Eat Your Heart Out

I couldn’t stop smiling; I was pretty sure my face was going to crack from the overuse of my muscles. Humming lightly to myself, I began to clean off the booths to get ready for the dinner shift. It was currently the calm before the storm, and I was going to soak in every minute of it before I was stuck behind the bar counter for the next two hours.

“I don’t think I have ever seen you this happy before.” Matt said with a slight smirk as I handed him the gray bucket full of dirty dishes. “Should I be worried or happy for you?”

“Happy,” I replied, working beside him to get the dishes done quicker. “I have a date.”

“You?” he replied with a slight chuckle. “Your brothers are letting you out of their sight for a couple of hours with a boy?”

“Hey, they leave me here with you all the time!”

“Work is different. Besides, one of them is my coach and I’m scared of him. Therefore, he’s not worried about me doing anything to you.”

I laughed, nodded that this was quite true. Aiden had an iron fist when it came to coaching. He was always able to get any group of kids in line within a matter of hours. He conducted practices as if he was preparing the boys to go to war. Of course, he hadn’t been alive, or dead, long enough to even have been in a war.

“So can I ask who’s the lucky guy?”

“Damon.”

Matt dropped the dish he was holding in the sink and turned toward me, brow in a deep furrow. “No.”

“Excuse me?”

“Damon is nothing but trouble. I know you haven’t been here that long, but he’s not the kind of guy who you should get involved with.”

I scoffed and began to scrub the dishes harder than need be. “You’re as bad as my brothers.”

“Well maybe your brothers have a point.”

“Matt!”

“What?”

“Can you just be happy for me? Please?”

He let out a heavy sigh, rubbing his forehead with the top of his arm. “Kris….”

“Please? It would be nice to have some support.”

Matt stood quietly for a long time, before finally picking up a dish and starting to clean again. “Fine.”

“Really?-“

“Yes, fine, I’ll support your stupid decision. But if something happens and it’s terrible and awful and you want to hide…you can stay in my basement.”

I laughed and splashed him with water. “Thanks, Matty.”

~~

At five o’clock on the dot the rush began. Once I started at the bar, I did not have a moment’s break, even when David came in to help out. At seven, I refilled a few more drinks before yanking off my apron and clocking out.

“Whoa, hey, where you off to in a rush?” David asked when I almost knocked him over to get to the door.

“Big Date,” I replied with a grin.

“Have fun!” He called as I ran out to jump in Eric’s car, which he so kindly let me take to work. As I unlocked the car and grabbed the handle, a large hand pushed back on the window and caused it to shut.

Slowly becoming pissed that this person was eating up my time to get ready, I turned, ready to scream a few fowl words but, when I made eye contact, my words were shoved back down my throat.

“So what’s this about a big date, my love? I don’t remember scheduling anything with you.”

“I’m not going on a date with you. Let me get into my car.”

“Then who are you going with?” he asked, inching closer, making it harder to move.

“None of your business, Jeremiah, now let me get into my car.”

If possibly, his face darkened so much that it began to blend in with the shadows. “You’re going with that Salvatore boy, aren’t you?”

“There is no reason for you to know what’s going on in my life. Let me go home.”

“I thought I told you to stay away from him!” He barked, his face becoming terribly close to mine.
Adrenaline rushed through my body, giving me a small amount of courage. “You don’t own me anymore!” I yelled back, pushing as hard as I could on his chest. He barely stumbled back a foot.

“I will always own you, Kristyna.” He growled. Suddenly he stood up straight, his face relaxing.

“What…what are you so calm for?” I asked, trying to sound more confident than I felt.

“You fully believe that I no longer own you.”

“Yes.” My voice wavered.

“Fine, then go on this date with your precious Vampire. I am sure by the end, you will realize who you should be with.” He gave a slight bow, and began to walk away. “See you soon, my love.”

I watched him walk into the Grill, before leaping into the car and racing home. He was bluffing. He had to be bluffing. I shook my head as I pulled into the parking lot. This night was going to be wonderful. Jeremiah was just jealous. That’s what it was.

I rolled my neck before opening the door to the house and dropping off my bag and keys on the side table before the door.

“You’re late.” Aiden called from the other room.

“We were swamped; I didn’t realize what time it was until after my shift.”

His head peaked out of the kitchen, one eyebrow raised. “You know it’s 7:30 right?”

“WHAT?” I screamed and I dashed up the stairs to get ready. “HOW CAN I ONLY HAVE 30 MINUTES OH MY GOD.”

Downstairs Aiden chuckled, going back to his business.

~~

At 7:55, I was panicking pinning up the last little bit of my hair. Taking a deep breath, I headed downstairs, fiddling with my rings. Both brothers were in the living room; one with a glass of water, the other with a glass of red liquid. I could feel my body start to gag.

“You look…decent,” Aiden said, grabbing my rings off my hands and dropping them in the glass of water. Eric handed me his. “Yes, you do. Drink this.”

I visibly gagged, “No thanks.”

“It’s to make sure you keep your strength. Drink.” He ordered.

Realizing this was probably the only way I would successfully go out on this date, I pinched my nose and chugged, coughing wildly once it was over.

“For your mind,” Aiden said handing me the glass with my rings. “I can’t get them back out.”

Ah. Laced with vervain.

I nodded, grabbing my rings, drying them, and then slipping them back on my fingers.

“Feel better?” I asked, looking between the two of them. Within a second, I was squished between the two of them in a tight hug. “Guys, it’s a date, not death row.”

“Just be careful, okay?” Eric mumbled, tightening his grip.

“If anything happens, call us. We’ll be there in a heartbeat,” Aiden added, mimicking the actions of his brother.

“Of course.” I said, squeezing them back. The doorbell rang, but neither brother budged.

“Guys….”

It was silent for a minute, and then it rang again.

“Guys…” no one moved. Finally, I started to shove until I freed myself, walked to the door, opened it, and found it extremely hard to breathe. God, he was hot.

“11:30 was the agreed time to return her. Any time before that would be preferable.” Aiden, spoke, stone cold.

“Of course.” Damon responded coolly offering me his hand, which I took.”

“I will come back before 11:30 tonight. I promise.” I told them before following Damon toward his car. Both brothers were still watching from the door.

“I think that’s the nicest conversation that I’ve had with them,” Damon mumbled to me as he open the passenger door to allow me to slip inside.”

“I’m inclined to agree.” I responded, before it shut.

“They’re still watching,” he mumbled, as we backed out of the driveway.

“They are trying to intimidate. Just ignore them. Tell me where we are going.”

“Somewhere quiet, but open.”

“What does that even mean?”

“You’ll see,” he replied with a smirk.

~~

It was a quaint moonlit picnic. The whole thing looked like it came out of a novel. The red blanket, with a neat wooden picnic basket placed in the middle, with candles on either side. I could already feel myself become extremely giddy. “Mr. Salvatore, I didn’t know you could be such a romantic.”

“I have a few cards up my sleeve, Ms. Carneil.”

“One of them being a secret romantic?”

“One of them having a brother who is a secret romantic,”

I laughed as we sat down.

“Also, that same brother, is also keeping watch, in case I lose my focus for some unknown reason.”

My cheeks turned bright red as he began to empty the contents of the picnic basket. “Courtesy of that new little Italian place at the edge of town.”

“Ooh, really? I haven’t eaten out there yet.”

“Well that makes two of us. I hope that it tastes as good as the advertisement says.”

“To a night of new experiences,” I said, raising my glass of water he handed to me.

“A night of firsts, indeed,” he agreed, clinking his drink with mine.

As I reached for one of the breadsticks laying on the plate between us, I felt a sting in my chest. I sat back up, rubbing my hand between my bosom and pulling it back to look at it. It was covered in blood.

Damon was shouting something at me, but I could hear him. I think he was holding me, but I couldn’t feel anything other than my chest. Stefan walked up, but he was very blurry. Both of them were moving quite slow, and it was hard to form…thoughts…

~~

“Stefan! Stefan, she’s not moving!”

“Damon, hold on!” I shouted at Damon, pulling Kris out of his arms and laying her on the ground. I bit into my wrist, holding it against her mouth, but I was afraid she was too far gone.

“Kris, wake up. Please, dear God, wake up!” Damon was shouting, but I don’t know if he knew that. He gripped her hand with all his might with one hand, while stroking her hair with the other.

After a few more feeble attempts, I allowed my wrist to heal and sat back. She was gone. I touched Damon’s shoulder, and he fell silent. The silence worried me.

“Damon I… I think…”

“It was him.”

“What?”

My brother’s eyes were dark as they turned toward me. “Jeremiah. He’s dead.”

“Damon!” I shouted, though I knew that it wasn’t going to do much good anyway. He was long gone.

I looked down at Kris, and stroked her hair. The poor girl, trapped in a dangerous game, and she was the one who lost.

Her head shifted under my hand by itself, causing me to jump back. The hell?

Kris sat up, eyes wide, and began to cough. Slowly the wound on her chest began to heal itself. Oh shit.

Our eyes locked, and she looked around. “Where’s Damon?”