AN: Hello again! Thank you yet again for reviews and favorites and follows. I appreciate it! Anyone else dreading season 4 ending? I have a feeling this season cliffhanger will piss me off. I just have this inkling that Damon is going to somehow get the cure forced on him. Well anyway please review! PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE! haha. Enjoy!
Chapter 6
Laylas POV
I'm walking around the large foyer of the Lockwood mansion while Damon goes to get me a drink. I still can't believe I spoke to Klaus the way I did. I see that Sheriff Forbes has him trapped in conversation. I want to run over and snatch the stupid flute of champagne from his hand. I need a drink damnit!
I know that if I walked into this party not knowing Damon my eyes would still inevitably be drawn to him. He was so heartbreakingly beautiful, and I hated it. I'm sure every woman who had ever been privileged enough to lay eyes on the elder Salvatore never forgot his face. I'm pulled out of my dumb thoughts by a voice way too close to me.
"Hello there. I haven't seen you before. I'm Levi." The man that's walked up to me has dark bushy hair and looks around my age. Something about the look on his face makes me want to run in the other direction. He's definitely standing way too close to me.
"Yea, new to town." I try to turn away and look interested in a painting on the wall.
"What's your name?" He didn't sound nice, he sounded like a creep.
"I don't really want to tell you." I could feel goose bumps rise on my arms. Something about him was just off. His hand is on my arm spinning me around to face him roughly.
"I asked you your name." This guy was drunk and he was scary. It wasn't vampires that frightened me it was men like this, men who had that glint of evil in their eyes. I pull away from him and glare as menacingly as I can.
"The last man that put his hands on me ended up with a bullet through his head. I suggest you walk away now." I feel bile rise in my throat. I hated him; I knew what he was like from one look. Something flashed in his eyes, fear? He believed me. He knew it was true. And in an instant he's gone.
My legs felt like they were going to give out. You're worthless. No one will ever love you. I've never loved you. You're nothing, just another dumb bitch.
I reach for the nearby table to steady myself. I feel like I'm going to break. All it took was for one person to give me that all too familiar look. This is it, when it finally hits me. I haven't cried since that day. I didn't cry when I shot him. I would never let myself cry. And just like that, with one fierce look from a man with ill intentions I'm crumbling. Because I'm not over it. I've never gotten over it, over what he did to me. I didn't let myself feel it all. I blocked it off and I built a wall. I haven't felt in so long. And I cant let myself feel it all now. I won't.
I'm running. I'm out the Lockwood's front door in seconds. I'm running faster than I think I ever have. I know people have to be looking at me strangely but I don't care. I need to run away, from everything, from myself, from my new friend's kindness, away from that man, away from feelings.
My throat burns, my lungs feel like they might burst. I faintly hear a cars engine on the road near me and then it cuts. I feel a whoosh of air pass me and then Damon materializes in front of me. I scream. His hands are on my arms. He's looking at me, searching fro an answer without asking. His brows are furrowed and so many things are flashing through his sapphire eyes. I am broken.
I'm sobbing. I can't breathe in enough oxygen, I think I'm hyperventilating. My legs do give out but Damon holds me steady. He lifts me up without saying a word. He sets me in the passenger seat. My head is in my hands, the tears won't stop flowing and the sobs won't stop escaping my throat. It's all hit me, everything. I didn't shed a tear for my grandparents because I refused to feel. And now all I felt was guilt. I should have gone to them, lived with them, and consoled them when their daughter died even though she was a horrible mother. Instead I ran to him. I didn't see them for years because of him…no because of me. Because of my choices. And now my only family that ever truly loved me is dead and I never even gave them a second thought the whole time I was with Terrin. I was so fucked up. And if they'd known what I had done, Oh God, they would have hated me. No, not what I did to Terrin, they knew about him, they got me the lawyer. What I did to her. No, I couldn't think about it. I couldn't take it right now. I couldn't take any of this.
I spoke through the sobs. "Damon, I can't-I can't go there, I can't go to their home. No I can't. Not after what I've done. Please. Please don't take me there. I'll go anywhere else. You can leave me on the side of the road; I don't care, just not there." I'm sure he has no idea what I'm saying, has no idea what I'm talking about.
What was he thinking? I'm sure he couldn't stand me. For the short time I'd known him I'd been nothing but trouble. Dumping my dark secrets on him. Wait…no…he'd asked hadn't he? He wanted to know? But why? Sick curiosity?
I think he's stopped driving. I'm cradled in his arms again. He moves so fast everything blurs even more through my tears. I think we're in his bedroom. He sets me on a soft surface, his bed? I hear running water. I can't believe I'm still crying. I can't even see straight. Minutes later I can see him faintly in front of me. He stands me up; I feel his hand pulling the zipper of my dress down then its pulled over my head. My arms fall back to my side.
Again I'm in his arms but soon I'm sitting in his jasmine scented tub. The hot water is almost scorching, its perfect. He must step in behind me, I hear the water splash onto the floor. He pulls me back against his naked chest and wraps his arms securely around me. Now I'm weeping harder. This man who hasn't known me for that long at all knew exactly what I needed. He didn't know me well but he knew what mattered, he knew things no one else knew, things no one else might ever know.
"Shh, shh." His breathe is warm against my ear. It brings me to my senses. I take a deep sobering shaky breath and let the tears come to stop.
"Thank you. Thank you so much." I'm safe here, in a bath tub with a vampire that has probably done worse things than I can even imagine, and despite that I know he won't hurt me, he is not like that man earlier, he's not Terrin. He's safe.
Damon's POV
I run my hands over my face and through my hair. Laylas asleep in my bed. She's wearing one of my eighty dollar T shirts, tucked safely in my Egyptian cotton sheets. Her cheeks are stained red. I don't know if I've ever seen anyone cry that hard. I don't know what had been running through her head. I have no clue was spurred on her choking sobs. I knew what had set her off though. My phone rings loudly from the pocket of my discarded jeans. I speed over to them and answer before it wakes the fallen girl in my bed.
"What the hell happened!? You left a dead body in the bathroom." Stefan's booming voice makes my eyes roll.
"Oh you know how bored I get at stuffy parties Stef, poor guy never saw it coming. He was giving me this weird look and I thought 'hey, Ive been awfully good lately, I bet no one would suspect me if I just snapped this guys neck.' It was just a spur of the moment kind of thing, you know how that goes. Sorry I left a mess for you; I presume you yet again cleaned up after me."
"You are so lucky I saw him before Elena did. She'd be heartbroken if she knew you killed someone again Damon. She thinks you've finally changed." He's lucky I wasn't there to snap his God damn neck. Like I fucking care what Elena thinks of my actions anymore.
"Do me another favor little brother, stay at your girlfriends tonight. I need the place to myself, met a new girl at the Lockwood's. Don't think you'll want to be around to hear my name screamed from various rooms of the house." He lets out a frustrated sigh.
"I'll see you tomorrow Damon. Call me when she's gone." It's funny that he gives up so easily now days. Maybe he's finally realized how pointless it is to argue with me.
I lie down on the bed next to Layla. She looks at ease, not the mess she was less than an hour ago. I reach over and sweep a wet strand of hair from her eyes. I swallow the lump forming in my throat.
I couldn't tell Stefan the real reason that man was dead. I heard Layla's conversation with the man Levi. I saw the look of terror on her face, then the anger. I saw her walk weakly away from his retreating form. And I saw something go off behind her eyes. It was grief, sorrow, sadness. She looked shattered. I knew that look. Then it was guilt and she was frightened, she sprinted away from the party. All I knew was that man triggered all of those things to cross her pretty face and I wanted him dead. So I killed him. I snapped his neck, for her. It felt good to hear that familiar crack. I liked seeing his limp body hit the floor. I don't know why I chased after her. Why the hell did I even care?
I look at her sleeping form again and I want to flee. I need to get the fuck away from here, away from her. I don't like feeling. Not about a woman, never again. I'd been burned two too many times. When I feel, I really feel. You care too much.
Layla whimpers, a tear slides out from underneath a closed eyelid. She starts to shake. Fuck me. I unconsciously reach out and smooth the back of my hand across her cheek. She stops shivering, that peaceful expression graces her features again. One touch and she's back in dreamland, away from whatever nightmare man was trying to harm her.
The way she had said thank you rang out with so much sincerity and gratitude. Had anyone ever spoken to me like that? I want to keep her safe. I want to kill any fucker that makes her think whatever nasty horrible thoughts were plaguing her mind earlier. I truly hate myself for feeling this way. I must be subconsciously punishing myself for something.
If there was a God he really hated me. Sure Damon lets go through this shit all over again. Lets give your whole black little heart and soul to protecting another woman. Might as well put myself through the ringer again. I was the one who said things were getting boring around here. Go figure, I'd get entertainment in the form a beautiful woman, my own slice of hell, my weakness. Yep God hated me.
She lets out a contented sigh beside me and my dead heart drops in that sickeningly sweet way when a small smile turns up the corners of her tempting mouth. I heave myself backward against my soft pillows. Seriously? Fuck me!