Kismet | Damon Salvatore

Chapter 3

Maribel arrived alone to the Costume Ball.

Wes hadn't had the decency to text her back with enough time for her to plan how they would be arriving to the ball, be it together, separate, or whether they'd even be meeting up prior to have a nice dinner. She drove herself there and shuffled forward in one of her mother's dresses from the fifties, accurate with something Rosalind Franklin would have worn.

She wasn't sure where to go or what to do without a date by her side. She made idle chit chat with a few students she recognized, slowly getting closer and closer to the table where all the beverages were set out.

"Fancy meeting you here."

"Oh, for fuck's sake," she said, turning to face Damon. "What the hell are you wearing?"

He gestured to his shirt. "I guess a science geek wouldn't recognize this, huh? I'm Henry the Eighth."

"Weird," she said. "Leave me alone."

"Your sister was my substitute drinking buddy when Ric died, and now she's gone, so you're up to take her spot, Beli."

"Thanks, but no thanks."

He continued to follow her. Finally she just burst out, "How's Stefan?"

"He's great," said Damon, suddenly not looking very chatty.

She raised a brow. "Let me guess, lots of tension back home with your girlfriend trying to help him get his memories back. She's probably worrying a lot about him... It might have been wiser to follow my advice and just sedate him."

Damon smiled cheekily. "You are just full of opinions, aren't you?"

"And you are full of yourself. And of air, it seems, not a single brilliant thought in your brain. How do you even survive without more than a couple brain cells?"

"As always, begging me to kill you, Beli," he said, snatching her drink away from her and drawing a sip instead of getting his own.

"No wonder Meredith hated you," she said, asking the bartender for another drink.

He didn't respond, and when she turned back, she realized why. Elena was off to the side speaking with Aaron, a small smile on her face.

"Who's that?" muttered Damon.

"A student," she said simply. "She's in college now, she's allowed to make friends. Seriously, at this point, just enroll here if you want to make it known that she's your girlfriend. Or, maybe, you can actually learn to take advice and sedate Stefanuntil he heals so you don't have a little green eyed monster taking over you. The jealous act isn't cute. Like, I get it, it's probably weird, which is why brothers shouldn't date each other's exes, but I digress... your problems would be easily solved if you did what I recommended so Stefan can remember that he and Elena have long since been over."

"How would you feel about sedating someone who's not Stefan?"

She raised a brow. "How did this turn into me sedating someone? That's not what I said."

"No, but you know how to do it. Do you have anything in your lab that can take down a witch?"

She hesitated. "Look, I already told Caroline I don't want to be involved..."

"Just answer my question."

"I assume regular barbiturates would work on a witch, since they're basically mortals. There's no guarantee, since I don't study the supernatural like Meredith did, but I can get you the injection."

"I don't just need the injection. I need you to be the one injecting it."

"You can't be serious! What part of me not wanting to be involved in this doesn't make sense to you?"