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Bornkiller9: Well, here comes the drama in full force, I hope anyway. I'll apologise in advance, I have a feeling this one's going to hurt.

Chapter 8: Andie

He'd made sure to clean his hands throughly, but after six washes Damon could still feel the blood on his hands. Andie's blood.

He glanced down at his hands, both tightly gripping the steering wheel. They were clean. He knew they were clean. But whenever he looked away he could feel the stain on them. And whenever he closed his eyes, all he saw was her chopped up body before him. Those frightened eyes looking up at him. A look that would stay with him.

He slammed the palm of his hand against the steering wheel in frustration. He could have prevented this, could have protected her. He should have known Klaus would retaliate in some way for following him. He'd lost focus – been whisked away in another romance that ended the same as the last. Why had he thought it would end any better? Why had he given in? He cursed himself for giving up control. He should have kept her in the dark, compelled her away like he'd planned to do the night before the sacrifice. If he had then she'd be alive, and he wouldn't have another broken heart.

He was exhausted, but didn't realise how much so until he pulled up the drive way to his home. When he heard the music coming form the house, he suddenly remembered the party that was going on and groaned. Then he remembered Elena's call to him. About how she'd found out what he and Sarah had been doing behind her back, their search for Stefan. Another mess he'd have to deal with.

He killed the engine in front of the garage and exhaled. He just wanted this day to be over with. This stupid, useless, failure of a day. He didn't want to make his way through the crowds of annoying teens, he didn't want to sit and drink with Alaric – at least not at the moment. He just wanted his bed. Something that seemed so very far away.

For a while, he just sat in his car. Wondering if he'd be better of leaving and grabbing a hotel room for the night. While it was appealing, he knew he couldn't leave. Sarah needed to hear about Stefan, and she'd need looking after. Plus there was the high school idiots he'd need to get out of his house before they destroyed everything.

He closed his eyes to sigh, when the image of Andie popped into his head again. He groaned, teeth grinding in frustration as he once again slammed his hand against the steering wheel. He then did it again and again. Venting until he realised he'd need the anger to get through the next part. Channelling it, he shoved the car door open before slamming it behind him. He stormed into the house, noting Jenna and Alaric's absence from the front porch. He shoved his way past the few teens in the hallway and stopped before the living room.

"Turn it off. I said, turn it off! HEY, KNOCK IT OFF!" Damon shouted. Everyone turned to him, varying degrees of shock and annoyance crossing their young faces. A few seconds later the music was killed. Then Damon heard how heavy his breathing was. He was angrier than he realised. His chest still heaving, he looked around the blank faces, staring back at them and catching the odd glimpse of someone who looked like Andie and making him blink.

"Get out, party's over," Damon said, shaking off what he'd seen. When nobody moved and everyone just continued to stare, Damon grabbed the closest person within his range and yanked him by the collar of his shirt. "I said…GET OUT!" Damon snapped, shoving the teen he'd grabbed towards the door. A surge of movement followed as people began hurriedly making their way towards the front door. The only reason it wasn't faster was because everyone was giving Damon a wide brith. He glared at each and everyone of them, exhaling like a dragon with flames coming out its nostrils.

"Damon?" He turned at the sound of his name, finding Alaric making his way through the crowd towards him. "What's going on?"

Damon had to take a moment to remember who Alaric was, coming close to snapping at him like everyone else. He looked around, seeing the annoyed, and even some frightened faces passing by. A flash of Andie had him realise how he'd sounded.

He caught sight of Jenna and Scarlett making their way towards him as well, before he turned back to Alaric. "Just get everyone out," he ordered, before striding past him and towards his bedroom. The first kid who got in his way was shoved aside. After that, no one got in his way.

For a brief moment he thought he was home free, that he could drop onto his bed and end the day. Then he opened his bedroom door and remembered he still had one argument to get through.

Elena was stood by the bed, a few newspaper articles spread across it with a few dozen more in her hands. She turned, her face tight with anger. Next to her, Sarah sat on the bed. Hands on her lap and her head dipped forward. She looked as thought she might fall asleep at any moment – or fall forward. But then she looked up, her eyes distant. She'd obviously had a lot to drink.

"Why didn't you tell me? Why did you keep all this a secret?" Elena demanded, throwing down the stack of articles on the bed with the rest.

"Can we not do this right now?" Damon sighed, making his way over to his little sister. "I'm having a really bad night." He placed his hands on the side of Sarah's face, tilting her head up to look at her. She smiled up at him, maybe just recognising him through the haze. He returned her smile with a soft one of his own, but it didn't reach his eyes like it did with hers. It didn't help knowing that after tonight, it could be a while before she smiled again. He considered keeping the events of tonight from her, but she'd find out like she always did and it'd hurt all the more. She needed to know. He just had to deal with Elena first.

"All summer, I've been coming to you with leads and clues and you've never once mentioned any of this. Was I even helping? Or was I just repeating what you already knew?" demanded Elena.

"Just go home, Elena. This can wait until tomorrow," Damon said. He knew she wouldn't take the offer. She was stubborn and angry. Two traits that often reared up in his sister when most inopportune.

"No, Damon, it can't. You're not going to push me away this time. No more changing the subject, no more distractions, just be straight with me for once." Letting go of his sister's face, Damon turned towards Elena. "We're supposed to be in this together. So how come you never told me you were tracking Klaus' victims?"

"They're not Klaus' victims," Damon said quietly, gaze averted from Elena's.

"Fine, Leiah's victims, but–"

Damon closed his eyes and snapped, "No!" His eyes flew open, everything coming out because he just couldn't stop himself. He wanted to get back at Stefan for what he'd done and this was how he could do it. The perfect opportunity for revenge. Telling Elena everything would mean she'd never looked at him the same way again. Knowing that he'd killed all those people – that he'd killed Andie – how could she? The only pitfall, that he wasn't just hurting his brother. He was hurting his friend. But in that moment, the grief and anger consumed him. He couldn't stop and it all came out as his blue eyes flashed with anger.

"They're not Klaus' victims, they're not Leiah's victims, they are and always have been Stefan's! He's the one draining them dry. He's the one tearing into them, cutting them up like raw meat. He's the one that's been leaving a trail of body parts up and down the eastern seaboard. He's the one–!" he cut himself short before he mentioned Andie. Luckily for him, Elena seemed too shocked to notice and Sarah was too out of it to question his near slip up.

"No," Elena said quietly, head trembling in a shake of denial. "You're wrong."

It pained him to do so, but he pressed on. Part of it was to get back at Stefan. The other part was to prevent the same thing happing to Elena that had happened to Andie. He didn't want to lose a friend tonight, not after losing a girlfriend. But if it was a choice between losing that friend or the death of her, he'd let her go. He just didn't want anyone else to die. At least not anyone he cared about.

"I've seen it happen before," Damon declared, advancing on Elena as she stepped back – as if doing so might allow her to escape the truth. Damon followed her though, his stride longer than hers as the gap between them closed, allowing him to loom over her with his infuriated stormy eyes. "He's flipped the switch. He's a full-blown ripper now. He'll rip apart anything in his way. In fact, he'll kill you even if you're not in his way, just to amuse himself."

"Stop it, Damon," Elena begged.

"No, you stop, Elena!" he snapped, meeting her scared eyes with his maddened blue. "Stop looking for him. Stop waiting for him to come home. Just stop! Stefan is gone and he's not coming back!"

Despite the fact that Damon had been the one shouting, it was now Elena who was breathless – with a shine to her doe like eyes as if she were about to break down crying. At the sight of this, Damon backed off, feeling he'd done what he set out to do. She was stood before him, trembling under the weight of the truth – he just needed to give her a second, let her take it all in. If she didn't leave after that then he'd drag her out, hand her over to Alaric or Jenna and say goodnight. It could have ended at that. Leaving him the boyfriend's brother who she'd hate for a few days before they both moved on. He'd just forgotten one thing. That Elena hadn't been the only one to hear what he'd said.

"It's all your fault."

At first Damon thought it was his mind playing tricks on him, or maybe more accurately his conscience. But when he saw Elena's eyes flick over, he knew it'd been real. The quiet little hallow voice of his sister.

He looked back, seeing her staring down at the floor. No tears brimmed her eyes, but the aura of loss was radiating off her in waves.

"You," Sarah continued, eyes lifting up and holding so much weight it seemed as if they would drop back down at any moment. Damon wished they had. Because maybe then Elena wouldn't have felt the full force of what his sister said. The two unable to look away from one another as she spoke.

"You did this. You're the reason he's gone."

"Sarah…" Damon tried to stop her, but nothing else followed. Even he was being swallowed up but the vortex of sadness in Sarah's unsettlingly numb eyes.

"If it wasn't for you, Klaus would have never come here. He wouldn't have taken my brother. Katherine would never have come back. And I'd be happy with my family." The tears started to fall from Elena's eyes. Her breath caught. And then came the punch to the gut.

"You ruined my life."

Damon closed his eyes, hoping to avoid the fallout. But he heard Elena's heartbroken gasp. And however quiet it might have been, it sounded like an explosion in his ears.

As Sarah's head lowered, silence gripped the room. The only sounds to fill the void coming from Elena. Sniffles. Sobs. The patter of soft tender tears breaking open on the floor. The tremble of Elena's body. Damon wished he'd kept his mouth shut. If he had, maybe Sarah wouldn't have said what she did. But she had. Elena now knew the real reason Sarah had been avoiding her all summer. She blamed her for what happened to Stefan.

He opened his eyes, looking to Elena, and seeing a woman who was about to collapse. A glance at his sister and he knew she wouldn't be moving unless physically prompted to do so. He could leave her for just a minute.

With a heavy sigh, Damon then said, "Go home, Elena."

She refused to move. He wasn't quite sure if the subtle shake to her head was intentional or not. "N–N–No…"

"Party's over, Elena. Just–"

"N–No. I–I–I–I need-need to…" She was struggling just to get words out, never mind full-fledged sentences. Maybe it was hysterics, Damon wasn't sure. The one thing he did know, was this had gone far enough for tonight. And while he cared about Elena's wellbeing, he needed to help his sister through what was still to come. Elena had her own family to help her.

He laid his hand on her elbow. He tried to guide her towards the door but when she locked up, he took hold and forced her to move. "You need to go home." She tried to protest, to say something to Sarah. She only got her name out though, coming out in a mixture of plea and sorrow as Damon pulled open the door and pushed her out. She tried to force her way back in, but Damon's body blocked her entrance as he stepped through. The door pulled shut behind him.

"Damon–!"

"No, it's done. You're going home." Again he took her arm, dragging her along towards the stairs. He could still hear people leaving on the floor bellow. Alaric and Jenna were by the door, ushering the last of stragglers out – and snatching back bottles that they were trying to steal. At the moment though, Damon didn't really care about what went missing. He just wanted everyone but his family out.

As they went down the stairs Elena continued to fight and protest, but Damon only understood the odd word. "Sarah." Talk." "Damon." "Please." While everything else was either broken up into eighteen different syllables, or rushed over so fast that they merged into one. Damon still got the just of what she wanted however. He just couldn't give it to her.

He remained silent until they rounded the stairs and headed for the front door. When he saw Alaric and Jenna having shoved out the last reluctant teen, he shoved Elena towards them. "Take her home," he said bluntly. Elena tried to throw herself back at Damon, but Jenna caught her, confusion across both hers and Alaric's faces.

"What happened?" Jenna asked over Elena's cries.

"She knows."

"About?" Alaric asked.

"About the map, our search…Sarah." At the last word they both realised why Elena was the way she was. At which point Jenna pulled her into a hug and held her close. Letting Elena cry and pound her fists against her as she gently shushed her.

Damon turned to leave, content to let them deal with it and trusting that they would take Elena home. But then he noticed Scarlett having joined them in the hallway. Without thinking, he grabbed her by the arm and shoved her over towards Alaric.

"Take her too," Damon said. "I need the place to myself." Scarlett went to protest but Damon continued over her, looking right at her as he said, "And you and Gilbert could use some more quality time together. Especially after you spent the entire party ignoring each other." His words left Scarlett stunned. Her mouth hung open and eyes wide, as if she'd just realised it herself. While she recovered, Alaric nudged her out the door. Strangely enough, she didn't fight it.

Alaric followed her out, with Jenna and Elena bringing up the rear. Damon didn't watch them leave, shutting the door at the first opportunity and making sure to lock it. He wasn't entirely sure Scarlett wouldn't come back in the middle of the night. But he at least hoped she'd be gone long enough for him to say what he had to to Sarah. She didn't need to be here for that. She didn't need to see Sarah, the one she looked up to, in that state.

He returned to his room. As he'd thought, Sarah was still sat on his bed. Having not moved a muscle. He took the spot next to her on the bed. She still didn't move. He stared at her for a moment, willing her to look at him, but she didn't take the bait. He let out a tired sigh and looked ahead. "That wasn't very nice, what you said to Elena." He was trying to put his usual charm on his words. And while it was there, it rang hollow. Again though, she didn't rise to the bait. He glanced her way, just to see if there'd been any movement. She was still staring down, head dipped and hair hiding her face.

Damon continued to prod. "Was it true? Did you mean what you said to her?"

"I don't know," came the child like murmur. Silence. Then eventually, "I just miss Stefan. I want him back, with us. So we can be a family again."

He was reminded of the elephant in the room. The one he only knew about. He was tempted to leave it, not mention it until the morning. But then he thought that perhaps in her drunken state, maybe Sarah would take it better while she was like this. Maybe it wouldn't hurt as much.

He inhaled. "I saw him tonight." He waited for the reaction but his sister remained still. Then he added, "Stefan." Another moment of stillness. Then Sarah's head lifted. First an inch, then a little more. Her back straightened up. Then suddenly her face was facing his, once cloudy and dull green eyes now alive with excitement and hope. A smile on her face that took Damon back to before they were vampires. The smile she'd had when he returned from the war unexpectedly. And now he had to break it.

"He's here?" she whispered, as if frightened to scare him off.

Damon shook his head. And while the light dimmed in her eyes, it was nowhere near extinguished. It wouldn't be that easy. He had to say the words, as much as he'd hate himself for it. He had to.

"He was at the station, when I went to get Andie…" Her name came out without thinking, his mind on other things. But the second it did it all came back. Her terrified eyes. Her body having been chopped up. Stefan's gloating face. "He… He…"

Sarah cut in before he could finish, miss reading his emotions. Something that never would have happened had she been sober. Maybe this had been a mistake, but he had to see it through now. If he didn't she'd continue to pester him until he did, or worse, go out in search of their brother. "He's coming back, isn't he? Klaus is bored with him and he's let him go. He's coming–" The joy in her voice was snapped off by Damon strangled denial.

"No…he's not." The confusion in Sarah's eyes held a touch of hurt. Hurt that almost had him changing the whole story. Creating a world of fiction were it ended in happily ever after. But he couldn't bring himself to be that optimistic and hopeful. That side of him had been crushed tonight, right when he'd seen…

"He's not coming back, Sarah. He doesn't want to."

Just like Elena, Sarah started to shake. "You–You're wrong."

"He came here to tell us to stop looking for him. He's done with us."

Sarah couldn't accept it. Her brain wouldn't allow it, amplified by the high of the alcohol. "But–But we're family, he–"

"He killed Andie," Damon said, before they both went quite. Sarah stared at him. Through the clouded mist of alcohol, he knew how sorry she was. Part of her knew how true it all was too. But even so, she couldn't accept it or fully understand it, not as she was right now. She remained silent, still staring as if trying to figure out if this was a dream, or a joke, or the worst of them all – if it was real.

"He did to her what he did to all the rest." He knew she'd understand what he meant. He had no desire to go into detail, to relive that moment. Despite this, the images kept coming back, flashing before his eyes. Thankfully they didn't last for long, stopping when he felt a squeeze on his hand.

The images ceased and he saw Sarah's hand on his. He looked up, seeing tears in her eyes. Not for Stefan, or herself, but for him. For the loss he'd endured a second time. She still hand't taken what he'd really been saying, about Stefan abandoning them of his own free will. Instead she was clinging onto the loss of Andie, his loss and how she could be there for him. And Damon just didn't have the heart or the strength to bring them back on track.

"I'm sorry, Damon," Sarah whispered, sliding over to rest her head on his shoulder.

"Me too," Damon said, his own tears returning. For now, he'd rather just mourn his girlfriend than his brother. And if that was what Sarah wanted to do, then he'd go along with it. So they sat, and they cried, for Andie.