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
It was such a relief to get out of that god damn dress. Charlene felt like her body wasn't going to recover for days. Being a bit dramatic, she knew, but it was true.
All she wanted now was a drink and to hang out with her friends, who weren't really in sight at the moment as Elena was with Bonnie and Caroline while Megan was with Stefan. So, she figured she was going to be drinking by herself right now.
As she was about to head over to the bar, Damon appeared in front of her. She didn't jump in surprise as she had spotted him when she came into the Mystic Grill, but she was going to wait until he came up to her. She never wanted to be the girl who would make the first move. So, she was giddy that he did exactly what she wanted.
"Hey." Charlene greeted softly.
He smiled at her before looking her up and down. "I like you better like this." He finally spoke, meeting her gaze. "The period look didn't suit you."
"Yeah, I didn't like it either." Charlene said with a chuckle. "Don't like giving you another reason to be reminded of Abigail." This made the smile he was giving her fall and she noticed, "Sorry...I didn't mean it like that..." She had spoken without thinking about it, but the words were still true. However, she tried to brush past it. "I mean...thank you for the compliment, at least that's what it sounded like."
Damon's smile returned, making Charlene sigh internally in relief. "It's a compliment of the highest order, Charlie."
This time, she didn't experience anger with him calling her that. It made her smile.
"Good...good to know." Charlene told him as she stepped closer to him, staring up at him. "So, Stefan seems to think something is going on between us." And there was, but she wanted to hear him confirm it, even though she already knew he was in love with her and she had feelings for him.
"Isn't there?" Damon asked with a smirk. "We did kiss." He leaned in closer to her and she bit her bottom lip.
"Yeah...we did. Good to know you haven't forgotten."
"I don't think anyone would forget a kiss like that." Damon reached up and brushed the blonde hair out of Charlene's face, his fingers lingering on her cheek. She closed her eyes at the feeling briefly before opening her eyes again and he was even closer to her now. "And I would love to do it again. What about you?"
Charlene could feel his breath against her skin and she licked her lips. "Yeah...I would..." He smirked and leaned down to kiss her, but she stopped him, pressing her finger against mouth. "But not yet. I think I need a drink first."
"I can't say no to that." Damon said, though he sounded a bit sad that they didn't kiss first.
She smiled, but she let her body press against his as her arms wrapped around his neck. "Great."
He smirked down before leaning down to kiss her forehead, which she allowed, closing her eyes in contentment.
Damon was about to lead her over to the bar, but that was when she spotted Jeremy sitting down at a table, making her stop him.
"I'll meet you over there." Charlene told him. "I have to talk to my brother first."
He nodded. She gave him a soft smile and headed over to the table where Jeremy was. Her brother barely looked at her when she made it over there, making her sigh at the sight.
"Jeremy, come on, you can't be mad at me forever." Charlene pleaded softly.
He scoffed, looking at her in disbelief. "How can you even say that?"
Jeremy was right. That wasn't the right thing to say.
"I'm sorry, Jer." Charlene apologized. "What Elena and I did...was wrong. We shouldn't have lied to you about Vicki and we shouldn't have taken away your memories and I shouldn't have killed Vicki, but we did what we did to protect you, Jer. Wouldn't you do the same for us if the roles were reversed?" He still didn't say anything but she didn't stop talking. "I know that doesn't excuse what happened. You deserved to know the truth. That's why I ended up revealing everything to you at the party a month ago...because I didn't want to hide it from you anymore. That has to count for something, right? It has to..." There was no reaction from her brother and she sighed before trying again. "Elena told me that you told her that this couldn't be fixed, but I don't believe that. Anything can be fixed if you at least try. So please, just tell me what I can do to make this better...I'd do anything to make it better."
Jeremy finally looked her in the eye and said words that made her heart just break, "You can go to hell, Charlene." With those words out in the open, he stood up from his seat and brushed by the blonde to leave the Grill.
Charlene stood there, shocked and hurt that her brother said that to her. She looked down at her feet and her tears filled her eyes. Charlene didn't notice that Damon had overheard everything and looked pissed. Wiping away her tears, she started towards the bar and Damon was nowhere in sight. Charlene looked around confused. Where was he?
Damon followed behind Jeremy as he mocked Elena's little brother in a fake sad, whiny voice, "I have so many emotions, but I don't have any way to express myself. Being a teenager is so hard!"
Without even looking at him, Jeremy glared at himself. "You're a dick!"
"You do not talk to me like that!" Damon told him, still following him. "I'm not your sisters. And for now on." He grabbed onto to Jeremy's arm and tugged on it hard as he twisted Jeremy around so that the boy was looking at him, glaring at the teenager. "Don't talk to Charlene that way."
"So, you're gonna kill me just 'cause I hurt Charlene's feelings." Jeremy said in disbelief as Damon let go of his arm.
"Cut her some slack and Elena too."
"Elena and Charlene erased my memories!" Jeremy argued angrily.
"No I did! They told me to erase your memories to protect you, just like she told you in the Grill."
Jeremy shook his head. "It wasn't her call to make." He said softly. He started to leave, but Damon grabbed onto his arm and turned him around again. "Let go of me before I cause a scene." He gritted out, trying to keep his cool.
"You'll be unconscious before you can get a word out," Damon threatened, glaring at Jeremy again.
Stefan appeared and looked at Damon, glaring too, "Let him go."
Rolling his eyes, Damon let go of his arm and Stefan went to stand in the middle of him and Jeremy. "Are you alright?" he asked, patting his shoulder.
Jeremy nodded with a tight lipped smile, "Yeah."
"What my brother is trying to say is don't blame Elena and Charlene for this," Stefan said softly. "Damon turned Vicki, and Charlene killed her, but she was threat to you and she was threat to your sisters and Megan." He looked apologetic, "I'm sorry that it happened, I wish it hadn't."
Damon looked at Stefan's face as Jeremy spoke up.
"Shouldn't have made me forget," he said before walking away. Once he was gone, Stefan turned to Damon as his older brother spoke up with a smirk on his face.
"Good cop, bad cop, I like it."
Stefan looked at Damon in disbelief. "What are you doing?"
"He's being a punk." Damon answered with a shrug.
Stefan sighed, shaking his head. "Look, Charlene's relationship with her brother is none of your business."
'It is my business if it hurts her.' Damon thought to himself darkly, but instead, he rolled his eyes at his brother. "Oh, there's only one "do gooder" role available," he said out loud, laughing. "My bad. I'm sorry."
"Get over yourself," Stefan said. "We both know you're not doing this for the right reasons." He looked at Damon seriously, "I'm not going to let you hurt Char."
"You see, there you go with the whole over-protective brother act again." Damon's eyes narrowed at his brother. "What are the right reasons Stefan? Enlighten me please!"
"Well, you see, Damon, I still believe that you love her because she looks like Abigail." Stefan said calmly. "I've already seen Char when she's hurt, and I will protect her if you break her heart. So Damon, just stay away from her."
Damon gritted his teeth together as his eyes flashed angrily as he stepped closer to Stefan, "I already told you, I know she's not Abigail!"
"Are you sure about that?" Stefan asked seriously. "Cause if you're not, then you need to be sure before you start something with her...and hurt her." He looked at Damon one last time before walking away leaving Damon standing there, looking after him with a glare on his face.
Liz looked at John and Mr. Lockwood in disbelief, "You want to use our town as bait. It's too dangerous, it's insane!" She went to close the door to keep the conversation private as Mr. Lockwood spoke up.
"We're gone over the plans with all your deputies, they're all on board."
After closing the door, Liz whirled around to look at Mr. Lockwood and John angrily, "You've gone behind me."
"Yeah, because we knew this was how you'd react." Mr. Lockwood said calmly.
"Our children are here!"
"Liz, we need to do this," John said, and Liz looked over at him. "We have no choice; this is the reason for the secret council. Our founding fathers created the secret council for this purpose."
There was a long pause as they looked at each other. Liz shook her head as she stepped closer to John and Richard.
"I'm the sheriff, it's my call and I say no." She told the two men sternly.
"Richard, let me speak to the Sheriff alone." John interrupted before Mr. Lockwood could say anything.
Richard nodded and walked out of the room, leaving Liz and John alone. Liz was the first one to speak up as she walked in the direction of her desk.
"John, you're not thinking clearly, I'm not gonna change my mind about this."
Then all of the sudden John hit her in the back of the head, knocking her out. He quickly went over to her and began to take off her guns. After getting that, he grabbed the handcuffs, dragged her over to her desk and he locked her up with handcuffs on the leg of her desk. John stood up and looked at Liz one last time, not looking sorry for what he did, before leaving the room.
It was nighttime and Damon was walking around, looking everywhere as the party went on in the background. Suddenly, feeling someone behind him, he turned around only to see Anna.
"You still around?" Damon said, surprised to see her.
Anna looked for a moment before grabbing Damon's arm and dragging off to the side as Damon wondered what was going on. She stopped and let go of his arm before looking at him seriously.
"I need to tell you something." Once she got his attention, she went on, still in that serious tone of voice, "The vampires are planning a attack tonight."
"How do you know this?" Damon demanded, on full alert.
"I went to them." Anna answered. "They think I'm with them, but I'm not. They want the founding families dead."
Damon's eyes widened when he heard what she had said. "When is this supposed to happen?" he asked, hoping that it would start after he had found Charlene and taken her home.
"When the fireworks start."
"John wants to use the that invention on them."
"Then we can't be here." Anna said frantically.
There was a long pause. The invention wasn't supposed to work. Bonnie had said that she had deactivated it. Damon voiced his thoughts out loud.
"It doesn't work, it's been deactivated." He told her, confused.
"Then a lot of people are going to get hurt." Anna said in a matter of fact voice.
Damon looked at her. "Where are they?"
"They're already here, Damon…"
Megan walked along the street with her arm looped through Stefan's, giggling and laughing with him. This definitely felt like a second date for them. Luckily, nothing bad seemed to be happening, which Megan was grateful for. Another normal day was definitely needed. Too bad it didn't last as long as she hoped it would, because Damon showed up and she knew that was a bad sign. Before her and Stefan could say anything to him, he interrupted by grabbing onto Megan's other arm.
It startled her. "What the...what the hell are you doing?" She looked at him appalled that he would grab her like that without her permission. Stefan didn't seem to like this either if the look on his face was any hint.
"Saving your life." Damon said, like it was obvious. "Where's Charlene? Is she with you?"
"What? No, I thought she was with you." Megan told him, alarmed. "Damon, what's going on?"
"Fifteen words or less...tomb vamps are here." Megan's eyes went wide and she shared a look with Stefan. "They are after founding families..."
"Oh no, Charlene and Elena." Megan gasped.
"Find them and get out of here!" With that, Damon started to take off.
"Wait, where are you going?!" Stefan called after him.
"That's more than fifteen words!" He disappeared into the distant.
Honestly, Megan didn't care about where he was going. All she was worried about was finding Charlene and Elena.
"Stefan, we have to find them! And...and Jeremy's out here too. Oh my god..." Megan let go of Stefan and ran both her fingers through her hair, gripping the strands worriedly.
Her boyfriend grabbed her shoulders, making him look at her. "We'll find them, Megan. Let's go!" Stefan put his arm around her and led her away.
Megan hoped they found them before something horrible happened.
While Tyler was playing pool, Caroline looked at both Matt and Tyler who weren't speaking to each other with a shake of her. She leaned forward and started talking to Matt, wanting to fix this.
"There was time in freshman year, when Bonnie and I were in a fight and we swore that we would never talk again…" Caroline hoped that this would convince Matt to forgive Tyler, but it didn't work.
"Caroline, give it a rest." Matt said, giving her a look.
Caroline sighed, leaning back in her seat, when Mr. Lockwood suddenly appeared, over at Tyler. They stayed quiet as they watched them.
"What are you doing here? I told you to go home." Mr. Lockwood said sternly.
"I decided not to."
Tyler was about to go back to his game when Mr. Lockwood grabbed on his son's arm and tugged it hard to get him to look at him.
"If I tell you to do something, you do it!" Mr. Lockwood yelled in Tyler's face, getting the attention of the people in the Grill.
Tyler glared at his father. "Let go of me!" He jerked his arm away.
Thankfully, Caroline quickly came up to them before Mr. Lockwood did anything else. "Is there something wrong Mr. Lockwood?" she asked brightly.
Concerned and confused to what was going on, Matt came up to them too. Mr. Lockwood looked at them and he sighed as he glanced at his son.
"Please Tyler, I need you to go home now," Mr. Lockwood said in a serious voice that concerned the three friends. He nodded to Matt and Caroline, "Take your friends with you."
"Why? What's going on?" Matt asked, confused.
Mr. Lockwood sighed again. "I can't tell you. All of you need to go home now. Please."
"Yeah, okay." Tyler grumbled in agreement.
Mr. Lockwood handed Tyler the keys to his car "Here, take my car, it's out back." He looked at the other two. "Caroline, Matt go with him."
Caroline and Matt were still confused, but they nodded and with that, the three left all wondering what in the hell was going on.
John was standing near the device, ready to start it but was interrupted by a familiar voice. He looked and saw Damon.
"Do you have any idea what you've done?" Damon demanded.
"Yeah as a matter of fact I do."
Damon started heading towards him and John quickly started the device and Damon fell to the ground, screaming and holding his in pain as the loud noise of the device echoed through the room and all the vampires that were outside had fallen too screaming in pain…
Including Charlene, who wasn't found in time.
"Stefan!" Megan watched in horror as Stefan crumbled to the ground, screaming in pain. "What's happening?!" She fell to her knees before him and made the mistake of touching while he was withering on the ground in pain. He jerked at her touch, nearly hitting her in the process, but she managed to get away before he did.
She looked around frantically, not knowing what to do, but she went to touch him again. This time, she managed to and she grabbed onto him, rocking him back and forth to comfort him as she tried to comfort him, all the while trying to stay calm. Which was hard to do, considering she was by herself with no idea what was going on.
"Tell me what's wrong!" Megan cried out, over Stefan's screams.
"My head!" He managed to grunt out before the screams continued leaving his mouth as he gripped his head tightly.
Megan looked around desperately, trying to find some help. There was none in sight as everyone around her was in a panic.
Tyler drove the car on the dark road to take Matt and Caroline back home when he heard a loud noise.
"What the hell is that?"
Caroline, sitting in the front seat, looked at him confused, clearly not hearing the sound Tyler was hearing. "What's the matter?"
"The noise."
Matt was confused too, not hearing it either "Wait, what noise?"
The noise got even louder and Tyler screamed. The pain was unbearable! Tyler clutched his head, releasing the wheel of the car.
"Tyler! Tyler!" Caroline cried in horror as the car started to lose control.
"Dude, hey! Caroline, the wheel!"
Caroline tried to hold onto the wheel with Tyler, still screaming. But it was no use, the car crashed into a wall, making a full on collision of Caroline's side.
Nothing she was doing helped Stefan at all. He was still screaming and Megan was still looking for help. She finally spotted Alaric.
Megan was about to call out his name, but stopped, noticing he was talking to a few of the police deputies. They shared a few words before Alaric ran over to the two of them.
"Alaric, thank god!" Megan exclaimed in relief. When he made it to them, she quickly started questioning him, "Alaric, do you know what's going on? What's happening to Stefan?!"
He didn't respond to her questions, telling her, "Come on!"
Deciding to leave it along for now, Megan quickly nodded and helped Alaric move Stefan over to the stairs nearby to keep themselves hidden.
"I don't know what happened, Alaric." Megan's voice shook as tears filled her eyes. "He just dropped to the ground screaming. I..." She hated seeing Stefan like this.
Alaric put a hand on her shoulder, awkwardly trying to comfort her. "Yeah, he's not the only one." He told her and she looked up at him, wiping her eyes. "The cops have gotten everyone who's gone down, injecting them with vervain."
"What?" That wasn't good at all and Megan sucked in a nervous breath, then let it out. "They're rounding up all the vampires. And if everyone is going down...then so has Charlene..."
Alaric looked at her in shock.
The tears returned to Megan's eyes. She should have stayed closer to Charlene, her best friend should have been there with her and Stefan, to keep her from getting caught, and now it was too late.
The Gilbert device finally shut off, and John took it apart before heading down to the basement.
Damon was on the ground unconscious as the deputies continued to bring in more vampires.
If he was awake, he would have seen Charlene being dragged inside. Her eyes were barely open but she knew what was happening and she wanted to move, but the vervain in her system kept her from doing so. However, she was screaming on the inside to break free.
Her body was pretty much dropped to the ground like she was nothing, and to them, she was. Though, Charlene couldn't move her body, her head could but just barely. Charlene spotted Damon on the ground and her mouth opened up, wanting to call out Damon's name, but nothing came out.
Suddenly, Charlene heard John's voice and her head moved over to where she heard him. She saw him talking to some deputies.
"The device is done." He was saying to them, but the device was supposed to be deactivated, or maybe that's what Bonnie told them, then how did Megan not know? Charlene realized though, that she probably didn't know because Bonnie had lied to her too. "The only think keeping them down is the vervain. We don't have much time left, let's finish this."
As the deputies poured gasoline on top of all of their bodies, Charlene grimaced at the smell, then she heard a noise beside her, making her turn her head again. It was Damon and he was finally waking up. When his eyes opened, they met Charlene's and her nickname came out in a whisper.
"Charlie..."
She managed to give him a weak smile before hearing a familiar voice.
"No..."
Her head turned once again and Anna was on the ground, grabbing onto John's leg.
Charlene's breath caught in her throat. No...
John looked down at her, no emotion on his face. "Anna." He looked over at the deputies. "You can head up; I'll take it from here." Those were words no one wanted to hear.
They all left, and Anna tried to get up as John pulled out a stake from behind his back, causing her to look at it in horror.
"Please, no!" Her pleads were no use and John staked her. Charlene's eyes welled up with tears. Despite what Anna did, she didn't want her to die, not wanting another important person in Jeremy's life to die. Her parents...Vicki...and now Anna...this was going to kill him to find out. Charlene felt so much anger towards John. How dare he come in their lives and do this?!
John dumped more gasoline on them while Charlene managed to crawl over to him, grabbing onto his leg, just like Anna did. He looked down and shock clouded his features.
"Charlene."
She glared at him with all the hate she could muster. "How could you...?" she rasped out.
"You're...you're a vampire." John sputtered.
"I guess...that was...something Isobel forgot to tell you..." Charlene told him in between pants. "This is a chance for you to make this right...save me...or let me die...whatever choice you make...make it the right one...or I'm never going to forgive you and neither will Megan and Elena..."
John kept staring at her, but the shock look was gone, replaced by a somber one. "This is the right thing to do."
There was an answer. John managed to pull his leg out of Charlene's tight grip and didn't look at her as he headed up out of the basement and he lit a match, dropping it to the ground. As soon as it hit the gasoline, it burst into flames and some of the vampires started burning.
Charlene stayed where she was, her head falling back down, unable to keep her eyes open anymore.
After what seemed like forever, Stefan's screaming stopped and he was now talking to Megan. She had her arms wrapped around him, squeezing him tight, not wanting to let him go for even a second. He didn't mind at all, of course.
"Are you okay now, Stef?" Megan asked gently, running her hand down his side in a soothing way.
He slowly nodded. "It was like needles in were piecing my skull and it just stopped."
Megan frowned and she opened her mouth to say something else, but Alaric coming back interrupted her.
"I saw five vampires go down." He informed them. "They're taking them to Elena and Charlene's family's old building."
"It's the Gilbert device. It has to be." Stefan said.
Megan shook her head. "But it can't be. Bonnie and I deactivated it, Stefan. It has to be something else."
"Maybe you guys didn't." Alaric said. "Maybe Bonnie told you that it worked...that it was right spell."
"But Bonnie wouldn't do that." Megan protested. Deep down, she knew it was true, but she just didn't want to believe it.
Stefan seemed to think it was true too as he said, "No. No, no. He's right." At Megan's look of disbelief in his direction, he went on, "Think about it. We asked Bonnie to help you to deactivate a device that could protect people against vampires."
"So, we could protect you and Charlene." Megan reminded him.
"And Damon. Vampires."
Megan looked down at the ground and said nothing. If it was true, she couldn't believe Bonnie would do that, her sister, Elena and Charlene's friend...
"Where is Damon?" Stefan looked up at Alaric.
The history teacher shrugged. "I don't know. I haven't seen him since this started."
That wasn't a good thing. He was probably caught along with Charlene. Megan gulped harshly before looking at Alaric.
"Can...can you find Elena and Jeremy...?" She asked him shakily. "Take them home. It's the least I can do for Charlene. They need to be taken to safety."
"Of course."
Megan smiled weakly, then looked over at Stefan. "Let's go..."
They almost made it over to the old Gilbert building when Elena's voice sounded, stopping them.
"Elena! What are you doing? Alaric's supposed to take you back home!" Megan practically scolded.
She ignored it. "I wasn't going to go home and leave you guys to deal with this yourself. They have our sister, Megan." That was the first time Elena referred to Charlene as their sister, and Megan stared at her with emotional eyes. Instantly, she pulled Elena into a tight hug.
Elena returned it tightly, burying her face into Megan's shoulder. They held the hug for a moment longer before breaking away. Megan gave Elena a watery smile before the three of them headed the rest of the over to the the building where John was standing.
Megan was the first one to get to him. "Where's Damon?!" she demanded.
"With the rest of them, where he should be." John said coldly. "It's over for Damon
"Charlene's in there too!"
John didn't seem shocked. "And unfortunately, it's over for her too." It obviously didn't matter that she was family. Charlene was still a vampire, and that's all that matters. It didn't matter if she was one of the good ones.
Megan stared at him in disbelief.
"You're crazy!" Elena shook her head at him.
"Why?" John questioned, not seeing what was so wrong. "Because I'm doing exactly what should have been done a hundred and forty-five years ago? This is the right thing, Elena."
If Damon and Charlene weren't in there, Megan would have to agree with him there. These tomb vampires were a danger to everyone but Charlene and Damon weren't, at least Damon wasn't anymore. Megan looked in the direction of Stefan, who was looking at the building.
John noticed too. "Go ahead, you won't make it out." He told him uncaringly. "It'll save me the trouble of killing you myself."
Megan stepped forward, her hands clenching into fists. She fought back the urge to use her powers on him. Stefan helped her from doing that, putting an arm in front of her to stop her. She took a deep breath and let it out as she stepped back from John.
Stefan looked over at Elena. "You know the building well, is there another way in?"
The brunette nodded. "The utility door, there's one around the side."
He took off in that direction. Megan shared look with Elena and she nodded, telling her to go. She squeezed Elena's upper arm before hurrying after Stefan. Within minutes, they were at the door and Stefan was about to go it, but Bonnie suddenly appeared before them.
"Hey, you can't go in there!" she told him. Megan glared at her and Bonnie flinched at the sight of it, but kept her eyes on Stefan. "The fire will take you out!"
Stefan looked her in the eye. "It's my brother." With that, he disappeared and Megan was about to follow him but Bonnie stopped her.
"Megan, you can't go in there!"
She ripped her arm out of Bonnie's grip and glared at her again. "And Charlene's in there too, but you already knew that, didn't you?" she snapped, and Bonnie looked at her shocked.
"But...I thought..."
"It doesn't matter what you thought, she's in there, and it's all your fault, Bonnie! How could you just lie to my face like that?"
"I'm sorry for lying to you." Bonnie said, and Megan scoffed as she tried to follow Stefan again but her sister grabbed her arm again. She was about to tear it away again, but stopped, noticing Bonnie was muttering some spell. Megan recognized the spell. It was the one to calm down flames.
Damon looked at Charlene, who was still out of it and luckily, the flames hadn't touched her yet. He wished he could move enough to get her and him out of here but he didn't have enough strength to. He had to try though.
He tried to pick up Charlene and he succeeded in doing so while standing up. Suddenly, Damon heard Stefan's voice.
"Damon!"
He looked to see Stefan heading his way. His brother immediately noticed Charlene's unconscious body and of course, he was concerned automatically.
"Is she alright?" he asked frantically, going over to them.
"She's just unconscious...enough talking, we need to get out of here now." Damon urged.
Stefan nodded his head before he tugged Damon towards the stairs with Charlene in his arms.
Megan perked up at the sight of Damon and Stefan, then she saw Charlene, gasping at her best friend's unconscious state. "Oh my god, is she okay?"
Elena and Bonnie watched on in concern.
"She's just unconscious." Damon said, resting Charlene down on the ground before collapsing next to her. "Come on, Charlie. Wake up." He stroked her face. Almost instantly, Charlene's eyes fluttered up at his touch.
"Damon..." she rasped, and he sighed in relief. She sat up and was enveloped into a hug with Megan and Elena, both of them crying.
"Thank god!" Megan whimpered. "I thought you were going to die!"
Charlene smiled weakly, touching both hers and Elena's faces. "Happy you have so much faith in me...I'm a lot stronger than I look..." she teased.
Those words made Megan's eyes well up with more tears. Now, she definitely knew Charlene was going to be alright.
Jeremy sat on his bed, looking down at the flask of blood in his hand. It was the last reminder of Anna… With a sigh, Jeremy got off of his bed and went to his desk, opening one of the drawers's and put it in the drawer. He turned around and saw Damon leaning against the side of the bathroom where the door was with his arms crossed.
"What are you doing here?" Jeremy asked, confused.
"Anna's dead." Damon said simply.
At those words, Jeremy felt tears fill his eyes, but he kept his cool as he nodded. "I figured that once they took her away."
"I know you cared about her."
"Yeah I did." Jeremy agreed sadly.
It was silent for a moment before Damon spoke again, sounding emotional. It surprised Jeremy because he hadn't seen that side of him before.
"I saw her killed. I was watching and all I could think about was…I wanted to help her…but I couldn't…"
"Why are you telling me this?"
Damon stepped into his room, the small light hitting his face so his face was seen better. "I took away your suffering once before, I can do it again but it's your choice." He told him softly.
Jeremy sat back down on his bed and looked at Damon with sad eyes "Look, I know you think you took it away but it's still there. Even if I can't remember why. I still feel empty and making me forget won't fix it…it won't fix what's really wrong."
"What I did to Vicki was wrong." Damon admitted. "I'm sorry for my part." He walked away, but stopped at the sound of Jeremy's voice, and he turned to face him.
"Anna said that vampires don't have to feel pain; that they could turn it off if they shut down their humanity."
Damon nodded. "It's very true."
"Is it easier that way?" Jeremy asked.
Damon looked at him, confused. "Is what easier?" he said.
"Life…"
"Life sucks either way, Jeremy." Damon told him softly. "But at least if you're a vampire you don't have to feel bad about it if you don't want to."
"Is that what you did?"
"I did it for…" Damon trailed off, looking away, but continued a second later, "A very long time and life was a lot easier." He looked at Jeremy one last time before leaving the room.
Jeremy sat down on his bed, thinking about what Damon had just said.
Charlene sighed as she made it to the front door of her house. Today had been so exhausting. She had no idea today would be like this, that she would be so close to death. That she would die for real. Charlene shuddered to think about it. She had gotten so used to being a vampire that the thought of actually dying was horrible to think about it.
But luckily, she wasn't. She was alive for another day and hopefully it stayed that way.
Sighing, she was about to head inside when Damon stepped out. Charlene was surprised to see him here.
"Damon, what are you doing here?" she asked.
"Failed and feeble attempt at doing the right thing." He gave her a half smile.
Charlene titled her head at him, confused. "I...what do you mean?" What was he talking about?
"It's not important." Damon gave her a half smile again before nodding at the dress she was holding, one that she had forgotten about after seeing Damon there. "Let me get that for you."
"Oh...okay...thanks." Charlene smiled back at him as he took it from her and placed it on the bench beside them. "I appreciate it, and I mean it. Thank you...for everything." She moved closer to him and Damon let her, looking down at her. She wanted to kiss him then and there but he spoke before she could do just that.
"You know, I came to this town, wanting to destroy it." Damon started off. "Tonight, I found myself wanting to protect it." This made a soft look cross Charlene's face. "How does that happen? I'm no hero, Charlie. I don't do good. It's not in me."
Charlene laughed, surprising Damon. "Yes, it is." She told him. "You might not show it half the time, but there is good in you." She placed her hands delicately on the chest, making him look down at them. "I've seen before and it's there..."
"Nah, it's just reserved for my brother, Megan...Bonnie...and you..." Damon stared into her eyes and Charlene's heart did a flip. "Even though Bonnie has every reason to hate me, she still helped Stefan save me."
"I wish you didn't sound so surprised." Charlene told him, shaking her head.
"I am, because she did it for you. Which means that somewhere along the way, you decided I was with saving. And I wanted to thank you for that."
Charlene smiled. "You're welcome, but you know, if you want to thank me properly, how about we go get that drink we couldn't have earlier?"
"You should rest but...we can do that tomorrow." Letting the emotional moment slide, Damon smirked down at her, taking her hands off his chest and holding them.
He had a point. She was tired.
"Okay." Charlene nodded and smiled at him. "Goodnight, Damon."
"Goodnight." Damon leaned forward, kissing her on the cheek.
Charlene closed her eyes at the feeling, but only for a moment as her eyes opened back up and their faces were even closer now. She didn't know who moved first but they kissed.
This kiss was deeply passionate and made Charlene's toes curl in pleasure. She moaned into the kiss and she pushed her body against Damon's. While she did this, he cupped her face to make the kiss even deeper. She groaned at the feeling, opening her mouth to him and allowing his tongue into her mouth, allowing it to glide against her own.
The kiss felt so different from the other one. They were both fighting against each other for control of the kiss. It made her wish they were in her bedroom, in her bed where he could take his wicked way with her, and she knew he would do it if his reputation was anything to go by. Or he could always just slam her against the wall of her house, rip off her clothes, and just thrust inside of her right then and there. Before he could do either one of those things, there was the sound of the door opening, causing the kiss to break. Charlene kept a tight hold of the label of Damon's shirt and saw Jenna standing in the threshold.
"Jenna...hi..." she gasped, finally releasing Damon and staring at her aunt awkwardly as he tried to hide himself behind her.
Her aunt kept a straight face. "It's late, you should probably come inside."
It felt she was being scolded and she was. "Yeah...yeah...that's probably a good idea." She mumbled, glancing back at Damon, giving him a smile. "I...I'll see you later, Damon."
He nodded at her, and Charlene gave him another smile before grabbing her dress and heading inside. She closed the door behind her and leaned back against it, unable to keep the dreamy look from crossing her face as she touched her fingers to her lips.
"What was that?"
Charlene looked at Jenna, who was staring at her with her arms crossed. "What? Oh...that was nothing." Her aunt gave a disbelieving look and she sighed. "I like him, Jenna." She admitted to her.
Jenna said nothing for a moment. "I just want you to be careful." She looked Charlene in the eye. "Damon's bad news and I don't want you to get hurt."
"I won't." Charlene reassured her. "Damon's different around me..."
"I hope so, because there will be hell to pay if he hurts you."
Charlene smiled at Jenna's protectiveness. "I know. Goodnight, Jenna."
"Goodnight."
The blonde gave her aunt one last time before heading upstairs to get some sleep.
Damon had only been at the boarding house for thirty minutes. He was sitting on the couch in the living room and thinking about the kiss him and Charlene shared. It was even better than the first kiss they shared together. Suddenly, there was a knock on the front door. A confused look appeared on his face, wondering who it was. Damon stood up from the couch and headed to the front door. He opened it up and was surprised to Charlene standing there, wearing a pair of short shorts and a low cut tank top and high heels.
"Charlie, what are you doing here?" Damon asked.
"I had to come over, Damon, after that kiss... I need you." She whispered.
Damon's eyes widened when she went closer to him until her body was flushed against his. Charlene still didn't say anything as she cupped his face in her hands. She looked up at him with those beautiful blue eyes of hers. Damon glanced down at her lips with lustful look in his eyes, obviously wanting to kiss her again…to feel those soft lips against his. As soon as her lips crashed into his, Damon lustfully grabbed her waist before closing the door behind them.
John returned to the Gilbert house and went into the kitchen, sitting down his stuff before heading over to refrigerator. He opened it up and grabbed a water bottle before closing it. John jumped at the sight of Megan and Elena.
"Sorry." Elena apologized.
"Yeah, sorry." Megan added.
They both started putting things up that were left in the kitchen as John spoke up, walking over to them.
"You know, I first met Isobel when I was a teenager." He started off softly. "I fell in love with her instantly although I'm pretty sure she never loved me. She was special… a part of why I hate vampires is because of what she became, how it ruined her." He sighed before looking at Elena, "And I never would have sent her to Damon had I known she wanted to turn."
Megan stayed silent as she slipped a knife into the knife holder on the kitchen counter as Elena looked at John.
"It's my fault." John told her softly. "I'm telling you this because I hoped maybe you'd understand."
"Thank you." Elena said gratefully.
John looked at Megan with a smile, "Can I help?"
Megan glanced down at the ring on his hand on the counter. She looked back at him.
"That would great, thanks,." Megan told him.
The next thing that happened, John didn't expect. Megan had grabbed the knife and sliced his fingers off, causing him to scream in pain. Then Elena shoved him into the fridge.
Megan smirked, "Here you go, Katherine." She handed her a knife.
Elena, or who was actually Katherine, looked over her shoulder at her sister with a smirk on her own. "Thank you Demi." She turned back to John, who looked shocked.
"Katherine?!" John exclaimed shocked.
Katherine smirked, "Hello John. Goodbye John."
Her face changed and she stabbed John in the stomach with the knife that Demi gave her. Katherine's face went back to normal and dropped John, leaving him on the ground, bleeding. She threw Demi her phone which her sister immediately caught. When her sister looked up at her confused, Katherine quickly explained.
"Text Abigail, tell her that it's done."
Demi nodded and quickly left a text for Abigail.
Over at the boarding house, Charlene was getting dressed. Damon was sleep soundly on the bed and she glanced at him as she slipped on her shorts. Then there was a sound coming from her shorts pocket and she took out her phone, looking down at the message she got.
'It is done.'
Charlene smirked. But this wasn't the real Charlene, this was…Abigail Piece. Glancing at the sleeping Damon one last time, she left his room with a smirk on her face.
Unaware someone took her place, Charlene was woken up from her peaceful sleep by a loud, deafening crash. She jolted up out of bed and ran downstairs, just as Elena came inside. Charlene's body relaxed at the sight of her.
"Good, it's just you."
Elena gave a confused look, but she just shook her head. "Hey, have you seen my stuff? Like my dress and bag. I can't find them anywhere."
"I haven't no. I've been sleeping."
"That's so weird." Elena shook her head again before glancing upstairs. "Have you seen Jeremy? He's okay."
"I think he was asleep when I came home." Charlene told her.
Her sister nodded. "Okay..." She started up the stairs. "I'm gonna go check on him."
"Okay." Elena disappeared up the stairs and then there was another noise, coming from the kitchen.
Charlene stiffened up, feeling something in the air. It wasn't a good feeling. The feeling grew and grew as she stepped closer to the kitchen, scared to know what was in there.
TBC...
In...
The Return, Part 1...