Damon stared down at the drugged out girl at his feet. He'd just given the Donovan chick his blood – figured if someone fought that hard to live after he'd slaughtered everyone in the clearing they deserved it. But now there was the question of what to do with her.

For a brief moment he considered bringing her back to the Boarding House and spending the day partying with her – it'd be nice having a fresh human to drink from all day.

But after a moment of consideration, he decided to forgo the idea. After all, Suze got off work in a few hours since she'd be finishing up the night shift. She'd promised to come over and visit at some point during the day after finding out he'd be stuck in the shadows, and he got the feeling Suze would not get along with this particular high school girl.

Fuck, he owed Suze. The kind of debt he could never pay back. For all of his bravado, Damon had been panicking at the thought of desiccating and starving for however long Stefan decided. And wasn't that awful – his little brother was the one who would be essentially torturing him.

And Suze had saved him. With absolutely no expectations for payment or any kind of reward – she just did it because she loved him.

It was still something he was getting used to. The idea that somebody loved him for who he was, asshole-qualities and all. Sure, they fought and sometimes would bitch at each other, but she really was the person he trusted most –

Oh, fuck.

Katherine. How had he been forgetting her? And furthermore, how the hell had he not been thinking about what would happen after he got Katherine back? Suze was on board for releasing Katherine from her prison. And she knew all about his plan to get back together with Katherine and had begrudgingly come around to support him with backhanded encouragement – she was such a bitch sometimes, he loved it – but she wasn't a big fan of the idea of Katherine, still paranoid that she'd been manipulating him or something.

And Katherine – she didn't care about humans, and for all of her selfishness, she could be incredibly jealous when she wasn't getting attention. Would she hurt Suze? That wasn't even an option. Damon would convince Katherine to leave her be. And who knew, maybe the girls would get along.

That, or tear each other the hell apart.

Damon decided to put that train of thought on the back burner and get back to the issues he had to deal with in the moment. So with one last glance down at the still-unconscious but now-healed girl, Damon began whistling and strutted away, brainstorming how he would torment his brother into giving him his daylight ring back.

Unbeknownst to him, two hours later Vicki Donovan would wake up and flee back to her house, where she would accidentally overdose on pills with his blood in her system.

The Gilbert residence seemed like the best place to go to find his little bro to get his ring back, considering Stefan hadn't been by the Boarding House all day. Suze had only been able to stay for two hours, and since she'd brought over Louie and Killer the time had passed quickly as they played catch with the dogs using Stefan's belongings.

Of course Killer was still a puppy and couldn't be blamed for chewing up Stefan's valuables. Such a tragedy.

When he rung the doorbell, rocking on the balls of his feet, he could honestly say he was a bit surprised at the overly hostile reaction he received. Fear, he understood, since he'd already guessed that Stefan had told Elena about what they were. But she seemed pissed off about something and self righteousness was practically dripping off of her.

"Hey, there's no need to be rude. I'm just looking for Stefan. May I come in? Oh, wait. Of course I can. I've been invited. We can cut to the chase if you want. I'm not gonna kill you right now. That wouldn't serve my greater agenda. So… where's Stefan?"

The answer she gave was very, very unexpected.

"He's out looking for Vicki."

She seemed to be looking at him expectantly, and the deliberate way she was talking obviously had some double meaning. At the moment, Damon could give a fuck. He just wanted his goddamn ring back.

"White Trash Barbie isn't really on my list of things I care about. Where. Is. He?"

Elena seemed even more pissed at his answer, which – the hell? Was he supposed to be interested in yet another random high school student? Pretending he and Caroline were spending time together was work enough, to his knowledge there wasn't any reason Elena and Stefan should think he cared about Donovan.

"How can you just act like you didn't do anything wrong? You're putting so many people in danger! Did you ever thank Katherine for what she did to you?"

Alright. That was it. With an annoyed huff and roll of his eyes, Damon stepped toward Elena and pressed her against the wall with his forearm against her throat but exerting no pressure – not at all restricting her airways. It was a clear statement anyway.

"Do not talk to me about Katherine. Just because you know what we are doesn't make you an expert on the Salvatore family. Explain what you're talking about, before I decide your brother makes a good snack pack."

Her eyes widened and fear flashed across her face, but Elena's voice only trembled slightly when she said, "You turned Vicki into a vampire. She was at my house and could have hurt Jeremy."

Damon stepped back, releasing the girl completely. This was not at all a part of his dastardly plans – in fact, this seemed like it would be a huge clusterfuck of complications. A drug addict did not a sane vampire make. He was the monster in this town, there wasn't room for some crazy baby vamp and he already had a fucking awesome partner in crime. Now he had to make sure Vicki was out of the picture after saving her sorry ass less than a day ago.

"Actually, I was Prince Charming and healed her up – after almost draining her, obviously. But its not my problem the girl died, so have fun dealing with that. And tell my brother I'm looking for him. Oh, tip for later, be careful who you invite in the house."

Before he left, he saw Elena's expression of shock – clearly realizing he was being serious.

Damon could give a shit. He had to find his brother.

Approximately two weeks later

"Wait – you're telling me that the drug addicted teenage girl isn't doing very well with her vampirism? Shocker. Really, who could have seen this coming?"

Damon laughed and took her coffee from her, immediately throwing it back to chug what remained. Suzanne knew for a fucking fact that he didn't even like coffee all that much. He was just being a dick. She kicked him under her kitchen table but before she could ream him out or demand he make her more, he answered her half-joking question.

"The worst part is Stefan and Elena seem to think I should take responsibility for it. Like its my fault she OD'ed when she happened to have vamp blood in her system. I was being downright benevolent. Last time I do something nice for a stranger."

Suzanne hummed to herself, thinking over what was going on in Mystic Falls. It seemed like anything that could go wrong there was going wrong there. And the more and more she heard about the will-they-won't-they teen couple Damon had to be around, the more second hand annoyance she felt on his behalf.

Suzanne got viciously defensive when people insulted her choice in breakfast cereal, she would hardly last with some teenagers insulting her every action like Stefan and Elena seemed to do with Damon. Seriously – he was a vampire. They had to get the fuck over the body count.

…Yes, Suzanne having sociopathic qualities was still very much a possibility she considered.

This topic was getting a little boring to her, if she was being honest. Damon's drama was usually fun, but there had been a lull in actual action. For now it was sort of a waiting game until he could get Katherine free. And they had much more important things to discuss.

"We need to finalize our decision on Halloween costumes from the ones I've outlined. It's only twelve days away." Seeing his mouth open, Suzanne cut him off, "And if you say you're going as a vampire, I will murder you. It's my favorite holiday. We're celebrating my birthday two weeks late to focus on this. This should totally be up your alley!"

Damon snorted but seemed to actually consider her question when he said, "What were my options again? We're coordinating, right? And I'm assuming we're still going to that rave the new surgical interns are throwing."

Suzanne nodded and immediately listed off, "Hades and Hecate, Sid and Nancy, Psycho doctors – and yes you can use real blood, Devils, or Angels if we want to be ironic."

Damon squinted at her and was silent for a minute as he thought it over before finally saying, "Let's go with Sid and Nancy. You own four leather jackets and I've only seen you wear one of them."

"It's been too warm! But yeah, I like it. If you stab me then kill yourself though to 'get into character' I swear to fuck I'll haunt your ass and cockblock you for eternity."

"I acknowledge your statement, and will take it into consideration."

THINGS WILL BE QUICKLY DIVERGING FROM CANON

Also - the timeline for the Vampire Diaries is super confusing and fucked up: after Vicki turns, the Halloween episode is one full month later... did she just not attend school or have a search going on for her? So from now on I'll move around events to tie into my story.

One more thing: not sure where people got the idea Damon's pairing would be an OC, the endgame I've got planned for him now is very much alive on the show (the pairing is not one many people ship, mostly because it's a bit unusual - feel free to guess!)

As always, let me know what you think! Thanks, lovelies! xx