SEASON ONE — EPISODE TWO
"𝙖𝙡𝙡 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙜𝙞𝙫𝙚 𝙢𝙚 𝙞𝙨 𝙖 𝙝𝙚𝙖𝙧𝙩𝙗𝙚𝙖𝙩"

‧˚꒰🍷꒱༘‧—

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'✦ ˑ ִֶ 𓂃⊹ BROOKE'S EYES FLUTTERED OPEN, and she immediately winced, feeling a sharp pain in the back of her head, she remembered nothing about the night prior. Her eyes moved to either side of her, her surroundings were foreign and she pushed herself up quickly, accidentally disturbing the person beside her.

"Go back to sleep." The man mumbled, half-asleep and Brooke ignored him, reaching up to feel the back of her head. It was wet, and when she pulled her hand back, blood was dripping from her fingertips. That was when she noticed the blood dripping from her neck.

She jumped up out of the bed, walking backwards in shock with her eyes glued to man in the bed until her back hit a wall, causing her to yelp. Suddenly, faster than anything Brooke had ever witnessed before, he appeared in front of her, his hand wrapped firmly around her neck, his bright blue eyes boring into hers.

"You don't disobey me, you don't talk back to me, you do everything I say. You're my little... pawn, capeesh?" He tilted his head with a smirk and Brooke nodded, agreeing with everything he was saying without a second thought about it. It was like her mind was being captured and replaced with something unknown, things she didn't want to do.

"I do everything you say." Brooke looked directly into his eyes, forced into submission and he chuckled, taking a step away from her.

"You might want to put some clothes on. My brother's home." He winced, walking over to the corner of his room where he had a small drink cart, making a bourbon for himself. Brooke's eyes drifted down to her body, and her jaw dropped. Gladly, she wasn't completely naked but she might as well have been, left in just her black laced bra and her black underwear, "Don't worry, we didn't do anything. You tried, though."

He turned around, sipping on his bourbon in a whiskey glass and Brooke let out a sigh of relief before making her way over to her pile of clothes sat on the ground, picking them up to quickly pull them on, "Thanks for not... giving in to the drunk me." Brooke forced a smile in his direction, pulling on her black pencil skirt and he shrugged, clearly unbothered.

"I'm Damon Salvatore. I'm sure you've heard of my brother, Stefan." Damon got straight to the point, strolling towards her and she felt herself tense, though she continued to dress herself. She pulled her red leather jacket on, and then kneeled down to tie her boots, her eyebrows slightly furrowed.

"Yeah, I know Stefan. He didn't say he had a brother." Brooke's eyes snapped upwards but her head didn't move, her eyes locking on Damon's bare feet right in front of her. She looked up completely, and Damon smiled, looking down at her, wearing just his jeans.

"He's a meany." Damon replied un-seriously and Brooke pushed herself back up, feeling a little intimidated by his piercing gaze, his blue eyes trailing all the way down her body and back up again, "By the way, heard your friend got in an accident. You might wanna check that out."

"Which friend?" Brooke's eyes scanned around the room, searching for her phone. She didn't have a bag and the last place she remembered it being was her jeans back pocket, but now it wasn't there. Damon opened his mouth to respond but she beat him to it, "Do you know where my phone is?" He smirked, reaching into the pocket of his jeans and he pulled out her phone, holding it out to her. Brooke reached for it, knowing her brother was probably worried sick about her but before she could even touch it, Damon pulled it back, holding it above his head.

She rushed forwards in attempt to grab it from him, her chest bumping against his and her cheeks went bright red in realization. It became extremely clear to Brooke that she felt flustered around Damon as much as she'd never admit it. He was sexy, dominant and rude, but in the most attractive way possible.

Damon smirked, sensing her nervous state and his eyes trailed down to her blood covered neck, several veins appearing where his eye-bags were supposed to be. Brooke's eyes widened in shock, her jaw dropping and she went to take a step back when his hand stopped her in her tracks, placed on her lower back, "Where do you think you're going?"

With one swift motion, Damon leaned forwards and licked the blood from her neck clean. When he pulled back, he chuckled at the disgusted stare she was sending him, finding her to be quite hilarious. Brooke had been through a lot, but one thing she could now add to the long list was a random guy licking the blood from her wound.

"Here, otherwise you're going to have a crazy scar." Damon reached his free hand up, his other hand still firmly holding Brooke in place on her lower back, and he placed his inner wrist to his lips, his teeth sinking into one of his veins. He smiled, but the smile was different than any of his other smiles, it seemed comforting, reassuring. She felt, for whatever reason, safe to be near him for the first time.

After losing her mother, and then losing her father because he was too caught up in the death of her mother, Brooke found it hard to trust new people. But, as Damon placed his blood-covered wrist to her mouth, insisting that she drank from his vein, she couldn't help but feel like she could trust him.

She didn't know what it was about him that made her feel that way, she just knew, for sure, that she would put her life in his hands. It was random, and oddly disturbing in a way, but it was the truth.

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NATE HAD SENT HER SEVERAL MESSAGES, along with twelve missed calls, and he'd even been searching around the town square for her like a lost puppy attempting to scout out its owner. He'd called and messaged her friends, only Bonnie had answered, saying that Brooke had wandered off and just never returned.

To say Nathan was pissed would be an understatement, to the point where he actually went to the high school asking for Matt Donovan. Bonnie felt slightly bad, she did rat her friend out, but Brooke's life could be in danger and Matt could have some idea of where she was.

Nate had found the Donovan on the field, walking to the cafeteria for lunch and he made his way over, his fists curled, "Hey, Matt!" The man yelled, and Matt turned around, a small smile making it's way onto his face at the sight of his best-friend's brother but the grin quickly dissipated when he noticed Nathan's angered manner, "You have any idea where my sister is?"

"Uh, no. Why? Did she not come home last night?" Matt furrowed his eyebrows, concern and worry immediately taking over his features and Nate stopped in front of him, his hands still curled into fists and his facial expression still clearly pissed.

"No, she didn't. Bonnie told me you might know where she is." Nate tilted his head, intentionally intimidating the younger boy, who stuttered on his words and took a cautious step back.

"Look, she got really drunk last night and wanted to go on a walk. I know, I probably should've stayed with her—"

"Probably? Or definitely?" Nate's temper was rising with every second that went by, and he took a step forward, towering over Matt by a couple inches, bumping into his chest. The blond internally panicked, not entirely sure what to do in that situation. There was nobody around to help him, no Tyler, no Harrison, no Luke, he was on his own in this.

That was until a short, loud and missing girl ran across the courtyard, wearing the exact same outfit from the night prior, her hair a little messy and her makeup undone, which was unusual for Brooke. But, everyone brushed it off, knowing she was probably recovering from her hangover due to the amount of alcohol she had consumed at the party.

"Hey! Calm it down, Nate!" Brooke grabbed onto her brother's shoulder, shoving him backwards and away from Matt, who she sent a quick smile to before she gave her full, undivided attention to Nathan. The aforementioned man still held a pissed off manner, but he did feel a sense of relief after seeing his sister was okay.

"Why didn't you come home last night? Where have you been? Why haven't you answered my calls?" Nate rambled on, asking question and after question and Brooke fought the urge to roll her eyes at his worries, she knew she'd concerned him, which was why she stayed calm and collected.

"I stayed at Caroline's house and my cell died." Brooke reached into her leather jacket and pulled out her phone, trying to turn it on but the screen remained black, proving that her phone was indeed deceased at that moment. Nate let out a sigh, and then his eyes trailed down to her outfit, causing him to furrow his brows.

"That's what you wore last night?" He questioned, his tone showing he was disgusted by her choice in outfit and Brooke glanced down at herself despite the fact that she knew what she was wearing already, she shrugged, unbothered, "Doesn't Caroline have any extra clothes?"

Brooke was wearing opaque tights, black ones with a black pencil skirt which wasn't too short, reaching down to her mid thigh, maybe shorter. On her upper half, she wore a dark grey turtle neck shirt, which was tucked into her skirt with her red leather jacket over the top. The turtle neck was short and only covered an inch of her neck, and she wore her favourite combat boots to add to the outfit.

"No. This isn't that bad for school, though I'd prefer jeans." Brooke shrugged, scuffing her boot into the grass and it was silent for a while, her eyes shamefully directed to her shoes whilst Nate's eyes were watching her face, trying to figure out what to say.

That was until he cleared his throat, placing his hands on his hips under his black leather jacket, "Well, I'm not sure I'm supposed to be on campus, so I better get going. Just, make sure to tell me when you're gonna stay over at a friend's house next time, all right?" He questioned, a brow raised and Brooke chuckled lightly, nodding with a smile.

They both stepped closer, wrapping their arms around each other when the bell rang, notifying them that it was the end of lunch. Students began to pile out of the side door in the cafeteria and through the courtyard towards the entrance to the main building, and Brooke pulled back, smiling up at her brother.

"I'll see you later, sorry for the trouble I've caused." She reached up swiftly, pressing a quick kiss to his cheek before she rushed away after everybody else, wanting to grab her books from her locker and get to class, not wanting to miss more school than necessary.

As she stood behind the crowded group of students who were all gathered at the entrance, attempting to get inside which was failing idiotically, Brooke felt her 'dead' phone buzz in her pocket, and she reached into her pocket, pulling it out to see a text from Damon.

Damon: I want to see you later.

She furrowed her brows, knowing she never gave him her number, but he did have her phone, so she assumed he put his number in whilst she was sleeping. After quickly replying with a "sure", she made her way inside, avoiding everyone she possibly could as she reached her locker.

It was baffling that she didn't have a hangover, a few people had wondered how she even managed to get to school after they'd witnessed her extremely drunk state at the party last night, it was as if Damon's blood was a healing remedy, making any wounds or health imperfections disappear. It was if he'd sped up the healing process, but without leaving any traces of the wound ever being there.

Absentmindedly, she reached her hand up to her neck, gliding her fingertips along the thin skin, only to feel absolutely nothing. No scab, no bruises, no blood or no swelling, there was nothing, it was if nothing had ever happened and Damon had never sunk his sharp teeth into the veins of her neck, or anywhere else for that matter.

Everything felt off, but she shrugged it off, making her way to English.

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