A/N: I'M BACK! FIRST OFF, HAPPY (BELATED) CHRISTMAS EVERYONE! HOW WAS EVERYONE'S CHRISTMAS? MINE WAS FANTASTIC. SORRY FOR NOT UPDATING, THINGS HAVE BEEN REALLY CRAZY LEADING UP TO CHRISTMAS. I'M STRUGGLING TO WRITE THIS STORY, BUT I'M BACK. I'M STILL UNSURE ABOUT THE ENDING... I WAS SO SURE WHEN I STARTED THIS BUT NOW, I THINK I'M GOING TO HAVE TWO ENDINGS, ONE TO PLEASE ALL OF YOU AND ONE TO PLEASE ME.

TO MY AWESOME, EPIC, AMAZING REVIEWERS ONCE AGAIN, YOU ALL ROCK AND I LOVE YOU ALL, CARLZ19, AOD4L, BELIKOVFOREVER, CANNTFINDANAME, SAMMIIE-MAZUR-HATHAWAY, XDROPDEADBEAUTIFULX, DEANNA64 AND QUANTUMKHAOS. THANK YOU SO MUCH. REVIEWS MAKE MY DAY =D

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Disclaimer: I do not own either Vampire Academy or Vampire Diaries... unfortunately.

Chapter Twenty-Five

RPOV

Every single eye in the room was on me. As the person most intertwined in both worlds, I had unconsciously been appointed the leader. The only person who wasn't looking at me expectantly was Damon, and that was only because he was glaring at me, as if the fury on his face masked the hurt and betrayal in his eyes. I knew he was only listening to a story he already knew because Stefan and Elena had begged him to be there.

My mind travelled back to our earlier encounter, before everyone else had arrived.

-Flashback-

I flew into the house calling Damon's name over and over again.

"What?"

I whirled around, gasping slightly in surprise. Damon had used vampire speed to sneak up on me.

"Damon, come on..." I said, pleading slightly, "Why did you leave?"

Despite the sarcastic smirk on his face, I could tell he was upset, "And watch you make out with your boyfriend? No thanks."

"He's not my boyfriend... that kiss surprised me just as much as it surprised you," I replied.

"Look, I know how you feel about him, okay, so just don't worry about it."

"Damon..."

"Rose, don't okay? Just don't," he said, pushing past me and walking away.

I swallowed thickly as tears welled up in my eyes. Damon was one of my best friends and I was hurting him. I couldn't hate myself more at that point.

-Flashback-

As I came back to reality, the silence and tension in the room was so thick you could cut it with a butter knife.

"Okay, so I guess I'll be doing all the talking," I chuckled uneasily, breaking the silence.

"You did call us all here," Bonnie pointed out.

"Right, yes... um... where to start... uh..." I stumbled, unsure of where to begin.

I looked around, realising that a lot of eyes had drifted to where Adrian and Dimitri sat, confused and uncomfortable.

"I guess I'll just start at the beginning," I mumbled to myself, "Right, so this is Dimitri Belikov, Lissa's other guardian."

I gestured to Dimitri, who grew even more uncomfortable when every eye turned to him. I noticed Damon staring at him in unabashed hatred and fury, but didn't call him on it.

"And this," I gestured to Adrian, "is Adrian Ivashkov. He's a royal Moroi and he's also a smoker and drinker, so lock up all of your alcohol," I sent that statement directly to Damon.

"Ouch, Rose... that's a little harsh, don't you think? Especially considering how drunk you were at the first party we went to together," Adrian replied, winking.

"We didn't go together," I replied, "And those drinks didn't look as alcoholic as they actually were."

"What's your problem?"

I turned to Adrian and unleashed the full strength of my glare on him, "You compelled me. I still haven't forgiven you for that one."

I turned my attention to both Dimitri and Adrian, "This'll sound stupid, but I need you both to shut up while I introduce everyone and then I'll explain everything."

I turned back to everyone else and went around the room, "Okay, so we have Stefan Salvatore, Elena and Jeremy Gilbert, Bonnie Bennet, Caroline Forbes, Tyler Lockwood, Alaric Saltzman and Damon Salvatore. Stefan and Damon are vampires and have been since 1864, when Elena's ancestor and doppelganger, Katherine Pierce, fed them blood and their father shot them for sympathising with vampires. Caroline is also a vampire, as of a few months ago when she was in an accident and fed blood by Damon so that she would recover; Katherine killed her so she would become a part of her sick and twisted game. As I said, Elena is Katherine's doppelganger and Jeremy is her brother, well kind of. His parents adopted her before he was born, but she's actually their father's brother's daughter as well as Ric's dead-not dead vampire wife's daughter. Elena's birth mother is also a descendant of Katherine. Bonnie is a witch, her ancestor was Katherine's handmaiden. Tyler is a newly turned werewolf; he turned right before we got to town. Again, Katherine's doing, she compelled a girl to attack Tyler and he accidently killed her in self-defence, thus turning. And Ric is a vampire hunter. He became one after his wife, Isobel, was turned, conveniently by Damon, leading him straight to Mystic Falls."

"Okay, so let me get this straight," Dimitri said, disbelievingly "this town is full of immortal vampires, witches, werewolves and vampire hunters? It sounds like a scene straight out of Buffy."

"This is real, Dimitri," I snapped.

"Rose..." he hesitated, as if he wanted to tell me I was crazy.

"Don't, Dimitri, okay, just don't. So much has happened, but I know I'm not crazy. No one here is crazy. If you can't believe in all of this, then I can't tell you anything."

I didn't care that there were other people in the room and we were having what looked like a couple fight. I didn't care that I hadn't seen Dimitri in so long and that I had missed him so much. I didn't care that Damon was mad at me.

I just exploded.

"Rose..."

"STOP SAYING MY NAME!" I yelled, "Just listen to what I'm trying to tell you."

"What, Rose? What are you trying to tell me?" he asked angrily.

Hot, angry, salty tears clouded my vision. What wasn't blurred by tears was tinged in red, fuelled by red hot rage. I could feel some of it was the darkness, but I was so angry that I couldn't control it.

"Just forget it! You obviously don't care," I snapped, storming out of the room and up the stairs into my room.

I collapsed on the bed, sobbing hot angry tears. The darkness faded quickly and I was left with nothing but regret and shame; regret that I'd fought with Dimitri over nothing and shame that I'd been weak and let the darkness overtake me.

DPOV

All of my anger at Rose faded the second she left the room. The anger was still there, but now I directed it at one Dimitri Belikov.

"What the hell? She was just explaining this to you!" I said.

"It's not possible," Belikov argued, "It can't be true."

I stood up and ran at him at vampire speed, pinning him to the wall and baring my fangs, in what could be called 'full-on vamp mode'.

"Is this possible?" I asked.

I had to give him credit. He didn't flinch, not once.

"So you're a special Strigoi," he replied.

"My brother over there," I pointed over my shoulder at Stefan, "was staked with a silver stake and is still alive. However if that had been wood, he'd be dead. We're real."

"It's not possible."

"What more proof do you want?" I cried.

"So maybe vampires are real, but how do I know that witches and werewolves exist?"

I stepped back, running a hand through my hair in frustration. As I did, my head erupted in pain. I clutched at it, as if that would make the pain stop, as I fell forward on my knees.

I could, very faintly, hear Elena yell, "Bonnie, stop it!"

And then the pain faded away. I straightened up and glared at Bonnie, "Was there really any need for that? I wasn't killing anyone!"

Bonnie didn't address me, she addressed Belikov, "I just put Damon down with a single thought. I gave him an aneurysm but because he heals quickly, I have to do it over and over. I can do it to anyone, but only immortals heal from it. I can do it because I'm a witch."

"You expect me to take it on faith?" Belikov asked.

"Wasn't that little display enough?" I demanded.

Bonnie simply held out her hand. A candle flew into it and promptly lit itself.

"Is that enough?" I stormed out of the room and up the stairs to Rose's room.

She sat on the bed, crying. I couldn't tell if the tears were angry or sad, but I guessed they were sad. I had a pretty good idea that she was upset about letting the darkness get the best of her.

"It's not your fault. The darkness is strong, it's okay to let it get to you every once and a while," I said, sitting on the bed beside her and slinging an arm around her shoulder.

"Why are you being so nice to me? I hurt you... you should hate me," she sniffed, wiping the tears away.

"It would take a lot for me to hate you," I replied, "Yeah, it hurts seeing you with him but you're my best friend and I'll put aside everything to make you feel better."

"You're a good friend Damon," she replied, "This whole I'm-an-evil-killer-who-eats-people- facade is just that... it's an act. You can't fool me, Damon."

I forced back a wince at the term 'good friend' and focused on the alleged facade Rose spoke of.

"Ever thought maybe I am an evil killer who eats people?" I asked.

"You're not," she replied, "Ugh I can't believe I snapped at Dimitri."

"Don't worry about it," I smiled, "The guy's a tool."

"Hey," she cried, pulling back, "He just struggles to believe things he wasn't raised with; he's very logical."

"Do you love him?" I asked, needing to hear the answer.

"Yes, Damon, I do," she replied honestly.

I nodded and stood up, walking towards the door so I could leave.

"Damon, wait."

I turned back to Rose. She was standing up, looking at me. I took in her rumpled grey denim mini shorts, black tank top and letter jacket I'd gotten for her. the left sleeve of the jacket and strap of the tank top had fallen off her shoulder, making her look even more beautiful and sexier than usual. Her hair was mused enough to look curly rather than straight and some of it was tangled and sticking up at the top of her head. Her cheeks were tear-stained but her brown eyes were serious. I knew something was going to happen, something important, and I somehow knew that whatever it was, I would remember it and Rose forever.

"But I love you too, Damon," she whispered, walking over to me, taking my face in her hands and kissing me gently.

My eyes automatically widened in surprise, but I quickly melted into the kiss, pulling her closer to me by her waist and holding her tightly and kissing her back.

She pulled back, biting her lip gently.

I didn't know what to say to her. I knew she was confused and that I should have let her make her decision without pressure. But just like with Katherine, I was impatient. I spoke and then I left.

"Rose, I've done the love triangle thing. Twice. But the thing is, I'm not going to stick around in a nuclear relationship just praying that I'm the one you love more. I can't, I won't do it again. You need to choose."

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