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

Of course, Charlene woke up in the middle of the night. She was doing that a lot lately with everything going on, but this time, it wasn't because of any dreams. It was because of the raging storm going on outside.

"Charlie…" Megan's sleepy voice sounded beside her. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine." She looked over at her best friend, whose eyes were now open but only slightly. "Just the storm, go back to sleep."

"Mm-mm…okay…" Megan mumbled sleepily as her eyes closed and she turned around in the bed. "I won't let the bed bugs bite…"

Charlene shook her head, her lips curling up in amusement. "Okay Megan, you do that." Again, she shook her head as she got out of bed and headed over to the open window, closing it firmly. Since she was already awake, she might as well make sure all the windows were closed.

She went to Elena's room, who was actually awake too and writing in her diary. "Did the storm wake you up too?"

"Yeah…you know me and storms." Elena smiled, looking up from her diary.

"Yeah." She smiled, and went over to close her window. "Hey, do you mind helping me check the windows and make sure they're closed?"

Elena nodded, "Sure."

"I'll ask Jeremy too, and try to get some sleep." Charlene knew she was going to try again once all the windows were closed.

"I'll try."

Charlene smiled, and went to Jeremy's room next. When she entered the room, he jumped at the sight of her. Charlene frowned, thinking that was odd.

"Are you okay?" she asked.

"Yeah." He answered quickly. Charlene wanted to believe him but there was something up. However, she was too tired to be bothered to ask about it.

Charlene nodded slowly. "Alright, well, since your up, can you help close all the windows in the house? I think there's gonna be a big storm coming."

"Yeah, sure." Jeremy gave her a somewhat nervous smile.

"Are you sure your okay? You're acting weird." Charlene decided to just ask, feeling worried.

"I said I was fine." He sounded a bit annoyed, now.

She put her hands up in surrender. "Okay, okay, I'm just asking." Now, she knew something was up and she said nothing for a moment. "You know you can talk to me about anything, right?"

Jeremy's face softened. "Yeah, I know."

"Okay…just wanted to let you know." Charlene smiled, going over to kiss the top of his head. "I love you, Jer."

"I love you too."

Kissing him on the head one last time, she left the room to close the rest of the windows. She finished with that and went back to her bedroom to find Megan wide awake, holding onto her phone. Her best friend looked up at her once she entered the room.

"That was Stefan. Something's happened." Megan said, and Charlene just knew it was bad. Whatever it was.

So, a couple hours later, Charlene, Elena, and Megan were at the boarding house. Stefan and Damon had just finished telling them what had happened.

Charlene knew about most of it, well the part about the tomb vampires being out, but she kept silent about it as it was talked about as she knew how both Megan and Elena would react to the fact that she kept that from them.

"I say we go to Pearl's, bust down the door, and annihilate the idiot that attacked us last night." Damon offered as he boarded up the window that Fredrick and Beth-Anne broke through.

"Of course, your first thought is violence." Charlene rolled her eyes. She was still peeved off at him for kissing Kelly Donavan and not because that it hurt Matt. Though she admitted her feelings for Damon to herself and to Megan, she knew she shouldn't have them and was going to pretend that she didn't.

At her words, Damon rolled his eyes. "It would be your first thought too if you were here. Which you weren't."

Charlene opened her mouth to retort, that it wouldn't be her first thought, but Stefan interrupted her before she could.

"Yeah. And then what?" Stefan asked from his spot beside Megan. He crossed his arms. "We turn to the rest of that house of vampires and say, 'Oops. Sorry?'"

Megan stifled a laugh before looking at Damon, frowning now. "I just can't believe you made a deal with her. Why the hell would you do that?"

"It was more of a helpful exchange of information."

This made Megan snort. "Yeah, that makes everything better." She said sarcastically.

Damon ignored her, of course. Dick.

"It's not like I had a choice." He finally said on the subject, but Charlene knew that was bull. There was always a choice. "She's scary. And as for why I did it, she's gonna help me get Abigail back."

"Of course, it always comes back to Abigail." Charlene bit out. "Let's forget the fact that she wants nothing to do with you and doesn't love you enough to go looking for you like you did for. And let's forget the fact about you making a deal with a psychopath vampire to find the girl that obviously doesn't want to found. If she wanted to be found, she would have been already." She honestly said that to get him angry to hurt him, but it had the opposite effect.

"You know, jealousy doesn't suit you, Charlie." Damon mocked.

"I am not jealous." She snapped. "I just think your obsession with Abigail is just pathetic and sad."

This time, he glared at her. "I would watch your mouth, Charlene."

"Make me, Damon." She challenged. "What are you going to do about it? Oh right, nothing."

He opened his mouth to snap back at her, but Stefan stopped him, raising his voice a little.

"Stop it, both of you. You're acting like children." Charlene crossed her arms as she and Damon glared at each other, earning a sigh from Stefan. "This is being very productive. We have more important things to deal with, like dealing with Pearl and the vampires. Okay?"

Charlene let her arms fall to her side and she sighed heavily. He was right.

"Fine." She mumbled as Damon gave her one last glare before leaving the room. "I'm sorry, Stef. He just gets on my last nerves."

"I know. He gets on everyone's nerves."

"Mine especially." Megan quipped, rolling her eyes. "But Charlene wasn't wrong. His obsession with Abigail is sad. It's gonna get him killed one day." That was the last thing said on the subject as she changed the subject. "So, what are we going to do about the vampires?"

"There's no we, there's me and Damon." Stefan corrected, turning to his girlfriend. "My brother and I will deal with it."

"So what? We just sit here and do nothing while you guys have all the fun." Megan pouted. "That's not fair."

Stefan sighed. "I'm sorry, but that's what going to keep all of you safe."

"Stefan, all of us can take care of ourselves. We want to help out with this." Megan pleaded, grabbing his hands. "You can't do it by yourself. I know Damon will be there, but I don't trust him as far as I can throw him. I want you safe too."

"And I will be." Stefan promised. "Like you said, I have Damon, the self-serving psychopath on my side."

Megan frowned at him. "And I told you that doesn't make me feel any better."

He shook his head, pulling her into a hug.

Charlene and Elena looked at each other as they shared a laugh.

"Okay, we have some time," Anna said as she slipped into the seat next to Jeremy at the Grill. "I'm not meeting my mother until later."

"Wait, does your mom know you're a…"

Anna laughed, interrupting Jeremy from finishing the sentence. "The fact that you would even think that it's possible to keep something like that a secret from your own family is just further proof that you're not ready."

"'Not ready' is a step up from 'No'," Jeremy said with a grin.

"And a million steps down from 'Maybe'," Anan retorted back. She smiled in amusement as she took notice to the bracelet on his wrist. "I like your bracelet."

"Thanks," Jeremy said in response as he looked down at it and started to fiddle with it. "My sister, Charlene, got it for me."

As soon as he said that, Anna knew immediately that the bracelet had vervain in it if the blonde vampire had given it to him. "Can I see it?" she asked, wanting to make sure that she was right.

"Yeah. Yeah."

He held out his hand that had the bracelet on it and Anna grabbed his hand and looked at it.

"Your sister doesn't know you're hanging out with me, does she?" She looked up at Jeremy. The last thing she needed was either of the Gilbert sisters to know they were hanging out, especially after what happened.

Jeremy shook his head. "No, no. But I don't see why it would be a problem." He laughed a little. "It's not like she knows what you are."

Anna bit her bottom lip, hoping she didn't look nervous. "I'd rather keep it our little secret." She told him with a small smile.

Jeremy stared at her for a few minutes. "You know…" He started to say. "Why don't you keep this?" He took off the bracelet and handed it to Anna.

"Why would give this to me?" Anna asked surprised.

"Because you like it…" Jeremy trailed off and looked her right in the eye, "And I like you."

Anna glanced away for a moment before looking back at him. "You only like me because of what you want from me."

Jeremy just shook his head. "No. I…I like you."

They stared at each other for what seemed like forever. They were having a moment… A moment that shouldn't happen. Anna broke away from the gaze, biting her bottom lip, as she looked back up at him. She handed him back the bracelet.

"Um, you know, you should wear. It looks better on you anyway."

Jeremy nodded as he smiled, and Anna smiled back.

Damon was busily fixing a clock in the library when Stefan came out with his jacket, obviously going outside to go hunt. He looked over at his brother and smirked.

"Hunting party?" he asked.

"That guy did a number on me last night when he stabbed me." Stefan said as he started to head out of the library. "I gotta get my strength back up."

"I got 2 liters of soccer mom in the fridge." Damon told Stefan as he looked over at his brother, but he saw the look on Stefan's face. "No?"

Stefan shook his head as he zipped up his jacket. Snuffing his hands in the pockets, he looked at Damon.

"We'll talk when I get back."

"About what?" Damon asked.

Stefan sighed as he looked back at his brother. "About what you did yesterday."

"Nope, don't want to talk about that."

"You hurt not only Matt, but you hurt Charlene too, Damon." He waited for Damon's reaction when he mentioned Char, but he didn't get one. Stefan sighed when he knew Damon wasn't going to listen to him right now. "Forget it, I see you when I get back soon."

"Alright." Damon said, turning back to fixing the clock as Stefan finally left the library. "Give my regards to the squirrels."

As soon as Stefan walked out the door, Damon lowered his head, remembering the hurt look Char had when he was making out with Kelly.

Charlene had gotten a call from Stefan, asking if she wanted to go hunting with him. She wanted to say no because she didn't eat from animals anymore, but she remembered that he had no idea that she didn't. Charlene could have told him, and she would have. She just knew he would be so disappointed in her, so she kept silent and met up with Stefan in the woods.

"How are you doing?" he asked once she joined him.

Charlene shrugged. "Been better, I guess."

"That's good."

"Yeah…"

There was silence between them as they walked through the woods, together. Charlene was a little bit nervous as she wondered what she was going to do when they finally found an animal. She needed to come up with an excuse soon.

Suddenly, Stefan gripped her shoulder tightly. It didn't hurt but it caught her attention.

"What is it?" He didn't answer her, and he didn't have to because she finally took notice to the vampires surrounding them. One of them she recognized as the guy who called her Abigail at the grill. The first thought in her mind was to run, but there was too many of them. There was no point in running.

However, Charlene did try to. She didn't get far as she heard a scream and she whirled around, spotting Stefan on the ground with a stake in his stomach.

"Stefan, no!" she cried out and rushed to him. One of the vampires grabbed her, snapping her neck as soon as he had a grip on her, and she knew no more.

Megan was over at the Gilbert household, and she ended another phone call with Damon. She wasn't in the mood to talk to him.

"Where's Charlene?" Megan questioned, plopping down on the couch with Elena, who was watching the television. That's why she was over here in the first place to make sure her best friend was okay after this morning.

"She went out hunting with Stefan a little bit ago." Elena responded as she turned to the next channel, which was TBS and Friends was on.

"Ah okay." Megan grabbed a nearby pillow, gripping it in her arms. She giggled when Janice showed up on the screen. "You know even though she's annoying, I love it when Janice comes on!"

Elena smiled. "Yeah, me too."

Her phone rang again, and Megan glanced at the caller ID before scowling at the screen.

"Damon again?" Elena asked as she rolled her eyes. "Can't he take a hint that you don't want to talk to him?"

"I guess not." Megan rolled her eyes too. "He's being annoying. God only knows why Charlene's interested in him."

Elena froze at that. "What?"

She realized what she said and winced. "Oops. I wasn't supposed to tell you that."

"Charlene likes Damon?"

"Well…" Megan looked around, trying to find an excuse not to talk about it.

Luckily, the doorbell rang, and she quickly got off the couch to run to the front door. She opened it, revealing Damon on the other side of the door. He pushed his way in before she could stop him.

"You're ignoring me." He said, turning to face her as she closed the door behind her.

Elena went over to them as Megan crossed her arms over her chest.

"Yeah and?" she asked with a shrug. She wasn't even going to bother denying it.

Damon rolled his eyes at her response. "Is Stefan here?"

Her defensive position faded as Megan looked at him, confused. "No. Why would he be?"

"He went out into the woods and never came back. I can't get him on his phone. I figured he was with you."

"No…" Megan frowned, calling Stefan on her phone. It went to voicemail and it freaked her out immediately. He always answered her phone calls. "He's not answered mine either." Her gut told her something was seriously wrong.

She looked over at Elena. The brunette had just gotten off the phone as well. Megan stiffened when she realized who Elena had been calling. Charlene.

Oh god. She had been with Stefan. What if something happened to her too?

"Char's not answering her phone either." Elena sounded frightened. Surprisingly, Damon noticed and looked confused.

"Why would you need to call Charlene? Isn't she here?"

Megan shook her head, biting her bottom lip. "No…she went hunting with Stefan…"

Damon froze at those froze, and his jaw tightened. He looked furious.

"Where could they be at?" Megan looked over at Damon and could tell something was on Damon's mind. It showed on his face, and she was scared to know what he was thinking.

"You're not going to like what I'm thinking." He finally said, and Megan's stomach dropped. Oh no, she wouldn't.

Damon stormed up to the front door of Pearl's house, banging furiously on the wood. "Pearl! Open this door." He growled. "I swear to God I'll burst through and rip your head off!"

The door finally opened, and Fredrick stood on the other side. "Pearl's not home." He informed Damon. He peered outside, smirking. "Hmm. Beautiful weather. Not a ray of sun in sight."

"Where's my brother and Charlene?" Damon hissed, glaring at him. He wasn't in the mood, especially now since his brother had been captured along with Charlene.

"You mean the Abigail look-alike?" Fredrick smirked again. "You know, we were just planning on taking Stefan, but we saw her and thought why not bring her along for the ride."

Damon growled. "Where are they?"

Fredrick's smirk widened. "Billy. Randy." He nodded and two vampires Damon recognized came in. Charlene was in one of their grips and Stefan in the other.

"Damon…" the blonde choked out, grimacing in pain. Damon's heart constricted at the sound.

"You're head." He snarled and tried to force himself in, forgetting he hadn't been invited in.

Fredrick backed up. "Whoa, I'm sorry. You haven't been invited in." He mocked as he smirked. "Miss Gibbons?"

An older woman entered the room, looking dazed and had all kinds of bite marks on her body. "Yes, Fredrick, honey?"

"Never let this bad man in."

"I'll never let him."

The vampire who had Charlene forced her to her knees, making her cry out especially when he pulled on her hair.

"Stop!" she cried, her eyes welling with tears.

If he could right now, Damon would be inside, killing every single vampire in this house with how angry he was.

"145 years left starving in a tomb, thanks to the Pierce sisters' obsession with you and your brother." Fredric said darkly. "First few weeks, every single nerve in your body screams with fire. The kind of pain that can drive a person mad. Well…I thought your brother want to get a taste of that before I killed him. Billy."

The vampire stabbed Stefan in the stomach with a stake, making him scream in agony.

"I'm gonna kill your little girlfriend too." Fredrick added with a smirk, and Damon's anger grew. "Abigail was always my favorite out of the three of them, so I might as well have fun with her before I do. Have nice day."

He slammed the door, and Damon slammed a fist into the door, nearly breaking it in the process.

TBC..

In...

Let The Right One In, Part 2...