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

Damon wasn't really that surprised when he entered Stefan's room to find his younger brother exercising. Music blared around the room and it was a little annoying to say the least.

"Can you turn it up a little bit? It's not annoying yet!" Damon called over the loud music as he walked more into Stefan's room, heading towards the music player.

Stefan hopped off of the bar that he was exercising on, "Sorry."

Damon forced back a sigh as he turned off the music before he turned towards his brother with a glass of blood in his hand. "When are you going back to school?"

"Soon." Stefan responded as he got to the ground and started to do pushups.

Damon rolled his eyes. "Oh, come on." He said, going over to his brother and bending down to Stefan's level as his brother continued to do pushups. He put the glass of blood down in front of Stefan with a smirk on his face. "Just drink already." Stefan didn't say anything, but he continued anyway, "Come on, this self-detox is not natural."

"Can you get that away from me?" Stefan said simply as he got up and headed towards an empty chair, doing pushups yet again. He just wasn't stopping

"How long did it take you to wean yourself of it the last time you indulged?" Stefan didn't reply and Damon took it as a bad thing. "That's not good."

"I'll be fine." Stefan told his brother as he did more push-ups. "It just takes a little bit of time…"

"I don't get it, you know, you don't have to kill to survive, that's what blood banks are for," Damon said, standing up to his feet. "I haven't hunted a human in…" He trailed off, trying to think how long it had been, but he couldn't come up with a solid answer, rolling his eyes in exasperation. "God, way too long."

"Oh, I'm impressed."

"It's completely self-serving." Damon shrugged as he moved over to Stefan until he was standing behind the chair. "I'm trying to get the town off the trail of vampires which is not very easy considering that there is an entire tomb of them running away."

"What are we planning on doing about that?" Stefan asked, crossing his arms over his chest.

"We won't be doing much of anything if you don't have your strength," Damon said firmly as he went to stand in front of his brother. "There's nothing wrong with partaking in a healthy diet of human blood from a blood bank. You're not actually killing anyone."

"I have my reasons."

"Well, what are those holier than thou reasons?" Damon questioned starting to get a little annoyed but didn't really show it on his face … much. "You know, we never exactly discussed this." He smirked, "You know, I'd—I'd love to hear this story." Damon took a seat on the chair still smirking.

Stefan chuckled, "You're really enjoying this, aren't you? Making me struggle."

The last statement made Damon's smirk widen, "Very much so."

"I hate to break it to you Damon but…I actually have it under control," Stefan told him.

"You do?" Damon said with raised eyebrows, honestly not believing his little brother for a second, "Well then, you should carry on, making the rest of us vampires look bad." He set his drink on the table beside the chair he was sitting on and stood up. With another smirk towards Stefan, Damon said, "Have a great day, Stefan."

He left Stefan's room leaving the youngest Salvatore staring at the cup of blood Damon left behind. Stefan knew what his brother was doing but wasn't going to give him the satisfaction. But as he stared at the cup, he immediately wanted to pick up that blood and drain it all but held himself back. Then Damon came back and Stefan tried to make it look like he wasn't about to take the drink.

"Oh, hey almost forgot," Damon said as he picked up the cup of blood. He smirked then, "Oops." He walked away but stopped and drank the blood and made a sigh of satisfaction at the taste. With one final smirk to Stefan, Damon finally left the room.

Charlene returned home in the middle of the night before everyone was awake, so they wouldn't ask any questions. She quickly got into the shower, to get all the blood off of her. It was all over, on her clothes, on her skin, in her hair, it was like she went on a rampage, and that's what it felt like. Charlene scrubbed her skin as hard as she could. She needed to get it off. She felt so guilty. Why did this happen? Why? Why? Why?

Her face crumbled and her body shook with sobs as she fell to her knees, her hands covering her blood caked face. This couldn't…shouldn't be happening. She was a horrible human being. She wasn't even that anymore. She wasn't human.

She was a vampire, and she was designed to kill. She wasn't supposed to feel guilty about it, but she was. She wasn't Damon. She cared. At this moment, she wished that she didn't care because then she wouldn't feel like shit. Something inside of her begged her to shut it off, to not feel anymore…

Charlene got out of the shower, managing to get all the blood off. She stood there, naked as she stared at herself in the mirror. Maybe she should just turn it off, then she wouldn't have to feel this way about herself. But that would be the easy way out and she wasn't the type to do something that was easy. She pushed that thought out of the way and left the bathroom to get ready for bed. She needed sleep after the night she had.

However, sleep didn't come easy, so she didn't even get any as her alarm rang, signaling it was time to get ready for school. Charlene groaned as she covered herself with her covers. She didn't want to go today.

But of course, her best friend did.

"Get up, Char, it's time for school!" Megan exclaimed cheerfully, sitting down on her bed.

"I'm not going…" Charlene mumbled. "I'm too tired…"

"Well, you're going. Now come on."

The blonde groaned as she pulled the covers off and sat up in bed, her hair a tangled mess since she didn't blow dry her hair after her shower. "Okay, fine…"

"Char, you look like…"

"Shit?" Charlene finished. "I know." She grumbled, getting up out of bed. She went to move to her closet, but was stopped by Megan's hand on her shoulder. The blonde flinched at her touch.

"Charlene, are you okay?"

She moved, causing Megan's hand to fall from her shoulder as she turned her head to look at her friend. "I'm fine. It was just a rough night. I didn't get any sleep last night. Nothing to worry about. Let's just get ready for school." She knew she was acting like a bitch towards her best friend, but for some reason, she just didn't care at the moment.

"O-okay…" Megan said quietly.

"Great."

After she finished getting dressed and trying to look somewhat presentable, Charlene headed downstairs with Megan behind her. Elena and Jenna were already downstairs, all ready as well.

"Come on, Jeremy, going to school! Walking out the door now!" Elena called up the stairs. "Morning guys." She greeted her sister and Megan.

"Morning…" Charlene mumbled, not looking at Elena, so she didn't notice the concern look her sister gave Megan.

Jenna handed Elena a thermos. "You forgot this."

"Thank you." The brunette opened the door and there was John Gilbert, Elena, Jeremy, and Charlene's uncle on the other side, about to knock.

He smiled. "Elena, Charlene, hi!"

Charlene forced herself not to make her face. She never was a big fan of her father's younger brother. Well, that honestly would be an understatement, but she wasn't the only one who didn't like him. The whole family didn't.

"Uncle John, hi!" Elena greeted first. Always the polite one. While Charlene didn't even a move to greet him.

"Let's go, Megan." The blonde said, grabbing her best friend's hand and tugging her out the door.

"Er, nice to see ya." Megan managed to get out to John before she did. "What is he doing here?"

"Hell, if I know." Charlene answered, rolling her eyes. "He always shows up at the most annoying times. I honestly don't care what he's doing here as long as he stays away from me."

Megan frowned at her, and Charlene noticed, but she ignored it as she got into her best friend's car and they drove off to school.

Something was seriously wrong with Charlene. Something off. The blonde wasn't acting like herself.

After getting to school, Charlene immediately disappeared from her, saying she needed to go to the restroom, but she knew it was lie as she knew Charlene had went before they left. Why did she lie to her? There was something up, and Megan wished she knew what it was.

Elena joined her, running up to her side. "Where's Char?"

"She…uh…went to the restroom…" Megan answered, hesitatingly.

"You hesitated." Elena noticed. "Where is she?"

She shook her head. "I really don't know. She said she was going to the restroom…but I don't believe her. Something's up."

Elena frowned, knowing she had a point. "Yeah…I noticed that too. What could be wrong?"

"I don't know…"

Her best friend's sister didn't say anything as they stopped by Matt's locker. The blonde jock was already there, and Elena smiled at him.

"Hey." She greeted.

"Hey."

Megan decided not to stay there as she left to go find Charlene. She had to be here somewhere.

"He said his trip is open ended." Elena had finished telling Matt that her Uncle John was back in town.

Matt shuddered as he continued to put stuff away in his locket. "Uncle John, I've never really liked that guy…"

"Does anyone?" The question was rhetorical, of course. Elena couldn't help but laugh at little at her statement.

"I'm here for moral support if you need me."

Elena shook her head, "Thanks but I think I'll have to suffer through this alone." A look of sympathy crossed her face as she looked at Matt, "You've been through enough."

For a few minutes, they just stared at each other until Matt spoke up. "Thank you by the way, for just…" He trailed off, trying to find the right words before speaking again, "For everything you did at Vicki's funeral and the memorial. I couldn't have done it without you."

"Of course, Matt." Elena said with a soft smile.

There was a long pause…it was a long, awkward pause with them just staring at each other, like they were the only two in the world. Matt cleared his throat, breaking the silence.

"So…" Elena said, striking another conversation as to forget the awkward silence. "Was Caroline still cooking for you guys, around the clock?"

"She finally went to her dad, which is a good thing…" Matt laughed, "Because my mom was going to strangle her if she dropped off one more lasagna."

Elena laughed as Matt closed his locker and they left down the hallway to go to class.

Damon arrived at the council's meeting just as Liz Forbes starting speaking. He stood in the back and listened in.

"The coroner's office has officially ruled Vicki Donavan's death a drug overdose." Liz said to the group of people. "Her family has been notified, the truth will stay in this room and we can put this behind us."

Mr. Lockwood went to stand next to Liz, "Thank you Sheriff."

Liz nodded and went to stand next to Damon, who smiled at her, once she was next to him.

Mr. Lockwood went on with speaking. "And onto a more pressing issue, John Gilbert has asked to say a few words."

Damon was surprised as John Gilbert came up to stand in front of the group of people.

"Hello everyone," John greeted with a smile. "It's wonderful to see you, I wish it were under better circumcises…"

As John continued to speak, Damon began talking discreetly to Liz, "He's a Gilbert?"

Liz nodded. "Elena and Jeremy and Charlene's uncle." She explained before saying under her breath, "His name is John, but I call him jackass."

Damon only nodded slightly, starting to listen to John again.

"A hospital blood bank in the neighboring country of Amherst has reported several break ins over the past two weeks." John said in a serious voice. "7 hunters, 4 campers and 2 states employees have been reported missing and four joggers as well. All of this within a 7-mile radius of Mystic Falls…"

Mr. Lockwood cut him off then. "Okay, okay, no need to be alarmed right at this moment."

"Meaning he doesn't want to cancel the Founder's Day kickoff party." Liz said to Damon discreetly as she rolled her eyes

The next thing that John said left Damon feeling very uncomfortable.

"You think all your problems are over but I'm here to tell you, nothing's been solved."

When she got to school, she couldn't stay there. The smell of blood had already gotten to be too much, and she wasn't even there but just a few minutes.

Why was she still hungry?!

Charlene wanted to scream and pull her hair out from the frustration. Her mouth burned with pain, wanting to find someone else and drain them of their blood. She needed to stop before she was found out. She tried to hide the bodies as best as she could, but knew it was only a matter of time before someone found those bodies and figured it was vampires. It was probably already too late for that.

She needed to get out of here. Away from Mystic Falls before she got prosecuted for actions, or worse killing people that she cared about like Elena. Jeremy. Jenna. Megan. She wasn't going to let them die, not because of her.

But…

She couldn't do it.

Charlene sighed, running her fingers through her hair as she found herself in front of the boarding house. She went inside.

Stefan was there, and of course, he was surprised to see her. "Char, what are you doing here?"

"I need help." Charlene found herself saying. She was breathing heavily, tears filling her eyes. "I…I can't…do this anymore. I…I want to turn it off…"

He stared at her for a moment. "What happened?"

"I've killed people…" she breathed, actually finding relief in admitting it. "I didn't mean to do it, Stefan." She blurted out before the younger Salvatore could say anything. "Ever since we got captured and forced to bleed out, I've been wanting blood more and more. I couldn't stop myself, and last night, I went out and before I knew it, I killed four people…I'm so sorry. So sorry!" She broke down in tears and moved into a fetal position.

She barely felt Stefan's arms wrap around her shaking body and his fingers in her hair. Charlene buried her face into his chest.

"It's going to be alright." Stefan said, and she knew he meant it, but it didn't feel like it.

Charlene pulled back; their faces close. She breathed in and took in the smell of human blood on his mouth.

"You've been drinking too." Charlene said in shock. "You're back on human blood?"

Stefan said nothing for a moment. "Yes, but I'm handling it."

"Does Megan know?" she asked, actually forgetting for a moment that she was doing the same thing.

"No…does she know about you?"

Charlene looked away. "I can't tell her."

"But…you told me…?"

"Yeah…" She didn't know why she told him. Maybe she felt like he would understand.

Stefan didn't say anything for a moment. "I won't tell her about you…if you don't tell her about me."

"Okay." Charlene wouldn't normally lie to her best friend, but she wasn't acting like herself, so lying to her was the best thing she could do.

He nodded before standing up to his feet before holding out his hand to help Charlene. "Come with me."

The blonde looked at his hand, then up at him as she grabbed his hand and let him pull her up to her feet. What did he want to show her? He brought her down to the basement and showed her the fridge down there, opening it up. Inside, was blood bags. Dozens of them.

Charlene gaped at the sight. "Stefan…"

"I've been stealing blood bags from hospitals." Stefan said slowly.

She just couldn't believe it, as this was Stefan. He was the good brother. The vampire who only drank animal blood. Was this how he was really like? When he was on human blood?

He picked up a blood bag and held it over towards Charlene. "Here. Take one."

Knowing she shouldn't but not caring at the moment, she took it and ripped it open with her teeth. The blood was drained in a matter of moments.

Charlene moaned, blood on her lips. Her face was changed, her veins around her eyes turning dark, and her eyes turning red. It tasted so good! She took another one and drank it all at once. From the corner of her eye, Charlene noticed Stefan joining in on the feast and in a matter of minutes, half of the blood bags were gone.

The buzz of the human blood filled her belly and before she knew it, her and Stefan's mouths made contact with one another as they kissed heatedly.

TBC...

In...

Under Control, Part 2