8. One Wild Night

            What did he just say?

Did Trevor just call me a vampire? Okay, something was clearly wrong with him, because in what universe was I qualified to be a vampire? In what world did vampires even exist? Not in Mystic Falls, nor anywhere in the entire world. There were a few possible explanations to Trevor’s behavior: he was either high, drunk, or he had a mental issue.

My bet was on the mental issue.

            “What’s wrong with you?” I stammered.

            “Nothing. Don’t act like an innocent human, because you’re not,” Trevor snarled. I felt a sharp point poke my back. I flinched. I got the feeling that Trevor wasn’t joking around. He wasn’t drunk or high, he was dead serious. “I know you’re a bloodsucking leech. You came here to prey on innocent people like I’m sure you have for so many years.”

            “I’m not a—a vampire!” I snapped squeakily. My voice was not making me come off as strong, rather weak and frightened. “I’m human!”

            “Liar,” he hissed in my ear.

            I tried to take a step forward, but a piece of wood was held at my throat, point aiming for my throat. I squeaked a sob. What did I do to deserve this? How could I have been so stupid? Everybody had been right from the start; Trevor was out of his mind. He seriously thought vampires existed here in Mystic Falls.

            “I’m going to end you so that none of your kind can hurt anyone ever again,” he purred in my ear. I coughed, still reacting to that funny odor that circled me. “It is a pity, though. You’re such a beautiful girl. If only you weren’t a monster.”

            “I’m not—”

            “Shh.” He pressed the sharp tip of the stake lightly against my throat. I fretted quietly. “Be quiet and I’ll make it easy for you. Squeal and I’ll make you suffer.”

            “I—I thought they were wrong,” I sobbed. “I thought you were a nice guy. I actually thought you cared about me. But you’re nothing but a fake!”

            “I thought you’d see right through me, but you didn’t.”

            I didn’t know what made me do it—sheer panic and desperation, I suppose. I stomped on Trevor’s foot and socked him in the gut with my elbow. He gave a roar, giving me free access to escape. With a holler, I heard his feet thunder behind me. There was no chance I was going to run back into the party; Trevor would easily catch me, even if I dived into that crazy party. The only thing to do was run for my life.

            Trying to keep my breathing controlled, I ran, knocking blindly into trees, hurting my arms. I yelped. Oh if only I had listened to Elena and the others on that first day I met Trevor. I wished I had appreciated their overbearing natures back then instead of right now, when I was running away from the man that I had fallen for. The man I had gotten to know was a fake, an alter ego just to hide a hideous, blood-thirsty maniac whose sole mission—from what I could gather—was hunting vampires and staking them.

Trevor needed to get his facts checked, because I knew for a fact that I was not a vampire.

            There was a semi-steep slope that I sprinted down. My legs tangled, and I rolled down the hill, crying out all the way. Once I finally stopped tumbling, I scrambled to my feet, a little disoriented. I shook my head, which made things worse. I tried to use the moonlight to guide me away from Trevor, who I could still hear pursuing me. I turned my body towards the direction I was running just as a whistle ran out.

Well, it wasn’t a whistle so much as something whistling through the air.

            Whatever it was shot me in the leg. I screamed, collapsing to the ground. Extreme pain flooded my leg. I crawled, desperate to get away. I really hoped Trevor’s night vision sucked, because I was beginning to want to use the dark as a last resort cover. There was no way I would run again, not with whatever it was stuck in my leg. It didn’t feel like a bullet hit me. Whatever was lodged in my leg had weight to it, I could feel it.

            “You are such a poor excuse of a vampire,” Trevor cackled. I gasped, scooting along the ground, the leaves giving away my presence. I grimaced. “You were too easy of a target where I could just throw it at you and get a hit.”

            “You threw that?” I gasped.

“I thought you would’ve used your speed to escape, but I guess my vervain impaired that.”

            “What?” I wasn’t familiar with vervain, whatever that was.

            “I should’ve gotten you that day at the lake, but one of your guards came and retrieved you,” he spat. The moonlight exposed him. I grabbed my injured leg, inhaling, trying to lessen the pain I was feeling. “You don’t know how lucky you were that day, Faith.”

            “Looking at it now, I think I’ve got a pretty good idea,” I retorted, yipping. “Look, I don’t know what’s inside that head of yours, but I am not a vampire! I never have been!”

            “Oh you are such a bad liar.”

            “No, you’re just that stupid.”

            “See, it’s comments like that that’ll get you killed.” Trevor knelt beside me. I tried to slide away from him, but he put the slightest pressure on the object in my leg. I yelled, my nails biting into the earth. He smacked the stake in his hands. I knew that one had my name on it.

            Great, the one time I thought good things were going to come out of me moving to Mystic Falls, and now I’d end up dying by the hands of a crazy person who’s convinced that I was a vampire. If only Elena knew what Trevor really was…she could save me. But she was too busy probably making out with Stefan at the party.

            I could only imagine the endless guilt Elena would be overwhelmed with when she realized that she condemned her cousin to death by the very man whom she had just begun to trust.

            “Please,” I begged, desperate. “Don’t do this, Trevor. What about what we had?”

            “We never had anything,” he sneered. “I knew you’d be too foolish to fall for me. Girls like you have that mindset that all bad boys have a soft side. Well, I don’t.” He showed me an evil smile. “Oh, and don’t worry about your friends and family finding your body, I’ll make sure they won’t. You wouldn’t want them to probe into your death and come to find out what you really are, would you?”

            I wheezed. Trevor waddled closer to me. He pushed me onto the ground, holding me down with one hand. I looked into Trevor’s crazed blue eyes, then up at the moon. I’d rather have that be the last thing I see than the eyes of my murderer. Well, it looks like I’ll be seeing Mom and Dad soon, I realized. A tear rolled down my face.

            I closed my eyes, keeping the image of the moon inside my head.

            I expected my life to end in the next five seconds, but instead, I heard something else. I felt a quick breeze ripple above me, and then I heard a collision. I popped my eyes open, sitting up, grabbing my leg to see Trevor on his back. He sat up, looking around.

            “You brought company, did you? I thought it was just you here,” he remarked. He stood up, brushing himself off. “Interesting. I’ll have to let Alec know when I’m done here in Mystic Falls.” He said that to himself. “I know you’re here,” he called to the darkness.

I looked around anxiously. Someone came to my aid? Who was it this time? Damon again? Elena? Caroline? A total stranger who just happened to follow us?

“Come out and play,” Trevor challenged. “I’m ready.”

I listened for any signs of my rescuer. All I heard was Trevor shifting his weight, my breathing, the blood pounding in my ears. This was a scary situation, and definitely a story worth telling later on if I ever lived through this.

It happened so fast that I almost missed it. Out of nowhere, a figure jumped onto Trevor, wrestling with him. It sounded like a guy by the grunts I could hear. My eyes bulged, locked on the struggle. They weren’t rumbling around on the ground from what I could see.

 I squinted my eyes to see the figure have his hands around Trevor’s neck. A sickening snap made me scream, and I saw Trevor’s head twist grotesquely too far to one side. I was officially scarred for life.

I clutched my heart as his body fell to the ground, still. I hyperventilated as I stared at the figure that just saved my life despite killing a person. Trevor, the man who I had fallen for, the man who had tried to kill me, was murdered right before my eyes. In terms of seeing death, this beat out my parents’ deaths, considering I actually saw Trevor get killed rather than stumbled across his dead body later on.

The figure walked towards me casually. Even though whoever it was saved my life, I was still wary.

“Just keep away from me!” I yelled, whimpering as the pain in my leg didn’t stop. There was still a chance that this person was on a killing high, and I was the closest person to them for them to make their next kill. “Don’t come any closer!”

“After I saved your life, you want to shoo me away?” the voice retorted.

I should’ve guessed.

How did he keep finding me? Did I have a microchip on me? Did he follow me and Trevor from the beginning? Did someone tip him off about where we went and he followed? Could he predict the future? Okay, come on, that’s farfetched.

Whatever the reason, I was glad to see Damon right now.

“How was I supposed to know it was you?” I snapped back as Damon came into the moonlight. His blue-gray eyes lit up eerily in the moonlight. He bent down beside me. “How did you find me?”

“I would think you’d want to get out of here rather than ask me questions,” he said, prodding the object in my leg. I hissed. “That’s in pretty deep. That’s it; I’m getting you out of here.”

“Wait, what about the body?” I tried my hardest to not stare at the body bathed in moonlight, the man who had been the center of my dreams for weeks since the day I met him. “What if someone stumbles across it? You can’t make that look like an animal got to him if you snapped his neck. By the way, I didn’t need to hear or see that.”

“You didn’t have to listen or watch,” he said simply. “Now, come on, I’ll sneak you away from the party.”

“Good luck with that.”

“Trust me; most of these people will be too hammered or high to even notice us.”

With ease, Damon threw me into his arms. The object lodged into my leg still hurt like hell. I curled into Damon, somehow feeling safe in his arms, like I could trust him. The hell I can. He saved my life. As long as Elena trusts him, well, I guess that’ll work for me.

I wondered now if Elena would let Damon and I be in the same room together. I could see in the beginning why Elena wanted me away from Damon, but now, not so much.

“I want to be taken back to the house,” I demanded.

“Whatever you say.”

Damon reached the so-called parking lot for the class reunion. He located his car easily. I had to lean against his car while he got the back door open. I was sprawled out along the backseat. The light in the car revealed that a wooden stake had been shot in my leg. I frowned. Damn you, Trevor. I considered wiggling it, but then I decided against it. I didn’t want to make myself sick or make myself hurt more than I already was.

I didn’t pay attention to where we were driving; I closed my eyes, focusing on Damon’s conversation while on the phone. Apparently his phone had Bluetooth that he could hook into his car. He had gotten a hold of Stefan.

“How bad is she?” Stefan asked. I could faintly hear sounds of the party from his end of the call.

“I’m not great,” I croaked. “But I guess I could be worse.” I tried to lean my head comfortably against the seat, but the car jolted me around too much.

“I’m driving her back to Elena’s,” Damon reported. “You better grab her and go; she’s probably dying to know where her baby cousin is.”

“Excuse me, but I am not a baby. We’re the same age, she’s just older than me by a few months,” I retorted.

“I wish you were sleeping back there instead of playing possum.”

I snorted.

I managed to tune out the rest of the brothers’ conversation. When I felt the car screech to a stop, Damon pulled me out, still in his arms like I was his wife. Bridal style seemed the best way to carry me. It was a hell of a lot better than being held over his shoulder.

“Faith!” Elena panicked. Not even a second had passed since Damon had crossed the threshold. How had she gotten back so fast? Did she drive back home way past the speed limits? I looked at her tiredly. Elena took a step back from me.

“What happened?” Jeremy called from upstairs. He clomped down to see me in Damon’s arms. “I would ask what did you do to her, but I’m pretty sure you wouldn’t stab her with a stake.”

“We’ve got to get that out of her,” Elena said tersely. “Set her on the couch.”

Damon plopped me on the couch, Elena crouched beside me. She shook her head in disbelief.

“It’s bad, isn’t it?” I croaked, leaning my head back.

“We’ve got to pull it out.”

“What?” My head snapped up, my voice rose.

“It’s the only way, Fay.” Elena looked into my eyes. “Unless you want me to cut it out with a knife and make it more painful for you.”

“I’ll deal with you pulling it out.”

“I’ve got everything from the bathroom,” Jer said, hovering over the top of the couch, Stefan next to him. The stuff had to be near his feet, because I didn’t see anything in his arms.

“Okay. This’ll hopefully be quick. I don’t know how lodged in there it is,” Elena said gently. She looked at the stake, looking wary.

“Don’t you think I should do it instead?” Stefan offered softly. I glared at him, nervous. “I could probably get it out in a single tug.”

“I’m with him,” Jeremy voiced.

“Okay,” Elena agreed. She slowly backed away so Stefan could hover near my staked leg.

“Don’t look,” Stefan instructed me. I nodded, closing my eyes.  

“Someone hold my hand, please? Just for a little comfort?” I begged.

Without hesitation, someone was there to grant my wish. I sucked in a long breath. I fidgeted restlessly, waiting for the dose of pain. I screamed as I felt the stake fly out of my leg. I sobbed, letting the tears fly down my face.

“It’s over, Fay. It’s out,” Elena cooed. I peeked my teary eyes open to see a rip in the denim jeans where the stake stabbed me. I quickly looked away, coughing from the fading stench of Trevor’s cologne. My eyes then trailed up from the hand that held mine. Of all the people, and Damon was the one to take my hand.

“Pass me the bandages, Jeremy,” Stefan said.

I let my hand go limp in Damon’s as Stefan wrapped my leg.

“Okay, what happened?” Elena probed. She was next to Jeremy, looking down at me.

“Well…Trevor kept me away from the party—” I started.

“I kind of figured that much.”

“I reacted badly to his cologne, and then he started babbling nonsense. He thought I was a vampire then tried to kill me. Then you can kind of guess what happened after I tried to run away from him. Damon came out of nowhere, found us, and saved my life.” I looked at my savior. “I should owe you my life for that, saving me.”

“That’s not a good idea,” Jeremy said. “If you’ll do anything he wants you to, you’d get sick of it quickly.”

“Hey, don’t make me lose my servant,” Damon teased bitterly.

“It’s all my fault,” Elena moaned. I saw her nails dig into the couch. My brows knitted together. “I let him be with you. I let my guard down…”

“It’s not your fault, Elena. He tricked me too, if it makes you feel any better,” I croaked.

“Actually, it makes me feel worse, but nice try, Faith.” Her jaw clenched. “We should’ve known.”

“Known what?” I asked.

“Faith, there’s something I need to tell you.”

“Oh no. What now?” I whined, my gaze flickering to each face in the room. “Are you going to tell me that I was adopted and my parents weren’t my real parents?”

“It’s nothing like that. It may be a little hard to digest when you hear it, but please know that you know I would never lie to you, so everything I tell you is the honest truth. Okay?”

“O-okay.” I swallowed. “I think I can take it. After all, it can’t be as bad as finding out about Aunt Jenna.”

“Oh, you really shouldn’t have said that.”

“Why?”

Elena looked almost hesitant to tell me what she wanted to say. Jeremy nudged her.

“Elena, tell me. I can take it.”

She sighed. “What Trevor said, about vampires existing…it’s true.”

“Ha,” I chuckled weakly. “You’re funny, Elena.”

“Faith, remember what I just said, about what I’m telling you?”

“That it’s the truth?”

She nodded.

“But Elena, vampires don’t exist. They only exist in movies and books. They’re all myth.”

“Not in Mystic Falls they aren’t.”

It took a minute for her words to really sink in. I felt the strong shock start to creep up on me.

“Wait.” I paled. “So you’re saying that—”

“That vampires exist, yes.”

Even though I was laying down, just the mere shock of Elena’s words made me pass out.

**Well, we had to say bye-bye to Trevor. But I guess that's a good thing for everyone, right? And how about Damon saving Faith's life? Think there will be something that blossoms?**