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Bornkiller9: Yeah, unfortunately, Jeremy's going to get worse before he gets better. And thank you, enjoy the new chapter.

Chapter 36: Bad Guys

Her teeth were beginning to itch again.

To try and distract herself, Jenna pinched her arm. The trick had worked for her so far, but it seemed she was reaching the end of her rope. Maybe part of it was still her nerves, but she could tell a real hunger was starting to form inside of her. She needed blood. But to be fair, she'd held out longer than she expected.

Before arriving at the Lockwood's, Jenna had assumed she'd last maybe half an hour before flat out running away. After speaking to Damon, she had almost done just that before Caroline caught her and calmed her down.

Jenna had begged Caroline for blood then, but rightfully so, Caroline had denied her. There'd been a little tussle after that – one which Jenna was very embarrassed about – but it went unnoticed by the guests and managed to relieve some of the pressure inside of her. After that, she'd stuck with Caroline until they found Alaric who kept her at ease from then on. He wasn't enjoying the event any more than she was. But he stayed for her and for Elena.

Even if he still refused to admit it, he did feel like part of the family.

Jump ahead a few hours and they were still at the Lockwood's. The sun having set and the party winding down. Jenna had done more than just show face – which had been all she planned to do – she'd engaged in the event and was among the last of the attendees. She'd was proud of herself, and it felt like she was her old human self again.

She'd always been social as a human, but sometimes she needed a run up and would start of as nervous and shy before she got into the swing of things. Perhaps that was now going to be more permanent because of her the enhancements her vampirism gave her. But having gotten through one Found Families event, she now knew she could get through another. She just had to think of it as one step at a time. And as long as she had Alaric, Elena and the others with her for support, she reckoned she'd be fine.

But that didn't help her hunger now. She hadn't had a drop of blood while at the Lockwood's, despite Damon's advise. She was too worried about being caught in the act, and she wasn't comfortable asking Alaric if she could feed of him. She could have always left to get a blood bag and then come back, but she'd not been truly hungry until now. Everything before she'd rightfully assumed to be her nerves. Now though, she knew that wasn't the case.

"Please tell me it's nearly time to go," muttered Alaric, as the two of them departed from the group conversation they'd found themselves dragged into. "I think I've heard enough about property value to last a lift time," he continued, leaning against her as they walked to avoid colliding with someone coming the other way.

"Same here," agreed Jenna. "Let's find Elena and get out of here."

"How you feeling?" Alaric asked, as they climbed the stairs up towards the Lockwood house.

Jenna tried to massage her jaw and release some of the itchiness in her teeth. "Hungry."

"Don't worry, we'll head home and get you something to eat."

He didn't notice it, but Jenna did. Another of his slip ups. He'd had a few throughout the day. Referring to her home as their home. Sometimes when guests asked him about his home he'd talked about Jenna's, other times his own. He didn't show any sign of realising it. Or maybe he was just very good at hiding his reaction to his mistakes. But Jenna still noticed it. She had thought about pointing it out, but didn't want to risk embarrassing him or starting an argument, not when she was already on edge to begin with. When they got home though, she'd ask him. If the opportunity arose.

They found Elena with Caroline inside the house as soon as they walked in. The two teens looked as if they were wondering around, most likely looking for Jenna and Alaric themselves.

"Hey," Elena called out upon seeing them, as the two couples approached one another. "Ready to go?"

"Yes," said Jenna a little forcefully. Maybe she was hungrier than she thought. "Of all the things I thought I'd feel today, bored was not one of them. Although I probably should have seen it coming."

Elena chuckled as she rubbed her aunts arm. "Well, you got through it."

"Yeah, but I can't say it's been fun," muttered Alaric as the four of them started walking.

"I'll second that," added Jenna in the same tone.

"You two are such party poopers," declared Caroline.

"Not everyone's a social butterfly like you, Care," pointed out Elena.

"Or has right hook like her," said Jenna, once again rubbing her jaw. "You know, I can still feel that one you hit me with earlier."

"You hit her?" asked Alaric, frowning at Caroline.

"She left me no choice!" Caroline exclaimed defensively, as they were about to pass the study. "If I hadn't, she would have ran off. And anyways, you'll end up thanking me for…"

As she trailed off, the others stopped and turned to her, realising she was staring into the study. But the second they realised this, the usually vocal blonde stepped back and bit down on her lip. They caught the linger expression of shock on her face, before her eyes turned sad and scared and unsure of what to do next.

With a frown, Jenna peered into the study along with Alaric. She couldn't see anything that would upset Caroline. All she saw was a group of guests in the room talking. A relatively fit old man with white grey hair. Possibly his daughter stood with him, an adult with long brown hair and a blouse. A man roughly the same age, late twenties or early thirties stood beside her. A shorter blonde who looked only slightly older than Elena and Caroline was there too. And a middle-aged man with brown hair who seemed to be the centre of the conversation.

"What is it?" asked Elena, having not looked into the study and focused entirely on Caroline.

"It's my dad," Caroline whispered. This time Elena looked into the study as Jenna and Alaric did the same again. Obviously Jenna couldn't be one-hundred precent sure – and she personally didn't see the resemblance – but the assumption to her was that the man at the centre of the conversation was Caroline's father.

"Why would he even show up here?" Elena asked Caroline, already having turned back to her friend. Jenna and Alaric were slower to do so, both having questions but wisely leaving Elena to do the talking for now.

"I don't know. But…I…I can't…"

Elena was already nodding to her. "It's okay. Do you want to come with us?"

"No, I…I was going to wait for Tyler to get back from practise."

Elena nodded, thought for a moment, then peered back into the study. "He's not looking over here, why don't you head upstairs and wait in Tyler's room. I'll text him and tell him to get home quickly."

"Okay, thank you," Caroline said with a sad smile.

"I'll call you later," Elena promised, before her best friend vanished in a supernatural blur of movement that dashed up the stairs.

"Okay…what was all that about?" asked Alaric, as he and Jenna stared at Elena. The brunette opened her mouth to explain, but then looked back into the study. She motioned with her head for them to head outside and so the three of them did, heading out the front door before Elena started to explain.

"Okay, here's the quick version. Carol Lockwood found out about Caroline being a vampire, so she called in Caroline's dad who then tried 'conditioning' her to not need blood anymore."

"What, how the heck could do that?" asked Alaric.

"Wait, Carol Lockwood knows!" exclaimed Jenna at the same time, her previous fears rising again.

Elena responded to Jenna first. "Don't worry, she's going to keep quiet about it, she knows about Tyler too now." It calmed Jenna a little, but she was still breathing heavily and wiping her suddenly hot forehead with her hand.

Elena then addressed Alaric. "And her dad was torturing, I think, trying to make her associate the craving for blood with pain. At least that was what I was told." Alaric took this in, frowning in thought as they continued down the steps and towards the front lawn where their car was parked. "Anyway, then her mom got her out and had Damon compel away his memories before sending him away."

"So what's he doing here?!" hissed Jenna. "Is he going to try and kill us all?"

"I don't know, Jenna, I–"

"Whoa, whoa, wait, Houston, we have problem!" The three of them stopped, recognising Damon's voice immediately as they looked back to see him jogging out the front of the Lockwood's house to catch up to them.

"Where have you been?" asked Elena as Damon hurried over to them, now all stood on the front lawn. Alone, and surrounded by a few parked cars.

"Managing Bill Forbes. Apparently he's impervious to compulsion," Damon explained.

"How?" asked Alaric.

"I have no idea. But he threatened to out me. Don't get me started on the irony of that."

"Did he say why he's here?" asked Jenna, her arms folded over as she hugged herself. To an on looker, had there been one, it might have simply looked like she was cold. But in fact it was her nerves that were making her shake, yet again.

She didn't remember being this nervous as a human. There were of course times when she was. Before exams, when exam result came in. That time her parents almost caught her doing drugs. When she met cute boys. And now, most recently, when her life was endangered.

"He wants to control the council. Says it's been compromised."

"It has," pointed out Alaric with some force.

"He wants to put vervain in the town's water supply," continued Damon, applaud.

"What does that mean for us?" Jenna cut in. "Will we still be able to have showers? Drink the water?"

Elena already had her hand on Jenna's arm. "We'll figure it out. But on the way home, we'll stock up on bottled water just to be safe."

"Beside, it might actually help with your control. Put you off the idea of drinking someone else's blood if you know it has vervain in it," added Alaric, to which Jenna could see his point.

The temptation would hopefully lower knowing that there was less chance of her getting away with it. She couldn't do as Damon said, grab someone and then erase their memories. The vervain would prevent compulsion and make their blood inedible. If she got hungry she'd have to look for an actual blood bag because everything around her would be toxic.

"I guess…" Jenna mumbled. Things had just been going so well at home. It was all started to feel, normal and now this had come along. She wouldn't be able to shower in her own home, wouldn't be allowed to drink from the sink. She'd even have to be careful at places like the Grill, since they to would use the vervain filled water for all sorts of things.

"But you don't need to worry about it anyway," said Elena. "It's not like you've been drinking from anything other than blood bags. Like Ric says, this'll just help you keep control. It's just…something else we have to adapt to, but we'll do it. We've gotten past every everything else so far. This will be no different."

Even though she'd seen her niece take charge more than a few times now, it still surprised Jenna to see how much she'd grown up. Partly because she was kept in the dark for so long, she hadn't gotten to seen it. But the way Elena talked to her, the smoothness and certainty in her voice. Her compassion was just like her mother. And even if they weren't blood related, it was still Miranda who raised her and anyone could see that in Elena's personality.

"We are you treating this like it's good news?" demanded Damon suddenly, as they all looked back to his irritated blue eyes. "He's trying to box us in, dictate what we can do."

"Yeah, it's called rules, Damon," Alaric cut in.

"And from the sounds of it, all he's doing is making sure you don't hurt people. If he wanted you dead, he'd have just told everyone what you are. Besides with Stefan and Sarah gone this'll help–"

"Help with what?" snapped Damon. "Help keep me in check? Make me behave?"

"Well…yeah," said Jenna, before she stepping back when Damon's annoyed and angry gaze fell on her. While the developments were frightening to her, she understood why they were being done. Damon however, seemed to be taking all of these actions as a violation against his vampire rights. That right being to feed and compel humans as he pleased.

"I should have killed him this morning when I had the chance," muttered Damon.

"He's Caroline's dad, Damon," objected Elena.

"Yeah, and when I kill him, she'll still have one more parent than we do."

Damon then tried to return to the Lockwood house, but Alaric stepped out in front of him quickly, blocking his path. "Oh, come on, Damon!" he snapped, facing off against an increasingly irritated Damon while Jenna and Elena watched.

"It's gotta be done, Ric. Step aside," Damon said plainly, once again trying to walk away.

Again though, Alaric remained in his path and pushed Damon back when he tried to get around him. "Yeah, it's not going to happen." Damon glared at his friend. That was until his eyes drifted down to Alaric's hand with the Gilbert ring on it. The vampire then looked back up, forcing a smile.

"You're temporary funeral."

Elena caught it before Jenna did, and was already objecting as Damon reached for Alaric's head. Before Jenna clocked what was happening, the older vampire had snapped Alaric's neck and Jenna shouted. She watched as Alaric dropped to the ground. His head turned with muscle and bone pressed against the side of his broken neck, creating an unnatural sight of lumps beneath the skin.

And seeing this filled Jenna with rage. Maybe part of her knew Alaric wasn't really dead, that he'd come back. But all she saw in that moment was him dead and she reacted. Her emotions skyrocketed and she threw herself towards Damon. He however, apparently saw this coming, and turned swiftly, slapping aside her clenched fists before his hands clamped onto her head. Jenna's wide green vengeful eyes bore into Damon's cold uncaring blue, which was the last thing she saw before her vision blurred as the whole world shot to one side. And the last thing she heard was the bone shattering snap of her own neck.

Stefan had joined up with the Klaus, Sarah was ignoring everyone, but Damon – the only one still here – apparently needed to be fixed! It was a joke. A joke Damon didn't find amusing.

His own friends considered him broken without his siblings around, a detriment in their lives. And how were his siblings any better? One drop of blood for Stefan and he couldn't stop drinking and murdering people. And Sarah was no better than either himself or Stefan, murdering dozens when she had a bad day. Sure, everyone liked to think she was playing by their rules, but the truth was, she hide her true nature. Damon embraced who he truly was, and everyone condemned him for it. They'd rather he be like his siblings, put on fake masks and pretend, ignore and only let the real him out in dark shadows where no one would see.

He wondered if Elena would be so quick to say he needed Sarah again, if she knew what his little sister had gotten up to at Whitmore. He might have been dealing with his own problems that night, but he'd connected the dotes not long after finding out about the disappearance of dozen or so students that same day. Add in the fact that Sarah didn't return home until the next morning, having clearly spent the night elsewhere, and it wasn't hard to piece it all together.

Of course, it probably wouldn't change anything. Elena knew about Stefan's skeletons and had accepted him until recently. But she had never accepted Damon for who he was. His brother and sister, sure, no questions asked. But she had questions about Damon, had done since day one. She liked parts of him, but not him as a whole, as the vampire he was. Because he didn't try and hide what he was, didn't try and pretend to be human like his siblings. Drinking blood from blood bags as if they were juice boxes.

He'd tried to play along, to drink from the juice boxes too. But even with everything that he'd given up, that he considered a part of himself, it still wasn't good enough. Well, who wanted to be good anyway. He'd always been better at being the bad guy. Everyone always referred to him as the bad brother, the one who stirred up trouble, who made the problems and started the fights. The one who'd break his friends' necks without a second thought for being in his way. He hadn't enjoyed it, but they'd left him no choice.

They didn't understand. He was just worked up, angry. Maybe it wouldn't have gotten to that point if they'd just heard him out, listened to him and agreed with him. But no, he was wrong. He was always wrong. He did what had to be done, when everyone else was to weak to do it. So he'd kill Bill Forbes. Protect himself and all the kids who'd call him a monster. Let them call him that, let them praise his siblings who'd run out on them. They needed a monster after all. They didn't need Stefan and Sarah, pretenders who wanted to play by the rules. The rules of the human world, not the supernatural.

Upon entering the Lockwood house, Damon found Bill right where he'd last seen him. In the study. To his surprise however, the middle-aged man was pouring himself a drink. An alcoholic drink.

"Whoa, whoa," Damon said, entering the study. A quick look around the room confirmed he was alone with Bill. Perfect. And since Elena was still outside with Alaric and Jenna – whose bodies she'd need to move, or else find a really good excuse as to why their necks looked broken and they weren't breathing – there was no one to stop him from being himself.

"Is that scotch?" Damon continued, as Bill turned to face him. "I figured you for an abstainer."

"Everything in moderation," explained Bill with a smug smile. "Keeps the mind clear from…influence."

"Like vampire compulsion," declared Damon, as he shut the door behind him.

But rather than notice the danger he was now in, Bill just snorted and chuckled. "I tried to tell you–"

"Yeah, yeah, powerful tool. Got it," cut in Damon, having no desire for the man to repeat what he'd said earlier that day. "Can't say I've ever seen that before."

"Well, it takes a certain human focus. It's a skill that I've been honing for decades. Plus, your technique…is a little lazy."

The man was far more calm than Damon liked, but he wasn't about to let that show. And he certainly wasn't going to react to his petty little criticism of his compulsion. A skill he knew he'd mastered. It'd take more than a few words from this man to shake his confidence.

"Duly noted," Damon replied politely, forcing a smile. He then stepped closer towards Bill, stopping with a meter or so between them. Still, the man didn't tense or flinch. Damon would have liked a flinch. Or for him to take a smart step away from him. But he'd get the reaction he wanted out of him soon enough. He'd make sure that after tonight, Bill would forever tense at the sight of him, at the mere mention of his name.

"I'm curious," Damon then continued, "Why not just expose us to the council?"

"I know you think I'm the bad guy here, Damon, but I would never expose my own daughter to those morons."

How wrong he was, Damon thought with a smirk. Because Damon didn't think Bill was the bad guy. Sure, he absolutely didn't like Bill. He was in his way and Damon very much wanted to hurt him. But at that moment, Bill was just an annoyance. A crap father, which Damon himself knew how to recognise from personal experience. And yes, maybe normally, he would have agreed with Bill. That he was the bad guy. But not tonight. Not right now.

"It's a pretty risky move, taking me on, don't you think?"

The first sigh of his acknowledgement, of the danger he'd put himself in. Damon could see it in his eyes, the fear. But the man continued to stand firm, not letting the little fear that was their overcome him. "I knew what I was risking when I didn't leave town. But I figured, you're not self-destructive enough to kill the sheriff's ex-husband."

Damon nodded, still smiling. "Fair enough. There's just a few things you've over looked. One, you're the ex-husband. Two, you tortured barbie. Three, nobody likes you. And finally…you underestimated me."

The smile dropped and Damon ran over to Bill, grabbing him by the arms and pinning them to his side. The glass he'd been holding shot to the ground, smashing as Damon lunged forward burying his fangs into Bill's neck. And he wasn't nice about it either. He tore away, bitting down and down, moving around and making a mess. Unfortunately, Bill didn't scream. But he was unable to stop his groans as Damon made sure to hurt him. And all while he took in his surprisingly smooth blood.

No vervain it seemed. Someone was over confident. His mistake.

Only when he needed to breathe, did Damon pull away. But feeling Bill fall into his arms, Damon let him go and watched the man fall to his knees before him. One hand on the floor to stop him falling further and the other on his savagely torn neck. From in between his fingers, blood pushed through, spreading out and dripping down his hand. He couldn't stop the bleeding, there was too much for him to keep adequate pressure on the wound. He'd die of blood loss if someone didn't help him. And Damon would help him…once he'd made his point.

"You know," chuckled Damon as Bill looked up to him. "I don't get these new vampires, Bill. They want to drink from blood bags, but, I'm with you. That's not what a vampire does. Vampires should drink from the source. Because, it just tastes so…" He licked his lips, collecting some of the left over blood and sighed. "Good."

"What are you gong to do?" heaved Bill, desperately looking up. The fear was almost as delicious as the blood. A few moments ago, this same man thought he had it all worked up, that he'd trapped Damon in a box and had him tamed like an animal. Now he saw the truth of his situation, that Damon was the one in control. The unstable and unstoppable monster that would do whatever he wanted, whenever he wanted.

"Kill everybody who discovers your secret?"

"I could, couldn't I," agreed Damon, smiling with bloodied teeth. He then leaned down to Bill's level, grabbing a handful of his hair so that he couldn't look away. "I could kill you, and anybody else I wanted to. And what are you going to do about it? Nothing. Because you can't do anything about it. I've just proven you can't anticipate me, you can't predict what I'm going to do. You might be able to fight compulsion, but that's where it stops. In every other way I beat you. Maybe that's why I won't kill you. Because you can't touch me. Maybe instead I'll just do what people like you hate. Maybe I'll turn you into a vampire. Then we'll see who the real bad guy is."

Finished, Damon pulled Bill up by his hair, far enough so that Damon could easily bite into his neck again. He was thirsty after all, and hadn't had anything fresh in a while. He'd take some more before healing the man, and then decide whether to go ahead with his threat or not.

But before he could finish, he was grabbed and flung away. He crashed backwards into the wall at supernatural speed, the force so much that he bounced right back off. But in that time he saw his attacker, Caroline. The enraged blonde didn't stop there though, grabbing Damon as he fell back towards her. Then, using the momentum, she turned and dragged him along. He swung around, his feet leaving the ground. Then he was let go and he smashed through the study's window before landing outside.

It took him a split second to recover, shaking off the glass as he jumped back up, fists clenched. Like anyone, he didn't like to be interrupted when eating.

He strode back in through the broken window, finding Caroline feeding her father her blood. He might have been denied his meal, but he could still fulfil his threat and make Bill pay. And show everyone else what a real bad guy looked like.

"Let me teach this ass-wheel a life lesson," snarled Damon.

"Just get out of here," snapped Caroline without even looking back at him.

"Or what?" Damon shot back, glass crunching beneath his feet as he advanced towards her.

Caroline's timing was spot on. As she turned and raised her hand, it collided with Damon's cheek as he stepped into its arch. He stumbled backwards from the force of the slap, but found his footing before hitting the wall. He glared at Caroline, who glared back, before she took a run at him. Like father, like daughter, always making mistakes.

Damon caught her by the throat before she could strike and quickly threw her towards the desk. She landed on top of it, knocking several items off in the process. She went to get back up, but before she could Damon pounced, grabbing her by the throat and holding her down. She struggled, but couldn't escape his hold.

"I'm stronger than you, little girl," snarled Damon, as Caroline helplessly thrashed around beneath him.

"Well, I'm angrier!" Caroline croaked, before grabbing Damon's arm with both hands and breaking it.

With only his non dominant arm left, Caroline was then easily able to free herself from his choke hold. What Damon hadn't been expecting next was for Caroline to then grab him and drag him down towards her. Before he could react, the blonde's head collided with his own and left his whole world spinning. She then shoved him off with all her strength, sending him up into the corner of the room before he then dropped down and landed on his stomach, knocking the air from him.

By the time he was able to lift his head and the room had stopped turning, Caroline and her father were gone. All that remained was the clear desk – all of its items now moved to the floor – the broken window, with glass and splintered wood scattered all over, a splattering of blood…and Elena. She was stood in the door way, shocked by what she'd seen.

Damon wasn't sure how long she'd been there, or how much she'd seen. But judging by the fact she wasn't rushing over to check on him, and asking what had happened, she'd seen the fight with Caroline.

It wasn't one of his best moment, even he could admit that.

"Bummer," sighed Damon, still on his chest. "Just when it was getting interesting."

"You can't keep doing this, Damon," declared Elena. "Drinking from innocent people, killing our friends and family."

"First," Damon cut in, as he pushed himself up off the floor. "Bill Forbes, is hardly innocent. And second, it doesn't matter if I kill, 'Our friends,' 'cause they always end up coming back."

"That's not the point and you know it!" snapped Elena.

"Where's all this coming from?" asked Damon as he strode over to Elena, anger still needing to be let off. The fight with Caroline had got his blood pumping, but it had ended abruptly and he still needed to vent. It sucked for Elena, but she was part of the reason he was in a bad mood to begin with. "All this, it's nothing I haven't done before. You know who I am. Why now are you suddenly questioning it? You've kept your mouth shut all summer when we've been together, why now do you have a problem with who I am?!"

"Because this isn't you!"

"Yes it is! I am a vampire, Elena. That will never change."

"That doesn't mean you have to act like one!"

"I am not my brother or my sister!" snarled Damon, getting right up in Elena's face and forcing her to step back. "I thought you got that. I thought we were friends." He pulled back, realising the truth in what he was about to say next. "But if you can only tolerate me when my siblings are around then I guess we're done here."

He didn't give her a chance to respond, shoving her shoulder as he passed her. She called out to him, but he didn't look back. He meat what he'd said. Their friendship was over. If she needed him to wear a mask and pretend to be normal like his brother and sister, just so that they could be friends, then he was out. That wasn't a friendship, that was a lie. He was sick of the pretences, the rules, the lack of any real freedom for himself. He was starting to suffocate in this town, and at present he was struggling to find a reason to stay.

HIs siblings were long gone, probably never to return, at least in this life time. His, "friends," kept bossing him around and trying to control him. That being said, he was starting to run low on those. He'd just finished with Elena, and after news of what he'd done to Bill reached the sheriff, she'd probably be done with him too. The only real friend he still had was Alaric, who was sprawled out behind a bush Elena had hidden him and Jenna behind. But other than that, his time in Mystic Falls was beginning to feel like it'd reached its end.

It was sad, but maybe it was time to move on, like his siblings had done. It wouldn't be the first time they left Mystic Falls and went their separate ways. But if it was time to do that, he'd still like one final drink with his buddy, a proper goodbye to this chapter of their lives. So, grabbing Alaric – and leaving Jenna – Damon threw the temporarily dead man into the back of his car, before then driving off.

He'd completely forgotten about the chilli pot he'd brought.