm the king of the jungle' kind of thing" she said waving her hands and he controlled himself from laughing
"Why not... he's just a dude" Damon defended strongly and Katherine shook her head warningly
"No he is not Damon, and he doesn't want to hurt you, he's not a bad person and will never want to hurt someone for the heck of it but still you piss him off I can't stop him from doing whatever the hell he wants to" she replied sincerely and seriously and Damon was shocked at just how much she meant what she said and now he was seriously confused
"When was he turned Katherine?" he asked firmly and she knew he was in serious mode coz he didn't call her 'bitchy'
"1857"
"He's just a few years older than me, and I'm stronger than my age I'll be fine... even being all Damon" he said confidently and again she shook her head adamantly
"No Damon... he's not just a normal vampire he is really powerful..." she started and Damon cut her off angrily
"Why can't you be friends with normal vampire's Katherine? Originals, hybrids, whatever the hell Sam is... this dude" he said annoyed
"Sam is not a thing, he's like 800 years old that's why he's so strong" she snapped equally angry and Damon was glad there was a railing or he would have fallen down, Sam was so old... what? No wonder then that they had all been weary of him.
"And Armaan..." she said airily running a hand through her dark curls "He's gifted Damon; he has special skills... that is what makes him dangerous and strong too. He's even stronger than me" she added for effect and Damon eyes widened at that
"What kind of gift Katherine?" Damon snarled... he liked the vampire even less now
She scrunched up her face to give him a confused look and he could see that she wasn't even sure where to begin.
Meanwhile inside the living room Caroline was carefully packing hers and Damon's and Stefan's bag for their journey since they were both boys and what the hell do men know about packing properly, though sorting Damon's bag wasn't that difficult it was all black black black... occasional grey, a little blue and that's where his color pallet ended. Stefan on the other hand only had grey and white, and the green tights that he had bought along for some reason. She laughed and blushed violently when she remembered their game the night before leaving and never heard Armaan coming up behind her
"I could never let my sister pack for me" he said amused and she jumped startled and whipped around but relaxed when she saw who it was
"Well... they're too distracted to stop me" she smiled as she turned back to folding Stefan's jeans
"Hmmm, Naina would throw the things she didn't like... which were always my favorite shirts" he said resting his backside on the back of the couch just a few feet from her and she laughed at his comment
"Yeah well... I'm too scared of them to do that" she laughed and he snorted
"You scared of them? They're scared of you" he corrected and she looked at him like he was crazy. Damon and Stefan scared of her... vampire Barbie?
"Yeah right..." she mocked thinking he was patronizing her and he got off his rest and moved closer to her and instinct told her she should be afraid but she just couldn't bring herself to be scared.
"You don't believe me?" he mock pouted and it was her time to snort
"Why would they be afraid of me?"
"Fear is complex Caroline... it's not so transparent" he said wisely and she found herself believing him like he really knew a lot about this.
"Fear is complex" she repeated fascinated... she thought it was so simple
"And simple" he added and she snapped her neck at him wondering if he could read minds... this wasn't twilight right?
"Someone said fear is merely the absence of courage" he explained and she nodded she'd heard that too "They got it almost right, fear is as complicated as you make it"
She sighed and looked at him questioningly totally lost and he smiled and ploughed on "You decide how simple or complex your fear is, If you decide to not be afraid of something you're brave and... courageous and then you lose the fear. It depends on you" he added pressing a finger to her chest "Whether you fear something or you face it... with courage"
She blinked wondering how they had gone from packing norms to fear.
"How do you know so much about this?" she croaked finally finding her voice
"I control fear" Armaan replied simply and she blinked again and was glad she was only holding a pair of jeans in her hands as they fell from her grip onto the floor and he smiled shyly at her reaction, apparently still not used to it
"What?" she half screamed
"Some vampire's have gifts... it's rare, but since my birth mother was a witch I guess I was destined to end up with some gift. I control fear in a person, I can make someone fear something... take the fear away, intensify it, reduce it, make them go completely crazy or even make them completely fearless. You'd be surprised the things that can be done with fear" he added thoughtfully
"Wow" is all she said after about a full minute still not able to take in all of it. And then instantly she was apprehensive of him, he was weirdly strong who knew what he could do... and what if he turned on them?
"Calm down" Armaan said rolling his eyes and she looked at him surprised and embarrassed "I'm here to help not hurt you, despite what your boyfriend might think"
"How did you..."
"Fear remember?... I can sense fear in a person too and you just lit up like Christmas" he laughed
"Wait..." Caroline practically screamed remembering the witch "Arabella... you you did something to her didn't you" he nodded impressed that she had made the connection and she sighed, even people in India thought blondes were dumb... her race was truly doomed.
"I froze her in fear" he repeated his words "So much fear that she can't even move without being physically moved"
"You can do that?" Caroline asked in awe and he simply shrugged, apparently that wasn't among his best tricks and she shivered at the thought
"You are amazing" she blurted without thinking and immediately slapped her hand to her mouth realizing how weird that sounded and he chuckled at her shyness... she really was a perplexing vampire
"I'll take that as a compliment" he said flashing his dimples and she nodded to show that she meant it as a compliment
"But... how does it work... I mean how do... how can you..." she mumbled bursting with hundred of questions for him and he laughed again
He extended his hand and held out his palm asking for her to give him her hand, she hesitated at first but curiosity got the better of her and she put her left hand in his palm and he held it tightly slowly glazing his thumb on her skin and she felt a buzz of electricity shooting through her veins, and she froze at the spot as she felt herself being enveloped by an invisible force so strong that she couldn't even dream of fighting it, she wanted to scream and beg for help but her throat clenched painfully and she began to shiver as felt the floodgates opening. She was trembling with... what could only be described as... fear. What was happening to her?
"Take off you bangle" Armaan whispered into her ear moving forward and as if her hand had grown its own brain it whipped out of his hand and roughly shacked off her bright red and blue folk style bangle that Damon had bought for her and Armaan took it from her hand and threw it down.
And immediately that blanket of pure weight and despair lifted and she took a deep breath as she massaged her throat even though nothing had happened to it. She felt like herself again, normal not immersed in fear like she had been a few seconds back. She bought her other hand to her chest, and burrowed her brows at Armaan demanding that she be explained what the hell just happened few minutes back.
He looked at her amused but said nonetheless "I ingrained fear of the color red in you" he looked down at the bangle on the floor and she blinked in awe... sure it was terrifying at the time but it was so cool.
"Once the thing you feared wasn't in your vicinity, your fear lifted off" he concluded and she nodded beyond impressed
"Is that what you did to Arabella?"
"Yes... but her's was 20 times stronger than yours" he said simply and she visibly shuddered, getting a reminder that despite how sweet and charming he may be, he was brutal as hell... even more brutal than Katherine.
"What did you make her fear" she asked curiously and wondered when he would be tired of her questions and stomp away but he replied promptly
"Life itself. Her only way to be rid of the fear is death" he replied softly and her eyes widened in horror, that was so cold and cruel and he saw the look on her face and added "It was necessary Caroline"
She nodded understanding the need but wishing there was some other way than making her fear her own life, how could one live like that?
"I frightened you too much" he said sadly and she shook her head and tried to find her words
"I... I was taken by surprise, and I'm a generally scared person as it is" she said reassuringly, she didn't want him to feel bad but he had startled her like shit!
"I know" Armaan smirked and she rolled her eyes
"Yes... make fun of the sissy baby vamp" she pouted and he laughed
"I can help you with that" he said turning to look at her and she raised her brows at him
"How"
And again he held out his hand and she narrowed her eyes at him.
"It'll be better than last time" he promised sincerely and she smiled and put her hand in his and gasped as she felt a wonderful warmth travel all over her body and his hand quite literally glowed holding hers but as soon as that warmth had come it was gone.
"Did you just say that he can control... control fear Katherine?" Damon bellowed and she cringed away from a little and shrugged
"Yeah... he has since he turned and he's fucking good at it" she said bitterly "I lost a bet once in the 50's and he ingrained the fear of sex in me for weeks, It was crazy, I acted like a little virgin for 3 weeks before he took pity on me"
Damon scowled at her and shook his head; this could either be amazing to have such a great bonus on their side or turn out to be a fucking nightmare. He turned around to head back into the room realizing that he had left Caroline alone with the god of fear lurking around anywhere, when he froze at what he saw, Caroline was looking at Armaan wide-eyed as he held her hand and just as Damon was about to burst through the glass Katherine pushed him back against the railing roughly and hissed loudly
"He's just showing her his gift Damon, don't go all psycho on him... he will not like it" Katherine warned refusing to let go of her hold on him and he was seething.
"How do you know?" he snapped back, he was sure he was back to hating Katherine
"Because Armaan rarely touches anyone unless he's using their power on them or they have asked to see it. He's not a big fan of bodily contact" she said exasperatedly letting him go and pointing towards the room and Damon saw as Caroline held onto Armaan's hand and smiled at him completely in awe. It was obvious that he wasn't hurting her.
"I still don't trust him" he snarled at Katherine and she sighed
"You don't have to trust him, just know that... that he has every motivation possible to get leverage on Klaus" she said softly in a barely there whisper hoping that Armaan was busy enough with Caroline to not be listening to them.
Damon suddenly blinked in realization and turned to look at Katherine and said "Klaus must want him too right... coz of the whole fear control Jedi mind thing"
Katherine shrugged her shoulders casually and turned her gaze away from him stoically silent and Damon knew she didn't want to tell him too much and he was pissed at that
"You can't keep secrets Katherine..."
"They are not mine to tell Damon, Armaan has to protect his family and he trusted me with things and I'll be damned if I lose an actual friend which come pretty scarcely for me, just because you want to be alpha male" Katherine snapped annoyed and turned to walk away but Damon held her back
"If it jeopardizes..."
"It won't. It has nothing to do with you or Blondie or Stefan, it's their family thing and they get to decide whom to tell their secrets and whom to not" Katherine said finitely and Damon nodded grudgingly, that he could understand even if he didn't like it.
"I'll let it go" Damon said swiftly and Katherine nodded and went inside.
Damon and Caroline were sitting on his bed watching TV when Damon started off on his well rehearsed speech
"Barbie..." he said in a serious tone and Caroline turned her head up from its place on her chest to look at him "You need to be careful of Armaan" she sighed deeply but he ploughed "You can't be all rainbows and sunshine Florida Barbie around him" she sighed deeply at that
"And you can't be all Damon around him" she countered getting off his chest and he rolled his eyes at her using the same terminology as Katherine
"And why's that?"
"Because he'll get pissed at you and make you fear bourbon or something worse... like smirking. Can you imagine Damon Salvatore afraid of alcohol?" she teased and he couldn't help but chuckle at her cheekiness
"That is exactly why I don't want you around him" Damon said softly and Caroline smiled at him
"Damon... he showed me his gift and I don't think he would hurt me, not unless I gave him a reason to" she replied sweetly running a hand over his cheek and he sighed defeated
"Weren't you scared?" he asked hesitantly and she laughed shocking him
"He made me afraid of the color red on that bangle you bought me... so yeah at that moment it was scary as hell" she said "But..."
"But what?" he urged
"After that he took my hand again and I don't know what he did that time Damon... but I feel different" she said softly grazing her hand over the spot that Armaan had been holding. Damon jerked up on the bed with a horrified look on his face and she immediately corrected her words
"Not bad different... Damon just different, I can't place it" she said confused and he looked worried
"What did you feel?"
"When he touched my hand?" she asked and he nodded "Warmth... a surge of pure warmth just flowing through me and it was an amazing feeling and his hand was glowing Damon, but the heat was gone soon...too soon and I just couldn't believe it" she stuttered and he still looked at her wide-eyed so she added "I'm fine Damon... I'm better"
"Better how?" he asked skeptically and she bit her lip
"Truth?" she asked a little fearfully and he nodded "I was scared of so many things Damon, being what I am, losing the people I love, you and Stefan to Klaus, Bonnie... my mom, dying myself. I was scared that you would get bored of me in a while" he rolled his eyes at that but she ignored him and moved on "I was just afraid of letting go and having some faith Damon... and now I'm not scared, I know that we're going to be fine... you and me we're going to be okay" she said softly cupping his face with her hands and he smiled at her, he had been trying to reassure her for so long
"Now I have faith Damon that whatever comes at us, if I have you and Stefan then we can face it and get through" she said confidently and bowed her head a little bit and added in a whisper "I lost my fear of growing up Damon... I lost my fear of getting hurt"
He sighed softly at her words and nodded, she had come into her own, she had become her own person... Caroline Forbes. Not cheerleader, blonde, Elena's friend, Bonnie's friend, Matt's girlfriend... all those titles she hid behind, she was all herself now and that was something he had always wanted to encourage her to embrace. Though he wished it didn't have to be facilitated by Armaan
"Whatever Armaan did... I am grateful, and so should you" she said sternly and he chuckled pecking her on the cheek and lips before pulling back and narrowing his eyes
"You're not gonna make him another one of your best friends for all that crap are you?" he asked skeptically and she rolled her eyes and slapped him on the chest pining him to the bed
"You such an ass Damon"
"Just saying Barbie... Stefan is enough just remember that..." he patronized and she scoffed and crashed her lips to his.
Katherine and Armaan were sitting in the living room discussing some more plans when Stefan came through the doors looking sullen
"Is Caroline okay?" he asked promptly looking directly at Katherine who smirked
"Considering the noises coming from Damon's room I'll say she's just fine" she said and Stefan blinked for a second and scowled at Katherine
"Couldn't just say she's fine?" he barked and Katherine shrugged her shoulders
"Why were you asking?" she asked and Stefan pointed at his ring and they arched their necks to get a look at it. It was a bright azure color, completely transparent and crystal clear.
"What does that mean?" Katherine asked
"It means she's at peace..." Stefan said confused and Katherine looked at him funnily
"Yeah well duh!" she said pointing towards Damon's room and Stefan threw the newspaper at her
"It's been like that for 45 minutes" he replied annoyed
She said 'Oh' while Armaan just looked amused at the whole conversation
"What's wrong with peace?" Katherine asked curiously
"Caroline... seriously? Her at peace? That is like you not being a bitch... she's always freaking out about something" Stefan said fondly
Katherine sighed knowingly and and turned her head slowly to Armaan who was pretending to be nonchalant and cocked her brow at him suggestively
"What?" Armaan asked innocently and she laughed
"I knew you would like her... and you said all my friends are stupid" she added menacingly and Armaan looked shocked
"Really?... she is your friend. How?" he mocked putting one hand on his mouth and Katherine rolled her eyes
"Whatever so did you impress her with you Jedi tricks?" she teased and he laughed and nodded his head "That was nice of you though" she added sincerely
"Uh... what the hell are you talking about?" Stefan asked annoyed at being left out
"Ask Damon or Caroline" Katherine laughed
"Where is my sister?" Armaan asked suddenly
"Still with Sam and the witch" Stefan replied
"Then why are you here?" Katherine asked confused and Stefan groaned
"I might have killed the witch's sister while I was ripper Stefan... in front of her" he replied sadly
Katherine was about to say something to him when Armaan's phone rang and he picked it up
"What Naina?" he asked exasperated and they all heard her screaming from the other end. All three vampires were on their feet as they hung on to her mumbled words... but only three of them really registered with any of them.
Klaus is here.