SEMPITERNAL ━━ Damon Salvatore ²

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

Her feet began to move toward the scene. Men shouting at her to leave fell on deaf ears as she approached the dark skinned man. Tyler was the first to see she had vanished. "Hey, have you seen Carter?" he asked his mother, who shook her head. Worry began to pulsate through his veins, his mouth turned in a tight frown. Across from him, kneeling down toward the worker, was a very distraught Carter. "Are you okay?" she asked, fighting against the strong urge to reach forward and swirl her fingers within the thick blood. The worker stared at the girl in confusion. "Ye–yeah. Are you crazy?" Her eyes snapped up to meet his, which filled with horror. He let out a scream; a scream full of terror. "You–" His words were cut off when a pair of strong hands yanked Carter to her feet. Her now golden eyes met Damon's icy blue ones.

She ripped her arms from his grasp, glaring deadly at the vampire in front of him. Despite the many confused workers, Damon knelt in front of the bleeding man. "Carter!" Tyler ran toward the girl, much to her dismay. "I didn't do anything, okay?" she spoke. Once Damon finished compelling the worker, he stood up angrily. "Yeah, except almost expose yourself to a human," he growled. She fought the urge to shove him. That blinding rage began to ignite within her stomach at the proximity of the two. "What is wrong with you?" Damon asked her. The feeling of his hand grabbing her arm threw fuel over the flames. She shoved him off with a harsh glare. "Get away from me, Damon," she hissed. Tyler bit back a smirk, watching as the vampire chased after a fleeing Carter.

"Why are you mad?" he asked in confusion. "And why didn't you come home last night? I was worr–" She whirled around to face the vampire, her expression blank. That fire behind her eyes had been doused with ice water, and it puzzled Damon. She was holding back, hiding away behind this hard wall. "That's not my home anymore," she retorted. She stood still, her eyes staring up at Damon. She didn't get that electric feeling. "Carter, babe," he spoke gently. She shook her head. "You and Elena ruined my life." He scoffed at her words. "Are you seriously still mad about that? Carter, you were going to die!" She felt her body begin to tremble at his words. "And you took that choice away from me!" she shouted. She stepped away from the vampire, her chest heaving.

"God, Damon. I remember everything. I remember you compelling me in the mall that day. You used me for your own personal gain. You killed Jackie. And, even after coming back, I still let you use me." Damon watched as the strawberry blonde began to shrink away. Her eyes were narrowed. Dark circles littered her fair skin. "You and I, we're toxic. You're toxic. And I can't help but think that if I hadn't have fallen in love with you, maybe Jackson would still be here." He stepped forward and reached for her. He wanted to show her that what they had wasn't what she was seeing. He loved her more than anything in the world. "I hate you... I hate what you did to me," she sighed. It felt like a weight had been lifted from her chest, freeing her.

"I can't do this anymore, you know? I can't stand here with you, because looking at you makes me sick. Looking at you now makes me want to rip your heart out." Her full lips quirked upward into a sad smile, tears glistening within her eyes. "What happened to forever, huh?" he asked, eyes dull with hurt. She grabbed at her ponytail, ripping at her hair. "You ruined that, Damon. The moment you decided that my choices weren't valuable, you threw away our forever. We're done." Damon's sadness was beginning to transfer to rage as he watched the strawberry blonde move away. "Fine. You know what, I was the best damn thing to ever happen to your pathetic life!" She ignored the insults spewing past his lips. She knew he didn't mean them. He was hurting. "Goodbye, Damon." Her retreating back was the last thing Damon saw of the strawberry blonde that day.

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"All you have to do is walk up, bust those up," Tyler pointed at Carter's chest, "and ask them to buy you beer." Matt, Kaitlin, Tyler, and Carter all sat in Margaret's car, parked behind a gas station. "Perv," Carter retorted jokingly, glaring at her cousin. Both boys in the back began to laugh, and Carter just rolled her eyes. "God, this is humiliating. Can't we just compel people?" Matt tsked the strawberry blonde and placed his hands on her shoulders. "You're the one that wants to he normal. And normal high school girls flirt their way into getting alcohol. Now, go. You're chance is fleeting." Her eyes zeroed in on the man standing at the gas pump. He was going through his wallet. "Give me the twenty," she huffed, holding out her palm.