Scarlet didn't sleep much that night, she tossed and turned, sighing as her old alarm clock glared back at her letting her know not much time had passed. At some point she'd tried leaving the room only to find it locked, panicked she'd tried to find her phone but to no avail. After a while she started to get angry and frustrated, pacing her room wasn't helping so she spent an hour banging on her bedroom door hoping anyone would hear here but no-one came. No Damon, no dad, no Stefan.
That's when she gave up on someone rescuing her from her bedroom, turned prison, and started planning her next moves once she got out.
Finding Damon or at the very least finding what happened to him was her top priority, he would have the best chance of kicking Stefan's ass for locking her in her room. That is if she could once Stefan got a hold of her and compelled her.
Blinking awake from being gently shaken, Scarlet froze. Stefan was looming over here, her father just behind him towards the bottom of her bed. Stefan let her sit up but kept his eyes trained on her, his right arm rested just across her legs as he sat on the edge of the bed, effectively trapping her.
"Whatever it is, please, don't do it. You don't have to compel me Stefan, please!" Scarlet quietly begged, swallowing her own nerves.
"Scarlet, this is for your own good." her attention flicked over to her father who stood a little ways back behind Stefan. Scarlet never thought she'd see the day her father would allow a vampire to compel his only daughter, and yet here he was, not looking with an ounce of guilt.
"But I don't even know what's going on! Why do I need to be compelled?" Scarlet was getting a little desperate, she wasn't sure what exactly Damon had done and nor did she know where he was. She'd spent a little time through the night thinking about what Stephan had told her but nothing was adding up to her.
"Because I can't trust you not to help Damon," Stefan answered.
"I don't even know where he is!"
"I'm sorry…" Stefan at the very least looked remorseful, unlike her father who just watched on with little to no emotion.
"Damon's gone away, you don't know where and you don't know why, but you're not going to look for him. He's not coming back, you're going to get on with your life without him." There was no use fighting the compulsion, but Scarlet did note his wording left a few loopholes.
For one, Scarlet could think about Damon, she could remember everything. This meant she could work around the compulsion.
She could ask questions, she could ponder where he'd gone, hell she was free to think about what happened to him. So long as she didn't go looking for him.
She just had to play this smart.
The last few days had been a bust, at first Elena and Bonnie had barely let her be alone with Caroline, they blamed her for the bite marks that Elena saw on Care, to which Scarlet vehemently denied. Thankfully Caroline didn't blame her and made her own decision to hang out with Scarlet after school, this is where Scarlet's plan came into it.
While Scarlet couldn't look for Damon herself, she could however get Caroline to look for her. From the way Stefan and her Father worked together, and even having Stefan compel her, Scarlet figured Damon was being held somewhere on the Salvatore property.
Her only obstacle was Caroline not wanting anything to do with Damon, and was refusing to even hang out at the Boarding house. Not that Scarlet could fault her for it, she herself was pissed at Damon, he'd hurt Caroline even after telling her he'd leave her be.
Today however was a new day, and Scarlet was determined to get Caroline to join her at the boarding house. She'd spend the first half of the morning working alongside Care at the 'Sexy Sud's Carwash' taking cash from customers, and slowly convincing Care to come over for a sleepover.
"Oh come on Care, you never turn me down for a night of fun!" Scarlet had offered the girl booze, pizza, the notebook, and even free reign of her wardrobe. Nothing was working. She was about ready to rip her hair out in frustration.
"I know, it's just…" Caroline dipped her head in thought before looking back up at her best friend, "lately I keep thinking about Damon, to the point where I can hear him calling my name. God I sound crazy!"
"You're not crazy Care, and for what it's worth I'm sorry. I didn't know he'd hurt you." Scarlet grabbed Caroline's hand and gave it a squeeze, seeing the confusion on her friend's face had her almost giving up on her plan.
"But I can tell you he's gone, and he's not coming back."
Off to the side Scarlet knew Stefan was listening in on the two as he worked with Elena on cleaning a car, she'd caught his eye for a moment but he didn't look like he was suspicious. As the days had passed Scarlet had noticed Stefan's compulsion seemed to have started to wane, and the more she pressed on thinking about where Damon could be the more she felt it give. Scarlet chalked it up to Stefan's bunny diet.
Elena came running up to the pair distracting them from their conversation, "Hey we're out of towel and those shimmy things"
"Right...I'll go get us some more, you watch the money" Caroline handed over the money she'd been counting to Elena before getting up.
"And what about me?" Scarlet wasn't happy about being left behind with little miss perfect.
"Just look hot and don't talk to any of the customers." Caroling called back over her shoulder as she hurriedly made her way back into the school building behind them.
Scarlet just sighed before turning and resting her head on her hand. Out of the corner of her eye though she spotted a familiar black crow watching her from a lamp post nearby. That was definitely a sign that Damon was in town, she just didn't know what it meant exactly.
"So, Stefan tells me you didn't know about Damon...you know, hurting Caroline" Elena sounded nervous as she absently brought Scarlet out of her thoughts, she was avoiding looking directly at Scarlet just knowing the girl would be glaring at her.
"Oh does this mean I'm not longer a monster? I can finally hang out with my bestie again?" her tone was sweet, her intent however was not. Growing up with Caroline as her best friend gave her plenty of experiences with how controlling and manipulative Elena could be over her friends. Scarlet was never invited to their birthdays, if anything she was told not to attend. Whenever there was a school dance, Elena and Bonnie would often pull Caroline away from her, claiming they wanted to dance. Odd how they never let Scarlet join them.
"I'm trying to apologize here" Elena rebuked, stuffing the money she'd been counting in the money box in front of her. She wouldn't admit it, but Elena found Scarlet intimidating. She didn't like the girl, but she'd suppose for Stefan's sake she'd make an effort to try.
"Really? Because I've yet to hear you utter one" Scarlet was getting a little irritated, she glanced around looking for any signs of Caroline making her way back but sadly there wasn't.
"You know what, forget I said anything" Elena huffed out as a new customer approached.
"If I could, I'd forget you entirely." Scarlet retorted sweetly, she wasn't going to spend another awkward moment with Elena and got up to find out what was taking Caroline so long looking for towels.
It thankfully hadn't taken too long to find Caroline, albeit she didn't find her with any towels or anywhere near the student council room. She found her walking like a zombie towards another of the school's many exits.
Curiosity got the better of Scarlet once calling out for her best friend didn't seem to deter her, not even grabbing a hold of her seemed to get her to stop where she was going. She just kept muttering about finding Damon, much to Scarlet's surprise.
Scarlet had managed to get her best friend in her car, offering to drive her to Damon. Caroline had just nodded slowly in response and sat in the passenger seat, she offered up only one word when they started driving however.
"Boarding House." And so Scarlet drove them both to her home, now was the perfect time to seize this opportunity in finding Damon. Stefan was distracted with Elena and being a normal human, her father, however, would be an issue but they'd cross that bridge when they got to it.
As soon as the pair pulled to a stop on the drive way Caroline darted out of the car and headed straight for the front door, Scarlet rolled her eyes, turning off the engine and sighed to herself. For all the effort she'd put into trying to get Caroline to come over had seemingly been wasted.
Chasing after her best friend at a much more reasonable pace, Scarlet headed in through the open front door closing it behind her. Looking around she didn't see anyone, her father was more than likely in his study working away so she was pretty confident he wouldn't noticed a stray teen running through the house.
"Caroline..." she called out, although admittedly it was more of a whisper shout. "Caroline! You know it's kinda rude to ditch me in my own house!" Scarlet didn't get a response but she did hear voices coming from the back of the house where the basement lay. Taking it as a sign that Caroline had found Damon, Scarlet confidently made her way through the hallway with a little spring in her step and a smirk on her lips. Everything was coming up Milhouse.
She'd barely made it to the top of the basement stairs when she heard a shout.
"NO!...RUN!" That was her fathers voice…
Caroline came running up the stairs towards Scarlet who stood curiously at the top.
"Care? What's going on? Why are you running?" Caroline grabbed her shoulders looking panicked.
"He's here! We've gotta get out of here" Scarlet let Caroline drag her through her own house by her hand, as Damon appeared from down the stairs chasing them. Damon looked pasty and down right horror movie-esq, hunger was in his eyes as he grinned up at them.
Knowing the twists and turns of the old boarding house off by heart, Scarlet guided her best friend the best she could to the front door, although with the amount of time Caroline had spent in the boarding house it'd be a surprise if she actually needed the help.
Before the two knew it the front door was in sight, Caroline picked up the pace and with her free hand swung the front door open. It was then Scarlet made her choice, she pulled her hand free of Carolines and pushed her through the door shutting it quickly before Caroline could protest.
Sighing in relief that her best friend was safe she turned to face the oncoming issue of Damon, only she found herself bumping into his chest as she did so.
"Ah Little Red, you're a sight for sore eyes" Scarlet felt her heart hammer away in her chest as she looked at Damon, his skin was clammy and ashen. He was grinning down at her with his fangs out, his eyes bloodshot from hunger.
"If you kill me, I will haunt you." Scarlet found it very hard to be scared of Damon, don't get her wrong, she felt scared...just not to the point of trembling in fear. She'd known him since she was little, he'd taken her on day trips to Disney and New York, being scared to death of him wasn't something she was capable of.
"Shh it's ok, I just need a little bite. Just to tide me over till nightfall." he softly brushed her cheek with his hand, almost as if he was trying to comfort her heart that was pumping a little faster than it usually was.
Gently, with his free hand, Damon grasped her wrist and brought it up towards him, turning his head he bit down. Scarlet winced but took note at how odd it felt to have someone drink her blood. She could feel the suction on her skin but the pain of teeth ripping through her flesh muffled everything else.
Scarlet felt herself start to grow tired, and physically drained. Damon pulled away and drew her into him, letting her rest her head on his shoulder as he gently petted her head.
"Come now Little Red, I think we could both do with a nap." He felt Scarlet nod into his shoulder but the girl remained silent. Picking her up bridal style, Damon carried his niece up the stairs and within a blink of an eye had her resting on her bed. Looking at her he knew he might have taken too much, sighing, he bit his wrist and coaxed her into drinking some of his blood.
The wound on her wrist sealed itself up leaving no trace of it ever being there, and Scarlet looked on with curiosity. Damon didn't ofter heal her up, she tripped and grazed her knee many a time growing up but he'd always left it be. There was only one other time she'd had Vampire blood and that wasn't something she liked to remember, but it was still fascinating to watch her skin knit it's self back together.
Scarlet could feel the anger from the previous couple of nights build up again, her hands fisted the sheets as she looked up to glared at Damon's shoulder.
"Dad had Stefan compel me; he locked me in my room till the vervain was out of my system and had Stefan compel me to not look for you. They tried to make me think you'd left and that I'd just carry on like everything was fine." She couldn't seem to stop herself from tattling on Stefan, but she'd felt violated and mistreated.
"Hey-Hey, look at me. I'd never just leave you in the dust, it's you and me against the world. And don't worry Little Red, we'll give Saint Stefan what he deserves." Damon softly nudged her face with his hand as he coaxed her to look back at him.
"His compulsion is a bit sucky, it didn't stick very well." Scarlet joked, visibly relaxing.
"Eh, bunny died will do that to ya. Now why don't we get some rest, I took a bit more from you than I meant to" Scarlet nodded, letting herself fall back against her pillows. Damon flopped down next to her still looking a little worse for wear and hungry.
"Where's my dad?" Scarlet broke the silence that had fallen between the two of them, she turned her head to the side to look at him. She'd forgotten about hearing him shout, to consumed with her own self absorbed feelings to really think why he hadn't come storming in here demanding Damon leave.
"I did what I had to Scarlet..." Damon trailed off not really knowing how to tell her girl he'd killed her father, "but if it makes you feel better you can blame Stefan for this. He's the one who starved me and had your dad lock me up in the cellar." Damon didn't meet her eyes until he finished speaking, Scarlet was silently crying. Her bottom lip was quivering, and her chest slowly heaved as she tried to contain herself.
Damon pulled her into his chest and tried to comfort her as she cried herself to sleep. He'd be the last to admit it, but the guilt was eating at him.
"Scarlet!...Scarlet!" Stefan's frantric voice could be heard from otherside of her bedroom door, Scarlet however didn't answer him. She was curled up under her sheets with silent tears spilling over her cheeks staining her pillow.
It had been just over an hour since Damon left to go feed and look for his daylight ring, only then had it really sunk in, her father was dead. Dead, just like her mother. She was an orphan now with no-one but Vampires left for family, she didn't know what to do. She could barely think a coherent thought through her grief.
After taking a moment, Stefan quietly opened Scarlet's bedroom door. He knew she was alive, he'd already listened carefully for her heartbeat, but after just finding Zach's dead body in the basement he wasn't quite sure what he'd be walking into.
Cautiously he made his way over to her bedside, gently taking a seat as not to disturb her still form. Stefan reached out and tucked a stray strand of hair behind her ear, Scarlet just blinked as she continued to stare blankly into space.
"I'm going to make sure this never happens again Scarlet, he's not going to kill anyone else I promise."
"There isn't anyone else left to kill Stefan" Scarlet's voice croaked back, she made no effort to move or even to look at Stefan.
Minutes ticked by but eventually Stefan left the room in silence, Scarlet was sure he'd be after Damon but after the day she'd had she couldn't be bothered to warn him. She wasn't sure she was ready to easily forgive Damon for the death of her father, sure he knew what he was doing when he helped Stefan lock Damon up, and he certainly knew the consequences. But that didn't excuse Damon's actions. And yet, he and Stefan were all the family she had left.
These thoughts swirled around in her head for most of the night batting sleep away from her.
AN: I know it's been a while but I think writing three chapters, then rewriting them burnt me out a little.