Chapter twenty five

"My heart is burning red,"- Pardon Me by He is We

Charlie was back on the beach, back in the skimpy, revealing bikini. As soon as she saw Damon, Charlie ran to him and through her arms around his neck. he hugged her to him, a serious look on his face.

"Charlie, I-"he started to say, but she cut him off.

"I have a street name, Damon," she said excitedly. "233 jaybird lane, that's where I am."

Damon's eyes widened. "You sure?" he asked her.

Charlie nodded. "Okay, I'm coming to get you now, Char," he told her seriously, planting a quick kiss on her lips.

"But wait, what were you going to tell me?" Charlie asked, frowning slightly.

"Oh. Nothing really important, I just know who took you. Now I'm going to kill them all," Damon said in a dangerous voice.

"What did you do to piss them off, Damon?" Charlie asked him.

Damon shrugged. "I don't know," he told her. but by a look in his blue eyes, Charlie was sure that Damon did know.

"Damon-" she started to say, but he cut her off.

"I need to go, Charlie. The sooner I get to you, the better," her husband said. Damon kissed her again softly, before disappearing.

Charlie woke up with a gasp. Damon knew where she was, and he was coming for her now. But what was he hiding from her? what did Damon do to piss off all of the vampires, werewolves, and hunters? What did he do to piss off Roger?

As if on cue, Jason suddenly appeared at her door. "Roger wants you," he said gruffly.

Charlie didn't want to get her hair pulled again, so she stood up and walked back into the living room. Her body still ached from the last time she had been there, but the fact that Damon was coming for her brightened her up considerably.

"Hey Charlie." Roger smirked and gestured for her to sit down in the same chair from before. She did so without arguing.

"Are you ready to hear a story about your husband?" he asked her with a falsely excited voice. Charlie didn't respond, so Jason slapped her across the face.

she let out a whimper, her left cheek burning. "Yes," she muttered through gritted teeth.

"Good, because you're going to love this story- I know I do," Roger said, a smirk on his lips.

Charlie knew that Damon had done something bad, really bad. She vowed to herself that she wouldn't let it change how she felt about Damon. that wasn't the Damon she fell in love with- whoever did the things she was about to hear about was the monster in Damon.

"Once upon a time there was a beautiful witch named Cassidy. She was very self-righteous- like most witches, but she tolerated vampires much more than others. And I was irrevocably in love with her," Roger started, a pained look in his eyes when he mentioned Cassidy. But when he closed his eyes and reopened them, it went away.

"One day, fifteen years ago, your husband paid her a visit. He wanted her help in opening a tomb to get Katherine Pierce out. Cass refused, so he ripped her heart out," Roger finished, his tone emotionless. "Ever since then, I swore to myself that I would avenge her death, and so I am. At first, I was going to kill Damon. we attacked Stefan to lure him back here and then planned to kill both, but then I found out about you, Miss Charlie, and my planned changed. Damon really loves you, just like I love Cassidy. I'm not going to kill Damon, not anymore. I'm going to kill you, his brother, and the doppelganger of Katherine. I want Damon Salvatore to have nothing. I want him to have to live with that feeling for the rest of his existence. Death would be a sweet relief compared to what's in store for him."

Charlie stared up at Roger, horrified. Damon killed the woman he loved, because she refused to help him, so Roger planned to kill her to make it even. An eye for an eye. "Turns out, I'm not the only one with a grudge against Damon Salvatore," Roger continued, smirking at Charlie's speechlessness. "Everyone here has a reason to want Damon dead-at least on the inside- so we decided to band together and make it happen."

"I'm sorry," Charlie said quietly. "I'm sorry he killed her. he had no right to."

Roger rolled his eyes. "It's too late for sorry, Charlie."

"Yes, it is. but that doesn't make mine any less sincere," she said honestly.

A look passed through Roger's eyes as he reconsidered his actions. Charlie reminded him of Cassidy, in a way. For a second, it made him want to spare her life. Then it made him want her dead even more. Roger glared at Charlie, before saying coldly, "Take her back to her room while we prepare everything."

Charlie's stomach sank, and she knew that he meant that they were preparing to kill her. Damon had better come save her soon, or she'd be dead. Jason yanked her roughly back towards her room, as she tried to brainstorm a way to escape. By the time Damon got here, she'd be dead, unless she escaped.

Charlie looked around the dark room she was in as Jason slammed the door shut roughly. It was scarcely decorated, and Charlie looked around for any kind of weapon. It would be a suicide mission, trying to get out of this house. But Charlie did know how to fight, and was a bit of a badass behind her girly dresses and curls.

She broke a leg off of a wooden chair, her heart beating wildly and irregularly as she tried to come up with some sort of plan. She had made a lot of noise, breaking the chair, so Jason was bound to come check on her. that would be when she'd strike.

as if on cue, Jason walked into her room again, looking annoyed. Before he could open his mouth or Charlie could second guess herself, she shoved the wooden leg into his stomach. Jason groaned and fell to the floor. She yanked her only weapon out of his stomach, and then ran out of the room.

Instead of running into the living room, Charlie made a sharp left and ran into a bedroom- one that happened to have a window. quickly and efficiently, she broke the glass window, and crawled through it, causing the glass to cut her on her legs and her blood to spill.

She ignored the stings of her injuries, and jumped the six foot distance from the window to the floor. Her ankles stung at the impact, but Charlie shook it off and started sprinting. She heard shouts from the house as she took off sprinting down the deserted street. The neighborhood she was in was full of abandoned and gratified houses, and she knew that she wasn't in a good part of town.

Charlie didn't look over her shoulder as she ran- it would only distract her from running. She could hear somebody running after her, and knew that she was no match for a vampire. In an attempt to escape from her pursuers, Charlie made a sharp right and ran into a small patch of trees that thickened the deeper you ran into it.

She struggled to catch her breath, her lungs burning. Charlie forced herself to keep running, though she just wanted to rest. She ran deep into the woods, branches whipping against her and scratching her. Charlie could hear that somebody was catching up with her, and tried to run faster, but she couldn't. as Charlie struggled to run faster, she tripped over a rock and fell to the dirt covered ground.

Charlie let out a yelp of pain as her pursuer ripped her off up the ground by the hair. She managed to see that it was Roger, before he slammed her against a nearby tree and sunk his fangs into her neck.

Damon broke down the door of the house, Alaric and Stefan behind him. hunters, werewolves, and vampires alike lunged for them, but Damon killed them almost absentmindedly in his desperation to find his wife. Her scent filled the house, yet he couldn't hear her telltale irregular heartbeat.

He knew what Roger was planning- he was going to kill Charlie because he killed that witch Cassidy all those years ago. He regretted his reckless, impulsive, and anger-filled action now, because it ended up putting his wife's life on the line. If only Damon could turn back time…

"She's not here," Damon breathed after searching the house for his wife and finding nothing. "Where is she?"

"Charlie probably tried to run away. I can smell her blood outside," Stefan said from behind him, gesturing to a broken window that had his wife's blood on it.

The brothers followed the blood trail down the street to a small patch of woods. Damon kept his ears open, hoping to hear Charlie. When they got deep into the woods, Damon heard a yelp of pain that made him run faster than he thought possible, leaving his brother behind.

When Damon saw Roger feeding on his wife, he felt white-hot rage boil up inside of him. he let out a growl before attacking Roger and ripping him off of his wife. Charlie fell to the ground, pressing a hand to the bloody wound on her neck.

"You killed Cassidy- it's only fair that I make you feel what I feel every day, Salvatore," Roger growled at him, his face still contorted, his fangs still exposed.

Damon didn't bother to argue, because he knew that it was true. Damon caused this mess himself, and nothing he could say could excuse his actions. So instead, Damon did what Damon did best.

He ripped out Roger's heart.

Damon dropped Roger's heart and turned to his wife, only concerned for her at that moment. Her eyes were filled with unasked questions that he knew that he would have to answer later. But instead, he pulled Charlie into his arms and fed her his blood.

"I told you that I'd come for you," he mumbled into her dark curls as he hugged her tightly. Damon would have a lot of explaining to do later, but all that mattered at that moment was that he had his Charlie back.

A/N: I'm sorry for the lack of update- I had a killer essay for school take up most of my time.

Thank you to: hidansgirl1234, KimmyWSmith, Be My Baby, Lady Syndra, Stefanie, SomebodyWhoCares, and Corra98 for reviewing!

Reviews are inspiring!

~Abby :)