Tourniquet || Damon Salvatore (1)

Chapter 4: Brotherly Fued?

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"You must be Elena. I'm Damon, Stefan's brother," Damon said. He refused to remove his gaze from mine. I felt slightly uncomfortable because he was talking to Elena but his eyes were piercing at mine.

Elena noticed. I could feel her staring at us so I broke the gaze I had with him. This allowed Elena to reply, "He didn't tell me he had a brother."

"Well, Stefan's not one to brag. Please, come. I'm sure Stefan will be along any second," Damon stated politely, ushering us forward as he placed a hand delicately on my back. My heart should've been pounding because I hardly knew him and he was touching me. Somehow, I didn't feel anxious. I felt safe.

"Your living room is absolutely beautiful. It must've taken so much time to find all of the furniture to get it perfectly like this," I said in awe.

My eyes flickered around the house then met his. "Living room, parlor, Sotheby's auction. It's a little kitschy for my taste," He replied honestly, giving me a grin before turning his attention to Elena. "I see why my brother's so smitten. It's about time. For a while there, I never thought he'd get over the last one. Nearly destroyed him." My friendly smile vanished as soon as the shocking words left his mouth.

Why would he say that? Was he trying to hurt Stefan and Elena's relationship? Surely Stefan was going to tell Elena about his ex, right?

"The last one?" Elena asked. Her eyebrows were knitted together and a frown was evident on her face.

"Yeah. Katherine, his girlfriend? Oh, you two haven't had the awkward exes conversation yet," Damon replied awkwardly. It seemed fake. It was like he knew that Stefan didn't bring up his ex girlfriend.

Why was he doing this? What would he gain from making his brother look bad?

"Nope," Elena spoke softly. She looked deflated. This whole situation was uncomfortable. Part of me wished I didn't come here with Elena.

"I'm sure he was going to talk about it," I interjected trying to remind Elena that Stefan was a good person. He seemed like it, at least.

"Oops. Well, I'm sure it'll come up now. Or maybe he didn't want to tell you because he didn't want you to think he was on the rebound. We all know how those relationships end," Damon remarked, giving me side eye.

"You say it like every relationship is doomed to end," Elena challenged him. I nodded in agreement at her statement.

"I'm a fatalist," Damon spoke and I mumbled 'clearly' under my breath. I thought he was nice but honestly now I'm not sure. He seems like an ass.

"Hello, Stefan," Damon said abruptly, not even turning around. How did he know Stefan was there? I didn't even hear Stefan enter the room.

"Elena and Arina...I didn't know you two were coming over," Stefan murmured while frowning at his brother. His voice had a stiffness to it. It made me sense that he and Damon didn't have the best relationship. I met Stefan's eyes and confirmed my theory that he was troubled by Damon's presence. They might have a brotherly feud.

"We probably should've called," I said regretting this whole visit and I got the feeling that Elena did as well. I moved a bit toward Elena, trying to signal to her that we should leave.

"Oh, don't be silly. The both of you are welcome any time. Aren't they, Stefan? You know, I should break out the family photo albums or some home movies. But...I have to warn you. He wasn't always such a looker," Damon spoke. Again, his voice was laced with ingenuity.

Was he being fake when we met the other night? No... it seemed genuine.

"Thank you for stopping by, Elena and Arina. Nice to see you both," Stefan stated in a hurried manner, clearly wanting us to leave. I wasn't shocked that he wanted us to leave. I could feel how bad the tension was.

"Yeah, We should probably go. It was nice to meet you, Damon," Elena politely stated, clearly noticing Stefan's urgency to get rid of us.

"Great meeting you too, Elena," Damon replied and turned to look at me as he smoothly stated," It was great to see you again, Arina." I could instantly feel eyes on me. He gazed at me as if he was taking in every little detail of my face. It was like an artist staring at it's subject before painting them. I felt somewhat intimidated.

Quickly moving my gaze away, I turned and saw Stefan looking at me with wide eyes while Elena gave me a look that said, "you and I are going to have a talk."

"It was good seeing you again, Damon. Bye Stefan," I said, still bewildered by Damon. I gave the two of them a wave and followed Elena. Strangely enough, Elena was blocked by Stefan as she tried to leave. He was frozen in place, staring at Damon. Stefan stared at his brother almost as if they were communicating telepathically.

"Stefan....Stefan?" Elena repeated, breaking him out of his thoughts. He silently moved, allowing Elena and I to leave.

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When we were out of the house Elena turned to me and said, "So when did you and Damon meet?"

"We met yesterday, after Vicki got attacked. I bumped into him while heading home. He was extremely sweet, believe it or not. Unlike today," I said mumbling the last part. "Hey how would you feel if I missed seeing the comet?" I asked her. I didn't feel like going out tonight.

"Why? You said you would go," Elena asked, not really answering my question.

"I just want to stay in tonight, oddly enough," I answered, not really getting into it.

By now, we were already in Elena's car and she was heading over to my place to drop me off.

"Are you okay?" Elena asked with concern.

"Yeah. I just want to spend some time alone, y'know?" I explained.

"Oh, okay. Well if you ever change your mind just call me," Elena said with most likely a shred of hope that I was going to end up calling her.

Little did I know it was going to be the other way around.

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Later that night as I was relaxing and watching some T.V. when I got a frantic phone call from Elena, "Hey did Vicki by any chance stop by your place?" Elena asked frantically, as soon as I answered.

"No, why? Is everything okay?" I asked nervously. So much for relaxing.

"She's missing. I'd really appreciate it if you'd come and help," Elena said with the worry visible in her voice.

"Of course! I'll search near the Mystic Grill," I said before saying bye to Elena.

I threw on shoes and headed out to the Mystic Grill. Once I got there I was confused. I saw Vicki with Tyler. Tyler walked up to her and they started to kiss. Was Elena misinformed about Vicki or was Vicki found that fast? She seemed fine to me.

I shook my head and headed back to my car to drive home. Oddly enough I spotted Caroline. I was going to walk over and say hi but stopped when I saw Damon head over to her. I quickly got into my car and watched them nervously. I knew I shouldn't be watching them but I couldn't bring myself to drive away.

Caroline dropped her keys and stood up to see Damon in front of her. I couldn't tell what they were saying but they were talking. I noticed how Caroline was smiling in a flirty way. I instantly felt jealous and turned my car on, heading home. I couldn't bear to see how things would play out.

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Word Count: 1308