I'll Teach You a Lesson for Keeping Secrets From Me

The moment the last rays of sun disappeared behind the mountains, I was out of the cooped up apartment I had taken residence in over the last few days. It was the middle of November and I had been enjoying the west coast for a little over a year. Now, I was moving back east and I had stopped to enjoy the short daylight hours and easily drawn in guys. Mind control was simple when the subjects were deprived of girls like me. And by girls, I mean vampires.

The cold air made my icy skin almost feel warm and I walked to the edge of the brick deck area. The ski lifts had been shut down for the night and hung motionlessly on the slopes of the tall, unforgiving mountain before me. I had been staying in Winter Park, Colorado for the last few days but I was ready to move on. My stomach was full of delicious B positive snowboarder and I was ready to make the rest of the journey.

I was turned into a vampire sixty years before that day. I had just turned eighteen years old when I got this particular gift; a gift that I wish could be taken back or exchanged. And just weeks after being turned, that’s when I decided that I’d hunt down the one who made me. I’d find the monster that did this to me and make him pay. And thanks to the worldwide web, CNN, and local news from around the country—as well as around the world—I was able to finally track down my maker…and ex-boyfriend.

Damon Salvatore.

Vengeance was the sweetest fruit of all and boy, was I craving a cocktail.

I made for the tree line and then allowed my vampirism to take over. I was fast—faster than any other vampire I’d ever crossed paths with—and I took pride in how sleek, elegant, eloquent, and dangerous and I had learned to be. I had accepted my new “life”, but I aside from my new diet, I didn’t feel like I’d changed.

I was still a fan of irony and while my heart still pined over the loss of Damon, I wanted to see him suffer for his cruelty in both turning me and playing me life a lovesick idiot.

The pine trees whizzed by in green blurs and before I knew it, I was at the base of the mountain and could see the flat, ever-running plains of the Midwest through the darkness. There was no longer snow falling and the ground wasn’t covered in white powder. As I moved eastward, out of the Rockies and into the Midwest, the air warmed slightly and I could smell the lingering burning scent of autumn in the trees that lined the rivers of Nebraska.

After another day of hiding from the brutal sunlight, I finally arrived in Fells Church. It was cool, overcast, and breezy but there was no snow on the ground. Due to the lack of cars in the parking lot at the school, I could assume that the students were still released for Thanksgiving break. Or fall break. Or whatever break they gave nowadays.

The longer my mind lingered on the subject, the less I realized I cared. I drew my jacket closer to me (common reflex to help my camouflage) and quickened my pace as a bitter cold wind whipped my hair about my face.

And then, I smelled it. It was coppery, thick, and warm, running at approximately 98.6 degrees. Someone, somewhere close by, was bleeding, not profusely as I couldn’t sense his or her panic, but enough that just the scent on the wind was able to knock me back on my heels.

My gums ached and I ran my tongue over my razor-sharp canines. My stomach rolled and I couldn’t stop myself from following the delectable scent.

It trailed down a block, around a corner, and then as I stepped into the mouth of an alley, I was presented to a scene that would make any mortal run to the nearest trash bin to vomit.

Damon was sucking the life out of what looked to be a coach from the whistle around his neck and the red cap on his head.

The victim was white with fear and blood loss. I’d misjudged the amount of blood loss because not much of it was going to waste. Damon had gotten drinking down to a science, practically an art, so that not one drop of blood was squandered.

And even though he wasn’t facing me, I knew it was Damon that had that poor man in his lethal grasp. He was tall and his dark brown hair was unforgettable. I could see his strong, lean muscles through the back of his favorite black leather jacket. He wore a ring on his left hand that protected him from the sunlight. And when he pulled his mouth away from his victim, I knew those fatal fangs better than anyone.

I could practically feel where they’d torn into my own neck.

My heart had fluttered at the sight of Damon (stupid girlfriend reflex), regardless of what he was doing, and when I suddenly recalled why I had intended to hunt him down in the first place, I couldn’t stop myself from emitting a deep, predatory growl.

Damon stiffened, I could sense his muscles tense, and before he whipped around to face whatever it was that dared intrude on a hungry vampire, I had darted down the street, up a fire escape, and was peering down on him from the roof of the apartment above.

I heard him take a deep breath, trying to sniff me out, but I’d anticipated this and had been sure not to wear my favorite perfume. The perfume he knew I loved because he was the one that bought it for me.

It would’ve been a dead giveaway. No pun intended.

Since I’d ruined his powerful, animalistic personae, only to replace it with one of unsuspected watching, Damon dropped the man on the cold ground and walked away nonchalantly. I could hear him sneer as he looked up and down the streets and sidewalks. There was no one out at this time of night—or morning, rather—and even though he and I both knew that the night was far from over, he turned the corner and walked slowly toward where I assumed he was staying.

I made to follow him, maybe toy with him a little before cornering him wherever he was staying. But before I did, I glanced down at the man that Damon had left bleeding on the ground.

I could hear his panicked breathing—fast and shallow and wheezing—and he was touching his bleeding neck with trembling hands. I ran back down the fire escape and to his side, playing my best “worried passer-by” façade.

“Are you okay? What happened to you?” I ask as I helped him into a sitting position and brushed off his sleeves. I pretended to be stunned by the blood on his neck and shoulders and chest. “Oh my God, you’re bleeding.”

The man stuttered incomprehensibly, pointing to the mouth of the alley and trying to somehow sign language to me that a tall man with fangs had attacked him.

I sighed, frustrated at Damon’s recklessness. He’d clearly not changed one bit.

I took the man’s face in my hands and peered into his eyes. They went blank almost instantly and I knew that this would be an easy convincing.

“The man was a mugger,” I say slowly, articulating each word beautifully. “He cut you on the neck with a rugged-edged knife.” The man before me repeated everything I said monotonously. I smirked at him. “Now go home and bandage your wound. It’ll be better in a week or so.”

The man stood and walked out of the alley, turning the opposite way that Damon had gone. And with self-satisfaction, I took off, following the strong and intoxicating scent of Damon’s cologne.

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His scent led to a huge old-fashion-looking house and before I made it to the front door, I heard movement inside—too much movement for it to be just Damon in there.

Stealthily, I scaled the tree that was next to the upstairs window, peering inside. Damon stood before his brother Stefan, whom I had met only once a long time ago, and a dark-haired girl that I didn’t recognize. I could sense the tension from outside and I hated thinking about how awkward it must’ve felt in there.

Then, without another word said, the girl turned and walked away from Damon, whom I noticed had been glaring at her intently. Stefan cast another demeaning look Damon’s way before following the girl. They walked out of the house and to the car in the driveway, arguing about something that I didn’t care about until they vanished around the block.

And then, it was just Damon alone in the house. He had already gone for the liquor and had a glass of copper liquid in his hand, sipping it and wincing as he stared into the fire that blazed in the hearth. The flames reflected sharply against the never-ending blackness of his eyes and I found myself slipping and losing my determination the longer I looked at them.

I tore my gaze away and then ran down the tree and to the front door, placing my hand on the doorknob not a second later. But a thought had occurred to me. Would I have to be invited in? Did a mortal live there?

Irritation and hesitance quickly grasped me and I stood there, playing out scenarios in my head of what might happen if I couldn’t get inside but Damon could come outside. The entire process of weighing the pros and cons of trying to get inside took three point six seconds and then, on a whim, I pushed the door open and whipped around it, shutting it soundlessly behind me.

However, before I could blink twice or dwell on how lucky I had been just getting inside, my luck turned as I was spun around and within a split second, I was on the carpet of the living room floor, a hand around my throat and a solid body atop of me.

I winced and looked up to see Damon, smiling in surprised arrogance. “Well, well, well,” he purred, his bottomless dark eyes radiant and his gleaming white fangs showing. “If it isn’t little miss vengeance.” I hissed, baring my teeth and his fingers tightened around my windpipe, causing me to choke and cough. “Ah, ah, ah, that’s not very nice, Chloe.” he sounded like he was scolding a small child. He ran his index finger of his free hand over my pointed canines and I saw his smirk widen. “I did right by changing you.”

I snapped at his finger. “You can rot in hell,” I managed to gasp. He blinked and his smile grew more crooked. It was that smile that always used to make me melt and I resented that it still worked. For a tenth of a second, all of my muscles relaxed and I found myself just gazing out him. He gave another vicious grin before planting his lips on mine, relaxing on me completely.

And while I told myself repeatedly that I only went along with kissing him because it was distracting him enough to loosen his grip on my throat, I knew that somewhere deep down, I was doing back flips in pure bliss. There was nothing and no one that I wanted more than him.

Dead.

I was confusing myself.

I caught a second wind and instantly ripped his hands away from me, pushing myself off the floor and pulling him along with me by the back of his jacket. I threw him against the couch before he could react and then I lunged myself onto him, holding his head to the back of the couch by his neck. My grasp was just under his jaw so he couldn’t move his head at all and I had both of his hands pinned with my legs.

“Doesn’t this feel familiar?” he asks bitterly. “This is just how we were positioned before I bit you.”

Hurt burnt my veins and I went for his throat, sinking my teeth deep and relishing in the gasping out cry that he made before drawing in a hissing breath between his teeth.

There was nothing worse or more degrading than being a vampire that’s being fed on by another vampire.

I released him and looked at his face. His eyes were blacker than the deepest pits of hell and his fangs were fully extended. “You’re going to regret doing that,” he warned in a tone that was saturated with malice.

My hand tightened on his neck, putting pressure on the two bleeding punctures. “Like how I regretted ever meeting you after you lied to me, had your way with me, hurt me, turned me, and left?”

I was shocked to see that something in his façade faltered when I said that. “What?” he said emotionlessly.

I was outraged that he would even consider playing dumb. Did he not take me seriously? Did he not think that I would finish the job and kill him right there on his living room couch?

“You were and still are, without a doubt, the worst thing that has ever happened to me!” I screamed, pressing him harder against the couch. “I came here to make damn sure you don’t do to another girl what you did to me.”

“How did I lie to you?” he asked in the same toneless voice. “How did I hurt you?”

I stood higher on my knees above him and I could sense his intimidation as his muscles tightened in defense. “You made me believe that I was special to you,” I began and every recollection came flooding back so easily. “You told me that you loved me and that you didn’t want anyone else ever,” My voice cracked and I took a second to collect myself before glaring down at him again. “And then you turned me into a monster like you!”

He considered all I had said before he spoke again. “Did it ever occur to you that maybe I turned you because I never wanted to lose you?”

I didn’t want to believe him. “No, completely and utter bullshit doesn’t occur to me often.” He scoffed and I noticed that all hostility toward me had vanished from him. “Besides, that doesn’t make any sense at all. If you didn’t want to lose me, why did you leave me?”

There was a blur of movement and I was no longer pinning him against the couch. Instead, I was sitting on the couch, hands empty, as he stood before the fire again, staring into it as he had been doing while I was perched on the tree branch outside.

“I couldn’t stop myself,” he said coldly, not facing me, but I listened nonetheless. I had grown accustomed to his behavior long before that day. “You looked so beautiful that night and you smelled about a million times better,” he cocked his head to the side and I knew he was eying my reactions carefully. “I couldn’t stop myself from biting you when we…you know…”

I blinked and could only stare at him. “It takes more than a bite to turn someone, Damon,” I spat.

“You think I don’t know that?” I turned to face me full on, annoyance clear on his face, but in the next millisecond, his expression had been wiped clean. “But I had almost sucked you dry before I realized I had even bitten you. I had to turn you. If I hadn’t…” he clearly didn’t want to dwell on the thought. “I knew you were going to hate me, so I ran and gave you a nice, clean break from me.”

“Except it wasn’t nice and it was clean. I was a damn mess for months!” I stood from the couch and was in front of him instantly. “If you would’ve stayed…”

“Well, I didn’t.” Deal with it, his tone said.

All of my motives for hell-raising revenge had been shattered and I didn’t know what to do at that point.

“Now what?” he asks pointedly. His eyes were black holes and the two holes in his neck were finally healed up completely, but the blood was still there, drying to his skin.

I ran to the kitchen and back in a second and wiped the blood off of his neck and collarbone with a towel. “I guess I’ll go,” I answered. “There’s nothing more for me here.”

I dropped the towel and paused before moving toward the door, but before I made it outside, Damon had shut the door and pressed my back against it. “I’m here for you.” He says poignantly, holding my face softly in his hands.

I was absolutely stunned. “Really?”

He craned his neck and kissed me. It felt like the first time we’d ever kissed almost sixty years prior to that moment. Butterflies frittered around inside me and I wasted no time at all in folding my arms across his shoulders, smiling and laughing when he stood to his full height and pulled my feet off the floor.

“Do I need an interpreter or do you get the point?” he breathes just an inch from my mouth.

My fangs grazed his bottom lip and I smirked. “I get the point.” The point being that there was eternity of vengeful romantic times for the two of us to come.