Chapter thirteen

"Give me love like her,"- Give Me Love by Ed Sheeran

Kingston, New York

Seven months ago

Charlie woke up on an extremely comfortable bed. She groaned softly, and sat up. She looked around the room that she was in, to realize that she had no idea where she was. but then her memory came back to her, and she remembered what Damon had told her.

He was a vampire.

She shook her head fiercely, her dark curls bouncing. Vampires weren't real, they didn't exist. And the man that she was in love with certainly wasn't one. He was just insane. She didn't know which was worse.

Slowly, Charlie walked out of the room, and into the rest of the small apartment. She had no idea where she was, or if she was even in Kingston anymore. Worse, she didn't know if her crazy boyfriend who thought that he was a vampire was around.

"Going somewhere?"

Charlie stiffened at his voice. She was feet from the door, and considered making a break for it. She sprinted towards the door, but suddenly Damon was blocking her path. So this was his apartment- she had yet to go back to his place, despite the fact that they've been dating for months.

"Charlie, just let me explain," Damon told her, but Charlie was already backing away from him. he regretted telling her like this. It hurt more than he would admit, Charlie's reaction to his secret. The way she looked at him- like he belonged in a psych ward.

"No, vampires don't exist, Damon. they aren't real!" she exclaimed.

Damon sighed. Her reaction wasn't uncommon, but he almost expected her to be the exception, to not be afraid of him. that would've been stupid of Charlie, though. She should be scared of him.

"I beg to differ," he said casually, hiding his true feelings behind an emotionless mask.

"You have no proof," she shot at him, crossing her arms over her chest. now there was the stubborn, brave, and slightly reckless Charlie he knew and loved.

Within an instant, Damon let his thirst take him over. His face contorted into a familiar one. Veins darkened under his eyes, his eyes turned dark reddish color. Charlie saw fangs protruding from his mouth, and she gasped.

"Oh my god…" she breathed, backing into a couch. Damon's face went back to normal, and he watched Charlie with a resigned curiosity. He knew how the rest of this would play out.

"Do you believe me now?" he asked quietly.

Charlie didn't answer him. she looked to be in shock, and Damon sighed. He walked around her and into the kitchen. He poured himself a glass of whiskey- he needed one badly.

"You really are a vampire."

Damon didn't look at Charlie, as she finally unfroze. "I am," he told her.

"Oh my god…" she whispered, before shaking her head. "You're a bloody vampire!"

Damon smirked twistedly. "Funny you mention blood…" he pulled a bag out of the fridge, and heated it up in the microwave.

"oh my god," Charlie repeated. She didn't know what to think, what to do. There were so many questions she wanted to ask, but didn't know how to go about asking them. She didn't know if this changed the way she felt about Damon. she just didn't know.

"You look like you have a lot of questions," Damon, taking his blood out. Charlie's hazel eyes widened at the sight of him drinking the crimson liquid, and Damon smirked.

"I-I do," she said, determined not to leave until she had her answers. She wouldn't leave until she knew how to comprehend everything.

"Well, ask away," Damon told her.

"Okay. I want to know everything," Charlie said, her resolve setting.

"Everything?" Damon asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Yes. Everything about you and vampires. Everything," Charlie said.

"Where should I start?" Damon sighed, and Charlie smirked slightly.

"The beginning is usually a good place."

Charlie hummed softly to herself, as she locked her truck. Her bags of lingerie were swinging from her arms, as she walked to the front door of the boarding house. She opened the door, and looked around. Dead silence filled the air, along with an almost foreboding stillness.

Charlie frowned, as she looked around for any signs of life. Damon was supposed to be home. She was supposed to give him fashion show that would end with her not wearing any clothes at all. where was her husband?

"Damon? love?" she called, setting down her bags. Instantly, Charlie regretted speaking. She stared down at a thick, dark, sticky liquid on the ground. That liquid, along with the dead silence, told her that something was wrong. Terribly wrong.

Fresh blood practically coated the floor.

She felt her heart start to beat irregularly, as she looked around for anything or anyone. Slowly, Charlie walked towards the living room, and picked up a heavy looking metal fire poker along the way. She raised it, ready to strike. Though she knew that it was likely that the intruder was a supernatural being. A young woman with a heart disease wielding a fire poker was no match for a vampire or a werewolf.

Charlie stopped just outside of the living room, when she heard unfamiliar voices. She stopped breathing, and listened to the intruders.

"… We're supposed to take them back!" a male voice insisted.

"Why not just finish them off right now?" another male voice argued.

"No, the order was to take them back. we do as we are told, Dmitri," a deep, haughty, masculine voice answered.

"Fine, Erik," Dmitri groaned. "But I get to rough Damon up a bit before we take them back," he added.

"Deal, as long as you kick him in the groin for me," Erik said.

Charlie's breath caught, and protectiveness flared up inside of her. no one hurt her husband. No one.

She heard footsteps heading towards her, and raised her weapon, ready to strike. A tall, middle aged man passed her. he didn't even notice Charlie, as she swung the fire poker hard, and made contact with the back of his head.

With a groan of pain, he fell to the floor, knocked out. Blood splattered against the ground and the back of his shirt, and Charlie smiled smugly, proud of herself. Damon would've been proud of her too.

"Dmitri?" Erik called, and Charlie froze. She turned and ran down the hall, just before Erik came out of the living room.

"Oh, shit," he cursed, looking down at his partner's unconscious body. Luckily, Dmitri was a werewolf- he'd be up in no time.

Charlie slid silently into a closet, her heart beating wildly. What could she do? Who could she call? Alaric, maybe. Caroline was a vampire, she could definitely help Charlie out. Charlie patted her pockets, before cursing herself. She left her cellphone in her car. Of course. In the horror movies, the heroine always forgot her cellphone or car keys.

She knew that her best chance would be to make a run for it, but she didn't want to leave Stefan and Damon behind. The men would take them away, and then they would kill them. Charlie's heart skipped a beat. No. she would not lose Damon.

She took a deep breath, and listened intently. She had to get to the brothers and somehow- by nothing sort of a miracle- get the out of the boarding house. Or get them to wake up, so that they could take on the intruders. Charlie was a just a human with a defective heart. She couldn't fight. Even if the men were just human- which they most likely weren't- she couldn't fight them off on her own.

Charlie gritted her teeth, and her grip on her weapon tightened. She'd try her damn best though. One of the biggest things about Charlie was that she was a fighter. She didn't go down without a fight.

"Come out, come out, where ever you are."

Charlie stiffened at the voice- Erik's. "I can smell you, sweetie. I can hear your heart. It's just pounding away. You're terrified." He continued.

"I know who you are too, sweetie. You are Miss Charlotte Mathews- oh, I'm sorry, its Salvatore now, isn't it? Congratulations on the marriage, I guess."

Charlie gritted her teeth and made no move to leave. "I got to give props to Damon though. He has good taste in chew toys," Erik continued, and the other man laughed.

"Do you see what she has in here? Lingerie." He told to Erik, and anger flooded through Charlie.

"Oh, I bet he has her up all night. wouldn't you though too, Ernie? If your chew toy- sorry, I mean wife- was that hot? Oh, the things I would do to her," Erik growled lustily. "I wonder how her blood tastes. I'll have to sink my fangs into Missus Salvatore before I snap her pretty little neck."

Charlie felt disgust swell up inside of her. Damon rarely bit her- because her disease made it hard for her heart to produce blood. The few times he had though, she found it painful yet pleasurable. She couldn't imagine another vampire biting her. that was Damon's right, and his only.

"If you give up the game now, Missus Salvatore, I promise that your death will be almost completely painless. If you continue on, and I actually have to go looking for you, I'll make you suffer. The choice is yours," Erik announced, his voice echoing throughout the house.

Charlie let out a shaky breath. If she was going to go down, she'd go down fighting.

Charlie ran from the closet, trying to be as quiet as possible. It didn't matter though, she was dealing with a vampire. She heard a dark chuckle come from not too far behind her.

"Don't you humans know? Vampires love a good chase."

Charlie ran into the living room, Damon and Stefan still unconscious. From outside of the room, she could see Dmitri starting to awake. Charlie cursed, before running over to her husband and brother-in-law. She yanked the arrow out of Stefan's back, and pulled the stake from Damon. neither responded.

"Come on, love," Charlie whispered, and started patting Damon's pockets. She pulled out his cellphone, and felt hope sprout up inside of her. just as she was about to call somebody- anybody- she was grabbed by the neck.

"I see that you chose option B, missus Salvatore," Erik purred in her ear, crushing the cellphone. Charlie couldn't breathe- he was crushing her windpipe.

"Should I take the Salvatores out to the car?" Ernie asked, as Erik stroked Charlie's throat.

"Yes, I'll be done with her soon. I just to have my fun with Damon Salvatore's wife first," Erik told Ernie without taking his eyes off of Charlie.

Charlie felt sick, as Ernie walked around them to Stefan and Damon. she knew what he meant by "fun."

"Ugh," Dmitri groaned, sitting up. "What the hell happened to me?"

"Missus Salvatore is stronger than one would think, Dmitri," Erik told him casually, playing with one of Charlie's curls.

A sick smile twisted its way onto Dmitri's lips. "Are you saying that a human took me- a werewolf- out?" he asked with a disdain.

Erik smirked, amused. "Yes, it appears that you are no match for a weak little human," he told him, and Ernie snapped up and glared at him.

"Hey, I take offense to that," Ernie said defiantly. Despite her current situation, Charlie found it slightly amusing. Humans, vampires, and werewolves were all working together to kill the Salvatore brothers.

"You're different, Ern. You're a hunter," Dmitri said dismissively, and Erik's lip curled slightly.

"Yeah hunter, now go on and take the brothers outside. I'll take care of missus Salvatore," Erik turned his attention back to Charlie.

"No fair, Erik. She attacked me, I get to have her," Dmitri growled. Charlie felt like she was going to vomit. They were fighting over who got to rape her.

Ernie looked like he wanted to say something to the other two. He looked disgusted, even. Charlie pleaded with him with her hazel eyes. please, help me, she begged silently. He was a vampire hunter, he was supposed to protect humans from the supernatural.

But Ernie just shook his head, and went about dragging out the brothers. He started with Stefan first. Dmitri glared at Erik, and grabbed Charlie's arm. "Give her here," he growled.

Erik's grip tightened on her shoulder, and she gritted her teeth in pain. "Go wolf, she's mine. I'll let you have the leftovers," he growled back.

Charlie used the distraction to her advantage. She aimed a kick at Dmitri, and made contact with his groin. She kicked him so hard, pain shot through her leg. Dmitri howled in pain, and dropped to the floor.

"You little-" Erik growled, but Charlie used all her strength and body weight to push him into the roaring fire. Erik almost dragged her with him, but she managed to get away at the last second.

Both men screamed in pain, and Charlie quickly ran to her husband. "Damon please, get up. Please!" she begged, shaking him. she didn't know how to wake a comatose vampire.

"I am going to enjoy killing you," Dmitri growled, finally standing up. He helped Erik out of the fire, and his burns healed over quickly.

Charlie looked around for a weapon of any kind, but it was too late. Dmitri grabbed her from behind, and held her arms painfully behind her back. Erik sunk his teeth into Charlie's neck, his teeth ripping the flesh harder than necessary.

She tried to hold back her screams, but couldn't. she kicked, as Dmitri forcefully pulled down her jeans. Her kicks didn't do anything though, they just caused Erik to bite her harder.

"Get your hands off of my wife."

Despite just being attacked, Damon's absolute, white-hot rage seemed to triple his strength. His blue eyes were so cold, they looked like actual ice. He threw Erik across the room, and ripped Dmitri's head off of his body.

Charlie pulled away from the beheaded werewolf, blood streaming down her neck. she noticed that Damon's fangs were out, as he attacked Erik. She fell to her knees, and held hand to her wound, trying to apply pressure. She didn't realize that she was crying, until a tear fell onto her shirt.

With a sickening crunch, Charlie saw Erik's head fly off of his body. Damon turned his attention back to Charlie. His fangs were still out, veins were still darkened under his eyes. but at the sight of his injured wife crying on the floor, his face went back to normal, and he rushed to her.

"There's one more," she choked out, her blood running through her fingers. "Stefan…"

With a flash, Damon was gone. A second passed, and Charlie heard a scream. Two seconds passed, and Damon returned with Stefan, blood all over his mouth. He put Stefan down on the couch, and turned to Charlie.

"Come here, baby," Damon whispered, and Charlie practically sprinted into his arms. She buried her head into his chest, as he clutched her to him. he buried his face in her curls, and it disgusted him, that she smelled like that vampire and werewolf.

Damon bit his wrist, and Charlie swallowed a mouthful of blood. Her bite instantly started to heal, and then Damon pulled her back to him.

"I'm so, so sorry," he whispered to her over and over. Damon had nothing to be sorry about- he saved her from being raped by those two sick, disgusting monsters.

Charlie just closed her eyes and hugged him tighter to her- if it was even possible. She sighed, and mumbled "I love you," repeatedly into his shirt.

You're okay. You, Stefan, and Damon are okay, she told herself over and over. Everything is going to be okay.

A/N: thank you to: Be My Baby, SomebodyWhoCares, KimmyWSmith, vdemily, Samantha meyers, and Marina164509 for reviewing!

I love reviews!

~Abby :)