Iris groaned and rolled over she had a pounding headache. She winced as the sun filtered through the gap in between the curtains
"Sleeping beauty is finally awake"
Iris shot up so that she was sitting up; she scrambled backwards "Damon what the hell are you doing here?"
Damon smirked and flopped down at the foot of bed "Well, to answer your question this is my room"
Iris frowned she tried to recall what happened last night but came up blank, she clutched her head "I don't remember what happened" she muttered and gasped when appeared in front of her
"You don't remember?" he asked relief was filling up in the gut of his stomach
"No I just remember drinking…" she paused her brows furrowed "…and Twister, did we play Twister?"
Damon chuckled making her wince
"Not too loud" she muttered Damon rolled his eyes and zoomed off, Iris pulled the covers off and was immensely relieved that she was fully clothed, she slowly got out of the bed but her feet got tangled in the sheets sending her tumbling to the ground
"Oww" she muttered
"Really Flower you should never drink again" a pair of booted feet appeared in front of her, she slowly looked up and saw him smirking
"When did I drink? I can't-"
"Hmm I think you got carried away at the barbeque, Jenna was hammered so-"
He shrugged, she nodded still unsure she would've stopped herself wouldn't she? Iris shrugged it off everything was blurry.
Damon held out a glass of water to her as well as an aspirin, she stood up on shaky legs and sat down on the bed
"Do you want this or do you prefer blood?"
She scrunched up her nose in disgust and shook her head,
"I guess it's this then" he muttered as she took the glass of water and pills, she swallowed it down and gulped down the water
"Iris" Stefan appeared in the room, and briefly glanced at his brother and knew that Iris obviously hadn't realised what Damon did
"Stefan" she smiled up at him and sighed "What's up?"
"Yes dear brother what's up?" Damon asked his icy blue eyes boring into Stefan's as if daring him to say anything about last night
"Stefan?" Iris quirked an eyebrow the younger Salvatore brother plastered a smile on to his face
"I've got a call from Elena, she put your name down for the volunteer picnic, so I'll drop you off"
"I think I'll drop her off" Damon uttered, Iris was oblivious to both brothers glaring at one another since she was looking for her shoes,
"I think you've done enough" Stefan hissed low enough so that Iris couldn't hear him.
Iris frowned and finally spotted her shoes which haphazardly was laid by the foot of the bed, she slipped them on
"Is it me or does Elena and Caroline sign me up for any event?" she muttered
"I'll see you there" Damon said and left
"Is he ok?" Iris asked a frown marring her face, Stefan smiled at her and shook his head
"Yeah he's fine, you know Damon"
Iris shrugged her shoulders "So-"
Iris sighed as she entered the shower stall, the feeling of grime was being washed off of her as well as the warm water soothing her aching head, she had taken another aspirin. Iris grabbed her washcloth and lathered it with vanilla scented soap and scrubbed her skin. She washed it off and then proceeded to wash her hair. Once she was done she grabbed her towel and dried it off, she wrapped it around herself and stepped into her bedroom where she opened her closed curtains allowing the sun rays in.
Iris heard the shrill sound of her cell ringing, she plucked it from her night stand
"Hey Elena" Iris smiled into the receiver
"Hi, Iris I'm just calling to let you know about-"
"The volunteer picnic that you signed me up for without my permission might I add?" she said whilst rummaging through her dresser, she heard Elena's nervous laughter
"Yeah about that are you coming?" she asked
Iris hesitated wondering did she really wanted to go to another event where they will lots of people, or should she have a nice day in, Elena hearing her hesitate pleaded
"Please Iris, just come Jenna wants to see you and-"
Iris sighed she finally relented "Fine I'll come"
Elena squealed "Thanks you I'll see you there in an hour?"
"Sure" she grumbled under her breath and hanged up. She threw her phone on to the bed and looked out of the window it too much of a nice day to spend it coop up, she reasoned. Iris steeled her resolved and slipped on her underwear and looked through her closet, she opted to wear a pair of skinny jeans and a floral three quarter sleeve top. Iris brushed her hair and left it out leaving her curls to cascade down her back. Once she had pulled on her converses she padded downstairs and made herself some tea and toast.
Iris had just placed her dirty dishes in the sink when there was a knock on the door causing her to pause, after a second knock she turned the radio off and walked over to the door, she stood on her tip toes and peeked through the peep hole, when she saw who it was she opened the door revealing Damon
She frowned he was the last person she'd been expecting to be honest, since the last time she saw him he had stormed out leaving her with Stefan.
"Damon? What are you doing here?" she asked, he gave her his trademark smirk and leant against her door frame
"I'm just checking up on you flower" he shrugged "you didn't look to good in the morning"
"Wow, you're charming as always Damon" she drawled
He grinned "I know, so are you going to invite me in?" he asked
A wicked smile came across her face
"Hmm it depends really-"
"Iris" he cut her off his eyes narrowed at her, she sighed and rolled her eyes
"You're no fun" she pouted at him and stepped aside "Damon won't you please come in"
Damon grinned as he stepped over her threshold, she was slightly miffed when he strolled past her and was walking towards her kitchen.
Iris gently shut the door and leant her back against it, thinking what had she gotten herself into, was it wise to allow Damon in? but she pushed her doubts to the back of her mind, he was her friend she concluded.
She followed after him, and simply rolled her eyes when she witnessed him rummaging through her fridge
"Make yourself at home why don't you?" she asked sarcasm dripping from her tone and grabbed her jacket that was on the back of her chair
"Don't mind if I do" he grinned, she had just managed to pull on one sleeve of her jacket but froze when she saw what he was holding "Now what's this? I haven't had this in a long time"
"Damon put that down" she ordered seeing him holding her stash of chocolate
"Honestly Iris, can't you share?" she scowled at him and quickly stormed over to him,
"I can share, but not this" she snapped and groaned in frustration when he held it up above her head, she stood on her tip toes and swung her hand forward to grab the treat
"Really flower-"
"Damon" he was immensely amused when she jumped up trying to grab the chocolate
"I will literally shove a stake up your arse-"
He shoved the chocolate into her hands, and earned a triumphant smile from her
"Really it's only chocolate" Damon muttered
"Not just chocolate" she put the chocolate back into the fridge as he moved over to one of the stools around the kitchen island "you have your bourbon and I have my chocolate"
"Right" he muttered
"So why are you here?" she asked patting down her pockets to make sure she had her keys,
"Just like I said" he said making her look at him "I come to see if you're alright, and to offer you a lift to that picnic"
Iris smiled and nodded "I would appreciate that" she led him out of the house, Damon leant against the porch rail waiting while she locked up.
Damon's words rang true, he had come by to check up on, there was several reasons though one he had felt immensely guilty about what he'd done last night, tricking her like that but he was relieved when she didn't seem to remember it as she hadn't slammed the door in his face when he arrived, but he also cared for her, the small raven head had managed to wiggle her way into his heart and now he too was fond of her. He loved her but definitely not like the way he loved Elena, Iris too him was like a small sister, she still welcomed him with open arms knowing all the crap he'd done. He was pulled out of his musings when she waved her hand in front of his face
"Earth to Damon?" she giggled when he grabbed her hand and mocked bit into her soft flesh, his nose pressed against her veins, she stiffened feeling him tense up
"Damon?" her voice shook slightly, that brought him out of his stupor when he picked up her heart beating frantically
"Sorry, but you're awfully tempting" he murmured, his eyes dark
She cleared her throat and looked down not knowing what to say, Damon smiled at the shy raven head and was enamoured by her innocence
"So" she frowned when she didn't see any car "where's your car?" she asked thinking he was taking her. Her brows furrowed when she saw the mischievous look in his eyes
"What?" she backed up slightly
"We're getting there a different way" before she could even blinked he scooped her up, Iris clenched her eyes shutting feeling the wind whipping through her skin. She was so going to kill him, she thought but she was soon focused on forcing the bile down her throat.
"Here we are" he set her down, "convenient isn't it?" he had stopped slightly away from the picnic goers so they wouldn't see their arrival "Hmm not surprising that there are a lot of people here" he mused he was confused when Iris didn't say anything. He turned around to face her and his icy blue eyes widened briefly when he saw her face
"Iris DON'T-" he shout was cut off when she threw up all over the grass, he had just managed to dodge out of the way and was behind her. He balked at the stench and proceeded to hold her hair out of her face and rubbed her back soothingly
"What the- Iris?" Stefan came over spotting the dark haired pair, Iris wiped her sweaty brow,
"Here" Damon handed her some water, she washed out her mouth and shook her head
"Iris, what happened?" Stefan asked
"Ask your brother" she scowled at him said vampire, Stefan looked over to Damon "he used his stupid vamp speed"
Stefan gave him a stern look, Damon rolled his eyes
"In my defence I had no clue she had a weak stomach before I zoomed off"
"Well if you had listened to me before you jetted off then I would-"
"Hush now" he placed his hand over her mouth, Iris bit down causing him to yelp and pull back
"You're a jerk"
"Tell me something I don't know flower" Stefan shook his head at their banter.
"Come on, I think Caroline wants to see you" Stefan placed his hand on the small of Iris's back and guided her over to the picnic table "Stay here" he whispered into her ear, making her frown she watched as both brothers walked off.
Iris wondered over to the food table and picked up a drink. She spotted Caroline
"Hi" Iris smiled at the blond,
"Hey" Caroline grinned
"How's it been being a vampire?" she whispered the last word
"Ergh" Caroline shrugged her shoulders
"That sounds exciting" Iris drawled sipping her drink, Caroline laughed and lightly punched her shoulder but the blond wasn't aware of her newfound strength so ended up causing Iris to go crashing down on to the grass face first.
"Oh my god Iris" Caroline cried immediately jumping on to her feet. Iris groaned and felt a wet patch on her stomach she sat up and saw a fare few amount of people looking at her in amusement.
"Great as if this day can get any worse" the raven head muttered and looked down, seeing the cup she had been drinking was now all over her top
"I'm so sorry" Caroline babbled helping her up "it's just I'm new at this, and-"
"It's fine" Iris cut her off and sent her a reassuring smile "you're new, just be more careful"
Caroline smiled and hugged her
"Merlin Caroline" she gasped "need to breath"
"Oops" the bubbly blond let her go "I'll get you another drink"
"No, it's fine" Iris lightly grabbed her wrist "Isn't that your mum?" she asked seeing the sheriff talking to Damon
"Yeah" Caroline frowned, Iris looked at her
"Is there a problem between your mum and—"
"Iris, Caroline" Elena appeared she saw the raven head's stained shirt "What happened?" she gestured towards her top
"Nothing" Iris said and noticed that Elena was barely paying attention she was staring at Stefan who was looking back
"Longing looks are being exchanged" Caroline commented, Iris hid a smile the blond was blunt but she had preferred that, hating people being cryptic especially after what she'd been through.
"I'm going to go talk to him" Elena stated, Iris frowned confused
"Am I'm missing something?" she asked but sighed when she was ignored
"No Elena don't" but the brunette walked off towards the broody vampire.
"What's going on?" Iris asked the newly turned vampire who was getting use the thoroughly intoxicating scent that only belonged to Iris.
"Well there's drama going on between Elena and Stefan, don't you know?" Iris could see Caroline's eyes brightened possibly due to the fact that the blond was about to do something that she does best, gossip.
Iris shook her head "no clue so-"but she was cut off again causing her to roll her eyes
"Why are you being such a bitch to your mum?" Damon asked, Iris's eyebrows shot up to her hairline at that, seems like Caroline had her own drama with her mother
"Don't worry about it" Caroline backed away a few steps.
"What's going on?" Iris demanded and was miffed when Damon shushed her "why are- oh you guys are evil" she said seeing that both vampires attention were focused on Elena and Stefan, she knew they were both eavesdropping on the pair "You can't do that it's-" Damon simply placed his hand over her mouth effectively shutting her up, Iris's voice came out muffled, a moment later he pulled his hand away and was exasperated when she carried on lecturing them about the wrong doings of eavesdropping an how it was an invasion of privacy
"She's jealous" Damon commented over to Caroline quietening Iris down who pouted at the pair "she doesn't have super cool tricks like we do"
Iris lightly slapped his chest "I'm not even going to deny that" Caroline snorted at that.
Iris was at the deck area, the picnic was in full swing she was currently perched on the banister sipping away her drink.
"So are you interested in what was said between the lovebirds?" she heard a familiar voice and looked up to see Damon
"Not really, I prefer not to get myself involve in their love life" she uttered and jumped off the porch rail "plus Damon it's kind of sad knowing that you're getting off at problems in your younger brother's relationship" she looked over her shoulder and sent him a small smile "For a vampire whose got an eternity to do whatever you want, you sure don't do a lot" Damon sighed, she was true to an extent he thought.
She disappeared into the crowd.
Iris arrived at the food table and picked up some snacks and munched them down, she had just grabbed a drink when a shadow fell over her.
"Oh Mason" she blushed seeing the good looking man
"Hi, feeling better?" he asked smiling at the petite teen, she nodded bashfully
"Yeah" she said embarrassed at what she had said to him beforehand "sorry about last time we've met I-"
"No, don't be" he smirked "I find it quiet…hmm charming to have a beautiful girl to compliment me like that"
Iris lips twitched in amusement "and you my good sir are a terrible flirt" he chuckled at that
"I know" he stated "anyway have you seen Jenna?"
"Hmm, she's around somewhere" Iris sipped her drink "how you finding being back in Mystic Falls?"
"Interesting" he stated, she cast a curious look over to him
"That's an odd way of describing it" she murmured, he shrugged his shoulders and took a sip of his beer.
"Here you go miss" Iris looked down and saw an eight year old girl holding a drink out to her.
"Oh thanks sweetie" she smiled at the small girl, Iris took a sip of her lemonade and scrunched up her button nose slightly, it tasted odd.
"You feeling ok?" Mason asked watching her carefully he had suspicions about her, wondering could she be a vampire since the girl hanged around a lot with the Salvatores, but that idea quickly fell out of his mind when he'd witness the raven head taking another sip of the vervaine laced drink.
"Yep" Iris nodded and glanced over to the little girl. She jumped when she felt a pair of hands on her shoulders
"Iris, there you are" Damon said and plastered an obviously fake smile seeing Mason
"Yes here I am" the sentence came more out like a question then a statement "You alright Damon?" she asked the vampire
"Never better" he grinned
"Then what's with the funny looking face" she muttered and winced slightly when his fingers dug into the soft flesh of her shoulders.
"I heard you talking to Stefan" Damon said and dropped his hands away from Iris but remained close to her
"He's a nice guy" Mason said, Iris was slightly impressed at the werewolf clearly he knew how to take care of himself
"Much nicer than me" Damon said, Iris snorted at this but hastily covered it with a cough, the vampire sent her a withering glare, she smiled cheekily up at him.
"Nice is overrated" Mason answered back, causing Iris to shake her head
"That's what I think as well" Damon chuckled, Iris could feel the tense air brewing between them.
"Well see yah around Damon" he replied "Iris"
She sent him a smile and dropped down onto the bench, Damon sat beside her
"So are you going to tell what's going on between Elena and Stefan?" she asked, he smirked at her, she wanted to smack it off his face
"I thought you said eavesdropping is wrong?"
"Don't be an arse" she huffed at him "So?"
"Well, since you asked so nicely" he drawled "apparently there's some faux drama between the pair, you didn't know this?"
Iris shook her head "Nope, but why would they do that? They seem like a solid couple"
"Who knows what goes on in their miniscule brain" he shrugged, Iris rolled her eyes "So you aren't worried?"
Iris cocked an eyebrow "Why be worried? Whatever is there problem they'll deal with it" she finished off her lemonade "anyway Stefan's a decent guy"
"Hey I can be decent" he said causing her to smile in amusement just then the little girl that had said hello to Iris was holding a cup of lemonade out to Damon
"Would you like a cup of lemonade?" the girl asked sweetly,
"Why thank you sweetie" Damon took a swig of it "see I can be decent" he went to take another mouthful but abruptly spat it out coughing
"Merlin Damon its only lemonade, not poison" Iris rolled her eyes but her amused smiled faltered when he continued coughing, "Damon?" she asked concerned rubbing his back "What's wrong?"
Just then Stefan arrived "What happened?"
"No clue, he just started coughing, thought he was being an attention seeker" she steadily ignored the glare the vampire was giving her
"Vervaine, vervaine" he choked up, Iris sprung up and went to grab him a bottle of water, she returned with the drink and it was snatched out of her hand by a glaring Damon, who rinsed his mouth and went to spit it out over the deck's railing towards the bushes
"It was a smart way of making-"
"Don't say a thing flower" Damon snarled, Iris mimed zipping her mouth shut and throwing away the key, he glared at her causing her eyes to drop to the ground. Damon dropped back down beside her "I'm going to kill him"
Iris frowned knowing what the werewolf did was dangerous but Damon had been provoking him no doubt "No more mister Nice Guy" he growled
Iris snorted he could her mutter something about 'was that him being nice' he revisited the urge to poke her hard
"Calm down" Stefan ordered
Damon bared his teeth, Iris bit her lip knowing things were about to go downhill fast
"Don't give that crap about keeping peace" Damon snapped "he's a dead dog"
Iris's eyes narrowed "You can't kill –"
But was once against cut off this time by Stefan
"Ok"
Iris eyes widened she was surprised at this, as was Damon
"What?" they asked in unison
"I don't like it, but he's making threats" Stefan said running his hand through his thick hair
"You can't" Iris cried out quickly getting back on to her feet "Stefan you can't-"
"I don't like this Iris, but he could expose us" Stefan said sombrely
"But this is Tyler's uncle, he already lost his father you can't do that" she said fiercely, Damon noted her emerald orbs had darkened
"The woods" Damon stated turning his back on Iris "come on"
Iris grabbed his forearm "Damon, please you can't just tell him to back off, no more deaths please" she said softly. He frowned and turned around gripping on to her shoulders tightly
"It's either us or him Iris" Damon declared
"He's right" Stefan murmured
"Please, I'll talk to him we can make a deal or-"
"No" Stefan snapped surprising her "you aren't going anywhere near him Iris, he is dangerous"
Damon nodded and lightly gripped her chin "If I find out you're anywhere near I'll rip you a new one" he said sternly sounding oddly responsible
"Same goes for me" Stefan added, the English girl had grown on the brothers, they look at her as if she was part of their family and in an odd way she was. "Come on"
Damon lightly cupped her cheek "Go find Elena and stay with her, ok?"
She remained silent but a glare from him made her concede to his wish
"Fine" she snapped not happy at all at what was happening he pressed his lips against her temple and laid down a soft kiss
"It has to be this way Iris" Stefan said softly, Iris sighed but nodded and watched them go.
Iris bit her lip worried as neither Stefan nor Damon returned, she headed their advice and went to look for Elena who she found sitting on a picnic table
"Iris" the brunette greeted her smiling as she did so.
"Hi" she painted a smile on to her face "so what's up with you and Stefan? I thought things were good"
Iris frowned when Elena pulled out her phone and started to text
"Ok then" she muttered "have I mentioned how nice and welcoming you make me feel?" she asked sarcastically
"Here" Elena handed her the cell, Iris read the text and was surprised at what she read, apparently the couple's 'break up' was staged to fool Katherine who didn't want them to be together and they didn't want Damon to know, which sort of made sense, also found out that Katherine had control over Caroline.
"Merlin, now this is a twist" she muttered under her breath giving her the cell phone back "Elena no offence but do you think this is wise?" she asked, Elena sent her a questioning look, Iris sighed and wetted her full lips looking at towards the picnic, she could hear the sounds of kids and adults chattering alike
"What do you mean?" Elena asked quietly, Iris could feel her eyes burning into the side of her face
"I mean is it wise to bait her like this?" she turned her stunning emeralds eyes onto the brunette "she won't be happy when she finds out"
"She won't" Elena said firmly
"How can you be so sure?" Iris asked quietly "someone might get hurt" just then she saw Caroline walking over to them, Iris knew the blond had no idea what was really going on between Elena and Stefan, and she knew she had to play along
So Iris decided to put her acting skills to use, she pretended to comfort the taller girl
"Are you going to be ok?" Iris asked lightly touching her shoulder. Elena sent her a discrete thankful smile as Caroline stopped in front of them.
Iris vaguely heard Elena and Caroline sparing words, the raven head's attention was focused on Liz Forbes who was on the phone looking concern
"Caroline, is your mum leaving?" she asked her accent coming through strongly she saw Caroline walking over to her mum. Both Iris and Elena exchanged confused look and followed after the blond.
"Caroline what's up?" Elena asked
"Not sure" Caroline frowned "but something's up" without another word she went off into the opposite direction,
"Where are you going?" Iris asked following after her with Elena by her side they were going up a hill,
"To hear better" Caroline answered, Iris was able to easily keep up with her but Elena was lagging behind
"What with your awesome super powers?" the raven head muttered
Caroline smiled and shook her head, Iris looked over her shoulder and saw that Elena was panting and clutching her side.
"Seriously Elena I think you need to exercise more" she muttered and grabbed her hand so Iris was pulling her up quicker
"How comes you're not out of breath?" Elena asked, Iris had hardly broken a sweat and was breathing evenly
Iris smirked "I did a lot of running back in England" she simply stated, Elena couldn't help but think that Iris's words had a double meaning.
"Anyway what do you hear?" Iris asked as they climbed up a hill, they had stopped at a clearing, Iris looked around it was empty, she saw Caroline placing her hands behind her ears and closed her eyes a look of pure concentration on her face. Iris bit her lip and waited nervously shuffling her feet, Caroline's blue eyes snapped open
"Oh god" the blond gasped earning concerned looks from both Elena and Iris "something's wrong"
"Crap" Iris muttered not at all liking the sound of this
"It's Stefan and Damon" Iris grew even more concerned and once again Caroline took off, with Iris and Elena on her heels
"Caroline?" Iris asked as they stopped again,
"They've been here" this was getting eerie Iris thought as Caroline bent down to pick something up, Iris brows furrowed seeing what looked like a shell case from a bullet.
"What are you three doing around here?" Iris jumped and spun around on her heel, she grew even more tense seeing Mason Lockwood was the one who'd found them, she swore Stefan and Damon was meant to be dealing with him,
"Erm…Caroline lost an earring" Iris blurted out saying the first thing that came out of her mouth, Elena and Caroline inwardly groaned hearing this, Iris was a completely rubbish liar "And we came out here to find it" she babbled on, rubbing the back of her neck awkwardly, her eyes were darting back and forth she saw him stepping closer.
"Have you seen Stefan?" Elena asked breaking the tense silent, Iris was internally grateful to the brunette knowing she was coming across as a complete idiot.
"Yeah I have" Mason said looking intensely at the trio of female teenagers "Damon as well"
Iris plastered a smile across her face
"So you won't mind telling us where we can find them?" Iris asked licking her lips nervously
"You won't need me for that, I'm sure your friend can find them" he looked over to Caroline, Iris chuckled nervously
"Err, she's not psychic" Iris said and stiffened even more so as Mason seemed to move closer
"You're a shitty liar" he snapped at her. Iris scowled at him
"Yeah well, you're not even that good looking" she muttered, getting a pinch from Elena the brunette was silently telling her to shut up
Mason however ignored her, his eyes remained on Caroline who was watching him carefully
"Does your mother know what you are?" he asked a dark smirk on his face, Iris saw Caroline's shoulders tensed "no? Well I'll be happy to tell her"
"You really are a dick" Iris snapped her temper was getting the best of her
Iris witnessed Caroline running forward, but she gasped as Mason wrapped his arm around her neck and pressed his other arm to her temple.
Iris chocked slightly not getting enough air, Caroline stopped immediately as Elena watched terrified for her friend. Iris's eyes watered her nails dug into Mason's forearm.
"Let go of me" Iris shrieked struggling in his hold taking mouthful of air into her lungs, she felt his grip on her tightened
"Don't be stupid" Mason snarled straightening up causing Iris's feet to dangle, she groaned knowing that there would be no doubt a bruise on her neck "Necks snaps easy around here"
"Mason please" Iris gasped digging her nails further into his skin "bloody…hell" she groaned and looked pleadingly at Caroline wanting the blond to do something.
"I can take you" Caroline said determinedly
"Wanna bet" Mason said viciously
"Yeah I do"
Within the next second Iris was thrown face first onto the forest floor
"Oww, my nose" Iris sat up and clutched her face,
"Told you" Caroline smirked and shoved Mason on to the floor and kicked him into a tree with her superior strength, Elena grabbed Iris by her arms and pulled her onto her feet
"You ok?" the brunette asked, she could see a red blotch on Iris's nose and a forming bruise around her neck
"I'll live" she rubbed the skin attempting to sooth the ache, Elena nodded and they started to run again.
When they stopped Iris had no clue where they were
"Is that a cellar?" the raven head asked seeing the stone steps
"Must be" Elena muttered but Iris's attention was soon on the blond who gasped and held a hand to her mouth
"What is it?" Iris asked
"It's my mum she's killing them"
Iris eyes widened at this "Let's go" she said wanting to save her friends Elena followed after her but Caroline grabbed their arms
"What are you doing?" Iris hissed "We have to stop her"
"No I can't, she's going to find out about me" Caroline said desperation leaking from her, Iris's face softened knowing that the blond didn't want her mother to know about her secret
"Fine you stay here, but we're going in" Elena nodding agreeing with the petite girl
Without another word the petite girl ran down the stoned steps with Elena on her heels.
"What are you going to do with that?" Elena whispered as Iris plucked up a wooden plank
"It might come in use, now hush" she muttered walking towards the down, she held the plank over her shoulder and waited seeing a shadow of a man approaching them, when he rounded the corner Iris swung the plank down knocking the man out.
"Remind me not to get on your bad side" Elena said wide eye, Iris sent her a grin and went further into the room, the raven head immediately dropped the plank when there was a gun pointed at her face, she gulped and saw Liz Forbes glaring at her
"Whoa, put the gun down" Iris said attempting to ease the tense situation
"Elena…-" she trailed off looking at the raven head which she haven't officially been introduced to
"Iris Potter…erm no offence I would say nice to meet you" Iris felt her cheeks heat up "but yeah…" her emerald orbs were focused on the horrific scene in front of her, she saw a motionless Stefan with a bullet hole in the middle of his chest, her ears perked up hearing Damon groaning in pain, she saw gaping holes in his knees
"You can't kill them" Elena cried out "We won't let you"
Iris nodded firmly fisting her hands but loosened when she saw the cops pointing their guns at them
"Really? Killing two teenage girls how is that going to look?" Iris asked relieved that her voice didn't shake
Just then Iris heard Caroline coming in which caused her tense muscles to relax slightly, now the plane field was somewhat even
"Who else is with you?" Sheriff Forbes demanded, Iris bit her bottom lip forcing herself not to respond.
There was a blur of movement and the men who'd been pointed their guns at Iris and Elena had been bitten. Iris saw the looked of devastation on the older woman's face when Caroline revealed herself her face was in full vampire mode with the veins around her eyes bulging and fangs, blood dripping down her face.
"Hi mom" Caroline said softly, Iris took the chance and hurried over to Damon, she dropped to her knees beside him
"Damon" she muttered and placed her arms around her neck so that his head was resting on her lap
"Iris" he croaked,
She frowned concerned flooding her face she was confused "Why aren't you healing?" she asked brushing some of his soft hair away from his eyes
"Blood" he gurgled "I need blood, your blood"
"Not mine, I'll rather not have bite marks thank you very much" she looked around and saw that Elena was shaking Stefan awake,
"Wait here" she gently placed his head back down on the ground and rolled her eyes hearing him grumble 'as if I can move'
Iris dragged the body of one of the deputies over to Damon "Here" she dropped back down and watched as the vampire fed. Once he was sated by the two bodies, his head slumped back down on to her lap, she gingerly wiped the stray blood drops away from his face, Damon was panting before she could even blink Iris was standing up,
"Oww, what the hell?" she scowled as he grabbed her by the shoulders
"I thought I told you not to get involved" he snapped, she sighed and met his glare straight on
"Well it's a good thing I did, otherwise you would be in far worse condition than beforehand" she muttered, his glare softened and pulled her to his chest hugging her for a moment, he pulled back when he felt her flinch
"Sorry" she muttered not getting use to the idea of someone touching her with no ill intent.
Damon shook his head but his eyes narrowed when he saw the forming bruise around her throat and lightly ran his finger over it
"What happened?" he asked
Iris huffed "Nothing, we should-" but he cut her off by gripping her wrist causing her to wince
"Nothing huh?"
"It was Mason" Caroline said
"Nice going Care, as if he needs any more reason to kill him" the raven head muttered.
Damon scowled she saw the veins around his eyes darken and raised his wrist to his protruding fangs
"No" she grabbed his fangs "I don't want your blood"
He looked at her and sighed nodding in defeat "Fine" his attention soon turned to Stefan who was standing up now, Iris saw that he was panting and that he hadn't fully healed like Damon
"You need to drink some of the deputy's blood" he advised
"No" Stefan grunted "I'll be fine, it'll just take a bit longer to heal"
Iris frowned "Stefan you need-"
"He said he didn't want it" Elena snapped
"Alright" Iris frowned "he's going to have get use to controlling his blood lust sooner or later" she muttered the last sentence, so only the vampires could hear, they remained silent knowing that the raven head was right.
Iris heard a small scuffle and looked over to the sheriff, Damon straightened up and walked casually over to her
"Now this is an unfortunate situation" his smirk fully in place, Iris nerves were on edge wondering what Damon would do, she couldn't condone the idea of letting the vampire kill Caroline's mother. "Two dead deputies and you-" he looked over to the sheriff "what am I going to do with you?"
Iris stepped up next to Damon and grabbed his arm to stop him going towards Liz
"You won't tell anyone will you?" Caroline asked her mum, she didn't reply "mum?"
Iris was saddened at the scene she didn't personally know how Caroline felt "you won't tell anyone will you? Look I know you and I don't get along but please, I'm your daughter mum?"
Iris bit her bottom lip hard to stop herself from lashing out at the woman, the sheriff was supposed to be a mother and she wasn't being one at all, Iris was downhearted her own mother had sacrificed herself to save her and she couldn't comprehend the idea of a parent shutting their only child out. "Please, he'll kill you"
"No he won't" Iris snapped and glared at the woman
"Kill me then" the sheriff spat
Iris's grip on Damon tightened
"No" Caroline sobbed
"Kill me" the woman repeated
"You're supposed to be a mother" Iris spat at her, her emerald orbs were blazing with fury "mothers are meant to love their children regardless no matter what"
This time it was Damon's turn to pull the raven head back, he spun her around and whispered
"Iris-"
"No. Parents aren't meant to leave their kids behind" Damon could see she was referring to her own parents who have been cruelly taken away
Iris reverted her gaze over to the wall avoiding looking at Stefan knowing that the vampire had heard what she had said
"Mom please" Caroline begged, Damon scowled
"I can't take this anymore" he stalked over to Liz who was glaring at him
"Kill me" she hissed, Damon leaned close into her
"But you was going to drag it out so painfully" he backed her up against the wall
"No, no, no" Caroline sobbed, Iris breath was caught in her throat he wouldn't really kill her would he?
"DAMON DON'T" Stefan shouted,
Iris relaxed seeing the vampire lose his glare and roll his eyes
"Relax" he said aloud to them "I'm not going to kill you. You're my friend" he stated, Iris lips tilted upwards in a soft smile, it looked like she was right Damon Salvatore did have a heart under his harsh and sometimes terrifying demeanour. "We should clean-up"
Iris looked at the scene, she saw Caroline sobbing in the corner and the sheriff refusing to look at her own daughter, the dark haired teenaged looked over to Elena who was busy with Stefan
"You take care of Liz, I'll deal with Caroline" Iris murmured, Damon nodded and watched as the raven head take the blond vampire by the hand and led her upstairs.
AN: Sadly there's no Original dream, but to make up for it here's an extra long chapter for those who requested it.
A lot of action in this chapter though. So please REVIEW! :)