Charlotte Pierce | Damon Salvatore

Chapter Twenty

Charlotte gripped the sheets of her bed as a wave of pain made her feel like her body was being split in half. She screamed loudly, waking up Damon; who tried to rub her back soothingly. When she looked back at him, blood was dripping from her nose. He tried to conceal the shock, but failed at it.

"What's wrong?"-She asked, and after receiving no answer, she pushed herself to walk to the mirror.

"Char..."-Damon warned and tried to stop her. He realized there was no use and simply helped her so she wouldn't fall.

The gasp of horror that escaped her lips made him flinch. She examined the broken woman that stared back at her from the mirror; barely a ghost from her past self. She looked... Sick. Dying. Pitiful. Her beauty was long gone, crumbling in front of her. She understood why all of her friends made sure she wouldn't find her reflection anywhere. Her shaky hands tried to clean the blood off her face.

"Let me help."

"No, don't look at me."

"Char, you're beautiful. Let me help you."

"No, don't lie, don't you lie to me, you of all people, I can't stand it. I can't stand it."-She cried, and she would have continued talking if she hadn't fell to her knees to throw up every ounce of blood that she had drank earlier. Damon held her tangled hair and pressed soft kisses on the top of her head. He hugged her once she was done and she started crying even harder in his arms.

"Kill me, Damon. Please kill me."-She begged between sobs.-"I want it over. I need it to be over. Please."

"I-I can't..."-He stuttered. He wanted to give her what she wanted, he didn't want her to suffer anymore; but he couldn't let go. Especially not when they knew there was a cure.

She screamed as pain started taking over her body again. She clung to his shirt, shaking violently until she passed out. Damon lay on the floor with her, crying silently as Charlotte's desperation haunted his thoughts.

1864

Katherine was alive.

Charlotte didn't think she could ever hear a greater notice from Elijah. Her sister, the only person she had left to care for her was alive. Words couldn't express her joy. She couldn't wait to reunite with her. Hopefully, she would be able to escape from the male vampire and search for her soon.

Did she know Charlotte had survived too? Was she mourning her death? They were each other's only family. Their bickering seemed so absurd at that moment. What were they thinking? How could they waste their time and damage themselves that way? She had taken her sister for granted and now she was alone with a stranger, missing her greatly, no longer minding flaws that had once annoyed her.

"Lilyana..."

"I said my name is Charlotte."-She corrected Elijah. She wasn't Lilyana Vanev anymore. She was Charlotte Pierce.

"You carry your mother's memory in your name. Why would you reject it?"

"That life is gone. I am no longer Liliya Golacov's daughter, but Katherine Pierce's sister."

He contemplated her for a moment. Her loyalty was admirable. She was faithful to her friendship with a woman that had taken everything away from her.

"I believe there's something you should know before we continue our path..."

Charlotte's drive and arrogance left her face as she heard the truth for the first time in centuries.

A stake to the heart.

Damon Salvatore had never given much thought to how simple it was to end a life. A stake to the heart, a last gasp; that's all it took for Charlotte to disappear forever. He wouldn't hear her voice again, or kiss her, or anything. He wouldn't come home to find her walking through the living room while reading a book. She was a force of nature, she was a damn hurricane; wrecking her surroundings, wrecking him... And it didn't matter. It didn't matter that the world would feel incomplete without her. None of it made a difference.