A/N: I know, I know. I'm terrible. But I can't help but write out a new story when a good idea pops into my head. I'm going to be synchronizing between this story and my other two Vampire Diaries stories until they're completed. This one will definitely take longer to complete since I'm starting at the very beginning of the series, but I hope that you all like it!
Disclaimer: I, of course, don't own the Vampire Diaries. Never have, never will. I'm just playing around with the story!
Songs for this chapter:
Highway to Hell – AC/DC (Waking up Stefan scene)
Photograph- Def Leppard (With Stefan in the car)
Sweet Child O' Mine – Guns N' Roses (Car with Elena and Stefan)
Fly Away – Lenny Kravitz (Party scene)
-TSBOF-
In the early morning on the first day of school in the town of Mystic Falls, 161 year old Charlotte, or as she prefers to be called 'Charlie', Salvatore practically skips to her brother's bedroom with a devious grin plastered on her face. She silently pushes open the door, and internally celebrates when she sees that he's still sleeping soundly. She creeps across the room quietly with her sock clad feet, casually scrolling through her collection of music on her iPod. She picks a rather noisy song, and carefully plugs the device into the iPod dock that she set up in Stefan's room when they arrived back in town. She makes sure the volume is all the way up before she proceeds to blast the chorus AC/DC's Highway to Hell through the speakers, taking in the way that Stefan jerks awake, looking incredulously at her grinning face when he regains his composure.
"Rise and shine, brother!" Charlie says, gleefully, nodding her head along with the beat of the song.
"Since when have you been a morning person?" Stefan asks, getting out of his bed, and turning the music down, raising an eyebrow at his sister.
"Our horoscope said that we're gonna have a good day, and I'm not about to prove it wrong," Charlie says with a serious expression, and she narrows her green eyes when Stefan rolls his own identically colored orbs. "I woke you up early enough so that you can go snack on Bambi's little forest friends so that you don't accidentally take a bite out of the president of the student council," she says, and lets her serious expression morph into a teasing grin.
"Well, thanks for that," Stefan says, with a sarcastic smile, and Charlie pats her brother on the shoulder before retrieving her iPod and making her way out of his bedroom, casually belting out the words to the song that the music device was just playing. Stefan chuckles a bit as he listens to his sisters, surprisingly on key singing as she moves down the hallway.
Stefan and Charlotte have always been close as children, mostly due to the fact that they're twins. Surprisingly though, Stefan and Charlotte don't look too much alike. The only physical similarity between the two of them is their forest green eyes. Stefan got their father's facial structure and light brown hair, while Charlotte received their mother's dark brown, almost black hair and her softer facial structure.
Charlie listens as Stefan leaves the house to go hunt, and she exits her bedroom after putting on her shoes, and goes down to the basement where she keeps her supply of blood bags that she accumulated from a couple of hospitals. She grabs one out of the freezer and makes her way back upstairs, and heads to the kitchen where she sees Zach sitting at the breakfast bar, nursing a cup of coffee.
"Morning, Zach," Charlie says, opening up one of the cabinets and pulling out a tall glass.
"Morning, Aunt Charlotte," Zach responds apprehensively, and Charlie gives him a look. "Aunt Charlie," he corrects, and Charlie grins at him.
"You don't need to be so uptight around me and Stefan, Zach. We aren't gonna hurt you," Charlie says, pouring the blood from the bag into the glass, and she sticks it in the microwave to warm it up.
"Why are you here, Aunt Charlie?" Zach asks, abruptly, setting his mug of coffee down, looking at Charlie with accusing eyes, and she raises an eyebrow.
"Well, I'm here because of Stefan. Trust me, if I had it my way we wouldn't be here, and you could live each day peacefully and un-paranoid. But Stefan always has to have his way," Charlie says, taking the glass of blood out of the microwave and drinking a bit of it. "Don't worry. Once Stefan gets what he came here for, we'll be gone," she says, and heads up to her bedroom with the glass of blood, waiting for Stefan to return so that they can leave for school. She quickly finishes the last of her blood and looks at the doorway when she notices Stefan standing there. "Ready?"
"Yeah, let's go," he says, turning to leave. Charlie picks up her backpack, and follows him, depositing her glass in the kitchen on the way out of the house.
"We're taking my car," Charlie announces once they're outside, and Stefan doesn't protest. The twins make their way to Charlie's black and white 1970 Chevelle and enter the car, Charlie on the driver's side, and Stefan in the passenger's. "Time to go start our junior year of high school for the thousandth time," Charlie grumbles a bit, and Stefan smirks a bit.
"What an over-exaggeration," he says teasingly, and Charlie grins at his rare moment of playfulness before starting the car. She lets out a noise of approval when Def Leppard's Photograph blasts through the car speakers, and immediately starts singing along as she pulls out of the long driveway and onto the road. She turns up the radio a bit louder, and drums her hands on the steering wheel, and grins at Stefan as he looks at her, amused.
"Come on, Stef, you know this song," she says, reaching over and giving his shoulder a playful shove, and he shakes his head at her. "Come on," she urges, and her smile widens when he eventually relents and sings along to the song with her. Charlie feels a rush of pure happiness flow through her as she glances at Stefan out of the corner of her eye and sees him truly having a good time. She knows how hard being a vampire is for her brother, and she has gotten used to broody and gloomy Stefan, so she revels these moments of the pair of them actually having fun together.
By the time the song ends, they arrive at the school. Charlie pulls into the parking lot and picks an empty space, and shuts off the car. She rolls her green eyes a bit when Stefan immediately exits the car, and she grabs her backpack before exiting as well.
"Slow down, Stef. The Katherine look-alike will be there, no matter how late we are," Charlie says, glancing at her phone screen. "We're actually early."
"Don't be mean to her, Charlie," Stefan says, warningly, and Charlie raises an eyebrow at him before placing a hand on her chest, putting on a mock wounded face.
"Me? Why I would never," Charlie says, before letting an amused grin slip onto her face, and Stefan gives her a look. "I won't," she groans out, immaturely.
"Promise me," Stefan says, seriously, and Charlie frowns.
"Come on, Stefan," Charlie whines.
"Promise me, Charlotte," Stefan says, and Charlie rolls her eyes.
"I promise," she grumbles, contorting her face, making a pained expression, before pouting, and walking into the school in front of her brother. "But if she's mean to me first, I won't hold back."
"Fine," Stefan says simply as they enter the guidance office.
"Good morning," the woman behind the desk says with a kind smile when the twins walk into the office.
"Good morning. We're Charlotte and Stefan Salvatore. We're starting today," Charlie says with a polite smile, and the woman nods.
"Right. Your uncle Zach called about you two. Do you have your forms?" the woman asks, and the twins immediately pull a few papers out of their bags and hands them to the woman.
"Hold up. Who's this?" Charlie and Stefan hear a voice ask from outside the office.
"All I see is back," another female voice says.
"It's a hot back," the other female voice says, and Charlie smirks a bit, knowing the girls are talking about her brother.
"Your records are incomplete. You're both missing immunization records, and we do insist on transcripts," the woman says, and Stefan glances at Charlie.
"Why don't you look again? I'm sure everything that you need is there," Charlie says, compelling the woman, who immediately looks through the papers again, and she nods.
"Well, you're right. So it is," the woman says, and turns to the computer.
"I'm sensing Seattle, and he plays the guitar," one of the females says from outside the office.
"What about her?" the other voice asks, and the first female pauses.
"Drums. Or singing. She has the look for either," the first female voice says surely, and the twins exchange an amused glance, before they both block out the conversation between the two girls. They watch the woman behind the desk type something up on the computer before rising from her seat and walking to the printer across the office. She returns to the twins and hands them each a piece of paper.
"Here are your schedules, and on the backs are maps of the school. Your locker numbers are at the top, right here," the woman says, pointing out the numbers at the top of the page. "Good luck, you two," the woman finishes with a smile, and the twins smile back.
"Thank you," Stefan says, and Charlie gives the woman a polite nod, before they turn around and exit the office. As they exit the office, they pass a pretty girl with long dark hair and mocha colored skin, and Charlie flashes her a kind smile as they walk by her, and make their way down the hallway. The twins make their way past the bathrooms, and Charlie freezes when the Katherine look alike walks out of the men's room, and directly into Stefan.
"Uh, pardon me. Um. . .is this the men's room?" Stefan asks, and Charlie holds back an amused grin, and Katherine's double looks between the two siblings.
"Yes. Um, I was just, Um—I was just—It's a long story," Katherine's double says, and Stefan nods. She goes to pass Stefan, and Stefan moves in the same direction, accidentally blocking her path. The two of them do this a couple more times before Charlie lets out an amused snort and grabs her twin's arm and pulls him out of the way, and he looks down at her with a sheepish grin. "Thank you," Katherine's double says, looking at Charlie with a smile, and Charlie nods to her with a smile of her own.
"That was too funny," Charlie says, breaking Stefan out of his trance like state of staring at Katherine's double as she walks away from the twins.
"Shut up, Charlie," Stefan says, shoving his sister playfully with a small grin.
Later on that day, Stefan and Charlie are in their history class which they just so happen to share with Katherine's double; who they found out is named Elena.
"Once our home state of Virginia joined confederacy in 1861, it created a tremendous amount of tension within the state. People in Virginia's northwest region had different ideals than those from the traditional Deep South. Then Virginia divided in 1863 with the northwest region joining the union," the teacher, Mr. Tanner, drones on, and Charlie half pays attention, already knowing all of this information, considering she was alive during that time. From her seat beside her brother, she sees Elena look back at Stefan, and watches the two of them exchange a quick look before she turns back around.
"You're creepily staring," Charlie mutters lowly, doodling a bit in her notebook.
"Kind of like half the guys in here are doing to you," Stefan mutters back, and Charlie raises an eyebrow before glancing around the class room, and notices that a lot of the males in the room are indeed staring at her.
"How flattering," Charlie says, flashing one of the attractive boys a flirty grin, and Stefan kicks her desk. "I'm 161 years old. You can't be the protective twin brother anymore," she mutters, glaring at Stefan.
The rest of the school day passes, and Charlie walks out to her car alone, seeing as how Stefan told her that he was going to go to the cemetery, and she drives back to the boarding house. Not long after Charlie gets comfortable at home, Stefan arrives, and goes straight to his bedroom. Charlie sighs boredly, and flashes to Stefan's bedroom, and finds him writing in his journal. Charlie had tried many times to keep a journal, but found that it just wasn't her thing. When she has troubles, she indulges herself in the mass collection of music that she has in a variation of eight track tapes, cassettes, CD's, and MP3's.
"What's this?" Charlie asks, spying an unfamiliar untitled book on Stefan's bed.
"Elena's journal," Stefan says, not looking up from his writing.
"Oooo," Charlie says, smirking mischievously, picking up the book, and flopping down on Stefan's bed, lying on her back, and moving to open the book. Charlie blinks when the book is swiftly removed from her hands, and she pouts at her twin, who is standing over her, looking down at her with a look of disapproval. "You just love sucking all of the fun out of my life, don't you?"
"It's not yours to read," Stefan says, returning to his desk.
"Well, neither are yours, but I've read them all," Charlie says, smiling superiorly at her twin, who gives her a glare. "Are you almost done? I'm bored."
"Then go out and see what's new in town," Stefan says, sitting back down and writing more.
"But Stefan," Charlie whines. "It's no fun to go out on my own. And I didn't get to make any friends today. Come with me."
"Fine," Stefan says with a sigh. "I have to take Elena's journal to her anyway. Let's go," he says, and she jumps up from his bed, while fishing her keys out of her pocket. The twins make their way out to Charlie's car and soon they're back on the road. Stefan points out the way to Elena's house, causing Charlie to give him an odd look, but she says nothing on the subject and parks in front of the Gilbert house, leaving the car running as Stefan walks up to the door, promising to be quick, and she turns the radio on, smiling when the song that plays though is one that she knows. She watches from the car as Stefan and Elena talk a bit, and Stefan gives Elena the journal back. She watches as Elena retreats into the house, and Stefan stays at the door. When Elena returns the two of them speak more, and she sees Stefan gesture to the car, and Elena nods with a smile before the two of them walk to the car.
Charlie turns down the radio a bit when Stefan opens the passenger door, and pushes the seat up so that Elena can climb into the back. She smiles at Charlie when she sees her and Charlie returns the smile, her eyes hidden by her sunglasses.
"Hi Charlotte," Elena says.
"Hey Elena. You can call me Charlie," Charlie says, nicely as Stefan slides into the car.
"Yeah, we only call her Charlotte when she's in trouble," Stefan says, and Elena chuckles a bit. "We're going to the Grill."
"It's not far from here. You're welcome to join us, Charlie," Elena says, and Charlie nods.
"Awesome," she says with a grin, and turns up the radio a bit.
"I hope you don't mind the music. Charlie's taste is a little… Dated," Stefan says, and Charlie's jaw drops, and she looks at Stefan incredulously.
"Like you can talk, Bon Jovi lover," Charlie says, pushing Stefan's shoulder. The two of them are broken out of their mock argument when they hear Elena laugh a bit from the back seat.
"I like this music. My brother actually listens to some 80's rock himself so we sometimes hear it blaring through our house," Elena explains and Charlie sends Stefan a triumphant smile. "So you guys are twins?"
"We sure are," Charlie says with a grin.
"I… I really can't see a lot of similarities between you two. I mean, besides your eyes… And you both have the same nose… But other than that…," Elena trails off and Stefan nods.
"Yeah, we get that a lot," Stefan says, smiling reassuringly at Elena.
"So, which one of you is older?" Elena asks, and Charlie pouts a bit when Stefan grins at her.
"Me," he says.
"By three minutes. Not much to brag about there, Stef," Charlie says quickly as she pulls into the parking lot of the Grill. She turns off the car and climbs out, sliding her keys in her jacket pocket, and watching as Stefan gets out of the car and pushes the seat up for Elena. The twins follow Elena into the restaurant, and once inside, they follow her over to a table that already have a couple of people sitting around it. They stop when a blonde boy with blue eyes stands up and approaches Stefan.
"Hey, I'm Matt. Nice to meet you," Matt says with a not so welcoming face, but Stefan shakes his hand all the same.
"Hi, Stefan," Stefan introduces himself, and Matt looks at Elena, who smiles at him.
"Hey," she says, and Matt returns the greeting before looking at Charlie.
"Hi, I'm Matt," he introduces himself again, a bit less hostile than he was with Stefan.
"Charlie," Charlie says, with a small nod. Matt walks away, a bit awkwardly after, and the three of them make their way to the table, where Stefan and Charlie take a seat next to each other. The small blonde girl, Caroline, joins them shortly after they sit down, and Charlie hides a grin, knowing the interest that the blonde has in her brother.
"So, you were born in Mystic Falls?" Caroline asks the twins when the conversation gets started.
"Sure were," Charlie states.
"And we moved when we were still young," Stefan supplies.
"Parents?" Bonnie asks, and Charlie and Stefan share a look.
"Our parents passed away," Stefan says.
"I'm sorry," Elena says to the twins, but looks solely at Stefan, and Stefan nods a bit with a small smile. "Any other siblings?" she asks, finally looking at Charlie, and Elena frowns a bit when a sad look washes over Charlie's usually smiling, happy face.
"None that we talk to," Stefan speaks up, glancing at Charlie, and he frowns a bit as well, noticing the look on her face. "We live with our uncle," he says, grasping Charlie's hand underneath the table and giving it a small, comforting squeeze before pulling it away, and Charlie smiles a bit at Stefan.
"Yeah, Uncle Zach's pretty great," Charlie says, nodding.
"So, if you two are new, then you don't know about the party tomorrow," Caroline says, looking between the two twins.
"It's a back to school thing at the falls," Bonnie says, looking between the twins as well, and Charlie grins at Bonnie and Caroline.
"Well, that sounds like fun, right Stefan?" Charlie says, looking at her brother, who looks at her before looking at Elena.
"Are you going?" he asks Elena.
"Of course she is," Bonnie says, grinning at Elena.
"We'll be there," Charlie assures the group who all smiles at her. Not long after, the twins announce that they have to get home, and after making sure that Elena has a ride home, they go back to the boarding house. Charlie moves to go to her bedroom, but Stefan stops her by gripping her upper arm, and she looks at him curiously.
"Are you alright?" he asks, and she frowns a bit. "I know after talking about-," Stefan starts, but Charlie shakes her head.
"I'm fine. Really," Charlie says, nodding a bit, and giving Stefan a forced smile. "I just miss him."
"I know you do," Stefan says, and Charlie sighs.
"You can miss him too, Stef," Charlie says.
"I know I can. But I don't," Stefan says, his expression blank, and Charlie shakes her head a bit.
"You know…. I really don't believe you," Charlie says, and the twins look over before Stefan can say anything else, when Zach walks into the room, looking at both of them angrily.
"You promised. Both of you promised," Zach says, showing them the newspaper, which Charlie takes out of his hands and looks over, with Stefan reading beside her.
"This was an animal attack," Stefan says, coolly.
"Don't give me that. I know the game. You tear them up enough; they always suspect an animal attack. You said you had it under control," Zach says, looking at Stefan at the end.
"And I do," Stefan says.
"Please, Uncle Stefan... Aunt Charlie. Mystic Falls is a different place now. It's been quiet for years, but there are people who still remember. And you two being here, it's just going to stir things up," Zach says, looking at the twins, pleadingly.
"That's not what we want, Zach," Charlie says, frowning a bit and shaking her head.
"Then what do you want? Why did you come back? After all this time, why now?" Zach asks, and Charlie sighs, looking at Stefan.
"We don't have to explain ourselves," Stefan says.
"I know that you can't change what you are. But you don't belong here anymore," Zach says, and Charlie looks at the floor.
"Where do we belong?" Stefan asks after a few beats of silence.
"I can't tell you what to do. But coming back here was a mistake," Zach says, and walks away. Charlie sighs and looks at Stefan, shaking her head a bit.
"He's right," Charlie says. "I told you coming here was a mistake. You know that we shouldn't have come here, Stef. It's just gonna be like all the other times," Charlie says, and sighs when Stefan turns and leaves her standing in the living room on her own as he goes to his bedroom.
-TSBOF-
"The Battle of Willow Creek took place right at the end of the war in our very own Mystic Falls. How many casualties resulted in this battle?" Mr. Tanner asks the next day during history class. "Ms. Bennett?"
"Um . . . a lot? I'm not sure. Like a whole lot," Bonnie answers, and Charlie grins a bit.
"Cute becomes dumb in an instant, Ms. Bennett," Mr. Tanner says.
"What a dick," Charlie mutters lowly, so that only Stefan can hear, and he smirks a bit at her.
"Mr. Donovan? Would you like to take this opportunity to overcome your embedded jock stereotype?" Tanner asks.
"It's ok, Mr. Tanner, I'm cool with it," Matt says, and the class chuckles a bit.
"Hmm. Elena? Surely you can enlighten us about one of the town's most significantly historical events?" Tanner asks, looking at Elena.
"I'm sorry, I-I don't know," Elena says, shaking her head.
"I was willing to be lenient last year for obvious reasons, Elena. But the personal excuses ended with summer break," Tanner says, and Charlie scowls at him a bit.
"There were 346 casualties," Stefan says.
"Unless you're counting local civilians," Charlie adds on, grinning at Stefan.
"That's correct Mister…?" Tanner trails off.
"Salvatore," Stefan says.
"And Miss?" he asks, looking at Charlie.
"Salvatore," she answers.
"Salvatore. Any relation to the original settlers here at Mystic Falls?" Tanner asks, and the twins share a look.
"Distant," Stefan says.
"Well, very good. Except, of course, there were no civilian casualties in this battle, Miss Salvatore," Tanner says, looking at Charlie before turning around to the board.
"Actually, there were 27, sir. Confederate soldiers, they fired on the church, believing it to be housing weapons. They were wrong. It was a night of great loss," Stefan says, and Charlie smirks a bit.
"There's the uh… Founder's archives stowed away somewhere in civil hall… If you'd like to brush up on your facts a bit, Mr. Tanner," Charlie says, in a polite tone, but with a smirk on her face.
"Hmm," Mr. Tanner says, looking at the twins with a forced smile, and the class all takes turns looking at the twins with impressed looks after the stifled laughter that Charlie's comment resulted in dies down.
Later that night, the twins show up together at the party at the falls, and Stefan takes off to look for Elena. Charlie shrugs a bit, and grins when she spots a group of boys standing around a keg of beer. She glances at Stefan's retreating form, before she makes her way over to the boys. She grabs one of the red plastic cups, and takes the hose that's connected to the keg, and pours some beer into the cup, and she smirks a bit when the attention is on her.
"Charlotte Salvatore, right?" one of the boys asks.
"Charlie," Charlie corrects him with a grin.
"We heard about the way you and your brother totally owned Tanner earlier today," another boy says.
"God, that guy's a dick," she says, and the boys laugh in agreement.
"I'm Nick," one of the boys introduces himself, "and that's Brad, and Patrick."
"Great to meet you guys," she says with a smile, before taking a drink of the beer, and scrunching up her face a bit. "So, do any of you know where to get something stronger than beer?"
"Yeah," Brad speaks up with a smirk. "This way," he says, slinging an arm around her leather jacket clad shoulders, and leading her away from the other two boys. On their way to wherever Brad was taking her, they pass Elena and Stefan, and Charlie gives the two a grin and a wink, and her grin turns to a full blown smile when she sees Stefan giving her a disapproving look, and he shoots a glare to Brad. Brad leads her to a truck where she sees a group of teenagers congregated around.
"Hey Brad," a girl says when they approach.
"Hey guys, this is Charlie," he says, gesturing to Charlie, and grabbing a bottle of whiskey, before grinning at Charlie. Charlie grins back and downs the rest of her beer, and holding out the cup when it's empty. Brad pours a decent amount of whiskey in the cup, and she immediately takes a drink, relishing in the familiar burn in her throat when the alcohol glides down her throat.
After a few minutes of taking with the group of teenagers, Charlie notices that Brad gets a bit more 'touchy' with her. She smirks a bit when she feels his hands moving up and down her sides, and she reaches up and places her hands on his, before leaning back into him a bit. She raises an eyebrow when Brad leans down and places a few light kisses on her neck after moving her hair off of one of her shoulders. She moves his hands a bit so that she can turn around, and she smirks up at him before leading him away from the group of people and towards her car.
When they reach her car, Brad shocks her by pushing her against the side of the car, and pressing his lips to hers roughly. She immediately responds to the kiss, and wraps one of her arms around his neck, while the other sneakily reaches behind her and she subtly feels around where her back hit the car for a scratch. When she feels nothing but the smooth, glossy feel of the paint, she wraps the other arm around his neck, and deepens the kiss while leaning back fully against the car. After a few minutes of passionate kissing, Brad breaks away from her lips and begins delivering harsh, rough kisses and bites to her neck, making her groan a bit, and push herself against him.
"Charlie, let's go," she hears Stefan say, standing on the other side of the car by the driver's side door. She groans a bit when Brad pulls away, and she glares at her brother, but the glare fades when she sees the expression on Stefan's face. She digs the keys out of her pocket, and tosses them over the top of the car to him, and she looks at Brad.
"I'll see you around," she says, with a forced grin and a wink, before getting in the car and shutting the door before he can say a word. "What's going on?"
"Vicki Donovan was attacked tonight," Stefan says, and Charlie frowns.
"And?" she asks, not quite understanding what the major problem is.
"By a vampire, Charlotte," Stefan says, impatiently.
"What? Are you sure?" she asks, and Stefan nods.
"I saw the bite on her neck. She's still alive, but it was pretty bad," Stefan says, driving back to the boarding house, well over the speed limit. When they reach the boarding house, Stefan gives Charlie back her keys, and the two of them walk into the large residence.
"What's going on?" Zach asks, noticing the looks on the twins' faces.
"Someone else was attacked tonight, Zach, and it wasn't us," Stefan says, and immediately goes up the stairs and to his bedroom.
"We'll take care of it, Zach. Don't worry," Charlie says with a small reassuring smile, before going upstairs as well. She pulls her jacket off and tosses it into her bedroom on the way to Stefan's. She pushes the door open when she reaches Stefan's bedroom, and she freezes when she sees Stefan standing there with someone that she hadn't seen in ten years.
"Damon?" she asks, pushing the door shut as she enters the room.
"Hey there, little sister," Damon says with the usual smirk on his face, before he opens up his arms, gesturing for a hug. Charlie smiles and walks into her eldest brother's arms, wrapping her arms around his waist tightly, and he reciprocates the gesture immediately.
"When'd you get here?" Stefan asks, emotionlessly, and Charlie frowns at her twin, after pulling away from Damon.
"Well, I couldn't miss your first day at school," Damon says, looking between Charlie and Stefan. "Your hair's different. I like it," he says, smirking at Stefan.
"It's been 15 years, Damon," Stefan says, his feet firmly planted on the ground.
"Thank God. I couldn't take another day of the nineties. That horrible grunge look? Did not suit you. Remember, Stefan, it's important to stay away from fads," Damon says, nudging Charlie, who rolls her eyes at him, and pushes him away.
"Why are you here?" Stefan asks, narrowing his eyes a bit.
"I miss my little sister and brother," he says, with a condescending grin.
"You hate small towns. It's boring. There's nothing for you to do," Stefan points out.
"I've managed to keep myself busy," Damon says.
"You know, you left that girl alive tonight. That's very clumsy of you," Stefan says, raising an eyebrow.
"Ah. That can be a problem… For you," Damon says, looking only at Stefan.
"And me. I'm here too, you know," Charlie says, glaring slightly at Damon.
"Nothing personal, Charlie. Just gotta fulfill my promise to Stefan, here," Damon says.
"Why are you here now?" Stefan asks, growing impatient.
"I could ask you the same question. However, I'm fairly certain your answer can be summed up all into one little word… Elena," Damon says, and Charlie shakes her head. "She took my breath away. Elena. She's a dead ringer for Katherine. Is it working, Stefan? Being around her, being in her world? Does it make you feel alive?"
"Elena isn't Katherine," Charlie speaks up.
"Well, let's hope not. We both know how that ended. Tell me something, Stefan, when's the last time you had something stronger than a squirrel?" Damon asks.
"I know what you're doing, Damon. It's not gonna work," Stefan says.
"Yeah? Come on. Don't you crave a little?" Damon asks, hitting Stefan on the shoulder, and Charlie rolls her eyes.
"Stop it," Stefan says, losing his patience.
"Let's do it," Damon says, hitting Stefan again. "Together. As a family!" Damon exclaims, looking at Charlie, who looks at him with disapproval. "I saw a couple girls out there," he says, hitting Stefan. "Or just, let's just cut to the chase, let's just go straight for Elena."
"Stop it!" Stefan shouts.
"Damon, please stop," Charlie says, frowning at her eldest brother, and putting a hand on his arm.
"Imagine what her blood tastes like," Damon says.
"Damon, stop!" Charlie demands, glaring at him.
"I can," he continues, ignoring his sister.
"I said stop!" Stefan shouts, his face fully shifted, and he blurs toward Damon, pushing Charlie out of the way, sending her across the room, and she lands on her back on the other side of the bedroom. She immediately jumps up when she hears the balcony's window break, and she hears the sound of her brother hitting the ground. She blurs over to the balcony, and looks down at Stefan who is lying on the ground, and Damon, who is leaning against a hedge. Charlie pushes herself over the balcony, and lands perfectly on her feet, and she rushes over to Stefan, and helps him to his feet.
"Are you okay?" she asks, and he nods a bit before looking at Damon.
"I was impressed. I give it a six. Missing style, but I was pleasantly surprised. Very good with the whole face 'rah' thing. It was good," Damon laughs, and Stefan glares at him.
"You know, it's all fun and games, Damon, huh? But wherever you go, people die," Stefan says, walking away from Charlie.
"That's a given," Damon states, as if it's obvious, and Charlie shakes her head at him.
"Not here. I won't allow it," Stefan says.
"Oh? And do you agree kiddo?" Damon asks, looking at Charlie, who meets his eyes without hesitation.
"Yes," she says, roughly.
"I take that as an invitation," Damon says, smirking.
"Damon, please. After all these years, can't we just give it a rest?" Stefan pleads.
"I promised you an eternity of misery, so I'm just keeping my word," Damon says.
"Just stay away from Elena," Stefan demands.
"Where's your ring?" Damon asks, and Stefan and Charlie's eyes snap to Stefan's hand. She looks at Damon with wide eyes. "Oh, yeah, sun's coming up in a couple of hours, and, poof, ashes to ashes."
"Damon, stop this!" Charlie exclaims, stepping between her brothers. "Seriously, this is ridiculous," she says, glaring at him.
"Relax," he says, rolling his eyes. "Its right here," he says, opening his hand, revealing Stefan's ring, and Charlie snatches it out of his hand. She turns slightly and tosses it to Stefan who catches it easily and slides it on his finger. She blinks when Damon blurs around her and grabs Stefan around the neck, and throws him against the shed.
"You should know better than to think you're stronger than me. You lost that fight when you stopped feeding on people. I wouldn't try it again. I think we woke Zach up," Damon says, and begins walking back towards the house. "Sorry Zach!" he calls, and goes inside. Charlie watches as Stefan rises to his feet, and she frowns when she sees that his shoulder is dislocated. She watches as he pushes it back into place, with a subtle groan of pain. She shakes her head and turns on her heel, stalking into the house as well. She listens closely and hears Damon in his old bedroom, and she blurs in that direction. She sees that the door is open, and she stand in the doorway, arms crossed, and an angry look on her face. "Lecture time already?" Damon asks, not bothering to turn to face her.
"Why are you here, Damon?" Charlie asks, with a frown.
"And here I thought you of all people would be happy to see your big brother," Damon says, facing her with a raised eyebrow, and Charlie sighs.
"Of course I am. I haven't seen you in ten years. But it's hard to be happy around you and Stefan when you act like… Like that," Charlie says, holding one of her hands out, gesturing towards the outside.
"You're right. I think I'll just go find Stefan, give him a big hug, then everything will be right as rain, and we'll be a big happy family again," Damon says, with a sarcastic grin, and Charlie looks away from him.
"I'm not asking for that, Damon. What I'm asking for is for you to grow up," Charlie says, and Damon puts a hand on his chest, mocking hurt.
"I'd love to stay and continue this conversation, but I'm pretty thirsty. All this family business… It can really… Drain a person," Damon says, moving to walk past her, but Charlie quickly reaches up, and grabs Damon's arm, and throws him across the room, and watches as he crashes into the dresser in his bedroom.
"You're not the only one who drinks human blood, Damon," Charlie growls, moving to stand over her brother. "No more deaths. I mean it," Charlie says, and Damon quickly stands, and grabs Charlie around the neck and slams her against the wall.
"You don't get to tell me what to do little sister," Damon says, stressing the last two words, glaring down at her. His glare quickly vanishes, and he takes a step back. "Seems like someone needs to feed. You might want to take care of that, kiddo," Damon says, and leaves the room, leaving Charlie alone. Charlie sighs and runs a hand through her hair, before blurring to her bedroom, and slamming the door, not emerging for the rest of the night.
-TSBOF-
A/N: So, what did you guys think? Should I continue? Yes, no, yes?
I already have a collection started on Polyvore for Charlie. If you guys would like to see her outfits, and the girl I picked to portray her, go check it out! The link is on my profile, along with links to pictures of Charlie.
Please complete the poll on my page for the love interest for Charlie. I can't decide, so I'm gonna let you guys pick who you'd like to see her with!
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Leave them in a review!
P.S: The Night's On Fire, and Take Back The Stolen Time will be updated again before this story will be. I'll be working on each of my stories equally as often!