‧₊˚ ✩ CHAPTER EIGHTEEN ⁺◟༉ . . .ꜜ
❨ ∘ 𝔞𝔠𝔱 𝔦 ∘ ❩
DARK
❛a few good men❜

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The next few days I stayed with Damon. He was doing okay sort of. He wasn't heartbroken just hurt. He has mostly been drinking all day every day.

I offered to track the evil slut down and kill her but he said no. Which I was beyond upset about. As we were drinking and dancing to whatever song was playing Stefan when Stefan turned down the music, making me turn to him and smile.

"Greetings," Damon tells his brother as he takes a gulp of his drink. Stefan sighs but still smiles at me.

"Can we talk?" Stefan asks making Damon nod.
"Yeah,"

"Sure," Damon tells him as Stefan sits in front of him as Damon has a bottle of booze in hand.

"You're worried about me. That's nice. Don't be. There's no need. I'm fine. Why wouldn't I be? I spent the last 145 years with one goal: get in that tomb. I succeeded. Granted, Katherine wasn't in there to be rescued, but why dwell? You know, it's so liberating not having a master plan, because I can do whatever the hell I want," Damon tells his brother making me look at him sadly.

"That's kind of what I'm afraid of," Stefan tells him.
"Relax. I haven't killed anyone in-- [sighs] too long,• Damon tells him as he looks over towards me and glares.

"Thank you doe that," Damon tells me making me smile at him

"Anytime Dames," I tell him making him roll his eyes at me.

"Drink up," Damon tells him as he pushes the bottle into Stefan's chest.

"Or spill it, brother," Damon tells Stefan making Stefan grab the bottle and places it to his side.

"There was a woman you may have known a few years back named Isobel in North Carolina at Duke," Stefan tells Damon making me huff at him.

"You wanna discuss the women in my past right now? Seriously?" Damon questions him as I shake my head at Stefan.

"You killed her," Stefan stated as he shook his head.
"What's your point?" Damon questions him.

"I just—just wanna know if you remember anything about her," Stefan asks him making me shake my head.

"Oh, it's like a needle in a haystack, Stefan," Damon tells him as he takes a sip of his drink.

"Well, think hard. It's important," Stefan tells him as Damon grasps Stefan's shoulder and whispers in his ear.

"Nothing is important, not anymore. Besides Cupcake," Damon tells him as he claps Stefan on the shoulder and pulls away, grabbing the bottle from Stefan's hand.

"Great chat. I have to go and exploit some women in the name of grief, which I'm sure you understand," Damon tells him as he walks away.

"Seriously Stefan?" I asked him making him huff.
"I needed to know," Stefan tells me making me roll my eyes.

"No Elena needed to now," I tell him making him look towards me.

"I know Elena is adoptive and now you're asking about some random woman it wasn't so hard to figure it out," I told him making him look down.

"Instead of worrying about Elena's parents why don't you worry about your brother," I tell him as I huff and walk away but my phone goes off.

Sunshine ☀️
Matt's mother is back and caught us about to do it on the couch!

Angel Cake 🤍
Meet you at the house. Also, she is a big B so don't take anything she sees she says to heart

When I finished I huff walking back into the living room to see Damon drinking from the bourbon bottle.

"I have to go. I have to get ready for the actuation tonight," I tell him making him look towards me and nod.

I sighed walking over to him and kissing his cheek.
"I love you. Call me if you need me," I tell Damon making him nod as I smile and leave heading home.

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Soon enough I go to The Grill to meet Care. On the way there I called her and told her if I needed to a will punch a bitch, which made her laugh. Getting to the grill with the new outfit I changed into I see Caroline with Matt and Elena.

"He's already been hit on, like, 35 times. He's total cougar bait," Caroline says making Matt blush and me roll my eyes. I really didn't like him and wanted my sister with someone else.

"Impressive," Elena tells him with a smirk.
"More like embarrassing," Matt tells her as Caroline laughs and sees Kelly enter the Grill.

"Hi, Mrs. Donovan," Caroline see as Kelly glances at Caroline with distaste making me at her glare as looks at Elena.

"Elena, honey," Kelly says with a smile as she heads over to us.

"Hi, Kelly," Elena says as she and Kelly exchange hugs.

"Long time, no see," Kelly tells her.
"How are you doing?" Elena questions her.

"Oh, same old. Oh. Matty tells me you broke his heart," Kelly tells her making Elena look down.

"Mom," Matt says as he looks down.

"Just kidding. Calm down. He found his rebound girl," Kelly says as she glances over at Caroline. I glare at her making care grab my hand to stop me from slapping her. I then glare at Matt for not sticking up to his bitch of a mother for his girlfriend.

"Oh. Here you go, sweetheart. However many that'll buy," Kelly says as she extracts some money and hands it to Caroline, who takes it with a small smile.

"I just hope I don't get Bachelor 3. I dated him in high school. Not impressive. [whispers] In any way," Kelly says making me gag as Matt shakes his head, embarrassed. Caroline hands Kelly her tickets and she takes them.

"Very exciting," Kelly says as she walks off into the Grill. Elena turns around and sees Alaric. They stare at each other for a moment before Alaric walks off and Elena turns back around with a dissatisfied look.

"Can I please just slap her?" I beg Caroline making her shake her head as I huffed.

Soon enough the auction begins. Carol starts to  introduce each of the bachelors on stage.

"Number 4, "Alaric Saltzman." Wow. That's quite a mouthful. What do you do, Alaric?" Carol questions him.

"I'm a teacher at Mystic Falls High," Alaric tells her.
"Oh, beauty and brains, ladies. This one's a keeper. What do you teach?" Carol asks him.

"History," Alaric tells her.

"History. Oh, well, give us a fun fact about Mystic Falls, something crazy," Carol tells him as he looks over at Damon. Damon places his hand up to his ear, sarcastically anticipating a response making me roll my eyes at him.

"Uh, well...," Alaric says as Carol pulls the microphone away.

"He's probably saving the best stories for his date," Carol says as she moves down the line.

"And last, but not least, Damon Salvatore. We don't have much on you," Carol tells him.

"Well, I'm tough to fit on a card," Damon tells her giving her a charming smile.

"Do you have any hobbies, like to travel?" Carol asks her as she looks at him flirty. I lean over to care.

"Is it me or does she want to sleep with him?" I ask Care making her nod at me.

"She definitely does," Caroline told me making me nod. I then look up to see Stefan and smile at him making him smile back.

"Oh, yeah. L.A., New York. Couple of years ago, I was in North Carolina. Near the Duke campus, actually. I think—I think Alaric went to school there. Didn't you, Ric?" Damon asks as he turns to look at Alaric, who does the same.

"Yeah, 'cause I-- I know your wife did," Damon tells him making me freeze and raise a hand up to my mouth to not laugh. I knew this wasn't the time but I couldn't help it.

"I had a drink with her once. She was—she was a great girl. I ever tell you that? Cause she was—delicious. Mmm! Mmm mmm mmm," Damon says making me out my head in Caroline's shoulder so I wouldn't laugh and Elena ran out the grill.

Carol then starts to pull out a raffle ticket from the bowl.

"And bachelor number 3 goes to 37458," Carol calls out.

"That's me," Kelly yells as she walks towards Carol.
"Ah. Kelly Donovan. Lovely," Carol says with distaste as Kelly takes the ticket from Carol.

"You and the plumber should have so much fun," Carol tells her as Kelly walks over to Caroline and me to claim her prize.

"Congratulations, Mrs. Donovan," Caroline says trying to be nice.

"Okay, just stop. Stop trying so hard. This thing you're doing, this nice thing, it's fake. Like you. Like your twin. Like your mom. And for some reason, Matt fell for it, but that doesn't mean that I will. I don't like you, okay? So tell plumber boy I'll be at the bar," Kelly tells Caroline making me glare at her.

"Okay," Caroline tells her as Kelly walks off. Caroline looks hurt by Kelly's presumptions.

"I'll be back," I told Caroline as I got up before she could stop me. I head towards the bar.

"Iris can you get me a bag cup of ice and coffee?" I asked her making her nod at me as I turned to Kelly.

"Kelly Donovan I guess your boyfriend got tired of you and finally left you?" I asked her with a clearly fake smile.

"Rosalie Forbes took a dive lately off of Wickery Bridge?" She asked me making me glare at her.

"No, but if I do I will definitely take you with me," I tell her making her glare at me as my iced coffee is brought over.

"Now Kelly you have been good for a long time so let me tell you three things. One, if you see something weird just ignore it. Two animals attacks happen all the time so don't go anywhere alone. Three never and I mean ever talk bad about someone Rosalie Forbes care about it," I tell her with a glare.

"Or what?" She asked me making me smile at her.
"I was so hoping you would ask that," I told her as I poured my entire drink all over her dress.

"Oops, my hand slipped," I told her with a smile as I walked away.

As I walked away I saw an intense moment with Elena and Damon. I walked over to them.

"Did you enjoy that? Rubbing it into Alaric Saltzman?" Elena asks him.

"What?" Damon asks confused.
"Just as I was starting to think that there was something redeemable about you," Elena tells him making Damon scoff as Stefan walks up to the pair.

"Elena," Stefan says as he shakes his head at Elena. Damon looks from Stefan to Elena.

"Am I missing something here?" Damon asks his brother.

"Did I forget to mention earlier when we were talking about my birth mother? The one that gave me up?" Elena questions making Damon hmmm.

"Her name was Isobel," Elena tells him making Damon's face falter.

"Go ahead. Reminisce about how you killed her," Elena says as she tries to rams into Damon's shoulder but I stop her.

"Okay wait one second first of all he didn't know. Second Damon never said he killed her he might have changed her and third of all if she was killed in her house then it means she knew what Damon was because she had to invite him in. So do not jump to conclusions about my best friend. I already want to slap someone tonight don't make it be you, Elena," I told her with a glare as I walked off.

Leaving an angry Elena. A proud Damon and a surprised Stefan.

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After the whole thing with Elena, I left after telling Caroline about the whole Kelly thing where she laughed and I smiled at her.

Before going home for the night I went to check on Damon and arrived at the same time as Stefan. I ignored him walking into the house.

Damon was taking a swig from his glass as he looks at Alaric's dead body. Stefan and I walk into the room and look wide-eyed at Alaric. Stefan rushes over to the body and kneels down next to it, checking for a pulse.

"What happened? What did you do?" Stefan asks his brother.

"Do what? He attacked me," Damon tells him as Stefan sits up and looks at Damon. I sigh heading towards Damon.

"Damon, you okay?" I asked him making him nod at me.

"Damon," Stefan calls making us look towards him.

"All I did was tell him the truth. His wife didn't want him anymore. It's not my fault he couldn't handle it," Damon tells him making me sigh.

"Like you've been handling Katherine?" Stefan asks making me glare at him.

"I'm handling it fine," Damon tells him as he looks at Alaric's dead body.

"I'm assuming you'll take care of this," Damon says getting up and leaving the room. Stefan, exhausted by Damon's actions, sits down next to Alaric's body. I sigh at the two.

Suddenly, Stefan sees Alaric's fingers move. He furrows his brow and leans over Alaric. Suddenly, Alaric gasps back to life, panting heavily. He sits up, confused while I look wide-eyed.

"What happened? What's going on?" Alaric questions confused.

"You were just...Did Damon turn you?" Stefan asks him.

"No. I - I went for him and then he, uh-- he stabbed me," Alaric tells him looking beyond confused.

"No, no, no. You must have vampire blood in your system. Somebody slipped it to you," Stefan tells him as Alaric flexes his fingers.

"No. It's, uh, it's something else," Alaric tells him.
"Then how?" Stefan and I both ask him. As Alaric looks down at the ring on his right hand.

"Isobel," Alaric tells us as he continues to fidget with the ring and looks up at Stefan and me.

"This ring protected me," Alaric tells us.

"That's impossible," Stefan tells him as I look at the ring.

"I know," Alaric tells us as I shake my head.

"Alaric something about that ring isn't right. You need to be careful," I told him making him nod at me as I continued looking at the ring. It felt dark.

Authors Note: Next chapter will be short and just about Grams and sad. Sorry in advance.