When Damon and I got back to the Boarding House, he immediately made a beeline for the couch and alcohol.
"I'd offer you some, but..." he trailed off, gesturing to my stomach.
"It's fine. I'm actually pretty tired," I yawned, stretching my arms above my head.
"Come on, let's go upstairs," he proposed.
I grinned at him "That your way of getting me into your bed?"
He laughed a genuine laugh "Is it working?"
"You wish, Damon. But seriously, could you maybe... stay?" I wasn't feeling that well and I always felt safer with someone I could trust around. Okay, I've only really known Damon since yesterday, but my intuition was telling me that with him on my side, I had a loyal friend for as long as I'm honest with him.
"If that's what you want," he nodded "I'm aware we don't know each other that well yet, but you seem like a sweet kid. And for some reason, I feel like you're to be protected." He held out some of his clothes for me and pointed me to the bathroom.
Damon's shirt reached mid-thigh. Either I was extremely small or he was freakishly tall. Maybe even a mix of both. I exited the bathroom, after putting up my light brown hair that reached the middle of my back. The vampire was already sitting on his bed when I got back. I shifted nervously, biting my lip gently.
"Meg, come here," Damon commanded quietly.
I didn't look up, but I did shuffle over to the bed. As soon as I was close enough, he pulled me onto the bed with him and tilted my head up.
"Never look down," he advised "It only shows people that you're fair game."
I stared into his eyes in confusion "It's just since... my pregnancy, I don't feel like confronting people," I whispered.
Damon sighed and pulled me into an embrace, wriggling to get us into a more comfortable position "Get some sleep. Jenna and Ric will be here in around five hours."
I yawned again, leaning my head against his chest.
After what seemed like minutes, someone was shaking me awake "Meg, wake up. You have half an hour before they arrive," Damon whispered, shaking me again.
I fought to get into a sitting position and rubbed my eyes tiredly. When I felt like standing, I quickly grabbed my leggings and my shoes, before disappearing into the bathroom. My usual routine was done in ten minutes and I quickly put on the leggings, socks and shoes, while opting to not change the shirt. I kinda liked that it almost hid my baby bump and it was comfy.
"You're still wearing my shirt," Damon smirked, looking me up and down.
"It's comfy," I shrugged "And it doesn't advertise that I'm pregnant to the whole world."
His smirk dropped into a frown at my words "Why are you going to such lengths to hide it?"
I flinched at the memory. No matter how much I like to kid myself into thinking it, I was far from over the fact that I was raped "Later, yeah? It's something that I really don't want to tell twice."
"Fine," he agreed reluctantly "But only if you promise."
"I'll try, Damon," I vowed "The story is hard for me, so... I'll try."
"Good. They're here," he noted, scooping me up into his arms and speeding down the stairs.
"Geez, warn a girl next time," I cursed. Why in the world do vampires have problems with this? Unbelievable...
The doorbell rang the moment I sat down on one of the very comfortable couches. Damon sped to the front door and opened it, letting in the other two adults.
"So? We're here," Jenna glared "What is it you 'finally' want to tell me?"
"Jenna," I calmed her "It's not their fault, okay? We're going to tell you everything we know, but you have to promise not to freak out before we're done."
She took a deep breath and nodded, a determined look on her face.
"Good. Damon, why don't you start?"
He looked at me for a second and sighed "This might be a shock for you, but I'm a vampire. You know, the kind the council hunts down?" Elena's aunt paled and stared at Damon with wide eyes "I have done a lot of things I regret in the past," the vampire continued "But I'll never hurt you. Any of you three... or five."
"But if you're a vampire, then Stefan...?"
"Is one as well. Elena found out shortly after we arrived in town. Jeremy knows as well."
Hurt flashed across the older woman's face "And they kept it from me?"
I stood up and gestured for Ric to switch places. As soon as he got up, I pulled Jenna into a hug "I won't make excuses for them since Elena isn't my favourite person, but try to understand them. They wanted to keep you safe, even though you probably would have been safer knowing about Supernatural Central, better known as Mystic Falls."
"Who's supernatural in town?" she questioned "And who knows?"
"Erm," I frowned.
"Stefan, Caroline, Elijah, Anna and I are vampires. Well, and Katherine - looks like Elena, by the way. I'll explain later," Damon listed "Bonnie, Luka and his father are nature witches. Tyler is a werewolf and Meagan here is a different kind of witch."
"About the people in the know, there's the council, everyone Damon listed and several visiting vampires and werewolves," I told her, still hugging her gently.
Jenna's gaze rested on Alaric "How do you know?"
"I'm a hunter," he admitted quietly "I'm so sorry that I didn't tell you, but Elena asked me not to. I shouldn't have listened, I know that now."
"It's fine. And it was you three who took the initiative to tell me. I can't blame you for this."
"You're taking this better than I expected," Damon noted, staring at the redhead in suspicion.
"Oh, I'm freaking out, but I doubt that was the whole story, so I'm still reserving judgement," she smiled faintly.
I laughed "I knew I liked you. You're amazing, Jenna."
She preened jokingly "Thanks. So what has been happening right under my nose?"
Damon and Alaric immediately launched into the story of what she had missed. I listened with one ear, trying to determine what to tell them later on. Hm, I should probably find out what they know first, then I can decide where to start.
"Meagan?" Jenna called out my name gently. I snapped out of my thoughts and looked at her "Damon asked you a question."
I blushed lightly "Sorry."
"It's fine," he waved off "I wanted to know if you could tell us about Klaus now."
"Sure. What do you know about him so far?"
Damon shrugged "Not much. He's an Original, the oldest and he's obsessed with breaking the Sun and the Moon curse. Oh, and he's extremely dangerous."
I winced and rubbed a hand over my face "Most of that is wrong," I admitted "Let's start with the Originals. There are five Original vampires. They were all turned on the same day. Finn Mikaelson is the oldest in human years, then his younger siblings. Elijah, Niklaus, Kol and Rebekah."
"Wait!" Jenna cut in "Elijah?"
"Yep," I grinned "Elijah is Niklaus', or Klaus as you know him, older brother."
"Shit," Damon and Alaric cursed "Then why was he trying to help us?"
"Niklaus has daggered his siblings and keeps them in coffins. Elijah is trying to get his family back, even though he'a going about it the wrong way. Now, the curse you know. Sun and the Moon curse. It's rubbish. Whatever sources you saw were fake. Elijah and Niklaus forged them," I continued.
"So there's no curse?"
I shook my head violently "No. There is a curse, but it's not the one you know. That curse binds Niklaus' werewolf side. After his parents arrived in the New World, this area to be specific, his mother cheated on her husband with one of the werewolves that lived there. She became pregnant and gave birth to Niklaus. After she turned her children into vampires, she knew that Niklaus would trigger the gene, so she put a stop to it, in locking part of him away forever. It's disgusting and if I'm honest, I don't really blame Niklaus for turning out as he did. Mikael, his stepfather, abused him for not being his son. He made it his goal in his eternal life to hunt down and kill that bastard his wife bore."
"How do you know all of that?" the vampire hunter asked, a dazed look on his face.
"The Mikaelson's vowed to protect my family centuries ago. One of my ancestors helped them with something, I'm not allowed to talk about. I have a lot about their history in the Grimoires and the journals," I explained, rubbing at my eyes.
"What are we supposed to do now? Klaus or Niklaus or whatever will want to break the curse and that means to kill the doppelgänger," Jenna murmured.
"There are different ways. I will need a bit of Elena's blood in any case, but the way my ancestor's manipulated the ritual it's only one vial. The mature witches are too bound by the ways of their ancestors. For my line, it's more of a guideline. Someone found a way to phrase the ritual just right. You'll still need to sacrifice a vampire and a werewolf, but the doppelgänger will stay alive."
"My head feels like it's about to explode," Damon complained with a groan "Maybe we should stop talking about this now? I think we got through the most important parts already." The other two agreed and I nodded as well "Only one thing left."
I raised an eyebrow and squeezed my eyes shut "I hoped you'd forget. Look, my story is not the best. I'll try my best to get through it, but yeah..."
"Just try," Jenna encouraged, hugging me to her in comfort.
"I was born on the 31st of October 1995. My mother died, giving birth to me and my father ran. He couldn't deal or he just didn't want a kid. Anyway, my grandma took me in and raised me with the knowledge if magic. She told me about my family and read me the journals as bedtime stories. My life was perfect until she died when I was twelve," I started, tears gathering in my eyes when I came to my grandmother's death "Authorities contacted my father and he reluctantly took me in. He was working on an island a few thousand miles away. It's a tourist spot, so there was no school. I enrolled in an online high school. He didn't care much about me and left me alone for most of the time." I didn't tell them about the verbal abuse that would sometimes turn into a few slaps. It wasn't important "Shortly after my fifteenth birthday, I was walking home at night. I had forgotten something at my tutor's house. There's not much of that night, but I was pulled into an alley and... raped. I got pregnant, my dad threw me out and I moved here after getting emancipated. That's about it."
"You went through so much." The adults were amazed at the fact that I was still functioning properly.
"I've gotten a lot better after meeting Elijah. He's helped me a lot," I whispered, leaning against Jenna heavily "Can I have a glass of water?"
Damon nodded and ran off into the kitchen. He handed me the glass and went to pour the three of them some alcohol.
"You know," Alaric started, sipping at his whisky "Even though your biological family isn't here anymore, you're not alone. You have Elijah, Damon and us if you want."
I laughed tearily, taking a gulp of the cold water "Apparently, I'm good at making people like me."
"You're not making us do anything," Damon spoke up firmly "You're sweet and you care about others. That's the reason you're so likeable. Plus, you tell the truth, even though sometimes it's hard."
"I don't like keeping people in the dark," I shrugged "Well, people I like."
"See? That's all you," the vampire smiled "Now, it's late. How about we go to bed and tomorrow, we'll see what happens?" To Ric and Jenna, he said "You can stay in a guest room if you like."
"Thank you, Damon," Jenna nodded, grabbing Alaric's hand "Where to?"
"It's upstairs. The fifth door on the right," he explained, holding his hand out to me "Can I carry you upstairs?"
I blinked at him "Sure." Under my breath, I mumbled "At least you asked this time."
He laughed "You're right, but at least you get a free ride." Damon wiggled his eyebrows suggestively.
I grimaced in disgust "No offence to you, Damon, but eww. I didn't need nor want that image in my head."
Jenna and Alaric burst out laughing at the face Damon made.
"God, kid. You're amazing," Alaric chuckled, ruffling my hair as he and Jenna walked by.
"I know," I smirked smugly, which was ruined by a jaw-cracking yawn.
"Bed for the little witch," Damon decided, scooping me up. He deposited me on the bed and climbed in beside me. I snuggled up to him.
"Thank you," I breathed.
"What for?"
"For being here for me. For doing this." I gestured to his bed and him "I know that it's annoying, but I feel safer with someone I know close."
Damon scoffed "It's not annoying, little witch. I will do whatever you want me to."
"You only met me yesterday. How do you trust me already?"
"It's hard to explain. You're different. You've been hurt as I have. You know how it feels like to be rejected and I can respect that. I don't ever want to do that to another person, so I won't."
I closed my eyes and put my head onto his upper arm "That mask you have is so... different. I don't understand how your brother doesn't see through it, though. He'a known you all his life."
"Stefan only sees what he wants to see. And he wants to see me as this emotionless monster I play for everyone," Damon shrugged.
"Then he's an idiot. Goodnight, Damon."