Save Me from Myself

Prepared for the worst, I looked at Damon with big brown eyes as he ate the brownie. I felt utterly numb, my knees were weak and my heart was beating so fast that I thought it was going to jump out of my chest.
"Are you out of your mind? These are the best brownies I've ever eaten. Why would you throw them away?" Damon gave me a suspicious look.
"R... Really?" I babbled with a weak voice.
"If you don't believe me, ask Stefan." he pointed at his brother who just entered the kitchen.
"Ask me what?" Stefan enquired curiously.
"Maddy baked these delicious brownies and for no reason she claimed that they're awful and wanted to throw them to the trash can. Can you believe that?" Damon shrugged before eating another brownie.
"As long as you didn't help her making them, I may try one." Stefan looked at Damon and replied with a smile.
"You don't think I'd poison you, do you?" Damon snickered.
Stefan didn't have time to reply as I started to cough at the word 'poison', their eyes turning to me.
"Are you alright?" Damon asked a little worried.
"I'm fine." I replied, still trying to catch my breath.
"Oops, I'm late for the council meeting." Damon said as he looked at the wall clock. "I guess I'll see you later. Don't eat all the brownies!" he shouted as he stepped out of the kitchen and a few moments later I heard the front door being slammed.
I let out a long sigh, relieved that the vervain didn't have any effect on Damon.
"Me and my stupid imagination." was the first thing that came up in my mind, but I involuntary said it out loud, causing Stefan to stare at me confused.
"Are you sure you're ok?" he raised an eyebrow.
"Yes, did I say that out loud?" I laughed a little, trying to make the conversation less awkward.
Suddenly, my cell phone rang. 'Whew, saved by the cell phone once again.' I thought to myself as I took it out of my pocket.
"Excuse me, I have to take this." I told Stefan as I pressed the answering button and walked out of the kitchen.
"Hi, Maddy!" Jeremy greeted me with a cheerful voice. "I hope this isn't a bad timing." he continued.
"Hey, Jer! No, it's so great to hear from you. What's up?" I replied on a joyful tone.
"I just called to thank you for helping me with the essay. The teacher really liked it and gave me an A." he said happily.
"Really? That's awesome!" I grinned. "But you don't have to thank me. What are friends for?" I asked casually.
"Well, in that case, thank you for being such a good friend." he retorted, making me laugh.
"You're welcome!" I rolled my eyes playfully. "I talked to Elena this morning and she told me that you started sketching again. When are you going to show me some of your work?" I enquired.
"Meet me at the Grill tonight and I'll bring them with me. How about 8 o'clock? You can kick my ass at pool if you want." Jeremy suggested.
Suddenly, I heard a noise coming from the kitchen. When I rushed back to the kitchen to find out what happened, I saw the brownies scattered all over the floor along with the pieces from the broken plate.
"Maddy, are you there?" Jeremy enquired.
My eyes widened with shock as I saw Stefan turning grey and falling to his knees.
"Vervain..." Stefan looked at me and murmured with his last ounce of strength before he passed out.
"Maddy?" Jeremy insisted.
I froze for a moment, dropping the phone on the floor. My whole body was shaking as I strolled back to the living room, looking for my backpack. As soon as I spotted it on the couch, I grabbed it and stormed out of the house without looking back.
After a few minutes of running like a lunatic, I saw a taxi and jumped in front of it to make the driver stop.
"Are you crazy?" the driver asked me as I got inside the cab, but I wasn't able to make a sound.
"Are you ok? Where should I take you? Hospital? Police station?" he enquired, seeing the desperate look upon my face.
"No, I just want to go home. Take me home!" I tried my best not to burst into tears.
"Does your home have an address?" the taxi driver rolled his eyes at me.
"3506 Fairfax Street." I replied faintly.
As soon as I got to the apartment, I locked the door and started to pack all of my things. After everything that happened I decided that I had to leave Mystic Falls.
"This is it, Maddy. Your little adventure in Mystic Falls is over. Forget about your job, forget about the rent that you paid in advance. It's time for you to go back to Arkansas. Why did I leave in the first place? I could have chosen New York, but no… That's what I get for choosing with my heart instead of choosing with my head." I said to myself while stuffing my suitcase with clothes.
I decided to get a room at a hotel for the night so that Stefan and Damon wouldn't find me, then the next morning I was going to take the first bus to Arkansas. My laptop was stolen and I didn't know any hotels, but luckily I found a phone book among the things in the living room. I looked through it and wrote down the phone number and the address of Quarry Inn Motel.
When I was ready to leave the apartment, I took a deep breath and opened the front door. My body froze in place when I saw Damon standing in front of me. I stared at him like I had seen a ghost, then tried to close the door, but he stretched his hand between the door and the doorframe.
"Can we please talk?" Damon begged me with blue puppy eyes.
"No, go away!" I sobbed faintly.
"Please, Maddy! Just give me 5 minutes. Hear me out for 5 minutes and I'll never bother you again." he insisted.
"Fine." I opened the door wider, giving him room to enter.
"Thank you!" he replied as he stepped into the hallway. "What's with all those bags?" his eyes fell on the luggage that was leaning against the wall.
"I'm leaving, Damon. I'm going back to Arkansas. I can't wait to tell my parent that I'm a failure. Can't wait to hear my father saying I told you so." I said ironically.
"You were leaving without even talking to me?" he frowned.
"You want to talk? Fine let's talk!" I spat angrily. "Let's start with the fact that your brother is a monster and then we can figure out how he killed Dianne. And maybe later we can ask him when he was going to kill me." I scoffed.
"Whoa, don't you think you're being a little too dramatic? I'm sorry that you had to find out the truth this way, but you know I couldn't just tell you something like this. Plus, Stefan didn't kill that girl. He's not even drinking human blood and he would never hurt you." Damon assured me.
"Really? Then why did he try to compel me the other day? Why did he tell Elena that you can't find out that he knew Dianne?" I retorted.
"Stefan tried to compel you and he knew Dianne? And you're telling me this now?" he looked at me a bit disappointed.
"I didn't know if I could trust you. And I guess I wasn't wrong, since you came here to defend your brother." I said accusingly.
"I'm not defending Stefan." he shook his head disapprovingly. "I'm here because I don't want to lose you." he added with a soft voice, walking up to me until there was almost no space between us.
"Damon, don't..." I took a step back.
"Now I understand your lack of confidence. Now I know why you kept pushing me away. But you don't have to do this anymore. Let's sort everything out so we can start over." Damon said calmly.
"And how are we going to do that?" I questioned him with a guarded look.
"Let's go back to my house and talk to Stefan. I'm sure there is a reasonable explanation for what he did." he suggested.
"What? No, absolutely not." I shook my head. "I don't ever want to see him again." I said with a trembling voice.
"Fine, you don't have to see him if you don't want to." Damon pulled me into a hug. "Everything is going to be alright." he assured me on a comforting tone.
"Thank God you're not a monster! I thought you were a vampire too." I hugged him back. "That night when you punched Jeremy at the bar... You had that look upon your face, like you were craving for his blood." I said looking into his eyes as we pulled away from each other.
"No, I was just angry, that's all. Stefan is the only vampire I know." he replied with a smile before placing a soft kiss on my forehead.
"Time's up!" I gave Damon a small smile, gaining a wondering look from him. "Your 5 minutes are up. You have to leave now." I clarified.
"Are you still planning to leave Mystic Falls?" he asked on a sad tone.
"Nope. At least not tonight." I replied with a weak smile.
"Promise?" he asked with blue puppy eyes.
"I promise. I won't leave without telling you." I said sincerely.
"I don't want to leave you here alone." he pouted. "Can't I just sleep on the couch? I won't bother you. You won't even know I'm here." he grinned.
"No, I'll be fine as long as you keep Stefan away from me. Plus, I need to be alone to process everything that happened lately. I'll talk to you in the morning, ok?" I said casually.
"Fine, but call me before you go to bed." he replied a little disappointed.
"I will. Goodbye!" I said as I opened the front door.
"Bye!" he said with a brittle smile as he headed for the stairs, reluctantly.
I closed the door behind him and I was heading to the living room when I heard a knock at the door.
"Did you forget something?" I raised an eyebrow at Damon who was standing in front of me once again.
"Yeah, I forgot to give you back your cell phone." he said while he took my phone out of his pocked and handed it to me.
"Thanks!" I replied with a small smile and waved him goodbye.
Damon took a few steps towards the stairs, but then he turned around and looked at me for a brief moment before rushing back to me. I was taken by surprise as he pulled me tightly against him and crashed his lips into mine. The kiss was soft yet passionate, the kind of kiss that was meant to make me think twice before running to my hometown without telling him.
"Yeah, I knew that the cell phone was just an excuse." I snickered as we pulled away from each other. "Don't worry! I already promised you that I won't leave." I reassured him while running my fingers through his silky hair.
"Are you sure you want me to go home?" he asked with a cocky grin.
"No, but you have to. I already told you why." I said with a smile.
"Fine..." he pouted, making me chuckle.
When he finally left, I started to unpack a few clothes and put them back in the wardrobe. 'I can't believe he convinced me not to leave. I'm going to keep the rest of my things packed in the bags, just in case.' I thought to myself while staring at my suitcases.
The next thing that I had to do was to call Jeremy and tell him that I was alright, since I dropped the phone on the floor in the middle of our conversation.
"Maddy, what happened? I tried to call you over and over again, but you never picked up." Jeremy's worried voice greeted me as soon as he answered the phone.
"Sorry about that. My cell phone isn't working properly. I think I have to buy a new one." I lied.
"Oh, I thought you were in trouble or something. Anyway, you didn't get to answer my last question. Do you wanna hang out with me at the Grill?" Jeremy enquired.
"I don't know, Jer. It's kind of late. I think we should leave it for another occasion." I shrugged. After what happened with Stefan, I wasn't in a mood to hang out, especially at the Grill where I could bump into him.
"Actually, I'm on my way to the Salvatore house." he said awkwardly.
"What? Why?" my eyes widened in surprise.
"I was worried about you, so I wanted to make sure that you were ok, even though I have to bump into Mister Asshole." Jeremy added on a serious tone, making me burst into laughter.
"Haha, that's how I called him the day we met." I chuckled.
"Really?" Jeremy snickered.
"Yeah... Well, not Mr. Asshole. Just asshole." I clarified, still laughing a little. "Anyway, I'm at the apartment. How long will it take you to get here?" I enquired.
"About 15 minutes." Jeremy responded.
"Fine, I'll go get dressed. See you in 15 minutes!" I replied before I hung up.
I put on a brown sleeveless top, a black jacket, my favorite purple scarf, black jeans and black ankle boots, then applied a little bit of makeup before Jeremy showed up. The weather was very pleasant, so we decided to walk instead of taking a cab. I wasn't in a mood to socialize, so I was glad that there were no familiar faces inside the Grill. We played darts and pool and of course he let me win again. Before walking me home, Jeremy finally showed me his sketches, but I wish he never did because most of them were monster portraits that looked like vampires. I even started to believe that he knew the truth about Stefan, but I didn't have the courage to ask him about it. After everything that happened lately, his sketches really crept me out, but overall I had a nice evening with Jeremy.
When I got back to the apartment it was almost 11 PM. I quickly removed my makeup and changed into my pyjamas, then snuggled under the covers. I remembered that Damon told me to call him before going to bed, so I did as he said.
"Hello!" Damon answered cheerfully.
"Hi! I hope I didn't wake you up." I replied casually.
"Nope. Actually, I was waiting for you to call me." he stated cockily.
"Yeah, well... I just called to say that I'm going to bed." I shrugged.
"Ok. Good night, then." Damon replied, ready to hung up.
"Wait, don't hang up!" I requested.
"Yes?" Damon asked with a sly voice.
"How's Stefan? Is he alright after... you know." I asked awkwardly.
"He's fine." Damon grinned. "Now that you mentioned Stefan, I think it's a good idea that the three of us..." he didn't get to finish the sentence because I cut him off.
"It's not gonna happen, Damon. I'm not meeting him." I predicted his question.
"Fine, but you'll see him at school." Damon shrugged.
"Oh, I completely forgot." I rolled my eyes. "Fine, let's meet in the morning before classes, but if something goes wrong, I'll blame it on you." I warned him.
"Nothing will go wrong, trust me. I'll pick you up at 7." he responded calmly.
"Ok. Good night!" I said reluctantly.
"Good night, Maddy!" Damon replied before he hung up.
I spent the next couple of hours tossing and turning in bed, questioning myself if I made a good decision when I accepted to meet Stefan. I tried to comfort myself, thinking that Damon wouldn't let him hurt me, that talking to Stefan was the only way to get some proper answers to the questions that have been bugging me lately. When I finally banished all my thoughts, my eyelids started to feel heavy and I eventually drifted into sleep.
I woke up in the middle of the night after I felt that someone was gently touching my cheek. It must have been a dream, but it seemed so real and so strange at the same time. When I opened my eyes no one was there, but the window was wide open and the curtain was blowing in the wind, making me even more confused, knowing that the window was closed before I fell asleep. I got up from the bed and closed the window, then snuggled under the blanket once again and slept until the alarm clock went off.
I was making breakfast when I heard the doorbell rang.
"You're here early." I stated before inviting Damon inside.
"What can I say? I'm a morning person." Damon smirked as he stepped into the hallway. "And I also wanted to give you a pep talk before meeting Stefan." his voice became slightly serious.
"Save it for Stefan. He's going to need it after I'm done with him." I replied bluntly, causing Damon to raise his eyebrows at me.
"Looks like someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning." Damon chuckled.
"I wonder whose fault it that." I said ironically. "Breakfast? Coffee?" I asked him.
"Coffee would be nice. Wait, I thought you hate coffee." Damon looked at me surprised.
"I also hate drunk people and you're still here, aren't you?" I taunted him, a mischievous grin plastered on my face.
Damon just rolled his eyes, but he didn't say anything.
"Anyway, mom and dad bought the coffee a few weeks ago when they came to visit me. But you have to make it yourself because I have no idea how." I added before leading him to the kitchen.
Damon made coffee while I ate some toast with butter and strawberry jam. About 15 minutes later we headed to the parking lot and got in his car, ready to meet up with Stefan. I didn't feel comfortable about meeting him at the Salvatore house, so Damon told him to join us in the central park.
"It's been more than 15 minutes. Are you sure he's coming?" I asked Damon while pacing nervously.
"Yup, just be patient. He can't use vampire speed during the day." he responded.
"Vampire speed?" I asked confused.
"There he is!" Damon pointed at his brother, avoiding my question.
I turned around and saw Stefan walking up to us with small steps, his eyes glaring at me. My heart was beating faster and faster, but from what I could tell, Stefan was feeling uncomfortable as well.
"Hi, Maddy! Thank you for meeting me!" Stefan said awkwardly.
"Before you say something else, just hear me out." I looked him in the eyes and replied nervously. "I'm sorry about what happened yesterday. I didn't mean to hurt you. I just wanted to find out the truth, that's all. I won't tell anyone about your secret, but I have some questions and you owe me some answers." I blurted out.
"Sure... What do you want to know?" he murmured, looking at the ground. I guess I caught him off guard.
"Did you kill Dianne?" I popped out the first question that was bugging me.
"No, of course not." he defended himself.
"Then why did you hide the fact that you knew her?" I continued to question Stefan while Damon was listening carefully to our conversation.
"Dianne was a very good friend of mine. Right before she died, she called me to tell me about a spell book that belonged to her aunt. Dianne said that she was in danger and that she had to destroy the book, but she couldn't do this alone. She needed a vampire to help her." Stefan told us.
"A spell book?" Damon and I asked in unison.
"Thanks to that book, her aunt was the only vampire who could perform magic. When her aunt was killed, other vampires came to Mystic Falls and started to look for the book, so Dianne wanted to get rid of it. But only a vampire could destroy it, so that's why she called me." Stefan continued.
I was stunned. First I found out that Stefan was a vampire, then he told me about this spell book and now I learned that he's not the only vampire in town. What's next?
"So, what happened?" Damon asked curiously.
"I rushed to her apartment, but when I got there, she was dead." Stefan said bitterly.
"What about the book?" Damon insisted.
"I don't know if the book ever existed. I panicked and ran because I thought that somebody set me a trap." Stefan shrugged.
"The book is real." I said sternly.
"How do you know that?" Damon asked confused, their eyes turning to me.
"Remember the night when somebody broke into the apartment? Nothing was missing, except from my laptop and a mysterious item from the toilet tank." I clarified.
"It's getting late. I should take you to school." Damon changed the subject.
"Damon is right. We should talk about this later." Stefan stated.
"One more thing before we go." I scratched my head. "Does Elena know that you're a vampire?" I asked Stefan.
"Yes, she does." Stefan answered reluctantly.
"And she's ok with it?" I almost shouted, throwing my hands up in the air.
Stefan looked down, but he didn't reply this time while Damon shook his head and sighed like he was trying to tell me that I overreacted, that I was hurting Stefan's feelings. But I had no idea what to do, what to think or how to react. Stefan was practically dead and feeding on someone else's blood, so it was hard for me to show him compassion.
Since Stefan didn't bring his car, Damon drove him to school as well. On our way to school, Stefan assured me that he wasn't upset about what had happened the day before and that he would never hurt me and Elena. As soon as we got to the high school, I told them goodbye and went to find the girls so we could start the course. I was just glad that it was Friday and I didn't have to see Stefan during the weekend. Surprisingly, I wasn't angry or afraid of him, but I still had a lot of questions and a lot of new information to process.
Fortunately, the girls had another cheerleading competition outside of Mystic Falls and we spent the whole weekend in Richmond, so I didn't have a hard time trying to avoid Damon or his brother. I also took advantage of the trip and spoke to Elena about Stefan and about everything that happened lately.
Monday morning found me at work once again. I was waiting for the girls to gather for the training session when Alaric Saltzman, the history teacher, came on the field to tell me that the principal wanted to talk to all of the teachers, including me. Apparently, he finally hired a new coach for the football team and he wanted all of us to meet him.
"This guy must be pretty important. The principal didn't make a fuss when he hired me." Rick snickered as we were waiting in the meeting room.
"Tell me about it." I rolled my eyes playfully and laughed.
The next moment, the principal stepped into the meeting room followed by... Damon?
"Good morning, everyone! Thank you for joining me for this meeting. This is Damon Salvatore, your new colleague and the new coach of the football team." the principal said cheerfully. "Welcome among us, Damon! I'm sure you'll love our high school, especially the football team." he greeted Damon. "Maddy is the cheerleading chorographer and I'm sure she'll be happy to take you to the football field and show you around. You two are going to share the same training field and I hope that you will work together as a team." the principal added before the meeting was over.
"So, when are you going to take me to the football field? I can't wait to meet my new students." Damon walked up to me and grinned while I was still trying to figure out if this was a dream.