chapter twenty-seven,

just outside the front doors, Jack walking with his hand around Hannah's waist. Marian had hoped that Ambrose would meet her friends, however he'd politely declined, telling her he only wanted to wish her a happy birthday and let her know he was back in town; he was too tired to stay for much longer, having driven all the way from Portland.

"Hey," Jack said as they reached Penny and Marian. "I'm taking Hannah home." He leaned forward, whispering, "Think she's had too much to drink."

"I have not!" Hannah argued. "I just have this really bad feeling."

"Oh yeah?" Penny challenged.

"It feels like death," Hannah told her darkly. Marian laughed.

"Yep. She's had way too much," she dismissed, turning to Jack. "You sure you're okay to drive?"

"Yeah, I didn't have anything to drink. My mom would kill me."

Penny laughed. "Jack, your mom would kill you just for being here."

He gave her a charming smile. "That's why I'm staying at Jeremy's tonight."

Marian gawked at him. "You're so dead!" she exclaimed, laughing.

Hannah started pulling Jack away, the boy following helplessly behind. "What she doesn't know won't hurt her," he reasoned. "I'll see you later. Happy birthday, Annie!"

"Don't die!" Penny called after them. "God, they're perfect for each other," she said to Marian who nodded in agreement.

Suddenly, a figure appeared beside the two, holding a glass of pink champagne out to Marian and Penny. "Here," he said. Marian eyed it warily. She hadn't had alcohol in so long; she was only seventeen in this life. "Come on, I won't tell. Mother's making a toast, and you can't go empty-handed." The girl smirked devilishly, taking it from her uncle's hands and sipping it, unaware that Esther was watching from the top of the stairs. Finn laughed as she scrunched up her face in disgust. He guided the pair to gather at the bottom of the stairs with the rest of the guests.

"Good evening, ladies and gentleman," Esther greeted. "Waiters are coming around with champagne. I invite you all to join me in raising a glass. It provides me with no greater joy than to see my family back together as one." Bonnie nudged her friend, wiggling her eyebrows at her. "I'd like to thank you all for being part of this spectacular evening." She raised her class. "Cheers!"

"Cheers!"

Penny and Marian turned to each other, clinking their glasses with a smirk together before taking a sip. Marian coughed. "God, this stuff is horrible," she complained.

"Well, you're only just starting to drink," Penny pointed out. "You'll get used to it after a few glasses."

"Oh, and you know this how?" Marian challenged, an eyebrow raised.

Penny went to respond when she saw Matt confusedly looking around. "Matt?" she called. The boy looked up, a frown on his face. "You okay?"

"Rebekah told me to meet her on the balcony, but I don't know where that is," he said, looking more at Marian than Penny. The witch laughed, pointing towards the staircase.

"It's just up there and to the right. Follow the landing," she told him. Matt looked up, noticing the few people who walked towards it. He shook his head.

"Right, of course," he said. "Uh, thanks." He left the two, headed towards the balcony.

"He's really not the brightest guy, is he?" Penny joked. "Who's he here with anyway?"

"Aunt Bekah," Marian muttered, quickly taking a sip of her champagne. The thought of someone only one year older than her going out with her aunty made her feel weird.

"What?"

"Yeah, I think she actually likes him," she admitted. "He's shown her more kindness than any guy's shown her in a long time."

"You think so?"

"I know so," said Marian. "She's never really had a good relationship. Either that, or Uncle Nik has deemed it 'appropriate'," she told her friend.

"Seriously?" Penny asked. "Wow, he really is an asshole."

"Yep." She looked up. "Maybe I could tell you more family secrets if you stayed the night?" she pleaded. Penny gave her a tight lipped smile. "Come on, please? It's my birthday."

"As amazing as it sounds to have a sleepover in the same house as a family of the gods, I promised mom I'd be home before—," she said.

"Please," said Marian. "Your mom wouldn't mind. Plus, Elijah said she told him you could."

Penny looked taken aback for a moment, wondering why her overprotective mother would trust a man she'd met once. "I'm sorry, I can't—" Then, she stopped, her eyes staring in confusion at the entrance.

"What?" Marian turned her gaze to the front door, watching in horror as Damon stood over her father. "What the hell?" she muttered, walking towards them. "What the hell is going on here?"

Damon, whose hands were clasped tightly to the shoulders of Kol's suit jacket, looked up at her. She was shocked to see such a dangerous look in his eyes. "I'd stay out of this one, pretty girl. This is between me and daddy dearest."

Marian frowned, opening her mouth to question him further when her father cut her off. "No, let her come," he encouraged. "Let her see how pathetic you are."

Damon scoffed, lifting Kol's shoulders before pushing him harshly to the ground. "Who is it that's on the ground right now?"

Kol laughed. "Trying to impress her with your strength by beating her father to the ground. How romantic." His voice held no hint of amusement as he spoke. Damon, becoming more and more angered, brought his fist down onto Kol's face.

"Stop it, both of you!" she tried.

"You see, I can do so much worse," Kol continued, ignoring her. "With a few simple words, I'll have implanted an insecurity into your mind that will drive you insane." He grinned, blood staining his teeth. His blood. Marian gulped, having only seen her father bleed a few times before.

"Oh yeah?" Damon challenged.

Kol lifted his head up, speaking slowly and clearly to him. "You will never be good enough for my daughter." Damon's grip on his jacket loosened, and just as he was about to hit her father again, Marian rushed forward. She pushed him away from her father, Kol pushing himself from the ground without breaking eye contact with him.

"That's enough!" she exclaimed, her hands on Damon's chest. She looked up at him. "You," she said, causing him to look down at her. "Stop letting him get to you." He gulped. "And you." She turned to Kol. "I can't believe you'd do something like this."

He held his hands in the air. "I was simply getting acquainted with the man I never gave permission to." Marian narrowed her eyes at him. "Honestly, darling. You could've done so much better." She felt Damon tense behind her.

She looked up at him, a sad look on her face. "Damon," she said softly. "I think you should leave."

"Yes, you don't belong here," Kol sneered. In an instant Damon pushed Marian to the side and sped towards him, punching him to the ground and putting his hands on either side of Kol's head.

"Fuck you," he spat, twisting his hands. Marian cried out in horror as she watched her father's body fall limp in his arms, covering her mouth with her hands and shaking her head in disbelief.

"Damon!" Stefan exclaimed, rushing outside with Elena. "Are you crazy?" The rest of Marian's family followed him.

She looked up to see Elijah standing in front of Penny, briefly hearing him utter the words, "You will forget this and go back inside."

"Maybe a little," Damon answered, looking at the doppelgänger. Marian frowned. "Far be it from me to cause a problem." He turned and began walking away from the mansion without another word.

Marian huffed angrily, angrily following after him as he left. "What the hell is wrong with you?" she exclaimed, trying to catch up with Damon. "What, so he hurts your feelings and you lose it?"

Damon stopped abruptly and turned around, placing his hands on her shoulders harshly. "Yeah, he hurt my feelings. Coming from the father of my almost-bride, that stung a little. Guys are allowed to get hurt too, you know." He let go, continuing to walk towards his car.

"So you killed him?" she pressed, walking behind him.

"Snapped his neck," Damon corrected. "There's a difference."

"If he were human, he'd be permanently dead," Marian argued. Damon had slowed, reaching his car. "My own father, killed by my ex-lover."

Damon clenched his fist, hitting it against the car door. "God, you don't get it, do you?" he snapped. "The old you would understand."

"I'm the same person I always was, Damon," she told him firmly. "What am I not getting?" She suddenly felt a large pressure on her neck, pushing and constricting it. She lifted a hand up, massaging it in hopes that it would go away, though the voice in the back of her head told her it wouldn't—it never did when Kol's neck was snapped.

"I don't want to be your stupid ex, Marrie!" he confessed, still not looking at her. Marian gulped, becoming lightheaded as she struggled to breathe. "I want to love you, to hold you—God, I still want to marry you. And no matter how much I try to distract myself with Elena, all I want is you."

Marian didn't have time to respond, her body growing weak at the lack of oxygen in her body. And just as it always happened when Kol's neck had been snapped, she collapsed to the ground, a large red mark around her own.

...

Marian coughed as she sat up, rubbing her neck to try and sooth the throbbing pain that she felt. The other hand rubbed her eyes to try and clear her blurred vision, her eyebrows creasing when she tried to figure out where she was.

"Oh good, you've woken up," Damon said. Marian looked to the side, blinking hard to see him properly. "I was afraid I'd have to call Santa Klaus to come and get you."

"How long was I out?" she asked, her voice harsh.

"Half an hour, maybe," he said with a shrug. She nodded. "Do you usually faint when guys express their feelings to you, or am I just lucky?"

"I faint when my dad's neck gets snapped," she said pointedly. "You know, because my life's linked to his."

"What, so if he gets his finger pricked, you'll die of blood loss?" Damon quipped. Marian sneered at him. He walked over to her, a glass of water in his hand. Marian took it with both hands, drinking it while watching as he sat on the bed next to her.

"Damon, I'm really sorry about him," she said softly. "He had no right to do what he did; to say what he said."

He looked down. "But he's right," he muttered. "The whole time I've known you, you haven't hurt a thing; and then there's me, causing trouble wherever I go." Marian frowned. "I don't belong with you. You're too good for me."

She lifted her right hand from the glass, gently resting it on his cheek. "Don't you ever think that," she told him. "You were enough for me. You are enough for me. He's just trying to get under your skin because he thinks all vampires like to take advantage of young girls." She inhaled sharply. "And I'm not exactly a saint, either," she added, causing his head to lift. "I've hurt people. I've killed people." She scoffed. "I got so caught up in the thrill of it all that Klaus was scared of me."

"You scared Klaus?" he asked, not believing her.

"You have your humanity switch and I have my psychopathic bitch switch," she answered simply. "I usually don't really remember what I do when I'm like that—it's like some subconscious suppression to keep me from going crazy—but I've heard I quite like hearing people scream."

Damon sat in shock for a moment before a smirk formed on his face. Marian gulped as he took the glass from her hands and placed it on the bedside table. "If I remember correctly, it was you who used to scream." Her breath hitched as his face moved closer to hers. "And Stefan had to ask for another room because you were so loud."

"Strange. I must have forgotten," she mused. "Why don't you remind me, Mister Salvatore?"

Damon grinned, gently pushing her back down onto the bed. "You're crazy," he told her, his hands on either side of her head as he hung over her, their lips almost touching.

"But you like that, don't y—?" He cut her off, pressing his lips to hers.

question: how do we feel about smut? or should i keep it more pg? i can put warnings up and all that, but forewarning i've never written it before.

part ii:

tvd s3, e14, ""

wc: