10|THE TURNING POINT

Gemma sits on the floor of the Boarding House, leaning against the window and letting her eyes slip closed as the sun beams down on her face. Damon's by her side, as usual, but he's standing and facing the opposite direction of the girl. The female Salvatore's eyes pop open whenever Stefan enters the room, his glare aimed at the girl. "Jesus," Gemma mutters. "So you found out Katherine and I were entangled. Get over it, Stefan. She was involved with half the poppulation of Mystic Falls."

"It's the fact that you lied about it for over a century, Gemma!"

"Aren't you in love with Elena?" The woman mocks him, "why do you care? Does it have anything to do with the picture of Katherine you have hidden in your room?"

Stefan rols his eyes, turning toward Damon; obviously deciding the arguement with his sister is a lost cause. "So, any idea where you'll go?"

"I don't know," Damon shrugs. "London, maybe. See some friends."

"You don't have any friends, Damon"

"You're right, Stefan. I only have you and Gemma," he turns away from looking out of the window and grins at his brother. "So, where are we going?"

"We are not going anywhere," Stefan grunts. "I'm gonna live my life as far away from you and Gemma as possible."

"Funny," the said girl comments as she stands up from the floor. "A few weeks ago, you were begging for the exact opposite."

"Yeah, Stef, we're a team!" Damon exclaims, shuffling toward his brother. "We could all travel the world together. We could try out for The Amazing Race."

"Mm, that's funny. Seriously, where are you two going? Because we are not staying in this town."

Before either sibling can answer, the doorbell rings and Stefan takes that as his cue to exit the conversation. He gives Damon and Gemma a fleeting glance over his shoulder before opening the door, his postue straightening whenever he's faced with Sheriff Forbes.

"I'm here to see Damon, and Gemma-- if she has time."

"Uh, sure," the boy nods. "Okay."

Gemma makes a face at hearing her name but follows her brother to the door anyway, forcing her lips to rise into a polite smile. "Sheriff Forbes," she greets. "This is a nice surprise."

"Sorry to bother you two," she says. "We need to talk."

"Come in," Damon opens the door the rest of the way, ushering the blonde woman into their home. He closes the door behind her and nods at Gemma, motioning for Liz to follow him out the backdoor to the courtyard. "Um, I hope you understand the secrecy," Damon tells her. "Stefan doesn't know about this yet and I'd like to keep it that way."

"Of course, kids are too young to be brought into this," her eyes dart to Gemma for a short second and she gives the woman an apologetic look. "I'm sorry to drag you into this too, but Damon said you were well versed on the topic and we need all the help we can get."

"Oh, yeah, sure," Gemma nods even though she has no idea what the Sheriff is speaking of.

"So, what do you need?" Damon questions the woman.

"There's been another attack," Liz informs the duo. "A female victim, her throat torn out, completely drained of blood. It fits the pattern."

Gemma raises her eyebrows, realization dawning on her. This was a vampire problem, and her weasel of a brother somehow got himself on the good side of it.

"I'm sorry," Damon shakes his head. "I don't understand. I thought we solved that problem when I--" he pauses. "When I staked the blonde one."

Gemma holds back her wince at the mention of Lexi, forcing herself to look nonchalant.

"I'm thinking she must've turned someone, or multiple someones. I don't know. The story for the town is another animal attack but I'm not sure how long we can keep lying to them. The counsil is in an uproar. We thought we were past this."

"So, uh, what do we do?"

"You're the only one who's ever taken on a vampire. We were hoping you could tell us."

•••

Gemma waits in the parlor with Stefan, her arms crossed with a furrow in her brow as she gazes at the floor. She knew Damon wasn't killing anyone; and there's no doubt that Stefan hadn't strayed from his bunny diet. Her eyes snap up whenever Damon finally dismisses the Sheriff, his eyes icy as he trudges into the room to meet with she and Stefan.

Stefan, ever the drama queen, doesn't waste time in pinning Damon to the wall; an angry expression gracing his features. "What is wrong with you? You killed somebody?"

"Get off of me," Damon shoves him. "A, don't touch me. B, if I had, I wouldn't have been so obvious about it." He brushes past Stefan and turns to the boy, raising his eyebrows. "C, there's another vampire in town."

"That's impossible."

"Is it?" Gemma finally pipes up. "Look how easily we came back and flew under the radar. Are we really gonna assume we're the only ones?"

"Then, who could it be?" Stefan asks.

"What do we care?" Damon shrugs. "We're leaving anyway, right?"

Gemma nods in agreement, rolling her eyes when Stefan gives her a look.

"No, I can't leave now and you know that. Stefan says. "How are we supposed to find this person?"

"Let the adults handle this, Stefan." Damon smirks, glancing at Gemma with a questioning look. "You in, Gem?"

"I'm in," she heaves a heavy sigh.

•••

"So, why did you need me to do this?" Caroline questions, peering up at the two vampires. Her gaze was mainly focused on Damon, as he and the blonde girl had a fling for a while but Gemma caught the human glancing at her every few seconds; curiosity evident in her eyes.

"Because we interfere with the signal," Damon replies.

"Can I go now?" Caroline whines, a pout gracing her lips. "This has blown, like, half of my day."

"You do that," he nods. He looks into her eyes with a wry smile, "Get in your car. Go home. Forget I asked you to do this."

"Okay," she grins and wiggles her fingers at the two vampires. "Bye now."

"Bye."

Gemma continues to stare at her brother while Caroline makes her exit, the sound of her car fading as she gets further down the street. "Are we going in?"

He smirks, "after you, little sister."

Gemma rolls her eyes and trudges forward, making her way into the rundown warehouse. Damon lingers behind her and she shrugs, turning to face him. "I don't think—" She's cut off by loud gunshots and a searing pain across her lower back and leg. A cry of pain escapes her as she falls to the ground, her hands pressed against the exit wound on her abdomen.

Damon tries to help Gemma up but the vampire; Logan Fell, points the gun at him. "I have tons of these wood bullets, so nothing funky." He circles around the two vampires, a grin crossing his face as he shoots Damon for the fun of it. "That's to make sure you don't get away."

"You don't wanna do this, trust me," Damon threatens.

Logan cocks his head to the side with an amused look, firing the gun another time and shooting Gemma in the shoulder. The woman screams and reaches up to cup her shoulder, her fingers trembling violently as choppy breaths leave her.

"That's what you get," Logan snaps.

"For what?" Damon asks, shooting a worried look to his sister.

Logan crouches down in front of the two vampires, "one of you made me like this."

"I killed you," Damon grits out, prying the bullet from his own body. "I didn't turn you."

"Trust me," Gemma pants. "Nobody would wanna be the maker of a psychotic, little bitch like you."

Logan hums, holding up a wooden bullet in front of her. "See, I know what you and your brothers are. I've been watching the three of you. I knew you'd show up here and I'm glad you did, because I have some questions."

Gemma looks down at her leg and almost whimpers, clenching her jaw as she reaches in the wound and forces the bullet out.

"Me first," Damon grunts. "Who turned you?"

"How should I know?" Logan gets in the oldest Salvatore's face. "Last thing I remember is, I'm about to stake your brother and then you grabbed me. That's it! Until I wake up in the ground behind a used car dealership on highway 4. Somebody buried me."

"It happens," Damon says simply.

Gemma slams her hand down on the ground as she pries another bullet out, a groan slipping through her lips.

"You bit me," Logan accuses the man. "It had to be you."

"You have to have vampire blood in your system when you die," Damon informs him. "I didn't do that. Some other vampire found you, gave you their blood." He collapses back into the floor after trying to get up, a look on defeat on his face.

"Who?"

"That's what I wanna know."

"Dude, it's not like the welcome wagon was waiting with a bundt cake and a handbook. It's been a learn as you go process. You know, one minute, I'm a small town on the rise news guy and next thing I know, I can't get into my house, because my foot won't go through the door."

"Join the club," Gemma sneers. "This didn't just happen to you. It's happened to hundreds of thousands of people in the world. Stop being conceited and get your head out of your ass."

Logan looks at her in disbelief, "you're just asking for it, aren't you?"

"Go screw yourself," she spits.

He raises his gun and pulls the trigger, a scream ripping itself from her throat whenever the bullet pierces her lower abdomen.

"You have to be invited in," Damon returns to their previous conversation, hoping to distract the man from Gemma's snide comments.

"I know," Logan exclaims. "I live alone."

Gemma erupts into pained laughs, her body wracking with coughs whenever it becomes too much.

"So now, I am at the Ramada, watching pay per view all day, eating everything in sight, including housekeeping."

"It could be worse," Damon tells him.

"All I can think about is blood and killing people." Logan laughs, "I can't stop killing people. I keep killing and I like it. I'm conflicted."

"Afflicted, maybe," the female Salvatore mumbles.

"Wait a minute," Damon furrows his eyebrows. "Cops only found one body."

"I left one," the man says. "I was tired. But I've been hiding the rest of bodies. They're right back there." He points toward a pile of bodies with his gun, a casual look gracing his features.

Gemma's eyes widen in horror, her stomach curling with dread. "Holy shit."

"They're just piling up!"

•••

After getting shot a handful more of times for her snide comments and— witty charm as she likes to call it, the girl is effectively half dead; or more half dead. Her body is pulsating with the pain and she can't stop the heavy breaths causing her chest to rise and fall.

And Logan, for God sake, will not stop talking long enough for Damon to do something about it.

"Why am I so overly emotional?" The said man asks. "All I can think about is my ex-girlfriend. I wanna be with her and bite her and stuff."

"Well, you probably love her," Damon voices. "Anything you felt before will be magnified now. You're gonna have to learn how to control that."

"What about walking in the sun? I'm a morning person. You both can walk in the sun which, by the way, is pretty cool. The council will never suspect you. That's not in the journals."

"The journals?" Damon wonders.

"Yeah, the founding fathers, they passed down journals to their kids. Come on man, you gotta tell me. How can you walk around in the sun?"

"Who turned you?" Damon shoots back.

"How do you walk in the sun?"

"Who turned you?"

"You know, I've been really nice so far but I will kill you."

"Nice?" Damon raises his eyebrows, "my sister's on the brink of consciousness and you call that nice?"

"I don't have time for this. I have things to do, people to kill. Guess I'll be needing a little head start." Logan shoots Damon a couple of times and exits the warehouse, leaving the two siblings bleeding out on the warehouse floor.

Damon recovers rather quickly, not having been shot as many times, and he staggers over to Gemma; tapping her cheek gently. "Hey," he mutters. "Gem, come on."

Her eyes flutter open and she inhales slowly, her face scrunching up at the ache in her bones. "It hurts," she tells him.

"Yeah, you've got a couple bullet holes...everywhere." He tries to make light of the situation.

"Yeah, that hurts too," she says sleepily.

Damon swallows dryly and hauls her up into his arms, frowning at the sounds of protest she begins making. "Be quiet," he demands. "I'm taking you home."

"Thanks, demon."

"It's Damon."

"Mm."

•••

Gemma sits on the edge of her bed, her body slumped in exhaustion. She had taken a long shower to try and drown out the noise that Stefan and Elena were making, but the girl knew it was pointless. Her hair hangs limply on her shoulders, the dark strands framing her face as she looks down at the left over irritation on her skin from the bullet wounds.

"Hey," a soft voice greets.

Gemma's eyes lift and she meets Elena's gentle gaze, the female Salvatore grimacing when she sees the girl clad in Stefan's shirt. "Hi," she says dryly.

Elena shuffles further into the room, frowning down at Gemma. "You don't look too good," she observes. "Damon told us what happened, are you—?"

"Yeah," Gemma cuts her off, standing from her bed and trudging over to window. "I'm good, just a little tired."

"Stefan's downstairs making some food, so I just wanted to check on you."

Gemma hums, a wry smile gracing her lips. "That's sweet of you."

"What's wrong with you now?" Elena huffs, plopping down on the bed and stretching out.

"Go ahead and make yourself at home," the woman says sarcastically.

"You're being mean again," Elena informs her.

Gemma side eyes the girl, "no, really? I had no idea."

"I know we've been on the rocks lately, but I—"

"We haven't been on the rocks," Gemma emphasizes. "You accused me of enjoying murdering a kid and then tried to defend yourself by saying that's not what you meant."

"It's not," Elena murmurs. "I didn't mean it that way, I just— you were so angry at her and you were threatening to hurt her all day, Gemma."

Gemma scoffs out a laugh, "Elena, everything I did was to keep her from hurting your friends and your family! Don't think for a second that I was worried for my safety or my family's. We're more than capable of taking care of ourselves."

The Gilbert girl sits up, pulling her knees to her chest as she looks up at Gemma with wide, doe eyes. "I just, I'm sorry, Gemma. I'm sorry that I hurt you. I know you were protecting Jeremy and I. It's just— it's hard. Coming to terms that this is my life now."

Gemma bites the inside of her cheek, softening in the slightest bit. "I know," she sympathizes. "I forget that you're just a—"

"Don't call me a kid," Elena winces.

The female Salvatore smirks, "problem?"

"It's just weird," Elena flushes.

Gemma tenses up whenever she hears footsteps trailing up the stairs toward her room, angling her body away from the doorway as Stefan knocks on the frame of the door.

"Elena?" He questions, confused. "Everything okay?"

"Yeah," the girl slips off of Gemma's bed and slinks over to Stefan's side. "I was just checking on Gemma."

Stefan hums, "you need anything else while I'm up?"

Elena pauses, "some water maybe?"

Gemma presses her forehead against the glass of her window, gritting her teeth.

Stefan whispers a few things to Elena that Gemma can't hear and he's exiting the room, going to retrieve what his girlfriend asked for.

"Gemma," Elena calls quietly. "I'm gonna go back to Stefan's room, okay?"

"Yeah," she agrees.

"Goodnight."

Gemma looks over her shoulder and flashes the girl a tight smile, sitting in the silence the Gilbert leaves in her absence.

•••

not edited.