Chapter 14

"Olivia doesn't know."

All Tyler could do was sit there in shock with a gaping mouth, hardly believing what he was seeing and hearing. Then something suddenly occurred to him. Simone's skin never once felt chilly like other women Tyler had been with did. All of his ex-girlfriends complained of his body heat, though they didn't know the real reasoning behind it and Tyler didn't bother telling them. Now everything was so much clearer to him and Tyler grabbed Simone's hand, sliding it beneath his shirt to rest over his beating heart, inhaling sharply when their body temperatures were the same.

"This is…unbelievable…" That wasn't the word to use, but Tyler honestly couldn't think straight, his eyes never leaving hers, both of them still swirling with molten gold. "How…?"

"That is a very long story." Simone bit her bottom lip and removed her hand from under Tyler's shirt, slowly standing up from the grass. "Sorry, I explain things better if I'm standing."

Tyler looked up at her expectantly, not blaming her for being nervous about this, even though they were the same kind. "I'm…" He held his finger up in a one second gesture when his cell phone buzzed and pulled it out to check the message. "Damn it!"

"What?" Simone blinked as Tyler shot to his feet, wondering what happened. "What's got your fur ruffled?"

"It's Olivia." Tyler practically spit out, anger radiating off every part of his huge body, using his freedom of speech and started cussing violently. "That no good SON OF A BITCH!"

Now Simone began panicking, snatching Tyler's phone away from him and felt her jaw drop at the text message. "He WHAT?!" Her voice thundered throughout the park and it was a good thing nobody was there or else they would've jumped about five feet in the air. "THAT NO GOOD DICK!"

Tyler growled, snatching his phone back from her and shoved it hastily in his pocket, pinching the bridge of his nose. "Damon has tried figuring out your reason for being in Mystic Falls and he lost his patience today…with Olivia." He was going to tear Damon apart for hurting an innocent woman, especially after hearing everything that had happened to Olivia recently.

"We have to get back, Tyler." Simone felt wave after wave of guilt crash over her, forcing tears to sting her eyes. "I never should've left. I should've been there to protect her…" She walked away from Tyler and jogged toward his car, not wasting another second.

They had to get back to Mystic Falls immediately.

Tyler sighed heavily, his time with Simone officially cut short because of Damon Salvatore's temper. He had to calm down before he ended up driving them right into a tree or something. Being a werewolf, they could only transform on a full moon and tonight wasn't one. Damon was officially the luckiest man in the universe because, had it been a full moon, Tyler would've killed him without thinking twice about it.

A few minutes later, Tyler drove away from the park and headed on the highway that lead straight back to Mystic Falls, a very worried Simone in the passenger seat.

~!~

Matt and Bonnie helped Olivia inside Elena's small two bedroom apartment and sat her gently on the couch, being careful. "Get some ice for her throat, Matt." Bonnie ordered, looking up when Elena walked inside moments later and stood up, gesturing her to the dining room.

"What?" Elena asked impatiently, needing to check on Olivia. "What is it?"

"Her throat is really swollen, Elena." Bonnie looked genuinely worried, looking over her shoulder at the woman on the couch and back at her best friend. "Damon nearly crushed her vocal cords, she can't talk."

Elena shut her eyes, already knowing where Bonnie was going with this. "She doesn't know…"

"I realize that, but…the swelling could potentially close her throat up completely and she'd die of suffocation. The ice won't be enough." Bonnie wasn't about to let another innocent life be taken at the hands of Damon Salvatore, dark eyes determined.

"Fine." Elena knew it was the right thing to do, nodding. "Go ahead, do it. Heal her. I'll explain to her everything that's going on."

Bonnie sighed with inner relief, thankful Elena was on the same page as her. "We have to do it quickly." She cautioned, already walking back into the living room and frowned at how pale Olivia looked.

Olivia looked up at the dark skinned woman before moving her amber gaze to Elena Gilbert, her niece, wincing when she tried swallowing. "I know, it's going to be okay." Elena said, sitting down on the couch beside Olivia and took her hand, squeezing it gently. "I didn't want to have to do it this way, but we need to do this fast." Olivia blinked, not understanding. "Bonnie is a witch and she's going to heal you now."

Alarm bells instantly started going off in Olivia's head when she heard that, eyes widening as far as they could, shaking her head. Elena sighed and nodded at Bonnie, knowing Olivia would need proof before she allowed the healing to commence. Within mere seconds that felt like dragging minutes, Bonnie had slit one of the feather pillows open she'd grabbed from Elena's bedroom and feathers were levitating all around them. Olivia was in awe, gaping in shock and looked up at Elena, wondering if she was a witch as well.

As if reading her mind, Elena smiled softly and shook her head. "No I'm not, Bonnie is the only one in Mystic Falls."

"That we know of at least." Matt chimed in, sitting on the other side of Olivia while his brilliant girlfriend worked her magic. "I know it's hard to believe, but…"

"Will you let me heal your throat?" Bonnie asked, cutting Matt off and injected some urgency in her tone, hoping Olivia complied.

Olivia touched her necklace, shutting her eyes momentarily and slowly nodded, silent tears sliding down her cheeks. The memory of Damon throttling her would be forever branded in her mind, especially the rage and coldness in his eyes. Shivering involuntarily, Olivia wiped her tears away and took the tissue Matt handed her, cracking a half-smile as a way of thanking him.

"Elena, I need as many candles as you have and I need Olivia to lie on the couch because she has to relax as much as possible." Bonnie instructed, nodding when Matt went to go help Elena scrounge up as many candles as possible. "Just lay back and relax your mind, this won't hurt at all, but you'll feel a very warm sensation in your throat. That'll be me healing you. Do you understand?"

Olivia nodded, doing as she was told and stared up at the ceiling, the tears not stopping. She knew better than to get involved with a strange man like Damon Salvatore and now suffered the consequences. It'd been a very long time since she'd been with a man and Olivia trusted Damon enough to do the deed with him. She was nothing more than a common streetwalker, especially jumping into bed with him after only knowing each other a day and a half.

"Scoot down just a little so I have enough room to sit by your head." Bonnie knew it was an odd request and smiled when Olivia did, sitting beside her. "Now close your eyes and breathe in and out as even as you can. I know it's going to be difficult with your throat."

Closing her eyes, Olivia kept her arms at her sides and was perfectly still, chest rising and falling a little fast, but gradually it started slowing down. It helped that Bonnie rubbed her temples to help relax her even more. Elena and Matt walked in a few minutes later and began surrounding Olivia with candles, circling the couch completely and put a few on the coffee table. Bonnie nodded when she saw how many they had, smirking at her boyfriend and then instantly closed her eyes, going into a trance.

"Breathe in and out slowly, remember what I said, Olivia." Bonnie murmured, feeling her nod once and suddenly held her hand over the injured area, starting to chant.

Olivia had no idea what Bonnie was saying, but it was working as she felt heat form in her head and slowly traveled down her face. The small lacerations Olivia endured when Damon put his fist through her window closed up, no scars left behind. Finally, the heat arrived at her throat and Olivia continued breathing evenly, though she did grip the couch cushion since the sensation scared her momentarily.

Bonnie reached a crescendo, the flames of the candles sprouting dangerously around them, the lights flickering a little, before everything calmed at once, the candles no longer lit. "It's done." She felt Matt wrap his arm around her shoulders, leaning against him and breathed heavily since that spell had taken a lot out of her.

"How do you feel, Olivia?" Elena promptly asked, watching as her eyes slowly fluttered open and secretly hoped Bonnie's spell worked. "Are you okay?"

"Yes." Olivia spoke, sounding completely normal and blinked as stray tears slid down her face, clutching her throat. "There's no pain. I'm completely healed…" She was perplexed, rubbing the back of her neck, every part of her body feeling normal. "That's…incredible."

Elena chuckled along with her friends, agreeing wholeheartedly. "She is, we're just the people who help her out with what she needs." She grinned at Bonnie, who flushed slightly and patted Olivia's hand reassuringly. "You must be hungry, how about I whip us up something to eat?"

"I-I'm not really that-"

"No need to do that, Elena." A gentle voice sounded behind them, causing all four individuals to turn around to face whoever walked inside.

"Jenna, you are a lifesaver." Elena stood up and walked over, hugging her Aunt tightly around the neck. "Thank you. I take it you got my message?"

Jenna nodded, running a hand through her hair. "Yeah, I rushed over from the campus to check on you and make sure everything was okay." She was currently going to college for a degree in therapy. "Luckily, I wasn't doing anything too important. Are you okay?"

"You should be asking her that." Elena gestured to the woman standing in the living room. "Olivia, this is Jenna Sommers, my wonderful Aunt. Jenna, this is…"

"O-Olivia." She swallowed hard, forcing her feet to move toward the woman with light burnt orange hair, extending a shaking hand. "Jenna Sommers, you said?"

"Yes." Jenna beamed, shaking the auburn beauty's hand briefly before heading into the kitchen. "I hope you guys don't mind Chinese, it was the fastest thing I could think of."

"That's great, thanks Jen!" Matt crowed, hugging Jenna next and started pulling the dishes from the cabinet while Elena retrieved some silverware.

They looked like a happy family, which broke Olivia's heart into pieces, fresh tears stinging her eyes. "I really should go…"

"Why?" Elena frowned, looking up from opening one of the containers of food. "There's plenty here for everyone. You need to relax and chill out. Besides, we need to have a talk about what happened with Damon."

"No, I really should go." Olivia had to get out of there, not able to stop the tears from sliding down her cheeks. "I shouldn't be here…" What had she been thinking coming here to destroy these people's lives?

"Yes you should, Livi."

Olivia whipped around at the sound of Simone's voice behind her, gritting her teeth. "No, I really don't think I should, Simone." The anger shining in her eyes clearly told Simone that Olivia was not happy with her abandonment.

"Livi…"

"No." Olivia held her hand up, stopping Simone from saying another word. "How the HELL was your day, SIM? Would you like to know how mine went? For starters, I ended up getting attacked by the man I slept with the previous night and had my car window shattered by his FIST. Then he proceeded to nearly CRUSH my throat with his hand because apparently he thinks we're here to hurt HER." She threw a thumb over her shoulder at Elena, hating that she showed weakness in front of all these people. "So while you were out screwing around and doing god knows what with this moron," She paused, shooting a deadly glare in Tyler Lockwood's direction. "I've been having one of the WORST days of my damn life! So thanks for abandoning me, SIS, I REALLY appreciate it!"

Simone lowered her head as Olivia stalked past her, tears falling and knew everything Olivia just said was the truth. She had chosen Tyler over her best friend. At the time, Simone didn't think it was a huge deal, but now that Olivia ended up nearly throttled to death by a man, Simone had nobody to blame except herself.

"Simone, she's just angry and confused." Tyler crooned, placing a hand on her shoulder and sighed when she shrugged him off.

"No, she's right. What the hell was I thinking? I chose you, a guy I don't even know, over someone I consider a sister." Simone felt sick to her stomach and backed away from Tyler, shaking her head. "I have to go find her before she ends up hurt again."

Tyler frowned and watched as Simone flew out of the apartment, slamming the door shut behind her and could feel his heart breaking into a million pieces. He wanted to go after her and make her see that them coming to Mystic Falls wasn't a coincidence, that he wasn't just 'some guy'. He was just like her, in every way, and Tyler would do whatever necessary to make her eyes open to the reality of things.

"What the hell was THAT about?" Jenna had to ask, looking over at Elena, who looked guilty as well. "Elena, care to explain it?"

Elena looked back at her Aunt and sighed, not having a choice and sat down at the island. "Damon thought Olivia and Simone were here to hurt me because of all the other outsiders coming into Mystic Falls lately." Sometimes, Elena wished she'd never laid eyes on Stefan because now she had two overprotective mongrels that didn't know limitations. "I feel so bad, this is my entire fault…"

"No it's not." Jenna said, walking around the island to wrap her arms around Elena, kissing her forehead. "It's not your fault, sweetie. So I'm assuming the attack happened at the grill, which is why you texted me and told me to get over here as soon as possible?"

Elena nodded, leaning her head against Jenna's chest and tried keeping her tears in. "They're not here to hurt me. I wish they could see that." She whispered, suddenly feeling drained from the day's events and closed her eyes, trying to steal a moment of tranquility.

"Elena?"

Her eyes opened to stare at an enraged Tyler, swallowing hard. "Yeah?"

"I hope you have a burial plot planned for Damon because, when I'm done with him, he'll never hurt anyone again, living or dead."

Everyone cringed at Tyler's ominous words, the front door slamming shut so hard, the walls shook and pictures on the walls rattled moments later.