08. We'll Always Have Bourbon Street

Aria laid down on the road, the same road where her and Damon had first met, tears were streaming down her face, every nerve in her body was telling her to turn it off, telling her the amount of pain she's feeling right now isn't worth it, one switch and it will all be over, but something was stopping her, for some reason Aria couldn't bring herself to turn it off, maybe cause a part of her was still hoping, still praying that what she saw was a lie, it was a illusion, that any second Damon will come to her, tell her it's her, only her, but he didn't, he wasn't here, and Aria was left all alone.

While Aria was laying in the middle of the road, a car stopped a short distance from her, and out came a young man.

"Hey miss, are you okay?" The man asked.

"Okay?" Aria asked, "I'm not so sure what okay is anymore".

"Do you want me to take you somewhere?".

"Can you take me away from this earth?" Aria asked, "From this universe?".

"Look miss, you really should leave, it's not safe out here".

Aria scoffed, "I know danger when I see it, hell I am danger right now".

"Pardon?".

Aria sighed, she sat up and looked towards the very confused male.

"What's your name?" Aria asked.

"Sean, my name is Sean".

"Well Sean, tell me something, have you ever been in love?", Aria stood up and faced Sean, "If you have, I'm sorry, I feel sorry for you, love is such a waste of time, it gives you nothing but pain, do you know how much pain I'm in right now, you chose a wrong time to be a nice guy, cause all I want to do is kill you, I want to kill this whole town, starting with Elena Gilbert".

Sean looked at Aria uneasily, "Look, maybe I should leave".

Sean turned to leave, but Aria used her speed and stood infront of him, shocking Sean.

"What--? You--".

"Don't scream, don't be scared" Aria compelled, "God, I just want to rip your throat out, I'm so mad, I can't control myself, the person who could have controlled me, ripped my heart out and shattered it into a million pieces", Aria stepped forward and veins start appearing under her eyes, "I'm sorry, I'm just so hungry", Aria bit into the guy's neck, she kept drinking and from the looks of it she was fully planning to kill the guy, when suddenly, the guy was pushed off of Aria.

"Aria stop!" Caroline yelled, standing between an unconscious Sean and Aria.

"Get out of my way Caroline" Aria snapped.

"Aria listen to me, this isn't you" Caroline said, "You don't go around killing innocent people!".

"Why not!" Aria yelled, "Whenever anyone else is upset they can go on killing sprees, but I can't?!".

"Your not thinking straight Aria, you are in denial of your emotions, and as your sister I'm not going to let you do something that you will regret for the rest of your life" Caroline replied.

"Denial?!" Aria asked, "I'm not in denial Caroline, I know that my boyfriend, the love my life, the guy I wanted to one day marry, was kissing my biggest enemy, who by the way, is still destined to kill me!".

"You are mixing your emotions up Aria!" Caroline yelled, "This, what you did to the guy, the rage your feeling right now, is because your not letting yourself feel sad, and I'm here to tell you that it's okay Aria, it's okay to be sad, you can cry, you just got your heart broken, cry it out, but don't channel it into rage, please, it's not right".

For a moment, Aria just stared at Caroline, then suddenly Aria started sobbing.

"It hurts Care" Aria sobbed, falling to the floor, "It hurts so so much, make it stop Caroline, make this heartbreak stop please!".

Caroline kneeled infront of Aria, and brought her into a hug, "I've got you, cry it out Aria, I'm right here, and I promise I will fix this, I won't let you suffer because of Elena".

"It hurts, it hurts so much" Aria cried.

***

"We need to talk" Kol said, walking into Damon's room, where he was busy draining a random girl.

Damon dropped the now dead girl to the ground and turned to Kol with a bloody mouth, "Get lost".

Kol looked at the scene infront of him and sighed, he wasn't even surprised, from last night to this morning, Damon had killed five girls.

"You both are definitely made for each other" Kol mumbled.

"Stop mumbling and get out, I am in no mood for your judgment" Damon snapped.

"Without Aria, you're a dick, and I really want to kill you" Kol said, "Anyways, I'm not here to argue with you, I came to tell you that Caroline found Aria".

Damon froze, "Is she--?".

"Okay?" Kol finished, "Well Caroline found her wandering the road, and almost killing someone and then having a mental breakdown, all in the same night by the way, you tell me, does that sound like she's okay?".

"I need to speak to her" Damon said.

"You can't" Kol said.

"What do you mean I can't?" Damon snapped.

"Liz thinks Aria needs some time apart from you, she's really hurt Damon and Liz wants Aria to get her emotions in control before she talks to you, according to her Aria isn't in the right mental state right now to understand anything, also Caroline and Rebekah want you to take care of the biggest obstacle in your love story before fixing things with Aria" Kol said.

"Elena" Damon realised.

"She's going to keep coming between you two, we need to take care of her" Kol said.

"And how do you suggest we do that?" Damon asked.

"First we figure out if Elena is sired to you or not" Kol replied.

"And how am I supposed to do that?" Damon asked.

"Easy, she can't drink from a blood bag right, you tell her that it's okay to drink from the blood bag, tell her how happy you'll be if she does" Kol replied.

"But I don't want to be around her" Damon snapped.

"Well you're going to have to if you want to get Aria back" Kol said, "Now hurry, I've got better things to do then take care of your mess".

"I hate this plan" Damon mumbled, following Kol out.

***

"I thought I saw you wandering the hallways" Elena said, entering the empty classroom she saw Damon walk into.

Damon didn't say anything, just threw a blood bag at Elena, which she easily caught.

"Drink" Damon demanded.

Elena looked at Damon in confusion, "I can't, you know I can't".

Damon sighed, he stood up from his seat and faced Elena, "Elena, drink from the blood bag please, it will make me very happy if you do".

Elena sighed, but nonetheless nodded, she opened the blood bag and took a small sip from it, then after a little bit of hesitation took a huge gulp.

"So?" Damon asked.

"I'm fine" Elena replied, surprised, "It tastes like blood, last time it was like hot garbage".

"So you're fine?" Damon asked.

"I'm better than okay" Elena replied, a huge smile on her face, "I mean, maybe last time it was a bad batch or something, I can't believe this, Damon, I don't have to hurt people anymore".

"Yet you still hurt Aria" Damon taunted, making Elena's smile fall.

"Damon--".

"I don't want to hear anything from you Elena" Damon snapped, "I came here to find something out, and I did, now I want nothing to do with you".

"But you kissed me" Elena reminded.

"No, you kissed me" Damon snapped, "I didn't want to kiss you Elena, I would never want to kiss you, there's only one girl for me, and that girl is definitely not you".

After going off at Elena, Damon walked out of the classroom and towards his car where Kol was very impatiently waiting for him, leaving behind a shocked Elena.

***

Kol entered the living room after informing Caroline and Rebekah about Elena really being sired to Damon, entering the living room, he was shocked seeing books and papers piled everywhere, and in the middle of the mess was a slightly panicked Damon.

"Woah, did a hurricane hit this place?" Kol asked.

"Elena's sired to me, I need her to be not sired to me, preferably now" Damon replied.

"So what's the plan?" Kol asked.

"Well, I'm working on it" Damon replied, "Here", Damon handed Kol a picture.

"Ah, I will know this city even with the smallest of picture, good old New Orleans" Kol said.

"That picture, is of New Orleans 1942, to be exact" Damon informed.

"Why are we so interested in 1942 New Orleans?" Kol asked, slightly confused.

"Well, other than bourbon and beads, Charlotte" Damon replied.

"Whose Charlotte?" Kol asked.

"The first vampire to be sired to me" Damon replied.

***

"That was my first clue" Damon said, telling Kol about the time Charlotte killed a man who dared touch his drink.

"Lovely, another sired vampire" Kol said sarcastically.

"Yeah, she then went all fatal attraction on me, I had to make a clean break" Damon informed.

"What diabolic way did you do that?" Kol asked.

"Ah, here" Damon said, handing Kol a card.

"Who the bloody hell is Valerie La Marche?" Kol asked confused.

"The witch that I found to help me break little Charlotte's sire bond" Damon replied, "Pack your bags, brother, we're going to Bourbon Street".

"Road trip, great" Kol mumbled.

***

"Go away" Aria said, putting the blanket over her head.

"Hey, none of that" Rebekah said, removing the blanket from Aria's face.

"Get up Aria, me and Rebekah have a surprise for you" Caroline said.

"No" Aria said, putting the blanket back over her face.

"Come on Aria" Caroline said, removing the blanket from Aria's face and forcing her to sit up.

"What do you both want from me?" Aria asked.

"We want you to get out of bed and let your two best friends show you something" Rebekah replied.

"Unless it's Elena's dead corpse, I'm not interested" Aria said, about to go back to bed, but both Rebekah and Caroline grabbed each of her arm and forced her to stand up.

"No" Aria complained.

"Come on" Caroline said, leading Aria into the living room.

"Oh my god" Aria whispered, looking at the Forbes living room in surprise.

Rebekah and Caroline had built a fort out of pillows in the middle of the room, there was a bunch of snacks on the floor, there was fairy lights hanging behind the tv and on the roof there was glow in the dark stickers.

"We couldn't stand you all sad and heartbroken so we planned a girls night" Rebekah said.

"We have movies, video games, courtesy of Jeremy, ice cream, we also bought some of your favorite books if you just want to just read and have a quiet night" Caroline said.

"I don't know what to say" Aria whispered, tears welling in her eyes.

"You don't like it?" Rebekah asked, worried.

"Don't be stupid, I love it" Aria replied.

"Great" Caroline said excitedly, "So what do you want to do first?".

"I need to kill some people, so let's play some video games" Aria replied.

"Let's do it" Caroline said.

"I'm going to kick both of your asses" Rebekah said, sitting down the pillow fort.

"Oh you are so on" Aria said, in the company of her two best friends, Aria forgot about her heartbreak for just a little moment.

***

"Oh, good old New Orleans" Kol said, walking in the crowded streets of New Orleans with Damon.

"So you've been here before?" Damon asked.

"The Mikaelson's basically built this city Damon" Kol replied.

"Good to know" Damon said, slightly impressed.

"So what exactly were you doing here in 1942?" Kol asked curiously.

"Entertaining the ladies who had been left by their menfolk" Damon replied, making Kol chuckle.

"Not even surprised" Kol said, his phone beeping, indicating he had a message from Rebekah, "Good news, Caroline and Rebekah finally manged to get Aria out of bed".

"Bad news?" Damon asked.

"For the first time Damon, there isn't any bad news" Kol replied.

"That's odd" Damon commented.

"Be glad Ri hasn't gone into a killing spree because of you" Kol said.

"I did" Damon reminded.

"Oh please, killing five girls isn't a killing spree, I've killed much more people in much less time" Kol said.

"You are way to smug about that" Damon said.

"Thank you" Kol said, "Now come on, let's find this witch".

"You realise she can't be alive anymore, right?" Damon asked.

"And you realise she was a witch, right?"" Kol asked, "They have a tendency to use their magic to extend their life".

"Right" Damon whispered.

***

"This is where the witch lived" Damon informed Kol, as they stopped right infront of the witch's house.

"Please don't tell me you were hoping to find her in the same exact place as last time?" Kol asked.

"No, but since I couldn't remember where the store was, figured it would give us a start" Damon replied.

"Oh come on" Kol said, "There has to be another place to start, this is too much of a stretch, how about that vampire girl that was sired to you, Charlotte, maybe she's still somewhere in New Orleans?".

"For the first time, you actually have a good suggestion" Damon replied.

"Okay, that's so not true" Kol said, "You just never like to admit when I'm right, which is most of the time".

"Not true" Damon said.

"So true" Kol said, "Now where was the last place you saw this sired vampire?".

"Corner of Bourbon and Dumaine" Damon replied, "I kind of told her to count every brick in every building of New Orleans, that I'd meet her on the corner, I was gone by morning".

"Great, let's go" Kol said.

"Where?" Damon asked confused.

"Corner of Bourbon and Dumaine" Kol replied, walking away, "Let's see how much this sire bond really affects vampires, maybe you can ask the doppelbitch to eat her own tongue because it will make you happy".

"I do wonder what goes inside that head of yours" Damon said, following Kol.

***

"There's no way she's gonna be in the same spot after seventy years" Damon said, as he and Kol arrived at the corner of bourbon and dumaine.

"Wanna bet?" Kol asked, "If I win, the drinks are on you, if you win, the drinks are on me".

"Deal" Damon said.

"Great" Kol said, "Now you look that way, I'll look here".

"Fine" Damon said, walking away from Kol, but suddenly he was pushed to the ground.

Kol quickly speeded over to Damon and pushed the person off of him.

"Who the blood hell is that?" Kol asked.

"She kissed me" Damon said shocked.

"Excuse me?" Kol asked, "First Elena, now her, what the hell is wrong with you?!".

"Both times, I didn't kiss them, they kissed me!" Damon snapped.

The mystery vampire stood up and looked at Damon with a huge smile on her face, "Damon, I always knew you'd come back for me".

"Oh dear" Kol whispered, slowly realising who the girl was, "Charlotte".

"I must have counted literally every brick on every building in all of New Orleans" Charlotte said.

Damon and Kol looked at each other in shock, Kol more with amusement.

"She literally counted every brick" Kol said, trying not to burst into laughter, "You owe me a drink".

"Stop being so amused" Damon snapped, Charlotte went to hug Damon, but he stepped back, "Charlotte, please, tell me you had a full life and that you've done something other than counting bricks".

"Of course I have, I'm not crazy" Charlotte said, Damon looked towards Kol with a pointed look.

"If you've not lost it, then why the hell are you still here?" Kol asked, really not believing that the girl infront of him wasn't crazy.

"You know when someone breaks up with you and there's this song that reminds you of them?" Charlotte asked, "At first you hate it, but then it brings back all the good memories of them, counting the bricks is my song and I've been playing it for decades".

After hearing that, Kol couldn't stop himself and bursted into laughter.

"Seriously?" Damon asked, glaring at Kol.

"I'm sorry okay, it's just so funny" Kol replied, having trouble controlling his laughter, "Counting bricks was her break up song, oh god, I can't stop laughing".

"You know, in the plus column, she knows New Orleans better than anyone in the world, right Charlotte?" Damon asked.

"Of course" Charlotte replied.

"Great, this is really nice, because we need your help finding someone" Damon said.

***

Kol and Damon entered the shop Charlotte had directed them towards.

"Can I help you, gentlemen?" A women asked.

"Hi" Damon said, "We're looking for a witch, sorry, no time for pleasantries".

"I'm sorry, I don't understand".

"Look, Nandi, is it?" Damon asked, looking at the sign behind the board, "Let's skip the part where you pretend you don't know what we're talking about, we need a spell to break a vampire sire bond, now, there was a witch here named Val, ring any bells?".

"She was my great grandmother" Nandi replied.

"She had a Grimoire and it had a spell" Damon said.

***

"Yeah no" Kol said, as Damon told them about Val telling him he had to sacrifice twelve humans to break Charlotte's sire bond, "We are not sacrificing twelve humans for the doppelbitch".

"I thought you enjoyed killing?" Damon asked.

"Not for Elena bloody Gilbert" Kol snapped.

"There's no magic like that here" Nandi interrupted, "I sell herbs and homeopathic remedies and dress it up with a little witchy woo-woo for the tourists, but I don't practice".

"Okay, fine, listen, just tell us where we can find someone like your great grandma who can break the sire bond and won't flake out on us like old Val did" Damon asked.

"There's no one, all of her stuff is gone" Nandi replied, "The Grimoires, her journals, we lost it all during Katrina, if a spell like that ever existed, it's gone for good".

***

"No, no, no, dammit!" Aria yelled, as she lost to Rebekah.

"Ha!" Rebekah yelled, standing up and jumping up and down excitedly, "I won, you lost, I won, you lost".

Both Caroline and Aria laughed at Rebekah's winning dance, Caroline even took a video of her.

"God, I'm so tired" Rebekah said, plopping down next to Aria.

"Same" Caroline said, "How about you Aria?".

Both Rebekah and Caroline looked towards Aria, only to see her looking down at her phone, at a picture of her and Damon, with tears streaming down her face.

"Aria, you okay?" Rebekah asked concerned.

"God, I'm so sorry you guys" Aria said, wiping her tears, "I was doing so well, wasn't I?".

"Hey, it's okay" Caroline said, putting her arm around Aria and bringing her into a hug.

"I'm sorry for running girls night" Aria sobbed.

"Hey, don't say that, you didn't ruin anything" Rebekah assured, rubbing Aria's back.

"Aria I know you and Damon are going through a rough phase, but trust me when I say this, you guys will solve this, you guys always find a way back to each other, and this time the same thing will happen" Caroline said, "Once Damon returns from New Orleans, you both should really talk, you really need to know the truth about last night, that's the only way you can get some kind of peace".

"I will" Aria mumbled, "I will".

***

"The witch is lying, doesn't practice magic, my ass" Damon said, as him and Kol walked towards Charlotte.

"Human sacrifice for Elena Gilbert, seriously?" Kol asked, "Did you really think I would do that?".

"Extreme circumstances call for extreme measures" Damon replied, "And I knew you wouldn't do it for Elena, but you would for Aria, for her happiness".

"Asshole" Kol mumbled, knowing Damon was right, "So in 1942 did you go on a killing spree?".

"Absolutely, I did" Damon replied, "And I'd do it again in a heartbeat if it meant I will get Elena off my back, now you gonna help me good cop, bad cop this witch or not?".

"It's more like bad cop and bad cop" Kol replied.

***

"What are you doing here?" Nandi asked Damon.

"Calling you out" Damon replied, "You're not Val's great-granddaughter, you're her daughter, you're eighty years old, you don't look a day over fifty, you're a practicing witch".

"Get out of my store" Nandi demanded.

"Give me what I want" Damon retorted, he went to charge at her, but Nandi used her magic to give him an aneurysm.

"I gave you a chance to leave with your life" Nandi said.

Suddenly, Kol speeded behind her and shoved his hand into her chest.

"Now, now" Kol said, as Nandi struggled for her life, "Let's have a chat witch, you and me, without your magic, act smart, and I will rip your heart out, I'm an Original darling, don't underestimate me".

Kol let go of Nandi, letting her stumble backwards.

"I told you, there's no one here who can help you" Nandi snapped, looking at Kol in fear, "The kind of magic my mother practiced, it's unnatural, witches don't even call it magic, we call it expression".

"Expression?" Kol asked shocked, "She used black magic?".

"Expression is worse then black magic" Nandi replied, "Channeling the power of human sacrifices calls on darkness that can't exist on this plane without swallowing it whole, she sold your friend a bill of goods about breaking the sire bond because she wanted access to that power, and your friend over there gave it to her when he killed those twelve people".

"Are you saying there's no spell?" Damon asked shocked.

"The bond can't be broken with magic" Nandi replied, "A vampire only bonds to her sire when she has feelings for him before she turns, human feelings, vampirism only heightens those emotions".

"Of course the bitch had feelings for Damon" Kol mumbled.

"You want her free?" Nandi asked Damon, "You have to set her free, tell her to live her life without you and never think of you again, to stop caring about you, and then leave her, that's the only way around the sire bond".

***

"So you're just leaving me again?" Charlotte asked Damon.

"Yes" Kol replied nonchalantly.

"No" Damon said, glaring at Kol, "It's just, I need to get on with my life, and so do you".

"I don't want to live without you" Charlotte cried.

"You don't really have a choice" Kol snapped.

"Not helping" Damon told Kol, "And Charlotte, if you want to make me happy, you will, you just forget about me, you'll never think of me again and you'll find someone new and you'll be happier than ever".

"Oh stop crying" Kol said, "Please, it's not an attractive look".

Damon threw a glass towards Kol, which he easily caught.

"Stop talking!" Damon demanded.

"I don't like her" Kol snapped.

"You don't like most of the population, but right now, just shut up" Damon pleaded.

Kol huffed but nonetheless shut his mouth for now.

"I'm never gonna be able to forget about you" Charlotte cried.

Kol groaned hearing Charlotte, but kept his mouth shut.

"Yes, you are" Damon said, ignoring Kol, "And I'm never gonna be happy until you realise that you're never gonna have the life that you deserve if I'm in it", Damon stood up from his seat, and gave Charlotte one last look, "Goodbye, Charlotte".

***

"So, was it hard doing the right thing?" Kol asked, as him and Damon walked out the restaurant.

"Shut up" Damon said, shoving Kol, making him laugh.

"So you think you will able tell the doppelganger to stay away?" Kol asked curiously.

"I have to" Damon replied, "If I want to fix things with Aria, Elena needs to go".

"You know what I don't get?" Kol said, "That person has done so much shit, yet she's still alive, how does she manage that?".

"Don't know, don't care" Damon replied, "But I do know one thing, if things keep going the way they are, Elena will die in the hands of Aria".

"Amen to that" Kol said, "So, bourbon?".

"You're paying" Damon replied, as they walked towards a bar.

"No, I'm not, you lost the bet" Kol reminded.

"What bet?" Damon asked, pretending to forget.

"You have no honor" Kol replied.

Damon chuckled hearing Kol, "Come on, I'll pay for one drink".

Kol smirked, "We'll see".

***

After drinking nearly the whole bar, and Damon paying for all of Kol's drinks, the pair of vampires made their way back to Mystic Falls, Damon was currently at the boarding house, waiting for Elena, Kol had gone god knows where, he claimed he had something important to do.

"Hey" Elena said, walking into the living room, a small smile on her face.

"We need to talk" Damon said, staring at the fire infront of him.

"I know that I'm sired to you, Damon" Elena said, "Stefan figured it out after he saw me acting differently, that's what you and Kol were doing, isn't it? Is there a way to break it?".

"Yeah, for you to leave me alone" Damon replied, making Elena frown.

"I love you Damon" Elena said.

"And I love Aria" Damon snapped, "I will always love Aria, you have no place in my life Elena, you need to leave me alone".

"Tyler told me the bond doesn't affect how I feel, just the way I act" Elena said, completely ignoring Damon's love declaration for Aria.

"Just stop Elena!" Damon yelled, "You hate me, you can't love me, even if in some bizarre world your feelings are real, I don't care, I've loved Aria before, I love Aria now, and I will love her forever, why can't you and Stefan just get that, even Kol, who waited for Aria a thousand years, backed down after seeing how me and Aria love each other, why can't you do that!".

"Because you and me aren't wrong, you and Aria are!" Elena yelled, "That girl has given you nothing but pain, how can you still love her?".

"She's never given me pain Elena, you have!" Damon yelled, "That girl has made me the most happy I have ever been in my miserable hundred and seventy years of life, she's my world Elena, and I'm not letting you ruin what we have".

"You're my world too".

Damon and Elena looked towards the door, to see Aria standing there, tears streaming down her face, with Kol, Caroline and Rebekah, behind her, with huge smiles on their faces.

"Ria" Damon whispered.

"I'm so sorry Damon" Aria cried, "I shouldn't have ran away last night, but seeing you in her arms, it hurt so much, it felt someone had ripped my heart out, I should have waited for you to explain to me, I'm sorry, I'm so sorry".

Damon didn't say anything, he just stepped forward and pulled Aria into a hug, "I love you, I love you so so much".

"I love you to Damon Salvatore, forever" Aria whispered.

"And ever" Damon whispered.

Elena went to interrupt Damon and Aria's moment, but Kol grabbed her and speeded her out the boarding house.

"Here's the thing doppelbitch" Kol said, grabbing a nearby branch, "I've had it with you always causing Aria pain, you've lost all chances", Kol impaled Elena with the branch, right below her heart.

"You missed" Elena breathed.

"Nope, I'm just letting you know, how easy it is for me to end you, I don't even have to blink" Kol said, "Stop interfering in our lives, otherwise I will personally deliver you to hell".

***

Presenting 4x08 of The Vampire Diaries . . .

How was the chapter?

Thoughts on heartbroken Aria?

Thoughts on Kol and Damon in New Orleans?

Thoughts on Rebekah and Caroline's surprise for Aria?

Thoughts on Aria and Damon reuniting? I live for drama, but at the same time I can't stand Daria being separated for more then one chapter, I just physically can't do it >.<

Also, thank you jozzyruby08 for making even more edits for this story, you never stop and I love you for it! Thank you so much!