Chapter 8
"You got her drunk Damon?" Stefan yells racing over and yanking me from Damon's arms. But, Damon doesn't let go. Instead he protectively keeps a firm grip on my wrist. "I let her leave school property with you, against my better judgment, and this is what I come home to? She's just a girl Damon!"
"I'm nnnot a girrrl!" I whine, stomping my foot on the hard wood floor. "When are you goooing to realizzzz that I'm not a girrrl!" I try to fold my arms across my chest with no luck due to the fact that 1.) I am drunk off my ass right now
2.) Stefan and Damon are tugging on my arms like I'm a human tug of war rope.
"Emma, come on. I'm going to bring you to bed. You need to sleep this off." Stefan says being able to somehow yank me free of Damon's hold. "I'll be down right after to have a little talk with you!" Stefan lashes at Damon in anger. My head starts to spin as Stefan tries to lead me up the stairs. "Emma, are you okay?"
"Nnnnoooo…" I moan holding my head. "Can you carry me? I don't feel like walking." Stefan doesn't say a word back to me and before I can blink we are in Damon's room. "Thank you. I cann take thissss frrrom here!"
"No, I don't think you can." Stefan says pushing me down onto the bed with great force. I start to giggle at what I think is coming next. Stefan begins to take my pants off and I wiggle and squirm beneath him in protest.
"Thissss isss a baaad idea Sssstefan! What would Elena sssay?" I ask trying to be serious but having trouble keeping another fit of giggles down. Stefan rolls his eyes at me and pulls my jeans the rest of the way off.
"I'm not trying to sleep with you Emma. I'm only changing your clothes into something more comfortable." He says pulling a pair of pajama pants from Damon's drawer. He slips them over my hips and tells me to tie the draw string. I try to but all it does is make my head spin. Stefan does it quickly for me and tears my shirt off, leaving me in my hot pink plaid bra. He tosses me a muscle shirt that smells just like Damon and I pull it on. All of his clothes are practically falling off of me. "Now get some sleep, okay?" Stefan quickly tucks me in but, also very gently. "I'm going to go have a talk with Damon about serving alcohol to minors."
"It wasssn't Damon'ssss fault Sssstefan. It wassss mine. I know he should have sssstopped me but, don't go too hard him okay?" I lie straight to Stefan's face, hoping that it will work.
"Okay." Stefan says nodding his head. "I'll keep that in mind. Now sleep, you've been missing too much school and the second you're hangover is over you are heading straight there. You understand me?"
"Yesss Sssir!" I chirp at him. Stefan smiles down at me and kisses my forehead with a brotherly love behind it. That's just what I want from him. A love like a brother's. Not a love like Damon's. I'm not necessarily saying I'm in love with Damon either. Maybe someday down the road though. He leaves the room, softly closing the door behind him. I sigh and roll over, not wanting to lye still.
"Stefan doesn't know the proper way to get rid of drunkenness." I hear Damon's voice over my shoulder. "Well, he does but I think he doesn't want to take the chance."
"What should we do?" I ask, not looking at him. When he doesn't answer I sit up and look over at him. He's biting down into his arm. "What isss that going to-" I start when he stuffs his wrist into my mouth and holds my head to it so I won't pull away. I try to yell for him to stop but it's almost completely muffled by his arm and the pool of blood flowing into my mouth.
"Swallow it Emma!" Damon demands impatiently. I do as I'm told and with much effort the thick liquid goes down and he pulls his arm away. I start a coughing fit and look up at Damon in the clearest vision I've had in a few hours.
"What the fuck dude?" I scream jumping out of bed and punching him in the chest. Damon laughs as my fist bounces off of him. I wind up to slap him hard across the face when Damon catches my hand in mid swing.
"Stop trying to hit me." He chuckles. I slip my hand out of his stone hard grip and rub my hand. Vampires are strong! "You should be thanking me you know."
"Right, I am so thankful that you practically choked me using your blood!" I scream at him in frustration. Damon just laughs at me. "Shut up! This isn't funny you know!"
"Totally un-humorous." Damon says fighting back a smile. I find myself fighting back a smile as we stand there, staring into each other's eyes. I open my mouth to apologize for screaming at him when Stefan walks into the room.
"There you are!" Stefan cheers grabbing his arm and then taking notice to me standing there. "You look considerably better…" There is confusion in his eyes as he looks me up and down, as if the answer will be written on my shirt or something. "Damon…what did you do?"
"Oh, relax! I just slipped her some blood to sober her up." Damon rolls his eyes and casually walks out of the room like what he said was no big deal. Apparently it is. Stefan's face becomes a creamy white color and he stares at my face in shock.
"What?"
"Emma, get back into bed!" Stefan says tucking me into bed again. "I need to have a little talk with Damon right about now." Stefan is gone just as quickly as he was here. "DAMON! I'M GOING TO KILL YOU!"
I jump out of my bed at the sound of that. I tiptoe and peak my head out of the door. I see Damon and Stefan screaming in each others face. My eyes go wide and I feel a scared gasp rise in my throat as Stefan lunges at Damon. Without thinking I sprint in between the two, my back to Damon, and chest against Stefan.
"Emma?" Damon shouts angry. "What do you think you're doing? Trying to get killed?"
"No, I'm saving your ass!" I scream pushing Stefan back. He steps back from me and stares at me with a grimace on his face.
"Great! This is just so fucking perfect!" Stefan says pacing back and forth in the room. "She's fallen for you!" He looks down at the floor, deep in thought. "We have to do something and fast."
"What are you talking about?" I ask looking back at Damon. He lowers his eyes looking ashamed. I stand there completely confused. "What's so wrong with me liking him?"
"Did you know she had feelings for you?" Stefan asks around me.
"I suspected…" Damon admits sheepishly.
"What's wrong with you? You should have iced her out before it was too late!"
"You get to have Elena! Why can't I have my own human?"
Stefan looks hard at Damon, breathing heavy. He slowly calms down and looks like he may just cry. I look at them so confused it's not funny. I've never seen them act so strange. "You love her too don't you Damon?"
"Please help me Stefan. I can't hide this with out your help."
"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT?" I finally burst.
"It's Katherine…" Damon says in a low mumble of a voice. "She's already threatened Elena before for being with Stefan. We're worried she'll threaten you too…"
"Oh…" I gulp and look back and forth between them. "Is she in Mystic Falls?"
"No, she left a few months ago. She only talked to my uncle, you know before someone killed him…" Stefan pauses in his story long enough to grimace at Damon, who obviously must have killed him. "She told him to tell me to watch Elena's back."
"We thought it was an empty bluff because we've seen neither hair nor hide of her since." Damon says looking at me. "I'm so sorry I've gotten you involved in this…"
"What do you mean? If it was an empty threat then why are you worried?" I say turning around and staring up at Damon, trying my hardest to read past those icy blue pools that try to hide his emotions.
"What if it's not?"
"Yeah and what if the world ends in 2012?" I shoot at him sarcastically. "There are a ton of things in this world that could easily happen but might not at the same time."
"I guess you're right." He sighs looking very tired. "I just…I'm worried."
"We'll be fine, I promise." I smile turning to Stefan. "You."
"Me…" He says sounding a little nervous of what's going to come. "You need to let your brother be happy for once. Stop trying to do what you think is right for him. He knows what's good for him. He'll do what he wants. Alright?"
"Fine." He lets out in a humph, not liking this idea very much. "But, if you end up bitten or worse, it'll be on your shoulders Damon."
"I'll die before I let that happen." He says with a glimmer of hope in his eyes. "Does this mean I can keep her?"
"She's not a puppy Damon but, yes you can." Stefan chuckles beside himself at the situation that lay out before him. "I just hope we don't come to regret it."
"Emma." I hear Damon murmur in ear with a tired voice. I roll over and look at his gorgeous pale face staring back at me. I smile faintly at him, remembering what has happened today. Damon likes me more than a friend. He said so to Stefan. Just to think that a little while earlier I was almost crying because he said he loved Elena. He may not love me quite yet but, that's okay. I can handle this for right now.
"Yeah?" I whisper, not wanting Stefan to overhear us from wherever he may be in the house.
"Why were you crying in the bathroom this morning?" His eyes burn with the desire of wanting to know. He is completely serious right now, no smirk, no scowl, no amused or sarcastic curl in his voice.
"It's really stupid." I sigh, embarrassed by the entire thing. "You sure you want to know?" He nods, his eyes shimmering, his head inching closer to mine on the perfect white pillow. "Well, I saw Elena standing outside of the school and I ran up to her. She was acting really weird but I just figured that her and Stefan got in a fight or something. I asked her to stay in her house while my mother was away for the week. She said yes and walked into the school. After going to my locker I found her with Stefan and Caroline. I asked her what time to be going over to her house at tonight. She completely freaked out, saying that I had never asked to stay in her house and that I couldn't because her uncle was using up their guest bedroom. It really upset me that she would do that to me. It frustrated me more than anything."
Damon lay there, processing the information given for a moment and then his eyes got wide. "Oh my God!"
"What?"
"Tell me, was Elena wearing different clothes outside then when she was inside?"
"I didn't really take notice."
"I think we may have a problem…" Damon sat up in the bed, looking frantic. "STEFAN!"
"What's going on?" I ask, sitting up too. "Damon?" He begins to storm around the room, packing both his and my things.
"We need to get out of here, now." Stefan rushes into the room, looking extremely alarmed. "Stefan, call Elena. Tell her to start packing her things. We need to leave town now."
"Why? What's going on?" Stefan asks, already dialing in Elena's number on his phone.
"Katherine's back in town."
Stefan looks extremely alarmed, talking into the phone sounding frantic. Elena arrives at the house in less than ten minutes. She looks worried as the brothers begin to cram our stuff into the car.
"Guys! Maybe we should just stop and think a second. Isn't this what she wants? For us all to go fleeing away from her!" Elena says as we pile into Damon's sports car. I hop in the front passenger seat with Damon while Elena and Stefan sit in the back. I buckle up and we zoom out of the driveway. I watch with tears in my eyes as Mystic Falls shrinks away in the distance.
"You'll be alright Emma." I hear Damon say to me. I shift myself to face him, trying not to cry. "Why are you so upset? We are getting away. No one has gotten hurt yet."
"Yeah…I know…it's just…" I mumble glancing at Elena and Stefan staring up at us, listening to our every word. "I've moved around a lot ever since my parents split up. I just thought that…I wouldn't have to leave this place again until after I graduate. I'll be fine."
"It's alright Emma. We aren't going to judge you." Stefan says placing a hand onto my shoulder. I smile and sigh again.
"Damon, we should pull over to get gas. The light just went on." Elena says leaning over the driver's seat and pointing at the blinking red light. Damon nods and pulls off into the nearest gas station.
"I'm going to go and get a snack." I smile and walk into the gas station with a five dollar bill in my hand. I grip it tightly as I step into the air conditioned building. The cool hits my skin, causing goose bumps. I shiver and head towards the snack section. I look over all of the snacks with indifference.
I hear a jingle of a bell go off and I look over at the door. Elena walks in smiling happily. She spots me and I smile back at her with a wave. She walks right over to me with determination in her step.
"I've been look all over for you." She says sighing with relief and running her fingers through her long dark hair.
"Um…okay?" I laugh picking out a bag of sour cream and onion chips. "I was only going to be a second. I thought you heard me in the car. I said I was going to get a snack. I didn't mean to scare you or anything, I promise."
She smiles bigger and grabs my hand. "We need to go now though. Damon just finished filling the tank and we need to get moving." I follow her lead, letting go of the chips and letting them hit the ground. We rush out the door and the sudden darkness of the outside night makes me temporarily blind. Elena sprints us through the parking lot frantically. Here I thought I was nervous! Elena is even more!
Elena plops me down into the seat of the car as my vision begins to come back. The door slams and the already running car zooms off at top speed.
"EMMA!" I hear a familiar voice off in the distance. I snap my head around confused and I see Damon hopping into his car and turning it on. I gasp and look over to see Elena driving the car at an extremely quick speed. That would mean that this isn't Elena this is…
"Katherine." I say in complete fear.
"You know it Bitch." She laughs.