**Chapter seventeen**

All my fault

*Hailey*

Silence followed my words, and it seemed like centuries before Damon finally did something besides stare at me like he was frozen in time. However, what he did wasn't what I had hoped for.

He laughed.

He laughed like he had just heard the funniest joke ever, and I had to control the urge to hit him. "No, seriously how'd you do it?" he asked, a grin on his face.

"I used telekinesis- the ability to move things with my mind. I also have visions. Like I said, I'm psychic." I answered; not even trying to keep the bitterness that he didn't believe me out of my voice.

He looked at me with a strange expression on his face, before saying, "You actually believe that you're Psychic, don't you?" I could hear the faintest trace of pity in his voice, and then it hit me.

He thought I was crazy, that I belonged in the loony bin.

Anger flared inside me, along with what I recognized as disappointment and hurt. Damon was the first person I had ever told about my abilities, for I was afraid that I would get the same reaction that I just got from him. I figured that if anyone would understand about having supernatural abilities and wouldn't think I was crazy, it would be him. But I was wrong.

Suddenly, the anger faded from me, and I was just left feeling disappointed and embarrassed, and I didn't like feeling that way. It made me feel weak and vulnerable, and I had spent years building up my reputation for being the exact opposite of that. I tried to summon my anger again, but it didn't come, and instead I felt tears coming to my eyes, which was unacceptable. I couldn't cry, especially in front of Damon. The feeling of being weak and vulnerable became stronger, and before I knew what I was doing, I was standing up from my chair.

"Hailey, don't leave." Damon sighed, standing up too.

"Why shouldn't I? I'm not gonna stand here and wait to be taken away to a mental hospital, Damon. That's obviously where you think I belong." I snapped, trying to covertly brush away tears escaping from my eyes, but he noticed.

"Are you crying?" he said, his voice softening.

"No! Just- just leave me alone Damon." I muttered, before turning and running away from him as fast as possible.

"Hailey, wait!" he said, but I ignored him, and ran out of the grill, before getting into my car. When I was alone inside of it, I let my tears of hurt and embarrassment fall freely.

It was around 4 o'clock when I walked into my living room, letting the front door slam shut... I didn't really know why I was crying. Maybe because I was disappointed and embarrassed of being thought of as insane, but maybe because of Damon. Because I told him my biggest secret I didn't even tell Elena, and he laughed in my face. Because there was no way things would ever be the same between us anymore.

I walked into my room, and slammed the door shut behind me. I slid down the door, and leaned against it. I brushed my bangs out of my face, before a small hissing fur ball hurtled itself into my arms. Ellie's back was arched and she was hissing in the direction of my window. When I looked up, I saw why.

Damon was leaning against the wall next to it, watching me. I jumped slightly when I saw him, before glaring at him and saying with as much venom in my voice as I could muster, "I thought I made it perfectly clear that I wanted you to leave me alone."

I suddenly cursed myself for inviting him into my house on the night of the Founder's ball. Damon crossed his arms over his chest, while I glared at him. "I wanted to know why you were crying." He said emotionlessly.

"First of all, I'm not crying. I just have something in my eyes. Second of all, I don't know if it's the same for vampires, but most humans don't react well when people call them crazy." I retorted, pushing my bangs in front of my eyes to hide the fact that they were watery.

"I never said you were crazy." he defended himself, and I rolled my eyes.

"'You actually believe you're Psychic, don't you?'" I said in a generic impression of a guy's voice. "I've never told anyone what I am, Damon. Not even Elena and I tell her everything. I expected that you might understand, because you're not supposed to be real either. But I was wrong, obviously."

Damon rolled his eyes at me. "Cut the melodramatic crap." He snapped, and I stood up and glared at him.

"You're such an asshole." I snapped, as the lamp on my nightstand started to shake. Neither of us noticed. "Do you know how hard it is? To tell someone something you've been hiding for years, only to be laughed at? It doesn't feel good, Damon!"

"You can't just go up to somebody and tell them that you're a psychic, Hailey! There are thousands of others just like you, all around the country reading tarot cards and crystal balls and claiming to see the future. Of course someone's first reaction is to think that you're off of your medication!" Damon retorted.

"Well, those people are fakes, I'm the real deal." I said, and Damon laughed humorlessly.

"I bet that's what the fakes say too." He shot back.

I stared at him- was he honestly saying that he thought I was faking my powers?

"Get out of my house." I said emotionlessly, turning my back on him. I walked towards the door, but then Damon was suddenly blocking my path.

"I said get out of my house." I snapped angrily, glaring at him.

"No." Damon said stubbornly, crossing his arms over his chest.

My anger boiled over, and I made to slap him. Suddenly, he grabbed my wrist, gripping it tight. I went to slap him with my other hand, but he grabbed that one too.

"Don't make me break your hands, Hailey." He said, and I glared at him.

I moved to bring my knee up to his stomach, but he easily moved out of the way. I huffed in agitation.

"Let me go," I snapped, trying to pull away.

Damon let go, and I gasped as I fell backwards. But then Damon was behind me, and he caught me before I hit the ground.

I breathed heavily, my hands on Damon's shoulders. His lips were an inch from mine, and despite the fight were in the middle of, I leaned in and kissed him.

It was funny, how mine and Damon's relationship worked. One minute we were screaming at each other, and the next we were making out on my bed. I guess that's just how our personalities worked together.

Damon suddenly pulled away, and I used that time to breathe and fix my bra. I was still flat on my bed, and watched Damon try to control his thirst.

"Do you still think I'm crazy?" I asked pensively, looking out my window. The sun had set, and the full moon was visible through my window.

"Not any more than usual." He retorted, and I kicked him playfully with my foot.

I sat up, and then raised an eyebrow at him. "Do you want proof that I'm psychic?" I asked with a slight smirk.

I didn't wait for Damon to respond, and instead waved my hand at an ugly vase my mom had insisted be in my room. It flew across the room and shattered against a wall.

"Believe me now?" I asked casually, taking in Damon's reaction.

His eyebrows were raised, and he looked pretty shocked. Vampire or not, most people weren't used to things moving on their own.

"You're not crazy." He said finally, and I smirked at him.

"Not any more than usual." I retorted playfully, all my anger, hurt, and embarrassment long gone.

I saw in his pale blue eyes that he believed me, and I smiled at him. Maybe I was wrong, and things could go back to normal. It already seemed like they were.

"How long have you known?" he asked.

"Around two years." I answered, lying back down on my bed.

"And you have visions too?" he asked curiously, lying down next to me.

"Yeah, and they're not very fun." I said without thinking.

"What do you mean?"

I turned over onto my other side to face Damon. "Usually, I just have a really good gut. I just sort of know things, they weren't really visions. But the first night I came back, I had a sort of dream vision. It was very, very realistic, and I felt everything that happened. I only had one more after that one, and it was just as fun as the first one." I told him.

"What were your visions about?" he asked with a raised eyebrow, and I bit my lip. It was about time I told Damon that there were murderous vampires running around.

"My first vision was of Carly Fell's death."

"You saw it-?" Damon asked, looking very alert. I nodded, before lying down on my bed again.

"That's how I first started thinking that there was something not completely human in Mystic Falls. Of course, I ignored my vision, and convinced myself that it was just a dream caused by alcohol and Twilight." I explained.

Damon's nose wrinkled. "I don't think I will ever forgive Stephenie Meyer for writing that vampires sparkle in the Sun." he muttered.

I laughed, before Damon asked, "What was your second vision about?"

I couldn't bring myself to talk about Ava's death, so I just answered, "Don't work about it, I have it under control."

Damon nodded, and then looked at me, with a serious expression. "You know that there are other vampires besides me and Stefan running around, right?"

I nodded, and then quoted a popular line from my visions. "'The families will pay for what they did.'" I said grimly.

"That's what the vampires say in your visions?" Damon asked.

I nodded, and closed my eyes. "The only thing they say."

"So they're from 1864."

I opened my eyes to see Damon smirking twistedly to himself. "What happened in 1864?" I asked curiously.

"Cliff notes version is basically in my human days, the founders had a slight vampire problem. So the night Stefan and I were turned, they rounded up all the vampires in town. They were supposed to burn alive, but the same witch who created my ring cast a spell to save them. So all the vampires were trapped in a tomb for 145 years, until last year when they got out." Damon explained.

"How'd they get out?" I asked curiously.

"That's an even longer story, Hailey." Damon sighed, and I bit my lip. I wanted to know, but I knew better than to push Damon.

"I think I know their plan." Damon suddenly blurted out, and I raised an eyebrow at him.

"Care to share?" I asked, and he smirked at me.

"By chance, what would the last name of the victim in your second vision be?" Damon asked me.

"Forbes." I answered automatically, and Damon's smirk turned dark.

"The tomb vampires are going kill a member from each family as revenge for 1864."

He said this with the so much confidence, and I realized right away that he was right. It was obvious, once you put the pieces together.

"Okay, how're we gonna stop them?" I asked, sitting up and staring at him.

Damon looked at me the same way he did hours earlier when I told him about my powers. "We aren't going to do anything." he said, gesturing to us. "Stefan and I will take care of it, and you will stay home like a good girl and try not to get yourself killed."

I stared blankly at him. "Um, hell no. I'm just as involved in this as you are, so I'm helping." I told him stubbornly.

He laughed a humorless laugh. "How are you involved in this Hailey?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Their second victim was going to be Ava Forbes, and she is one of my best friends. Tyler Lockwood is one of my closest friends too, and they could go after him. For Gilbert, they could go after Elena or Jeremy, who are like my siblings. I'll be damned if I lose anyone of those people, not to forget that I just happen to be the only Ellis by blood alive. So yeah, I'm involved in this Damon, and I can help." I said, crossing my arms over my chest.

He shook his head. "There's no way in hell I'm letting you help us take down the tomb vamps." he said with a tone of finality. But I still argued anyway.

"Oh, and since when do you get to decide what I do and don't do?" I asked sarcastically.

"I don't care if I have to lock you in a damn closet for three days, Hailey. You're not getting involved in this." he snarled. I saw a dangerous glint in his eyes, but my recklessness ignored it.

"I'm already involved in this, Damon! My friends are in danger, and I'm not going to sit back and let them get hurt." I shouted at him fiercely.

During our second fight of the day, Damon and I had both stood up and were inches from each other. A part of me had recognized that I was inches from a very pissed off vampire, but I was a reckless, blunt drunk with anger issues- I ignored that part and didn't back down.

"I think you're forgetting that you're still human, Hailey. That those vampires can snap your neck before you could even raise your hands. You're not invincible, and you're going to get yourself killed. I'm not going to let that happen." He growled.

"But I'm not going to let my friends die, Damon. I'm not." I insisted, crossing my arms over my chest.

"I don't care if those people die, Hailey- I care if you do." He snapped, rolling his eyes as if I was the stobbornest person to ever exist.

My brow furrowed as I tried to comprehend what he said. It was offensive yet sweet at the same time. Only Damon could ever manage that.

"You can't stop me from fighting these tomb vamps, Damon. So you can either join team awesome with me, or you can go brood about how stubborn and stupid I am. Your choice." I said firmly, not budging.

Damon growled, running his hands through his hair. "You are the biggest pain in the ass I have ever met." He said his face still dark.

I smirked at him. "You'll get over it, most do."

"I don't wanna look like you,

Because you're too perfect,

You're too perfect,

And I don't wanna fill your shoes,

Because it's not worth it,

It's not worth-"

I answered my phone, still on edge, while Damon glared angrily at me. "What?" I snapped, not taking my eyes off of Damon.

"Hailey, something happened."

All my anger faded away when I heard Elena's sniffly voice. It was similar to the voice she used when telling me that Carly was dead, but more like when she called to tell me that Grayson and Miranda Gilbert were dead.

"What, Elena? What's wrong?" I asked, looking away from Damon. There was a sinking feeling in my stomach.

"Hailey… Ava's dead."

The world stopped, and the phone dropped from my hand. I was frozen, I couldn't move. No, no. No, no, no, no, no. it wasn't possible. I stopped it. I stopped it!

"Hailey, what happened?"

I barely recognized Damon at my side, my cell phone in his hand. I just shook my head slowly, too shocked to even cry. It wasn't possible; it was just a sick joke. Ava was alive, she had to be. I stopped it.

I took my cell phone back, and said calmly, "What happened, Elena?"

My best friend didn't seem surprised by my lack of reaction. She knew how I reacted to loss, though she didn't know why I didn't react at all. I was still in denial.

"Ava canceled her date with David, which was supposed to me tomorrow. But then he talked her into going out tonight, an-and from what he said Ava got pissed and walked home. That's when she was attacked; it was ruled as an animal attack." Elena explained her voice hoarse from crying.

Both of us know that it wasn't an animal attack, though Elena didn't know that I knew. I didn't have the strength to correct her.

Suddenly, anger flooded through me; anger at those damn vampires for killing the closest I ever came to having an older sister. I threw my phone at the wall, hard. It smashed beyond repair, but I didn't get any relief from the damage.

Damon watched quietly as I worked through the stages of loss. I was still shaking my head slightly, as I paced around the room, milling over Elena's words. Suddenly, something occurred to me, and I stopped in my tracks.

I had a vision of Ava's date on Monday, though her actual date was set for Tuesday. The only reason her date switched days was because I convinced her not to go out with David.

It was my fault that she was dead.

~LMF~

A/N: I'm pretty sure that I'm going to have some angry readers after me, for killing Ava. I was surprised at the amount of people who liked her, but Ava was basically created to die, so lo siento for that.

Thank you to: anotheruntoldstory, jacquline, Carrie9586, AudreyDarke96, Angelfang, aireagle92, Sam0728, Samantha meyers, Pinkbeca, and SomebodyWhoCares for reviewing!

I'm not going to push my luck for reviews, since I'm sure that I just pissed a lot of people off.

~Abby