Replaceable [Damon x OC]

Chapter 11

Because of everything she had learned, Aelynn had trouble sleeping. She laid of her bed as she tossed and turned, eventually giving up. She went to peak out her window only to see Stefan standing on the front porch. He looked like he was moping. Aelynn, against her better judgement, put on a sweatshirt and ventured to the porch and stood next to Stefan.

He looked surprised to see the eldest Gilbert, "you're not scared of me?" he phrased it more like a question than a statement.

Aelynn sat down on the swinging bench, "I have a feeling that we're safe with you, I don't know how, but I do."

"You seem like you're taking this well," he offered, trying to make it a compliment.

"I'm scared out of my mind," she admitted, "but fear isn't going to help me."

Stefan looked at his phone then at her, "you need to get some sleep."

Aelynn shook her head, "that would be a lost cause," she let out a quiet laugh, "I haven't gotten a full night of sleep since-" she stopped herself and looked up at the ceiling of the porch. "It's not easy for me to sleep," she admitted. Then she looked at Stefan, "give Elena time, she'll come around. She's crazy about you, even if you are," she waved her hand, "however old you are."

"162," Stefan replied.

Aelynn let her eyes widen as she nodded her head, "a silver fox, okay," she stated plainly.

This made Stefan laugh, "you know how to charm people," he joked with her.

"I can make friends with anyone, including the resident nighttime lurker," she stated, "why are you outside our house in the middle of the night?" she asked, cocking her head to the side as she looked at the vampire.

"Damon," Stefan sighed out, "he got loose."

Aelynn nodded in shock, so that was what Caroline did. "So, you're..." she thought for a second, "making sure he doesn't come here?" Her voice became smaller than she wanted it to be.

Stefan gave her a nod, "it's not very smart of you to be out here at night," he told her gently.

She gave him a shrug as she brought her feet up onto the swing and rest her head on her knees and wrapped her arms around her legs. "He's been invited in, hasn't he? What difference does it make if I'm out here?" She fought to find some sort of courage, trying to believe that she wouldn't be hurt by Damon, that she wasn't a target of his.

Stefan gave her a surprised look, "how do you know that?"

She shrugged, "it wasn't hard to figure out once I started to think about it. You didn't seem happy that Elena let him come in."

Stefan kicked off the wall, "you should get back inside," she made his way over to her, setting his hands on her shoulder and then he looked into her eyes, she noticed how he seemed like he was fighting with himself over something. She tried to fight away her gaze as she felt the skin on the back of her neck raise as it had when she was in the Salvatore house earlier that same day. She heard him let out a sigh before letting go of her. "Try and get some sleep," he said as she started to move away from her.

Aelynn gave him a nod, letting herself relax once again before realizing he had left. It left her to wonder how she'd be able to sleep knowing what she did now.

_ _ _

The next day Aelynn found herself seated next to Elena with Stefan outside of the Grill. She had to give her sister credit; she was a woman on a mission to get answers.

"When you google 'vampires' you get a world of fiction, what is the reality?" Elena asked, her voice serious and her face flat.

Stefan looked at the table, "I can tell you whatever you wanna know."