Check me out\|!|! life is a struggle but i'm still here, mostly... i don't wanna give up :( don\t let me give up. \please keep showing love. my hand is broken... \i know, right?
Doesn't everyone belong
In the arms of the sacred
Why do we pretend we're wrong?
Has our young courage faded?
Shots were fired on the street
By the church where we used to meet
Angel down, angel down
Why do people just stand around?
I'm a believer, it's a trial
Foolish and weaker, oh, oh, oh
I'd rather save an angel down
I'm a believer, it's chaos
Where are our leaders?
Oh, oh, oh
I'd rather save an angel down
Kenzie sat beside Damon, watching Stefan watch over Elena. Rebekah had caused Matt to drive off the road and Stefan had tried to rescue them. As per Elena's instructions, He had gotten Matt out of the truck but it had been too late for the Doppelganger. For all intents and purposes, she was dead, until Meredith Fell had informed them that Elena was given vampire blood when Jeremy had brought her in earlier. It wasn't just a concussion but bleeding of the brain and not wanting to worry the youngest Gilbert, she had given Elena vampire blood to healher. Elena was currently in transition but had been floating in and out of consciousness for hours.
Damon had been distraught. While he loved Kenzie and had told Elena it would always be Kenzie, he still cared for the brunette in his own way. He blamed Stefan for not rescuing Elena first, even after his younger brother had explained that it had been Elena's choice.
"If that had been you, I would've told you to fuck off and rescued you anyways." Damon muttered.
Kenzie gave him a weak smile. "I'm not as selfless. I probably would've made you rescue me first anyway."
"At least we don't have to worry about that anymore, huh?"
Stefan's head shot up and he turned to look at his brother. "You know?"
"You knew?" Damon asked in disbelief, turning to glare at Kenzie. "You told my brother and not me?"
"I didn't tell him anything, he figured it out on his own."
"Who else knows?"
"Just Stefan, Katherine, and Elijah. Jill knew, but well, she's gone."
"Elijah? Katherine? Are you fucking kidding me?"
Kenzie sighed, grabbing his hand in an attempt to calm him down. "Look, Stefan found out the night he lost his humanity. We were fighting in the cafeteria and he stabbed me. Everyone assumed he was fighting Jill, it wasn't until later when he saw the exact same wound on me that he figured it out. Elijah found out at his party when you threw me against the desk. He tried to clean out the cut but there was no cut. Katherine found me outside of your room just after I was turned. She tricked me into feeding and completing the transition. The whole summer when I said I was in California, I was actually with her. She was teaching me how to be a vampire."
Damon let out a snort as he took all the information in. "Not exactly the best role model for you, Red."
"I know. She spent the whole summer trying to get me to turn my humanity off."
"And you didn't."
"I couldn't." She explained. "Everything about you is heightened. Control was so important to me when I was human, that it was even more intensified when I became a vampire. I buried that switch so deep, I couldn't find it even if I tried."
"And that's how you got away with playing human this whole time." He realized.
"Exactly."
"And that's why you couldn't stop hating me."
She shrugged. "If I stopped hating you, it would have made me realize how much I loved you and I wasn't ready to face that, it was easier to hate you."
"Well, are you done now?"
Kenzie glared at him. "I thought that part was kind of obvious when I showed up to see you when I thought we were going to die. I mean, yay, Klaus was a big fat liar. He didn't sire our blood line, we're not dead. Hurrah."
"That doesn't make any sense." Stefan muttered. "The rest of the Originals swore they didn't sire us."
"Obviously someone slipped through the crack." Kenzie pointed out.
"So are you going to tell everyone now?" Damon wondered.
She grinned. "Nah, I'm having too much fun. It's like being secret identity girl."
"Your friends with the Witch, how does she not know?"
"I don't let her touch me."
"Way too good at this." He muttered.
On the bed, Elena gasped, her eyes opening as she looked around, disoriented. Kenzie wondered why things were so different for her and Elena. She had woken up from being dead and besides being slightly distraught, she had been fine, going to find Damon right away, yet Elena had been drifting in and out and had yet to learn what happened to her. Now the newly dead teen seemed more alert and Kenzie knew this was going to be a fun conversation.
"Stefan?" She whispered.
"Hey, I'm right here, you've been in and out for hours."
"Wh- what happened?" Elena asked.
"You were in an accident." He gently replied.
Elena looked away from him as it all came back to her and she sat up straighter. "Oh my god, Matt. Is he-?"
"Alive?" Damon finished for her. "Ask Stefan, the hero."
Kenzie nudged him in the ribs, causing him to scowl at her, which she only smirked at.
"He's alive." Stefan informed Elena.
She let out a sigh of relief. "Thank you. I thought that I- how did you-?"
"Save you?" Damon finished for her. "He didn't."
"I feel you're not really helping." Kenzie whispered. "Your delivery sucks."
He responded with another scowl.
"Helping with what?" Elena asked, looking between all of them.
"When Jeremy brought you to the hospital before all this happened." Stefan began. "Your injuries were worse than anyone knew. Meredith Fell made a choice and she used Damon's blood to heal you."
"And when Rebekah ran Matt's truck off the road, you had vampire blood in your system." Damon finished.
Realization slowly dawned on Elena's face. "Oh my god. Does that mean- am I dead?" Stefan looked away as she began to cry. "No, no, no, that wasn't supposed to happen."
"Maybe it doesn't have to." Stefan tried to calm her. "I talked to Bonnie, she says she's stronger than ever, there might be something she can do to help you."
Damon rolled his eyes, leaning forward to glare at them. "The only thing that's going to help, is to feed and complete the transition."
"We have all day before she has to feed, Damon. That's a day to exhaust every possible way out of this."
"There is no way out of it." The elder brother snapped. "You either feed or you die, there is no way out of it. There is no door number 3."
"OK, that's enough." Kenzie cried, standing up and grabbing Damon's hand, pulling him out of the room and down the steps to talk to him. "What is your problem?"
"My problem? Maybe the fact that Elena never wanted to be a vampire and now because my brother decided to follow her rules and save Matt, she's now a vampire."
Kenzie rolled her eyes. "I never wanted to be a vampire, either."
"And because of me, you are one." Damon muttered.
Kenzie stepped forward, forcing him to meet her eyes. "Hey, is the great Damon Salvatore feeling guilty?"
"No." He petulantly replied.
She raised an eyebrow at him, trying to keep the amusement off her face. "Really?"
"Do you hate me for doing this to you?" He quietly asked.
She thoughtfully chewed her lip as she tried to work out how to best answer him. "I never really thought about blaming you for it. When this happened, I was too focused being angry at you for kissing Elena. I put all my focus into that because I felt that was all I could really control. Now, I don't really blame you. You gave me your blood to save me, although you were the one to drain me in the first place, although you were super sick and crazy, so I don't hold that against you, you also didn't pull the trigger on the gun that killed me and honestly, since I've been back, I'm very sure I would've been dead a hundred times over or super crazy from my ring. So no, I don't hate you."
He slowly raised his own eyebrow, amusement quirking his lips. "Did you breathe at all through that?"
She rolled her eyes at him. "Why are you freaking out over Elena though? You didn't give her your blood, Meredith did. It's not your fault she's in transition."
"I know, that belongs to Stefan."
"No, I blame Rebekah. I think it's time to dump her as a friend."
"Probably a good choice."
Stefan came down the stairs, glaring at Damon.
"Oh don't glare at me like that." Damon said with a roll of his eyes. "You're the one who is giving her false hope for something that has never happened in the history of vampirism."
"You weren't there the day Elena looked me in the eye and told me she absolutely never wanted this."
"Then you shouldn't have let her die."
Kenzie slapped his chest. "Shit happens. I shouldn't have died either but guess what, it still happened. So instead of dwelling on it, or fighting about it, get over it and at least try to see if there's something that can be done." She paused, stopping to look at Stefan. "But in case there isn't, you need to prepare her to choose. She needs to decide if she will complete the transition or die. Tell her not to be a martyr and you both need to quit fighting over this. Now, you two do whatever. I have an original to yell at."
She left the house, not at all surprised when Damon appeared beside her. She grinned at him, getting into his car.
"You're going to go find Rebekah?" he asked as he backed out of the driveway
"Yup."
"What are you going to do?"
Kenzie shrugged. "Have a chat with her."
"Is there going to be a chick fight?" He asked, amusement coloring his tone.
She cast him a sidelong glance. "I feel as if you would enjoy that too much."
"Not going to lie, probably. Or you know, you can skip that and we can go off and have some hot vampire sex now that I truly know you can handle most anything."
She smirked at him. "Oh, you have no idea what I can handle now. But don't worry, I'm sure you'll find out fairly soon but first I'm talking to Rebekah."
"Alone? Because she can still kill you."
"How about you stand just out of sight, you can swoop in and save the day if need be."
They pulled up to the mansion and Damon got out first, Kenzie quickly reaching beneath the seat and grabbing the stake she knew was stashed under there and slipping it into the waistband of her jeans, her flowy shirt covering it. She got out, signalling Damon to stay back a bit as she walked inside, and towards the noise of Rebekah, having a fit as she tore the room apart.
Rebekah stopped, her back to Kenzie as she spoke. "I was wondering if I would ever see you again."
"Sorry, guess I should've kept in touch better." Kenzie sneered.
Rebekah turned to her with an exasperated sigh. "Don't tell me you're mad at me, Kenz, I just lost my brother."
"So that gives you the right to go murder my friends?"
"Oh please, you don't even like that doppelganger bitch."
"But she still acted more like a friend than you ever did." Kenzie yelled, stepping further into the room. "Have you ever wondered why you're so alone Rebekah? Why people can't be friends with you, or even like you? Because you're a sociopathic bitch who only cares about herself."
In a flash, Kenzie was up against the wall, the blondes hand wrapped around her throat.
"I can kill you right now."
"But you won't." Kenzie snapped. "Because I'm the only one who was even close to being your friend here and you have no one to blame but yourself for ruining it."
The hand around her throat tightened as Rebekah leaned in closer. "Than what's the point of keeping you alive then ?"
Kenzie opened her mouth to answer but was stopped by gunshots and the Original letting out small gasps as she was hit. She let go of the younger vampire but before Kenzie even hit the floor, Damon had grabbed her around the waist, pulling her out of the room and the house, leaving Rebekah to fend for herself.
This time, she didn't even feel bad.
… … …
"Kenz, Red, wake up."
The redhead groaned as she opened her eyes, smiling up at Damon who was leaning over her. "More already?" She practically purred.
"No, we have to go. Meredith just called and the Council is rounding up all the vampires. We need to get to Elena's."
Kenzie shot out of bed, using her speed to run to her closet and grab some clothes. She should've known this was too good to be true. Perhaps they should've spent sometime wondering who had shot at Rebekah but instead they had ended up at her house, engaging in that hot vampire sex he wanted to try. She was kind of surprised her bed wasn't broken.
"What's the situation, who do they have?" Kenzie asked as she exited the closet and they rushed down the steps to go to Elena's house.
"Rebekah and Caroline, but Tyler showed up and saved her."
"Tyler's alive?" She asked, having been told he had died when Klaus did.
"Apparently, whatever that means. And Meredith is at Elena's and no one is there."
The two glanced at each other before taking off at Vampire speed to Elena's house. Kenzie slowed down just as they entered the house to see Meredith standing there amongst a huge mess.
"You're right, they have them." Kenzie muttered.
"The Sheriff is on her way." Meredith informed them. "They showed up at the hospital, basically said I'm out of a job and they took all of the special blood supply."
Kenzie shook her head as she rolled her eyes. "Don't these idiots get that you're just trying to help?"
Meredith shrugged, muttering that she was going to tidy up as she drifted into the kitchen, leaving the two vampires to straighten up the living room.
The front door opened and Caroline's mom walked in. It struck Kenzie as odd that this was the woman who had ended her life, helping her start her new unlife as a Vampire and until now, she hadn't been anywhere near the woman since she had turned.
"They're gone." Damon informed the Sheriff. "Whoever nabbed Rebekah, got them too. Please tell me you have something, anything."
"I can't. The council locked Carol and me out of our offices." She explained as Meredith reappeared. "Files, computers, everything."
Damon shared a look with his girlfriend before moving closer to the Sheriff. "So the Mayor and Sheriff never contemplated a back up plan, Liz?"
"Relax." Kenzie calmed him, grabbing his arm. "Getting angry isn't going to help."
"That's rich coming from you." He muttered, causing her to send him a sassy grin.
Meredith ignored them, instead talking to Liz. "when Caroline called to say she got away, did she know where they planned to take her?"
Liz shook her head. "No, just that she was in some van in the middle of nowhere and managed to escape."
"Perfect. We narrowed it down to nowhere." Damon turned away in disgust as a knock sounded at the door and Kenzie looked around the Sheriff to see Matt standing there.
"Hey." She greeted, happy to see the football player looked fine.
"Hey." He replied. "Is Elena here?"
Damon turned at his voice and rushed him, grabbing him around the throat as he pushed the jock up against the wall. "In what world are you the one who gets to live?"
Kenzie sighed as she rushed forward at human speed and grabbed Damon's hand, using vampire strength to try and pull him off of Matt.
"Let him go." She snapped. "It wasn't his fault."
Damon glanced at her, than down at her hands, which were pretty impressively pulling one of his hands off of Matt's throat. He looked up at her, seeing the anger in her eyes, then released the football player, who grabbed his throat as he tried to catch his breath. Before anyone could say anything, the redhead grabbed his hand and yanked him into the kitchen.
"What the hell was that?' She hissed. "You try and kill Matt when Elena's death wasn't even his fault and Liz is standing right there and you haven't even attempted anything with her."
"What are you talking about?" He asked, slightly annoyed.
She crossed her arms over her chest. "Seriously? Who the fuck killed me Damon?"
He smirked. "At last count, a lot of people."
"Fuck you." She replied with a scowl. "Liz was the person who turned me into a vampire."
"But it wasn't her fault. She didn't know you were outside the diner."
She threw her hands up. "Exactly. And Matt didn't choose to be saved before Elena."
He scowled at her now. "Ugh, could you not be so rational."
"One of us has to be, especially when one of us is being a complete dick. If you're going to be mad at Matt, then you sure as hell better be pissed at Liz, or your girlfriend just may start thinking you prefer Elena."
"We've been over this."
"Then act like it." She snapped. "Pull your head out of your ass, we have people to find." She stomped back into the living room, an eyebrow raised at the others. "He'll behave now."
"Something like that." Damon drawled, following after her.
"With your vervain and Alaric's weapons, they could be anywhere." Liz mused, pacing the floor.
"Come on guys, think." Damon urged them. "It takes a lot to hold a vampire. Reinforced steel, iron doors…."
"The pastor has a cattle ranch." Matt spoke up. "Those pens could easily be modified."
Meredith nodded. "It's remote, it's secluded."
Kenzie smacked Damon's arm. "See what happens when you don't kill people?"
He ignored her, instead looking at the football player. "Well guess what, looks like you get a chance to prove how sorry you really are. Let's go."
She rolled her eyes, following after them. Damon stopped at the door, turning to face her.
"What are you doing?"
"You're going to need me." She told him. "So shut up and lets go."
She let Matt get into the backseat, not wanting to give Damon easy access to him. She was silent though as Matt gave directions on where to go. They reached the ranch house just after it had grown dark.
"This is it?" Kenzie asked, seeing lights on in the house.
"Yes." Matt confirmed as they all got out and stepped in front of the car towards the house. "Do we have a plan or are we supposed to storm the place with zero weapons?"
Kenzie turned to Damon, wondering what stupid half cocked plan he would have this time. He didn't let her down.
"Nah, we don't need weapons, just bait." He turned and grabbed Matt, biting into his neck before dropping him to the ground.
"Damon." She shrieked as he grabbed her and turned them towards the house, an arm around her neck, vamped out as he walked them towards the house.
"Yoo hoo, anybody home? Big bad vampire out here."
The front door opened as the pastor appeared in the door and Kenzie pretended to struggle against Damon, making her eyes wide and terrified.
"Let them go." The pastor called. "They're both innocent."
"Well, that's the point?" Damon replied, his arm tightening around Kenzie. "Give me Stefan and Elena and they're all yours."
"Please." Kenzie gasped.
"Come on Pastor, you know I'll kill them, I wanna kill them." He tilted Kenzie's head to the side, a fang scraping her neck and drawing blood.
"No." Kenzie whimpered, as tears began streaming down her face. "I don't want to die."
"Go away." The Pastor yelled. "You are not invited in and I am not coming out."
A gunshot sounded and Damon subtly pushed her away, taking the bullet in the shoulder and dropping him to the ground. Kenzie forced herself to continue playing the victim as she crawled towards Matt and she huddled up against the football player, softly crying.
"Are you okay?" Matt asked, wondering why Kenzie was so upset. She was usually the calm one in situations like this but now, she only cried harder as two men appeared with guns aimed at Damon and she pointed towards them, appearing every bit the damsel in distress.
One kicked Damon with their foot and in a flash he was up, grabbing both guns and pulling the men towards him. He knocked one back, turning and grabbing the guy who kicked him, breaking his neck. He turned towards the other man, grabbing his gun and stabbing him in the chest. Kenzie looked to see the Pastor had retreated inside the house and she stood up, wiping her eyes and pulling Matt to his feet just as Damon appeared beside her, pushing her away and pushing Matt back down, a foot coming to rest on his throat.
"Go ahead and kill me." Matt gasped out. "You can't possibly hate me more than I hate myself."
"Oh yes I can." Damon retorted, applying more pressure. "It should have been you."
"You son of a bitch." Kenzie snarled, jumping at him, just as someone else tackled him. All three tumbled across the lawn, and when they stopped Elena was on top of Damon, fully vamped out.
"Leave him alone." She yelled.
Kenzie sighed, pulling herself to her feet and brushing herself off, leaving the two on the ground as she walked towards Matt and helped him up, leading him towards the barn.
"Where are you taking me." He muttered, not comprehending that Kenzie was holding most of his weight.
"To find you another vampire to fix you." She replied as they reached the door.
This made him struggle and he finally untangled himself from her, pushing her away as he fell into the barn. "Leave me alone."
Stefan appeared, opening his wrist and feeding it to Matt. As Matt began to heal, he pushed Stefan away too, leaning up against a stall door.
"Stop. Just stop saving me." He cried.
"What the hell's your problem?" Stefan asked.
"Survivors guilt." Kenzie answered, leaning up against the barn door. "he's angry that he's alive and Elena's now a vampire. But really, he should feel lucky, he's now one of the lucky few in Mystic Falls. Completely normal."
"Survivor's guilt?" Stefan repeated. "You think you were my first choice?'
"Elena's a vampire because of me." Matt cried. "I have to live with that every day for the rest of my life."
"No, no. You don't have to live with that." Stefan countered. "You get to live with that because Elena put your life before her own. So every morning you get out of bed, you sure as hell better earn it."
Stefan walked away from him and towards Kenzie. "You're the cavalry?"
"Nah, I was bait. That was fun. Elena stopped Damon from killing Matt. Boy did he try to kill Matt a few times. Now I gotta decide how to make him pay. Hurt my feelings a bit, no one cared about my killer." She pouted up at Stefan as they walked away, leaving Matt to follow after them when he was ready.
"Which one?" Stefan asked, slightly amused.
"Oh, ha ha. You Salvatore's are fucking hilarious. But really, is this something I need to be worried about? Immortal Elena now, he has forever to try and woo her."
"But he chose you." The older vampire reminded her.
"Then why is he so obsessed with killing Matt over Elena. Hello? Not Matt's fault."
"MY brother is complex, you know this."
She sighed. "I know. Enough about me. Are you okay? Was Rebekah with you?"
"Yes, she actually helped me kill the guy to feed Elena."
The redhead looked at him in shock. "well color me surprised. Maybe I did get through to her with our little chat earlier. "
"You talked to Rebekah?"
"Well more like yelled at her. She's a shitty friend." She shrugged as they reached the front of the house in time to see Damon getting into his car and taking off, leaving them behind.
"Is Matt okay?" Elena asked, walking towards them.
"Yup. Why did he take off? He was my ride." Kenzie scowled at the retreating tail lights.
"We had a fight."
"Surprise, surprise." Kenzie mumbled. "I'll call Meredith to come get us. She's waiting for our call."
She stepped away, leaving the two to talk and typed out a one word text to Damon.
Asshole.
…. … …
She didn't even have to open her eyes to know there was someone in her room staring down at her.
"Go away, I haven't decided if I'm talking to you yet."
"Oh, please. I barely drew any blood on you and you played the part of the victim perfectly. I call that plan a success."
Her eyes shot open and she glared at him. "Was you trying to kill Matt again and taking off on us and leaving us there part of your plan too."
"No. Elena pissed me off."
She used her vampire speed to jump off the bed and rush him, pushing him up against the wall. "How the fuck am I supposed to believe you really chose me when Elena can still make you react like this. You were going to kill Matt just because she chose his life over hers. Why are you so obsessed with her mortality?"
"Because she didn't want this and I almost made that mistake once." Damon snapped.
Kenzie released him. "Neither did I." She shouted at him. "I never wanted this either."
"But you never even told anyone." He yelled back. "You disappeared for months and showed back up here playing the part of the perfect helpless human and acted like everything was fine. You didn't need my help, you didn't want it."
Kenzie took a step back. And then another. And more until the back of her legs hit the bed and she sank into the mattress. "I was mad at you." She weakly replied.
"For a very stupid reason." He reminded her.
"It was pretty legitimate at the time." She murmured, staring down at her hands. It wasn't until he cautiously sat beside her that she spoke again. "I didn't know how to deal with being a vampire."
"You don't think I would've helped you? That I didn't want you to be a vampire so I didn't have to worry about you? So I could be with you? Instead, you took off with Katherine of all people. She could've killed you without a second thought."
"I didn't know how to not be mad at you." She whispered. "And at the time, a part of me hoped she would kill me."
"Why?" He asked.
"I never wanted this." She reiterated.
"I didn't want this for you either. I mean, yeah, I wanted you with me forever but I knew you didn't want to be a vampire so I wanted you to grow and live your life how you wanted to, as long as you had me in it."
She sent him a sidelong look. "Me? Not Elena?"
"Yes, you." He replied, running a frustrated hand through his hair. "Maybe- Maybe I was so mad about this whole situation because I wasn't there to help you through yours. But I swear to god, you say the word and I will go kill Liz right now."
Kenzie laughed, falling sideways against him. "It's a little late for that. Plus you'd have to tell everyone why you killed her and where's the fun in that if I can't play poor helpless human anymore?"
"You're very good at that." He agreed. "Had me fooled until your sister spilled the beans, even after that I sometimes wondered if she was telling the truth."
"Do you think I should tell people?" She wondered.
"No, not until things calm down again. You're right, it's better that people don't know. Mad still?"
She shrugged. "No. I guess not. We can both agree to doing stupid things I guess."
"Good, so makeup sex?"
Kenzie laughed, throwing one leg over him so she was straddling. "Totally."
… … …