Episode 15 - The Fundraiser

"So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past."

F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby

Mystic Falls, 2010

Damon had disappeared.

The day after we opened the tomb I went to our place, Maggie's gravestone. A bouquet of sunflowers had been laid atop the stone. There wasn't a note, but I knew they had to be from Damon and they had to be for me. Forget-me-nots were Maggie's favorite flower, but sunflowers were mine. I called Damon immediately, but all I got was his voicemail. I tried the boarding house and Stefan, but I knew before Stefan picked up that Damon had left town.

I must have left a dozen texts and messages for Damon that he never answered.

With the holidays coming up though, I didn't have much time to dwell on it. Caroline and I had to juggle the winter festival, spending time between two houses (in different states) and then celebrating with our friends as well.

On New Years Eve practically the whole town had gathered inside the Mystic Grill for the count down. I caught a glimpse of Damon seated at the bar, a glass of bourbon in his hand. Usually Damon carried himself with the kind of confidence that bordered on cocky and annoying, but he was slumped in the chair in a decidedly unsexy way and he looked tired and worn. I zigzagged my way through the crowd as quickly as I could, but there were more people than usual and it took me a while to reach the bar. By the time I reached his seat Damon had disappeared again. And he still hadn't replied to any of my messages.

Italy, 1114

My hair was blonde like cornsilk in this life, and longer, touching my waist as I walked. As I walked through the castle I noticed that the hall was surprisingly quiet for that time of day. Usually I could hear the servants shuffling about doing their chores. I stopped, spotting a splatter of blood marring the wall and dripping onto the floor where it joined a sizable dark red puddle. My eyes followed the trail around the corner to the lifeless body of a maid.

I gasped, tears pricking at the corners of my eyes. It was my handmaiden, a sweet young girl named Ciana. Her eyes were left wide open, so I closed them. More bodies of servants filled the blood lined corridor. My heart hurt with each face as I closed their lifeless eyes. I followed the carnage, not afraid like any sane person would be, but disappointed. The blood led me to a bedchamber.

It was a large room, blood splattered the walls and floor as well. In the middle of the room was a bed where two vampires were still feasting, sharing another young maid. On one side, the older blond vampire had his teeth in her neck, blood falling from the wound down the front of her dress. On her other side the younger, darker haired vampire had her wrist in his mouth. The blond vampire lifted his head as I entered, while the younger one moved up from her wrist tearing a new hole in her neck with his teeth. The girl was still alive, if barely, and her mouth opened as if to form a scream, but no sound came out.

Blood was still dripping from the blond's chin as he looked at me. In the blink of an eye he stood before me. His hand tucked a loose strand of hair behind my ear before resting on my cheek. I nuzzled into his hand, my eyes sad.

"Hello, little bird," he said.

I removed the hand from my face, interlacing our fingers in a loose grip. "You've made quite the mess." I took out a handkerchief and wiped the blood from his chin.

Mystic Falls, 2010

I woke up with a start. Turning over, my alarm clock read 4:30 am. I laid on my back, my arm covering my face and sighed. My dreams hadn't woken me up like that since the Salvatores first came to town. I couldn't remember the names of the men in my dream, I couldn't even remember what my name was at that time. All I could gather was that I was used to spending time with murderous vampires.

Feeling that it was too early in the morning to go back to bed I quietly went down to the kitchen with my dream notebook and wrote down what I could remember as the coffee brewed. It must have been hours before Caroline came bouncing into the kitchen looking more radiant than I could stand on less than five hours of sleep.

"You're too happy," I grumbled into my coffee.

Caroline smiled. "Someone was up late last night." She grabbed an orange from the fruit basket on our table.

"And up early," I said, sipping from my mug.

"I'm seeing Matt today," Caroline said as she peeled the orange.

"Should have guessed."

Our mom came in with a bundle of stuff under her arms, placing two rolls of tickets and a grey tin box on the table.

"Here are the raffle tickets and the cash box for the fundraiser. You remember what time to be at the Grill tonight?"

"Yes," Caroline and I chorused.

"We wouldn't forget the most important fundraiser of the year," I said.

"Speaking of the fundraiser," Caroline said, fluttering her lashes, "Which lucky bachelors are we pimping out this year?"

I snorted into my coffee mug.

"It's not pimping, legally speaking," Our mom said, barely able to keep a straight face. "A couple deputies, a plumber, and the new history teacher."

"Ric?" Caroline said, her eyes wide.

"How'd the founder's council rope Mr Saltzman into this?" I asked, thinking of the surprising vampire hunter.

"Well, it was all Jenna. We're still short one though, so if you can think of any eligible bachelors let me know."

"Good luck," Caroline said, grabbing her jacket as she headed for the door. "I got a date with my own bachelor."

"Things seem to be good with her and Matt," mom said casually. I knew Caroline didn't talk to our mom very much about her love life, but it didn't feel right to talk about it for her.

"Yeah, they are." I shrugged on my own jacket, I was planning on hanging out with Elena before the fundraiser.

"Where'd you get that jacket?"

I looked at the worn leather jacket I had on and nearly cursed. "It's Damon's actually. He let me borrow it and I've forgotten to give it back." I fiddled with the sleeve as a thought blossomed, it was a week into the New Year now and I hadn't heard a peep from Damon Salvatore. "I think I'll swing by the boarding house to return it today."

My mom suddenly looked like she had an idea herself. "You know, Damon would make a good bachelor for the auction."

"Oh, no, mom." I shook my head at the thought as I cleaned out my mug. "I don't think he'd be interested."

"Just ask him, as a favor for me, please."

"All right," I agreed, "but I can't be held responsible if he says no."

The boarding house was dark but Black Hearts (On Fire) was blaring through the sound system. The Salvatore's always kept their house unlocked so I just walked in, unfortunately what I walked into was a group of sorority-looking girls dancing in just their underwear. Bite marks trailed up and down their bodies. Further into the house I found Damon with his teeth in another scantily clad young woman. My mind flashed back to the vampires sharing a maid. I forced down a shiver at the comparison and turned on the light.

Damon hissed dramatically, his eyes scrunched up. "No! Buzzkill!"

I walked up the landing and turned the music off.

Damon looked up at me blearily. "What are you doing here?"

"I came to return your jacket." I placed the piece of leather over the railing.

"Great." Damon smirked, wiping the drip of blood from his mouth. "Now turn the music back on."

I mimed considering. "No. We need to talk."

"Don't tell me you're breaking up with me." Damon stepped away from the girl he was eating and gestured broadly to the sorority girls around him. "Is it the Tri-Delts? Because they don't mean a thing to me. No offense, ladies," he added. The girls giggled around him.

I was less amused. "Where've you been, Damon?"

"Aw, did you miss me?" he teased.

"Just answer the question."

He shrugged. "Around."

"I can see that, you look wrecked." I walked down to his level. "What'd you do?"

"Oh, this, that, her," Damon nodded toward one of the college girls.

I rolled my eyes. "I'm serious." I stepped up to Damon, close enough to smell the liquor on his breath. "Plan A didn't work out. So what's Plan B? Or have you just been wallowing in defeat?"

"No. And no plan either." Damon stepped back and grabbed a bottle off the Salvatore bar. "You know, it's so liberating not having a master plan, because I can do whatever the hell I want." He took a sip of the whisky.

I stepped up to Damon again, the scent of alcohol even stronger now. My nose wrinkled in disgust.

"Is this the smell of liberation?"

"I get it. You're worried about me." Damon waved the bottle around as he spoke. "That's nice. Don't be. There's no need. I'm fine. Why wouldn't I be? I spent the last 145 years with one goal: get in that tomb. I succeeded." Damon briefly stopped to tip some more whisky into his mouth. "Granted, Katherine wasn't in there to be staked, but why dwell?"

I put my hands on the bottle, stopping Damon from taking another drink.

"Did you look for her?"

"Oh, yes!" Damon swung the bottle out from under my hands as he moved around me. "And you know what I found? Nada, zilch. No one's seen her in decades and my witch contacts either refused or couldn't find her location. Katherine is good. The only way I'm gonna find her right now is if she knocks on my door."

I blinked. Processing. "So you're quitting."

Damon frowned. "What's wrong? I thought you wanted me to give up my revenge plot."

"I did—I do!" I took the bottle of whiskey out of Damon's hands before he could drink again. "But you're not okay Damon. You may have given up, but you're still thinking about her." Damon looked like he was about to object but I stopped him. "It's obvious this is affecting you. You know, what you need is a distraction." I placed the bottle back on the Salvatore's bar. I spun back towards Damon, as I suddenly remembered my mom's request. "And I've got just the thing! You see there's this fundraiser at the Grill tonight," I explained, "the Founder's Council is putting it on. They raffle off dates with the town's most eligible bachelors, and, well, they're short one." Damon didn't look pleased by the idea. "Please, as a favor to my mom? She's the one that wanted to ask you."

The corner of Damon's mouth twitched up. Not quite a smile, but we were getting somewhere.

"Is that what Liz does when she's not hunting vampires? Organize bachelor raffles?"

"Yes," I replied, as I waited on his answer.

"Well, then how could I refuse. You can tell Sheriff Forbes I'll be there."

"Thanks, I'll text you the details." It seemed it was time for me to go, but I was hesitant to leave. I looked around at the bitten girls hanging around the boarding house, chewing at my own lip in worry. Images of mutilated and bloodied bodies flashed through my head. "What's going to happen to them?"

"They'll end up in their dorm with headaches," Damon said, looking into my eyes, "think they blacked out. Business as usual."

I looked at Damon for a moment, assessing the truthfulness of his statement, and when I found that I did trust him to let those girls live I smiled. "See ya later, Damon."

I went to leave, but Damon grabbed me by the elbow. I turned back to see what he wanted. He stared at me for too long, his brow furrowed. It looked like he wanted to move closer or say something but he did neither. I stayed where I was and waited for him to figure it out.

"See ya later, Charlie." Damon let me go and turned back around.

The rest of my day was spent at home, trying to shake off Damon's bizarre behavior. I had had plans to hangout with Elena, but she texted that something had come up and that we'd meet for lunch. Caroline was supposed to spend the whole day with Matt, but I guess something happened there too because she texted for an emergency meeting. So around one o'clock I waited for both of them at the Mainline cafe.

While waiting, I tried calling Bonnie. After Christmas, Sheila took her on a road trip and they were still out of town. I got her voicemail. "Hey, Bon-Bon. It's Charlie. How's Salem? I miss you, don't let Sheila drive you nuts with all the witch history stuff."

Caroline settled into the booth beside me a moment later, shortly followed by Elena who sat opposite us.

Caroline leaned over the table to speak with us. "The most embarrassing thing just happened to me today," she started. "So Matt and I were making out on his couch, getting real steamy—"

"No details!" I said quickly. "Please?"

She huffed, but continued on. "And then his mom walked in."

"Kelly's back in town?" Elena asked, sounding genuinely interested.

"Probably didn't work out with the last trucker boyfriend," I mumbled. I loved Matt to bits, but Kelly Donovan was far from my favorite person.

"We made eye contact while I was shirtless!" Caroline ranted on, her voice growing louder and more erratic. "I was mortified. And then he kicks me out—"

"Hold up," I paused Caroline. "I don't think Matt's mom coming home for the first time in months, and wanting some privacy to talk with her, was him kicking you out. If anything Matt's probably the one who's mortified right now."

"Speaking of long lost mom's," Elena said, "I found out who my birth mother is."

"And you've just been letting me ramble on about Matt," Caroline said. "So when did this happen? How?"

"Jenna told me a few days ago, I've been looking for more information about her ever since."

Caroline hummed. "You have been lost in your own world for a while, I guess I know why now. So what have you found out?"

Elena smiled as she recounted. "Her name was Isobel, she was a cheerleader like I was." Her smile softened a little, before she continued. "And she was Ric's wife."

"Ric. Like our history teacher, Ric?" Caroline clarified, eyes wide.

I whistled slowly. "Small world."

"No, that's like some soap opera plot." Caroline paused as she realized something. "Wait, you keep saying was, like past tense, does that mean…"

"She's presumed dead. The victim of a cold case a few years ago."

"I'm sorry," Caroline reached out to grab Elena's hand. "It must be hard finding out she's dead after, you know…" Caroline didn't elaborate and Elena stayed quiet, looking down at their hands. "You know what we need? Cookies!" She stood up. "I'll go buy some."

Elena leaned in close once my sister was out of sight. "I visited one of Isobel's friends from high school, she knew about vampires."

My eyes widened. "Do you think Isobel might be…"

Elena shrugged. "I don't know, maybe. Jenna said they never found the body."

I snapped my fingers. "I just remembered! Mr Saltzman said his wife studied parapsychology and her research is what led him here. So it's definitely a possibility, especially since—"

"What's a possibility?" Caroline asked, sitting back down with a plate of chocolate chip cookies.

Elena jumped away from me, looking more or less like she got caught with her hand in the cookie jar. "Oh, Uh, I was just telling Charlie that no one knows who my father is."

"And I suggested that maybe they just weren't willing to tell her," I lied.

"Oh, like a conspiracy theory." If Caroline noticed our shifty behavior she ignored it. "Maybe your dad was your birth dad all along and they were just covering up the scandal."

"Trust me, I thought about it," Elena said. "That's not it."

After lunch, Caroline and I had to help set up for the fundraiser, which looked exactly as it did every year we had volunteered for it. Caroline and I were stationed at the front of the restaurant and were taking turns selling tickets on the floor. Caroline had the first round, so I was the first to see Damon enter.

"You made it!" I smiled.

"Yeah, well, I wouldn't want to disappoint Liz." Damon's eyes scanned the bar. "Speaking of, your mom here yet?"

"No, she's still on duty. She'll be here before the raffle though."

"Damon." Caroline glowered at him, her arms crossed. "Stop loitering around the ticket booth, we're trying to raise money."

"Don't you want the lovely women of this town to know the grand prize?" Damon winked at me. "Apparently I'm a very eligible bachelor."

Caroline scoffed and switched out the cash she had for change before heading back out to finish her rounds.

"She's right though," I said, "Hard to sell tickets if I'm occupied by you. Why don't you mingle, flirt around, that's what'll bolster sales."

Damon smirked. "Will do."

I watched Damon walk away. "Wait!" I added,"try to avoid Caroline."

Damon didn't act like he heard, but I knew he did.

I kept my eyes on Damon, even while running the ticket sales at the front. I was right that Damon was good for sales, he was hit on by woman after woman and then they'd buy more tickets from me or Caroline.

"Could you be any more obvious?" Caroline said, returning to the front. I hardly noticed her, my eyes still trained on Damon.

I shook my head to try to refocus on Caroline. "Sorry, what?"

She nodded back to where Damon and Carol Lockwood were speaking. "He's total cougar bait."

"Yeah, well you know what they say, 'sex sells,'" I said, holding up a bundle of the cash we'd made from the desperate housewives of Mystic Falls. I took up one of the ticket rolls and started my own rounds on the restaurant floor. I avoided looking at Damon as best I could, instead focusing on pushing out more raffle tickets. That didn't mean I missed the secret meeting between Damon and my mom in the corner.

My mom handed Damon a folder. I noticed Damon look between a page in the file and out to someone in the crowd. I turned my head in the same direction and caught sight of Mr Saltzman. Knowing this couldn't mean anything good I walked up to Damon as soon as my mom had left him.

"What are you scheming?"

"Nothing." Damon closed the folder with a snap of his wrist. "I told you, I'm doing whatever I want."

"Well, you've got something cooking." I smiled slyly. "Come on, you can tell me, we're partners."

"Correction, we were partners, when I had a master plan. Now that I have no plan, I think I can cause enough chaos on my own."

"Yeah, see, it's that chaos part that has me concerned." Damon moved to walk past me, but I grabbed his upper arm. "Just tell me one thing," I asked, "Isobel. Did you turn her?"

"What's it to you?" Damon shook me off and walked away. I didn't have the opportunity to talk to him again.

I stood with Caroline and Matt as Carol Lockwood introduced each of the bachelors.

"Number 4, 'Alaric Saltzman.' Wow. That's quite a mouthful. What do you do, Alaric?"

"I'm a teacher at Mystic Falls High," Mr Saltzman answered.

"Oh, beauty and brains, ladies," Mrs Lockwood said. "This one's a keeper. What do you teach?"

"History."

"History. Oh, well, give us a fun fact about Mystic Falls, something crazy."

Mr Saltzman looked over at Damon. Damon placed his hand up to his ear, sarcastically anticipating a response. "Uh, well…"

Mrs Lockwood pulled the microphone away before he finished. "He's probably saving the best stories for his date." She moved down the line. "And last, but not least, Damon Salvatore. We don't have much on you."

"Well, I'm tough to fit on a card," Damon said.

"Do you have any hobbies, like to travel?"

"Oh, yeah. L.A., New York. Couple of years ago, I was in North Carolina. Near the Duke campus, actually. I think—I think Alaric went to school there. Didn't you, Ric?" Damon turned to look at Alaric, who looked back at him. "Yeah, 'cause I- I know your wife did." I looked to Elena, whose face was starting to falter. I mentally groaned, I knew I should have tried harder to talk to Damon about this. "I had a drink with her once." Damon continued. "She was—she was a great girl. I ever tell you that? Cause she was - Delicious." Damon hummed in delight.

I watched the tears well up in Elena's eyes at the implication and then she was out the door of the Grill. I would have gone after her, but Stefan beat me to it and I figured he'd do a better job of comforting her than I would. As soon as the bachelors were let off the stage I stormed up to Damon.

My hands clenched and unclenched at my sides as the anger and bravado left me.

Damon looked at me confused.

"This is all my fault," I finally said, "I know somehow I should have seen this coming. I brought you here, hoping to distract you. And I knew Mr Saltzman was going to be here. And Elena. I hoped you wouldn't bring it up, but you just had to do it, didn't you? You just couldn't leave Mr Saltzman alone. Complete disregard of how your words might affect other people."

"Am I missing something here?" Damon asks, "What's this to do with Elena?"

I took a deep breath, calming down. "I'm sorry. I forgot to mention. Isobel was Elena's birth mother." Damon's face falters. "So I think you should apologize to her."

Damon walked straight outside to see Elena.

I spent the rest of the fundraiser at Caroline's side. At the end, Kelly walked over to us to claim her prize: bachelor number three.

"Congratulations, Mrs. Donovan," Caroline said politely.

"Okay, just stop," Kelly Donovan said. "Stop trying so hard. This thing you're doing, this nice thing, it's fake. Like you. Like your mom." I scowled at the affront to my family. Caroline's smile dropped, but she maintained her polite composure. "And for some reason, Matt fell for it, but that doesn't mean that I will. I don't like you, okay? So tell plumber boy I'll be at the bar."

"Okay," Caroline said, her voice hollow.

Kelly walked off. Caroline's facade faded and she looked hurt. I wrapped my arm around her.

"What a bitch," I said. Caroline looked at me. "What? I'm not dating her son."