Chapter Twenty-One

"I can't believe you'd never seen Pretty Woman before," Caroline said as the credits started rolling up the screen.

Ella laughed at the indignation on her friends face again. She'd been shocked when Ella had admitted to never having seen the film. "Well my mom died when I was six and you're the first girlfriend that I've had. I just never really had a reason to watch it before now."

"What was your mom like?" Caroline asked hesitantly. She wasn't sure how her friend would react to the question; she didn't mention her mother often.

"Honestly? I don't really remember," Ella admitted sadly, looking down at her hands. "I mean I know what she looked like because I have a picture of her in my bedroom. I mostly remember feelings, like I felt really safe and loved whenever I was with her. I also remember that there was always something about her that made me think she was hiding a great sadness. I never knew why though. I miss her like crazy, I sometimes dream about what my life would be like today if she hadn't died in that crash. Maybe I'd know what was wrong with me."

"What do you mean?" Caroline asked, puzzled. "There's nothing wrong with you Ella."

"Yes, there is," Ella sighed. She was fighting against tears and it struck her that she'd never cried more in her life than she had since she moved to Mystic Falls. "Damon told me that as a Fae all of my powers were psychological. Every thing that I can do should only affect the mind."

"Yeah," Caroline nodded slowly. "Bonnie told me that when I spoke with her this morning. She said she'd been searching her Grams' books all night but hadn't turned up much yet."

"So if that's the case how did I manage to run from the grill to here in under five minutes?"

"What?" Caroline exclaimed, her blue eyes widening in surprise. "You did?"

"Yes," Ella nodded slowly. "I know we said that we were going to have a relaxing evening, but I just had to tell you. I'm scared Caroline, I don't know what's happening to me. It's too much for one person to handle in the space of a day."

"I know you're scared," Caroline whispered. She moved closer to her friend, wrapping her arms around her shoulders and pulling her close. "But I promise you Ella, I'm here for you. I'm not going anywhere and no matter what we'll get through this together."

"Thank you," Ella smiled, pulling away from Caroline. "We can deal with all of that tomorrow. Let's get back to girls night."

"What do you want to do next?"

"Well I'm no expert, but I believe that boy talk is a big part of any girly event. Tell me more about you and Tyler."

"Are you sure?"

"Of course, don't let my own lack of love life put you off. With everything that's going on it doesn't look as though I'll have a man in my life any time soon, so I'll just to have to live vicariously through you."

Caroline laughed then launched into the story of her and Tyler. How they had disliked each other to begin with, especially when she had started hanging out with Matt. Then Caroline had become a vampire and broken up with Matt. After that she found out that Tyler was descended from Werewolves, not a great couple match.

"I think it's romantic," Ella beamed when Caroline paused. "It's kinda like Romeo and Juliet without all the suicide."

"God I hope it never comes to that," Caroline laughed. "Ok so enough about me and Tyler. I know you don't want to talk about it, but what about Jeremy?"

"What about him?" Ella asked, looking away.

"I think you should try and talk to him."

"He said all there was to say earlier. He jumped to conclusions, and while I understand how he came to that conclusion he still could have let me explain. He was so cold Caroline and I think they best thing for both of us right now to distance."

"Are you really sure that's what you want to do? I've seen the way you look at him and they way he looks at you Ella. It's obvious that you both care about each other, are you sure you can stay away from him?"

"It's because I care about him that I know I can stay away from him."

Caroline frowned. "I don't think I get it."

"What if he only cares about me because of the whole Fae thing? I think he deserves to make his own choices about who he falls in love with Caroline."

"Given Jeremy's track record I'd say his own choices pretty much suck," Caroline laughed humourlessly. When Ella frowned at her she continued. "All right, as your friend I feel that I should tell you something about Jeremy. His past two girlfriends have both died. The first, Vicky, she was Matt's sister."

"What happened to her?"

"She…she was…um…turned," Caroline stammered.

"Into a Vampire?" Ella pressed. Caroline nodded slowly. "There's something else you're not telling me. Who turned her Caroline?"

"Damon, he was bored and angry at Stefan for taking away his daylight ring so he fed Vicky some of his blood to get her high then when he got bored of her he killed her. Then she almost killed Jeremy and Elena so Stefan had no choice but to stake her."

"Oh my god," Ella breathed. "Poor Matt, I can't believe Damon would just turn his sister like that. How could he do something like that?"

"I can't believe I'm going to say this, but he was a different Damon back then. He was hell bent on finding Katherine and tormenting Stefan and he was ignoring his humanity."

"Who was the other one? You said his last two girlfriends were killed," Ella changed the subject. She didn't want to think of her new friend as the murdering sociopath he had once been.

"Anna," Caroline answered. "She used Jeremy to get close to Elena so that she could get Bonnie to open the tomb and release her mother. She got what she wanted eventually but using Jeremy as collateral. In the end it was Anna who told Jeremy about vampires and that Damon had compelled him to forget what happened with Vicky. Jeremy's Uncle Jonathan was the one who killed Anna this time. He tried to kill every Vampire in Mystic Falls that night."

"Wow," Ella whispered. "So both of Jeremy's exes were not only killed but were both Vampires?"

"In all fairness he was already in love with Vicky before she was turned."

"It still doesn't change anything. In fact if anything it makes my resolve all the more stronger. Maybe it isn't just me that's drawing him in, maybe he just likes to fall for the supernatural. If that's the case I don't want to be a pawn in his twisted fetish. No from now on there is nothing between me and Jeremy."

TBC…