Disclaimer: I do not own the Vampire Diaries and never will, but I do own Charlene Davis and Megan Swann and any other characters I come up with.
Author's Note: Hope you love the updated version! :D
Charlene wasn't a nervous person by any means, but this was different as she was learning how to hunt. For the first time, as a vampire.
"Stefan, I don't know about this." Charlene told him nervously, looking over at the older vampire. She tried to catch his eye, which was hard considering it was nighttime. It was only time he could teach her since she didn't have a daylight ring like Stefan and Damon.
"It's gonna be okay, you can do this Charlene." Stefan tried to reassure her. It worked somewhat as she took a deep breath and let it out as he moved to stand behind her. "All you have to is focus and listen."
"Is it really that easy?" Charlene questioned, not believing him even though he had no reason to lie to her.
"Yes, you just have to follow your instincts and it'll just come naturally and it is your first time, so it won't be perfect. So, we'll keep practicing and you'll get better at it. Just trust me."
Charlene nodded her head. "I trust you. If I didn't, I wouldn't let you around Megan." The mention of her best friend made him shift around uncomfortably and she felt for him as she turned her head to smile at him sympathetically. "Now, it's time for me to give your advice. Just give Megan time, she'll come around eventually."
"It might be best if she doesn't." Stefan said.
Charlene frowned a bit. "Maybe…but that would mean she would have to stay away from me too. I couldn't get through this without my best friend."
Stefan didn't say anything for a moment. "Yeah, I know what you mean. I had a best friend too."
"You have a best friend?" Charlene teased. He playfully pushed against her shoulder and she giggled in response before sobering up. "What was her name?"
"Lexi." Stefan changed the subject. "Alright, close your eyes."
Charlene listened to him as her eyes slid closed. "Okay. Now what?"
"Now…listen…"
So, she did. She listened closely. She heard crickets chirping, the ruffling of the trees blowing in the wind. Not only did she listen, she used her sense of smell and she smelt something familiar. The smell of animal blood. Her nose wrinkled in response to the smell. Stefan's voice hit her ears.
"Once you find what you're listening for, follow your instincts…and attack…"
It was hard to want to do that when the smell was absolutely revolting, but she didn't want to disappoint Stefan…again. She was just thankful he still wanted to teach her after what happened with Vicki, but she figured that's exactly why Stefan was doing this. He didn't want the same thing to happen to her like it did with Vicki.
So, she attacked the poor defenseless animal, who didn't see it coming. Her fangs ripped through its flesh and blood was everywhere when Stefan found her.
Charlene looked up at him, blood all over her mouth. Her hands were covered in blood too as they were pressed against the flesh wound of the dead deer as if they were trying to stop the blood.
"Is it always gonna be this messy?" Charlene complained.
Taking a break from hunting, her and Stefan returned to the boarding and Charlene hurried upstairs to take a much needed shower in the bedroom Stefan was letting her use during her stay here and she needed some alone time. Unfortunately for her, it was impossible. Charlene rolled her eyes at the sight of Damon laying on her bed with that stupid smirk on his face. She still had no idea why she had found him so attractive. Something she realized was dumb on her part.
"Get out, Damon." Charlene told him, her voice leaving no room for argument.
He simply pouted at her. "Oh, come on, Charlie."
"Would you stop calling me that?" she snapped, turning around to head into the bathroom. Hopefully if she didn't pay attention to him he would just leave. Hope wasn't on her side.
"So, have fun hunting poor defenseless animals?" Damon called to her. She turned around and he was there in front of her, making her jump.
"Of course not." Charlene said, glaring at him. "That is not what I call fun and I wouldn't even have to do it if it wasn't for you."
"Are you really still on that?" Damon looked annoyed. "I changed you, now get over it."
Charlene's nostrils flared up at that. "Seriously? Get over it?" she growled. "Why do you have to be such an ass?"
Damon just shrugged and then he smirked. "You know you like it, Charlene." He leaned forward as if he was going to kiss her but instead, he whispered in her ear, "You know you don't have to hunt animals. I can see in your eyes that you don't want to. Let me teach you the right way to be a vampire."
At that, Charlene shoved him away roughly. "Not in a million years, Salvatore."
He stared at her and said nothing, but it didn't last long as he smirked again. "Don't worry, you'll change your mind soon enough."
Charlene rolled her eyes. "Not gonna happen."
Damon just shook his head before he left her alone. Charlene let out a sigh of relief as she finally went to take her shower.
Downstairs, Stefan was fast asleep in the big chair in the living room with a book open in his lap. After finishing with Charlene, he stayed downstairs to do some light reading, but ended up falling asleep. He shifted in his sleep and the book fell from his lap and onto the floor, startling him awake. Stefan rubbed his eyes as he stood up to pick up the book and placed it back on the small table besides the chair. He stretched his back and suddenly there was a noise coming from behind him, causing him to turn around but there was nothing there.
Slowly, Stefan started to walk around, surveying the area. Again, there was another noise. It sounded like something opening and he looked towards the windows, seeing that one of them was open. He went over to them, locking it up. Then there was yet another noise and Stefan turned around to look around but found nothing again. Confused, he headed back to the living room, looking around. Hearing another noise again coming from above, Stefan looked up but saw nothing on the stairs.
"Damon? Charlene?" he called, thinking it was one of them.
Then suddenly he was knocked down and he flipped on his back. Before he could fight back, Stefan found himself face to face with a familiar blonde vampire with her face changed.
"Lexi?" Stefan said, surprised.
The blonde named Lexi's face went back to normal and she smiled brightly. "Hi!" she greeted.
"What are you doing here?" Stefan asked happily as Lexi vampire speeded him up to his feet.
"How can you even ask that?" She teased as she pulled Stefan into a hug.
"I've missed you," Stefan told her, hugging her tightly.
Breaking the hug, she beamed at her friend. "Happy birthday."
Before he could say anything, Charlene appeared downstairs, dressed in only a towel. "Stefan, what's going on?" She met Lexi's startled brown eyes. "And who's this?" There was a bite to her tone as she turned to look at Stefan with a glare.
Knowing what she was thinking, Stefan quickly explained. "Charlene, this is Lexi. And Lexi, this is Charlene."
The glare on Charlene's face relaxed. "Oh…nice to meet you, Lexi." The blonde in front of her said nothing, still staring at her with wide eyes, and she shifted around uncomfortably. "Er…um…okay…I'm gonna go…goodnight Stefan…and nice meeting you again Lexi…" She smiled sheepishly as she left the living room, disappearing upstairs.
Once she was gone, Lexi turned to Stefan with her eyebrow raised. "Want to explain to me why that girl looks like Abigail Pierce?"
So, he did explain, but not everything, and Lexi returned the favor by catching Stefan up on what she had been doing over the years.
The next day in Stefan's bedroom, Lexi laughed as she tried to get him her best friend as he tried to tickle her. She slapped his hands away.
"Stop!" Lexi told him with another laugh as she sat up on Stefan's bed where they were playing around. "I don't know, some freak shot at me with wooden bullets! And I bail under sixty. And why is a news reporter hunting vampires?"
"I don't know who knows about us," Stefan answered shrugging his shoulders. "That guy did. There could be others. And do me a favor, while you're here, please be careful." Stefan moved so that he was not sitting next to Lexi.
Lexi groaned, "Why stay?" She grinned as she got off of the bed, "I'm heading to New York this weekend. Bon Jovi in the Garden "wanted dead or alive"." Stefan bumped a fist in the air and she laughed, "It's our theme song. It's going to be a blast!"
"Do you think he'll actually remember us? That was a pretty crazy weekend huh?"
"We can make him remember," Lexi replied, with a grin as she swirled her fingers around as she walked backwards. She turned forward and headed over to a table. "Come on! Let's go. I mean, what's keeping you here?" she questioned as she picked up a picture of Demetria.
"I told you, her name is Megan," Stefan reminded her.
Lexi turned around with the picture of Demetria in hand, "Let's just hope she's better than the last girl you sprung over." She held up the picture. "And hopefully not a look-a-like copy like your friend, Charlene is."
Keeping a straight face at that, Stefan went over to her and grabbed it. "You didn't even know Demetria," he said, brushing by her.
"Cause if I did, I'd kick her ass. Little bitch." Lexi rolled her eyes as she looked around. "So…where's Damon?"
"Inflicting misery somewhere," Stefan replied, turning to face his friend. "You going to be okay here alone? Cause I got some things I got to take care of."
Lexi gave her friend a look, "It's not like I can go anywhere. And you and Damon are the only ones who have these nifty daylight rings." She held a hand that had a ring on it, "I have a mood ring from '75. Trade ya?"
"Doesn't work that way and you know it," Stefan said putting her hand down.
"Ah man." Lexi groaned, pouting.
"Hey Lex."
"Mmm?" looking over at him.
"I'm really glad you came here."
Lexi smiled at the sincerity in his tone. "So what are we going to do for you birthday? It's not every day a guy turns a hundred and sixty two years old."
Stefan groaned. "Really?" he questioned, giving his friend a look.
Lexi grinned. "Oh yeah."
Unfortunately, Megan had to give her statement to Elizabeth Forbes about Vicki Donavan's disappearance. She hated she had to lie to the sheriff but it was for Stefan's protection and Charlene, who she felt like she hasn't seen in forever, even though it had actually been a few days.
Megan got out at the same as Elena and she immediately with up to her side as Jeremy and Jenna walked past them. "How did it go?"
"I didn't say anything if that's what you mean." Elena answered. She sounded snappish and she noticed she was when she saw the look on Megan's face, causing her to sigh. "I'm sorry…I just hate that I had to lie…"
Megan's eyes shifted downwards. "I know. I wish we both didn't have to."
"Yeah…but it's for Charlene and for Stefan…" Elena's eyes looked over her head and Megan turned around.
And there was Stefan. Megan gave him a small smile before turning towards Elena, lightly touching her shoulder in goodbye. She headed towards Stefan.
"How did it go?" Megan asked, stopping in front of him.
"It went good…you?"
She took a deep breath and let it out. "Yeah, it went good. I don't think she suspected a thing. I guess all this lying is paying off if she didn't, because I'm not a good liar. And according to Elena, Jeremy had no memory about what happened at all. All he knew was what Damon wanted him to know."
Stefan gave her a grateful smile. "Thank you…"
"Yeah…but I still hate I have to lie…I know it's to protect Charlene…and you…" Her eyes met his. "It's just now every time I look at Matt and Jeremy, all I'm going to be able to think of is how Vicki died and that she's never going to come back. And part of that is Charlene's fault but I can't blame her for it. She was protecting her brother." Stefan said nothing and she went on, "And Jeremy and Matt will never know why. I still love you Stefan, but people die and get hurt around you, and it's just too much."
Stefan sighed as he lifted a hand and brushed hair out of her face before placing his hand on her cheek. Megan couldn't help but lean into his touch with tears in her eyes.
"Why don't we go somewhere and talk about it?" he asked gently, brushing his thumb against her skin.
Megan thought about it but thought better of it as she slowly shook her head, removing his hand. "I'm sorry, Stefan…but you have to stay away from me…it's for the best." She let his hand go and looked away from him as she moved away from him, catching up with Elena.
"Are you okay?" she asked concerned, wrapping her arm around Megan's shoulder.
"Yeah…I will be…" Megan gave her a weak smile as she leaned her head against Elena's shoulder while they walked down the street to their cars.
Charlene paced back and forth in her temporary room. She was starting to get very agitated at being stuck inside. All. Freaking. Day.
She gnawed on her nails in her agitation. It didn't help the fact that she was hungry too. Charlene didn't know if Stefan kept a stash of animal blood in the house. If he did, she had no idea where he kept it at.
"You really shouldn't chew your nails like that."
The sound of someone's voice made her look over at the door. It was Lexi, who was smiling kindly at her. For some reason, her smile made her relax.
Charlene forced herself to smile back. "I know…but I can't help. I'm tired of being trapped in here. I don't have that nifty daylight ring like Stefan and Damon has."
"Yeah, neither do I, but you get used to it." Lexi said with another smile.
"Really? Doesn't feel like it, feels like every day is a struggle…is it even worth it?"
"Depends on the day of the week." Lexi joked, making an actual smile appear on Charlene's face. "I know it doesn't feel like it but it does get better. You just have take it one day at a time."
"You make it sound like I'm an addict." Charlene laughed, but in a way, she knew it was kind of true.
Lexi smiled in response. "Are you hungry? I have some blood bags downstairs."
"I am…is it animal blood?"
Lexi's nose wrinkled. "God no, I drink human blood. I tried the animal diet for about three days, and gave up."
"Do you…" Charlene trailed off, hesitating asking if Lexi killed people for their blood.
She seemed to know what the other blonde was going to ask. "No, I never kill for blood. I drink human blood from blood bags, no killing people required."
"That's good." Charlene sighed. "That sucks then, I have no idea if Stefan has any animal blood here, and I'm hungry."
"Just call him, I'm sure he'll bring some back." Lexi offered, and Charlene nearly smacked herself in the head. Of course, why didn't she think of that? "But for now, want to listen to music or something?"
"Um sure." Charlene agreed, and Lexi grinned brightly as she grabbed her arm and tugged her out of the room.
After spending time with Charlene before she went crazy, Lexi decided to take a nap and fell asleep on Stefan's bed. She wasn't asleep for long as she and she groaned in her sleep. She turned on her other side and opened her eyes only to see Damon lying down with one of his hands keeping his head, causing her to let out a gasp of surprise.
He smirked at her. "Boo." Lexi groaned, rolling her and rolled her eyes as she sat up in the bed and leaned back against her pillow. "Hello Lexi. What an unexpected surprise?"
Lexi scoffed, looking over at her best friend's brother. "Unexpected surprise? I think the wrong brother went back to High School."
"How long are you here for?" Damon questioned, ignoring her.
She shrugged. "Just for Stefan's b-day." She answered as she looked away from him.
"Oh, you mean you didn't come here to see me?" Damon said sarcastically with another smirk that Lexi wanted to smack off of his face.
Lexi snorted. "That's it Damon." she said, rolling her eyes. "After a century I finally realize that death means nothing without you." She leaned forward, running her index finger up his chin and then said in a fake seductive whisper, "Do me."
"Why are you so mean to me?" Damon questioned pouting as he flipped onto his back.
Lexi raised an eyebrow at him, "Have you met you? You're not a nice person."
"Because I'm a vampire."
"Only the bad parts."
"Teach me to be good." Damon leaned forward but Lexi grabbed him by the neck, choking him and pushing back against the bed.
"I'm older and that means stronger," Lexi warned, squeezing his neck tighter.
Damon didn't even try to pull her hands away. "Sorry." He wheezed out.
"Don't ruin my time with Stefan, because I'll hurt you." Lexi threatened. She leaned in and whispered into his ear, "And you know I can do it."
"Okay."
Lexi finally let go of his neck and left the room. Damon rubbed his neck, grimacing.
"You deserved that."
He looked up to see Charlene. The blonde smirked at him and he rolled his eyes at her. Charlene simply gave him another smirk, adding a small laugh to it before she left him alone, holding onto his neck.
TBC...
In...
162 Candles, Part 2