So I was more than a week, so sue me. Okay so you got some Stefan here. Also more Damon and things are beginning to kick off. The plot is finally thickening! I swear the characters are running away with themselves. Read, Enjoy and Review!

Tuesday morning had arrived and Cordelia was still not talking to Cliona, who refused to back down. She didn't see a reason to. Cliona had told Cordelia not to take the piss out of her or the guy at the bar, but had she listened? No.

And said 'guy at the bar' hadn't called either. This was another thing which she refused not to back down on. She enjoyed talking to him and she liked his sarcasm, but she wasn't going to call him. If he wanted to talk to her, he would press the button on his phone. She wasn't going to chase anyone down. And even if he decided to have nothing to do with her, she'd probably meet someone at this party tonight anyway.

The party at the mansion had begun to fill with people at around five. The sun was still out and people were definitely dressed to impress. Cliona had just gone with a plain black dress, not wanting to bother with any debate over different colours. She rather keep it smart and simple, black kept it sleek and sexy with no trouble whatsoever. And everything matched it.

She knew that she'd probably see Cordelia at the party. She had already planned on how she'd ignore her too, part of the plan being to start getting to know the town's people and getting lost in a crowd, unless there was a bar where she could get drunk, then she'd get drunk.

She had driven her navy blue car to the Lockwood mansion and had parked it with the rest, forcing her to walk up the drive way and getting stuck in the line of town members. She was currently standing on the steps to the entrance, stuck between a group of teenage girls behind her and an elderly couple in front of her. She noticed the three girls standing near each other further back, the girl known as Elena had her arm linked with a guy in a suit. The girl that had bought the herbs and the blonde girl that had been freaked out by the shop seemed to be whispering hurriedly. Cliona was about to look away when she saw a newcomer joining the group. Her heart stopped in her chest when she recognized that it was the man she had been thinking about every time she saw her phone. Damon.

It was odd to see him in a suit but she thought it definitely suited him. Like her, he was wearing black which made her momentarily wonder if he wore any other colour. Every time she had seen him at the bar, he'd been in black too, now that she thought about it.

She turned around, just in case he looked up and spotted her gawking at him. She didn't want to come off as a stalker and she most definitely didn't want to come off as desperate since she gave him her number. Maybe she shouldn't have done it, or maybe, she thought to herself, you're just over thinking everything. She wasn't going to let her head get wrecked, she was going to get lost in the throngs of people and meet some new human beings, who she might find some common ground with, some may even be useful connections for her shop. But that was still only going to happen if there wasn't a bar, and seeing as the party was being held in a mansion as big as this, she wouldn't be surprised if its wealthy owners had a secret hockey arena in the basement.

She looked around her, taking in the other women's dresses and admiring shoes, a little thing she did when she was nervous. She never really met any mayors on a daily basis, she had grown up in a town like this, only smaller, but this place seemed very close knit. She was scared of the impression she'd make, and this was what was causing her to look around at the fashions instead of calming down and sighing in impatience like everyone else. She was so immersed in this fear that she didn't notice anyone coming up behind her.

"Well fancy seeing you here" came a confident voice from behind her. Cliona spun around to see Damon with a smirk on his face, looking down at her.

"Everyone was invited" she replied, trying to act as if she knew everything that he did.

"I heard, I just never classed you as the type for this kind of thing"

"And once again, it seems that you have misjudged me" Cliona replied, getting a little cocky herself. She knew that she wouldn't make him squirm, but she was secretly dying for a chance to catch him out.

The elderly couple in front of them took a step forward so Cliona stood on the next step. It was as she was moving forward that she noticed how Damon had skipped the queue. She wasn't angry that he had the gall to do something like that; in fact, she admired anyone with the courage to piss off all of those people that he had skipped. She was also flattered that he had skipped in order to stand next to her.

"Not misjudged, just underestimated"

"Oh quiet you, you misjudged and you know it. Can't say I would have expected to see you here either, would have thought that you'd be at the Grill" Cliona smiled, coming off as a little snobby which made Damon smile and look away.

"I told you that I go to other places apart from the bar"

"So this is technically the first time we've met outside of the Grill"

"Not exactly, there was also your shop opening in case you haven't forgotten"

"Not really, I was working and you were buying, that was business, this is recreational"

"Touché" came the replying smirk.

The line moved forward, allowing for them to take another step.

"And besides, you came here with friends and it would be rude for you to abandon them for little old me"

"First of all, you're not old. Trust me. And I came on my own, I was just checking in on my baby brother and his friends to make sure they were staying out of trouble. Besides, it would be more than rude to allow you to wander around on your own. You need someone to show you around the place." Damon replied, holding out his hand as the last people in front of them began to shake hands with a dark haired boy at the door.

Cliona smirked and took Damon's hand, allowing it to be linked with his, as they moved forward and came face to face with the guy at the door.

"Hey" the guy said uncomfortably.

"Hi" Damon smirked, although this time it seemed sardonic as he pulled Cliona away.

Cliona looked back and saw that the guy at the door with dark brown eyes and black hair had a look of utter shock on his face before leaving his position at the door.

"I don't care if I sound like a hypocrite, just tell me that they have an open bar here"

Damon looked down at Cliona with a smirk, looking as if he was going to say something. They pair were interrupted when his name was called and both of them turned around to see the guy that had been with Elena in the queue earlier.

"Hey, uh...We got a phone call and if you wouldn't mind, we kinda need you over here" he said.

"Cliona, meet my baby brother, this is Stefan. Stefan this is the towns new alternative shop owner. The first here in Mystic Falls I believe" Damon said, a smirk on his face almost as if he was daring Stefan to take him away somewhere. Stefan seemed used to his brother's game.

"Nice to meet you. That's certainly amazing, would you mind if I borrowed Damon for a moment please? Just a tiny little emergency, I'll bring him straight back"

"Take you're time" Cliona said with a small smile, trying to be polite. It was hard to be angry with someone who seemed so sincere. Damon looked at Cliona once more with an arrogant smirk that Cliona was only too happy to mess with, or compete with, before finally walking away with Stefan, easily getting lost in the crowd.

Cliona clasped her hands together and looked around, not knowing what to do. She spotted some fairy lights in a corner so she decided to check them out. Maybe looking around at the art on the walls would give her something to do if she was desperate enough.

No one was sitting there, to her relief, since most of them were talking and socialising which was what Cliona was beginning to chicken out of.

Cliona propped herself on one of the empty bar stools at the newly discovered bar. She knew that the rich people who lived here must have had one, party or no party.

Cliona ordered herself a drink and sat down, looking around. She spotted Kyle and waved at him, he seemed out of place in a white shirt and black skinny tie, hanging loosely around his neck, but he still looked as if he belonged on the cover of Seventeen.

"Hey, you came"

"Well I'd be classed as an outside if I stayed at home now wouldn't I? Or people could get suspicious of my lack of social skills and burn me at the stake in the towns square next week" Cliona replied, smiling as Kyle pushed his way through the crowd to get to her.

"Wouldn't be the first weird thing around here" Kyle replied, leaning against the counter.

"What do you mean?"

"Comet passed through a while back, people disappeared, the mayor died. All this weird stuff."

"That's a lot for a town to handle I suppose. I always wind up in the interesting places, don't I? Or the other thing could happen" Cliona said, taking a sip of her drink.

Kyle smiled boyishly and asked, "What thing?"

"I make them interesting" Cliona replied, but her eyes ended up looked behind Kyle.

"Sorry about that, family stuff" Damon said from behind Kyle.

Kyle jumped, his eyes widening. "I better go, my dad will want to see that I'm not after running off yet" he said to Cliona.

"Tell Lucy I said hi" Cliona teased, wiggling her fingers at him before he turned and walked away into the crowd. She knew that Lucy was probably the only thing keeping him at the party and she, herself, was probably the back up plan if she wasn't there. Or, of course, if he chickened out talking to her or the rest of the people, just as she had. She put all of this down to just being a cool adult.

"Attracting the younger ones? You cougar" Damon said to Cliona, motioning for the bartender to get him a drink.

"Ick, don't give me that. Believe it or not, I have these things that are called standards." Cliona replied, sarcastically.

"Really, never would have guessed?"

"I know how you feel, I wouldn't have said you'd have any either"

"Ouch"

"Yeah"

"At least you came along in the end, wouldn't have said that crowds were for you"

Cliona let out an amused breath, looking up to the ceiling before looking back at Damon replying, "That's probably the only thing about me which you have guessed correctly."

"Finally!" Damon smiled, looking overjoyed to have finally gotten something right about her.

"Don't get used to it."

"Don't worry, I won't. And why don't you like crowds, may I ask?"

"Because I don't like people...only a few"

"A carefully chosen few I take it"

"Wouldn't have it any other way" Cliona replied, looking ahead of her and taking another sip of her drink.

"Huh...I haven't seen the Nut Job anywhere yet"

"I'm not talking to her, and don't mark me as a hypocrite. We just had a fight because she wouldn't listen to me when I warned her"

"Warned her?"

Oh crap, thought Cliona. She couldn't tell him the reason she had fought with Cordelia. She couldn't tell him what she was warned. What was she going to say?

"About staying out all the time. It's bad reputation on us and the business...and herself. I don't want her bringing stranger's home. The usual"

"You make it sound like an everyday occurrence...and you still say that you chose carefully?"

"Yes"

"Well I must be well chosen too, if you're talking to me"

"Don't know yet, haven't decided. You're fun, so you get credit for that. But I only just got here and I hardly know you, so that puts a dash of scepticism into the equation"

"You know me" Damon feigned hurt, his hand on his chest.
"I know you read vampire novels and drink in your spare time, which seems to be plentiful. Do you even have a job?"

"Are you offering?"

"No?"

"Then no, I don't. Don't tell me you're one of those women."

"What women?"

"Those one that demand that the guy they're with has a job"

"Wouldn't faze me, as long as he didn't try to live off of me for money"

"Seriously?"

"Well...yeah. It's your own choice. If I was unemployed I'd just get a hobby"

"I have a hobby, I'll let you know" Damon pointed at Cliona, his other hand holding his drink in his hand, getting ready to take a swig.

"Oh really?"

"Really"

"And that would be?"

"Reading vampire novels" Damon smirked, before taking a sip of his whiskey.

"Hmm...Oh and you also have one other"

"I do?" Damon asked his eyes widening, genuinely curious as to what she would say.

"You help your brother with emergencies. I know that I might help mine from time to time, but at the same time I just ran off and left them all there"

"You have a brother?"

"Mm hm. Younger too. Actually I have two younger ones...and a younger sister."

"So you're the eldest of four?"

"I like to think of it as three and a half"

"Half?"

"Half sibling"

"Ah...parents split"

"Yup...so what about you? Any other siblings?"

"Had a sister once, she died"

"Sorry"

"Yeah well, it was a long time ago"

"I heard your mayor died recently" Cliona said, trying to change the conversation topic and being reminded of what Kyle had said earlier.

"Year ago. Never knew him that well. Apparently he was an asshole"

"You ever hear of the saying 'We mustn't speak ill of the dead?'"

"You're just full of these one liners aren't you?"

"Brought up on them...or as my mother would say, 'They were bred into me'"

"Weird" Damon replied, shaking his head with an odd look on his face.

"Okay people lets get ready! In celebration of our annual celebrations let's get this party started with some karaoke! Who wants to go first?" a man with a microphone called over the crowd, he was standing on a makeshift stage, lights shining down on him.

"I'll have another one of those" Cliona nearly shouted straight away to the bartender, pointing at her glass, turning her back to the man with the mic.

000

"We are shining and we will never be afraid again" Cliona sang, her voice barely above a whisper, as Damon walked her up the steps to her house with his arm around her to give her some support.

"I highly doubt that"

"Huh?"

"People will always be scared of something. And we aren't light bulbs"

"Maybe we'll be reincarnated as FIREFLIES!" Cliona shouted into the night, throwing her hands up in the air and spinning around, only to lose her footing and nearly falling down, if it weren't for Damon catching her.

"I don't think so"

"You don't believe in Karma or reincarnation?"

"I believe in Karma...sometimes"

"What else do you believe in?"

"I don't know, what do you believe in?" Damon asked curiously, knowing that if she were sober she'd probably demand her question be answered first and that that was probably his second real prediction about her.

"I don't know, It changes...I don't believe in marriage...I don't believe in a forever...I don't pray..."

"You're very cynical aren't you?"

"Go away...and stop being right about stuff!"

"Stuff? Am I right about more than one thing?" Damon asked, still standing outside by the door.

"I was scared that you didn't like me"

"Huh?"

"Yeah 'cos you didn't call me. And I was like 'I won't be all pathetic and call first.' But I think that women tend to over think things. But I just enjoy talking to you and you're like the first nice person that's an adult that I've found since I got here. There was one, but she's a stuck up bitch..."

"Wait, you were scared that I didn't like you because I didn't call you?"

"It's over now though, because we're talking now" Cliona said in a perky voice, before beginning to dig around inside her bag.

She found her keys and began to fiddle around with them, nearly stumbling again in the process. Cliona nearly fell inside once she opened the door but this time Damon didn't make any attempt to help her.

"Hey, come here a second"

Cliona turned around with wide eyes to face Damon who kept his eyes locked with hers. "Invite me in"

"Would you like to come in?" Cliona whispered her eyes still on the man across from her.

"Sure" Damon replied, a fake smile on his face before taking a step over the threshold. "Now come on before you break you're neck trying to go upstairs"

"I wonder what the guy was thinking when he invented stairs" Cliona giggled, "Can't have been as disturbing as the guy that discovered milk". And with that, she erupted into a fit of laughter as she stumbled up stairs, with a smirking Damon standing behind her.

When she reached the top of the stairs, she turned to her left and grabbed the banister, which over looked the entire hallway, swinging over it, only to get pulled back. For a drunken person, Damon couldn't help but notice how short her attention span was.

"And the arms of the ocean are carrying me. And all this devotion was rushing out of me. And the crashes are heaven, for a sinner like me. The arms of the ocean delivered me." Cliona was back to singing as she was dragged down the hallway towards her room, which still needed to be unpacked. A sober Cliona wouldn't have let anybody see her room like this, especially a guy that she had only met three of four times. But drunken Cliona didn't have a care in the world.

Cliona let go of Damon and tried to walk over to her wooden bed, only to fall and smack her hand off of the corner of it. The drunk woman giggled, still on her hands and knees, and looked down at her hand to see a trickle of red blood oozing from a new fresh wound.

"Silly me" she waved it off, probably not feeling any pain because of her alcohol intake. She held up her hand to show Damon, a smile still on her face. For the first time since she met him, she watched his smirk fall from his face, a look of utter shock taking over. His eyes began to darken and veins began to stand out around his eyes before he turned around, avoiding her gaze.

Thank God she was drunk, she'd remember none of it, and if she did, she could just tell herself it was all an odd dream.

Before she could say anything, Damon had run towards her, looking into her eyes again saying, "You're tired and you're going to sleep now. You fell and hurt yourself because you were drunk, I never stepped inside your house, I just gave you a ride home and that's all you remember"

"It's all I remember"

"Good" And with that, Damon turned around and was gone.

000

"Ow, Kyle. Not so loud"

"Sorry Clee"

"No bother, just mind my head, adult with hangover. Remember? You know the feeling; I bet you know what the morning after a session feels like"

"Session?"

"You know? Binge drinking?"

"Another phrase to add to my ever increasing list" Kyle replied sarcastically, packing a shelf near the window.
"Oh quiet you, I pay your wages." Cliona smiled over to the teenager. She wasn't as grumpy as most people would be after a hangover, but that was mostly because she just couldn't stay angry with Kyle, especially when he hadn't done anything.

"So how was your night? Any...bit of luck?"

"Why, did you ask one of your leprechaun friends for a favour?"

"Nah, thought I'd stick around and deduct salaries instead" Cliona remarked, sticking her tongue out, before picking up her mug of coffee in both hands and taking a sip.

"Yeah, just don't turn into Mr Hodgkin's, you'll have no customers?"

"Huh?"

"Yeah, he's this guy that owns a shop across the Grill, he is really stingy. His prices are sky high and no one will work for him because he gives tiny wages. I had this friend once that had to do work experience there and said that he was finding empty gin bottles everywhere"

"Wow...tell me more"

000

"So they were related?" Cliona asked in a scandalous voice.

"Yeah", Kyle replied, "Then she left and he was brought off by his dad. No one has heard of them since, not even the woman who said she was helping matters by informing the parents."

"Woman? It was a she?"

"Yeah, and you know her too"

"I do? Who is it?"

"Cecile"

"Oh my God, Maxine?"

"Huh?"

"Oh, I have nicknames for people sometimes"

"Oh...random, where did you pull that out of?"

"TV, you know that vampire series on HBO?"

"Oh right, my dad isn't into me watching that stuff"

"That's what you have the internet for" Cliona replied knowingly, tapping her nose with a wink.

"Yeah, good idea...you're a bad influence"

"But you'll keep coming back because you know where your bread is buttered"

"...Another liner right?"

"Quiet you"

Cliona stood by the counter, returning to the books while Kyle resumed his shelf packing until Cliona was hit with a sudden thought. "Hey Kyle?"

"Yeah?"

"You know how we were talking about people in town?"

"Hmm?"

"What do you know about the Salvatore's?"

"Stefan goes to the same school as me, he's only like a year of two ahead, and he's dating Elena Gilbert whose little brother is in my year."

"And Stefan's brother?"

"Only really see him at functions of the Grill sometimes, likes to keep to himself. Although, sometimes he walks through town."

"That's it?"

"Like I said, he keeps to himself...although I heard that he is big with the founders club"

"You have a founders club? God how cliché"

"Yeah well, they are big into their roots and organise events and stuff, like the one from last night"

"He organised that?"

"Not exactly, the Mayors wife does all that stuff"

"But your Mayor is dead so how-"

"Can this all be happening?"

"Yeah"

"Odd town, I thought you woulda copped on to that by now...until we find a new Mayor, his wife is in charge"

"And when will you find a new Mayor?"

"Don't know really, next election season? When Tyler goes to college? Who knows?"

"Tyler?"

"Oh he's the Mayors son. He was at the door last night welcoming everyone"

"Ah, and what's the scoop on him?"

"He's dating the Sheriffs daughter"

"God, everyone here is so close knit. I'm surprised you're not all related or inbred."

"Well, every now and then the town is hit with some new blood" Kyle smirked of to Cliona, who was grasping for her coffee again.

"Ugh, I don't plan on procreating, thank you very much"

"Why? I'm sure you'd be an awesome mom, and that's coming from me"

"You're a guy, you wouldn't understand. There are midnight feeds, and crying and stretch marks and pains and cramps, pushing the kid out of you, nine months of carrying the kid, morning sickness, rushing to the bathroom, cravings..."

"Okay, okay, I get it...Most guys want kids though"

"Well they aren't the ones carrying them. Don't get me wrong, I'm fine with kids, just not creating them"

"Just saying, most guys want a family and kids and marriage"

"Well I don't want kids and I most certainly don't want marriage"

"Seriously? You don't believe in marriage? Now you really will be burnt at the stake in the towns square"

"Even if I did, it's be small and there would be pre-nups"

"Oh no, you've already met Hodgins" Kyle said sarcastically.

"Go away, I just don't believe that marriage lasts and because of that, things tend to get very messy when people split. You know over 50% of marriages these days end in divorce, most people say that it's urban myth but when I was in school, which wasn't that long ago believe it or not, there were twenty four people in my class, and twelve of them had separated parents"

"Woah, I sometimes wonder, if my mother would still be with my dad if she hadn't died. I mean, he is so controlling now but sometimes I wonder if he is just like that or if it's because she isn't around anymore. You know?"

"Yeah, but sometimes when something bad happens, something amazing comes around and you don't even realize it"

"I suppose. God, sometimes you can be a complete teenager and at others you can be a complete adult"

"Erh, thanks?" Cliona questioned with a smile on her face, her mug held to her lips.

"No I'm serious. It's like you remember what it's like. Adults always say that the teenage years are a walk in the park but they are really quiet complicated and you remember that, it's why you're so 'down with the kids', well that and you're not afraid to smoke my pot"

"That was one time"

"You still did it"

"So?"

"I must say, you did it so easily, as if you had experience"

"Everyone smokes at some time in their lives, and it doesn't have to be on a plant"

"So how old were you, when you first did any of that stuff?"

"Don't know if I should be telling you really, being a bad influence and all" Cliona replied sarcastically, enjoying Kyle's reactions, seeing as he was genuinely curious.

"Oh come on"

"First drag...I could have been around twelve"

"You're serious?"

"Yep, a lot of the people I grew up with started then, and are still at it now"

"What about the first time you drank?"

"I don't know...I was given sips as a child"

"Okay then, first full bottle?"

"Around eleven or twelve. I was in a tent" Cliona told Kyle, walking around the shop, lifting a box and putting things on the shelves at the other side of the room as she continued with her story, "We were on holiday, and I met a friend who could get her hands on the stuff, so she bought lots of vodka with the intention of getting me absolutely hammered"

"And did she succeed?"

"Nope, but the more I told her that I was sober the less she believed me. So if you were to ask her these days if she succeeded, she'd tell you that she did when she actually didn't"

"How did you get away with it? I mean, I bet your parents were on the holiday too"

"Oh they were in a caravan, and I was in a tent for the night with my friend"

"Are you still in touch with this friend?"

"Always visit her when I go home"

"And do you go home often?"

"Not really, but like I told you earlier kid, that's what the internet is for"

At that moment, the bells over the door chimed as it was opened, Kyle didn't say anything, not even a greeting, so Cliona put down the box and walked around the shelves to get a look at their visitor. As she walked towards the front of the room, a head of blonde hair swished around to face the woman.

"Oh Clee, I'm so sorry. I was such a bitch, Please forgive me" Cordelia ran to Cliona and threw her arms around her, trying not to cry and not succeeding.

"What happened?" Cliona asked, putting her arms around a sobbing Cordelia.

"I needed to know that you'd forgive me because...what if something happened and we never made up, or what if you left or I left tomorrow, we can't throw away years of friendship just like that. We're in a strange place and we need each other and I'm so sorry for not listening to you...about everything...about teasing you, about men...you were right. You were right all along and I should've listened to you"

"Shh. Come into the back room with me. Tell me what happened" Cliona said to a teary Cordelia, before turning to Kyle to signal for him to put up the lunch sign and that she would be back soon. Kyle nodded obediently and ran towards the door to do what he was told.

"He was so nice and he didn't try anything and then last night I went to the party and had a few drinks, but I wasn't drunk or anything. I didn't even finish the third one. Then he started looking me in the eye and saying things, making me do things and I wouldn't. So then he got angry and started throwing things and breaking things and he went to attack me, his eyes were so dark and I was so scared. He was after breaking a chair and the leg of it was broken and I sorta stabbed him with it and I don't know what to do...I don't know...I don't know...please help me" Cordelia begged as she finally broke down.

"Shh shh, it's okay, it's okay" Cliona held Cordelia as she cried into her shoulder, rocking back and forth.

This town certainly was interesting.

Aw, what the hell is going on now? Cordelia is meeting a dark eyed violent guy that likes to look into her eyes. Damon seems to do the same thing when Cliona is drunk and apparently Cecile makes herself hated by other people too.

Review!