𝐔𝐍𝐂𝐎𝐍𝐃𝐈𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍𝐀𝐋𝐋𝐘 || 𝐣. 𝐠𝐢𝐥𝐛𝐞𝐫𝐭

𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐟𝐢𝐯𝐞

Stefan stood up and raised his hands in surrender, causing Connor to point the gun at him instead. However, he noticed that Charlie was free just as she pulled the final stake out of her leg. He whipped the gun around just as she whizzed out of sight. Elena sped toward him, and a gunshot went off. The Gilbert girl threw the hunter to the ground and sat on top of him before grabbing him by the throat and starting to choke him.

Charlie caught Jeremy just as he fell to the ground, and she began freaking out when she saw the blood soaking through his shirt as he coughed. "Damn it, Jer. You're gonna be okay. You're gonna be okay." The boy was bleeding profusely and clutching his wound.

She was about to bite her wrist to heal him when she noticed that the bomb was about to go up. She grabbed the brunette boy and threw him and herself over a table just as it exploded. Once she was sure that neither of them were hit, she immediately bit into her wrist and held it to his mouth. He grabbed her hand and drank for a couple of seconds through his coughs. She sat him up against one of the tables and watched as his wound slowly began to heal. She breathed out a sigh of relief before leaning back.

About ten minutes later, Stefan had gone into the tunnels underneath the Grill, and Connor had chased him down there. Elena was with her brother and the Lockwood girl, sitting at a table while he drank some water. "How did this happen, Jer? Why did Connor come after you?"

"He said I was like him, because I could see his tattoo," the Gilbert boy sighed, shaking his head with a shrug. His hand was around Charlie's as he leaned back in the booth.

Elena spun around to face him, looking between the two younger teenagers who were acting confused and like whatever this was was not a big deal. "His what?"

'His hunter's mark. It's invisible to everyone but me," her brother explained, and he seemed surprised that she did not know. She was dealing with so much at that moment, being a new vampire and all that came with it, that the brothers probably did not want to cause her any more stress. "Stefan and Damon didn't tell you about it?"

"No. Wait — wait, who else knows about this?" she asked, shaking her head.

He shrugged, running his free hand through his hair. "Well, that's the thing, I don't even know. Apparently, I was with Connor all day yesterday, but I can't remember. Someone compelled me."

Elena stood up quickly, and she looked like she was about to kick someone's ass. "I think I know who." She stormed away into the back room, and the two that were left behind looked to each other in concern and confusion before heading outside.

It was dark, and they did not feel like going home. So, they found a bench in the town square to hang out on. He leaned back and groaned, stretching his arm out behind her on the wood. He breathed out, "Definitely not the day I had in mind."

"Yeah, no," she chuckled out before reaching down to his blood-soaked shirt. She was about to pull it up to check on his wound when he grabbed her hand and pulled his jacket over it so that it was out of sight. "Come on, let me check on it."

"It's fine. I promise. You did a great job," he assured her, shaking his head with a smile. Using the hand that was wrapped around hers, he pulled her toward him and planted his lips on hers.

Charlie was a little stunned, but she reacted almost immediately. Her hands moved to his face to pull him closer, and his were on her waist. They slid down to her hips and pulled her so that she was halfway sitting on his lap. Their lips moved in sync, and Charlie began to fun her fingers through his hair.

The sound of laughing was what broke them apart. The Lockwood girl climbed off his lap, and he fixed his hair as they slid to opposite sides of the bench and looked around awkwardly to see Matt and April walking toward them. The Gilbert boy zipped his jacket up, hiding his wound. April grinned once she saw them. "Hey, guys. Sorry we're so late, we had to take this crazy detour."

"There was a gas leak," Matt informed them, even though they knew that there was never a gas leak. April must have been compelled to forget everything that happened that day. Charlie felt bad because she knew the girl had been forced to forget so much.

"Yeah, and we had to stop by Tyler Lockwood's house because we had to see Caroline. We talked to her for a little bit, but now I was thinking maybe we could all go get some coffee," she told them. Caroline must have been the one that compelled her. She looked over to the restaurant and frowned. "But the Grill is closed. That's weird."

Jeremy shrugged. "You know what, it's okay, I, uh, I need to get home anyways. I'm feeling a little over it today."

"Yeah, same. I have to get up early tomorrow for one of my mom's functions," the hybrid added. It was true. She did have to help her mother set up early the next day, but chances were that she was going to blow it off and sleep in.

Matt nodded in agreement. "I should probably get home too. I'll take you back to your place if you want me to, April."

"Oh. All right, then," the Young girl responded, and she seemed slightly disappointed. She and Matt started to walk off when Charlie noticed the boy next to her drop something on the ground.

"Hey, April!" he called after her, picking the item up. The Lockwood girl noticed that it was a bracelet — his bracelet, the one that was filled with vervain. He held it out to the girl as she turned around. "Did you drop this?"

She shook her head, confused. "Oh, that's not mine."

"You sure? Hey, let me see your wrist," he told her, and she extended her arm and allowed him to slide the bracelet on her. It was then that Charlie realized what he was doing. He was giving her his vervain bracelet so that no random vampire could compel her.

So, she went along with it, smiling at the sight of it on April's wrist. "I like it. It looks good on you. You should wear it." She just shrugged and began walking away from the duo again. Charlie turned to Jeremy. "Well, that was nice of you." He nodded, and he paused and looked down at his wrist. "What is it?"

"What?" he asked, and he looked like he had just been snapped out of a trance.

She furrowed her eyebrows and looked down at his hand. There was nothing there. Maybe he was regretting giving his bracelet away? She could get him a new one. She walked back toward where he had stopped. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing," he responded, shaking it off, but she did not believe him. She decided not to push it, though, because it was late, and she did not want to start a fight. He rejoined her side and smiled. "Shall we?"