BLACK SHEEP // Enzo St. John

24: angry too

[episode 1.3]

September 12, 2009

AFTER THE FOOTBALL GAME the night before, I was exhausted.

A fistfight had broken out between Jeremy and Tyler, and I was quick to help, even though I didn't know what triggered the first blows. I only arrived once Tyler was on top of Jeremy, punching him over and over.

I'd caught a stray hit in the fight—as had Stefan—but unfortunately, I wasn't a vampire with superhuman healing, so I had to ice the bruise on my cheekbone and just hope nothing was broken.  I could tell Elena didn't trust him after seeing the way his hand healed — he'd tried to convince her he'd never been struck, but we all saw the gash and heard his sharp intake when it happened. He wasn't fooling anyone.

That morning, I let myself sleep in, feeling like I deserved it after everything that happened, but Elena broke into my room before long, angrily interrupting my slumber.

"Damon is such a pig!" she'd said in greeting.

I blinked my eyes open in alarm and tried to focus my gaze on her, but she'd thrown open the blinds when she came in, and my eyes couldn't adjust to the light.

"Wha—" I sat up and cleared my throat, trying again. "What did he do?"

Elena crossed her arms and sat down on the edge of my bed. She bit down on her bottom lip, but after what seemed like ages of her staring at my bedsheets and me blinking, she finally spoke. "Look, I know you're not a big fan of him already, so you might say I told you so, but Damon is a pig."

"I wouldn't ever say that," I added weakly.

"But you'd have every right to," she groaned, flopping back against my bed. "He tried to make me kiss him last night. Can you believe that?"

The hand that had been rubbing at my eyes fell away, and I turned to her completely. "Are you serious?"

Elena nodded passionately. "I thought Stefan was overreacting before, but I see it now."

My expression soured, and I worked hard to maintain my last shred of happiness. "How did this interaction go exactly? What did he say?"

"Some bullcrap about how I have alternate meanings to everything I say because I'm secretly in love with him—"

I made a squeaky noise that was fueled by pure anger.

"—and then he said — and I quote! — 'right now, you want to kiss me.' Can you believe him?"

I crossed my arms and bit my tongue. Nothing I had to say would be pretty in that moment, but Elena took one look at my eyes, and her shoulders uncoiled slightly, so I knew she understood that I was just too upset to speak.

I'd had no doubt in my mind that he'd tried to compel her, but when Elena added, "And you know what's even worse? He acted shocked when I didn't kiss him like he suggested," I knew with certainty that he had.

The only reason he would react with that amount of shock over Elena's aversion to infidelity was if he didn't think she had a choice.

My hands shook as the anger started to pool in my body and lit a fire in my chest. The desire to protect my sister became my entire focus, and the anger lingered long after the conversation ended.

Maybe if Enzo hadn't been so quiet, he would have calmed me down, but he hadn't so much as uttered a single sound, so I was left to my own devices with my anger. So, once the house emptied that afternoon and everyone else was out and about — Elena with Bonnie, Jenna talking to Sheriff Forbes about Mr. Tanner, and Jeremy god-knows-where — I grabbed my keys off the hook and went out myself.

It didn't take long to figure out that Damon Salvatore would be hanging out at Mystic Grill. It was one of the few places in town that had an open bar all day long, and he definitely seemed like the sort to day-drink.

As soon as I stepped inside the Grill, I found him there, drinking a glass of amber-colored liquor at the bar by himself, and I didn't waste any time storming up to him.

"Hello, Margot, fancy seeing—"

Without warning, I closed my hand into a fist and punched him on the edge of his jaw. Damon stumbled back on his chair slightly — probably mostly from the shock of it — while I shook out my now throbbing hand.

Damon blinked and stared at me as if I'd grown a second head, but I was still huffing with the adrenaline of punching someone for the first time.

"Did you just—?"

"Punch you with the worst form known to man?" I supplied sarcastically. "Absolutely. Don't come near my sister ever again, you greasy creep."

Still completely baffled by my actions, Damon didn't say a word as I turned on my heel and stormed back out of the Grill to my car. Vaguely, I thought I saw Stefan sitting at one of the tables as I left, but I was too hopped up on adrenaline to pay any attention to it.

However, I barely made it three steps out of the building before Stefan called, "Wait!" and latched a hand onto my bicep to slow me down.

Turns out, he was there to witness that foolish explosion of anger. I didn't regret it one bit though.

"What just happened?" he asked. His voice was full of what seemed to be genuine concern, and he looked rapidly between my eyes, as if searching for the explanation for this out of character behavior in them.

"He tried to make her kiss him," I huffed, still out of breath and shaking from adrenaline.

Understanding dawned in Stefan's eyes, and I didn't imagine the frustration that twitched in the corners of his lips.

"Please understand that I won't let anything happen to my little sister," I said meaningfully.

"I won't either," he tried to assure me, "but you...you shouldn't do things like that. Not with Damon."

I shrugged. "What value does my life have, Stefan, if I can't protect the people I love?"

Stefan choked on his next response, unable to form a word. He hadn't expected that reply from me.

It was a gamble to reveal my hand at least in part to him that day, but I knew that if he was serious about his feelings for Elena, it wouldn't matter. He would do whatever it took to protect her from Damon too.

And if not? I would do whatever it took to get them both away from her. No matter what it did to me.

//

note: the timeline is a little messy as i'm following the show's timeline, and they had a continuity error in these initial episodes. hopefully that doesn't bother you all, but if so, that's why the date for this chapter is a little confusing. (it has technically been two days since the dinner party chapter, but they made the date for the Friday football game 9/12, a Saturday.)

sorry Enzo didn't make it in this chapter either — he's going through it right now, but he'll be back shortly ;) [& he's going to have a lot of thoughts about Margot's reckless decisions in his absence, but you have to admit: she's pretty good at holding her own.]

anyway! thanks so much for reading so far. i am so excited to keep writing and expanding Margot's involvement in this universe, and i love seeing your comments!

i hope you all have a great day/night! :)