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You love and support trans women!

“America has looted black people. America looted the Native Americans when they first came here, looting is what you do. We learned it from you. We learned violence from you. If you want us to do better, then damnit, you do better.” —Tamika Mallory, Nat. Co-Chair of Women’s March

you’re looking at me like you don’t know who i am ; damon salvatore [part 1]

part 1 to house of cards

prompt: a girl shows up at the door of the boarding house looking for directions, and somehow manages to find her way into the elder Salvatore brother’s heart, only for her to see what he truly is

word count: 10,007

-

“blood on my shirt, rose in my hand, you're looking at me like you don't know who I am”

-

A knock on the door brought Stefan out of his thoughts; he listened to see if Damon would get up and answer it, without a doubt close to the door than he was. No sounds of movement came to his ears. He sighed and pushed his chair back. As he walked down the stairs, he saw Damon reading a book. “Really? You couldn’t have answered the door?”

He shrugged, smirking, “Couldn’t hear it.”

Stefan sighed once again, opening the door to see a girl he’s never seen before. Her beachy blonde hair was pulled into two buns on either side of the top of her head with two red scrunchies, two small pieces of hair hanging by her face. She was wearing a yellow graphic tee tucked into a pair of jeans that were held up by a black belt, bringing attention to her socks and shoes. Her eyes were complimented by a light taupe eye shadow and long winged liner; the fading sun caught the white highlight on her cheekbones. She had a confused look on her face as she looked up to Stefan, her hands grabbing the straps of her booksack.

“May I help you?” Stefan asked, holding the door in his right hand.

“Uh, hi, my name’s Angel, uh” she gulped, “Do you know the way back to town from here? I’m really sorry to just knock on your door, but I went on a walk and I got lost. I’m knew in town.” At the sound of a voice he didn’t know, Damon put his book down and walked up behind Stefan, seeing the short girl at the door. The two brothers looked for any sign that she was a vampire or anyone working for a vampire, but she really just seemed to be a lost girl.

Damon began talking before Stefan could, pointing down the street where the lamps were beginning to turn on, “It’s that way, but it’s kinda dangerous around this time of night. I can walk you back to town, if you’d like.”

“O-oh, I wouldn’t want to inconvenience you,” she spoke, her right foot on its toes on the other side of her left foot.

“Not a problem,” he opened the door more, “Want to come in while I go grab my jacket?”

She hesitantly walked into the boarding house, her eyes filled with wonder at the sight of the enormous living room. While she sat on the couch, looking around in awe, Damon had went upstairs to grab his coat, followed by Stefan after he got her a bottle of water. “What the hell are you doing?”

“Oh, relax, I’m not gonna bite her,” he paused, looking back at his brother and giving him a wink, “yet.”

“Don’t try anything Damon; she seems like she won’t interfere with us later on.” Stefan warned, before going back to his room to finish what he was doing earlier.

Damon rolled his eyes before taking one last look at himself in the mirror and popping his jacket collar. He walked downstairs to see the girl standing and looking at the pictures on the wall, her booksack leaning against the couch where she had been sitting earlier. He cleared his throat, making her jump and turn around; she nervously tucked one of the free pieces of hair behind her ear before speaking, “I’m sorry for looking! I was just amazed by how nice everything in this house is . . .”

Damon let out a breathy laugh, “You’re fine. You ready to go?”

She nodded, putting her water bottle in her booksack and putting it on once more. Damon walked to the door and held it open for her, sending the back of her head a short questioning look once she walked passed and gave him a “thanks.” There was something about this girl that he didn’t understand . . .

As the two were walking to the end of the boarding house’s driveway, she began to make conversation, “How long have you lived in Mystic Falls, uh, what is your name by the way?”

Damon blew out a breath, “Jesus . . . uh, a long time. However, I just recently came back again. And it’s Damon.”

“Missed home?” She looked up to the side of his face, his sharp facial features causing sharp shadows to cast across his face from the street lamps. “Sorry for prying, I’m just super new to this town. Trying to see if it’s worth it.”

“New as in . . . ?”

“Moved in yesterday!” She said with a laugh.

“Why Mystic Falls?”

“Well, I think my brother chose it because he wanted me to finish off my last year of high school quietly.”

“Your brother?” Damon gave her another questioning look, except this time she could see it. His eyebrows came together and his head tilted. His hands were in his pockets as they walked.

Angel sucked in through her teeth, “Yeah, our mom died right before the end of my junior year and we never knew our dad, so, Mystic Falls it was once I turned 18 and we got all the legal stuff figured out.”

Damon’s eyebrows shot up as he looked ahead, “Sorry for asking.”

“You’re fine, there was a lot of free therapy back in Baton Rouge. For some reason they gave out therapy appointments like people in other towns give out casseroles and stuff.” She laughed, taking the piece of hair out from behind her ear.

Damon let out a low whistle, “Louisiana? That’s a far way to come from.”

“We both agreed it was just time to kinda get as far away as possible without actually having to freeze our asses off. This is even kinda cold.”

“Yeah, it is pretty cold compared to what it normally is like around this time of year. What do you think you’ll miss most about Louisiana? The weather?” Damon asked as the two stopped at a bridge with a stream running under it.

Angel propped herself against the railing with her forearms, looking down at the river, “I’ll miss that, of course, but, and I know this is gonna sound weird, but I think I’ll miss the little stuff like the way we speak the most.”

“What do you mean?” Damon was leaning against the railing with his back, facing the opposite way Angel was, allowing him to she her whole face when he looked down.

Angel thought for a moment, “Like . . . when we put away dishes, we say ‘save the dishes’ or instead of ‘going grocery shopping’ we say ‘making groceries’. It’s just something I grew up with and didn’t know other people didn’t say the same things when I went on vacation to Colorado with my family one year and I asked the hotel desk worker where I could save the pens and he just stared at me and asked what the pens were in danger of.

“It seems weird, but I think it’s a comfort thing. My grandma’s first language was Cajun French, so it just makes me feel connected to her. And - sorry,” Angel let out another laugh, “I’m rambling.” She stood up straight and gave an eye smile to Damon, before letting out a shiver.

Damon’s gaze never left her face as she spoke, and when she smiled he felt something deep in his chest twitch, something telling him he had to protect this girl. So, when he saw her body shake from the breeze that passed against the pair, he didn’t hesitate to take his jacket off and hand it over to her. She gave him a thankful look before taking her booksack off and slipping it back on. He noticed that his jacket completely swallowed her, her hands no where to be seen and it went down to the middle of her thighs.

“Oh, it’s really warm. Thank you,” Angel smiled up at him once again.

The two fell into a comfortable silence as they continued walking, the sound of Damon’s boots hitting the sidewalk was an odd comfort for Angel and the sound of the different charms on her booksack’s zipper rings hitting each other was an odd comfort for Damon. They began to enter the city, obvious by the increase of cars going by them and the decrease in the noise of the cicadas. Damon was walking on the outside, near the road. “Can you tell how far you are, yet?”

“Uh, I’m pretty sure it’s the turn up there. If you want to turn back home, you can. I’m sorry for making you walk all this way with me.” She looked up to him, her hands in the pockets of his jacket; it smelled like bourbon and sophisticated men’s cologne.

“Came this far, might as well see you home.” Damon said, looking back and forth between houses, getting an uneasy feeling. Someone, or something, was there, and it was hungry.

As the two finally set foot on Angel’s porch, she unlocked the door and opened it, allowing Damon to see a sliver into the house that was filled with boxes. “Hey, why don’t you let me cook you dinner? As a thanks and as a I-don’t-really-know-anyone-else-in-this-town-and-would-like-a-friend thing . . .”

Damon agreed and soon he was sitting in her kitchen, the only room that he could see that seemed to be unpacked and moved in. “What are you in the mood for?”

Damon pretended to think for a second, “How about you teach me how to make something you would eat in Louisiana a lot?”

Angel smiled at the fact Damon was trying to get her more comfortable in Virginia. “How about breakfast for dinner? I didn’t really trust Virginia seafood; feels wrong morally.”

Damon nodded, and as she turned around to go back into her fridge he hit a realization. He neck was out, completely for the taking, yet he felt no desire to bite her. She was too sweet; he was more into random-teenagers-making-out-in-a-graveyard type. Something about her turned off his vampire, and he couldn’t deny that he sort of liked it.

When Damon came back to reality, he noticed the counter was now filled with half a loaf of bread, vanilla, sugar, eggs, butter, and some milk all next to a deep glass pan. He shot her a quizzical look, “What is this?”

“Pain perdu. It’s a childhood favorite. My grandma used to make it for me all the time,” she said with a reminiscent smile on her face, and pointing to Damon for the rest of her sentence, “It’s time you northerner figured out what good Cajun food is. Now, I’m gonna go change, and then I’ll be back!”

“What if your brother gets home and I just look like a creep who wants to steal you guys’ food?”

“He told me he isn’t getting back until around midnight. The only job he could score on such a short notice was graveyard at a convince store nearby.” Then, she disappeared up the stairs.

When she returned, she was dressed in a pair of Adidas shorts and a loose white tee shirt, with her hair pulled into one bun instead of two and her makeup wiped off. Damon felt his heart stop for a moment. “Ready?”

The two proceeded to make pain perdu, something Angel didn’t know made the house feel more like home. It felt like Louisiana, but yet Damon made the idea of Virginia a lot less scary. The two were laughing and having a good time with her speaker blaring Cage the Elephant and Paramore songs. By the time Damon left, it was nearing 10:30.

When Damon closed the front door to the boarding house, Stefan was at his side in a second and his voice sounded venomous, “Did you kill her?”

Damon rolled his eyes and went to take off his jacket, before realizing he didn’t have it. His shoulders fell in an attempt to hide it as he walked to the library, “No, calm down. Just, went inside for a bit.”

“Inside? Damon, you know if you even attempt to kill that girl, the whole town will be on alert again.”

He rolled his eyes again as he filled a glass with bourbon and downed it, “I’m not gonna kill her. Like I said, calm down.”

-

Over the next few weeks, Damon found himself outside of Angel’s bedroom window more nights than he’d like to admit. He’d toss a rock until she’d open it; he loved the way she leaned against the window on her forearms and peak her upper body out the window and how her freshly washed hair would fall in front of her shoulders and blow in the wind. Her smile when she would see him would go up to her eyes, and each time it caused the pang in his chest that he didn’t know what it was. He just knew that he wanted to be around her as often as he could and he wanted to protect her from everything that was out there.

He would always tell her to jump down and that he’d catch her, but she never believed him until one day where she decided that if someone was going to get hurt, it was going to be him, so what did she have to lose? And lo and behold, he caught her perfectly fine.

When she jumped down today, he didn’t immediately put her down like he usually does, but rather carried her to the edge of the woods behind her house where there was a group of benches next to a creek. She wrapped her arms around his neck and lay her head on his chest and he swore that his heart stopped beating for a few seconds. Everything she did made his heart do that.

When he placed her down on the bench, he wrapped her in his jacket that he had only just recently gotten back. She pulled her knees up to her chest and put her arms through the jacket in order to turn the jacket into a cocoon. Damon took the empty spot next to her and she scooted closer to him so that she could lean her head against his shoulder while he had his arm wrapped around her, rubbing her upper arm ever so slightly. She trusted Damon with her life, which was a weird thing to think about in the long run. After a while of the two enjoying each others presence, he pulled his arm back and reached into his pocket, making Angel get on her knees and sit on her heels as she waited to see what he’d pull out. She sent him a confused look as she saw him pull out a thin bracelet with a glass stone that had a purple plant pressed inside of it.

“I wanted you to have this,” he explained, taking her arm and pushing her jacket back to put it on her.

Her eyes had the same light in them that they did when she walked into his house the day they met, “Damon, it-it’s beautiful . . .”

She looked up at him and they made silent eye contact for a few second before she reached up and pulled him down to meet her lips. The two felt like they were in Disney and the fireworks were going off; it felt like they were water in a lightning storm. By the time they pulled apart, they had no clue what time it was or how long they had been kissing. Damon’s thumbs were in front of Angel’s ears and the rest of his hands behind them; he kept their foreheads connected after the kiss, her arms resting on her knees.

“Angel Robicheaux, will you be my girlfriend?” Damon whispered out, to which she responded with a kiss.

-

Most people were surprised to find out that it didn’t take a lot of pleading on Angel’s part to convince Damon to go to the Founder’s Party, but most people didn’t know how completely whipped he was for this girl he had met a mere month and a half ago.

“Please? I feel like it’s a way to get to know the people of the town.”

“Trust me, you do not want to get to know the people of this town,” he dismissed. Damon knew that he couldn’t say no to her if he made eye contact with her, so he didn’t. But he could feel them. He could feel her puppy dog eyes baring into the back of his soul. And the ever-strong Damon Salvatore gave in. “Fine, but don’t expect me to be happy about it.”

When he looked back he saw her eye smile, making him look away in order to stop himself absolutely melting to be wrapped around her finger more than he already was.

At the sound of her doorbell ringing through her house, Angel walked downstairs as she put her long earrings in. When she opened the door, Damon nearly passed out; something about her fiddling with her earrings with her tilted head and her glittery eyes that got covered when she smiled matched so well with the light blue dress she was wearing. She looked like she came out of an old magazine. He took a deep breath as he looked her over, “You look . . . beautiful.”

“You don’t look half bad yourself,” she opened the door more as a signal for him to come in as she walked away. He leaned against the door as he shut it, wondering how this girl from Louisiana managed to get him so crazy for her so easily. He would kill to protect this girl.

Angel immediately wrapped her arm around Damon after he went around the side of his convertible and let her out. Her heels added an extra five inches to her height, but the fact she stood at a measly 5′0″ meant she still didn’t even fully reach his shoulders. She leaned into his side, not seeing anyone she really knew yet. Elena, Bonnie, and Caroline promised to be there; the only problem was where they were hiding. Damon leaned down to her ear, “You know, if you ever get bored when we’re here, we can always leave and go have fun elsewhere.”

She gave him a small nudge and eye roll, no longer as close to his side as she had been. He pulled her closer to him again once they got to the  “Hello, Mrs. Lockwood.”

She gave Damon a smile and Angel a surprised look, “Come in, come in. Hello Mr. Salvatore. And you must be Miss Robicheaux, my son, Tyler, has talked about you quite a lot, by the way.”

Damon raised his eyebrows at her claim, unable to stop the anger beginning to rise in his chest, “Really? Has he?”

Angel smiled and thanked her, pulling Damon inside before anything could happen. She gave him a look, telling him to let it go before she got on her toes to give him a short kiss, “I only have eyes for you.” He was significantly more calm than he had been prior and her arm once more found itself wrapped around his as they walked through the party.

After a short while of walking through the party, Angel caught eyes with Elena who was standing with Damon’s brother and began leading Stefan in their direction, meeting up with the two at the same time as Caroline and Bonnie and their dates. As the three girls chatted, saying hi to Caroline and Bonnie’s dates, Angel didn’t even realize as she rested her head on her boyfriend’s shoulder. The four didn’t take notice of the unbreaking eye contact between the Salvatore brothers. In minutes, Angel found herself with Stefan, Elena with Damon, and Bonnie and Caroline switching dates.

“Drink?” Stefan offered up.

“I don’t understand how this happened,” Angel stated, taking a sip after letting out a small scoff.

“Caroline’s a sucker for a dance, I guess,” Stefan stated. It was awkward, the two had never really talked before; she wasn’t even sure if Stefan knew she was officially dating his brother. His next question confirmed that suspicion.

“Angel, how serious are you with Damon?”

“Pretty serious for someone I’ve only known for about a month and a half. He asked me out around two weeks ago.”

“He-he asked you out?”

She sent him a questioning look, “Is that surprising or something?”

“Yeah, well, uh, let’s just say Damon isn’t quite over his ex just yet. I’d ask Caroline; she seems to know him . . . well.” He raised his glass to hips lips as she searched for something to say, but was interrupted by Damon and Elena returning.

He wrapped his arm around Angel’s waist, staring Stefan down. Stefan was doing the same. Angel and Elena looked at each other, confused.

“Damon, do you by chance want to dance?” Angel asked, breaking the awkward tension of the group. When he looked down to see her gazing up at him, he gave his first real smile since he had gotten there. He couldn’t look away from her as they danced. Dance was a strong word, it was more of a sway, with her head on his chest and her arms around his neck and his arms wrapped around her. When the slow song ended, she looked up to see him already looking down at her. She had the world in her eyes and he wanted to tell her he loved her at that moment. She lifted her hand to bring his head down once more, but when their lips touched, he pulled back, wincing. A healthy amount of fear covered Angel’s face, and Damon felt bad for making her worry. But he knew that pain: vervain.

“Babe, did you drink something?” He asked.

“Um, yeah, I drank a little bit of champagne with Stefan when Caroline made us all split up for whatever reason. Why? Are you okay?” The two had stopped dancing, standing like stones in the middle of the moving bodies.

He pretended to wave it off, not wanting to ruin her night, “It’s fine, I’m just allergic to champagne, I think.” He smirked and his voice lowered as he raised his eyebrows and moved to kiss her neck. “Just because I can’t kiss you on the lips doesn’t mean I can’t kiss your elsewhere . . .”

She giggled and pushed him back, but almost screamed at the sight of her boyfriend with dark veins around his eyes and his eyes that held a murderous look. “Not here, Damo - oh my God what happened to your face?”

He glanced passed her and into the mirror, seeing his face. He was getting hungry, and his body didn’t like the fact he was so close to her neck and wasn’t biting. He looked down, rubbing his face as he began to push his way outside, “That champagne must’ve been really strong . . . need some air. Stay here.”

Just like that, she was alone on the dance floor. Her shoulders fell as she watched him leave, only to be intercepted by a seemingly-angry Elena for a few seconds before he walked off once again. Tyler Lockwood walked up to her, seeing the whole scene go down. He held out a drink for her, which she took, downing it quickly.

“He’s an asshole,” Tyler began, only to be stopped by Angel.

“Look, I get what you’re trying to do. I’m sure you’re a cool guy,” Angel whispered before walking off, “but please, don’t.”

She began walking by the edge of the river once her head began to hurt; she hoped fresh air would help her, and maybe she could find Damon. The sound the the water spout in the river helped her block the sounds of the party out and focus, trying to ignore the throbbing pain she felt behind her eyes. What could Stefan have meant? What did Caroline have to do with this? Then she saw it. Caroline being held from behind by a guy; a guy she knew all too well.

“Damon?” She couldn’t believe her eyes. “Caroline? What is going on?”

No response. The two looked at her like deer in headlights.

“Are one of you going to explain? Or are you just going to stare at me like I’m fucking stupid?” Damon had never heard her this angry before - hell, he had never even heard her angry before.

Elena’s voice saved Caroline, “Caroline, come see.”

The blonde girl took the escape option, Stefan sent his brother a warning glance before turning to take Elena and Caroline home. Then it was just the couple left.

Angel crossed her arms, her words beginning to slur because of her pounding headache, “When Stefan told me you weren’t over your ex, I assumed he was just giving me a warning or something, and when he told me to ask Caroline about it, I was just confused. But now I see, your ex must be Caroline and you must really not be over her. Damon, I thought we actually had something, but I guess I really was just fresh bait to rebound on.”

Damon moved to grab her shoulders, but Angel went to move away. As she tried to move her foot behind her, her whole body gave out. She fell like a bag of bricks, her eyes rolling back in her head. She would’ve hit the ground had it not been for Damon catching her. He tried waking her, calling her name, shaking her, but she was unresponsive. He picked her up bridal style and hoped that she would wake up, just not in the next few seconds that it took for him to get to the boarding house. When he lay her down on his bed and placed a cold washrag on her forehead, he wrapped her small hand in his large one, rubbing his thumb over it. Before he could whisper “please be okay,” she began to stir. She rubbed her eyes and tried to sit up, but Damon shushed her and made her lay back down. “Hey, hey, baby, be careful.”

“Damon?” She asked and when she received confirmation she groaned, “My head is killing me. I didn’t know vodka could do that to someone. Tyler must buy the pure stuff or something; I don’t even know why I accepted it.”

It couldn’t, but Damon kept that to himself. He would deal with that kid later. Right now all that mattered was her. “What do you remember?”

She groaned again, signaling him to turn off his lamp. “I remember us kissing for like half a second and then you left and then Tyler handed me the drink and then I saw you and Caroline, but I don’t even remember what was happening with that. I just remember I was so angry, something I’ve never really felt before, and then I woke up here. I’m sorry if I said something mean.”

Damon swore he was ready to marry her at that moment, “No, you’re fine. Caroline and I were just, looking for something she dropped.”

Angel nodded as he stood up from his spot next to her hip on his bed to close the windows and the curtains. “Babe, can you do me a favor?”

“What is it?”

“Can I borrow some clothes to change into? And another wash rag? I feel like if I stand up I’ll puke.”

He silently snorted, “I was hoping that I’d see you in my clothes under different circumstances, if you get what I’m putting down.”

“Damon Salvatore, you may be my boyfriend now, but that doesn’t guarantee you will be forever if you keep talking like that.”

His eyes widened and he turned back to his drawers, puling out an old tee shirt and shorts and handing them to her. When he returned with another washcloth, he saw the original one covered in makeup, sitting on top of her clothes. He also noticed that his shorts were still there, only the tee shirt on her. It’s like she loved to drive him crazy. When he went to pester her about it, he noticed she was asleep; he opted to place the new washcloth on the bedside table and placed a kiss to her forehead before going to track down his brother.

Stefan looked up when he heard his door nearly slam open; Damon was standing there, murder in his eyes. He moved to be in front of Stefan and once he was, his chest heaving from angry breaths, he raised his hand and gave him a firm right hook. Damon took a grip of his brother’s collar, bringing his mouth to his brother’s ear. “If I wanted to bite her, don’t you think I would’ve done it by now? If I wanted to kill her, don’t you think I would’ve done it by now? I’m not one to play with my food. If you even think about doing something like that to her again, I swear to God I will kill you myself. You better count your blessings that she was drunk.”

When Damon let him go, Stefan fell to the floor but quickly picked himself up. “You realize you’re going to have to tell her about everything eventually right? She saw the desire on your face, and you knew you were close to biting her. You only didn’t because of the vervain and the people.”

“You’re one to talk,” Damon scoffed, “Tell me how it goes when Elena figures out what you are. Also, the difference between desire and actions is large: actually doing it. The day I put my fangs in that girl is the day I put a stake through my own heart.”

Damon slammed the door behind him. When he went back into his room, he saw Angel was still asleep; he made a move to grab a blanket off of his bed so he could sleep on the couch in his room, Angel let out a sleepy mumble of “stay, please” and grabbed his wrist. When he got in bed next to her, she immediately moved to lay on his bare chest, and she fell asleep once more to him running his fingers through her hair.

He didn’t expect this to go this far. He didn’t expect himself to be head over heels in love with this girl after a month and a half of knowing each other and that ‘half’ was their only two weeks of actual dating.

-

Damon was lounging in his bed, watching TV as his girlfriend did homework at his desk. He was in need of attention. He rolled to look at her, “When will you be done?”

She sent him a raised eyebrow, looking back down to her calculus, “After however long it takes me to finish it.”

“Can’t you take a break? Or at least do it in bed?” He asked, wanting her to be closer to him than she was. She let out a playful sigh as she gathered her things and moved to sit to the left of his laying figure. She leaned on her right hand to look down into his eyes, and her words came out without her thinking about them.

“You’re lucky I love you, Damon Salvatore.” The second the words left her lips, her eyes widened in realization, as did his. “Sorry, I- uh-”

Damon had never moved so fast; his lips connected to hers to stop her apology. They once more found themselves forehead to forehead, “I love you, Angel.”

The smile he loved oh so much found its way to her face as her cheeks turned red and she slumped down to hide her face. Damon pulled them away and began peppering kisses across her, only stopped by the sound of her notebook hitting the floor, causing her to place her finger over his overactive lips. “Go shower, we’ll see what happens after.”

Angel didn’t think she had ever seen someone get in a shower so quickly. By the time she had reopened her notebook, the bathroom door was closed and the sound of water falling filled the room.

When Damon got out of the shower, he exited with only a towel around his waist, only to see his girlfriend halfway laying down, sound asleep with her homework open on her lap. He sighed lightly, half smiling at how peaceful she looked. He picked up her book and placed it in her booksack and got dressed. Once he had some amount of bottoms on, he took a large, soft gray blanket and threw it over the two of them since she was laying on top of the comforter. He wrapped his arms around her and she sleepily turned around and burrowed herself into his bare chest. He didn’t understand how he had gotten so lucky.

-

“Do you guys know if you’re doing anything for Halloween?” Elena asked Angel asked the group. Angel was sitting on her bed, painting her toenails with her foot propped up on her bedside table, Bonnie was sharing the large beanbag on the floor with Caroline. Elena was sitting at Angel’s desk, slyly looking at the pictures of Angel and Damon that were pinned to the cork board. She wanted to tell Angel what Damon really was so badly. Elena felt nothing good could come out of the relationship between Angel and Damon; he had to have an alternate motive. There was no way he just genuinely liked this girl; Damon wasn’t capable of that . . . right? Elena and Bonnie never brought up the night of the Founder’s Party, assuming that Damon had compelled her to not remember anything; as for Caroline, they convinced her that it wasn’t a game she wanted to play.

Angel shrugged as she continued painting her nails, “I was gonna see if there was like a haunted house or something around. I was gonna ask y’all actually. Don’t really know what the Halloween scene around here is like.”

Caroline got excited, “There’s a haunted house, we should all go. It’ll be fun.” Then she took a long look at the Elena and Angel, “No boys though. Ladies night!”

Angel laughed as she closed up the nail polish bottle, “Sure. But you can explain to my boyfriend that the reason he can’t see me dressed up as hot Cher from Clueless is because of ‘ladies night’.”

A nice silence fell over the group before Angel broke it, “Hey guys . . . do you think they’ll ever find Vicki? It’s scary to think about. Like, she just . . . vanished.”

Damon went to answer his phone, only to have it snatched out of his hands by Stefan. “Really, Damon? You want to talk to Angel while you have someone who you just turned into a vampire in the house? Not gonna let it happen.”

Stefan let the call go to voicemail, and played it for Damon to hear before placing the phone in his pocket, “Hey, babe, uh . . . I’m going to the school for the haunted house thing. I’ll swing by if I’m not too tired afterwards? Call me when you can, love you.”

On the other side of the call, however, was a dressed Angel. She placed her phone down and took a sad breath as she looked into her mirror; her hair was straightened, going down to just under her breasts, which were covered by a white tube top and a yellow and black plaid blazer. Her skirt matched her blazer and she had white knee high socks on that led to her white Keds. Bonnie came up to Angel when she exited the bathroom, resting a comforting hand on her shoulder, “I’m sorry.”

“No, no. This is ladies night. I am not going to let my dense boyfriend ruin it.” Angel tried to reason, but Bonnie knew there was something else, and Angel knew she couldn’t keep it a secret once the tears began to fall as she sat on the edge of her bed, looking up to her friend, “Damon, he - he hasn’t called me back since we slept together. And I keep remembering this stuff from the night of the Founder’s Party where Stefan told me he wasn’t over his ex and I only remember him mentioning Caroline, but I don’t know what he said about her. I can’t remember anything from that night besides vague details. Bonnie, am I just a rebound? Did I really let myself believe that he saw me as something other than a dumb high schooler?”

Bonnie sat next to Angel wrapped her in a hug, her witch costume not the most comforting material in the world, but Angel didn’t care. After only a few seconds of her comforting, the two were interrupted by Caroline bursting into the room, “Have either of you seen, or even heard from, Elena? Oh . . . oh Angel, what happened?”

When Caroline heard the story, she couldn’t help but glance over to the pictures Elena was inspecting just the other day. She knew she couldn’t tell Angel what was happening between her and Damon, both for Angel’s safety and for the sake of her heart. Caroline took a seat next to Angel and took a hold of her hand, “Listen to me, Angel. I don’t how, or what all happens in his head, but when he sees you, there’s like a button in Damon that changes. We had a . . . thing, but it’s over. There’s something about you; I don’t know what, but you turn him into a different person. Look at your cork board. I never saw a side of Damon like that, he never would’ve agreed to go into a photo booth with me, let alone kiss in one. I think you just need some time away, which is why you’re going to leave your phone here and we are going to have the night of out lives. Now, where’s your makeup bag? We need to touch up your mascara.”

Angel smiled as Caroline pulled her and Bonnie up, taking her to her vanity and sitting her down. Neither of the girls noticed when Angel took off her bracelet from Damon and didn’t put it back on.

As the three entered the school, they were met with Tyler Lockwood immediately, offering drinks. Caroline took one before Angel could protest, and Tyler tried to push one on the other two girls. “No, thanks,” Angel stated, not breaking eye contact, “I think we both know how it’ll turn out.”

“What happened there?” Caroline laughed as she took another sip of her drink before pouring it out into a nearby plant at Angel’s next words.

“I’m pretty sure he tried to roofie me at the Founder’s Party.”

As time passed, the girls began giving up hope that Elena would show. They were slowly descending into a drunken stupor, making sure to check that Tyler was no where near the drinks they got. “Hey, Matt, how’s the party?”

“Great, uh, just feel a little confused,” his voice lowered, “Vicki’s here, so could you guys keep an eye on her if you see her? It took all the power she had to convince me to let her come.”

The girls agreed, a wave of unspoken relief washed over the girl at the news Vicki was safe. They wandered into the haunted mansion, each taking bets on who could get out the fastest and proceeding to slip into different paths. When Angel was running through, trying to beat her friends, she felt a pull at he wrist, only to come face to face with Vicki. “Uh, hi Vicki, are - are you good?”

Angel had never really spoken to the girl alone before, but rather in a group. She didn’t really know how to start a conversation with her normally, let alone after she returned from a stint of being gone from home after she witnessed her friends being murdered. Vicki didn’t respond, but rather grabbed Angel by the shoulders and looked her dead in the eyes before muttering a “hope this works.”

“Go to the exit and wait for me and Jeremy. If Stefan or Damon comes, don’t let them touch me or him.”

Angel nodded and walked off to the exit, taking her outside, where she waited. She stood with an empty look in her eyes, waiting, waiting, waiting.

Damon was sitting at the Grill with Mrs. Lockwood; he didn’t expect his night to be this way. He more expected a Halloween party with his girlfriend, who was without a doubt, dressed hot as hell. Instead, he was holding out on those thoughts so that he could talk to this woman who was 8 martinis in and was revealing way too much about the Founder’s Council. His fingers played with the rim of his glass. “Didn’t you come to the party with a girlfriend? The high schooler?”

Damon mentally apologized to Angel for what he was about to say, “I was just entertaining her for the night. New in town, so what better way to meet the right people of Mystic Falls than to go to the Founder’s Party with a member of a founding family?”

Later, when he was at the school, he walked up to Bonnie, looking down into a cauldron filled with juice. She gave him a sour look, letting him know he wasn’t welcome.

“Why the harsh look? After all, I’m just here looking for my girlfriend,” he said while filling a cup, “And of course, to get that crystal that’s around your neck.”

Bonnie shook her head, narrowing her eyes up at the elder Salvatore, “Which girlfriend are you talking about? Because as far as I’m concerned, leaving a girl in the dark after sleeping with her isn’t the best way to show your affection. Nor is kissing her best friend and turning her into a snack. Angel will find out eventually, and at that point, it’ll be too late to apologize. But you know that, don’t you? Here’s a thought: why don’t you stay away from both of them? And you’re never getting this necklace back.”

Damon tried to grab the necklace off of her, causing it to burn his hand and give Bonnie the chance to run away. As he focused on the burning sensation of his hand, he heard a scream from far behind the school. However, the scream belonged to a voice he knew all to well: Angel.

As Angel kept watch for Vicki and Jeremy, she tried to ignore the sounds of them making out and Jeremy’s confusion as to why she bit his lip. Then she heard Jeremy’s exasperated huffs as Vicki began to become dangerous, yet her body wouldn’t allow her to run or even move. She saw Elena throw open the door to the gym followed by her running to find her brother amongst the school buses, only giving Angel a few seconds to explain why she wasn’t doing anything.

Angel’s response was quiet and calm, “Vicki told me to keep watch for Stefan and Damon.”

Elena knew she couldn’t do anything about the fact Angel was acting under compulsion, so she just had to hope that she would be able to run when given the chance again. Elena moved to pull Vicki off of Jeremy, throwing her into the open space between the buses and the gym; Elena’s hopes for Angel’s safety were immediately thrown out the window when Vicki realized that she hadn’t told Angel to stop Elena also. The next thing Elena and Jeremy saw was a flash of yellow plaid as Angel screamed and landed in a pile of glass. She struggled to stand when Stefan exited out the same door Elena had earlier; when Angel pulled herself up, she hobbled over to Stefan, glass still in her hands, legs, and side causing blood to pour from multiple areas on her body, staining her socks and blazer. She tried to push Stefan back, but he easily stopped her, but couldn’t override Vicki’s compulsion. He pushed Angel out of the way and made his way to Elena and Vicki; Angel went to follow after Stefan, but stopped when she saw Damon. Unaware that she was under compulsion, he moved closer to her, only for her to attempt to push him back, her blood getting on his shirt. “You can’t go, you can’t help Stefan. Vicki told me to stop you. I’m sorry.”

Damon grabbed her wrist and lifted it to his eyes, pulling her blazer sleeve down to see the bracelet he had gotten her was not on her wrist. Damon pulled Angel’s chin down to make eye contact with him, “Don’t listen to her. Listen to me: go find Bonnie, have her take you to the hospital, and forget what happened out here.”

Damon watched as Angel walked away, not looking back. When he looked down he saw that there was blood on his hands, no doubt from Angel’s wounds, he couldn’t stop himself from lifting his hand to his mouth. He was only stopped when he turned around to see a dead Vicki on the ground, Stefan leaving him to deal with her as he went to bring a mentally scattered Jeremy home.

Damon walked over to Elena, who was standing over Vicki. She began hurling her disbeliefs at him, asking him how he could do something like this, just for his own fun. Damon could handle her anger; it didn’t phase him, he truly meant it when he said nothing about Vicki mattered to him. It wasn’t until Elena brought up Angel that he snapped. “What about Angel? Does she really not matter at all to you? What about Caroline? I should’ve told Angel about you before she went off the deep end and fell in love with you. What happens when she find out about the fact you’re a vampire? What happens when you can’t control yourself around her anymore? I saw what you did after she left. Your lies are a web and they will catch you one day, and that day is soon. You’re only going to hurt her and you know it.”

He grabbed Elena by the neck, his eyes filled with fire. “Mention my girlfriend’s name again with the subtext that I won’t protect her and I won’t hesitate to make you regret knowing the Salvatore brothers’ secret. You need to leave.”

“Just stop hurting my friends.” Elena spit out before leaving.

-

“Hey, Angel, you should come to my party tonight! It’s at the Grill and your boy is gonna be there!” Caroline sung over the phone.

“I would, but I have a lot of college stuff to do. I’m sorry Caroline.” Angel responded, sighing.

“Oh come on, please? Just for an hour? I’ll take you home myself. when you’re ready to leave. You need to have some fun, all you’ve been doing recently is college stuff.” She pleaded.

“Fine, Caroline, just for you.”

Caroline giggled through the phone, “Sure, ‘just for me’.”

“See you later, Caroline,” Angel laughed, hanging up.

Angel once more found herself answering the door to see her boyfriend standing there, dressed in his usual white shirt, black pants, and leather jacket. His mouth nearly fell open when he saw her dressed in a pink cropped sweatshirt over another pure black crop top paired with jean shorts with suspenders attached and two different pairs of fishnets. “Whew, Virginia has changed you. You know every time I see you, you just get hotter, right?”

“That’s the goal.”

“Not gonna wear anything warmer?”

“That’s your job.” She winked at him, making him groan as she leaned over and tied herself into a pair of black Vans before exiting her house and locking the door behind her. “If you can see it from the front wait ‘till you see it from the back.”

He stopped her from walking down her porch stairs by grabbing her and wrapping his arms around her, her back to his chest. He leaned down to her ear, his voice low but still powerful enough to make a shiver run down Angel’s spine, “If you keep acting like this, I will not hesitate to bring you behind the party and make you forget every name but mine.”

She smirked, and something about her glossy lips shining in the little light from the moon drove him crazy as she whispered back, “Well, then don’t do anything to mess up your chance then.”

With that, she headed to his car, leaving Damon there to take a deep breath and look down to hide the desire on his face. He was glad she wasn’t looking at him; he couldn’t hide behind the excuse of champagne anymore. He didn’t look up until she called out for him, “Are you gonna come or will I have to drive myself?”

He shook his head, smiling to himself; she was so perfect. He wanted to live in this moment forever. Her smiling, sexy figure standing by his convertible, waiting for him in the cool autumn night.

When the two arrived to the party, nearly every male in the bar turned to look at Angel with crazy eyes; it was undeniable that she was extremely attractive, especially dressed to the definition of sex appeal. Damon wrapped his arm around her shoulders, pressing his lips to hers before the two separated.

Caroline’s jaw opened when she saw Angel walking up to her and Bonnie, causing Bonnie to turn around and do the same. “Oh my God. You look . . . hot.”

Angel looked confused for a second, “Thanks. I think?”

“Yeah, yeah, it’s a compliment . . . it’s just you normally dress so . . . not dark.”

Angel laughed, taking the empty seat at the table the two were at. “Let’s just say I thought about what you said, Caroline, and you were right. I’m gonna have some fun.”

Bonnie rolled her eyes, “Oh no, don’t tell Caroline Forbes she’s right. She’ll never let you live it down.”

“Well, I’m gonna go get us some drinks. How’s that sound?” The two girls nodded and Angel found herself once again standing. As she was walking to meet Damon at the bar to con him into getting the group shots, she was stopped by a female voice, “He’s not the type you want to mess with.”

Angel turned to see a blonde girl with a round face standing at the the pool table, staring at her. When she gave her a questioning look, the girl motioned her over. When Angel stood next to her, Damon took a look behind him, scanning the crowds, looking to make sure she wasn’t being bothered by anyone. Then he saw her with the crazy, and tuned in.

“My name’s Lexi, by the way. I’m a friend of Stefan’s. The Salvatores and I go way back. I just wanted to warn you about Damon; I saw you walk in with him, please don’t expect more out of him than a night. I’ve seen a lot of girls do it.”

Angel had never been so confused. Why was everyone so cryptic about Damon? What was everyone not telling her? “You mean my boyfriend? Damon and I have been dating for a month.”

Lexi’s eyes widened, “D-Damon asked you out?”

“Yeah, uh, is that weird. Is there something you want to tell me besides that you don’t like my boyfriend? I don’t want to sound mean, but I just don’t understand what this is about.”

Lexi shook her head, looking down in confusion before looking back up and making eye contact with Angel. “Tell me, has Damon ever tried to hurt you?”

Angel squinted at Lexi, “No? Are your eyes okay? Your pupils are like, freaking out.”

“Sorry, just noticed your bracelet. Who got it for you?”

“Damon . . .”

Lexi cursed under her breath, “So you truly like Damon?”

“Yeah? I love him, he treats me like a queen, honestly. Can I go talk to him now?” Angel answered, leaving immediately after Lexi gave a small ‘sorry, yeah, of course’.

When Angel finally got to Damon, she noticed his grip on his glass of scotch was deathly and his jaw was locked so hard it seemed almost painful. When her hand touched his shoulder, his body relaxed. “Hey, baby, you okay?”

He turned on the stool to face her, grabbing her and bringing her closer, whispering in her ear. “Now that you’re here, of course I am. Gonna let me shoot my shot, yet?”

“Too early in the night. I promised Caroline I’d at least stay an hour. After than, we can have as much fun as you’d like. For now, why don’t you entertain my group and buy us some drinks?” She teased, her elbow resting on the bar and her head propped up on her fist.

He groaned, “You’re gonna make my pockets hurt.”

She sent him a wink before taking the drinks back over to the table, “That’s the point.” When she arrived to see a peeved Bonnie and no Caroline, she sighed and handed Bonnie the extra shot that was meant for Caroline.

“She tried to rip my necklace from my neck.” Bonnie explained, “She wanted it for Damon.”

This night was never ending confusion for Angel, “Why does Damon want some crystal necklace? Why didn’t he ask you himself?”

Bonnie gave Angel a smile, but there was pity in her eyes, “Angel, how much do you actually know about Damon? Have you seen him around others, like, truly, not just in passing? Have you seen him interact with Caroline, ever, not when you were drunk? He’s bad news; I don’t know what’s up with him around you, or if it’s even real. I don’t know how you fit into the bigger picture. But you need to be careful around him.”

Angel couldn’t respond before Bonnie got up and walked to meet Elena, who was taking her turn with Lexi, but her conversion seemed to be going a lot better. Angel took a deep breath and downed her shot, heading to the bathroom.

The bathroom door closed behind Angel, and she went to make the corner, but she saw Caroline talking to Damon at the end of the hallway. She stopped and moved out of sight, but luckily she was still in earshot. She heard everything, all the insults he hurled at her, but shallow was the one that hurt the most. He didn’t know Caroline like that. She seemed shallow on the surface, but she really just wanted the best for her friends. When she heard the sound of Damon’s boots beginning to walk away, she couldn’t help the anger inside of her that caused her to walk up to him and grab the back of his jacket, causing him to turn to see what idiot was doing that. His eyes widened when he saw that it was his girlfriend; he had never seen such fire in her eyes. Caroline used the altercation as her chance to get away, but not before she heard Angel defending her.

“Are you fucking crazy? Is that what people mean by how much of a dick you are? This is how you treat other people? Really? I can’t believe I was so fucking blind! You dare call Caroline shallow, but it’s you who’s shallow! You use me as a fuck buddy and tricked me into falling in love with you,” Angel grabbed his jacket and pulled him down to ensure that only he could hear her last sentence, “If you dare insult anyone else ever again, I swear you;ll hope you never see me again.”

Angel tried to walk off, but Damon grabbed her wrist, trying to get her to listen to him, but she shook him off, her bracelet coming off into his palm. Her words were venomous; he had never seen her like this before, “Let go of me or I will scream.”

Damon watched as she stormed out the Grill through the back exit. He heard Lexi behind him, warning him to not go out after her, “You don’t want to play that game right now.” It took everything in him to not kill her right then and there; that was for later tonight. He pushed passed her and took his seat back at the bar, ordering the strongest thing they had three times over.

Angel’s star gazing session behind the Grill was interrupted by the sound of a commotion happening up front. She walked up the side of the building, confused as to what was happening. When she heard a scream, she began running towards it. She couldn’t just stand there while someone could need help. She ran through the overgrown pathway, landing in front of a tunnel to the right of the Grill. She took a glance down to see Damon standing there, his teeth sunk into a sophomore, forcing his girlfriend to watch. She screamed, causing Damon to look up and blood to spill from his mouth onto his shirt. Damon dropped the boy and began to approach Angel, but she ran as fast as she could, but she wasn’t fast enough. He stopped her on the sidewalk, grabbing a hold of her from behind; he kept a hold of her as she began crying and begging him to let her go. “Please, Damon, let me go, please. I promise I won’t tell anyone what I saw. Please. I’m sorry for what I said earlier, please don’t kill me. Please let me go.”

He had never seen so much fear in anyone’s eyes. Her sobs hurt to hear and her struggling hurt to feel. It pained him to know she was like this because of him. “Shhh, shhh, I won’t hurt you.” He tried to move the hair out of her face, but it proved to be a bad choice on his part. She moved to cover her neck with her hands, fer face covered in tears.

When she realized he wasn’t letting her go, she seemed to accept death and began challenging him, thought she still thrashed in his grip. “You killed that boy. Did you kill Vicki? Did you kill those people in the graveyard? How many other people have you killed? Have you ever thought about how they felt, or how their families felt? Not knowing what happened? You’re a killer. A murderer.”

Damon grabbed her face and brought her eyes to meet his, his pupils moving; the fear was now mingling with anger and hatred. Those were the three things he hoped he’d never see in her eyes; he had promised himself at one point to kill whatever caused that pain, but right now, he had to accept that it was him and all his lies that caused her pain. “Listen to me. Stop thrashing.” Her body went limp, and he hated himself for it. He also promised himself that he would never compel her for his own gain. His heavy breathing didn’t let him feel as she reached her bracelet that was peeking out of his jacket pocket, thinking of Lexi’s comment about it earlier when her pupils did the same thing. “Go home. Forget this happened.”

He watched as she walked down the street, headed towards her house. He almost missed the small clink of something hitting the pavement next to her. Her bracelet.

She didn’t forget. She knew; she knew too much.

so direct action is not an option available to you. what can you do right now instead?

Be mindful of the content you’re putting on your social media accounts. Stop retweeting/reposting violent images and videos of black people dying. Know that content like this, even with trigger warnings included, can be very emotionally disturbing/distressing and yes, even traumatic, for black people navigating the internet right now.

Report any images and videos you see where protestors’ faces are visible/unblurred, particularly in content surrounding the lootings. Don’t retweet or repost these images and videos. This can be a death sentence. 

DONATE, PARTICULARLY TO MINNESOTA-BASED BLACK YOUTH MOVEMENTS / MUTUAL AID FUNDS WHO ARE DOING WORK ON THE GROUND. FOLLOW/BOOST IF YOU CAN’T.

• The Minnesota Freedom Fund, a mutual aid group fighting back against the unjust MN bail system, is taking donations. (Twitter)

• The Black Visions Collective, a Minnesota-based freedom fighter organization creating campaigns for justice, is taking donations. (Twitter)

• Reclaim the Block, a coalition to demand that Minneapolis divest from policing, is taking donations. (Twitter)

• Crowdfunding for black trans people in need thread. 

• Comprehensive Minnesota bail fund/support document for May and June.

Grover: Finally a moment alone! :3

Grover: *Gaslights the god of war*