Damon left the group without another word, surprising them. They were all expecting some Damon Salvatore-ism, but he didn't give them one. Instead he turned and headed back for Jeanne.
Stefan quickened his pace and caught up to him. "Don't you think we should talk about this?" He asked, walking briskly next to his brother, ducking every now and then to avoid getting smacked in the face with a tree branch.
"Meet me home in an hour." He said, and immersed himself in the crowd, leaving Stefan with the impression that Damon knew exactly what was going on.
"Where's Jeanne?" Damon asked, unapologetically interrupting Elena and Matt's conversation.
"Last I saw her, she was over by the bridge. What's going on?" Elena asked, knowing far too well which of Damon's expressions implied something was very wrong.
He was already gone by the time she finished the question.
Damon rushed to the bridge, but all he found was a girl vomiting over the side while her friend held her hair back.
He sighed in frustration, then turned back in the direction of the party. Blocking out all of the background noise, he searched for her.
"I don't want an apology. Just stay away from me." He heard Jeanne say.
"I was completely out of line, I had no right to put my hands on you. I just thought we had a connection and I guess when I heard that you were dating Damon I got a little jealous, I really am sorry. I'll see you at school on Monday." Julian said, then got in his car and left.
Damon made his way to Jeanne in a matter of seconds. She was standing away from the crowd, where the cars were parked. Julian's tail lights could still be seen as they drove down the dirt road.
"He put his hands on you?" Damon asked from behind Jeanne, startling her.
"How did you hear that?"
"You know what, I'll deal with him later. Come on, we have to go." Damon said, and grabbed Jeanne's hand pulling her towards his car.
"Wait, I can't leave…I'm a chaperone."
"Yeah, well chaperone duty is being cut short." He said, still pulling her away from the party, but she planted her feet in the ground and stopped him.
"What's going on?" It was more of a demand than a question.
"I will explain everything to you once we're home. Do not make me carry you, because I will."
Jeanne may not have known Damon for very long, but it feels like she's known him forever. Under normal circumstances she would fight him on this, but she knew she shouldn't.
"My car is that way." She said, pointing in the opposite direction.
"That's nice." He said as he opened up the passenger side door of his car. "Get in." And after a brief hesitation, Jeanne obeyed.
"Just so we're clear, I don't usually follow orders." Jeanne said defiantly, once Damon got in the car, and that actually brought a smile to his face. Even considering all that was going on, she could still make him laugh.
"Well, I'm glad tonight you chose to be obedient."
A few minutes later, they pulled up in front of Jeanne's house.
Once inside, Jeanne looked at him, not sure what was supposed to happen next.
"Go pack up some things, you're staying with me for a few days." He said, and this time, Jeanne was not as flexible.
"What? Why? No I'm not."
"Yes, you are. Someone in Mystic Falls wants to kill me, and in order for him to do that…he's going to try to kill you. Go pack up your things." Damon responded in a tone that told Jeanne to do exactly what he says, so she did.
Damon wouldn't let Jeanne out of his sight for a second. If she went into the bathroom to get her toothbrush, he followed. If she went in the kitchen to get her phone charger, he followed.
He sat on her bed as she took out clothes from the closet and shoved them in a duffle bag.
"This is absolutely ridiculous." She muttered. "You know you're not going to be able to follow me when I go to work on Monday." She said, only half sarcastically.
"You're not going to work on Monday." He responded, matter of factly.
"Now you've really lost your mind. It's my second week…I'm not taking a day off on my second week!"
"I'll take care of it. Finish packing."
"Oh, you'll take care of it. What does that even mean?" She said and threw the shirt in her hand back on the bed instead of in the bag, starting to become angry.
"It means if I have to compel the whole God damn school in order to keep you safe, that's what I'm going to do." He said and picked up the shirt and put it in the bag.
Once Jeanne was finished, Damon took her bag and led her out of the house, making sure all doors were locked, then ushered her back into his car.
Two minutes later, Damon pulled his car into the circular driveway in front of the house. He turned the car off, but didn't make a move to get out just yet.
"I'm going to tell you everything and some of it may change the way you think of me. I just want you to know that I'll understand if that happens." Damon said, staring straight ahead.
This made a knot form in Jeanne's throat. Knowing what he is could very well mean that he's done things in his past that would terrify her. Part of her didn't want to know what those things were, but the other part of her knew she had to.
She didn't really respond, she didn't know how to. "Come on, let's go inside." She said softly.
Stefan was already home when they got there, waiting in the living room anxiously, surprised to see Jeanne, he looked at his brother.
"She has to hear this." Damon said, and led Jeanne into the living room.
Damon took a deep breath…then began.
He started with Jesse. Damon had never told Stefan much about Jesse. Back then Stefan and Damon had nothing to do with each other. Stefan was aware of the lifestyle that Damon lived and he strongly disagreed with it, so they each kept their distance from the other, happily.
When Damon started to tell them about December 18th, 1944, he found it hard to look at Jeanne. He didn't want to see her reaction when he told her what he had done to Beverly.
"I was so strung out on blood I don't think I knew my own name. She was walking alone, it was cold and late…no one was around. I pulled her into an alley and drained her. I killed her. I didn't know who it was, I never looked at her face. Just as I had finished, Jesse showed up. That's when I looked down at the body and realized what I had done. I should have let him kill me right there. I deserved it, but I fled. That was the last time Jesse and I saw each other. There was no doubt in my mind he was looking for me, but I kept a low profile, he never found me."
Jeanne was taking it all in. It was horrible what he did to that poor girl. Only something a monster would do. But he's not a monster, that much she knows. Maybe he was back then, but he's certainly not now. She wasn't going to let this change how she thinks of him. He's been nothing but protective and gentle with her. It wouldn't be fair to hold his past against him.
As if sensing Damon's concern for how Jeanne was taking all of this, she gently placed her hand over his. Assuring him that her feelings didn't change. He looked up at her, pain was in his eyes.
Stefan couldn't believe what he was hearing, and witnessing. It was very possible that he was having a harder time seeing his brothers complete change in character when around Jeanne, than Jeanne was accepting the fact that she was sitting in a room with two vampires.
"So you think Jesse is back in town then? You think he did that to the girl in the woods?" Stefan asked.
"What happened in the woods?" Jeanne asked, still not sure how any of this has to do with her.
Damon gave Jeanne the cliffnotes version of the attack, then went back on track.
"He's definitely in Mystic Falls. I went to see an old friend earlier today, a witch. Jesse and I knew her back then. Apparently about a year ago, Jesse went to her looking for me. When she located me, she found out about Jeanne, how I was linked to her. She told Jesse who she was. Jesse then compelled her and her friends to go to New Orleans, which is where Jeanne and I met. He set it all up so that we would meet each other. Then he must have somehow compelled someone here to offer her the job, making her move here so we would see each other again. I don't think he knows about the dreams, there's no way he would. Either way, he's here and if I know him as well as I think I do…he's going to go for Jeanne to get to me." Damon finally finished, leaving Jeanne's head spinning.
"Did you ask her about the memories? About the compulsion and why the memories came back to me out of no where?" Jeanne asked.
"Oh, yeah, that…" Damon said awkwardly, not planning on going into this part with his brother sitting right there. "Um, well I was able to compel you the first time because I wasn't in love with you. By the time we saw each other again at Ric's party…I already was, and so the compulsion didn't work." Damon said.
Of all ways for a guy to tell you they love you for the first time, this was definitely one Jeanne hadn't expected.
"Oh, ok…" She said uncomfortably. "And what about me, what about the memories."
Damon actually laughed this time, he couldn't believe how all of this was playing out. "Well, as it turns out…the moment you felt in love with me, the memories came back." Damon said.
Jeanne's face turned an embarrassing shade of red. Damon laughed again.
"Wow, this is awkward." Stefan said, lightheartedly…easing up the tension in the room.
Jeanne couldn't help but smile. She was mortified, but she was also in love…and people who are in love smile a lot.
"Ok, so what does this guy look like?" Stefan asked, getting back to business.
"It's been almost 70 years since I've seen him. He's about my height, dirty blonde hair, he has a scar above his eye, I think the left." And as Damon said that, Jeanne's body tensed, both Stefan and Damon noticed it.
"What's wrong?" Damon asked.
"Julian." She breathed, the name practically catching in her throat.
"The calculus teacher that you went to dinner with?" Damon asked, his body shaking that Jesse was so close her. And after a second or two of processing it, he now realized why his voice sounded so familiar.
"He told me he grew up here in Mystic Falls, that he joined the Marines when he was 18 and he just came back this summer."
"That's who you were talking to earlier, when he said I shouldn't have put my hands on you. What did he do to you?" Damon asked, practically foaming at the mouth he was so angry.
Jeanne explained what had happened after Stefan asked about Damon in front of Julian, who was now Jesse. Damon got up from the couch, he was pacing at this point. Murderous thoughts were racing through his head.
He had to get to Jesse before Jesse got to Jeanne.