I stare blankly at this Damon for a few long seconds. I heard the words come out of his mouth, especially the word "vampire." But my mind refuses to accept it. How is it possible that I leave a city and end up in a town with the same problem I'm running from?
"Listen, Damon, I don't care who you are or who Katherine is, Caroline is going to the hospital. Now step aside."
Damon's eyes widen and he seems genuinely shocked, but he recovers quickly.
"I don't know where you got vervain, or how you know about vampires, but she's not going to the hospital. I'll kill you, too, if that's what it takes to get you to understand." Damon takes a step closer to me until our bodies are almost touches. I take another step forward, this time my chest rubs against his.
"You're mind tricks and scare tactics might work on other people, but don't bother trying them on me. You should know not to play games with people that can play them better." I turn and grab Caroline, Matt looks at me blankly; the compulsion worked on him. I turn and carry her to the door and I hear Stefan telling Damon to back down. I look over my shoulder to glare at the boy with dark hair and eyes. I shut the door in his face and speed off in Bonnie's car hoping I can figure out how to get to the hospital.
I stayed at the hospital until Caroline's mother showed up. She was wearing a sheriff uniform and I didn't need anyone digging into my past or questioning me about what just happened. I already guessed who would be standing outside of Bonnie's car when I walked into the parking lot and spotted him.
"You sure are brave, standing up to a vampire like that. Was she really worth it?"
"You really are full of yourself, huh? Tell me, where has the feeling of being invincible got you so far? You think just because you don't age you're immortal? You're wrong." I walked to the driver door and opened it, only to have the door slammed shut by Damon. He kept his hand on the door, leaving one side of my body trapped. I turned my body so I could stare into his eyes. I wanted him to know I wasn't afraid. Not to die, not of pain, and certainly not of him.
"What my brother is trying to say is, how do you know about us? How do you know about vampires?" Stefan came around the car and Damon relaxed his hand off the car door. I decided it was best not to tell them the truth. They obviously weren't trustworthy if they were going to kill Caroline just because she got bit. But what should I say? I hadn't prepared this speech. I didn't plan on coming into contact with vampires ever again.
"I knew a vampire back home, in Texas. We dated for a while and he told me everything. He gave me vervain because he was worried someone wanting revenge would come after me. And he was right, they killed him." I figured this was partially true. Just enough of the truth to be believable, especially since I'm sure that's exactly the case with Stefan and Elena. Stefan seemed convinced, but Damon was still judging me with his eyes.
"What do we need to do to ensure you will keep our secret? The town is already suspicious, we don't need any fingers pointed at us."
"How about we kill her? Or maybe, threaten her to leave town and never come back?" Damon smirked at me and Stefan just sighed.
"I'm not going to tell anyone, unless I have a reason to. If I find out anything happened to Caroline, I will tell the sheriff. But, if it will comfort you to know, I really don't want to do that because I have some things in my past I don't want people to find out either." Damon strained his face when I said I didn't want people knowing about me, and Stefan nodded his head in agreement that that would suffice for him. Feeling that things were settled enough for the night, I climbed into the car and drove back to Bonnie's house. I returned the heels and began walking back to my "house." It really wasn't more than a car I pulled from the junkyard that I kept by clothes and what few dollars I had left. After a long night of walking, I climbed into the back seat, wrapped myself in my blanket, and fell asleep.
Damon's POV
I wasn't about to just trust some random girl with my secret. If she had secrets of her own, I intended to find them out in case I needed to black mail her in the near future. I followed her back to the witch's house while she dropped off the car and some shoes. Weird. Then she began walking. At first I thought she was just walking to her car, but after a couple of miles I guessed she was walking back to her house. Also weird. The girl came to a car that was parked in between some trees. It didn't look like much, that's for sure. But she unlocked the door, crawled in, and covered herself in a hideous blanket. What the hell was this girl doing? After several minutes her breathing slowed and I crept to the window to peer in. She was sleeping, in an abandoned car, in the woods. I looked around the rest of the car and all I saw were some clothes, schoolbooks, and some empty water bottles. Surely this wasn't where she stayed all the time? My curiosity got the best of me and I stayed until the morning. Surely enough, she woke up, changed clothes at which time I chivalrously looked away, then gathered her books and started walking to the school. I continued to follow her hoping I would catch her doing something naughty.
Sam's POV
"Are you going to follow me to all my classes too, Damon?" I turned around and waited for him to come out of the shadows. I assumed he had followed me all the way from the hospital, and I was angry that I hadn't noticed sooner.
"Psh, no. High school is a joke. Besides, I'm too good looking for that school."
"Ah, I see. Why are you following me then? Hoping to find me doing something wrong so you can use it against me in case I try to tell? I'm not going to, so you're just wasting your time. Good bye, Damon." I left him standing there and continued on to school. Matt and Bonnie were standing outside telling other students what Damon had compelled them to say.
"Hey, Sam! Over here!" Matt had spotted me and was waving me over.
"Sam was there too, weren't you? Wasn't last night so weird?"
"Um, yeah. Yeah totally. So weird." Bonnie and the other girls she was with continued talking about last night. I over heard them say Caroline was recovering well in the hospital. She had gotten a blood transfusion just in time.
"So, ready to make some more clay snakes today?" Matt smiled down on me and I couldn't help but smile back, and laugh, what the heck?
"Maybe if you help me again. I'm so terrible at that. See you then?"
"Yeah, see you then. Oh and Sam?" I had started to walk away, but turned back when I heard him call.
"Try not to fall asleep in class again, okay?"
"Sure thing." I smiled all the way to first period. Up until I found out I had a pop quiz over the history of Fell's Church. Awesome.
Damon's POV
"She's sleeping in a car, Stefan. What do you think that means? I don't think her dream home is an '87 Honda Civic." Stefan was being ridiculous. Why was he sticking up for this girl? What did he even know about her? All I knew was she was 5'5, light brown hair, probably about 115 pounds, she knew about vampires, and she slept in a decrepit car.
"I don't know, Damon. You're the one who's stalking her, why don't you ask her?"
"Or you could, little brother. You are the one after all who goes to school with her."
"I have one class with her. That would hardly justify me prying into her personal life. Especially with the risk that she knows ours."
"Ugh, you're being ridiculous. I'm going to get a drink."
I couldn't believe Stefan. How did he not want to know who this girl with the grey eyes was? Just as I was getting up the nerve to ask her about her "house" she walked into The Grill wearing dark jeans, black boots, and a loose fitting button down. When she sat down at the bar next me, for some reason I couldn't get any words out. I could only stare at how her hair fell in waves down her back. When the bar tender approached her asking her what she wanted to drink, the spell she put on me finally broke.
"What's the matter? Too scared they'll find out you're under age to drink?"
"Nope, I just don't drink. Some people need it to feel good-" At this she looked at me with a sly look on her face, "and other people don't."
"I would be offended, except for the fact that I've already been through the seven stages and have come to terms with the fact that I am a happy alcoholic." She didn't say anything for a while, and I was starting to get antsy.
"So, where are you staying in town? I didn't know any properties were for sale." I kept glancing at her to judge her reaction. I was interested to see if she was going to lie.
"Now Damon, you and I both know where I'm staying, don't we? Why play games?" She turned her stool towards me and stared me down. I stared back for a while, but not used to people looking into me for so long, I had to look away.
"Ha, I thought that might have just been a one night only type of thing. Who knows with kids these days."
"No Damon, it isn't a one night thing. Thank you though for your concern. I'm touched that you cared enough to follow me around all night. Are you going to use my lack of a house against me and go screaming to Sheriff Forbes?"
I was shocked that she seemed so angry with me. For a minute I didn't know how to respond.
"No, I'm not going to use that against you. I was actually going to ask if you wanted to stay with my brother and me. The house is big enough; you'd never even know we were there. And if you could clean in up a bit, that would be great. You know, give it that 'womanly touch'." I gave her my biggest smile I could muster, but she didn't seem impressed at all.
"You know, one: I don't need charity cases, and two: I'm not going to live in your house just so you can keep an eye on me and possibly kill me in my sleep without anyone knowing. Thank you for the fake offer, but no thanks." With that she got up and left The Grill. What just happened? I was actually trying to be sincere. Yes, maybe, it's possible I wanted to keep tabs on her. But I also didn't want her living in a car in the middle of the woods with Tyler Lockwood roaming around.
Sam's POV
It had been a long day, and my conversation with Damon had really stirred me up. How dare he patronize me like that? When I finally got back to my "house" I collapsed immediately. I had been asleep for hours, maybe only minutes, when I felt someone hovering over me. I woke up to a man pinning my arms down with a hand over my mouth. I tried to get him off me, but in the confines of this stupid car it was proving difficult to find enough leverage. His other hand moved to my throat and the dark car started growing darker without enough oxygen to my brain. I felt his lips bend down to trace my collar bones and then felt his teeth graze my exposed neck. Vampire. Everything in my body was screaming at me to fight back, but I just couldn't. His lips moved from my neck and continued on to my ear.
"See how easy it would have been for me to kill you? Will you rethink my offer now?" At the sound of his voice my eyes snapped open and his face was hovering directly over mine. His lips were inches from mines and I could hear my heart beat pick up. His fingers loosened their grip around my neck but he didn't remove his hand completely. I finally drew in a breath of air and the car started to come into better focus.
"Damon." I coarsely got out his name. Having him this close to me was making the car grow fuzzy again. What was wrong with me? This was a vampire here.
"Say you changed your mind, and we can leave."
"I'm not going to change my mind. I'm fine here." At this his hand tightened around my neck and the sudden pain made my back arch into his body. I felt his muscles tighten at our touch at his pupils dilate larger. When I still didn't give in, he traced his other hand down to my hip and pulled my hips into him. I laid my head back and closed my eyes, trying to save what slight amount of oxygen my body still had access to. When he pressed his entire body down into me, crushing me between him and the car seat, my breath hitched. He tightened his grip on my neck and grazed his hand back up my body and into my hair. He pulled my hair until my face was directly in front of his.
"Just say it, Samantha." I was really starting to fear passing out, not only from being choked but also from being so close to Damon. I stared right into his eyes but still I didn't give him what he wanted. It looked like I was going to die first. His face started moving closer to mine, until I could feel the tip of his lips touching mine. The last thing I remember was seeing his eyes slowly close before the car went completely black.
Damon's POV
She really wasn't going to give up was she? If she didn't give up soon, I was going to have to. I stopped being able to tell who was going crazy the fastest. I could imagine how the lack of oxygen would feel, along with the fact that my body was crushing her lungs. But having her lithe frame right against mine was driving me mad. My hand held on to her small hip bone and I thought I was going to lose it right then and there, so instead I trailed my hand back up to her hair. Of course, her hair was incredibly soft and smelled amazing, especially for someone who slept in a car. I couldn't take it anymore. her lips were so close. I just needed to feel them, just once…suddenly her body went completely lifeless. I opened my eyes to see hers had closed. I immediately released my grip on her neck, but she didn't take in a breath like last time.
"Samantha?" I picked her up and took her outside. In the fresh air, her chest slowly started to rise and fall again. After I was convinced she wasn't completely a goner, I picked her up and gathered up the clothes and school stuff in the car. She was coming with me, like it or not.