It's all my fault. That phrase repeats in my head over and over again. She's dead because of me. I killed Andie.
I walk into Damon's bedroom. I haven't talked to him since last night. Elena's behind me encouraging me to go in.
"What do you want?" snarls Damon without turning around to face me. He's taking all his newspaper clippings off his closet door. He's given up.
"I'm sorry," I whisper. It's all I can manage to say.
"Sorry doesn't cut it, Aubrey. You shouldn't have come back to town. Why couldn't you just let me think you were dead?"
The way he says my full name instead of my nickname kills me from the inside out. "I came back to save Stefan."
"Yeah, Stefan. It was always Stefan. Where were you when I was bitten by Tyler Lockwood, huh? I almost died and you didn't care."
I've been trying to avoid this exact conversation. I didn't know about Damon's near death experience until it was over. The guilt's been eating me alive. "I'm here now, Damon."
"Yeah, well, no one wants you here," he growls, ripping a road map off the closet door. He throws what remains of it at me.
I catch it and hold it so I can see what Damon was previously using it for. There are red x's on locations all over the eastern seaboard.
I soon recognize what this is. Damon's been tracking Stefan all along. "You never gave up on him," I whisper.
"Of course I didn't. He's my brother, Aubrey."
At that moment, when I thought I finally got Damon to calm down and be less hostile towards me, Elena enters the room. "You've been lying to me all summer, Damon. Every lead I brought you regarding him you made me feel stupid for holding onto my hope."
"You are stupid, Elena," Damon snarls, finishing emptying out his closet.
"He called me. If he was beyond saving he wouldn't have called," she says.
"He called you?" I gasp, turning my attention to her.
"Don't listen to her lies, Aubrey," groans Damon, flopping down onto his bed.
"What did Stefan say?" I ask Elena.
Before she can answer, Damon cuts in. "He said to stop looking for him. Then he killed Andie."
The mention of what occurred last night stings. When it comes to my emotions guilt is a strong one. When I was human I never could avoid the feeling of guilt. As a vampire it's a lot worse.
Elena speaks up, "He didn't exactly say anything, but I know it was him."
"I wasn't him," Damon deadpans, walking over to his dresser to get liquor. I meet him there and swat his hand away from the bottles. No way can I handle him drunk.
"Trust me. It was Stefan," Elena says, blushing at the memory. She makes me sick.
"It's like arguing with a toddler!" exclaims Damon.
I have a lot of work cut out for me if ever want to save Stefan, I soon realize.
After I get Damon and Elena to stop their bickering, I leave the room with Elena at my side. I've come to the conclusion Damon will be no help right now. Once Elena and I are outside the Boarding House, I turn to her.
"Do you really believe it was Stefan who called you?" I ask, staring intently at her.
She nods her head eagerly. "Aubrey, I know you have no reason to believe me, but I know it was Stefan who called me. I refuse to give up on him."
"We're going to have to go behind Damon's back. He's not going to approve what I have in mind."
"Which is?"
"A trip to the Smokey Mountains in Tennessee."
Elena and I walk along a river as we hike up the mountains. After I found out Stefan was in Tennessee and hunting werewolves, I knew exactly where Klaus and him were heading. The Smokey Mountains was the only place in the whole state remote enough for a werewolf pack and it just so happened tonight was a full moon.
"The full moon is rising in a couple hours, Aubrey and if you're right there's a whole pack of werewolves up there. What if you get bit like Damon did?" asks Elena as if she read my mind.
"We'll be in and out. I'm not too worried about a puny werewolf bite. It just so happens me and Klaus go way back," I laugh.
She frowns confused.
"A story for another time," I say, a smile evident on my face.
I turn my attention back to the path along the river, when I feel someone shove me into the water. I scream and flail my arms in a lame attempt to swim. Someone grasps my waist and steadies me.
I turn to see a pissed off Damon. Just great. How did he find me?
"Hi," I mutter shyly, searching for any hint of humor in his dark eyes. I find none.
"What were you thinking, Bree?" he asks, tightening his grip on my waist.
I was wrong. Damon's not pissed off, he's scared.
"I was thinking that if you wouldn't save Stefan that I would have to," I whisper under my breath, averting my eyes from his.
"I overreacted this morning. I haven't given up on my brother. I was scared after he killed Andie and almost killed... you. I can't lose you, Bree. Not again," he sighs, bringing one of his hands from my waist to hold my chin. He gently moved my head so our eyes could meet. I see nothing, but sincerity.
I'm about to speak, when I hear Elena coughing from the shore. "Sorry to interrupt, but the moon will be rising any minute now. I don't think either of you want to encounter a werewolf tonight."
Damon releases his hold on me and wades to shore. Not long after, I follow his lead. All three of us continue hiking up the mountains.
"How much further," I groan.
"Why's it matter? You're a vampire," says Elena annoyed.
"I may not get tired, Drama Queen, but I do get bored and right now I'm bored with you," I snicker, pointing at her to emphasize my point.
"Way to be mature, Bree," Damon says lowly, keeping his eyes trained on the path ahead of us.
"Oh, Damon. You should know I'm anything, but mature," I giggle.
"Glad to know your humor hasn't changed," he remarks. I'm about to respond when a man staggers out of the woods.
"Werewolf?" asks Elena.
At that moment, the man's eyes turn crimson and fangs launch from his jaws. "I don't think so," I mutter, my eyes never leaving the strange man.
"Vampire," he growls. Before I can register what is happening, the man jumps at me. I'm shoved out of the way as Damon takes him on in a fight.
I stare in utter shock as Damon is thrust into a tree. My eyes almost bulge out of my skull as I realize he's about to bite Damon. I quickly snap the man's neck from behind and he falls unconscious.
"Let me guess. Hybrid," says Elena.
I nod. "Get the ropes out, Elena," I order her, dragging the hybrid's body over to a tree.
Elena gets the ropes ready and Damon snatches them out of her hands. Idiot. "Ow!" he screams, dropping them.
"They're coated in vervain, you dimwit."
"Thanks for telling me, Aubrey," he says sarcastically.
"You're welcome," I say cheerfully just as Elena finishes tying ropes around the man.
"I don't think these are going to hold him," Damon says negatively.
Suddenly, the hybrid's eyes flash open and he groans in unnatural pain.
"Is he turning?" exclaims a distressed Elena.
"The moon's not even up yet," I hiss.
"Tell him that," says Damon snidely. I glare daggers at him then face our soon to be werewolf.
"We have to get out of here!"
"You're telling me?" asks Damon in disbelief.
"Drop the sarcasm and run!"
We tramp through the woods having absolutely no clue how to get out of them now that it's dark.
"We have to split up, Bree!" shouts Damon.
"What?"
"It's our best bet. I'll distract our werewolf friend and you get Elena back to the car."
"You know I can't do that!"
"Yes, you can! We don't have time to argue. I promise I'll make it back to you." After that, he turns left from Elena and me and takes off to who knows where.
I get Elena back to the car as fast as I can manage. I leave her there against all her pleads to come with me and run back into the werewolf infested forest. I can't let Damon get bitten.
I push branch after branch out of my way when I hear a low growling. I freeze in my tracks and slowly spin around. There stands the man we tied up earlier.
I move to run, but he lunges at me. I scream as I try and push him off of me, but do not prevail. He sinks his canine teeth into my exposed neck.
Out of nowhere, Stefan appears and rips the monster's heart out. I look up at my best friend with pleading eyes. I see not a hint of emotion in his own.
He kneels down beside me and that delusional side of me thinks he's going to help me. I soon realize he's not. Stefan ruthlessly snaps my neck.
A.N. Hello, lovely readers. I wish I could give you a valid reason why I have not updated in what feels like a millennium, but I sadly cannot. My only excuse is life. Life is what kept me from writing and I can almost bet it will keep me from writing again. I'll try as I might to fight against it, but most of the time it's more important than my Wattpad books. Any who, enough of my ranting. Hope you enjoyed this long awaited update. :)