Tourniquet || Damon Salvatore (1)

Chapter 16: Remember

Stefan and Elena rushed over to me and hovered over me like I was a wounded bird. I felt my neck and noticed that blood was still trickling out of it. I found myself starting to feel lightheaded.

I stared off weakly as Stefan crouched in front of me and looked up at Elena as he explained, "I can save her." Before he could bite into his wrist he was pushed aside by Damon.

Damon crouched down and looked at me with concern for a brief moment before looking back at Stefan, "No need to, saint Stefan." Damon bit into his wrist and held it in front of me, waiting for me to drink from it. It seemed like he didn't want to force me and was giving it as an option.

I weakly grabbed his wrist and drank some of his blood from a punctured vein. It tasted terrible but the feeling it gave me was amazing. It felt better than any drug I ever had with Vicki. As soon as I didn't feel as weak and drowsy as before, I pulled away.

I saw Stefan, Elena, and Bonnie staring at me. Bonnie in particular was staring in horror. "Her neck, it's healing." Bonnie spoke out of shock. I reached a hand to touch my neck and noticed she was right.

My eyes met Damon's that stared at me intently. I awkwardly looked away and slowly got up. I looked around everyone around me and awkwardly asked, "Can someone take me home? I think I've had enough craziness for one night."

"I'll do it." Damon said quickly. He then looked at a worried Stefan and reassured him, "Don't worry I'm not going to kill her," Damon spoke sincerely.

Stefan narrowed his brows, clearly unconvinced. This caused Damon to put his hands in the air in defense. Stefan must've thought Damon was being out of character. I too, thought he wasn't being himself.

"It's fine...He would've killed me by now if he wanted to," I explained, hoping I was right.  At this point I just wanted to get home.

Elena and Bonnie exchanged worried glances as I waved them off. As I walked away, I noticed Elena pull Bonnie to the side to talk to her. I figured that Elena was probably going to tell Bonnie about vampires.

I walked over to Damon while he directed his attention to Stefan, "Katherine never compelled me. I knew everything. Every step of the way. It was real for me. I'll leave now," His icy eyes glossed over and I felt a familiar pang in my heart because he still loved her.

Stefan hesitated but ultimately said nothing before turning to head over to Elena and Bonnie.

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The walk to my house was silent. Neither Damon or I said a word. When we reached my street, I pointed to my house and stated, "We're here. Thanks for walking back with me."

Damon nodded to me as he stuck his hands in the pockets of his jacket. I turned and began to unlock the front door when I heard Damon abruptly comment, "Wait. You came through for me by trying to help get the medallion. The least I can do is keep my end of the deal."

I turned around and stared at him with my mouth slightly parted. With all of the hysteria that happened I had briefly forgotten about the deal.  The fact that he was keeping his end of the deal meant a lot to me.

"What are Stefan and Elena hiding from me?" I questioned anxiously.

Instead of responding Damon walked over to me, getting as close to me as he could. He finally explained, "The reason why you have holes in your memory is because I compelled you. I saw how much pain you were in and wanted to take it away. However, even when I took the memories away the pain was still there."

I stared at Damon in shock. He moved closer to me and softly cupped my face as he stared into my eyes. His touch was gentle and warm.

I noticed his pupils dilating then shrinking as he spoke out softly, "Remember everything that happened with Vicki, the cemetery, the Halloween party, and Elena's porch."

Flashes of memories played out in my head like a deleted scenes from a movie. These scenes were foreign at first, yet familiar once they stopped rushing in. Feelings of Sorrow, shock, and anger were waves that violently washed over me. I felt like I was drowning.

All of the puzzle pieces were together and I couldn't believe it...Damon turned Vicki into a vampire and Stefan killed her to protect Jeremy, Elena, and I. Elena had Damon compel me to forget and put false memories in my head!

How could she? More importantly, how could Damon and Stefan agree to this? I just couldn't believe that Stefan would agree to compelling me. I thought he was a good guy.

To make matters worse, my own best friend lied to my face about keeping secrets when I called her out on it. Who knows what else she's hiding from me? Elena had no right to do that to me.

I felt sick to my stomach and felt my whole body shake. I stared up at Damon with eyes that were full of overwhelming sadness. He peered at me with worry, causing me to tremble and turn away from him. I felt my breathing become ragged and had a hard time swallowing. The feeling of dread felt everlasting.

This whole time I thought Vicki ran away. I even unknowingly lied to sheriff Forbes and now Matt and Jeremy won't know the truth. What made my skin crawl even more was the fact she compelled Jeremy too.

I felt a sudden surge of anger return and turned around to see that Damon was still standing there. I moved toward him and moved my fists, ready to punch him. With his vampiric speed, he caught my wrists before they could make contact with his chest. He held them in a tight grip as I roughly hollered, "How could you do this to me?"

Damon's brows furrowed as he stared at me with dejection. He sighed softly and after a moment of silence he finally confessed with a strained voice, "I...I'm sorry."

I wanted to yell at him until I couldn't yell anymore but stopped myself when I remembered that he was the one that gave me the truth.

Despite how horrendous Damon was to turn Vicki, he owned up to it. He could have been selfish and left me compelled, so I would think less terribly of him but he didn't. I wanted to loathe him but I part of me couldn't.

The anger in my face softened into sadness because no matter how angry I was, it wasn't going to bring Vicki back. I felt my whole body tremble again. My hands covered my eyes that were welling with tears.

I gasped lightly when I felt Damon pull me into his arms. I stood still with my arms at my sides for a moment before moving my hands around him. I'm uncertain how long I stood there hugging him with my eyes closed.

When I opened my eyes I slowly moved away from him, which allowed me to murmur out, "I should probably get some rest."

"Saint Stefan is probably worrying that I killed you so I should get going," He stated, acting like everything was back to normal.

I stared at him, feeling conflicted as to how I should feel toward him and replied, "Goodnight Damon."

"Goodnight Arina." He replied, giving me a once over glance before leaving.

I quickly opened my front door and walked into my house. After shutting the door, I immediately leaned my back against it. Letting out a loud sigh, I closed my eyes.

Damon is the reason why so many people are dead. Yet, he told me he wanted to take away my pain. Did he actually care about me? Or did he just want to use me like Caroline? What scared me was the fact that I trusted him more than I trusted Elena and Stefan.

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Word Count: 2024
Author's Note: I hope you all enjoyed this chapter! Let me know if you guys think I should make more manips of Damon and Arina (like the one on top of this chapter). :)