Chapter 39

It was a week since Ottilie had shown Lexi and Damon some of her past at the Price house, and the two vampires were still reeling at the thought of what she'd gone through, unable to comprehend why anybody would treat anyone like that, let alone an innocent child.

Damon spoke to Stefan, briefly outlining what he'd seen, and the two of them, along with Lexi formulated a plan to deal with the issues Ottilie was having at school. It wasn't exactly an approved method of dealing with bullying, Damon thought wryly to himself, but where his daughter was concerned, he was willing to go to the ends of the earth.

It was the last day of term before the summer break, and Damon was waiting outside the school, leaning against the side of his blue camero. He heard the bell ring and watched as the students filed out, many of them rejoicing at the thought of the long summer ahead. He spied Stefan leaving with Caroline, his arm wrapped fondly around her shoulders, and smirked.

He looked to the other door where the younger students were exiting the building, and spotted Greg, Ottilie's friend. He walked up to him, smiling at him disarmingly. "Hi Greg," he said, "how you doing?"

Greg looked at him, a little taken aback by being addressed by Damon Salvatore in public. "I'm fine thanks, Mr Salvatore."

"I don't suppose you could point out Abigail Price for me, could you Greg?" he asked, watching as Greg swallowed nervously, his eyes flickering over to a girl who was stood talking with some other, taller girls. "Ah, that'll do, thank you, Greg!" Damon strode off towards the group of girls before turning back to face the young boy. "Oh, no need to talk to Ottilie about this, hey?" he said, with faked friendliness, his meaning clear in his look. Greg nodded quickly and disappeared into the crowd of students.

Damon continued up to the group of girls, all laughing over something the tallest one was saying, and listened into their conversation.

"And then, Mr Curzon said that she'd be moving up to the next grade for a few classes – eurgh – what a nerd!" sneered the younger girl.

"Ew, so we are going to have to put up with stupid Ottilie in our class now?" shrieked the tallest of the group. "Well, all the more time for me to make her miserable little life even more miserable!" They giggled nastily, not noticing Damon leaning against a nearby tree until he spoke.

"You know, I felt bad earlier about what I'm going to do, but having heard all that…" he gestured at them, "I'm quite looking forward to it."

The girls turned quickly to look at him, suddenly scared by him.

"Oh, hi!" he said brightly, matching their bitchy voices. "I'm Damon." They looked at him blankly. "Salvatore? You might know my daughter?"

The girls had the decency to look ashamed and stared at the ground, shuffling their feet nervously.

"Yes, I thought so. Now, let's see. You," he sped over so he was looking straight into the eyes of the tallest girl. "You will never speak to my daughter again, you will have nothing but good things to say about her, and you will never, ever, pick on anybody ever again. Go and remember nothing of this." He compelled the two other taller girls in the same way before turning to the younger girl, who was now trembling. "And you," he said, smiling sweetly at her. "You're Abigail?" she nodded, shakily. "I've heard such," he looked around as if searching for the right words, "such wonderful things about you." Crouching so that he was looking straight into her eyes, he compelled her. "You are going leave Ottilie alone, never speak to her unless she initiates the conversation, you'll have nothing but good things to say about her, and you'll never bring up her past to her, or anyone else, ever again. Go and remember nothing of this."

The girl turned and ran, never looking back and Damon smiled to himself, satisfied, and went back to his car where he saw Ottilie waiting for him. She smiled and waved at him and he felt his heart melt at the thought of her so pleased to see him. He walked over to her and hugged her tightly, "it's summer time, sweetheart!" he whispered into her ear, loving the sound of her giggle.

They didn't have too much planned for summer. Damon had wanted to whisk Ottilie off with Stefan and Lexi for a tour around Europe to show her all his old haunts, at which Stefan had raised an eyebrow and told him that that was absolutely not suitable for a 13 year old. Besides, as far as they knew, Marcel still thought that Lexi was dead, and the fact that he didn't know that Ottilie could heal his bite was one of the only advantages they currently had over him.

Damon scoffed at him, accusing him of simply wanting to waste the summer drooling over Caroline. When his brother barely protested, he knew he'd hit the jackpot and Lexi had smirked at him, obviously coming to the same conclusion.

So with his summer plans scuppered, Damon resolved to throw himself into researching everything he could to gain an advantage over Marcel, and to support Ottilie in her practice with her magic.

A month into the holidays and Damon was sat watching as Ottilie showed him her latest skill. Proudly holding her grimoire that Kol had given to her out to him, she explained the carefully drawn diagrams and words as he studied them. "It's a spell that can slow down a heartbeat," she said, "I can make it last as long as I need to and make it steady! I can do it on myself!"

Damon frowned up at her, not wanting to curtail her excitement but slightly worried by what he was hearing. "Is that safe, Otti?" he asked with concern.

She shrugged, "I don't see why not – I'm only slowing it down to what it should normally be. The only thing is, it takes quite a lot of concentration so I don't stop it altogether, so I can't do it so well if I'm also doing other spells."

Damon looked at her, "well obviously – please be careful!" He said, a little exasperated by her blasé attitude to what he perceived to be a potentially deadly spell.

It was at that point that Damon, looking more carefully at his daughter, realised that her eyes had glassed over, and she was staring into space, seemingly at nothing in particular. He tried to push down the panic he felt rising and took hold of her upper arms, shaking her gently and calling her name, trying to snap her out of whatever trance she was in.

After a few seconds, she blinked suddenly, and blood began to drip from her nose. She shook her head briskly, as if trying to wake up, and stared up at Damon, her face suddenly taking on a look of fear. "He's taken Caroline," she whispered in horror.