Chapter 8:
Tension

The front door to the Salvatore boarding house burst open to reveal a furious Taylor. Her eyes quickly scanned the first floor. No one was down there with her, which was strange since she was sure someone had been as she'd approached. It must have been the anger clouding her senses.

Stefan's voice startled her.

"Taylor, what are you doing here?"

Her body snapped in his direction, her glare not diminished the slightest. "Where is Damon?"

"What's going on?"

"Stefan! Where is he," she hissed.

The elder vampire finally caved, telling her that he was in fact up stairs in his room. Stefan shook his head; sure that Damon had done something stupid to deserve her anger. Actually, he was rather sure what it was that his idiot of a brother had done. He just hoped nothing too bad was about to happen. Just in case he listened as Taylor rushed up the stairs, bursting through his door.

At the sight of Damon her fury intensified. Taylor rushed forward and tackled the vampire to the floor, straddling his waist and pinning his arms to the floor.

"What the hell are you doing?" The irritation in his voice told her he was still upset about earlier.

"What the hell do you think you were doing?"

"What are you talking about?"

"You killed him!"

Damon sighed, "Who are we talking about?"

"My brother, you asshole," she screamed, her fangs extended at the strong emotions she felt.

"Jeremy is alive and fine," he said. "Still breathing."

"Don't joke around, Damon! This isn't something stupid. He's my brother! And you tried to kill him."

"The key word being tried."

She hissed in his face. "You were lucky he was wearing that damned ring!"

Before he could reply she sprang away, retreating to the other side of the room, nearest the door. Her arms were folded across her chest, hugging her body for comfort. With an almost heartbreaking look on her face she glanced up at Damon.

"Did you know he was wearing the ring?"

Damon's face dropped. He took a step forward, his hands reaching out to her. "Taylor…"

"Answer me Damon."

"No," he said, his voice soft.

Tears stung Taylor's eyes and she held back the cry that wanted to come out. "Why? Why did you do that?"

The elder vampire struggled for a reason. How do you put into words how horrible he had felt? How much he had wanted to take it out on anyone? "I was in a bad place. Katherine came back. You were missing. I couldn't take it."

It wasn't a good enough answer. The vampire turned her back to him, an overwhelming sense of emotion filling her as she rushed down the stairs. She would have kept running if Stefan hadn't stopped her, a concerned look on his face.

"What happened?"

He had heard everything – she knew he'd been listening. Despite this, she fell to the floor where she stood, defeated as tears fell.

"I don't know how much of this I can take, Stefan."

"What do you mean," he asked, taking a seat next to her on the floor, resting a hand comfortingly on her shoulder. He was always the better of the Salvatore brothers to deal with these kinds of things.

"Every time I get Damon it feels like something tears us apart."

Stefan said nothing. There was more that she wanted to say. All he had to do was wait for her to feel comfortable enough to say it. It didn't take long before the words spilled from her mouth.

Near sobs, she continued. "We get into an argument or he does something incredibly stupid and we're at odds. It's always something. I just feel like I can never relax with him, Stefan, and I don't know if I like that. I'm so… I'm so tired of arguing."

"Then don't argue," he spoke softly, as if it were that easy.

"Have you met your brother?" She scoffed, before continuing in a whisper, "This feels like the last straw."

"The last straw?"

"Killing Jeremy. I can't be with Damon if he's going to do something like that without thought."

"I'm not going to tell you what to do," Stefan said softly, aware that Damon may be listening from his room upstairs. "But I'll tell you that I know you love him. And that you'll get over this. And Taylor?"

The young girl looked up through blurred vision.

"You make him a better person. I'm not saying that what he did to your brother was okay or justifiable. Just… think about everything before you do something you'll regret."

Despite the sadness that consumed her, she smiled, reaching forward and bringing Stefan into a hug. "Thank you, Stefan."

Waking up the next morning to the sound of people moving about, Taylor groaned, turning over in bed and hiding under her covers. Jenna's barbeque was today (which meant she'd have to deal with Damon and Mason). She was still beyond pissed that Damon had tried to kill Jeremy. Letting him know that she not only knew Mason – and lied to them – but that they were close would make him do something stupid. And an angry Damon was not what she needed at the moment.

Maybe if I just lay here, she thought hopefully. Of course she wasn't that lucky.

"Come on, Tay, you have to get up," Elena called, opening her door and walking in. She chuckled at the sight of her sister, curled up beneath her sheets. "It's almost time for the barbeque… we can talk about it, if you want."

"No," she said, horrified. She did not want to do that. "I just want to lie here all day."

"It won't be that bad, it's just Damon. You can handle him."

Reluctantly, Taylor tossed her blanket of, sitting up in her bed. She bit her lip, contemplating telling Elena about Mason. Maybe she would be more supportive if she found out now, rather than later when he arrived?

Noticing the unsure look on her sister's face, Elena asked, "What's wrong?"

After a long sigh, Taylor answered. "You remember Jenna's friend, Mason? The one that Damon is after?"

"Yeah? What about him?"

"I know him."

There was a long pause.

"You know him? Taylor, why didn't you tell us earlier? You know this whole thing is set up by Damon right?"

"I know. I'm sorry Elena. I was just worried what you would all say and, I don't know, it felt like another Katherine problem."

"Another Katherine problem?"

"None of you believe me about Katherine – I was sure none of you would about Mason. And I didn't want Damon going off the deep end if he found out I knew him."

"And what do you think he'll do today?"

The vampire groaned, squeezing the temples of her head. "I don't know! I just want to go back to sleep…"

"I have to go through this, you do too. Come on, get ready. They'll be here in half an hour," Elena stood, walking to the door. "It'll be fine, Taylor. It'll work out."

"Are you mad?"

"About Mason?"

Taylor nodded her head, worried. Damon already hated her, she didn't need her sister to.

"No… you had your reasons."

With that her sister left. Taylor took a quick shower and got dressed, deciding to wear a cute white sundress that complemented her curves perfectly. After dressing, she headed downstairs just in time to hear voices from the kitchen. She stopped at the top of the stairs, listening. She could hear Elena, Jenna, Alaric… Mason and Damon, as well. With a sigh, she headed down and into the kitchen.

"Hey guys," she greeted, ready for things to get awkward.

"Taylor," Mason greeted happily, walking over and pulling her into a friendly hug. She returned it, refusing to let her eyes flicker to Damon. Of course Mason wasn't surprised. He met Elena, Elena and Taylor were twins. The deduction was not hard to assume they were sisters.

The two broke apart and the vampire went to stand next to her sister.

"You two know each other," Jenna asked suspiciously.

Taylor nodded her head, hoping to get off without explaining more. Damon was tense, his eyes narrowed into a glare at Mason. She watched him closely, ready to intervene if it became necessary.

"How?"

"We met in Chicago," Taylor explained, unconsciously running a hand down her dress.

"You two were close?" The question came from Damon, who surprisingly managed to keep his anger under control.

Mason didn't fail to notice – he was an excellent observer and it worried her what putting these two in the same room would lead to. "Yeah we are pretty close. We used to do everything together for a while back in Chicago, until she decided to go back home."

"Is that so?"

Mason nodded his head. "We were always together when she wasn't with other friends. We talked about everything."

As the two continued to go back and forth, holding Jenna and Alaric's attention, Elena pulled Taylor aside.

"What are we going to do if this gets bad," she whispered.

Taylor knew what she meant. She was talking about Damon. "Ill take care of it if it does. Let's just get this over with… Oh," she paused. "Caroline's here."

In the kitchen, Taylor had retreated to doing the dishes. Elena and Caroline had left early to look for Stefan, who apparently hadn't answered any of Elena's calls or texts. Damon was constantly throwing jabs at Mason, poking at the fact that he was a werewolf, making comments about dogs and the like. It was driving her insane.

"Need some help?"

The young girl turned, a relieved sigh escaping. "Hey Mason."

"You sound frustrated," he smiled, leaning against the counter near her. "Shouldn't you be having fun?"

"It's a bit hard with Damon being a complete ass and making snide remarks about you."

"You didn't tell him."

Taylor shook her head though it was more of a statement than a question, rinsing her hands before shutting the water off. She turned her attention to him fully. "I didn't want to get you into trouble. I only told Elena this morning."

"You're worried about me."

"Of course I am. Look, Mason, you need to be careful."

Being stubborn, the wolf simply smiled, feeling no threat.

"I'm serious. Damon's upset right now. He did something stupid and I got into an argument with him. He won't hesitate to do something stupid and hurt you."

"I'll be fine," he insisted, raising his hand to her shoulder. He squeezed it gently before the two walked into the living room where it seemed that everyone was departing.

Mason decided to leave, telling Alaric he'd catch some game with him. Damon was quick to follow, which worried Taylor. He sent her one last, longing look before disappearing out the door.

"Well that was interesting," Alaric mentioned as Jenna walked into the Kitchen.

"Don't Alaric," she sighed.

"Damon's going after him."

"I was worried he would."

"Are you going to stop him?"

"Since when could Damon be stopped if he didn't want to be? Mason can take care of himself."

Alaric opened his mouth to speak, then clamped it shut.

"What is it, Alaric?"

Though unsure, he asked, "When were you going to tell us?"

The vampire shrugged her shoulder. "I don't know. I was worried that Damon would over react and hurt Mason. I wasn't exactly planning on telling anyone. I was going to try and get Mason to leave."

"Oh."

"Yeah: Oh."

Outside of Mystic Grill, Mason pulled to a stop, getting out of his car. It was dark out and he was a few feet from his car when Damon appeared. He began to greet him only to be interrupted by a silver knife being plunged in his chest. Mason fell to the floor, a surprised gasp leaving his lips. He listened as Damon opened the back of his truck and began going through it.

After ripping out the silver, he stood, irritated.

"Well that's disappointing," Damon said.

"Silver does nothing. I think it's a myth the werewolves started for moments like this."

Damon said nothing. He watched cautiously as the wolf walked closer to him.

"You've just made an enemy, Damon."

With a nonchalant shrug, Damon began to walk away, but stopped as Mason brought up Taylor.

"You're going to loose her."

"What," he snapped.

"Whatever you did to her, it really hurt her. She isn't going to forget it. If you keep doing things like tonight you're going to loose her to someone else."

"To you?"

Mason didn't answer.

Angry and Jealous, Damon sped away back to the boarding house. He was going to kill that damn wolf. Taylor would get over it. He would get her back.

Hey everyone! I feel like I fit a lot in the chapter. You have the falling out between Damon and Taylor. Then you have Elena and the other's finding out about the Taylor knowing Mason. Plus, the conversation between Mason and Taylor. Also, Mason and Damon.

Do you think Damon will lose her? Why didn't Mason answer Damon?

Let me know what you think!