Damon x oc

48

"And if it does?" Scarlett was about to reply when she felt a presence over her shoulder. Turning, she saw Sheriff Forbes stab a needle into Lexie's arm and inject her with something. The blonde immediately gasped for her, her eyes meeting Scarlett's. "What are you doing?" Damon asked from behind her, his voice sounding shocked. Scarlett couldn't speak, couldn't think. All she could do was look on in horror as two deputies hurried Lexie out of the building.

"Thank you for the vervain," Sheriff Forbes told Damon. "Now if you'll excuse me..." Scarlett spun around to face Damon, her eyes blazing with barely contained fury.

"What have you done?" she hissed.

"Calm down, Scarlett," the vampire said quietly, reaching forward to grasp the redhead's arms, but she snatched herself away from him, her entire body tense as she tried to hold herself back from attacking him.

"What have you done, Damon?" Scarlett asked again, her voice louder than before and shaking. Damon stared into her eyes, his own gaze hardening. He had to be hard on her. He was in Mystic Falls for one reason only, and now was the perfect opportunity to make sure Scarlett Williams was no longer a distraction for him.

"I did what needed to be done, Scarlett," he said, practically spitting the words at her. Scarlett breathed in harshly as she saw the cruelty in his eyes, and before he could stop her she turned and fled, making her way towards the back exit of the Grill. Stefan and Elena quickly caught her up and the three of them ran outside, following the sound of gunshots to the street. As they approached the corner of the building, Stefan pulled Scarlett and Elena back, hiding them from view. Scarlett pressed herself against the wall and peered around the corner just in time to watch Damon thrust a stake into Lexie's heart.

Scarlett's head exploded. Rage, betrayal, sadness, hatred, fear; they all warred inside her, a tidal wave of emotion threatening to drown her. And then it stopped. Opening her eyes, Scarlett found that she was still leaning against the wall and now all she could see was Damon standing over Lexie's dead body. She felt a hand grip her own and knew instinctively that it was Stefan. Turning away from the sight of Damon loading the body of her friend into the back of a police car, Scarlett slowly slid down the wall as tears poured silently from her eyes.

Elena crouched in front of her friend, resting her hands on Scarlett's knees to try and offer some comfort, but when Scarlett raised her watery blue eyes to Elena's, the brunette gasped at the bleakness she saw in them. She looked up at Stefan, who was still staring at the spot where his brother had murdered his best friend.

"Stefan, Scarlett needs you," Elena whispered. Dragging his gaze away from the street, Stefan glanced down at his goddaughter. She looked... broken. Realisation suddenly dawned on him, and he knelt beside her, cupping her face in his hands so that he could gaze into her empty eyes.

"You felt it, didn't you?" he asked gently. After a moment, Scarlett gave him the briefest of nods, before closing her eyes as a fresh wave of tears cascaded down her cheeks.

"What do you mean? What did she feel?" Elena asked, her voice tinged with confusion.

"Death. She felt Lexie's death." Elena gasped in horror, one hand flying to her mouth as she stared at Scarlett with wide eyes. Stefan shook Scarlett gently to get her to open her eyes.

"We need to go," he told her softly. "Can you stand?" Scarlett gritted her teeth and started to rise, holding onto Stefan for support. Wrapping an arm around her, he tried to hurry her away, but Scarlett stopped moving. "Scarlett, we have to leave now."

"Lexie's car," the redhead whispered. Her voice sounded strange to her ears, and even Stefan had to lean closer to hear her properly.

"What about it?" he asked quickly – he needed to get home. He needed to find Damon.

"It's here. I should take it home," Stefan was about to argue, but Elena gripped his arm and when he looked at her, she shook her head.

"Are you sure you're okay to drive?" the brunette asked. Scarlett nodded slightly before slowly walking away from the couple. She paid no attention to where she was going, not acknowledging people who called to her in the street. Before she knew it, she was stood beside Lexie's dark blue Corvette, her hand fumbling in her bag for the keys that her blonde friend had entrusted to her at the start of the evening. Opening the door, Scarlett slid into the driver's seat and looked around. Two empty blood bags lay in the foot well on the passenger side, and a small dream catcher hung from the rear view mirror. Scarlett gently touched the feathers as a final tear slipped down her cheek.

The drive back to the Boarding house was slow and silent; Scarlett had no desire to get there too quickly. When she pulled into the drive and switched off the engine, Scarlett sat in the car for a few moments more, trying to get her head on straight. She knew that Damon would be inside. She knew that she'd have to face him sooner or later. But after the swell of emotion that came with Lexie's death, Scarlett didn't think she could handle anything else that evening.

Clambering out of the car, she slowly walked into the house, listening carefully for any signs of movement. As she reached the bottom of the stairs, Stefan came into view, a dark scowl on his face. He didn't say anything to her, just kissed her forehead and continued on his way towards the kitchen. Scarlett trudged up the stairs and along the corridor to her bedroom. As she was passing the stairs that led to Stefan's room, she heard a groan. She turned just as Damon stumbled into view, his shirt ripped and covered with blood. Looking up, he caught sight of Scarlett's face and his resolve to stay away from her crumbled.

"Scar," he murmured as he took a step towards him, but she cringed away from him, raising a hand as though to force him back. Damon looked into her eyes and felt his blood run cold at the emptiness he saw in her dark blue orbs.

"I don't want to talk to you, Damon," she said as she began to move around him.

"Please, Scar," he said as he took another step towards her, reaching out a blood covered hand, but once again she stepped away from him.

"I don't want to hear it!" she cried, her eyes finally filling with emotion. Damon almost didn't care that she was angry, or that she was shouting. Anything was better than the vacant expression she had had only moments ago. "I don't want to listen to your lies or your excuses. I don't want you to tell me how you justified murdering my friend. I just want to have one night were I don't have to deal with the fallout from your stupidity!" Scarlett watched as Damon stood there, his face an uncaring mask. "Do you have any idea what you put me through tonight?" she asked, her voice barely more than a whisper.

Damon was silent. He couldn't let her know that he cared; couldn't let her see how much she was beginning to mean to him. He had not come back home to fall for his brother's teenaged empath of a goddaughter. He didn't look at her as he started to walk down the hall to his bedroom. As he reached out a hand for the door knob, his sensitive hearing caught a sentence which he prayed he'd never have to hear again.

"I felt her die." Damon's hand gripped the door knob so hard he was surprised it didn't break. He turned to face her, saw the tears pooling in her deep blue eyes and very nearly forgot his plan. "Everything she felt while you were driving a stake into her heart; I felt it too." Scarlett didn't say another word. Instead she turned away from the anguished look in Damon's eyes and walked into her bedroom, locking the door behind her.

In the bathroom she stripped off the clothes Lexie had given her, and looked into the mirror. Black streaks of makeup ran down her face. If Lexie had been there, she'd have made some stupid comment about Scarlett looking like a nightmare bride. The thought brought a tiny smile to Scarlett's lips, and she quickly washed her face with warm water before changing into her pyjamas. Dragging herself to her bed, she crawled under the covers; pulling them tightly around herself to stave off the shivers she could feel starting. Scarlett closed her eyes, more than ready for sleep, but the image of Lexie's grey veined face staring at her from the darkness made sleep a wish rather than a reality. Apparently, it was going to be another long night...