Lost Girls - Part 2

When Damon had returned to the graveyard, Raphael and Noble were both gone and Victoria was still seated beside Vicki. The dirtied shirt rag was burning with the bodies now (she hadn't put it there; Raphael had said that Noble insisted it be destroyed, as it was too far gone to really do much). Victoria had ripped off another piece of her (read: Damon's) shirt, making the shirt more of a crop top than an actual shirt. The new rag was bundled up and pressed up against Vicki's neck to stop the blood flow.

That's right, blood flow. Raphael came up with a rather brilliant plan to do to help Vicki whilst Damon was gone (and apparently far away too; he didn't show any signs that he had heard anything that had happened in the graveyard). He feed her his blood, yes, but only enough to stabilize her. Not enough that her wounds would close. Raphael had picked up on her growing anxiety about leaving Vicki still injured and had calmly told her that it was for the best. Victoria was doing everything that she could to ensure that Vicki made it through the next month, alive. A little momentary pain was nothing when it came to living healthy for the rest of her hopefully long life. And, to be more specific, not dead-alive like a vampire, alive-alive like a human. She had saved Zach's life, or at least, she had hoped she did. Why couldn't she save Vicki?

Damon had said nothing to her when he arrived, suddenly and unexpected. She had flinched when he had dropped to the ground in front of her, on the other side of Vicki. When he had reached for Vicki, Victoria's hand had snapped out, grabbing his wrist tightly. Damon had simply glared at her and she had dropped his hand, recoiling away from him. Damon had scooped Vicki up into his arms, carrying her bridal-style, and turned around, directing Victoria to get on his back. He was going to run the three of them back to the Salvatore boarding house. Victoria had frowned, partially due to the fact that she had to go anywhere with him, and partially due to the fact that she was Twilight-ing with the other Salvatore brother. Way to be cliché. Which brought them all back to the present.

At the boarding house, Damon whisked Vicki away to the main living room couch, getting her situated there. Victoria was left standing in the entryway to the great house. Her palms itched and her fingers fiddled with each other worriedly. She didn't know if Stefan had arrived back at the house before Damon, Victoria, and Vicki had arrived. Zach could still be downstairs in the basement and he could be susceptible to Damon's temper. She didn't want him to die just for her to save him just for him to die again.

Damon appeared back in front of her and Victoria didn't bother to hide her flinch at his sudden appearance. The frown that had already been there deepened slightly at her reaction to him. He ignored that all, though, and said in a surprisingly gentle voice, "Let me show you where you'll be staying."

"Please don't," Victoria said before she could register what she said. Damon's brow furrowed in confusion and Victoria shook her head rapidly. She couldn't handle his mood swings, and she said so. "Don't act like you're the world's biggest villain and then my best friend the next second. Don't pretend like you hate me and then that you actually care about me, because I-I can't handle that. I don't deserve that."

Damon was quiet, Victoria's words hanging in silence between the two of them. Damon took a few steps forward; they weren't chest to chest as they had been multiple times, but they were still closer than Victoria was comfortable with in that kind of situation. Damon reached up and brought his hand close to Victoria's face. She flinched when his fingertips connected with her cheek. His touch was so different from Noble's. Noble's touch made her feel safe and protected; Damon's...Damon's wasn't bad, to be honest. But she could feel hesitation, guilt, and shame in his touch. His hand moved to cup her cheek and Victoria bit her tongue, focusing on keeping her heartbeat steady and her gaze strong.

His thumb rubbed against her cheekbone, and Victoria realized with a start that there was a splotch of blood on her face. She hadn't thought about it when she had been focusing on keeping Vicki alive, but her hands were stained dark with Vicki's blood. Her arms, her stomach, her neck, and face. She had touched all those spots and she dropped her gaze, looking down at her hands and arms. It was like she had dipped her body in paint; Victoria rubbed her fingers together and there was a noticeable friction that was unfamiliar. The blood was already drying, making her skin dark.

Her arms shook and she looked back up to Damon. She sucked in a gasping breath and felt a sob crawl its way out of her throat. She had watched somebody she cared deeply about almost die, almost die by the hands of another person she was beginning to care for, though she knew it wasn't worth it. Vicki had almost died because Victoria hadn't been strong enough.

Damon grabbed the back of Victoria's neck and pulled her forward, wrapping his arms around her neck and shoulders. He was hugging her. The first hug she had received from somebody that wasn't Caroline, her mother, Noble, or Vicki.

Before Victoria knew it, she was sobbing and grasping desperately onto Damon's shirt. Her face was smashed into Damon's chest and her whole body shook as she cried. Damon didn't say anything, he just held her while she broke down. They stood in the entryway of the boarding house, just the two of them holding each other.

Victoria LeBlanc: the girl who suffered from PTSD, anxiety, and survivor's guilt. The girl who had suffered so much in such a short amount of time all because she was in a world that she didn't recognize. The girl who saw a light inside of everyone, no matter how much they truly didn't deserve it. The girl who worried that no matter what she did, it would never be enough.

Damon Salvatore: the man who didn't know his place in the world. The man who fought constantly with his younger brother as his brother got the life that he always dreamed of. The man who loved a woman so recklessly that he was willing to kill and maim whoever he needed to in order to be forever reunited with her. The man who had almost killed her multiple times, only for him to save her when it mattered most. The man who worried that he didn't have a place in the story, and that he never would.

The perfect dream team.

Damon was the one to wash the blood off her. Well, he started the process. He took her hand and pulled her to the staircase, taking great care that she didn't look into the living room. She hated him for it. She was grateful to him for it. Victoria didn't know if she could handle seeing Vicki so weak and defenseless, knowing that she had some role in it. Victoria despised herself for what she had done. For what she had allowed to happen that night. She was no better than Damon. She had grown complacent.

Damon brought her to a random bedroom, one that she didn't recognize. It was still well-decorated, with a gorgeous hardwood bed frame with dark red sheets, comforters, and pillows centered on the back wall. He pulled her past the nice carpet and towards the ornate bathroom. Damon gently directed her to sit on the large countertop, and she weakly pushed herself up and onto the marble. Victoria caught sight of her hands again and she squeezed her eyes shut as she felt another wave of disgust hit her.

She heard Damon shuffling around the bathroom, and occasionally felt him brush past her knees as he went to the other side of the bathroom. After a couple of moments, Victoria heard the sink turn on and the noise of the water dampened quickly as Damon stuck something under it (she would assume it was a towel). Victoria heard Damon turn off the sink and only opened her eyes when she felt something rough being dragged across her hands.

She watched Damon quietly as he cleaned her hands methodically. The two of them were silent, neither speaking. It felt wrong to try and break it. In silence, the two could just forget about the past and what occurred; they could only focus on each other in the moment. Victoria occasionally sniffled, the remnants of her nighttime crying trickling through. Damon didn't comment on that, for once. It was nice.

"I don't."

Damon broke the silence and Victoria blinked, not expecting to hear him talk. He didn't look up at her as he gently spread her fingers, taking the bloodied towel and cleaning in between her fingers. Victoria managed to stutter out, "W-What?"

"I don't hate you."

Victoria didn't have the strength to scoff, but she did manage to do a weak eyeroll. "Yeah, right. Sure you don't."

Damon set the towel down harshly on the countertop beside Victoria's leg and looked up at her sharply. She flinched backwards, not expecting to see such intensity in his icy blue eyes. He seemed so serious; it wasn't a look that she saw often on Damon, if she had seen it at all on him. "I don't, Victoria. I don't hate you."

"You could have fooled me when you tried to drain me dry of blood," Victoria grunted, glaring at the Salvatore. "Or oh! Perhaps when you forced me to choose between people I didn't know and the girl that I did, the girl who is like my little sister, might I add, and then you turned the blame onto me when I chose wrong. How is that not hate, Damon? Yeah, I know, you don't get mad, you get even."

"Mama Bear," Damon said softly and Victoria couldn't help but shiver lightly at how gentle he sounded. It was so unnatural and it was so nice. "You know better than probably anybody else I know what I've been through. What I've been through these last few weeks and these last few years. I don't repent for my actions. They were mine; I chose to make them. That was me. But..." He let out a harsh breath and looked down, shaking his head. He chuckled darkly. "For the first time in a long time...I'm finding myself second-guessing my actions. Especially any actions that involve you." He looked back up to her. "Ignoring what happened this morning -"

"- oh, you mean when you tried to suck me dry like a Capri Sun -"

"- have you noticed how I go about trying to kill you?"

"You choke me," Victoria answered immediately. She subconsciously reached up and gently rubbed her throat. She didn't have any pain anymore, thanks to Noble's miracle elixir and Damon's blood from that afternoon. "Crush my wind pipe until I can't breath and I die of suffocation."

"Otherwise known as a very slow method of death," Damon interjected. He cocked his head to one side and observed her, his eyes flicking as he took in her whole face. "Why would I do that if I really wanted to kill you? I could easily snap your neck or dig your heart out of your chest with my bare hands if I wanted to, but I don't."

The realization hit Victoria like a freight train. She actually felt her heat skip a beat when she came to terms with what he was saying. It felt too unreal. But it made perfect sense. "You're giving me a chance to escape."

"Exactly."

"I-Is..." she began to ask, but she stopped, biting her lower lip. Did she really want to know the answer to her question? Was it worth it? Yes, she decided. It was. "I-Is it a subconscious reaction or..."

"The first few times...it was a subconscious reaction," Damon explained. He rested his hands on the countertops beside Victoria's hip and leaned on his hands. It closed the distance between the two of them a little, but Victoria was too entranced by Damon's answer to really pay attention to that. "But that started to change. The night of the comet, when you ran into the woods and passed out. I realized then that I couldn't kill you. Back then, you were too valuable. A needed commodity. But now..."

"Now what?"

"Now I don't know what I'm supposed to make of you," Damon mused. He grabbed the towel and quickly finished up wiping off Vicki's blood from her hands, tossing the towel into the sink once he was done. "Get rid of the rest of the blood before going to bed. Don't try to run away or I will find you. I know we're slowly working back to what our relationship was," he gave her a hard look, one that made her fidget where she was sitting, "but I will not tolerate any more betrayals."

The first thing that Victoria did once she woke up from a glorious night of sleep in one of the world's most comfortable beds ever was race to the basement to see if Zach was still there. Much to her great relief (and slight sadness), Zach Salvatore was nowhere to be found. But then again, there wasn't any blood either, which was a good sign. That meant that Damon hadn't torn Zach's heart out. But Damon could have easily staked Zach, but Victoria didn't know if that really caused much, if any, bloodshed. All the cells were empty, and Victoria's book, pillow, and blanket were all lying in the middle of the hallway, neatly folded and stacked on top of each other. Victoria hoped that meant that Stefan had gotten Zach out.

The second thing she did was head directly towards Damon, who happened to be lounging around in the living room on one of the couches. On the couch directly across from him laid Vicki, who had a towel wrapped crudely around her neck to keep the blood from seeping out. Despite having a whole night (and then some, because Victoria had slept in quite a bit) to recover, Vicki didn't seem any better. Victoria had to momentarily ignore that. There was going to be even more trouble if she didn't complete the mission put in front of her.

Victoria walked until she was standing directly beside Damon. She placed one hand on her hip and the other outstretched in front of her. Her hand was in a "give me" position. Damon, who had been lying down with his eyes closed, peeked an eye open when he heard her approach. His eyebrow raised high when he saw how she was standing. "May I help you?"

"If I'm correct in my assumptions, you're going to keep me here for a while, probably as long as Vicki is here," Victoria stated confidently. She had been thinking about this going to bed last night and it had kept her up longer than she had anticipated. "However, something you might not have prepared for was my mother. Who I was supposed to see last night. Which I never did. And none of my friends would have called her because you didn't leave to compel any of them to do so. So, if you don't want Kelly LeBlanc busting down the door and whooping your ass, I suggest you give me a phone so I can make sure she knows I'm alive."

Damon blinked at her with owlish eyes and she shrugged. She added, "What? Don't tell me you aren't a little bit scared of Kelly."

"I'm not scared of your mother, Mama Bear."

"Well, then, that's your funeral."

Damon sighed in exasperation, but blindly dug his hand into his pocket. A moment later he pulled out a phone (coincidentally, her phone) and passed it over to her. She clicked to recent calls and winced at her notifications. 5 missed calls, 7 text messages. Victoria scrolled until she reached Kelly's number.

She heard the click of Kelly answering her phone and jumped in before Kelly could start her Disappointed Parent monologue that Victoria had heard way too many times since arriving in that universe. "Mom, it's me! Yes, I know, where the hell have I been, yada yada. Please allow me the chance to explain before you sign my execution notice."

There was silence on the phone for a couple of seconds before she heard Kelly grumble, "Two minutes and then I'm tracking your cell phone."

Victoria let out a sigh of relief and tried to ignore the snickering coming from Damon on the couch. "Two minutes is all that I need. Ok, so what happened was I was babysitting the kid, right?"

"The unruly child, right."

Damon looked offended at that and Victoria straight up ignored him. "Well, the parents of the kid said that they were going to 'embrace not having to look after their child' a little longer, which meant that they unceremoniously dropped the kid into my care for the entire night as they did who knows what at the hotel-motel place here in Mystic Falls. I can't remember exactly which one it was. And, of course with my idiotic luck, said unruly child becomes unruly and knocks my phone into the bathroom while I was giving him a wash. It's been sitting in rice for the entire night and only now has it been working decently. And to add on to the even worse bad luck, none of their home phones were working because they hadn't paid the phone bill yet."

"To be honest, when you first started your monologue, I thought you were lying to me. But given how these last few weeks have been for you, I honestly can't say that this didn't actually happen, so I'm going to give you the benefit of the doubt. Sounds like you need to never babysit this kid again. Who are they related to?"

"Uhh...I don't think you know their names," Victoria fibbed, glancing around the room as she looked towards Vicki.

"Try me, sweetheart, I know everyone in this place. The weird perk and con of living in a small town."

The phone was snatched out of Victoria's hand before she could even begin to come up with some sort of lie to tell Kelly. She flipped around and glared at Damon, who gave her his trademarked smirk. He spoke into the phone, "Hey Kelly-Beans, it's Damon Salvatore. Said unruly child actually happens to be the son of my Uncle Zach's friends. They're visiting in town for a little bit and Victoria was ever so gracious to offer her time and babysit for them so they could go out and explore."

Damon was quiet as he listened to whatever Kelly was saying. It was during those moments that Victoria wished she could have vampire hearing. She didn't know what Kelly was saying to him and it made her ancy. She didn't want Kelly to infuriate Damon; all it took was hours before Damon could go out and hurt her. She also didn't want Damon to say anything that would stoke Kelly's fire and cause her to stomp on over to the boarding house. That would be a bigger disaster than what was already happening.

She made a move to step closer, so she could try hearing what her mother was saying, but Damon held up a hand. With his arm outstretched, he made it impossible for Victoria to sneak past him. Victoria growled in frustration and tried swatting Damon's hand away, but that didn't work. Eventually, she gave up and moved to sit down beside Vicki. She checked her bite wound and bit her lower lip. It still wasn't healing. Was that normal? She knew that Raphael had only given Vicki a small amount of blood, but she would have thought that after all those hours she would have healed up completely. Was something happened? Maybe there was something weird about Raphael's blood?

Victoria turned back towards Damon and noticed that he seemed tense. Like, really tense. His face was slightly paler too and he was holding onto Victoria's phone so tightly that any possible muscle twitch could shatter it. Victoria hadn't really bothered to ask Kelly what their financial situation was like, so she didn't really want to find out by getting a shattered phone.

"Damon!" Victoria said in a harsh whisper.

That seemed to jolt Damon out of the weird trance he was in. He licked his lips slowly, not in a sexual way, but more of a "I'm trying to think of something to say" way. He rasped out, "Message understood." He pulled the phone away and clicked the off button. He dropped the phone onto the couch and fell down beside it. Damon's hands came up and ran themselves through his shaggy black locks. There was a moment of silence before he looked up at Victoria. She couldn't read the expression on his face when he said, "Yeah...I take back what I said about not being scared of your mom."

"I told you so."

Some very important things to note, as Victoria began to whittle away the hours in the Salvatore Boarding House. Important thing number one: there were a total of twelve bathrooms in the house. Twelve. Which was odd, considering there were only seven bedrooms. Important thing number two: if Victoria stole a pair of socks from Zach (which she can neither confirm nor deny that she actually did) she could slide around the wooden floors of the house like she had roller skates on and she could make it across the entire building in less than a minute, and that was from one side to the complete opposite side. Important thing number three, and this was probably the most important thing she learned:

Damon got pissy when he was bored. Like, really pissy.

Victoria was flopped on the couch, reading Call of the Wild by Jack London when Damon came storming in, her cell phone in his hand. Where the hell was his phone? Damon was yelling into the phone, "Where are you, Stefan? I'm trapped at the house, and I'm getting really bored and really impatient, and Victoria's not doing a thing about it -!" He made a slight yelping noise as he narrowly avoided the little sunbeam that slipped past the curtain and landed in the middle of the room. "Close the damn curtains, Victoria!" Back to the phone, he growled, "- and I don't really do bored and impatient. Bring me my ring." He hung up the phone and tossed it rather aggressively at Victoria. She caught it with a fumble, her book flying off the couch and onto the floor. The floor that was still bloodstained.

Important thing number four: bloodstains were a bitch to try and clean.

She gave Damon The Look (so important it needed two capital letters) before getting up. She slipped her phone into her pocket and walked over to the curtains. She managed to gain enough momentum to swing the curtain close, thus blocking the sunbeam from hurting Damon again.

"Aw, don't get blood on the couch!"

Victoria rolled her eyes and turned around, her hands on her hips. She glared at Damon and headed to Vicki's side. She knelt down beside the teenager and pulled back the towel. She scowled at the wound. It was started to pucker and looked disgusting. The coppery tang of blood hung heavy in the air, partially from the bloody massacre the day before and Vicki's own wounds.

"Please?"

"Damon, Vicki is unconscious and was slowly dying until I was able to stabilize her," Victoria huffed. She leaned back and caught Damon giving her an exasperated look. "You can't blame an unconscious girl for bleeding on your couch when you were the one who caused her to bleed!"

Damon sucked on his teeth as he dared to move his gaze onto Vicki. There was a flicker of emotion in his eyes as he took in her weak form. Was it remorse? Guilt? Maybe even regret... "I got you good, didn't I?"

"And there goes the moment."

Damon sniffed haughtily. "Well, you're not gonna be any fun today." He scoffed and rolled his eyes. "Find some humor in your life, Mama Bear. Ever notice that you're really tense all the time?"

"Well, when you've died and then almost died again as many times as I have, you learn to be overly cautious," Victoria snarked. A sharp pain hit the back of her skull suddenly and Victoria recoiled from it. She hissed and squeezed her eyes shut tight. The stabbing sensation died down as quickly as it came, but it moved on to an ache that made her eyes water lightly. Her hands clung to her shirt and to the towel that was held against Vicki's neck.

She felt a hand on her shoulder and the warmth from the hand helped to dull down her headache even more. A moment later, she felt Damon's hot breath on her ear as he leaned close to her to whisper, "You okay there, Mama Bear?"

"Mhmm," she hummed, but she didn't mean it. In fact, everything was really not okay. She was not okay, and she didn't think she would be okay unless she took some serious therapy sessions. But then, they would just throw her in the clink for believing that vampires were real and that one had a weird hate-can-barely-tolerate relationship with her. She didn't ease up her tense posture as another wave of pain hit her. Victoria squeaked at the suddenness and the sharpness.

"You're not telling me the truth."

"What gave that away?" she managed to spit out weakly.

Damon ignored her and reached out from beside her, engulfing her hands in his own. Her back was pressed against his arm, shoulder, and part of his chest. The physical connection to someone else, in addition to the actual physical heat radiating from Damon, helped to soothe the pain in her head. Damon interlaced their fingers together, forcing her hands out of being fists. His thumbs began to rub the back of her hands gently. It felt nice. Really nice. Victoria allowed herself to relax into Damon's arms. She even went as far as to let her head flop against his shoulder, her forehead resting in the crook of his neck.

"Whoa, easy on the goods there, Mama Bear," Damon sniffed. Victoria could feel the muscles in his neck move as he tried to look down at her. She snuggled in closer. Call her ridiculous, but Victoria had probably just had the third worst night of her entire life (first being the night when she was hit and drowned, second being when she found Jesse's rotten corpse) and damnit, she deserved some comfort, no matter how she had to obtain it! "Now I know you are really not okay. You should go back to bed."

"Vicki -"

"- I will take care of Vicki. I don't imagine she will be psyched to wake up from being ridiculously high to see you on the verge of collapsing from exhaustion. Now scoot."

Damon moved to let go of her hands, but Victoria tightened her grip on his. Damon gave his hands a few test tugs, but they remained solid in her grip. "Mama Bear...?"

"Promise you won't kill Vicki?" Victoria's voice was weak and exhausted, she could tell that now, but it was solid. She knew what she wanted, and she just prayed that Damon would be merciful in this one area. "Please, Damon...please don't turn her into a vampire."

"Is this you using your favor you asked for way back when? The first time I was trying to win back your graces?"

Victoria didn't know what to say. Yes, she wanted and in some aspect, needed, Vicki to stay alive, but her favor...

Her favor was reserved for someone that got the short end of the stick. Someone who deserved to be a part of the main cast from the moment they arrived in their silly town.

She couldn't just give that up, could she?

Damon interrupted her before she could continue. "I'm just kidding with you. Don't worry; Vicki will be healed and then exactly the same when you wake up."

Damon was a lot of things. A playboy, a rogue, a former Confederate soldier who lived during the 1860s, human. Yes, he was many things. But one of those things that he wasn't was a babysitter. And yet, he knew that Victoria needed her rest after the long night he had put her through so he had offered to take care of Vicki while she was asleep. She couldn't be that hard, right?

Slightly wrong about that one.

"Oh, man. That shower was so great," Vicki hummed as she exited from the bathroom on the main floor. She was changed into the sweatpants that Damon had stolen from Zach and a t-shirt that had been Stefan's. Much more comfortable than what she had been wearing, and he knew that sweet little modest Victoria wouldn't be blushing a furious color when she saw Vicki (like what she would've been doing if Vicki had kept wearing what she had had on when she left to take a shower). "What did you give me? I feel so reenergized."

"Some blood," Damon said absentmindedly, his compulsion still working despite his wandering mind. "You loved it."

"I did?" Vicki mused, tilting her head to the side in slight confusion. The compulsion took hold almost instantly, though, and Vicki nodded, humming lightly. She paused again, confusion coming back to her. "Wait. I'm confused. How did we get here?"

"We met in the woods," Damon sniffed, turning to look at her. He folded his arms across his chest. "You were drunk and high. I attacked you. Then I killed all of your friends and brought you here. Fully intended on letting you die, but you see, your sweet friend Victoria pleaded with me to save you, so I gave you some blood. You loved it, obviously. And now, I'm here to babysit you while Victoria is asleep upstairs."

Vicki nodded, taking in all the compulsion. Her fingers fiddled with the ends of her sleeves, and she glanced behind her, towards the stairs that led upstairs. Damon's eyes followed hers to the stairs. It wasn't hard to spot that the two of them were both still thinking about Victoria. If Victoria hadn't been there, Damon probably would have still saved Vicki. If anything, she would have been a fun distraction and they could party until the sun went down. But he had seen the exhaustion in Victoria. The way her limbs shook as she tended to Vicki, the haunted look in her eyes as she watched him burn all the dead bodies out in the woods, the tears that had fallen from her eyes when he had cleaned off Vicki's blood from her eyes. Seeing her like that...it developed an unpleasant feeling in Damon's chest. The unpleasant feeling only got worse when he acknowledged that he was the one to make her like that. In some ways, he had been the direct cause; others, indirect. Either way, it made Damon feel wrong. Babysitting Vicki, despite his consternations towards it, helped make that feeling go away. So, he did his best to restrain his ever-running bloodlust. After all, he did make a promise to Victoria. And Damon didn't go back on his promises to Victoria (at least he hadn't yet).

"Is she alright?"

Vicki's voice didn't startle him, per say, but her line of questioning took him aback. Damon tore his gaze from the stairs and it landed on the teenager who stood awkwardly in his hallway. "Excuse me?"

"Is Victoria alright?" Vicki asked again, biting her lower lip nervously. Damon tilted his head to one side, silently questioning her about what she meant. Vicki let out a loud sigh and continued, "Ever since Victoria's accident...she's been different. I haven't said anything to her, because I-I don't want her to feel bad, but...for a while, it was a really nice different. She seemed happier than she had been in such a long time, despite the fact that she couldn't remember much of anything from before the accident. But then she was attacked once, then again, and then Elena was a total bitch to her, and then Tyler stupid Lockwood punched her in the face, then she got better, and then after the Founder's Ball, which I saw you take her to, she skipped school for days. You may be new in town, but let me tell you this: unless she is physically too ill to come to school or her mental state just can't handle it, Victoria LeBlanc does not miss school." Vicki huffed and shook her head. "I guess what I am asking is this: is Blankie going to be alright mentally, physically, emotionally, spiritually, and any others -allys I forget to mention?"

Damon, much to his surprise, found himself smiling as Vicki rambled on about Victoria. It was cute in a way to see the younger teen so worried about the little Mama Bear. Vicki was a lot like Caroline, his original intended target to use back when he had first arrived in Mystic Falls. The two of them were like little protective baby bears, and they would do anything to take down someone who hurt their sweet mother bear.

"Victoria's going to be fine," Damon reassured her. "Physically, at least. She should probably go to therapy for everything else. My best guess is that she has some personal baggage she needs to take care of."

"Well, it's a good thing that her mom and her mom's best friend are both going to college to be Psychology majors," Vicki commented, chuckling lightly under her breath. "I mean, moms are supposed to be built-in therapists anyways, and now, hers will just have a degree."

"Supposed to be?"

Vicki shook her head. "Oh no, if I'm going to be having this conversation with a virtual stranger, than I'm going to need to be drunk to do so. Where's your best liquor?"

Damon showed her to the liquor cabinet and got each of them a bottle (not the most expensive stuff; he tolerated Vicki for Victoria's benefit, but that didn't mean he had to spoil the human) to drink from. Vicki took the bottle and marched over to the couch (the same couch that was still bloodstained from her blood with the wound that he had caused) and flopped onto it. She knocked the cap off of the bottle and took a large swig of it, barely even wincing when the liquid went burning down her throat. Damon gave her a round of mock applause and she grinned, sticking her tongue out at him playfully. Damon took a drink of his own bottle; he was so desensitized to alcohol that nothing rattled him anymore. He plopped down on the couch opposite of Vicki and gestured for Vicki to continue what she had been saying.

"Alright, not drunk just yet, but we're on our way there, so I'll allow it," Vicki stated, and Damon snorted. As if she had the power to allow anything. "My mom is a royal pain in the ass and one of the worst mothers in this town. Like seriously, I know it can be hard to believe because a lot of people in Victoria's friend group have had bad moms, but mine just might take the cake. Bonnie's mom is kind of equal in line too, but I digress. Bonnie's mom just straight up and left her...mine left and came back. Again and again and again. It was so exhausting. I would go to bed, so excited to show her this ridiculous coloring page that I had colored for her, and I would wake up the next morning to find her gone, already off on the next trip without ever saying goodbye to me or Matt. I learned from a young age to just not get attached to her. She wasn't a real mom, not like how they should be. I think I was thirteen when I first learned to start redirecting conversations when people asked me how my mom was."

She took another long drink of her bottle, gasping lightly when she finished her large gulping. "And then of course, there was the beautiful and amazing Kelly LeBlanc, standing tall and elegant and always poised. She had gone to school with my mom, though she had been in Jenna's grade. I've known her and Victoria since the two of us were toddlers. Kelly was more like my mom than my actual mom was. I remember the first day that my mom left me and Matty by ourselves to go off travelling. I think I was eleven when this happened. Kelly just appeared on our doorstep, Victoria waiting in the car, and she took me and Matt back to her house for the week until my mom came back. She was, and still is, one of the sweetest people I have ever met in my life. So yeah, Victoria is so lucky to have that Kelly in her life. I have one in mine and she's nowhere up to snuff."

Vicki groaned suddenly and flopped her head back against the couch, lightly cursing under her breath (which Damon still heard because of his wonderful hearing abilities). Damon took a sip of his drink. "Something wrong?"

"Snuff," grunted Vicki, reaching up to cover her eyes with her hands. "I had promised Victoria that I was going to actually try to not use and then I totally just go out to a party in the middle of the woods and get drunk and high. Damn it!"

"I think at this point, Mama Bear's just going to be grateful that you're alive and healthy," Damon snorted, shaking his head. "She'll ignore what you were doing in favor of how you're doing."

"I freaking hope so," Vicki said, biting her lower lip. "This whole month has just been one big dumpster fire inside of another dumpster fire. For her, for me, for everyone that we know and/or socialize with. Worst start of the school year ever."

"Well, little Vick, you've stoked my curiosity," Damon mused. He kicked his shoes up and rested them on the coffee table, motioning towards Vicki. "Besides the animal attack, what about your life has been going wrong?"

Vicki groaned. "What hasn't been going wrong? First, there was the attack, obviously. Or, wait, well, there was Tyler."

"Tyler Lockwood? As in, 'I'm-the-creep-who-punched-Victoria' Tyler Lockwood?"

"Unfortunately, yes. Now don't get me wrong: I am so over Tyler, so over him. The feeling started on the night of tailgating, when Mr. Tanner died, but it got confirmed at the Founder's Ball when he was just a little bitch to me. I mean, I knew from the beginning that I was only a piece of ass to him, but I thought maybe if he got to know me better, he might see something more. Trying to do some of that positivity crap that Blankie's always taking about. But no. No, I wasn't. Now, Jeremy, on the other hand, all he's ever seen in me is something more, and I really like that. That's probably been the only good thing that's happened to me so far in this month."

"Jeremy, huh? Elena's brother?"

"Yeah, yeah," Vicki nodded. Damon could spot that her cheeks were starting to turn a rosy pink and he smirked. Oh, she had it bad. Did Victoria know about this? The answer was probably a yes. She seemed to know about everything and everyone except herself. "So, story time: Elena used to date my brother, and they were always together, so Jeremy would always be hanging around and crushing on me and..." She trailed off, narrowing her eyes at Damon suspiciously. "Hey, why don't you have a girlfriend? You're, like, totally cool and so hot." Vicki's hand moved to slap itself over her mouth and she looked embarrassed and gobsmacked. "I did not just say that aloud. Wow, I'm becoming more and more of a lightweight drinker." She pointed her finger at Damon. "But the question still stands: don't you wanna be in love?"

"I've been in love," Damon replied, taking a long drink. He was going to need the alcohol if he was going to be the one on the receiving end of the questions. "It's painful and pointless and overrated."

"Except when it isn't," Vicki snapped back.

"Now I can tell you've grown up with Victoria. You have her weird sense of love."

"Just because we believe in love, that doesn't make us weird," Vicki pouted, folding her arms across her chest.

"Yes. Yes, it does."

"No, it doesn't."

"Mama Bear might believe in love, but she's pretty oblivious when it comes to recognizing the signs in herself."

"Oh my gosh, you've seen it too?" Vicki gasped, sitting up straighter. Damon raised an eyebrow questioningly and Vicki, much to his surprise, leaned across the coffee table to smack his leg. "You know what I mean! You've seen the way she looks at Stefan?"

"You do realize this is my little brother we're talking about?"

"Don't care. Don't you think that she'd make a better couple with him than Elena does?"

"And that's where I'm ending this conversation," Damon ordered, standing up. He quickly finished the rest of his drink and tossed the bottle onto the couch behind him. "Feel free to take one of the rooms upstairs, just don't take the rooms with the blue, green, black, or red beds. Those are off-limits to you because they're my family's rooms and Victoria is sleeping in the room with the red bed."

"Um, I don't think you're walking away from this conversation," Vicki insisted, jumping to her feet. Damon rolled his eyes and turned, moving to walk away from her. "And just where are you going?"

"To take a nap, you're giving me a headache."

"Oh. Let me help with that."

That was a voice that Damon recognized, but only faintly. He hadn't heard that voice speak very often, but the moments that he had, it sent chills down his spine.

Damon flipped around, his whole body tensing when he saw that there was another person in the living room with him and Vicki. Vicki was held tight against the perpetrator's body, the guy's thick arm wrapped tightly around Vicki's neck. She was struggling against his grip, but the man's other hand was clamped against her mouth, silencing her screams for help. Damon ran towards the man and Vicki, but by the time he got there, the two of them were on the other side where he had just been. Damon flipped around and studied the man.

Middle-age, thinning hair, beady little eyes that stared at him from behind thick black glasses.

"You're the guy from the Founder's Ball. The one who was by Victoria."

The man holding Vicki smiled and a chill went down Damon's spine. He had seen a lot of shit in the world, things that scared him to his core. In order to stay alive, he had shoved down all those fears and made it seem like nothing scared.

But this man's smile...the smile that said he could do anything and there was nothing that Damon could do to stop him...that didn't just scare Damon. That terrified him.

"I don't believe we've been properly introduced," the man chuckled, tilting his head to one side. "You may call me Raphael."

"Whatever you're planning on doing to Vicki, Victoria's not going to like that," Damon commented. His mind was whirling. He had promised Victoria that Vicki would be perfectly healthy when she got downstairs. She didn't want Vicki to die. If Vicki died now, then she would wake up a vampire and begin the transition. She would remember all the compulsion that he had forced her to undertake. If Vicki ran to Victoria, saying that she had remembered all the attacks that Damon had done to her, Damon would lose his chance forever. "She made me promise to keep Vicki alive and healthy and I don't think you snapping her neck will help me keep that promise, so I'll telling you once: let her go."

Vicki's eyes widened dramatically as Damon's words sunk in and her struggle against this Raphael guy started up. She thrashed against his grip, but Raphael seemed bored and unamused by Vicki's desperate attempts to get away. He watched her with blank eyes. "I've never understood Ms. LeBlanc's appeal to this creature; seems like a hopeless case, don't you think?" Raphael turned his gaze towards Damon, and a malicious look overtook him. "Much rather like yourself, wouldn't you say?"

"You know what they say, hopeless cases that are broken together stick together," Damon snarked, his hands tightening to fists at his side.

"Hmm, that does seem to be the case here, isn't it?" Raphael hummed. "Young Victoria Donovan, the drug addict of the family who does not seem to be good enough for her mother to stick around and whose brother is disappointed her for not being strong enough. And you, Damon Salvatore, the creature in the night who hurts Ms. LeBlanc for your own sick pleasure, to see her body broken and torn underneath your fingertips. You tried to kill her only yesterday."

"I saved her life."

"Yes, only after the regret hit you," Raphael grunted. He tightened his grip onto Vicki's neck and Vicki choked, her face beginning to turn a mad mix of colors between red, purple, and orange. "That is not acceptable. I made an oath to protect Ms. LeBlanc from any kind of pain that she may endure. If I am unable to protect her from the pain, then I must seek out revenge on her behalf." He gestured towards Vicki with a jerk of his head. "This pathetic thing caused Ms. LeBlanc much emotional stress and trauma within these past few hours. And thus, she must be eliminated."

The look in Vicki's eyes said that she knew what was about to happen. The look in Raphael's eyes said that he knew what was about to happen. Damon knew that if he was looking into a mirror, his eyes would look the same.

But he would be damned if he let that happen.

"No!" Damon shouted, running with all of his speed to try and get to Vicki.

A loud crack filled the air, and Damon felt as if that noise would haunt him forever.

He only got to Vicki in time to catch her body, neck freshly snapped and eyes blank with fear, in his arms on the floor. Raphael was nowhere to be seen. It was as if he just upped and vanished. Damon looked down at Vicki, one arm cradling her body and the other supporting her snapped neck. He barely heard the thumping from upstairs. The footsteps that should have alerted him. His eyes were just trained on the small piece of paper that was sitting inconspicuously on the floor just to the side of him.

I will be back to finish her. You will be next, followed by anyone else who has caused her pain.

En el nombre del Cruxifijo.

"Damon! What is going...Vicki, no!"

A/N: SURPRISE! I hope this chapter helps some of y'all find Damon more appealing. What is going on with Raphael? Why is he wanting to kill anyone who has ever hurt her? Who else is on the hitlist? Is Noble a part of this all? What do y'all think?

So, I totally posted this chapter without completing the next one, so the next chapter is not going to be out until next Saturday (hopefully). I start my official shifts for my second job next week and that's on Thursdays and Fridays, and then rehearsals for my show go from 9-4 on Saturday, so it'll be a wild ride for us all.

Y'all, we've had over 11.5k+ views, 141 Followers, 101 Favoriters, and 116 reviews, and it's only Chapter 16! That's so amazing and I love hearing all of your guys' feedback on the story, it really warms my heart. Lowkey thinking we should get a Discord going with all of us, but I might push that back until we start Season 2, who knows?

THE SHIPPING WARS! (feel free to keep on voting; 1 full point for one ship, two half points for two separate ships. Half pointers will be italicized):

Team Stetoria {Victoria/Stefan} (2): insert name here XD, sammyleann's dad, TikiKiki

Team Datoria/Viamon {Victoria/Damon} (3): Sciave, Guest, ArganRose

Team Vilijah {Victoria/Elijah} (10.5): guest, Guest, SoraLover987142, insert name here XD, sammyleann, Orange keys 25, LoyalElijahFangirl, Hinata Megumi, A. G Herz, Aryabloodlust, ferallahey

Team Klatoria {Victoria/Klaus} (1.5): Tayla141, TikiKiki

Team Koltoria {Victoria/Kol} (1): DreamerPop

If it so pleases any of you, I have found theme songs for each of the ships that I feel really connects with the characters involved in the ships, so please feel free to listen to them to get in the mood; if you have any song recommendations for the ships, please leave a review. Maybe we'll have our own playlist!:

TEAM STETORIA: "Unconditionally" by Katy Perry (the acoustic version)

TEAM DATORIA/VIAMON: "Animals (Epic Trailer Version)" by J2

TEAM VILIJAH: "Be Here For You" by Sam Tinnesz

TEAM KLATORIA: "Can You Hold Me?" by NF feat. Britt Nicole

TEAM KOLTORIA: "Dear Future Husband" by Meghan Trainor

New Followers!: saul067, Anutanuta, Scrubylue

New Favoriters!: N/A

Thanks for joining us, team!

Onto reviews (there's a lot, cuz y'all are awesome like that)!:

guest: I think Damon sees her betrayal more along the lines of he trusted her to help him and then she "plots" behind his back to help his brother. A lot of people in this town have very major trust issues, and Damon is definitely one of them. You're right, Victoria does have every right to stand up for herself. Oh yeah, there will be some major work happening. They might have moments (like in this) where they get along, but it does not mean that they've reached friendship levels just yet.

DBZFAN45: Awww thank you! Tori makes people attached, what can I say? Zach never really got the opportunity to father Sarah, so I think while the compulsion is wearing off, his fatherly instincts are rising up because of Victoria (and before you ask, no, Zach is not Victoria's dad either). Damon really loves his car and he and Victoria are on the road to mending their friendship, but I wouldn't anticipate her joyriding in that beautiful piece of machinery any time soon. Noble reminds me a lot of a cat. And yeah, Victoria's face claim is still Jaime Ray Newman. I think she is a fabulous actor (and only recently found out that she's on Grimm, which I'm slowly becoming addicted too!). PART 2 REVIEW: Yep, Victoria's slowly showing that she's a nerd. And oooh, how is that bromance doing now after this chapter? Do you think Noble knew what Raphael was planning on doing to Vicki or is he in the dark on things? And thank you for the TVD recommendations! I'll have to check them out!

SoraLover987142: Of course XD. It's not like I can let Victoria die. We kind of need her. And I just have to say thank you. You have legit made the most logical explanation for why you ship Elijah and Victoria. She needs an adult. That's it. And I freaking love that. Thank you and your review made my day XD.

xrysatsan: Yikes! Hate to break it to you like this, then, but this story won't feature any polyamory relationships. I don't prefer to write those kinds of relationships (I'm a very monogamous person myself). Hope you enjoy this chapter, though!

TikiKiki: Aw thanks! That's good. We're going to get through the show much slower this way, but it's not like it's all about regurgitating the episode. There's a lot of original work hidden in and throughout. Ooooh. You have no idea. Mwahaha!

LoyalElijahFangirl: You have this very distinct way you write your reviews. It makes it easy for me to identify each of you based that way. Oh yeah, here's the beginning of the storm for you. Oof. Yeah, Damon's not going to be pleased when Katherine's not there, especially when he finds out that Victoria knew all along. That's going to be an interesting (if not deadly) conversation. Now, again, I can neither confirm nor deny that Elijah is Noble, but just for the sake of conversation, let's assume that Elijah is Noble: perhaps there is something in their past that connects them and this vampire is so entranced in Victoria that he really does not see Elena. Noble keeps to the shadows a lot, and so far has only seen Victoria in hidden away places. I feel like there is a good possibility that it could be a weird coincidence that Elena is never by Victoria when Noble is watching her. Again, I can neither confirm nor deny that Elijah is Noble. Just some food for thought. And ooooh, how's that bromance looking now after this chapter? And yeah, here's another subtle deviation: Vicki still died and is in transition, but Damon wasn't the one to do it. Oooooooh. And yeah, that'll be another conversation as well XD.

Kai: I feel the same way. Well, he's kind of starting on his redemption arc in this chapter, so here you go!

ferallahey: Oooh, is your name based off of my favorite sweet little baby Isaac? And haha! Love your chant. Oh my gosh, I do write them as animalistic. It didn't even click into my head until you mention that. Aww thanks! Interesting thoughts on all the relationships. It'll be interesting to see how close your predications are to how they will be in this story. By saved her, do you mean pulled her from the lake after the car accident or a different save her? Ooooh, I didn't think about vampire mates. Probably not, but who knows? Maybe I'll find a way to subtly slide it in.

Lime: Aww thanks! Damon honestly does have some of the best lines. My favorites being: "I saw that from a mile away and my brain's made of cotton" and also "Miss Cuddles: One! Invisible creepy mansion: Zero". Elijah is definitely flawed, but that makes him so much better. And Daniel Gilles can kill a suit. Straight up Klaus murder them. I have a lot of feelings about the Original Family too. So will Victoria. I think you'll enjoy Kol and Victoria's relationship. It'll be sweet. Yep, more kids will be joining the main three girls. I'm curious how people are pronouncing the title as well, but you were the only one who reviewed about it, so I guess we'll both be left in suspense. Oh sweet Lime, when I meant non-canon ones, I legit meant non-canon ones. Not "never happened" like Bamon or "weren't endgame" like Klaroline. I mean the main pairing I'm thinking of have never had a scene together in the show and yet I want to put them together for kicks and giggles. And you're welcome! It's fun having people vote. It sets them on teams, in a sort of way. It's a nice nickname! (And yes, the next shift did go well, and I'm getting my first decent nap in days today, so I'm going to enjoy it well while I can).

You guys are truly amazing. If you have any questions, concerns, or conspiracy theories, let me know in the reviews. Again, Chapter 17 will hopefully be posted next Saturday (not tomorrow, the next weekend). If not, then expect it on Monday. If on neither days, then I'll send out a little update on when I think hypothetically is will arrive.

Stay healthy and stay safe! Hug a fluffy animal for me, too!

BecomingFearless1F