Chapter 4

"That little BITCH!" Damon roared, trying to get the vervain mixed mace out of his eyes and downed another tumbler of whiskey. "DAMN IT!"

Removing his shirt, Damon tossed it on the floor and kicked it, scowling angrily. He thought she just had regular mace on her, but apparently Meredith had it laced with vervain. Being one of the council members of Mystic Falls, Damon should've seen it coming a mile away. This was a Fell he was investigating, not some low-class girl.

"What the hell happened to you?" Stefan asked, having heard his brother's ranting and had to see what was going on.

"Vervain, what else?" Damon snapped, not in the mood to chat and poured himself another tumbler, needing something to get his mind off the current pain while his face slowly healed. "Apparently, Meredith gave Jessenia a mace bottle that was laced with vervain and she sprayed me with it."

Stefan raised an eyebrow, sighing and walked over to where his big brother, folding his arms in front of his chest. "What did you do to her?" He asked bluntly, watching as Damon stopped from downing the tumbler to stare incredulous at him.

"What makes you automatically assume I did something, Stefan?" Damon growled, taking a cool rag and dabbed at his eyes more, the burning slowly subsiding as his seared skin slowly returned to normal.

"Because I know you and I know how you work." Stefan stated flatly, not feeling an ounce of pity for his big brother. "So out with it. What did you do?"

Damon snorted, finishing off the second tumbler. "Like I'd tell you."

The glass fell from Damon's fingertips and shattered to the floor because Stefan slammed him as hard as he could against the wall. Damon wasn't that strong due to the vervain, but tried pushing Stefan off of him anyway. Stefan jammed his forearm against Damon's throat, applying as much pressure as he could, causing Damon to growl.

"Get…off me…NOW!"

"Not until you tell me what you did to Jessenia."

"What do you care?" Damon coughed out, slowly regaining his strength and pushed on Stefan's forearm, gritting his teeth. "You already have a girlfriend!"

"Fiancée to be exact." Stefan corrected him, seeing the different emotions swirling in his brother's eyes, and released him instantly. "You like her."

Damon glared, rubbing his throat and stood straight up, squaring his shoulders. "No I don't. I want to know why she came to Mystic Falls. She's hiding something."

Stefan smirked, pouring himself a tumbler and ignored the shattered glass for the moment. "You're seriously going to try playing that card with me?" He drained the tumbler and set it down, turning to face his brother. "Why are you so suspicious of her?" Stefan decided he would play along for now.

"Because she's new and nobody comes to this town without a purpose." Damon stated, walking over and yanked the bottle of whiskey from his brother's hand, pouring himself a shot. "You know I'm right, Stefan."

"So you went after her, after I specifically asked you not to?" Stefan demanded, running a hand through his hair when Damon nodded with one of his smug smiles. "What did you do to her?"

"Nothing. I may have scared her a little with what I said, but I didn't physically hurt her." Damon said, telling the truth for once and drained the tumbler again, refilling it. "I told you, I just want to find out why she's here and then I'll leave her alone."

Sighing, as much as Stefan didn't want to agree with his brother, Damon definitely had a point. "What if I found out?" He suddenly asked, turning his head to stare at Damon, raising a brow. "What if we got Elena to get the truth out of her, if there is one?"

"There is one." Damon was positive of it and threw back another shot. "What makes you think she's going to tell Elena?"

"Because, unlike you, she's not afraid of me." Elena said from the doorway, causing both brothers to turn to look at her. "What do you want me to find out?"

"You seriously expect me to trust you to find out the truth?" Damon chuckled, no humor in his tone as he sat down on his bed, a bigger glass of bourbon this time dangling from his fingertips. "And if she doesn't tell you?"

"Then we'll let you handle it your way."

"Stefan!" Elena did not like the sound of that, rushing up to him. "No! What if he kills her to get the truth? Have you lost your mind?"

"You give me no credit whatsoever, Elena. I'm not going to kill her." Damon surmised, standing up to stare down at her with those intense ice blue eyes of his.

Elena wasn't backing down as she stepped up to him, lips a firm grim line. "Promise me then. Promise me you won't kill her to get the truth." The gears in Elena's mind were already turning, trying to figure out a way to get the truth out of Jessenia.

"If I kill her, I'll let you stake me." Damon stated, watching as both Elena and Stefan's eyes widen, a smirk tilting his lips. "Well?"

"Y-You would actually put your existence on the line for this?" Stefan couldn't believe what he was hearing, wondering what was going on in his big brother's head. "Damon…"

Elena swallowed hard, looking very uneasy. "You're serious aren't you?" She smiled with sparkling brown eyes and couldn't stop from hugging him around the neck. "I knew there was good in you, Damon."

Damon looked over at Stefan, wanting to make sure his brother didn't attack him because his girl decided to have contact with him. "Yeah…" He broke away from the hug and took a few steps back, his feelings for Elena not completely faded.

Truth be told, Damon didn't know if he would be over Elena fully. He still thought back to the time they were standing on her porch and Damon told her he would give himself a reason for feeling guilty. He kissed her and it was probably the most wonderful feeling in the world. Her lips were so soft against his, everything about her lit his blood completely ablaze.

His feelings had diminished a little when Elena made the decision to be with Stefan after their little fling and Damon retreated into himself for awhile, keeping quiet. Now, he was back and ready to get back in the game, which was going to start with finding out what Jessenia Winters was hiding. Whatever it was, he would be handling it personally as he stared out the window, downing another shot.

"We done here?" Damon wanted to be alone with his thoughts, his tone telling them the conversation was over.

"Yeah, come on Stefan." Elena murmured quietly, grabbing his hand and lead him out of Damon's room, closing the door behind them. "I know how I'm going to get the information out of Jessenia. I don't want Damon hurting her."

"How?" Stefan asked softly, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear.

"That necklace that used to be mine has to come off. Then I can use compulsion to find out her reason for being here." Elena explained, making sound so simple and watched as Stefan's smile grew.

"How do you plan on doing that exactly?"

Elena simply smiled and brought his lips down to hers, kissing him. "You leave that to me and just take me upstairs."

"Whatever you want." Lifting her in his arms, Stefan carried his future wife up the stairs to their bedroom to spend some much needed alone time together.

~!~

The next day, Jessenia was in gym and thankfully remembered her uniform, so she didn't feel completely out of place. She was currently running on the track, deciding since she was more than likely on Damon's radar, she would have to learn to protect herself against him. Pounding pavement seemed like the smartest way to do that since she outran him…or so she thought. If Jessenia knew what Damon really was, she probably would've moved back to Maryland in a heartbeat.

But she didn't.

"Hey!" Elena greeted, breaking Jessenia out of her thoughts. "How are you?"

"I'm fine. Just been awhile since I ran so I'm trying to pace myself." Jessenia was one of the slower runners, but she wasn't nearly as out of breath as some of the other students. "What's up?"

"Caroline told me about what happened yesterday with Damon. I'm so sorry, Jesse. Stefan is going to talk to him again and hopefully he'll leave you alone." Elena meant that, hoping Damon kept his promise about not killing her because she seemed like a really nice girl. "Are you okay?"

Jessenia nodded with an assuring smile. "Yeah, I told Caroline to leave so he could talk to me. Things got a little out of hand though…and I sprayed him with mace." His roars of pain still echoed in her mind and actually gave Jessenia nightmares.

"Yeah I saw that, nice aim." What the hell had Damon done to make her spray him with mace that was apparently laced with vervain? "That is some pretty strong stuff."

"Yeah, my cousin gave it to me. She said that I need protection around this town." Jessenia explained, shrugging nonchalantly. "I didn't mean to spray him, but he grabbed my chin a little too hard and…I panicked. He wasn't hurting me, I shouldn't have done it, but he seems a little unstable and like I said it scared me, so I reacted the only way I knew how."

Elena completely understand what Jessenia was talking about, both girls crossing the finish line, finishing gym class on a positive note. "Don't apologize for defending yourself." She said, stopping Jessenia from walking away, turning her around to face her. "I mean it, Jesse. You did nothing wrong and he had no right to lay a finger on you. I would've done the same thing if it was me."

That made Jessenia feel a little better about what she did to Damon. "Thanks Elena, I really appreciate it." They walked back inside to head to the woman's locker room to change for their next class. "So what's with him anyway?"

"Damon? He thinks you're here for a reason, but I told him he's just being paranoid. He really does mean well and I know he didn't mean to hurt you." Elena hoped anyway, not wanting to lead Jessenia into a false sense of security. "But I wouldn't let my guard down around him, not for a second. He can be a good guy when he wants to be, but he can also be very dangerous and it's just better to keep your distance."

Something told Jessenia there was a lot more history between Damon and Elena than she was letting on, but it wasn't her business, but she wasn't about to pry. Jessenia pulled her blue jean skirt on that went two inches above the knee, not too short or long, with a white sleeveless top since it was around ninety degrees outside. She couldn't wait for the summer to go away so the winter would come and they wouldn't have to be baking in a high school with no air conditioning. Her long hair was pulled back in a ponytail, but it still hung to the middle of her back, keeping it off her neck at the very least.

"Hey, did you know that necklace you have around your neck used to be mine?" Elena asked, wearing jeans and a short sleeved blue shirt that had buttons up the top of it, which were undone, a camisole underneath.

Not thinking anything of it, Jessenia nodded, turning to face Elena. "Yeah, he told me. Why did you give it up?" She couldn't help asking because it was a beautiful necklace, fingering it lightly.

"I didn't want it anymore." Elena wished there was a way to lift the vervain curse from it, but knew that was impossible because she honestly loved that necklace. Stefan had given it to her to protect her from any other vampires compulsion. "It looks much better on you anyway."

"Thanks."

"Hey, do you mind if I look at it for a second? I think I see a chip on the side. You can't really see it unless you take it off." Elena pointed out, hoping this worked and watched as Jessenia slowly looked up at her from admiring the necklace.

"I don't see one…"

"Just for a second, then I'll give it right back to you, please?"

Elena really hated doing this because it really was nobody's business what Jessenia was doing here. She didn't seem like the type to be hiding anything, but Damon had told her at one point to never trust anyone, no matter what. She had to take that into consideration and decided if this protected Jessenia from Damon, she was willing to do just about anything.

Eyeing Elena for a few seconds, Jessenia finally decided it couldn't hurt since it was Elena's necklace before given to her. "Just don't run off with it." She half-joked, both girls having a laugh.

"I won't, I promise." Elena took it by the chain, knowing she couldn't touch the charm because of the vervain and looked it over.

"Do you see anything?" Jessenia asked, getting closer to look at the charm for a closer inspection and suddenly her entire mind went blank. "What's going on?"

"Jessenia, I want you to listen to me very carefully." Elena had her in the trance, she could feel the pull as her brown eyes swirled just a little.

"I'm listening." Jessenia murmured evenly, arms at her side, feeling completely powerless.

"Good, I need you to tell me what you're doing in Mystic Falls. Are you hiding something? Is there a specific reason why you're here?" Elena really hated Damon for this, but kept the connection, her own curiosity burning.

"My father." Jessenia said in a zombified state, staring straight ahead. "Long lost, never met. Need to find him."

Now Elena felt like a complete bitch for doing this, sighing. "Who is your father? Do you know his name?" Jessenia nodded, not saying anything. "What's his name, Jessenia?"

"Logan Fell."

Elena's jaw dropped when that name spilled from Jessenia's lips, not believing this. "Thank you, Jessenia. Now before I break this trance, I need to tell you something. You will not remember any of this. This conversation never happened. You will remember coming in here getting dressed with me and we've been talking about TV shows the entire time. Do you understand?"

"Yes I do."

Elena took a deep breath and finally broke the contact, still holding the necklace that dangled from her fingers. "You know what? I love that show How I Met Your Mother, hilarious right? I don't see any nicks on this either, I think I was seeing things."

"Oh…" Jessenia blinked, smiling. "I love that show too." Taking the necklace from Elena, she put it around her neck before letting her fasten it, hating the kind of clasp it had. "Thanks."

Elena looked at Jessenia in the mirror's reflection, nodding. "You're welcome. Come on, time to get to history."

Nodding, the girls walked out of the bathroom together and Elena could feel eyes on her, looking over her shoulder, not surprised to find Damon standing there, watching their every move.