AN: Yay I got my 50 reviews! So thanks bunches! I had to update tonight, I just want everyoe to read this so bad haha! This chapter is a doozy! I hope you enjoy! Lemme know what you think!

Chapter 22

For what you did to me,

and what I'll do to you,

you get, what everyone else gets,

you get a lifetime

It's Not A Fashion Statement, It's a Fucking Deathwish by My Chemical Romance

I think I'm dreaming. I mean I have to be don't I?

I'm sitting at the dining room table at the Salvatore's with Damon and my mother. That doesn't make sense does it? She's smiling at me, asking me how school is going. School? Julliard? Had I really been accepted? Damon is rubbing reassuring circles with his thumb on the back of my hand, he looks so happy, so carefree. It's his twenty fifth birthday this weekend. My mother wants to take us all to dinner. She wants to celebrate his birthday and our engagement. I look down to our entwined hands. There's a white gold band on my left finger, an oval shaped diamond surrounded by sapphires. Sapphires just like Damon's eyes. It's beautiful, he's beautiful. He kisses me, tells me he loves me. My mother's laughing, she's so happy for me. A noise behind us has me turning in my seat. My father walks in, his usual mischievous grin in place. He scoops my mom out of her seat, spins her. She's so beautiful when she laughs, will I ever be as beautiful as she is?

Suddenly the room blurs, I feel like I'm falling. Damon is slipping away. Now I'm in our old living room. Elena's standing in front of my mom and me. I'm hiding behind her, I'm so small. Why does Elena look so scary? Why is mommy holding a knife? She's coming towards me…I'm scared. Why did Elena tell her to hurt me? Wait, daddy is here. He'll make everything ok. He tells Elena to take him instead. He begs for my life. Now Elena is kissing his neck…no she's biting him. He's on the ground, he's dead. Why? Moms eyes aren't happy anymore, they're sad and angry. She has my eyes. She's telling me something. It should have been you.

Terrins in front of me, he's alive but the bullet holes are still there. No one will ever love you.

And Damon, my beautiful Damon. He's holding a gun, his eyes are red. How could you actually believe that I love you? You're pathetic, you're nothing. I should have killed you the moment you told me what a monster you are. And he does kill me. He shoots me straight through the heart. Not even with the intimacy of his bite.

Oh God! I'm screaming, why does my side hurt so bad. My eyes shoot open. It all really was a dream. I'm sitting in the corner of a room in my childhood home. My mother is staring at me with glum satisfaction.

"Nice dream?" I want to kill her. She was in my head, she made me see those things.

"You really always have been a cold hearted bitch." She laughs, apparently my statement is funny. I refuse to crumble under this womans attempt at fucking up my mind.

"And you've always had quite a mouth on you. I don't know where you picked up the bad language. It's not very lady like honey." I groan when I stretch my legs out in front of me. The bleeding in my side seems to have stopped but it still hurts like a bitch.

"Lady like? I guess watching my mother spread her legs for money my whole life left me lacking in the femininity department." Her smirk falters slightly. I have something to live for, I won't let her kill me without a fight.

"I do hope Damon shows up tomorrow. You're boring me. I'd really like to put on a show, I have a feeling one of you will crack when the others life is in the balance." She's a psychotic freak. She was a lost cause far before she became a vampire. I just didn't want to admit it.

"You hate me because dad saved my life, you wish it would have been with me, blah blah blah. You really are pathetic. You've hated me my whole life over something I had no control over. I was six years old for Gods sakes!" She glares at me, this same look used to leave me trembling, frightened for the next blow.

"You think your young age granted you innocence? You were an atrocity the moment you were born. I never wanted you. I knew from the moment I laid eyes on you that you would bring nothing but death and pain to anyone who dared touch you." That stings a little. Is it true? Something is nagging at the back of my mind. Voices. Stefan, Caroline, Elena, Damon. They all told me I did nothing wrong. They love me. They're my family.

"I've spent years hating myself, blaming myself for your death. I truly believed I was a monster for feeling no remorse after killing Terrin. I've allowed horrible things to happen to me because you made me believe I was worthless. You hurt me my entire childhood not because you hated me but because you hated yourself. You wanted me to hate you, to hurt as badly as you did. And then when I finally did at the very end you tried to back pedal. Had I told you I could have forgiven you you would have honestly tried. But you were too much of a coward to truly atone. You couldn't even die selflessly, vampirism was the easy way out. I wasn't there to be a punching bag anymore and you snapped. Have you watched me all these years like a fucking coward? When I finally found happiness you couldn't stand it so here you are to tear it all to shreds. You need me to have purpose don't you? You cant bear to watch me find a happiness that you'll never achieve. But guess what? That's your problem not mine. You think killing me will fill that empty space in your chest? All you'll be left with is your self hatred. Your reflection will still be the same cold disgusting heartless bitch staring back at you. So by all means kill me. I might go to hell but at least I've known what it means to live, and love, to have people who truly care for me. You will never have that. I pity you." I might not be able to hurt her physically but I could still be cruel.

Pain floods me again. She growls low in her throat. The knife is in my leg, then the other. My blood soaks through my clothing. I won't scream, I'll bite my tongue to keep from giving her the satisfaction. Her eyes are scarlet, veins protruding perversely above her cheeks. Will she drain me dry? Will I die like my father did?

Damon's POV

I'm running down a street, which street I don't know. I can't allow myself to think. If I even stop to breathe I'm going to break. I want to cry, I want to scream, I want to kill any motherfucker that comes across my path. I have to run on pure instinct. I think Stefan is at my side. He keeps saying we'll find her. Everyone is out looking for her. He's trying to calm me down. Doesn't he realize it's all my fault she's gone to begin with. I should have never left her side. What was I thinking? If somethings happened to her, if she's d… no I cant think that. I wont survive this. She's it for me. The one. My soulmate. Every corny cliché, she's that. She's everything. And I let her be taken from me.

I swear on everything that I will rip that bitch limb from limb. I will feed her her fucking heart. I need to feed or I'm going to snap my brothers neck. He's too close to me. I think he's trying to speak to me.

"Damon!" Stefan grabs my arm. He shouldn't have touched me. I bend his wrist back until it makes a satisfying snapping sound. "Damnit Damon! Stop for one second!" He thrusts his cellphone at me. I faintly hear the crack of his hand relocating and his hiss of pain. On his lit screen is an address…a text from Katherine. Kat may have just gotten herself removed from my shit list.

Layla's POV

My ears are ringing. I don't think I should be conscious right now. I know I've been slashed more times than should be possible. She wants me to suffer. She wont let me die easily. Maybe they're all shallow wounds. Her smile is so sadistic. Maybe this is what Damon meant when he said a vampire could turn their humanity off. She's about to plunge her knife into me again but her head shoots to the direction of the front door.

"Shit! They weren't supposed to be here quite yet…Marlon isn't even back yet. Damnit! What am I going to do…" Her eyes whip back to me, the smile returns. Whose Marlon? Who's here?

"Unfortunately it seems our time has been cut short. I have a parting gift for you. I'll be back to Mystic Falls soon, just in time to bury you." What does she mean? She pulls a glass vial out of her jacket pocket. It doesn't take much for her to pour the strange liquid down my throat. Oh god! Just in time to bury me, she's poisoned me. She whispers something in my ear and then there's just darkness.

Damon's POV

I bash through the front door without hesitation. Stefan is on my heels.

"Jesus…" My brother covers his nose and mouth with a hand. The small living room we've just entered is covered in blood, Layla's blood. I faintly hear Elena's voice behind us, I think Caroline's too.

"Oh no. Where is she?" Caroline sounds as if she's going to burst into tears.

"Damon…" My name is whispered from another room. I know that voice. I blur towards the source. No one follows me, I hope they're searching for the woman responsible for this because all I can focus on is the voice I just heard.

I wooden sign has Layla written on it in big bold letters, like the door to a childs room. I push it open, I'm honestly scared.

In a bloody mess on a small purple bed is the woman I love. Her eyes are half open, but they are open. Her clothes are in tatters. Cuts mar her beautiful body, her face, everything. I can't breathe again because I think I'm going to sob like I did when my mother died. She's alive. She's still here. I move towards her slowly, I don't want to frighten her.

"Damon…I knew you'd find me." I want to kiss every inch of her skin but I need to get her out of her to assess the damage. I scoop her up in my arms. It's so strange that blood calls to me more stongly than anything but I cant even smell hers right now. All I can think about is how much I love her.

"Of course I found you. And I'll never lose you again. I swear." Her breaths are shallow against my neck, but they're warm and alive.

"She's gone. She left a few minutes before you got here. Please don't go after her. Just take me home, please don't leave me right now." Her pleading does something strange to my heart. I want Andrea to pay…no I need her to pay. But right now nothing could keep me from leaving Layla's side.

Everyone is in the front room as I carry her out. The whole damn crew. Even Matt, Tyler, and Jeremy. Hell Liz Forbes is standing there. I see Elena make a move towards us but something in my eyes must stop her.

"Stefan. I need you to go look for Layla's mother. I…can't go. Not tonight." He nods at me in acknowledgment. Why is Elena smiling at me like that? It's not just that she's happy Layla is in my arms. She looks proud.

I get us to the house as quickly as possible. I don't know how Layla is still awake. I don't think any of the wounds pierced her deeply. But there's so much blood. I take hr to my room and set her on the bed. I'll give her a bath after I figure out what kind of help she needs. I cant keep my hands off of her. I just need to know she's here.

Her eyes are distant, not taking anything in. Her face pales even further very suddenly. One hand goes to her throat, her eyes widen.

"Oh my God." She sounds horrified. Is she finally going in to shock? I try to pull her to me but she puts a hand to my chest.

"She poisoned me…but…she gave me…oh my God. She told me…she told me she'd make sure I'd suffer forever." Poison!? No, no, no. I needed to do something. I get to my feet. What the fuck am I supposed to do.

"Damon…Damon…" I turn to her, she looks haunted. Tears stream down her cheeks.

"What is it?" Her eyes meet mine.

"She really meant forever." She needs to tell me what the fuck is going on! Her face goes completely blank. It's actually kind of scary.

"Damon…I need you to get me a blood bag."