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CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
the start of . . .
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( founders' day, pt. ii )

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

Harper's POV.

It's been about five minutes, and I've had no luck finding anyone. The town square isn't even that big, so it shouldn't be taking this long. I turn around to go the other way when I accidentally make eye contact with some random man. I quickly brush off the awkwardness and continue forward.

Out of curiosity, I look back at him, and he's trailing behind me. I turn a corner to see if he keeps following me. I don't look back for a while, but when I finally get the nerve to, I spot him almost immediately even closer than before.

Oh shoot. I pick up my speed, breaking into a speed-walk. There's not a lot of people in this corner of town square, so I have to reach more people. But before I even get a chance to round the corner, the world disappears and my feet are off the ground. My breath gets knocked out of me as my back is slammed against a wall.

My mind goes into a frenzy while I try to assess what just happened. The man is now in front of me, pinning me against the wall. He opens his mouth revealing a pair fangs, and I struggle to get away. He launches his fangs into my neck, breaking the skin and inciting pain.

I let out a blood-curdling scream. I can feel my blood leaving my neck. He's sucking the life out of me. I'm going to die . . .

Suddenly, his fangs are ripped out of my neck, making me cry out. The sight before me is moving too fast for my eyes to follow. One second the man is standing in front of me, and the next he's lying on the ground lifeless with a hole in his chest.

"Oh God," I gasp, my hand automatically covering the open wound on my neck. I look up at my savior — dark hair and beautiful blue eyes. "Damon," I sigh with relief, never more happy to see him in my life.

He walks up to me and holds my shoulders. "Are you okay?" he asks.

I nod, still a little in shock.

His gaze falls to my neck. "You're hurt. Let me see." His hand gently pushes mine away. After assessing my wound, his lips press together into a hard line.

All of a sudden, loud booms and bright lights fill the sky, illuminating the alleyway that we're in.

They're blasting off the fireworks.

"Let me give you my . . ." Damon begins but never gets to finish because he abruptly pulls away from me.

"Damon, are you okay?"

He holds his head in his hands and groans in pain before falling to his knees.

Panic swells in my chest. "What's wrong?!"

I hear footsteps approaching and turn to see my dad and another officer making their way over. My dad stops in his tracks when he sees me. "What are you doing out here?!" he growls.

I don't know what to say. I watch as the other officer injects something into Damon with a syringe.

"What are you doing to him?" I demand.

"You shouldn't be here," my dad says, walking up to me. His eyes land on my neck. "He hurt you. That bastard."

Fury ignites within me. "He didn't hurt me! It was the other one!"

That's when my dad notices the other vampire on the ground. He looks back at me and runs a frustrated hand down his face. "Jess, can you take my daughter to the car? I got this one."

At first I'm confused, but then the other officer gets up and grabs my arm. "Let's go, sweetie."

I don't fight against him, knowing that it would be useless. All I do is look back at Damon as I'm being dragged away. He's lying helpless on the ground, completely unconscious now. The syringe must have been filled with vervain.

After I'm left in the back seat of the police cruiser, the officer named Jess goes off to I assume help my dad. I'm now alone. I try looking out the windows to see what's going on. I spot a few other officers dragging bodies toward my Uncle Grayson's old building. They're rounding up the vampires. This was the council's plan and what my mother was trying to keep me away from.

But how did they even do this? Why did Damon drop all of a sudden — the device. Bonnie didn't fix it. It still works. I wanna believe that she didn't do it on purpose, but I know she did. She lied to us, and now people are going to die because of it. Damon is going to die . . .

I don't even think. I just open the back door and take off running towards Uncle Grayson's old building. I know the place inside and out because Elena and I used to spend a lot of time there when we were kids. What a disgrace that they're now using it for murder.

There are officers out front, so I head for the back without them seeing me. I make my way towards the utility door, and as I had hoped, there's no one there. As soon as I'm inside, the smell of smoke is the first thing I notice. Fire, they're lighting them on fire. Oh God.

I make a beeline for the basement door, following the smell of smoke. I carefully place my hand on the doorknob. It's barely warm meaning the fire hasn't spread too badly yet. I take a deep breath before cautiously opening the door.

As soon as my eyes land on the fire, I take a step back. Smoke fills my nostrils, and the urge to turn back grows strong. But as soon as I notice movement from within the basement, I clench my jaw, inhale a deep breath, and forcefully head down the basement stairs.

There are only so many areas where the fire has not reached, and every step I take is carefully placed. I stop for a moment to assess my surroundings. A dark form on the floor catches my eye, and I know immediately that it's Damon. I rush up to him and crouch down beside him, placing my hands on his back.

"Damon?" I try to get his attention.

"Harper, what are you doing here?!" he grounds out.

"I'm here to save you."

Suddenly, a cracking sound fills our ears. A beam from the ceiling breaks. Acting swiftly, Damon pulls me beneath him, and the beam just barely misses me. I gasp in shock. Damon is now crouched above me, and my arms are around his neck.

"You're so stupid for coming here," he says gruffly.

"I had to," I say. "Now let's get you out of here." I move to get out from under him.

"I'm too weak to get up, Harper," he breathes heavily. "Just go without me."

I wrinkle my brow in determination. "I'm not just going to leave you." I remember the bite on my neck. "Take my blood." I brush my hair out of the way.

He weakly shakes his head. "I don't wanna hurt you."

"I'm already hurt. Just do it," I urge. "I trust you."

With Damon still crouched above me, and my arms still around his neck, he slowly edges his head into my neck where the open cut is. I feel my body completely tense as his mouth opens up, clasping onto the wound. His lips start to suck. He starts off slow and patient, but his actions soon become greedy and desperate. His grasp on me tightens, and he lets out a long starved groan as he sucks harder. His back hunches over, trying to get a better angle on my neck as if he can't get enough. I can't believe it when I help along, rolling my head back onto the floor.

"Damon, stop —" I whisper when I start to feel light headed.

He gives a long last drain and makes a pucker sound as his lips unclasp from my neck. Veins are under his eyes, and my blood still stains his lips. My blood . . . my blood. He pants heavily as he struggles to his feet.

I can't believe I just let him do that. I never thought I would allow something like that to happen. But desperate times call for desperate measures. I get to my feet as well.

With one of his arms over my shoulders, I support him to the base of the stairs. We're about to go up when he trips and falls.

"No!" I cry. We're so close. We're so, so close . . .

All of a sudden, the fire in the basement starts to dwindle down. Which once were large flames are now small little fires easy to maneuver around.

I hear noise from the top of the stairs followed by Stefan running down them.

"Stefan," I breathe with relief.

Stefan grabs onto me and Damon. "Come on! Hurry up! Hurry up!" he commands before everything becomes a blur, and we're whooshed outside to safety.

The first thing I do is fall to my knees. My head is spinning, but I can make out the forms of Elena and Bonnie. We made it. We're okay.

*Outside Harper's House*

As I near my house, I slow my bike to a stop and start to lead it on foot. Elena had offered to drive me home, but I declined. I needed some time to myself. After what happened tonight with Damon, the council, and my parents, I just needed some time to distress. My life is a mess, and it's not going to get better anytime soon. Especially once my  parents get home and confront me about what happened tonight. I don't even want to think about how that conversation is going to go down.

I lead my bike towards the front steps of my house when the dark outline of someone on the porch makes me look up. Damon is standing there. Why is he here?

I gently lay my bike down in the grass like I used to as a kid and join him on the porch. "Hey," I greet.

"Hey," he says quietly back. "How are you doing?"

I shrug. "As good as I could be, considering . . . everything." I pause, hesitating. "How about you?"

He looks away, fiddling with his ring. "You know, I came into this town wanting to destroy it. Tonight, I . . . found myself wanting to protect  it." His eyes meet mine again. "How does that happen?"

I'm about to respond when he goes on, "I'm not a hero, Harper. I don't do good." His jaw clenches. "It's not in me."

"Well, that's not true," I counter. "You helped save Stefan, remember? You saved me — today. Thank you for that, by the way."

Damon smiles. "And you saved me."

"Oh." I blush profusely. "That was nothing. I —"

He cuts me off, "Which means that somewhere along the way, you decided that I was worth saving. I wanted to . . . thank you for that." He walks closer, eyes intently on mine.

My breath gets taken away, and I spit out the first words that come to mind. "Why — Why don't you come in?"

Damon looks toward the front door then back at me. He smiles, eyes shining. "I would love to."

I step towards the door and fish out the key from my front jean pocket. Once the door is unlocked, I step inside, and he follows me. I gently close the door behind us. "This is it." I gesture awkwardly to the front of the house.

I can't believe Damon is in my house. That I invited him in my house.

"It's very you," he muses, eyes looking at something behind me.

I turn around and follow his line of sight to a decorative table. On top is the first place trophy I won in my eighth grade spelling bee.

My cheeks flame red. "Oh, thank you. That's nothing. It's no big deal —"  When I turn back around, Damon is standing right in front of me, so close that I have to tip my head back to see him.

Slowly, as if giving me time to pull away, he brushes his lips against my cheek. Soft and warm and heartbreakingly gentle. It's hardly more than a caress before he straightens. I haven't moved from the moment his mouth met my skin.

Suddenly, I hear voices from outside.

"Goodnight," Damon whispers. And in a moment, he's gone, the door opening and closing in the blink of an eye.

My fingers touch where he kissed me on the cheek, the kiss still lingering on my skin. My breathing comes out heavy before I inhale a sharp breath.

[There should be a GIF or video here. Update the app now to see it.]

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a/n:

Ahhh! I can't believe this book is over. Stay tuned y'all for what's coming up next in book 2 of Harper's story!

-- roxy

( word count: 2.2k )