Chapter Text
You
You remove your gi top before you go inside, slinging it over your shoulder, crumpled where no one can see the blood, though you don’t realize that’s what you’ve done. You leave your shoes in the passenger seat and your backpack in the back seat, going inside to change your shirt.
“Hey!” Jenna called as you came in. She was at the table, papers spread out around her. You heard her papers rustle as she put them aside and got up, “Mads, hold on!” Heavy, rushing steps, trying to catch you before you got to the stairs stop you in your tracks. “You’re back early. What’s up?”
“Sensei let me go early. Wasn’t much else to do today.” You shrug and look at her over your shoulder. The gi shifts and you adjust your grip to make sure it sits covering most of your shoulder, hiding the blood on the outside that you didn’t really remember was there.
“I’m sure. So, what’s that?” She asked, pointing to your covered shoulder.
You looked at her like she was crazy. “My gi.” You shook it, but didn’t let it move from where it was covering the blood that had soaked through your tank top.
“Uh huh. Why don’t you throw it in the washer before you go upstairs?”
“I’m good.” You tell her, starting upstairs again, and when you turn her back she reaches forward, grabbing the gi out of your hand. You’re shocked and she manages to wrench it from your grip, studying the back of it. You see the blood, really see it, for the first time, and you can see why someone might be concerned. There are two, vaugely cresent shaped splotches of deep red soaking through the fabric, and you reach for it, forgetting about it as soon as you can’t see it, filled with a determination to take the gi and run.
“This doesn’t look good.” She said, studying the bloody blotch.
“It’s nothing,” You tell her, dancing forward on your toes to grab it from her, but she pulled it away.
“It’s blood, Madelyn. Your shoulder is bleeding.” She stresses the words “bleed” and “bleeding” like that will make you understand the situation, but the words don’t register. You just have an incurable need to get her away, to hide the gi, hide your shoulder, don’t let anyone see.
Hide this. Don’t let anyone know about this.
I won’t let anyone know.
“It’s nothing. Give me that.” You snatch the gi back, and you storm up the stairs, hanging it over your shoulder again to keep the blood on your tank top hidden.
“Madelyn! We’re not done talking about this.”
“I don’t have to talk to you about anything!” You yell, and she doesn’t follow you upstairs. Jeremy is in his room, headphones in, when you pass by.
“What are you yelling about?” He asked, pulling his headphones off his head.
“I ditched martial arts and Jenna is making a big deal out of it.” You roll your eyes to show him exactly how much you care about Jenna’s chastising
“You love martial arts.” He said, raising an eyebrow at you in question, and you shrugged.
“I just wasn’t feeling it today.”
He shrugged back at you and put his headphones back on. After that you slunk into yours and Elena’s shared room to change.
You throw the gi and your tank top in the hamper, pulling on a new, thicker shirt, only to pull it off again and replace it with another tank top. The orders conflict and you can’t decide which one to follow.
Wear something sexy for me tomorrow.
Hide this. Don’t let anyone know.
He would never hurt me.
You changed your top again, this time putting on a low cut tee shirt (Elena’s) over your tank top. It was well fitted and even though your shoulder ached, you ignore it.
“Hey,” Elena said as she came in. “You okay? Jenna said you guys fought.”
“She just overreacted. I’m fine.” You look at yourself in the mirror.
“Is that my shirt?”
“I borrowed it.” You tell her, sifting through your shared closet for your leather bomber jacket.
“Yeah, I can see that. Are you alright? You seem kind of out of it.” Elena dumped her backpack by the window seat and toed off her shoes.
“I told you, I’m fine. I’m great, actually.” You smooth your hands over the jacket. “Do you think this is sexy?”
“Um, sure?” Elena said and you nodded, shucking the jacket and throwing it on the bed.
“It’s my day to make dinner. I’m gonna cook before the bonfire.”
“You’re going to the bonfire?”
“Vicki asked me.” You tell her, and she watched you leave with a quizzical look. You didn’t like parties, and since when had you cared about looking sexy? What had gotten into you?
We Used to Talk
You went back downstairs and ignored Jenna, putting on your music so that you could cook.
“Trying to work, Mads.” Jenna said, more irritable than she might have usually been under different circumstances.
“Take a break. Chop.” The cold air of the fridge hit you like so much solace and you started pulling out vegetables. “Cutting board is-”
“I know where it is.” The sound of papers rustling was ominous. It could go either way. She could be getting them out of the kitchen so they don’t get dirty while she’s helping you cook, or she could be moving somewhere to be away from you.
“Sliced, diced or peeled?” Jenna asked as she shifted her papers into a bag and left it in one of the seats at the island.
“Diced.” You said as you pulled out an array of mushrooms and tofu.
“Do the one that actually tastes good.” Jeremy said as he came down the stairs. You looked up at him and squinted, cupping an hand around your ear.
“Jenna, did you hear something? I thought it was a beggar trying to be a chooser, but it must have just been the wind?”
“I don’t know. I could’ve heard a teenage boy asking rudely for something, but it might have been my imagination.”
“Guess we’ll never know.” You say, swishing a knife around flagrantly before beginning to dice your mushrooms for vegan tacos.
“You guys suck.”
“Man, another rude sounding wind.” You said, shaking your head and exchanging a sly look with Jenna.
“What are we making?” Elena asked as she came downstairs, looking sort of uncomfortable after the confrontation upstairs, but letting it go by the wayside for now.
“I’m making vegan tacos, and Jenna and I keep hearing this really rude wind, but the wind can’t talk, so it must be our imagination.”
“Huh, weird.” Elena said with a smile, wrapping her arms around Jeremy from behind.
“Haha, you guys are so funny. Please can you make your meatless crap not taste like meatless crap, Maddie?”
“I thought I heard a please, but it was drowned out by a bunch of assholery.” You said with a smirk, and Jeremy rolled his eyes.
“Whatever, I’m going back upstairs.”
“No, Jeremy!” You laugh, yelling after him. “Jeremy, I’m sorry. I’ll make the tofu the way you like it, come back!” You keep laughing and even Elena is able to spare a smirk as she catches Jeremy’s wrist and tugs him back into the kitchen.
“Come on, I think you and I got dish duty.”
Jeremy let himself be tugged along to the sink so they could wash the breakfast dishes from that morning and the dishes from dinner the night before.
“Love you baby brother,” you said with a smile and a tap of your elbow to his side. He grunted but you saw the small smile that he barely held back as Elena started the water to wash the dishes by hand.
“We have a dishwasher you know.” Jeremy said as he was handed a sponge laden with soap.
“And if you ever put any dishes in it, maybe you wouldn’t have to wash them by hand.” You sing-song, and Jeremy groans again.
“Come on, there are barely any. Let’s just do them now.”
“If we let you load the dishewasher after you’ve forgotten for two days, you’ll never learn.” You tell him, and Elena, despite herself, grins at you.
“I don’t see you loading the dishewasher either, Mads.”
“I do my dishes by hand, because I’m anti-robot worker.”
“You only do them by hand because that’s the way dad did them.”
“’They don’t come out clean from the dish washer.’” Elena repeated their father’s eternal looping phrase, and you laughed. It was a happy memory, despite how much it hurt to think you’d never hear him say it again.
The kitchen fell silent for a moment, and the four of you were lost in your own thoughts.
“Maddie is going to the bonfire tonight.” Elena said, looking over her shoulder at Jenna.
“No kidding? Great step, kid.” Jenna reached across the island to tap you on the shoulder with your fist.
“Great step, kid.” You repeated, and she laughed.
“Hey, I’m still working on the responsible aunt, thing, give me a break.”
“You could just keep being the fun aunt.” You raised an eyebrow at her.
“Does the fun aunt let us have wine with dinner?” Elena asked, and Jenna frowned, looking at you both seriously.
“No, she doesn’t. And not just because the responsible aunt said not to. I’m still proud of you, Mads. I had to practically beg you to go to your first school dance.”
“Which she ditched,” Elena said with a still-heated glare.
“Hey, I ditched with Vicki. I still hung out with people that night.”
“Yeah, well, I’m still proud of you for trying. And I’m proud of you for going to the bonfire. So make sure you guys eat a lot, because I’m not helping you nurse hang overs.”
“Well I’d never.” You said, putting a hand sprinkled with sticky bell-pepper seeds to your chest in mock offense.
“Uh huh. Don’t forget who sobered you two up when you got into your parents liquor cabinet.” Jenna pointed between you and Elena, and two two of you shared a glance, giddy even just with the memory.
“That was so bad.” Elena said, and you nodded.
“What were we thinking.”
“Hey, wait, I want to hear the story of Elena and Maddie getting into the liquor cabinet.”
“Maybe another night, you’ve got dishes to do.” Elena said with a smile, ruffling Jeremy’s hair. He batted her hand away and tried in vain to smooth the chaotic locks.
You and Jenna went back to prepping food while Jeremy and Elena exchanged ridiculous insults.
“You know, I’m dropping the bite mark for now,” Jenna said quietly enough that your siblings couldn’t hear, “but I’m not going to forget. You understand why I might be concerned about you coming home bleeding.”
“It’s nothing, Jenna.” You told her vehemently, and she nodded.
“I know you think it’s nothing. But you don’t just come home with bite marks.” She raised an eyebrow at you, “And then expect no one to ask questions.”
“There’s nothing to worry about, honestly.”
“Okay. Like I said, I’m dropping it, but if you come home with anymore, I’m not going to be so leniant.”
“I won’t.” You assure her, forgetting about the bite mark as soon as you stopped talking about it.
“So who’d you spend the night with last night?” She asked, elbowing your in the side. “Elena was worried sick.”
“I met a guy, we hooked up.”
She looked at you with her patented, “Did you do something stupid?” look and you rolled your eyes at her.
“We used protection, Jenna, don’t look at me like that.” You actually couldn’t remember if you’d used protection, most of the night was a blur. A good blur, but still a blur. “I’m not that irresponsible.”
“Irresponsible enough to not call before staying out all night.”
“Like you’ve never done it.” You throw your mushrooms and crumbled tofu into a bowl and ready a skillet on the stove.
“Oh, I definitely have.” SHe promised, throwing her chopped veggies into the bowl with your mushrooms and tofu. “But it wasn’t right when I did it either.”
“I got distracted. He was really hot.” You bit your lip and gave her a side eyed glance and she elbowed you again.
“Shut up!” She grinned, and then thought better of it. “Wait, no, actually shut up. I shouldn’t be encouraging this.”
“It’s dangerous behavior.” You nodded encouragingly, and she nodded along.
“Exactly, Responsible Aunts say things like…” She trailed off.
“Protect your virtue?”
“Oh screw that.” She laughed and wiped her hands against each other to get some of the vegetable debris off of them. “No, Responsible Aunts would say… just because a guy is hot doesn’t mean he’s good.”
“He’d never hurt me.” You tell her automatically, and she raised an eyebrow at him.
“You know that after one night with the guy?”
You tilted your head, something about that startling you. Of course you did, but… it was strange, wasn’t it? To trust someone you’d met and slept with once?
“I- No. I mean, yes. I do know it. I just… I know it, Jenna.”
“Wow. He must be something special.”
“It was a one time thing.” You shake your head and throw the vegetables into the heated skillet.
“Do you want it to be a one time thing?”
“I don’t really have his number, so… it sort of has to be.”
“You didn’t give him yours?” She raised an eyebrow and you bit the inside of your cheek. Her face fell. “He hasn’t called.”
“It’s only been a day.” You tell her, and she reaches out and puts a hand on your shoulder.
“You’re right. It’s only been a day.” She squeezed and you winced when the tight skin stretched under her hand.
“Sorry.” She said, removing her hand. “Did he do that?”
“He would never hurt me, Jenna.” You reiterate, a heat to your gaze that is only broken by the necessity to watch the skillet as you stirred.
“Maybe not on purpose, but accidents happen.”
“It’s nothing.” You rub the joint of your neck and shoulder on the opposite side, massaging out a bit of tension as best you can.
“Mhmm.” Jenna looked at Elena, who had apparently been listening, and neither of them looked convinced. You didn’t see their exchange, too busy sorting and resorting things in your brain.
There was nothing there. But everyone kept mentioning it. Something hurt. There’s nothing there. He would never hurt me .
He wouldn’t. Damon would never hurt you. You didn’t know where that sort of conviction had come from, and every time you questioned it, you just found yourself circling back to the certainty that he wouldn’t hurt you. You didn’t doubted Damon. You would never doubt Damon.
It didn’t make sense. It just was the way it was.
The Bonfire
You caught a ride with Elena to the bonfire after dinner. Against all three of your better judgment, Jeremy tagged along.
When you pulled up, Jeremy got out of the car without even saying goodbye, but Elena turned and stopped you before you could get out, catching your wrist in her hand.
“Do you want to stay with me until Vicki gets here?”
Her consideration surprised you. “No, it’s fine. I’m meeting Vicki out by the treeline. She’ll be here in a minute.”
That was a lie. Vicki would take an hour to arrive yet, but you didn’t want to wait with Elena and her friends just so you could be an outcast in a group when you could be an outcast on your own.
“Are you sure? It’s not a big deal? Bonnie wouldn’t mind.”
You’re tempted by the idea of just getting to chat with Bonnie, the two of you had been close when you were kids, but ultimately the idea of Caroline getting caught in the mix soured you to the idea.
“No, I’m really fine. Thanks, Elena, really, but I’ll be okay.”
Elena doesn’t look convinced, but she nods anyway and takes her hand away. “Okay. But you can come find me if you need me, alright?”
“Sure thing,” You tell her and get out of the car.
The night air has a briskness to it that makes you thankful for the leather jacket that you stole. You tug the front closed over your low cut shirt and head for the trees. You don’t even look in the direction of the alcohol, instead staking out a spot near enough to the fire that you stayed lighted, but far enough that no one would mistake you for wanting company. The chatting and the milling around you made set your teeth on edge, and every footstep behind you made you jump. You couldn’t stop looking over your shoulder, watching for someone who wasn’t there to come and attack you.
It wasn’t rational, but so little of those hind brain fears were.
You see some people you recognize from school. Tyler Lockwood is already here, talking with Matt Donovan. You wonder how Vicki is getting there, if Matt and Tyler are both already there. You pull out your phone and send her a text.
You: You still coming?
Vicki: You know it. I picked up a friend on the way. Be there in a few ;)
You didn’t know what Vicki meant by “friend.” If it had been someone you knew she would’ve called them by name. Was Vicki really going to bring a stranger to hang out with you at a party you were already anxious about attending?
Actually, that sounded just like something she’d do. You loved Vicki, you did, but recent years had taken her compassion downhill. You had tried at every turn to circumvent her self-destruction, but you’d had about as much luck with that as she’d had with getting you to socialize. Some, but not very much.
“Boo!” Vicki said, sneaking up behind you and tickling your sides. You screamed, making a few people turn and look at you, but you didn’t see them.
“Vicki, you’re such a bitch.” You gripe and smack her hands when she tries to tickle you again.
“Shut up, you love me.”
“Yeah, sure. Where’s your friend?” You asked, your heart still pounding loudly in your ears as you tried to calm yourself down.
“Hmm? What friend?” She asked, taking your hand and leading you straight to the alcohol. You clasped her hand in yours like you used to when you children and darted your eyes across the crowd, looking for anyone who might be a threat.
“You said you bringing someone.” You reminded her as she poured herself a red plastic cup of beer. She offered it to you, but, like always, you refused.
“At least take this,” She said, filling an empty cup with ice and handing it to you. “You’re going to get thirsty. You always do.”
You opened your mouth to deny it, but she had you there. She took your hand again and lead you through the crowd to a copse of trees that she seemed familiar with.
“So who were you bringing?” You asked her again when you were walking further and further into the woods.
“No one. Tyler is meeting me here,” Vicki looked back at you like she was confused by your questions. “You know he always meets me.”
“But you said you were bringing someone.” You said as she stopped in a clearing and laid herself out under a tree. You took a seat next to her.
“No I didn’t. I know how much you hate people.” She rolled her eyes like it was a stupid assumption. It was strange, really strange, but you decided to let it go. Maybe she had meant weed and you were just misreading something.
“Alright, fine, give me a hit.”
“You’re impatient. Let me finish my beer first.”
“Wait for Tyler to get here, you mean.”
She scoffed. “If he gets here.”
“Did you get into it?”
She sighed, hunched against her tree. “Yeah. He was… It’s not a big deal. We’re not that serious yet, we’re building up to it again, you know? It’s fine.”
“It’s not fine. What happened Vick?”
She chugged half her beer in one go before she answered. “I wanted him to come on a double date with me and your new guy Friday after the game. He said no. And not just no, it was like… he looked disgusted. I thought it was because of you and I was about to let him fucking have it, but then I realized that he just… doesn’t want to be seen with me in public.”
“He’s such a fuckwad, Vick, you could do so much better.”
She snorted, taking another sip of her beer. “Are you kidding me? Tyler is probably as good as it gets for trash like me.”
“Hey,” You scooted closer to her and knocked her lightly in the arm with your fist, “Don’t talk about my best friend like that.”
“It’s true. Come on, you really think we’d be friends if we hadn’t known each other since we were kids and you weren’t broken as shit.”
“Yes, you bitch.” You took her beer from her and made her look at you. “You’re a wreck. I’m a wreck. That doesn’t mean shit about us. We’re friends because I love you, and you love me.”
“No homo.” She said and you both pursed your lips, trying not to laugh. A crinkle caught the corner of her eye, and her lips tilted upward and you could feel yourself losing the fight against your facial muscles.
You both broke out into laughter despite yourself. “Fuck you.” You tell her, handing her beer back to her.
“Honestly, you’d probably be better at it than Tyler.” She muttered under her breath and you frowned.
“Is he a selfish lover?” You ask with all the seriousness of a victorian heroine and he burst into laughter again.
“God, you’re the worst.” She took another sip of beer and you were just glad to have gotten her laughing. “I love you.”
“I love you too, whore.” You wrapped your arm around her shoulder and pulled her into a hug, she returned it and if she clutched you a little harder than strictly necessary you didn’t say anything.
Vicki swiped at her still dry eyes and relaxed back against her tree once you’d let go.
“Okay, enough about my shitty love life. Tell me about your new guy. I want all the dirty details.” She nudged you with her elbow and you felt your face heat despite yourself.
“You know he’s not my new guy. It was a hook up, a one time thing.” You raise an eyebrow at her when she looks at you like you’re full of it. “What!? I’m serious! Why is everyone so obessed with this guy that I slept with.”
“Everyone? Who else?” She asked and you rolled your eyes.
“Elena thinks he’s a piece of shit and she doesn’t even know him. Jenna is worried because she has to be responsible now.” You roll your eyes. “And apparently you want to fuck him vicariously through me.”
“Exactly, so spill. What was he like?”
You bit your lip and she squealed, pushing you just enough to make sure you knew she was serious. “Now you have to tell me.”
You sigh a little bit caught in the memories of the previous night. “Vick, I don’t think I’ve ever had sex that good. Ever.”
Vicki’s smile was a mile wide. “Oh my god,” She pushed you again, but this time she kept her hands on your upper arms, pulling you back when you started to topple over. “You’re serious? Did use a condom or just let him bareback you like a slut?” There’s a playfulness in her tone that keeps the comment from setting you on edge.
“I’m stupid, Vick, but I’m not that stupid. He used a condom. Twice.”
“What the fuck!?” She laughed, but sobered quickly. “Jason would’ve loved that.”
“Jason?”
“The guy I was gonna set you up with. I mean, he wouldn’t have liked it if it happened after I set you up, you guys totally would’ve been soul mates, but…” She casts her eyes down to the quarter cup of beer hanging between her limp fingers. “Will you come with me to the funeral? Tyler won’t go and I don’t want to go alone.”
“Yeah, I’ll be there, Vick.” You take her hand in yours. “Of course.”
She looked up at you and smiled sadly. “Thanks.”
You sit there in silence for a few moments before you both hear someone crashing through the trees.
You tense and lean forward, ready to get up and fight if the person coming through was a threat. Vicki put a hand on your arm to keep you calm and you trained your eyes in the direction of the stomping footsteps.
When Tyler Lockwood bursts into your secluded little space you relax against the tree, but you keep your eyes on him, gaze heavy and hard.
“Vicki,” he said with a slow smile. “I thought I’d find you back here. Come on. Let’s go.”
“Tyler, no, I’m not leaving Maddie.” She pulled her hand away when he grabbed it, and you leaned forward again, ready to fight.
“So we’ll drop her off with Elena on the way to my car. Let’s go.” He caught her hand that time, tugging Vicki onto her knees and making her follow him.
He was drunk.
“She said she didn’t want to go with you, cool it Tyler.” You said with a glare, getting to you feet beside Vicki and trying to get in between them. Your goal was to deescalate, not to fight the mayor’s son. That probably wouldn’t end well for you, even if you beat him.
“I don’t remember asking you, freak.” He sneered and reached around you for Vicki. “Come on, babe. We’re leaving.”
“Tyler, no, I don’t want to go with you,” She tried to pull her hand out of his and he held fast. “Ouch, Tyler, you’re hurting me.”
“Tyler, if Vicki doesn’t want to come with you, she’s not going to.” You try to pitch your voice calmly, wrapping your hand around Vicki’s wrist and delicately prying his grip free.
“Vicki is my girlfriend, she goes where I tell her.”
“But you don’t have to go anywhere she asks?” You reply and Vicki is talking to you, trying to get you to get out of the way, but you don’t hear her. You’ve wanted to beat the shit out of Tyler Lockwood for a long time. This is the chance you’ve been waiting for.
“She said she didn’t want to go!” You, Vicki and Tyler all turn to see Jeremy, swaying with his own drunkness as he approached you, eyes blazing with righteous fury. Fuck, fuck, fuck.
“Jeremy, stay out of it.” You try to tell him, but Tyler has already let go of Vicki’s wrist and he’s approaching your little brother. This isn’t going to end well and you know it.
“No, I’m not going to stay out of it. She’s not a fucking toy that you can drag around wherever you want, Tyler. She’s a person.”
“She’s mine, and last time I checked, you don’t get a say in it, short stack.” Tyler puffed his chest out, making his football muscles buldge and Vicki starts to yell.
“Stop it! Tyler, quit it, he’s just a kid.”
Tyler throws the first punch.
It doesn’t land.
You deflect it from the side, putting yourself between Jeremy and Tyler. Jeremy is drunk and he doesn’t have the training you do. You could kick Tyler’s ass blindfolded. You use his own force to throw him onto his hands and knees and then turn to Jeremy.
“Get out of here.” Your words come out through gritted teeth, the fury seething in your blood as you wait for Tyler to get up.
“No, I’m not leaving you.”
“Maddie, look out!” Vicki said and you turned back just in time to duck a sloppy punch, you get behind Tyler and push him to the ground again, this time putting your foot in the back of his knee to force his collapse.
“Thanks,” You tell her, but she’s already running. You’re proud of her, but you wish that she’d run in the right direction. Instead of running toward the bonfire to get help, she was running deeper into the forest, like an idiot.
“Shit.” You stand back and Tyler scrambles to his feet. “Jeremy, go get help.”
“I need to go after Vicki-”
“You are too drunk to go wandering around the forest. Go get help.” You glare at him and he turns around, stumbling back towards the bonfire. Thankfully. Even if he didn’t come back with help, at least he wasn’t wandering around the wppds drunk. You already had one drunk loved one wandering in the dark. You didn’t need another.
Tyler gets to his feet and he’s fucking seething. He’s panting like a bull and you don’t feel good about what you’re about to do, but you’re in danger, and Vicki is wandering the woods alone. You can’t do anything else.
He comes at you and you evade, pressure point, pressure point, pressure point. You knock the back of his knee again, dragging him to the ground and pinning him. He’s stronger than you, but you put all your weight on his back, holding his hands behind him.
“Listen to me, fuckwad. You’ve got about five seconds to cool down before I start yelling for help. You want your daddy to see you got beat up by a girl? Relax.” You let your weight sit on top of him, and slowly he started to calm down.
“I’m going to let you go and you’re going to run back to your little gang and pretend none of this happened. Understood?” He nodded and even though you had the overwhelming urge to break his arm, you didn’t.
You got up and he pushed himself off the ground, panting and out of breath. He looked back at you with heat in his eyes and you knew this wasn’t over, but you didn’t care. You made sure he really left and then you went into the woods after Vicki.
Don't You Know the Woods Are Dangerous At Night?
As soon as she saw that you had the situation handled, Vicki ran. She wasn’t proud of running. She wasn’t proud of a lot of things, but this thing she knew by heart. When shit hits the fan, you get out. You get out by whatever means necessary, and you leave behind anything you have to.
She learned that lesson the hard way, with one too many of Kelly’s boyfriends. Trying to save a precious doll or even her little brother from the fray only ever got her hurt worse. She didn’t make those kinds of mistakes anymore.
Vicki kept running until the light was too dim to see by. She couldn’t hear the grunts of Tyler getting the shit beat out of him (And she knew Tyler was in the midst of getting the shit beat out of him, even if she couldn’t see it), but she could still hear the music roaring from the bonfire.
She looked around, craving the sight of anything familiar, but all she saw were trees, trees, and more trees.
She pulled out her phone to try and call for help, but the signal bars had a little red line through them. No good.
Vicki felt herself start to well and truly panic, knowing that she was alone in the woods, in the cold, with no way to contact anyone for help.
But Madelyn would come.
Madelyn had always come.
When Vicki had the shit beat out of her for trying to snatch half a cigarette from a drunk man’s hand before it could fall on the couch and set the whole house on fire, Madelyn had been there with a damp towel to wipe away the blood.
When Matt and Vicki were too young to be left alone, but had been anyway, Madelyn had been there, making sure they were both fed from Madelyn’s parent’s pantry.
When Vicki had screwed up and let Tyler treat her like shit, Madelyn had been there, with a promise that she always would be.
“Well, what are you doing out here in the woods all alone?”
Vicki recognized that voice, but she didn’t know why. She turned around in the darkness of the forest but couldn’t see anyone.
“Who’s there?” She asked, backing away from the general direction of where she thought she’d heard the voice.
Her hair shifted in a sudden breeze and then a soft voice whispered in here ear, “Just me.”
Vicki jumped and couldn’t help the squeak of fear the movement knocked out of her. She turned to face who ever had spoken only to run back first into the hard planes of someone’s chest.
“Now, that’s no way to greet and old friend.” The man whispered in her ear, wrapping his arms around her body to hold her against him.
“Let me go! Mad-!”
“Ahh, ahh, ahh.” The man murmured, clapping a quick hand over her mouth. “None of that. I just need a quick snack before I go looking for my date. So,” he turned her around faster than she thought possible and before she could scream again she was caught in the bright blue gaze of his eyes. In the dark the shine of his eyes was the only thing she could see.
“Don’t make a sound.”
Vicki could only nod her head in acquiescence and her heart leapt in her chest when he leant down and put his lips to her neck.
“This won’t hurt.” He said, right before he pressed his too-sharp teeth to the bare flesh of her neck and bit down.
The Search For Vicki
The woods are dark, and you aren’t exactly sure which direction Vicki went. If you’re lucky, she got smart and stayed put somewhere, but if you’re not then you aren’t sure you’ll be able to find her without help. You check the time, 9:35. It seems too early to have already been in a fight with a drunken idiot, but considering your brother was one of the drunken idiots trying to fight, you weren’t sure you could judge.
You turned on your phone flash to try and get a better sense of the path, and fling the light around, looking for any visible signs of footprints that might lead to Vicki. Tracking people in the woods wasn’t your forte. After this you might have to make it a priority.
“Vicki?” You yelled, trying to get her to call back to you before you continued on. You kept sight of the place where you’d entered the woods and tried to sight it regularly as you continued on. It wouldn’t do either of you any good for you to get lost too. “Vicki, it’s Madelyn! Where are you?”
There was no response so you kept walking, watching the ground for footprints, and maybe a passed out or sitting down Vicki. You had no such luck.
You hear something in the distance, a cry for help? You aren’t sure, but you start that way, going as fast as you can manage in the darkness with only your paltry make-shift flashlight.
You don’t hear the cry again, but you continue to stumble forward eventually you catch feet and then a prone human body in the light of your phone covered in blood and hair strewn about her like she’d been dropped there.
You know it’s Vicki. Know it like you knew Elena covered in cuts, bruises and bandages after the accident. You run to her, only holding onto your phone because you need the light desparately in the imposing darkness of the night. The crunching of dirty and dried leaves beneath your feet feels like thunder claps.
She’s covered in blood. She’s covered in blood. She’s covered in blood.
“Vicki!” You yell, shaking her shoulders only to watch her head loll to the other side and expose the source of the blood, a gaping set of puncture wounds in her throat, still dripping blood.
“Vicki! HELP SOMEBODY HELP!” You hold your hand on the wound, trying to stop the bleeding, trying to wake her up.
“Vicki? Vicki.” Her eyes opened like slits in a window blind and though you couldn’t see her well in the light cast by your phone face down by her head, you would know that sort of terror on her face anywhere.
“Be-be-” She tried to raise her arm and before you understood what she was saying, you felt it.
A soft breath on the back of your neck, a warm voice in your ear, a bone-deep chill running up your spine.
“Fancy meeting you here.” He murmurs from behind you, and it can’t be. It can’t be.
He would never hurt me.
“Damon?” You ask, not even daring to turn your head. You focus your eyes on Vicki’s, make her look at you. You watch each other even as you feel him lean closer, your loose hair moving with every breath he takes.
“Got it in one. Whatcha got there?” He asked, and something about his voice, the way that he was so unconcerned by the girl dying on the floor beneath you, told you that he was no good.
He would never hurt me.
Maybe he would never hurt you, but he had hurt Vicki.
“What did you do?” You ask, so quiet you aren’t sure he’ll even hear you. He does though, and he responds, a positively gleeful lilt to his voice.
“I just had a little snack. Wanna be next.”
He would never hurt me.
You decide you have to fight him. You have to, but he’s behind you and he’s bigger than you, and he has every advantage except for one.
Surprise.
You can’t let go of Vicki’s neck. She’s already lost too much blood.
“Can I stop the bleeding?”
He would never hurt me.
“I don’t know, can you?”
You swallow hard and take that as affirmation that he’s not going to stop you. You carefully take the plaid shirt from around Vicki’s waist one handed and use the sleeve to fasten it around her throat, just enough so that it catches the blood, encourages it to clot, but she still has plenty of room to breathe. You have to lift her head for her, she’s too weak to do it herself, but she never takes her eyes off of you.
“R-” She tries to say, but you shake your head.
You won’t leave her.
You won’t leave her.
“I won’t.” You mouth to her, but her eyes are barely open, and you aren’t sure if she can see you.
He would never hurt me.
You don’t have much faith in your makeshift bandage, but it has to do for now.
You’ve beat up one asshole tonight. You’re going to have to go for two.
He would never hurt me.
You don’t think you can outrun him with the height difference, but maybe if you can just get him far enough away from Vicki…
The entire time you played inadequate doctor, Damon hovered behind you and breathed down your neck like a nasty cartoon villian.
He would never hurt me.
You thought maybe he got a thrill out out it. Hurting people.
You started to turn your head to look at him, but Vicki’s finger brushed yours, in an attempt to take your hand. She tried again to tell you to run. Again, you refused.
He would never hurt me.
“Why?” You ask him when you finally start to stand. His body is pressed to yours the entire way up, and it feels like being at his mercy.
You can’t believe you let this man touch you.
He would never hurt me.
“I was hungry. She was there. Classic wrong place at the wrong time.”
“Hungry?” You ask, and you turn to face him, slowly, so he doesn’t think you’re a threat. If you can get him to swing at you, you can get him off balance. You’ll never win if you try and throw the first punch. You have to get him on his face. He’s stronger than you by a mile, and even if you believe he won’t hurt you, you don’t believe that he’ll leave Vicki alone.
“Hungry.” He repeats, and he takes a step to the side, into the light of your phone.
He smiles at you, a too sharp smile with fangs (fangs!) exposed behind pink lips that had been all over you the night before. Now those lips were dripping with blood, your best friend’s blood, grinning like the cat who got the cream.
Monster. Your heart beats faster in your chest, echoing in your ears, begging you to run. You have to fight him.
He would never hurt me. Your mind supplies, and you’re caught in two conflicting thoughts.
Monster.
He would never hurt me.
Monster.
He had hurt Vicki. You took a step back, waiting, hoping he would follow you, hoping he would take the first swing.
He would never hurt me.
But he had hurt Vicki.
“Damon.” You say again, but this time you stand your ground, plant your feet, pull back your shoulders. You ignore the pain in your left shoulder blade. “Don’t hurt her again, and you can have me.” You can’t help the waver in your voice, the shakiness of your vocal chords as you are certain that he won’t hurt you, but terrified for your best friend. “Let me take her to the hospital, and I won’t say anything.” You swallow hard and take your pride down with it. “Please.” It falls off your lips like no plea ever has, desperate and all encompassing. You will do anything, anything, if he just leaves her alone.
He flashes his blue eyes at you in the dim flashlight and then he’s standing right in front of you, too quickly to be seen. Those blue eyes are shining with malice, rough hands grip your neck, and jaw, tilting your head up to look at him in the eyes. You can’t even be frightened of him.
He would never hurt me.
“I’m going to have you whether she lives or not,” He smiled and you couldn’t believe he was smiling with your friend’s blood still staining his mouth. You tried to pull away but he held your face between his hands, making you look him in the eyes. “You’re going to give yourself to me, whether she lives or not.”
You get caught in his bright blue eyes, your mouth going slack under the strength of his compulsion. You’re powerless against it, and you can only nod your head as he speaks.
“You are going to take a nice little nap, and when you wake up, you aren’t going to remember seeing me here tonight. You’re going to remember stumbling upon your friend being attacked by an animal, and when you shined your phone light at it, it ran away. You were so scared you passed out. Now, have a nap.”
You are in the middle of nodding when your eyes close and you fall asleep.
You don’t know that he laid you down gently on the ground, close enough to Vicki that you could have feasible been chasing off an animal. He leaves your phone face down so that the flashlight points up into the night. Maybe someone will find you, or he’ll come play rescue hero in an hour or so. You should still be fine by then. Nothing a little vampire blood wouldn’t fix if you caught a cold.
You wouldn’t remember what really happened there for a long long time.