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: As you can see, I deleted the rest of the chapters for this rewrite. Also changing the title of the story to match what I called the rewrite, so now the story is called Surviving Vampires 101. So yeah! Reread the chapters to see the differences. :D
Megan felt bad for leaving Charlene by herself with what happened yesterday, but her best friend said she was okay. She might not have believed her because anyone wouldn't be after finding out the man you were in love with slept with someone else, especially if that were someone looked exactly like you. She would feel the same way if Stefan had slept with Demetria.
Despite feeling bad for leaving her best friend, Megan had to be there when Stefan and Elena talked to John. She needed to be there for Elena since Charlene wasn't going to be. Megan didn't know how this conversation was going to turn out, but they needed answers that John probably had. So, here they were, heading to John's hospital room.
They stopped outside his door, or well Elena did, and they stopped with her, looking over at her with concern.
"Are you sure you want to do this, Elena? You don't have to go in if you don't want to. Stefan and I can be the ones to talk to him." Megan told her. Though it would be better for her to be there, especially since they might not be able to get John to tell them anything.
Elena let out a breath. "I want to do this. Let's just go in and get this over with."
Megan shared a look with Stefan before they nodded and stepped into the room. The brunette was the first one to head over to John.
"John?" Elena called out softly.
It startled John awake and noticed her, Elena, and Stefan. His eyes went wide in fear as he looked at Elena and surprisingly her, which she hadn't expected. He automatically went to grab the call button to get the nurse. He didn't have time to press the button as Stefan grabbed his hand and took it from him.
"I'm Elena." Elena told him bluntly. "I'm not – I'm not Katherine." John seemed to relax at those words, but only somewhat.
"We found that she was the one to do this to you." Megan decided to be the one to let him know, keeping her voice softly. Despite what he did to the tomb vampires and what he almost accomplished with Damon and Stefan, she felt bad that his daughter's look-alike did that to him.
John's eyes darkened a bit. "And Demetria."
Megan blinked, but it made sense as it explained his reaction to see her here. "Ohh…okay…" She frowned. "Then we need to know why they did this to you."
"Where are they?" John asked, looking around weakly.
"You tell us." Stefan said in response.
John tried to sit up in his bed, but he struggled with it. "I don't know…"
Stefan quickly pushed him back down and if this weren't a serious situation, he would probably be rolling his eyes. Megan smirked to herself at the thought.
"You're a little too weak to be playing tough." Stefan said seriously. "Why don't you sit back and answer some questions?"
There was silence for a moment as Elena placed his Gilbert ring in the palm of John's hand. "Please, tell us why they're here. What do they want?" He didn't respond.
Stefan tried, this time. "They'll try again; we can't help you if you don't confide in us."
John scoffed. "In you?"
"In your daughter and niece then." Stefan tried this next, glancing over at Megan and Elena.
John glared heatedly at him. "My daughter and nieces." He added Charlene in the mix even when she wasn't there with them, "Should have driven a stake through your heart by now."
"So, now you decide to add me and Charlene in the list of people you care about, you didn't seem to care when you tried to kill Damon and Stefan." Megan couldn't help but say bitterly.
"I've always cared." John said, and she couldn't help but scoff at that, however she didn't say anything about it. "Katherine and Demetria never talked to me directly." He decided to go back to what they had been talking about. "They never trusted me, especially Katherine." He looked over at Stefan angrily. "So, either kill me, or get out, because I can't stand the sight of you with my niece and daughter."
Elena looked angry, done with trying to be nice. "You see the world with such hatred. It's going to get you killed." Surprisingly, Megan could hear the small break in her voice before she left the room quickly.
Megan raced after her, leaving Stefan alone with John. It didn't take long to find her and she made sure that Elena was okay.
"I just can't believe him." Elena said as Megan put her arm around her shoulder's and started to lead her out of the hospital. "How can he be so bitter?"
"I don't know, Lena. Anger can do that to you." Megan responded softly. "He probably isn't going to change either."
Elena was quiet but it didn't last long. "I want him out of here, Meg."
"I know." Her arm squeezed Elena's shoulder. Megan realized then that they had left Stefan in there with John, but she wasn't worried.
If anyone could get John to leave Mystic Falls, it would be her boyfriend, even if a little threat were in order.
Over at the Lockwood mansion, Damon was standing beside Liz, watching Carole and some guy talk to each other.
He wondered who this man was and he looked at Liz to ask her. "Who's the guy with Carole?"
Liz glanced to where Damon had been looking at. "It's the major's younger brother, Mason Lockwood."
"Is he in the counsel? Like John Gilbert when he rolled in?"
"He's nothing like John." Liz laughed, "For one he's not an ass." She went on once she stopped laughing. "But he's not a believer either. He wants nothing to do with the counsel. He's too preoccupied with finding the perfect wave."
"Thanks." Damon told Liz as she started to leave. "See you."
He turned back to look at Mason, narrowing his eyes at him suspiciously.
Demi and Katherine walked side by side as they headed up to go inside the Lockwood home.
Tyler, who didn't know who they actually were, stopped them. "Hi, Elena, Megan." He shook their hands, "Thanks for coming."
"No problem, Tyler." Demi said sadly, going into her 'Megan' persona.
Katherine nodded in agreement.
"Where's Char?"
"She's coming with Jenna and Jeremy." Katherine told him.
"Alright, well come on in." Tyler said to them.
Katherine and Demi turned to the door as Tyler went to greet other people. They looked at each other before making sure they were able to go in. When their feet were able to go inside, Katherine and Demi looked at each other and as they walked fully in the house, they both thought in unison as they had smirks on their faces.
Let the fun begin...
Stefan had caught up to them before they completely left the hospital, so they were able to walk out together.
"I'm going to call Charlene and let her know we're coming to get her." Elena said, already pulling out her cellphone. "We have that Lockwood thing we need to go to."
Hearing this, Megan smacked herself in the forehead as Elena made the call to Charlene. "Damn, I forgot about that." She smiled sheepishly, scratching the back of her head. "After everything's that happened, it was easy to forget."
Stefan placed a hand on her shoulder. "That's completely understandable."
Megan smiled at him in response. "So…" She changed the subject. "What did you and John talk about when we left?" She probably already knew the answer, but she wanted to hear it from him.
"I told him that it would probably be best if he left town." Stefan told her.
"Told him?" Megan rose an eyebrow at him with a smirk. "I think you mean you threatened him."
"Yeah, I threatened him."
"I figured as much." Megan laughed. By the time, this conversation had been going on, Elena had gotten off the phone with Charlene, so she was able to add her two cense in.
"Good." Elena said. "Like I told Megan, I want him gone." She smiled sadly. "I know I shouldn't feel that way, but I don't want someone like that in my life. Or Jeremy's life."
Megan took Elena into her arms, giving her a tight hug. "We know, Lena. Everything's going to be alright. He'll be out of here before you know."
Elena nodded into her shoulder before pulling back from the hug. "I'm going to head onto the car." She mumbled as she left to do just that, leaving Megan alone with Stefan.
The black-haired teen sighed as she watched her best friend's sister walk away, then turned to look at Stefan. "So, what now?"
"Now, I'm going to talk to Damon." He went to move around her, but she stopped him by placing a hand on his chest.
"Stef, please. Don't go and threaten, Damon." Megan tried to plead with him. "He's already on edge with Abigail being back and you starting a fight with him isn't going to help anything."
Stefan gave her a look of disbelief. "But he hurt Charlene by sleeping with Abigail. He deserves what's coming to him."
"He's not worth it, Stefan. Hurting him isn't going to change what happened and hurting him would just hurt Charlene even more." Megan knew her best friend was mad at Damon, but she wouldn't want him to get hurt, which was why her best friend had tried to stop Stefan from attacking him at the Gilbert house yesterday. Before he could question her about what she meant about hurting Damon would hurt Charlene, she went on quickly. "Besides, the Damon/Charlene situation isn't what's important right now. The Pierce sisters being here is what's important. So please, just leave it alone."
Stefan knew she was right, so he sighed and backed up. "Fine. I'll leave it alone."
Megan sighed in relief. "Thank you." She changed the subject, moving her arms to wrap around Stefan's waist. "Do you want to ride with us to Lockwood mansion?"
He brushed her hair out of her face. "No, you go on ahead with Elena. I'll see you there."
"Okay." Megan pulled back from him and kissed him softly before pulling back. "I love you."
"I love you too."
She gave him one last kiss before leaving to join Elena in the car. As her best friend's sister left the hospital parking, Megan really hoped that Stefan would keep his promise and not going after Damon.
Bonnie found Damon in a room where the food was, and she went up to him. "Did you know the Gilbert device affected Tyler Lockwood?" she asked in a quiet voice so only he could hear her because there were people in the room.
Damon smirked as he grabbed a grape and popped it in his mouth. "Well, I know it took the major down." He said between chews.
"Don't you want to know why?"
"Yes Bonnie, I would love to know why." Damon said sarcastically as he stood in front of Bonnie. "A non-vampire was tortured by the vampire device that you let John Gilbert use against us." He grabbed another grape. "Speaking of your guilt, how's Caroline doing?"
"She's much better." Bonnie replied, glaring at him.
"You're welcome."
"No, you're welcome."
Damon stopped walking and turned to her in disbelief, "Why am I welcome?"
"You live to see another day." Bonnie answered simply as if it was obvious, and to her, it had been.
"No good deed goes unpunished with you, does it?" Damon asked with a smirk.
"Doesn't undo the bad." Bonnie told him as the vampire put the grape in his mouth. She narrowed her eyes at him, "I know what you are, Damon. You may have Charlene and the Sheriff and everybody else fooled but not me. One wrong move and I'm gonna take you out."
When Damon heard Bonnie said Char's name, his cold dead heart was breaking from the memory of him hurting her. He stepped slightly close to her, but Bonnie didn't back down. He smirked at her.
"Now you need to stop with the witches' brood." Damon said sarcastically. "You're starting to believe your own press."
Bonnie rolled her eyes as she looked away from as he continued to smirk at her. She glanced back at him, looking at him right in his eyes. Damon felt a sudden pain in his eyes and in his head, and he grabbed his head in pain. Bonnie's eyes glanced away from his, breaking the pain, and she pretended to look apologetic.
"Oh, I'm sorry, you were saying?"
Bonnie turned a heel and walked out of the room. The nerve of that guy! Bonnie entered another room and saw Megan and Elena talking to each other.
"Oh my god!" she exclaimed once she was over to them.
Megan and Elena looked at her confused and Bonnie had to explain in a frustrated, angry voice.
"Damon drives me crazy! He's walking around like he's some kind of hero for healing Caroline when it's his fault all of this happened in the first place!"
"I'm sorry Bonnie," Elena apologized. "What Damon's done is awful."
Megan nodded in agreement. "Yeah, whatever you said to him was totally right."
Bonnie sighed, feeling better. She smiled at Megan and Elena.
"Okay better." Bonnie told them. "Hateful Damon moment over."
She touched both Megan and Elena on the arm. Bonnie froze, immediately feeling that something was wrong. She moved her hands away from Megan and Elena and smiled nervously.
"I've got to find Tyler pay my respects." Bonnie said quickly. "I'll be back."
She quickly rushed away to go to another room, completely missing the dark looks on Megan and Elena shared with each other. As soon as she got into the room, Bonnie pulled out her cell phone and called Elena's number. She hoped that her friend would pick up…
"Hello?"
"Elena, where are you and Megan?" Bonnie asked as calmly as she could. "Is Char with you?"
"Bonnie, I know we're late." Elena said on the other end of the phone. "And yeah Charlene's with us. We're getting in the car now. We'll be there in 5." Her friend hung up the phone.
Shit!
Bonnie turned around, and sure enough, Katherine was right behind her. The brunette smirked as she glanced at the door and Megan was standing in front of the closed door with a smirk on her face, blocking Bonnie from leaving.
"We haven't officially met." Katherine said with a smirk. "I'm Katherine."
"And I'm Demetria." Demi added with a smirk of her own.
"I know who you are." Bonnie said stiffly, but she was only looking at Katherine.
Demi pouted. "And here I thought Stefan might have mentioned me."
Bonnie ignored her as Katherine spoke up with a smirk on her face. "Of course, you know who I am. You're the best friend, right? I've been putting the pieces of Elena's life together." She smirked more. "Isobel did say that it was a bit of a puzzle." She started to walk by and around Bonnie as she continued, "I do know who Jenna and Jeremy are and I met that delicious ex-boyfriend Matt, who's sweet on Caroline." She turned towards Bonnie, pointing at her, "And then there's you…the vampire-hating Bennett witch. " She smirked again "Do I do good?"
"I thought you did great Kat," Demi said as she walked forward away from the door with her arms crossed and a smirk on her face. "You really know your stuff."
"Well, I try." Katherine said with another smirk.
"Oh, you don't have to, sister."
Since they were distracted or Bonnie thought they were, she tried to get out, but Demi was faster than her and blocked the door again. And Katherine appeared in front of her and Bonnie used her powers to hurt her.
Katherine pretended to be in pain as she grasped her head just to amuse the witch but then she stopped, giving Bonnie a hard look. "I've been around a long time Bonnie. You're gonna have to do better that that."
She zoomed forward and caught Bonnie but the neck and slammed the witch against the wall by the door with her face changed. Bonnie tried not to look frightened as she used her powers to open the door, revealing them to the people that were in the room.
"There's nothing to see here." Demi said, trying to get their attention away. It worked and they all looked away.
Katherine's face went back to normal and peered out the open door with a impressed look on her face, "Nice."
"Demetria. Katherine."
Demi didn't stay facing the other two girls as she heard Stefan's voice and turned around to face him, her face brightening up for a moment before her face went back to being cool and collected, but it didn't stop her from flirting with him. "Hello Stefan." She said, fluttering her eyelashes at him.
Stefan ignored her, looking at Katherine, who still had Bonnie held to the wall. "Let her go, Katherine."
Katherine smirked. "Fine," she said, letting go of Bonnie's neck and stepping back. She winked at Demi. "I'll leave you two alone." She looked at Stefan with a smirk on her face before disappearing.
Demi smirked as she walked out of the room, her hand moving across Stefan's chest seductively as she walked past him. Stefan shared a look with Bonnie before turning around to follow Demetria.
"What are you doing here?" Stefan asked as they walked in another room.
"After what happened last night between us after treating me so bad…" Demi paused as she took a glass of wine from a passing waiter, who was giving them away. That was good thing about a party, free drinks, and fresh human blood but she couldn't do anything with that as she didn't want to bring attention to herself. She sipped it as she continued walking and continued, "I figured that a public place would be less violent."
"You and your sisters are taking this a little too far, don't you think?" Stefan asked as they stopped in the front of a table where food was. "Megan could walk in any minute and so could Charlene and Elena…"
"Well, I guess I like the thrill of getting caught." Demi said with a smirk, sipping her wine again. "You know that better than anyone, Stefan."
Matt came up to them before they could say anything else to each other, "Hey guys."
Demi turned to him and looked at him, immediately going back to pretending to be Megan, "Hey Matt. I'm so happy that Caroline is back to normal!" She did a good job at bring in the cheerful side of Stefan's girlfriend. "I can't imagine how relived you must be."
Matt nodded. "I am." He smiled at her. "Thanks Megan."
"Anytime, Matt." Demi said with a smile of her own. He left, and she chuckled to herself as she turned back to face Stefan. "Geez, all these humans are so gullible. I don't know how you can stand being around them."
"You need to leave now." Stefan said, ignoring what she said last.
Demi pouted. "Aw, but whyyy? I like it here. It disappoints me that you aren't happy see me. I mean, Damon treated Abby a lot better than you're being to me." She smirked. "Then again, he thought she was Charlene.
"Demetria. I'm not doing this with you…"
Demi sighed. "Fine," she told him. She nodded her head out of the room, "Come on…let's go outside and talk."
"Just tell me what you're doing here?" Stefan demanded.
"Well maybe, just maybe, I missed you," Demi said softly. "Would that be a good enough reason?"
"What game are you playing?"
Demi smiled at him seductively as she walked closer to him. "I love to play games," she purred.
"Well, we need rules because how am I supposed to how to play it." Stefan said, mocking her with what she said back in 1864.
"I told you Stefan, our games don't need rules." Demi whispered, brushing a finger down his cheek, but he smacked her hand away causing her to pout.
She walked away and stopped outside of the room. Stefan turned to look at her and Demetria gestured for him to follow her. He walked over to her and she held out her hand, wanting her to take it. He didn't and walked past her. Demi looked after him sadly before following him.
Charlene really wished she didn't have to go to Major Lockwood's wake, knowing there was a possibility she would run into Damon. Though she had time to let the anger at him go away as she realized he had been hurt by Abigail just as much as she had, and he probably wasn't taking her return well. She still didn't run into him as she wouldn't know what to say. She wouldn't say it out loud, but she was worried what Damon would do with her being back. Damon, being hurt, was never a good thing. He did the worse kind of things when he was. Not that he would ever admit he was hurt. Not even to her.
"It feels so weird having a wake for someone who's really dead." Megan whispered to her, breaking Charlene out of her thoughts.
"Right." The blonde agreed as they walked inside the mansion with Jenna, Elena, and Jeremy.
Jenna looked around, seeing everyone from Mystic Falls was here. "Looks like the whole town has turned out."
"Yeah. Well, he is…" Elena shifted awkwardly on her feet, balancing the lasagna they made in her arms as she realized her mistake. "Was the major."
Jeremy rolled his eyes. "Why don't they save it for the funeral?"
"Because this is Mystic Falls." Megan told Jeremy, shrugging as this town was always trying to make a party out of everything even someone's death.
"Well, and that's just what people do." Jenna said as she gave Megan a look. Charlene almost chuckled out loud. "The Lockwoods were here for us when we went through this. It'll be quick; we drop off the food and pay our respects and go."
Jeremy grinned at that. "In and out? Sounds like a plan."
"Oh yeah!" Megan nodded in agreement. Charlene knew there was only much sadness her best friend could take in one day.
Suddenly, the blonde felt someone staring at her. It was a familiar stare too and she looked to find it was Damon. It looked like he wanted to talk to her.
Charlene sighed, knowing she couldn't avoid him forever. She started to walk in his direction but stopped when Megan.
"Charlie?" Her friend's voice was concerned.
"It's okay." Charlene reassured her as Jenna and Elena glared at Damon. "I'll talk to him." She looked towards her family. "I'll be there in a minute."
Jenna and Elena glared at Damon one last time before they left to go the rest of the way inside. Megan gave her another concerned, then went to go after her family.
Charlene gave a sigh as she headed over to Damon and stopped in front of him. There was silence between the two of them until she broke it.
"I…I never asked…but how are you doing?" she asked hesitatingly, not knowing if he would want to talk to her after all the stuff she said to him.
"Great, Charlie." Damon said sarcastically. "I'm walking on sunshine, thanks for asking."
A look of annoyance crossed her face. "My god, can't you just be serious for one moment and leave the sarcastic one liners to yourself."
His lips twitched, fighting back a smile. Charlene wanted to smile too but she stopped herself and crossed her arms as she glared at him.
"Stop, I'm still mad at you but…" She managed to let the glare fall. "I realized that I wasn't the only one who got hurt because of Abigail."
Damon scoffed. "I'm not hurt."
"Of course, you are, but you won't admit it to yourself." Charlene expressed. "And that's just makes it worse because you get angry, and then you do something stupid other people have to fix." She was surprised by the smirk appearing on his face as he leaned towards her.
"You're scared." It was Charlene's turn to scoff, which widened his smirk. "Despite being mad at me, you think Abigail is gonna send me off the deep end, don't you? I don't need her for that." Charlene winced at the jab directed at her and he turned to leave, but stopped to ask her something. "After what happened between us, the kisses we shared, why were you so shocked that I thought we slept together?"
"I wasn't…" Charlene said softly, and he looked at her, not expecting that answer from her. "I was shocked that you thought I would sleep with you so easily." Her words stung him if the look on his face was any hint.
"Now I'm hurt." Damon said quietly.
"Well now, I'm not the only one, Day." There was that nickname again as tears welled up in her eyes.
He turned around to leave, but the sound of Bonnie's frightened voice stopped him.
"Charlie!"
Charlene's face took on a concerned look, seeing how frazzled Bonnie looked. "What is it?"
"Wow, the Lockwood's definitely got a lot more land than they used to." Demetria said with a smirk as she and Stefan walked outside in front of the lake. "I guess the actions of the tomb vampires got them a lot of money."
Stefan nodded at the mention of them. "Yeah, why exactly did Katherine want them dead? She's the one who turned most of them."
"Yeah, well my sister always has a reason for what she does." Demi said. "Doesn't mean, I always know what it is…or that she tells me or Abigail."
Stefan chuckled. "You haven't changed at all, have you?" he asked, amused as they were now standing beside a bench.
Demi turned to face him with a smirk. "But you have…you changed from the man I knew from back then, but I like this new you." Her smirk turned into a sly smile. "It makes you even sexier."
Stefan shook his head at her as he looked at her. "Don't flirt with me, Demi. I'm not Damon…I didn't spend 145 years obsessing over you like he did with Abigail."
"If you weren't dating my look-alike, I'd believe you." Demi walked past Stefan until she was on the other side of him and she faced him again with a frown on her face. "Don't get me wrong, though, it's disappointing you're falling in love with someone else."
"I was never in love with you, Demi." Stefan said. She gave him a look that seemed to say, 'oh really?' and he continued, "You compelled me so that none of my feelings were real."
"Believe what you want, Sweetheart." Demi walked closer to Stefan where her body was almost close to his, "But I know the truth and your feelings for me were real and deep down, so do you." She said softly.
"The truth?" Demi giggled and nodded, biting her thumb nail as she fluttered her eyelashes at him. Stefan leaned in close to her as if to kiss her, but instead he said in a harsh whisper that made Demi's face grow cold as ice, "Well, the truth is that you're the same, selfish, manipulative bitch that you've always been." She didn't say anything, except give him a small glare. "So, whatever it is that brought you here, why don't you just get on with it and leave town? Because if you don't, I will hunt you down and I will rip your heart out. The same goes for Abigail and Katherine."
"You really want to know why I'm here?" Demi asked. Stefan nodded at her curtly and she gave him a soft look, "I came back to be with you."
"Well, the problem is, Demetria, is that I hate you and I'm in love with Megan."
That made Demi snap. She grabbed an iron stem that was stuck in the ground and in one quick motion, she stabbed Stefan in the stomach, causing him to double over in pain.
"You hate me huh? And you're in love with Megan?" Demi growled. She twisted the stem hard and he cried out, "Well I hate to break to you, honey, but that sounds like the beginning of a love story, not the end of one…"
She pulled the stem out quickly and rushed off, leaving Stefan on his knees groaning in pain.
After Charlene told her Demetria and Katherine were here, Megan quickly ran off to find Stefan. Charlene along with Damon came with her. By the time they found him, he was on the ground, bleeding from his stomach. Megan managed to sit him down on the bench and tried to help soothe the injury.
A while later, the bleeding stopped, and she was now wiping the blood off his stomach, cleaning the wound that was already starting to heal with a cloth Charlene had quickly ran off to grab her once they found Stefan hurt while Damon was trying to find Demetria along with Katherine. With her free hand, Megan rubbed his shoulder as she looked at him with concern and tears in her eyes.
"Stefan, how are you feeling? Are you going to be okay?" Megan hated to see him hurt like this. She knew the wound would heal, but the same couldn't be said for the emotional trauma he was probably going through after spending time with Demetria.
"It'll heal." Stefan told her, grabbing the hand rubbing his shoulder. He squeezed it.
She gave him a look as she put the cloth down to rub away the tears from her eyes. "You know that's not what I mean."
"I know…I was just trying to figure her out." Stefan admitted. "I was playing along, and I let her get to me."
Megan gave a watery smile. "Well, let's not give her the chance to do that again." He nodded, squeezing her hand again as she rested her head on his shoulder.
"Hopefully, Damon found her." Charlene said, and Megan lifted her head to look at her. "Then we won't have to worry about that."
Just then, Damon appeared…but with Demetria no where in sight. He glanced at Charlene for a brief moment. She looked away from him though, and Megan wondered what they had talked about earlier. Damon let out a sigh as he looked over at Stefan.
"I tried to track her and Katherine, but they're gone." Then, he made a disgusted look as he noticed his brother had his shirt pulled up and looked away. "Cover up Fabio. You have a crazy ex on the loose." He looked at Megan with a smirk on his face. "You better watch out, looks like Demetria is trying to steal your guy."
This wasn't the right thing to say as Megan glared at him and spat out, "Well, Stefan wasn't the one who freaking slept with Abigail because you thought she was Charlene!"
Damon went silent at that. Served him right, but Charlene still scolded her.
"Megan, enough."
She winced at her friend's tone, forgetting the blonde was there. "Sorry…" she mumbled.
Charlene said nothing for a moment. "I'm going to go and let Elena know what happened." With those last words, she left.
Megan hesitated, wanting to go with her, but she glanced at Stefan, not wanting to leave him. Especially with Damon still here. Her boyfriend looked at her and nodded, signaling it was okay to go. She nodded and kissed him on the cheek before chasing after Charlene.
John was getting his luggage ready to leave when he heard something from behind him and he turned around, seeing his nephew standing behind him.
"Jeremy." John said in greeting.
He glared at him. "What are you doing here?"
"I'm packing, leaving."
Jeremy walked over to John and glared at him. "So you figured you kill all your evil vampires and then you leave down."
"Not all, but enough, for now," John said softly. "Can you tell Elena, Char, and Megan I said goodbye?"
"Tell them yourself," Jeremy snapped at him. He turned to walk away but stopped at the sound of John's voice.
"You know Jeremy, I was taught to hate them, the vampires," John told him as he turned to face his uncle. "That's what I know; that's what your father knew."
Jeremy shook his head. "My father would have seen things differently."
"No, he may have did things differently but there's no other way to see it."
"That ring on your finger," Jeremy said, nodding to John's magical ring. "That was my father's, right?"
John glanced down at the ring, looked back at Jeremy and nodded. "Yeah."
"Then why didn't it protect him?" Jeremy asked sadly, tears in his eyes. "Why is he still dead?"
His uncle smiled sadly. "What happened to your parents wasn't supernatural, it was an accident," John answered him sadly. "There's nothing that can save us from that."
"I wonder what he'd think about all this…of me."
John looked at him in the eye. "He would think that you're still young, you're still finding yourself but you are a Gilbert," he said seriously. "And you've been exposed to this town's darkest secret and that comes responsibility."
Jeremy gave him a look of disbelief at the 'Spider Man' reference, "I don't believe in that family legacy stuff."
"Sooner or later, you'll have to."
Damon entered the boarding house and placed his jacket on a chair in the living room before pouring himself a drink. With his drink in his hand, he walked away but stopped when he sensed that someone was behind him. This time, Damon knew exactly who it was.
"Very brave of you to come here." He turned around and sure enough there on the couch dressed in the outfit that she wore when he thought it was Char…was Abigail on the couch, with her long legs crossed and a smirk on her lips.
"Hello Damon, nice to see you again." She purred.
"What are you doing here, Abby?" Damon asked, narrowing his eyes at her. "Haven't you and your sisters caused enough trouble for one day."
"Mmmm." Abby pretended to think about, but then she smirked, "No…not really. Besides, I thought you liked it when I cause trouble."
Damon ignored that. "What are you doing here?"
"After what happened between us last night, I wanted to say goodbye that's all." Abby pouted, seeing the glare on Damon's face, "You might not believe me but it's true."
"Don't pout; it's not attractive for a woman your age," Damon said with a smirk as he took a drink of his drink.
"Wow, Damon. Why do you have to be so rude?" Abby asked, pouting some more, and titling her head to the side.
Damon rolled his eyes, sat his drink down, and walked away. But Abigail quickly appeared in front of him before he could get too far.
"What? No goodbye sex?"
"Why don't kill you instead?" Damon growled. "What are you doing here?"
"I already told you. I wanted to say goodbye. It didn't feel right leaving after last night."
Damon scoffed. "Come on, Abby. You and I both know that's not why you're here."
Deciding to give up on the charade, she nodded. "You're right, it's not." She stepped closer to Damon. "I wanted to continue what we left off…it was pretty amazing, don't you think? I know I'm not the only one who wants to. Or, you can just kill me. She was now closer to him and she leaned up to kiss him. "Because I know you can only choice one of those
Before her lips brushed against his, Damon turned away and walked away but Abigail was quicker as she shoved him to the floor with her on top of him while straddling his hips.
Abby grabbed his arms and put them above his head as she leaned down, putting her lips close to his.
"My sweet, innocent Damon. I bet this brings back good memories." Abby managed to brush her against hers, but then Damon flipped them over so that he was on top, pinning her own arms he had her arms pinned down above her head.
Looking in Abby's eyes, Damon couldn't help but smash his lips to hers, kissing her passionately. She moaned as she lifted her hips and circled her legs around Damon's hips, and he lifted her up, slamming her against a wall. Abby flipped him around so that he was pressed against it, still kissing each other passionately.
She removed her legs from his hips as her lips stayed pressed to his. Abby broke the kiss, panting and she tore opened Damon's shirt, and he did the same thing to hers, revealing her black bra. Damon kissed her neck, moving her, so she was pressed against the wall again and she moaned, curling her fingers through his black hair.
"Mmm." Abby moaned. "This is more like it." Her hands moved from his hair as they made their way down his bare chest. But then, Damon's lips were suddenly gone from her neck and she looked at him confused as he pressed his forehead against hers, panting.
"Okay, wait, brief pause."
Abby shoved him away from her, still looking at him confused as she stepped towards him but stopped when he started speaking.
"I have a question," Damon said. Abby kept looking confused, so he continued, looking her right in the eye, "Answer it right and its back to fireworks and rocket red glares." He took a deep breath, still looking at her, "Answer it right and I'll forget the last one hundred and forty five years that I spent missing you. I'll forget about how much I loved you and we can start all over." His eyes were emotional as he started to walk towards her and told her, "This could be our defining moment...'cause we have the time that's the beauty of eternity." He was now in front of her and he touched her face with one hand and the other touched her hair, he looked at her pleadingly, "I need the truth, just once."
"Stop," Abby told him harshly. "I already know the question and the answer. The truth is…I never loved you and I never will."
Damon looked heartbroken as he stopped touching her and Abby looked at him one last time before walking away. Unknown to Damon, there were tears in her eyes.
Abby walked outside of the boarding house, wiping away tears from her eyes. She blinked back more tears that were filling her eyes. Abby blinked again and she found her sisters in front of her.
Katherine crossed her arms over her chest and smirked, "Did you do it?"
Abby glared at her angrily, "Yeah. I bet you're happy now that you made me break the heart of the one I love."
"You did that yourself Abby, you didn't have to agree to do what Katherine said." Demi said, sticking up for Katherine.
Abby didn't say anything as she stormed away from her sisters with her vampire speed. Katherine frowned immediately after she was gone which was something Demi noticed.
"What's wrong Kat?" she asked.
"Nothing important." Katherine answered, waving a hand but then she glared at Demi, who opened her mouth. She closed it though as soon as she saw the look on her face.
She looked smug at her sister's reaction. Then the frown returned as she looked in the direction Abby left in.
'I'm going to have to keep a close eye on her' Katherine thought to herself, still frowning.
Finally, Charlene was back at home, getting ready for bed. Today had been exhausting and she couldn't wait to crawl into bed and forget about the shitshow that was her life now. She finished brushing her teeth, then left her room only to find Damon in the room. Charlene didn't expect him to be here, so she couldn't help but jump at the sight of him. After the shock wore off, she groaned out loud.
"Damon, I'm really not in the mood right now." Charlene told him tiredly. "I just want to go to bed." He said nothing, making her sigh and rub her temples in frustration. "Okay fine, what is it? What are you doing here?"
"Just doing my part in the neighborhood watch." The way he sounded didn't sit right with Charlene and she knew there was something more to it than that. Narrowing her eyes as she looked at him closer. Automatically, she knew he had been drinking.
"You've been drinking, haven't you?" In response, he brought his forefinger and thumb to a small distance apart, signaling he had been but only just a little bit. Since he wasn't saying too much, she recognized he was upset too, and she frowned in concern. "And you're upset. Damon…" She groaned in frustration. "What were you thinking? You know how you get when your hurt and drinking." She was upset by their situation too, but not enough to be drinking her sorrows away, but that's just what Damon did.
He gave a scoff, shaking his head. "No, I'm not upset." He told her stiffly. "Upset is an emotion specific to those who care."
"Oh, don't you dare give me that. You care, Damon. Maybe even too much sometimes…" Charlene tried to joke, to make the atmosphere not so serious.
It didn't really work, of course, but it made the subject change. Not to one Charlene was in the mood to talk about.
"You're shocked that I would think you would sleep with me so easily. That you wouldn't want to."
"Damon…I…" she trailed off, not knowing what to say.
He stood up from where he was sitting and stalked towards her. "That what we're doing actually means something. There's always been something between us and you know it. You felt something when we kissed. You wanted us to be something."
Charlene didn't even try to deny it.
"And you still do." Without warning, he grabbed her around the waist and kissed her passionately, pulling her body towards his.
She gasped into the kiss. There was desperation and hunger in his kisses, and she wanted to give into them…but she couldn't. She told herself she wasn't going to give into her feelings for Damon after what happened between him and Abigail.
"Damon, stop it." Charlene tried to push him away from her, gently at first, but when it was clear he wasn't going to let her go so easily, she did it harder. She managed to get him away from her and glared at him heatedly. "What the hell is your problem?! I told you to STOP!"
"You don't want me to." He tried to pull her into another kiss, however she slapped him away.
"Yes. I. Do." Charlene gritted out. "This isn't you, Day. This can't be you. This isn't the Damon I fell in love with!" She was so angry and frustrated at him the confession slipped out before she could stop it. She froze when she realized what happened.
This made Damon stop for a moment, then a smile appeared on his face. "I knew it…" He went to kiss her. Again, she didn't let him.
"No, this can't happen. We can't happen. Not anymore. Please you have to understand…" Charlene pleaded with him, placing her hands on his chest. "I can't forgive you for what happened with Abigail. I might be in love with you, but I can't let you in again…you're only going to end up hurting me again and I'm not going to let that happen!"
Before he could say anything, they were interrupted by Jeremy coming into the room, looking between them in confusion and concern.
"What's going on in here?"
"Nothing Jer." Charlene quickly told him, wiping away her tears before her brother could see them. "It's okay. Just go back to bed."
"No, it's not okay, Charlene." She looked at Damon and she didn't like the look on his face. "He wants to be a vampire…"
Then her eyes widened in horror when he grabbed Jeremy by the neck, slamming him against the wall, choking him.
"NO!" Anger hit Charlene all at once and she growled, her face changing automatically in her anger. She tried to pull him away from her brother. Damon was stronger than her and practically threw her out of the way, hard enough where her body hit her bed, nearly breaking it. She managed to lift herself up and still found him having a tight hold on her brother's neck and she immediately pleaded with him. "Please Damon, don't do this! PLEASE!"
He clearly was ignoring her as he squeezed tighter on Jeremy's neck, bringing his face closer to her brother's frightened one. "You want to shut out the pain? It's the easiest thing in the world." He hissed. "That part of you that cares just goes away, all you gotta do is flip the switch and snap!" With one quick movement, Damon snapped Jeremy's neck and Charlene had to watch her little brother fall to the ground, dead.
She screamed in horror as she jumped to her feet and rushed towards Jeremy's body, shoving Damon out of the way. She crumbled to her knees, scooping up her brother's body into her arms. The tears came in waves and she sobbed as the tears just kept coming. Through her eyes, Charlene looked at Damon, hatred running through her veins.
He left without saying a world, leaving her alone with Jeremy. Charlene's eyes closed tighter as she tightened her hold on her little brother, but it was then, she noticed Jeremy had the Gilbert ring on and this time when she sobbed, it was in relief. However, it didn't stop the gut-wrenching pain of what Damon did…
A little while later, her eyes were gone, and she wasn't by herself anymore. Stefan was in the room with her, as well as Megan, but Elena was nowhere in sight, at least in the room. Her sister was in the house…but Charlene didn't want her sister to see yet another family member dead even if he was just going to come back to life.
Charlene buried her face into Megan's chest as her best friend sat with her while she kept her hold on Jeremy.
Megan had been upset too, when she saw two of the people she cared about most in the position they were in. It made her cry too, and the tears were still streaming as they held onto each other.
"What the hell was Damon thinking…doing that to Jeremy?" Megan said, chocking on her words a bit.
"That's the thing…Megan…he didn't think…he never thinks…" Charlene's bottom lip wobbled at her words. It made Megan's grip on her tighten.
Stefan finally spoke. "He saw the ring." He said, obviously trying to find at least a reason why Damon did what he did. Charlene expected it, of course. Damon was still his brother. "That's why he did it. He knew."
Charlene shook her head sadly. "He didn't know, Stefan. He didn't…" she whispered as her fingers ran through Jeremy's hair.
"It's Abigail…she's got under his skin. She undid everything that was good about him." Charlene didn't say anything. She didn't want to think about Damon right now. All that mattered was Jeremy. There was silence until Stefan spoke again, hesitation in his voice as he said his next words. "Char…did you and Damon…kiss?"
Charlene said nothing for a moment. Damon must have told him…
The tears came back again immediately, coming down her face. "Yes…" she breathed. "But I hate him, Stefan…I hate him so much…for sleeping with Abigail…killing Jeremy but I still love him too…" She sobbed. "How can I love and hate someone at the same time? There must be something wrong with me…"
"Charlie, there is nothing wrong with you." Megan told her gently. "Feelings are just…complicated."
The blonde laughed dryly. "Isn't that the truth…" Before more conversation could take place, Jeremy awoken with a loud gasp. "Jer!" she cried out in relief as Stefan grabbed her brother's face.
"Is he okay?" Megan asked, and Stefan nodded, making tears spring to her eyes. "Thank god!"
Charlene could feel Jeremy's entire body shaking and she ran her fingers through his hair again, trying to calm him down. It didn't help much.
"He killed me. Damon killed me." Jeremy's words came out in a tumble, over and over again.
"It's okay…it's okay…" Charlene tried to reassure him, rocking him back and forth. "You're okay…"
Elena came running into the room as she joined in on the group hug they were in. "Jeremy! Thank god!"
Charlene held onto her family, closing her eyes as she let their love envelop her.
Over at the Mystic Falls hospital, Caroline awoke and blinked the sleepiness from her eyes. When her eyes cleared up, she saw Megan standing over her bed. She blinked at the sight of her friend.
"Megan?" Caroline asked, confused.
"Hey, Caroline." Megan greeted with a smirk.
The blonde frowned at her. "What are you doing here?"
"My name is Demetria." Megan, or who was really Demetria, told her, still smirking. "And I'm here because I want you to give the Salvatore boys a message for me."
Caroline straightened up in her bed, still very confused. "Message? What message?"
"Game on."
Before the blonde could even ask what she meant, Demi grabbed the pillow behind Caroline's head and began smothering her with it. Caroline tried to scream but it was muffled as she shoved the pillow even harder against her face, blocking out the oxygen. The fight in her left when she tried to grab the caller to get the nurse in there and her body went still, so Demi knew the blonde was dead. There was still a pillow there, and Caroline's head flopped on the pillow, her eyes closed. Demi smirked at the sight before turning around to find Katherine behind her.
"Good job, sister." She complimented.
"Well, I don't like to brag." Demi shrugged, her smirk falling from her face as she remembered something. "Did you ever find Abigail?"
It was Katherine's turn to frown. "No, I haven't. She better be back soon, or I'll rip her heart out."
Demi smirked to herself. She didn't care if that happened. She always much closer to Katherine than she was to Abigail.
Just then, there was a noise, and the two vampires left the room. Now, silence filled the hospital, leaving everyone in Mystic Falls unaware what was going to happen when Caroline Forbes woke up in the morning.
TBC...
In...
Brave New World, Part 1