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
As she inched closer to the kitchen, a familiar smell went up her nose and she stiffened.
Blood.
Oh no.
Charlene ran the rest of the way over to the kitchen only to gasp in horror at the sight of John laying in a pool of his own blood, a bloody knife beside his body.
"Oh my god, John!" Trying to the ignore the smell, she raced over to his body and he flinched away from her.
"No..." he choked.
Was he really denying her help? Charlene rolled her eyes in disbelief.
"Oh get over yourself, I'm not going to kill you!" she snapped as she quickly took off her jacket, wrapping his bloody hand in it, trying to stop the blood flow while she pulled out her phone with her free hand, dialing 911.
"911, what's your emergency?"
"I need help right away! My uncle, he's bleeding in my kitchen." Charlene shakily explained, tightening her grip on her cell phone. The smell was getting too much and she could feel her face changing but she reeled it in. She wasn't going to do anything, even though John probably deserved it. "I don't know what happened! I came and found him like this. We live at 2104 Maple Street, please hurry!" She placed her phone on the ground and finally used both her hands to help stop the blood flow.
Her hands were getting soaked by the blood, but she ignored it as best as she could. Suddenly, John mumbled something and Charlene's eyebrows furrowed together.
"What?"
"Behind you!" He said louder.
Charlene jumped to her feet automatically, feeling a presence behind her finally. But whoever it was, no one was there.
She was still on edge as her face changed, ready to attack anyone who was in her way. There was a blur, but with her enhanced sight, she could see it was a figure of a woman. Before she could do anything though, the figure blurred out of the house. The door slamming shut.
Charlene's face slowly went back to normal. Until she heard a scream from upstairs.
"Jeremy!"
It went back as Charlene blurred upstairs. Elena was there, at Jeremy's bedside. He was there too, seemingly unharmed. Just then, Jeremy woke up with a gasp, flying up in a sitting position on his bed.
A little while later, the ambulance arrived to take John to the hospital. His fingers had been chopped off by whoever had been in the house. Charlene had already called Stefan and Megan and was waiting for them on the steps while Elena was upstairs with Jeremy.
John was being pulled outside on a stretcher when her best friend and Stefan came to the door.
"Charlene! What the hell happened?" Megan demanded, once they were allowed inside.
"Let's go upstairs to Jeremy's room, we can talk there." Charlene told her quickly as she grabbed onto Megan's hand, leading her upstairs with Stefan following behind them.
Once upstairs in her brother's bedroom, Charlene explained what happened with John, then she told them about Jeremy, who was sitting on the bed with Elena staring at him with worried eyes.
"What happened?" Stefan asked.
"He said that Anna gave him her blood and then he took these pills and now..." Elena trailed off, running her fingers through her long hair. "I mean, he looks fine, but then again, so do you and Charlene. So I...I just don't know."
Charlene would have checked to see if Jeremy was okay, but she wasn't completely sure herself. She didn't know what to look for.
Stefan nodded and went over to Jeremy, grabbing his face as he tried to meet Jeremy's gaze. "Come here, look at me."
"I'm fine, okay?" Jeremy snapped as he tried and failed to slap Stefan's hands away. "I feel exactly the same."
"He's still going to check you anyway, so stop being a stubborn ass and let him help." Charlene snapped, wanting to smack her brother in the head. How could he want to be a vampire? She may have gotten used to being one, but she wouldn't wish this life on anyone.
Jeremy rolled his eyes before they finally met Stefan's.
"Should I call a paramedic up here? What should we do?" Elena questioned, but Stefan was busy staring into Jeremy's eyes to answer at the moment.
Once he broke the connection, Stefan stepped back from Jeremy and shook his head. "No." He told her. "He's fine."
Charlene let out a breath of relief. However, Jeremy wasn't feeling the same way.
He stared at Stefan, open mouthed. "You mean, I'm not a vampire. Damn it!"
"Are you freaking kidding me?!" Charlene yelled at him, finally smacking him in the head like she wanted to.
"Charlie..." Elena started, but the blonde ignored her sister as Charlene glared at him while he glared right back, rubbing the back of his head.
"What the hell were you thinking?! How could you want to be a vampire? That isn't the kind of life I want for you, so tell me what was going on in your head when you decided that's the life that you want for yourself!"
Jeremy abruptly stood up from the couch and moved in front of her. "Did you hear about Anna, what happened to her tonight...? She's dead..."
The mention of the vampire that Charlene had watched die in front of her eyes made her falter in her anger. Jeremy's eyes welled up with tears as the blonde stepped back from him.
"I know..." Charlene whispered. "I was there..."
He opened his mouth to respond to that, however, Stefan stopped him before he could, trying to get him to sit back down on the bed.
"Come here, sit down." Stefan pushed Jeremy back down on the bed and grabbed his face, forcing Jeremy to look at him. "I am very sorry about Anna, but it's very important that you listen to me right now. With every passing moment, Anna's blood is leaving your system. If you try to kill yourself right now, you really die." Jeremy looked away. "Hey!" He slapped him. "Do you understand me?!"
"Stefan, hey." Megan said, placing a hand on his back. This was the first time she had spoken since coming upstairs.
Stefan let go of Jeremy and asked him again, this time more calmly, "Do you understand?"
"Yeah, I understand." Jeremy gritted out.
"Good." Stefan got up and stood next to them.
"But what about the pills he took?" Elena asked, concerned.
"He didn't take enough to die so Anna's blood actually healed him because of that."
Megan sighed. "That's a relief."
Charlene nodded in agreement, but Jeremy still looked disappointed. Though now she could understand why Jeremy would want to be vampire, it still wasn't something she wanted for her brother, so seeing the look of disappointment still made her angry.
"Miss Gilbert? Miss Gilbert?"
Charlene looked over at the sound, spotting a police officer standing there. "We'll be right there." He nodded and left.
"You guys need to be at the hospital." Stefan said.
"I...I don't know..." Charlene trailed off, glancing at Jeremy.
"I'll stay here with Jeremy."
"I don't need a babysitter." Jeremy protested.
Megan snorted. "Yeah, maybe if you hadn't tried to kill yourself, then maybe we would trust you to be here by yourself." She scolded. "But you lost that chance." Her head jerked towards the door. "Come on, let's go." She kissed Stefan on the cheek before leaving first.
Charlene and Elena looked at Jeremy, then followed after Megan.
Bonnie made it to the hospital as quick as she could. She found Matt sitting on a bench outside of Caroline's room and she sat down next to him.
"How's Caroline?" Bonnie asked worriedly.
Matt sighed sadly as he looked over at her, tears in his eyes, "She's not good Bon." He looked away from her.
"What happened?" Bonnie asked.
"We were driving and Tyler heard this noise and he got…"
"A noise?" Bonnie said, confused.
Matt nodded. "He got this migraine or something and he lost control of the car and…" He sighed sadly, "And I thought Caroline was fine and then…and then she wasn't so…" He trailed off as Bonnie looked at him worried.
"Liz?"
Liz Forbes looked up and saw Damon heading his way towards her.
"Liz, I came as soon as I got the message." He said concerned as he met her half-way. "Is she okay?"
"She's in surgery, it's…" Liz sighed, "They're doing everything they can." She looked at Damon pleadingly, "I need your help Damon."
"Sure, anything Liz," Damon agreed as he placed a hand on the middle of her back as Liz walked off, away from people so they could talk privately.
Liz turned to Damon, "Major Lockwood is dead." Damon pretended to look shocked, but the sheriff didn't notice. "They thought he was a vampire. They put him in the basement."
"Mayor Lockwood was a vampire?" Damon questioned,but he knew that Mr. Lockwood wasn't one. He was something…but Damon didn't know what.
Liz shook her head. "No, no." She denied. "A mistakes was made, they said he dropped like the others when John's device went off but he…" Her voice turned emotional, "he couldn't have been a vampire, I've known him my whole life and know Carole Lockwood is gonna want answers and all I can think of Caroline right now…" Then she broke down, crying.
"It's okay," Damon said in a reassuring voice as he hugged Liz, letting her sob on his shoulder.
After leaving Liz after she had calmed down, Damon was about to turn around a corner but stopped when he saw Elena, Megan, and Charlene walking towards Bonnie. He smirked at the sight of Charlene. However, he couldn't help but wonder why she left him last night after the wonderful night they had together.
"She's weak. They don't know if she's going to make it."
Honestly, Megan couldn't comprehend those words.
Caroline could very well be dying from the car crash. All because, for some reason, Tyler Lockwood could hear the invention. The one Bonnie swore that they deactivated. It made Megan, once again, mad that her sister had lied to her about it.
But that wasn't important right now. Caroline was.
"I…I can't believe it…" Megan managed to speak the words that were in her head.
"No…she can't be." Charlene breathed, her blue eyes welling with tears.
Elena couldn't believe it either as her face fell at Bonnie's words. "W-what?"
Bonnie embraced the three of them tightly. Megan welcomed the hug as did everyone else. It was much needed after this hell they endured…and it was probably just getting started to.
Megan pulled back, breaking the group hug they were in as she wiped her face with one of her hands while the other grabbed onto Charlene's, squeezing tight. Her best friend squeezed it back as the blonde looked sadly down at the ground. It was quiet between them again until Elena broke the silence.
"Is there something you can do?" she asked Bonnie quietly. "Like a spell or something?"
Bonnie opened her mouth to reply, but Damon's smug voice interrupted her as he appeared in their line of vision.
"She doesn't know, do you?" He said.
Megan glanced over at Charlene and found her best friend blushing as the blonde stared at Damon.
Charlene noticed her staring, earning an even deeper blush. Megan stifled a smirk as she wondered what happened between the two. She wanted to ask but she forced herself not to as Bonnie spoke up.
"No, I don't." She answered, frowning.
"No, you don't, because it took Emily years to learn a spell like that." Damon snarked.
Bonnie glared at him, crossing her arms. "Well, I can take down a vampire, that spell was easy to learn."
"You two, that's enough." Charlene cut in before Damon could say anything else. Always being the mediator. "There has to be something we can do though. We can't just let Caroline die." More tears filled her eyes. "She's too young to die. She has more life to live…" The blonde looked about ready to break down.
After everything, Megan figured there was only a matter of time before Charlene did. The blonde couldn't stay strong all the time.
Damon slid a hand onto Charlene's shoulder and squeezed, making her look to meet his gaze. Megan hadn't seen a softer look on Damon's face in all the time she had known him. It was really sweet. Megan could see how much he cared about her best friend, just from looking at his eyes and his face. It melted her heart actually.
Damon finally spoke up, still looking at Charlene. "I can give her some blood."
The blonde bit her bottom lip. "Damon, I…I don't know…"
"What do you mean, 'I don't know?'" Elena asked in disbelief. "Of course, he can't do that."
"It'll only be enough to heal her." Damon reassured, glancing at Elena before returning his gaze to Charlene. "She will be safe in the hospital and it will be out of her system in a day, she will be better, Charlie."
Megan could tell Charlene wanted to agree with him, but she also knew her best friend didn't want to risk it. Luckily, she didn't have to answer.
"Do it."
Megan looked at Bonnie in surprise, as did everyone else. It was unexpected that her sister would agree to it.
Bonnie saw the expression on Elena's face. "This is Caroline. Like Charlene said, we can't just let her die." Then she looked over at Damon seriously. "Do it."
"If I do this, you and me, call a truce?"
Bonnie scoffed a bit at Damon's words. "No. But you'll do it anyway." She smirked. "For Charlene." With those last words, she took her leave along with Elena.
Megan would have stayed, but she could tell Charlene and Damon needed to be alone. "You tell me everything later." She whispered to her best friend, who blushed. She left it at that and left the two vampires alone.
-0-
Charlene was nervous, but excited to be alone with Damon. Now that she was, she didn't know what to say to him. What did you say after an amazing kiss like the one she and Damon shared?
Damon was the first one to speak, stepping closer to her. "I know this isn't the right time to talk about this, but we should talk about what happened last night."
"Yeah, we probably should." Charlene agreed and before he could say more, she stopped him, placing her hand on his chest. "But you're right, it's not the right time. Especially with the fact that one of the tomb vampires appeared last night and got into the house, and almost killed John."
Damon looked at her, confused. "What are you talking about? You were with me last night."
It was Charlene's turn to look confused. "Um, no, I wasn't, Damon."
"Yes, you were." He pressed, grabbing the hand that was on his chest. "You came over to the boarding house and we slept together."
"I seriously have no idea what you're talking about." Charlene shook her head, pulling her hand away from his grip. "We just kissed, Damon. That's it. Then I went inside and went to get some sleep, but I never went to the boarding house."
"Yes, you did."
Charlene was beginning to get frustrated. "We really don't have time for this, Day!" The nickname flew out of her mouth without warning, but she didn't think much about it as she turned away from him and tried to walk off.
Damon didn't let her get far, grabbing her arm and pulling her back towards him, making her body crash into his. Charlene opened her mouth to protest but stopped abruptly when she saw the intense look on his face. Her breath caught in her throat as his eyes narrowed at her.
"If you want to forget what happened, fine, but I can't." Damon told her.
Charlene didn't know what to say but she knew that she hadn't gone over to the boarding house. She would remember sleeping with Damon and definitely wouldn't want to forget about it.
Nothing could be said about it now as Jenna showed up. She glared at Damon before he slid away but he still stayed there, listening.
"Charlie, I came as soon as I got your message." Jenna said to her niece. "How's John?"
Charlene went to answer, but Elena and Megan showed up before she could.
"Jenna, hey!" Megan greeted her with a smile, earning a smile in return.
Elena looked over at Jenna. "Where have you been?"
"At the fire department." Jenna said slowly as if they were supposed to know this information. "I had to fill out a report. I told you and Megan earlier."
"No, you didn't."
"Yes, I did."
"No Jenna, you didn't."
Megan frowned. "I don't remember you telling her that, Jenna." She agreed, backing Elena up.
Jenna looked over at Charlene.
"Don't look at me." Charlene told her. "I was in my room last night." She gave Damon a pointed look.
"Oh right…yeah, you were."
Suddenly, a look crossed over Damon's face. One that had Charlene looking at him in concern.
"What's wrong?" The blonde asked.
Instead of answering, he mumbled in disbelief, "Oh, you got to be kidding me." After a moment, he finally noticed everyone staring at him and his face went blank before he rushed off.
"What was that about?" Megan whispered to Charlene, making the blonde glance at her best friend.
Charlene stared at Megan a moment longer, then she turned her attention to the spot where Damon once was. "I have no idea…" she mumbled.
TBC...
In...
The Return, Part 2...