Chapter 5

Sexy Suds Or The Truth? Which is more complicated?

The whole morning, since last nights incident, Stefan had explained everything to Christina. Boy, was she surprised and happy to know Damon would be locked up in the cellar basement, away from her, not being able to compel her to do his dirty deeds. However, she couldn't shake of the strange feeling she got at the ball. Whatever was happening to her was more than just compulsion. She didn't have any proof, but she knew for a fact something fishy was going on with her and her recent mental state. However, her father's been so happy with Elena and all, she just couldn't find the heart in her to tell him the truth for once that something was really, REALLY, wrong with her.

3 days had passed and things got weirder for Christina. Not only did she realize she had the crystal necklace she helped Damon steal from the Founders ball three days ago in her possession, but for some unknown strange reason she was keeping it a secret from her father. Why she wouldn't tell him remained a mystery.

All she knew was whatever Damon did to her at the founders ball, whatever he did to compel her, all she knows is that she should keep the crystal and keep it a secret from everyone at the moment and protect it at ALL costs.

Despite the odd supernatural occurences happening, Christina was still able to find the strength to go to school that day.

Funny, how I'm able to still make room for High school drama over my own family drama. Christine thought. She soon phoned Jeremy, considering they always kept each other company as they headed for school. It rang twice.

"Hello?" A familiar female voice rang out through the phone.

"Vicki?" Christina asked in confusion, until she remembered Vicki had been out of the hospital for weeks now. But what was she doing with Jeremy's phone?

"Hey, Little Chris. Whatt's up?" Vicki asked me.

"Ah, nothing much. By the way, why do you have Jeremy's phone?" I asked her, curious.

"Oh, he's busy taking a shower. We were... kinda busy these past few days. If you know what I mean..." Vicki stated. I thought it over and immediately wished I hated.

"Oh...wow.." I muttered in disbelief, trying not to gag over the phone. Oddly enough, I felt a tinge of jealous in me but shook it off quickly.

"Well, congrats to you guys." I told her.

"Yeah, thanks. See you in school, shorty." Vicki states, before hanging up the phone. I did the same, deciding to head for school by myself then.

After Christina left the house, Stefan decided to go down to the cellar to check on Damon. He was slowly waking up from his long slumber.

"Where is my ring?" Was the first thing he said.

"Won't be needing it anymore." Stefan informed him, seeing as no sunlight would reach the partly dark basement. "How long have I been here?" Damon asked, trying to sit himself up. "Three days." Stefan told him. In counting... He thought to himself. "What are you doing?" Damon asked him. "During the dark ages when a vampire's actions threatened to expose or to bring harm upon the entire race, they would face judgement. They sought to reëducate them rather than to punish them." Stefan started out.

"You know what will happen if I don't... Feed on blood." Damon reminded him he was making a mistake of locking him in there.

"You'll grow weaker and weaker. Eventually you won't be able to move or speak. In a week your skin will desiccate, and you'll mummify. A living corpse. Unable to hurt anyone. Ever." Stefan said, knowing exactly what he was doing. He took great pleasure to see his brother would no longer mess with Elena, Christina or anyone else ever again. "So what, you're just going to leave me in the basement, forever?" Damon wondered and nearly scoffed.

"I've injected you with enough vervain to keep you weak. Once your circulation stops, I'll move you to the family crypt, and then in 50 years, we'll reevaluate." Stefan answered him calmly. "I'm stronger than you think." Damon reminded him. "You always have been. But you're not stronger than the vervain. I'm sorry. Didn't have to be this way." Stefan said, before walking off.

"You know, just because I'm stuck in here doesn't mean Christina will be safe." Damon said, causing Stefan to stop walking mid way.

"She'll never be safe." Damon informed him.

Stefan thought it over for a moment, before turning around to look at his brother, who glared back at him.

"As long as I'm alive, I'll make sure she's as safe as possible." Stefan informed him without a doubt, before leaving the basement.

School went by fast for Christina. Seeing as both her friends were too busy to hang out with her and her father was with Elena, she decided to head home to see Uncle Zach in the kitchen reading his newspaper.

"Hey, what are you doing here so early?" Zach asked her, as she placed her school backpack down on the floor near the back way door where she entered and next to the inside house fern plant. "Well, since somebody caused the death of my Biology, English and Spanish teacher, my day was kinda a cut short since they needed to find replacements this week. No one was really interested in taking the job." Christina told him, "Enough of my boring day, what have you been up to?"

"Oh me? I've been here all day doing crossword puzzles." Zach informed me, "I'm up to 45 tiles left." "How much have you filled in?" I asked him.

"5." He stated sheepishly. Christina mocked out a laugh. "Oh, let's see you do better." Zach stated. "Oh I will. Just maybe another time." Christina informed him, "By the way, how's Damon doing?" She asked, as she took out some apple juice, poured it in a mug and took a sip from it. It was her favorite mug. She had it for like... 3 years, since her dad gave it to her on her 12th birthday. It read Some Girls Are Just Born With Glitter In Their Veins. She loved it because it was true.

"Why do you care?" Zach asked her, wondering why she wanted to know how Damon was even doing. "I just wanted to know. You know, to see how much he's suffering." Christina stated as a stuble devious smirk formed on her lips, which she hid as she drank from her mug. Zach eyed her slightly. "Yeah, well stay up here. I'm going to go check on Damon." Zach stated. "Um...Are you sure that's a good idea?" Christina asked him, not seeing how logically safe that would be. "Trust me. As long as he's in there and I'm on the other side... he can't touch me." Zach informed her.

"Okay, if you say so." Christina backed off as Zach left to go to the cellar. Just to be on the safe side, Christina walked after him.

Once she got down the dark basement she spotted Uncle Zach, in front of a cell door.

"I came to say goodbye, Damon." Was the only thing she heard him say, until Damon sped up to the door and held him tightly by the throat, choking him. "Unlock it. Unlock the door, Zach." Damon threatened him.

Christina quickly ran up to Zach and tried to rip him away from Damon's grasp. Because he was so weak, Christina had the advantage and strength to get Zach out of Damon's grasp.

"Oh god, Zach. Are you...are you alright?" She asked him, concerned. He coughed slightly trying to receive air but nodded. "Yeah.. I'm fine." He stated. Christina sighed in relief and glared over at Damon. "Keep it up Damon. The more you fight, the quicker you'll go." Christina informed him. Damon glared back at her in disbelief. "God, you're so much like Stefan." He said making it sound like it wasn't a good thing. "Well, it's a given since he's my father." Christina reminded him, "You know, Damon? When I first heard about you.. I thought that maybe just maybe, you would be like another addition to the family for me. That way you, Stefan, Zach, Lexi and I could be just one happy family. But then I finally got to meet you and... I wish I hadn't. You're irredeemable, selfish and only care about yourself. Because of that and the fact you obviously want me dead, I wouldn't care what would happen to you today or tomorrow. I'm done trying to find a better person in you subconsciously. I'm just done."

"Christina...please..." Damon sighed out weak. "No, I'm done listening to you. I'm not going to let you mess with my head anymore. It's over, Damon. You lost. And if you want to do yourself a favor... try to go down with some dignity." Christina told him, before leaving the basement. Zach eventually followed her close behind.

School was long over and Elena was home. Jeremy had led her to the kitchen and left. She stood by the doorway in surprise to see Stefan in the kitchen.

"Stefan? What are you doing here?" She asked him.

"Dinner. Jeremy told me that Chicken Parmesan is one of your favorites, and I happen to be a good cook. The italian roots demand it. I can even make my one homemade mozzarella. Only tonight, it is unfortunately store-bought. Sorry." Stefan told her.

"I don't know what you're trying to accomplish." Elena started out, folding her arms.

"You want to know me, right? Well, I figured if you're going to dump me, you should at least, um, know who you're dumping. So let's start with Katherine." Stefan stated to her.

"Stefan..." Elena started out, finding this unnecessary.

"She was... the most beautiful girl that I had ever met. She had this perfect olive skin. Ad she had this laugh. It was ridiculous. I mean, her laugh made you laugh. And she was fun. She knew how to have a good time. But Katherine was also very impatient and entitled and selfish and, uh, impulsive. Enter Damon. He claims that he was with her first. I don't know. Neither does Christina. She, um, was never around as the drama started. But she knows how it ended. I do too. I also know I did some this that...I'm not proud of. And my biggest regret... Is not being able to make it right before she died. I miss her, but... I'm no longer crippled by her lost." Stefan informed her.

xxxxxx

Nearly an hour passed and Elena was actually starting to enjoy the fact that Stefan was opening up to her. It was about time she started getting answers from her boyfriend. "I'm an avid reader, a huge Fitzgerald fan, "The Great Gatsby", his masterpiece. But I'm no snob. I love some good Grisham. I think Seinfeld is the best American television show for the past 50 years, but I Love Lucy is all-time. "The loving cup" episode was the best, I think. Huge Scorsese fan. I can watch Taxi Driver over and over again." Stefan told Elena, as they were still cooking in the kitchen.

Elena grinned slightly. "Here let me." She said, taking the big knife chopper away from him to cut the garlic.

"As far as music, it's pretty much across the board. Um, Dylan, Hendrix, Patsy, Willie. A little Kanye. You know what? I even like that one Miley song." Stefan said, causing Elena to smirk. Yep, Christina loved watching Hannah Montana and practically forced him to take her to her concerts whenever she found out her next concert was near a town where they were. So from age 12 to 14, he had to endure his daughter's love for the show through concerts starting from 2007 to 2008. Despite all that, he did come to enjoy one of Miley's song. And it was NOT the "Best of Both Worlds". God help Stefan Salvatore if he ever heard that song ONE more time!

"Easy." Stefan informed Elena as she was still cutting the garlic.

"I didn't say anything. Hey, this is for the garlic bread, right? Because I'm not eating garlic unless you agree to, too." Elena stated. "Are you kidding? I love garlic." Stefan stated as if it were obvious. They grinned at each other for a second, until Elena accidentally cut her finger with the blade. "Ow! Ahh." Elena jumped and hissed. "You okay? Umm.." Stefan asked her concerned. He could already smell the blood.

"Yeah, I think so." Elena stated, before going to clean her finger off with the sink water. Stefan's eyes became watery over the smell and his throat started throbbing despite avoiding to look directly in Elena's direction.

No...No, I'm not going to give in... He reminded himself to fight it. He quickly turned around as Elena jumped. "Your face..." She started out, getting near him. Come on, go away already! He nearly exclaimed in his own mind. He inhaled slowly, before looking back over at Elena. Luckily he had enough time to get rid of his vamp face.

"..Um, I think my paranoia has turned into full-blown hallucinations." Elena said to herself out loud.

"Part of your charm." Stefan said with a soft smirk. He looked briefly down at her lips but was hesitant. He still wasn't sure if Elena still wanted to be with him or not. Elena noticed his track of thoughts and kissed him first, confirming she wouldn't be dumping him anytime soon.

Hours passed, and Zach left to do some grocery shopping, leaving Christina alone at home and informing her over 50 times to NOT go down into the basement, thinking Damon might find away to manipulate her again as he's done previous times. Stating on repeat that she'd be fine, Christina watched as Zach went on his way out of the driveway. That was an hour ago. It was getting dark. Now Christina had gotten bored and decided to check in with Jeremy to see if he had time to hang out with her.

'It's 10 pm. It's kinda too late to hangout, you think?' - JerBear.

Christina smiled slightly as she was still curling up her hair for the night. She wanted to wear curls for tomorrow.

'I know, but it's not that bad right?' - #ChristinaAguilera.

'We have school tomorrow.' - JerBear.

'GODDAMMITT! Lol, fine. Why didn't you call me at all today?' - #ChristinaAguilera.

This was running through Christina's head all day since Vicki picked up his phone that morning. She was wondering what held him up. It couldn't possibly be just Vicki.

'I was with Vicki.' - JerBear.

Christina rolled her eyes in disbelief.

'Are you serious? You were with Vicki? For the whole day? I find that hard to believe. She's with Tyler, Jeremy!' -#ChristinaAguilera.

'Actually... she's with me now.' - JerBear.

Christina paused there.

Vicki and Jeremy were finally together?

Ever since she found out the history between the two, she had always waited for this day to happen. For them to finally realize they were meant to get together. At first it was more one-sided, but now it was official. They were together now. She had been prepared to say 'I Told You So' when that day would come, but for some reason she didn't feel as happy and excited as she thought she'd be.

Of course, she was still happy and glad her two best friends were together, but on the other hand she felt a twinge of something.

Was she jealous?

Was she envious?

Was her little crush on Jeremy slowly becoming more?

The fact she was even thinking about those questions were scaring her.

'Didn't I tell you?... ;)' -#ChristinaAguilera.

Still though, that didn't mean she should waste a perfectly planned 'I Told You So', right?

'Yes. Yes, you did.' - JerBear.

'Well...congrats.' -#ChristinaAguilera.

'Thanks.' - JerBear.

'Oh and Jeremy?' -#ChristinaAguilera.

'Yeah?' - JerBear.

Christina didn't really know what else to say. She didn't want to sound selfish and figured maybe it'd be best if she just call him to ask him in the morning.

'Nevermind. Goodnight, Gilbert.' -#ChristinaAguilera.

'Goodnight, Salvatore. ;)' - JerBear.

Christina grinned slightly, seeing as that was the first time he'd called her by her last name. She sighed slightly before continuing to do her hair before going off for bed.

The next day came fast for all the Salvatore's. Damon was secretly trying to contact Caroline to free him, Zach went out to do some errands, Christina was once again done with school early and Stefan was with Elena.

Christina had called Jeremy briefly after school, but he didn't seem to be answering. He did, however, send a quick text 15 minutes later to informed her he was with Vicki at the stoner pit and that he'd call her back when he gets the chance. Seeing the meaning behind that text, which caused her to feel even more grossed out, she decided to leave Jeremy and Vicki alone for the day. After a while, she started to get bored and decided to go check up on her dad, who was at some sexy car wash with Elena right then.

After a good 30 minutes she finally made it to the car wash with a lunch bag as an excuse.

"Hey!" Christina called out as she spotted her dad with a white T-shirt on cleaning a car hand manually with Elena.

"Christina?" Stefan started out confused, "What are you doing here?" "Hey, Christina." Elena waved slightly over to her. "Hey, Elena." Christina waved back with a smile. It was already official that the two brunettes liked each other. The only thing that bugged Christina about Elena was that she looked just like Katherine. Of course the more she saw her at school, the more she started to see Elena as Elena instead of seeing Katherine's face.

"Oh I just came to see how my big brother's doing. And I brought you lunch." Christina once again lied like a boss.

"Okay, I'll be right back. Elena why don't you go get that towel." Stefan informed Elena. "Okay. Great seeing you again." Elena said, before walking off. "You too, Gilbert." Christina said back to her. Stefan took Christina by the hand and lead her to a direction where no one could see or overhear them. "Okay, why are you really here?" Stefan asked Christina again. "Really, I just came to see how my dad was doing. And I brought you something to eat." Christina stated again. She opened up the lunch box that contained a sandwich, but in a secret compartment underneath was a blood bag.

"Don't worry, it's 100% Animal diet approved from the basement." Christina informed him. "You're not suppose to go down in that basement Christina." Stefan reminded her of their new rule at home. "Don't worry, I made sure I wasn't even near him. Besides Zach helped." Christina insured her dad. "I know, but despite that Damon is still crafty and manipulative in many ways. I don't want you down that basement ever again, okay? I just want to make sure he won't hurt you again." Stefan informed her, in case he sounded as if he wasn't being fair to her. "I know." Christina stated, before giving her dad a brief hug. "You'll always protect me." She said, before letting go.

"Yeah, I guess I will. And I'll take that. I'll have it later." Stefan told her, taking the lunch box out of her hands. "What's with the sandwich anyway?" He wondered. "Oh, that's just a decoy. It's really for me." Christina stated, before taking half of the sandwich since it was divided in halves. "You can keep the rest in case anyone gets suspicious." She told him. "Great idea." Stefan said, shaking his head softly. Christina nodded and her eyes went towards a different direction.

"Oh my god." Christina muttered out in shock. Stefan looked at her confused and turned around to find a car on fire and Bonnie Bennett not too far away from the scene looking at the car in trance. "Go home. I'll see you when I'm done here." Stefan informed Christina. "Okay, but remember, it's your turn to do the dishes." Christina reminded him, before she left the scene for her father to handle.

Christina soon made it back safely at home in time. She looked through her phone to see Jeremy had texted her twice, but decided to reply back later. Once she entered the kitchen, she saw more grocery bags on the counter showing Zach was now home. Christina rolled her eyes slightly seeing as she had to be the one to place them up. Before she could take her jacket off and start the job, she noticed the basement door opened.

Zach shouldn't be going down that basement either.

Feeling alarmed, she quickly went over to the basement to check to see if Zach was even down there.

"Zach? Uncle Zach, are you done here?" Christina called out, until she say got near Damon's cell and spotted Caroline in front of his cell door. "Caroline? Wha-?" Before Christina could ask, she noticed the dazed look in Caroline's eyes as her hand was going near the lock.

"Caroline, no!" Christina shouted out, running quickly up to her. She came too late and the door busted open.

"No! No! Get out of here. Run! Run!" She could hear Zach shout out to both of them. Christina and Caroline didn't hesitate to run off past him. They ran off as fast as their legs could take them. Caroline quickly opened the front door and ran out, but Christina, being just behind Caroline, unfortunately tripped on the living room rug. Recovering in seconds, she quickly got up but spotted Damon in front of her. She gulped slowly, while backing away slowly.

"Stay back. I'm wearing vervain." Christina warned him. Damon eyed her slightly as veins ran down his face.

"Oh, I know. But I'm so hungry, I don't really care anymore." Damon said, as his fangs popped up and he quickly sped over to Christina. As if on instinct, she dodged him and tried to run off, but he pulled her by the arm and twirled her around to face him by force, before biting into her neck. Christina let out a scream in hope that someone would save her from being a full snack to her uncle. But unfortunately, Stefan was still at the car wash and Zach was unknowingly dead. After a while, she became weak and her eyes became heavy. Muttering out a quiet plead for help before her eyes rolled back and everything grew dark as she fell unconscious.

xxxxxxx

Hours had passed and it had gotten dark. Stefan went back home feeling a bit anxious.

Once again his parenting senses kicked in. Only this time it was to the point that was making his stomach curl.

He finally reached home through the back way and found Christina's school back pack on the kitchen counter a long with grocery bags. Stefan found it weird. Obviously, Christina never listened to him when he told her to place her school back pack in her room and was most likely leaving it around the house just to annoy him. That wasn't weird at all. What was weird was that nobody had placed the groceries up. He soon say the basement door was open.

No.

She couldn't have.

Stefan thought it over briefly and remembered this was HIS daughter he was thinking about.

She did.

Stefan sighed in disbelief and sped down into the basement, expecting to catch her in the basement, but say Zach instead.

He wasn't breathing.

"Zach! Oh, no, Zach..." Stefan called out as he went on one knee to get a good look at Zach.

He really was dead.

Stefan sighed and closed his eyes, before looking behind him at the cell. As expected Damon wasn't in there.

What had happened?! He knew for a fact Damon had killed Zach, but what happened to Damon. Where was he? Who let him out? And..

No. Stefan thought to himself realizing it.

He had told Christina to go home hours ago. She was obviously home... but where was she now? He didn't see her when he came in nor did he sense her presence. Feeling heated, Stefan got out of the basement and went towards the living room as he pulled out his phone to dial Damon.

"Where's my ring?" Was the first thing Damon said through the phone.

"Where are you?" Stefan asked him.

"I'm at sizzler. I had the buffet. Where's my ring?" Damon stated.

"I don't have it. Where are you? What have you done?" Stefan told him.

"No, what have you done? You're the one that locked me in the basement and starved me, so whatever I've done, whoever I've sucked dry is on you, buddy." Damon informed him.

"You're being careless. How many more animal attacks is this town gonna believe, huh?" Stefan asked him curious on Damon's answer to it.

"I know how to cover my tracks Stefan. Where's my ring?" Damon demanded for what felt like the millionth time already to him.

"I gave it to Zach to hide. Probably shouldn't have killed him." Stefan lied.

Damon stood silent for a second.

"...Ah, you almost got me. Where is it?" Damon asked once more.

"I'll get it back, but I'll need time." Stefan stated. He still needed to figure out where Christina went.

"What, did you FedEx it to Rome?! Where is it? I want my ring, Stefan, or my next stop's is Elena's." Damon warned him.

"I already want you dead. Don't give me another reason to make it happen." Stefan informed him.

"Ooh, then that will be bad on your account." Damon stated.

"What are you talking about?" Stefan asked him.

"Let's just say I have a little motivation here that'll insure you'll get my ring back..." Damon stated, being quiet for a moment. Slight movement was heard.

"Come on, get up. I know you're awake."

"D-Dad?" Stefan heard a familiar voice he had dreaded to hear croak out in a weak way. He thought Damon might have her, but he was in too much denial to know for sure. Know it was official.

Damon really did have her.

"Christina..." Stefan started out, not knowing what to say.

"Dad, please help me! I-I need you. He's going to kill me!" Christina sobbed out slightly.

"It's okay, Christina. Listen to me. It's okay. I'm going to get you back. I promise. I promise." Stefan insured his fearful daughter.

"Da-" Christina started out, but got cut off.

"You have exactly less than 24 hours to get my ring back, or the last thing you'll see of Christina will be her dead cold body. You hear me, Stefan? It'll hit the news as a tragedy for the town. "Little 15-year-old Christina Salvatore, mauled up by another wild animal attack. When will the officers capture the beast before it strikes again?" Will be on the headlines. Give me my ring Stefan, or else I'll have to help you plan her funeral. The cloak starts now." Damon threatened his brother, about to hang up, until,

"Well, I'm still thirsty..."

"Oh my god! AhH! AH-"

Then the line went dead.

Stefan stood in the living room by himself in horror.

He was not going to allow Damon to feed off his daughter and traumatized her at the same once.

He soon sped up to his room and picked up a stake, before speeding to the front door way. Before he could dash out the sight before him caught him off guard.

It was Elena.

With a stake in her hand.

"What are you?" She asked, with a look of slight anger and fear in her eyes as she looked at him awaiting an answer.

...

TBC..