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Damon's words reverberated in my head as I dazed off in history class. He said I was charmer. When he found out what I was he treated me like I was a stranger. I never meant to hurt him but it seemed that no matter what I did he would've responded the same.
I returned my focus to the class lecture which was about Founders Day. However, my attention wasn't fixated on Alaric for too long. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Bonnie walk into the classroom and interrupt him by doing so.
"Sorry I'm late," She murmured out of breath as she hastily closed the classroom door.
"Well, it looks like we will be at full occupancy today. Welcome home, Bonnie," Alaric greeted nonchalantly before continuing his lecture.
My eyes focused on Bonnie as she sat down in the vacant seat between Elena and I. After she exchanged smiles with Elena, she turned her focus to me.
"I missed you so much. I know this is a lot to ask but I could use some help with something," I whispered discreetly to her.
"I missed you too and I'm always here for you. Let's talk after class," She smiled softly as she whispered back to me.
⋆
After class, Bonnie softly grabbed my hand and rushed out. She discreetly told me she didn't want to be near Elena or Stefan right now and I understood. She lost her Grams and Elena made the grieving process worse by telling Bonnie that the spell on the tomb failed. I could only imagine the pain she was feeling, knowing that her Grandmother died for nothing.
The two of us made our way outside of the school building and sat in her car for our break in between classes.
As soon as we sat inside, I immediately pulled her into a tight hug,"I'm so glad you're back, Bonnie."
She hugged me back and when we pulled away she mentioned," Elena told me about you being a Hamadryad. While I was grieving I did some research because I think we all know you're not the researching type. Especially when it's relating to yourself."
I nodded my head and let out a chuckle before I replied to her, "Thanks Bon. I keep randomly triggering these Hamadryad aspects and I've been lucky enough to not trigger anything in public." As I explained, I started to remember when I got submerged in the tree while kissing Damon and then his cold demeanor when he found out what I was.
"Based on what I've researched so far you're capable of living a normal and happy life. Since your life is connected to a tree you just need to continue to incorporate plant based nourishment. Keep in mind that you can feel when your tree is being burned or cut down. Also, the book I read says that the certain type of pain you'll feel is associated with how the tree is destroyed," Bonnie explained as she pulled out two granola bars from her bag and handed me one before she took a bite out hers.
After I took a bite out of my granola bar before I murmured sadly," Damon told me I was a charmer and that I didn't even need to do anything to charm people. He made it sound like I was a siren, luring men," I stared down at my granola bar replaying what had happened in my head again and again.
Bonnie broke me out of my internal hell when she grabbed my hands and explained seriously," Arina, Damon needs to check his facts. At the end of the day. You're a beautiful girl. Of course you're going to charm boys but when it comes to being a Hamadryad, it can be controlled. Even though Hamadryads have many powers like being able to get into the heads of those charmed, control minds of charmed, and merge with plants, it's up to you on whether or not you're going to use them. Arina, you have the control."
A single tear rolled down my face as my voice choked up when I hoarsely replied, "Thanks Bonnie. I needed that."
"Of course," She replied with a reassuring smile, giving my hand a tight squeeze.
The two of us began to catch up for the duration of the break period. When the passing period bell had rung out the two of us headed to our next class.
⋆
When class ended, Bonnie and I were heading out when we suddenly heard Elena shout out,"Bonnie!"
The two of turned around and saw Elena running up to us with a look of confusion on her face.
Bonnie turned and replied awkwardly to Elena,"Hey," She then continued to walk off. I could tell she still didn't want to talk to Elena.
"Hey, I tried to grab you after class but you already took off. How are you? How's your family?" Elena inquired worriedly, adjusting the strap of her bag anxiously. She must've realized how distant Bonnie was being with her.
Bonnie and I stopped in place as she replied to Elena honestly,"We're dealing, it's been hard."
Elena looked between Bonnie and I and murmured,"Everyone here really missed you."
"Yeah, I just had so much to deal with after Grams' funeral and, honestly after you told me the tomb spell failed I just didn't really want to come back,"Bonnie admitted, trying to tell Elena to go away in a nice way.
Elena pushed on and responded with," I hope that you understand why I called...I wanted you to know before you came home."
"I understand why. I just...shouldn't know," Bonnie replied, understandably hurt.
I watched as the two of them looked at each other awkwardly during a long pause.
"I know it's been really hard..." Elena started but was cut off by Caroline when she rushed over and cheered out,"Bonnie! Bonnie! Thank god you're home!" She then pulled Bonnie in a similar embrace I had her in earlier.
Seeing Caroline with a chipper outlook made me happy. I remembered that she was having problems with Matt so I was glad to see that it wasn't keeping her down.
Caroline then continued by saying,"I know we talked everyday but I missed you. How are you doing?" Caroline excitedly pulled away from the hug.
I looked over at Elena and saw she was looking between Bonnie and Caroline jealously. It was clear she was upset about how Bonnie talked to Caroline everyday and not much to her.
Bonnie didn't talk to me that much either but I wasn't really hurt by it. I wanted to give her some space so she could grieve. Caroline wasn't the type of person to take no for an answer and her and Bonnie were on good terms. It makes sense that they were talking the most.
"Better. Better. You know, glad to be back and trying to keep myself busy," Bonnie trailed on, glancing at Elena before turning her attention to mainly Caroline and I.
Caroline got excited and smiled widely as she exclaimed,"Well, I can help with that. Major wardrobe problem. You and Arina need to help me pick up the perfect dress for the Founder's court, " She looked at both Bonnie and I, ignoring Elena completely.
Elena jumped back into the conversation with a look of confusion on her face,"The Founders' court? Did I miss something?"
Caroline looked at her like she was crazy as she quickly explained,"The Founder's court! You know, Miss Mystic Falls. They announced it today and you and I are both on it."
Elena had a look of realization on her face,"Oh my god! We signed up for that so long ago...I completely forgot. "
Caroline scoffed and replied,"Yeah." She shot Elena a look of annoyance as she then proceeded to question out,"So, are you dropping out then?"
"I can't," Elena awkwardly admitted, shaking her head at Caroline.
I glanced over at Bonnie, who had a look of understanding on her face as she smiled softly.
"No?" Caroline questioned, clearly disappointed. Was she threatened by Elena? Did she think Elena was going to win?
"Her mom is the one who wanted her to enter," I explained, answering any questions Caroline may have had.
Caroline mouthed,"ooh" and everyone went silent. The mood changed to one of sadness.
Elena finally stated,"I'm going to go. I need to ask Stefan if he'll be my escort."
I bit my lower lip debating on whether or not I should tag along with her. If she was planning on going to Stefan's house there was no way I was going to go with her. I couldn't bare to see Damon treat me differently.
I gave her a small smile as I replied sweetly,"Bye Elena." Bonnie and Caroline followed afterwards with their byes and Elena waved to us before leaving.
When she was a long enough way from the three of us, Caroline excitedly mentioned,"We should buy the dresses now if we want to get any of the good ones before they sell out."
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Dress shopping with Caroline always took forever. Especially when it came to big events. It took us a long while to find her the perfect dress. We eventually found her a sleeveless shamrock green dress. In my opinion it was was stunning on her.
When Caroline walked out of the dressing room Bonnie immediately stated,"That's the one."
I nodded my head in agreement and said," It's giving me major Poison ivy vibes. I love it."
Caroline smiled widely and twirled around in it, clearly happy with our comments.
After we were done dress shopping, I parted ways with Bonnie and Caroline. Bonnie was going to be Caroline's dance escort at the rehearsal because Matt couldn't make it. I thought that was very nice of her to do considering she just got back.
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As I got into my brother's car, I received a phone call from Damon and reluctantly answered. "Yes, Damon?" I mumbled out with mixed feelings into my phone.
"So I was right when I had this feeling that you were upset with me." He commented in a cocky manner. I was tempted to hang up but didn't.
I rolled my eyes, and replied,"You really don't like to answer my questions do you? Besides, you're the one who got cold with me. You treated me like a stranger and that really hurt."
Damon softly agreed then proceeded to explain, "I know. As much as I'd like to talk about us, we can't. We have a problem at hand. I'm assuming you're going to the Miss Mystic Falls pageant at the Founders Hall so I'm going to make this clear: Stefan is still drinking human blood. He'll do anything and he'll say anything because he's not going to want to stop."
I sat in my car in shock. It took me a moment to remember I was on the phone so I quickly exclaimed,"He's Elena's escort, Damon. You can't tell her!"
"Oh she needs to know this. He has a fridge full of stolen blood bags from multiple hospital blood banks. Arina, please trust me on this," He firmly responded.
I sighed for what felt the millionth time and softly agreed,"Okay." I ran a shaky hand through my hair before adding, "This is really bad...Not only is Elena in danger but everyone else is too! Damon, can you promise me something?"
"Yeah. What is it?" He replied slowly.
I took a deep breath and began to explain,"If Stefan goes AWOL Elena is going to need a partner."
"...And you want me to jump in and take on that role?" He questioned, clearly annoyed.
"Yes." I confirmed.
"No."
"It would mean a lot to me if you did it. Elena's doing it for her mom," I quickly responded.
"Fine." He replied after letting out a disgruntled sigh.
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When I arrived to the ceremony the only person I could find was Stefan. I took a shaky deep breath before heading over to him.
"Hey Stefan," I greeted him in a friendly manner as I gave him a wide smile and hugged him.
"Hey Arina," Stefan beemed and hugged me back. He seemed normal enough.
"So, do you know where Elena is?" I inquired, knowing he would be able to tell me. He was after all her escort.
"She's getting ready...I'll take you to her," He smiled and put a hand on his waist so I could link my arm with his.
As we headed over I broke the awkward silence and in a hushed manner I questioned to him," We're friends right?"
After Stefan nodded his head I added, "Then you know that if you need someone to talk to, I'm here."
Stefan scoffed as he unlinked our arms,"Damon told you didn't he? The blood doesn't change anything. I'm perfectly fine."
I looked at him with uncertainty and hesitantly replied,"Okay...If you say so."
When we entered the changing room Elena was in, we found Damon in there with her. He was most likely filling her in of what was going on.
I studied his appearance and thought looked handsome in his black tuxedo.
Stefan made our entrance loud and clear by saying,"Uh, what's going on in here?"
"I was just filling Elena on your extra-curricular activities," Damon replied as both him and Elena turned to see us in the entryway.
Stefan scoffed, cocking his head to the side and narrowed his eyes at his brother,"What are you talking about?"
Elena looked hurt as she responded,"I know about the blood, Stefan."
Damon slowly walked out of the room after awkwardly saying,"I'm uh - I'll be downstairs, drinking."
After he left, Stefan chuckled and smiled nervously before explaining,"I was going to tell you."
"I think I'll leave as well." I awkwardly commented as I fast walked out of the room, finding Damon not that far from it.
"Hey," I greeted him awkwardly as I stood next to him.
"Hello. I'm surprised you're talking to me." He spoke as he picked up a glass full of alcohol.
"Yeah...So am I," I murmured as we made eye contact. "I have this theory that I'm not the only one who can charm."
"Oh really? Who else do you think is charming?" He questioned out, furrowing his brows and taking a sip of his drink.
I took a deep breath and answered,"You. You've charmed me. From the moment we've met I've been under your 'spell.' The way you look at me with your beautiful blue eyes to the way you understand me. I know we didn't date too long but I enjoyed every second of it. What I am doesn't change the fact that I care about you. And I hope you realize that I would never do what Katherine did to you. I do understand if you don't want to be with me because I'm not who you thought-"
He cut me off with a quick but passionate kiss. I instantly responded by kissing him back. I felt his arms wrap around my waist, bring me closer to him. It was utter bliss.
When we pulled away I looked into his eyes and saw the dazzling adoration in them he had for me. Right when he was about to speak we both saw the escorts and the mayor line up for the contestants. It didn't take long before Mayor Lockwood began to call out the names of the contestants.
As I skimmed the line of escorts I didn't see Stefan. "He's not there," I spoke with panic. "Fill in for him please. I'll see if I can track him down."
"Arina I don't think that's a good idea.." Damon stated in disapproval. His brows were knitted together as if he was trying to come up with a better idea.
"Please trust me on this," I replied to him with the words he gave me earlier. Before he could give me his response, I pecked his cheek and took off.
⋆
I rushed to the only place I knew would be empty of people: the parking lot. Sure enough I found Stefan with Amber, one of the contestants. I guess that explains why she didn't come down when her name was called.
I gulped as I saw he had her pushed against his car. I watched as he compelled her,"You're standing in the parking lot with me."
Amber then repeated,"I'm in the parking lot with you." My eyes widened and I felt myself freeze in place as I watched. This was a side of Stefan that was foreign to me.
"I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm not very good to be around right now, I'm a little bit on the edge. I've been drinking the human stuff and it's really screwing with my head. She knows now. God! She wasn't supposed to find out. I didn't want her to found out and now everything's ruined," Stefan ranted, completely off his rocker.
Amber looked at him with a frown and calmly replied," You seem sad." This caused Stefan to release a crazed laugh. His laugh broke me out of my daze.
I moved toward them as I heard Stefan shout," I'm not sad. I'm freaking hungry!"
"Stefan, please let her go." I calmly spoke to him, trying to conceal the fear within me. He whipped his head around and I saw that veins were protruding underneath his eyes and his fangs were out.
"Arina... You're not supposed to be here," Stefan shouted, as panic showed on his face.
"Stefan, let amber go and we can talk about this. You're my friend and I care about you. Just please don't hurt her." I adamantly negotiated with him.
In an instant, Stefan reached me, using his vampiric speed. It startled me, making me back up. Inspecting him closely, I noticed that he did not look good at all. I then looked around, trying to think of a plan. He continued to move toward me, making the space between us shrink to nothing.
"I don't hurt people. I don't do that. I'm the good brother," Stefan spoke in a manic state, lying to himself.
"Do you want to hurt us?" Amber questioned out referring, referring to both of us. I glanced over at her and saw that Stefan had compelled her in place so she didn't move.
Stefan moved closer to me and admitted, "I want to kill you, I want to rip into your skin and I want to feed on your blood." A crazed smile formed on his face.
He touched my hair softly and stared at my neck before adding,"Under your skin, pulsating, floating." He then touched my neck and roughly touched my carotid artery.
"Stefan...This isn't you. You can fight through this." I whispered, scared of what he had become.
"Your carotid artery is right here. If you puncture this just right you can control the blood flow. It takes practice but it doesn't have to make a mess, you don't have to waste any," He said, touching my carotid artery, almost in a daze. He was consumed by his blood lust.
"What's stopping you?" Amber asked out in monotone, still compelled.
Stefan touched my face and replied to her,"If I do this, if I give in, there's no going back."
"Then don't," Amber continued and I shot her a death glare even though she was under compulsion.
My lip trembled and my legs shook as Stefan explained,"I just want one taste; that's all I need, I just want one taste."
I pushed back the anxiety and fear that was consuming me and firmly spoke, "If you do this you won't be able to forgive yourself. If you do this-" but was shortly silenced as I felt him bite into my neck and drink my blood. I released a shocked gasp as I felt him pull my body incredibly close to his as he drank from my neck.
"S-Stefan. S-stop!" I yelled out in pain. With as much strength as I had in me, I moved backwards as he drank from my neck and found that I was up against a tree. I placed one of my hands on it, remembering how I got submerged in it while kissing Damon.
I felt weaker as he continued to feed off of me so I kicked Stefan in the shin as hard as I could. Stefan's grip on my neck was weakened as I felt him falter back.
"Get off!" I shouted weakly between gritted teeth. My hand reached deeper in the tree as I felt Stefan pull away. I opened my eyes to find that roots from the tree I was touching were pushing him back. I took this as my chance to move even closer to the tree and barricaded myself with more roots. They formed some sort of shield.
Stefan looked at me with anger and hunger. His mouth was covered in my blood. I felt lightheaded, just thinking about it.
"I see that you want to play games. Well, I have all the time in the world to wait for you," He explained with that crazed smile he had earlier. He then turned to Amber and sunk his teeth in her without a single thought.
All I could do was hope and pray Damon and Elena would come. I placed a hand to my bleeding neck and felt woozy, shutting my eyes. I couldn't believe that Stefan was so consumed in his hunger that he was willing to hurt me.
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"Stefan, come on get control. It's okay, come on. Breath through it man," Someone pleaded, waking me up.
My eyes fluttered open and I saw that Damon and Elena were confronting Stefan. Bonnie was there as well. I don't think they noticed me.
I watched as Stefan caught Damon and threw him against a tree. The tree I was submerged in. I immediately un-submerged myself and shouted,"Damon!" My voice sounded rough, probably from when I yelled earlier.
Bonnie and Elena whipped their heads to see me with wide eyes and Damon looked at me with sorrow as he quickly got up and helped me up as well. When I was up he tried to pull his hand away but I shakily grabbed it. He furrowed his brows at me before pulling me closer to him. I shakily touched my neck, getting blood from the puncture on my hand. Damon noticed and was staring at me sadly. It looked like he was blaming himself.
"I went after him after you told me not to. My actions led to me getting hurt, not yours," I tried to reassure him. It seemed like my words had reached him but I could tell he was still sad I had gotten hurt.
"Stefan stop it!" Elena shouted at him.
All the sudden Stefan was holding his head in pain and sure enough it was from Bonnie. She was casting some kind of spell that was hurting him. She stopped shortly when Stefan seemed to have backed down.
"It's okay. Stefan," Damon tried to comfort him. Stefan however had his eyes glued on me. I stared back at him, feeling conflicted. His eyes then looked over at Amber then at Elena. He looked horrified at what he had done. Blood was still dripping from his mouth while his eyes began to gloss over.
In an instant he ran away. I reached a bloody hand out and was about to shout when Damon murmured to me in a soothing manner,"He'll be fine." I turned to look at him for some sort of justification that could be shown on his face but it wasn't there. It was only in his words.
Bonnie ran over to me and pulled me into a hug. "You just proved to yourself that you are capable of protecting yourself. Have faith in yourself when it comes to controlling what you are."
I nodded, "Thanks Bonnie."
⋆
After awhile of waiting, the police arrived. Damon, Bonnie, and Elena stayed nearby as Liz Forbes interrogated me.
"Do you remember anything that happened?" Liz asked me.
I felt nervous as I replied,"The only thing I remember is leaving the party searching for Amber and then waking up in pain, surrounded by my friends." I had to lie to her in order to protect Stefan and it was killing me. I didn't want to lie to the authorities.
"Do you think you were drugged or anything?" Liz asked hoping to gain more information on what had happened.
"I don't know," I lied further.
Liz patted my shoulder in a comforting manner and sadly responded,"Okay, thank you Arina. If you remember anything let me know." She then shot me a sympathetic look.
"Will do chief," I replied and headed to Elena and Bonnie as Liz approached Damon.
"Danger always seems to find us," Bonnie commented solemnly.
"Yeah. Unfortunately I think that's just how it's going to be from now on," I replied honestly, staring at my right hand, that had my crusted blood on it.
I was broken out of my thoughts when Liz walked over and questioned out to Elena and Bonnie," You didn't see anything?" There was a long pause and Elena and Damon looked at Bonnie.
"No, we just found Arina and Amber and then called Damon," Elena replied.
"Is Amber gonna be okay?" Bonnie asked worriedly.
Sherif Forbes looked at Bonnie and affirmed,"It looks like it yeah. Why don't you girls get back to the party? Damon and I can take it from here."
"Okay," Elena replied
The three of us left, leaving Damon with Liz.
Bonnie wrapped an arm around my shoulder and led me to my car. "I called your dad. He somewhat knows what happened."
"Thanks Bon," I replied, giving her a thankful smile.
"Bonnie, can we talk about this?" Elena asked, announcing her presence. I guess she was following us.
"There's nothing to talk about," Bonnie stated, wanting her to leave.
"Bonnie, please!" Elena shouted.
"I told you I wasn't gonna make you choose but I need to make the choice for myself. Please just leave me alone," Bonnie spat at her before opening my door for me. I got in and watched as Elena looked at Bonnie and I with a sad expression.
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After I got home I was lectured by my dad. He told me how lucky I was and he wouldn't know what to do if he had lost me.
When he was done I went straight to me room and had a bath. After, I threw on a huge sweatshirt that barely touched my knees.
"Nice Pjs," I heard, as I walked into my room and saw it was Damon. He was lounging on my bed with a dopey grin on his face.
I playfully rolled my eyes before meekly replying, "Thanks."
"Elena and I took care of Stefan," He started. I raised a brow causing him to continue, "Elena vervained him and we put him in a cell in the basement."
The mention of Stefan made me nervous. I didn't realize until now that one of my hands were clenched in a fist.
Damon noticed and slowly got off my bed and grabbed my hands before soothing me," Hey, my brother is a good guy...He's not himself right now and you did everything you could to help him. I'm sure he feels terrible about what he did to you."
"Damon... I was so scared, earlier today. He wouldn't listen to me," I broke down, tears forming in my eyes.
I suddenly felt myself being held tightly. He wrapped one arm around me while the other stroked my hair. "I know...I won't let it happen again," He whispered to me softly before placing a kiss on my forehead.
Even though he couldn't stop the inevitable, knowing that he would try to stop it made me feel safe.
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Word Count: 4704
Author's Note: I hope you all enjoyed this chapter! It's not too long but it's also not too short.