The Beginning | Damon Salvatore #1

Chapter 7

Following the orders of Elena, Alex used whatever she could find in the bathroom to make herself look pretty enough for trying on dresses. She'd avoiding her own gaze in the mirror after finishing since the one looking back at her was a stranger.

The dress shop was littered with pageant girls and prom-obsessed teens with low self-esteem that Alex grew up avoiding and did everything not to become. Damon found a chair in the corner after one of the employees showed Alex, Elena, and Bonnie the dressing rooms. Elena mentioned something about a girl named Caroline wanting to come, but something about her mom needing help with something.

"I'll just sit over here and look pretty and make sure you," he said, pointing at Alex, "don't go running to your vampire-killing friends." Alex scoffed playfully at him, shaking her head. Elena interrupted before she can respond.

"Okay, let's find some dresses. This ball is going to be amazing," she said. Alex slightly raised her eyebrows, concerned about how excited a vampire could be about going to a party.

"I thought it was just some party," Alex said. Bonnie walked over to a rack of ball gowns, grabbing one and wrapping it around herself, smiling.

"An extremely elegant party," she said, making Elena and Alex giggle. A small smile rested on Damon's lips.

Alex fingered through tons of dresses and only found one that really stood out to her: a deep green silk dress. She closed herself into the dressing room, taking her clothes off and stepping into the dress. Her hair trickled down her shoulders in loose curls she didn't have the energy to completely curl. She studied herself in the mirror; the eyes of a stranger stared back at her.

"Alex, you okay?" Elena's voice echoed in Alex's ears. She snapped into reality and opened the door to come out.

"Woah," she heard, from which girl, she wasn't sure. "You're hot." Alex shook her head, but caught Damon's eye as he stared. She couldn't see it, but he was fighting everything in his body not to show how stunning she looked to him on his face. She turned on her heel and drifted back into the dressing room.

"It's too expensive," she said.

"Don't worry about that," she heard Damon say. "I'll take care of it."

She smiled to herself. After changing back into the clothes Elena had given her, Bonnie helped her pick out a pair of heels that would match the dress. The day zoomed by after they left there; Damon drove them to a mall where Elena and Bonnie gushed over clothes they wanted Alex to get for herself since she was staying with them for who knew how long. It was like she was starting a whole new life in an alternate universe.

"You okay?" Damon said. Alex had been staring at the same shirt for a solid two minutes while Elena and Bonnie moved on to other racks.

"Yeah. I'm just trying to make sense of everything," she said, locking eyes with his. Concerned drifted through them like a constant current of ice and winter.

"You want this shirt?" He avoided, looking down at the Metallica graphic tee she was holding, rubbing her fingers over the fabric.

"I do like Metallica," Alex entertained, her hand taking forever to reach the hanger and lift it from the rack.

"I took you for more of a Journey type gal," he smirked.

"I can't like both?" She teased, draping the shirt over her arm with a couple other things Elena forced her to pick up because she caught her looking at them. Damon laughed at Alex as she ran her hands over a leather jacket that hung next to the shirt.

"Get that too," he suggested, furrowing his brow, studying her expressions as she looked at the jacket. "It'll look good with Metallica."

"You talk like nothing else matters," she said, eyeing him to see if he understood.

"I see what you did there, Jesus freak," he said, laughing. Alex couldn't help but frown a little as he drifted away to another rack, finding similar items that she seemed to like and adding them to her pile without a word.

Elena and Bonnie had picked out countless shoes for her to wear and more accessories than she'd ever seen in her life. All of it seemed so much once they all got back to the house.

Her phone vibrated.

Do you know where you are yet so I can come get you?

She thought for a moment, concerned that she didn't see any signs or flyers saying where she could be. She still had no clue.

Not yet. You'll never believe the day I've had. More normal than when my parents were alive.

She shut her phone, which was slowly dying; luckily, she talked Elena into adding a phone charger into the mix while they were out. Before she could plug it up, it vibrated again.

Doubt that.

Alex almost grunted with frustration at Dean's message that she typed and sent before she knew it.

You know, for someone who says they love me, you don't act like it. I wish you trusted me enough to know I can handle it. You're lucky I trust you enough to tell you the truth about being here with these vampires.

Her hand tossed the phone onto the bed and her mind forgot about it for as long as she could while she sorted through her clothes and things that she was so fortunate to get while staying with what she was always taught to be monsters. She wasn't so sure about that. They were more like amplified humans with an addiction: lost and confused, needing only one thing to survive and doing anything to make sure they have it.

"Quite the stash you got here," a voice came from behind her. She turned to see Stefan, which was a surprise.

"Not really by choice with your girl doing most of the shopping," she said, shrugging.

"Damon has really gone out of his way to make sure you have everything you need while you stay here, so I need to go out of my way to make sure you are worth the effort and that we can trust you won't call your hunter buddies to come slaughter us."

"If you really want to make sure you can trust me, feel free to go through my phone and see what Dean has to say. Of course, he wants to find me, but I still don't know where I am," she said, getting annoyed at all the current men in her life not being able to trust her. Stefan stared at her, waiting for her to continue.

"Look, I know Damon has probably told you about my trip to the woods while I was unconscious, but because of that, I have no interest in leaving right now. I have work to do; if I worry too much about leaving, I may miss the very reason I was found in those woods."

Stefan nodded, looking from her to the phone on her bed and deciding it wasn't worth it.

"He did tell me. He said you were a little intense about the whole thing," he said, smirking.

"Yeah, well, he's the one to talk," she said, smiling. He nodded, raising his eyebrows.

"He cares much more than he lets anyone see, which is why he's hovering. He wants to make sure you won't put anyone in danger, even yourself," he said.

"Why on earth would he care anything about me? I practically swore to kill all of you after you saved me," Alex said, fiddling with the Metallica shirt.

"Now that, I don't have an answer for," he smirked as he sauntered to the door. As he disappeared, Alex continued to rub the fabric in her hands until it was warm. Everything that Gabriel said would happen; all she had to do was believe.