17|LET THE RIGHT ONE IN

‼️ possible triggers in this chapter: (violence, implied 'sexual assault' —it hints at past events and there is a scene where it seems like it's going to happen, but it's only in favor of gemma getting triggered by thinking it's going to happen.)

Gemma leans against the kitchen counter with a cup of coffee in her hands, grinning in amusement at the sight before her. Aunt Jenna was basically collapsed into a chair, dark circles under her eyes and her orbs squinting against the lights in the kitchen.

"Do you want some coffee?" Gemma questions.

Jenna rests her head against the counter while motioning for Gemma to move forward. The vampire does so, gaping in shock whenever the Sommers woman grabs the cup of coffee in her hand and downs it in one go. "Thank you," Jenna mutters.

"You're incredible, truly."

Jenna mumbles something under her breath before standing up and dragging herself out of the kitchen. Elena gives her a confused look in passing, sending Gemma a questioning look as she grabs an empty coffee cup.

"She's hungover," the Salvatore fills her in. "She drank a lot more before we left."

"Does she remember anything about running into that man last night?"

"Don't think so," Gemma shrugs. "Even if she did, it would've looked like another overbearing flirt."

Elena hums, pouring coffee into the cup and turning back toward Gemma. She blinks at the Salvatore's horrified expression. "What? What is it?"

"You're drinking plain coffee, Elena. What's wrong with you?"

"Don't tell me you're one of those people who make their coffee into syrup!" Elena gasps.

Gemma squints at the girl, "so what if I am?"

"I don't see the appeal."

"You'll try it one day," Gemma says firmly. "There's no way I'm ever letting you go without trying coffee with sugar and cream in it."

Elena rolls her eyes before rounding the counter and brushing last Gemma, locking the side doors in the kitchen and jiggling the handle to make sure it's shut. "There's a storm coming today," she says absently. "The sun's not out."

Gemma hums, "my favorite weather."

"I'm driving over to your house in a little while. Are you coming?"

Gemma stretches out her arms and yawns, nodding to Elena's question. "I guess so. Nothing better to do."

"Do you not like to go home?"

"It's never quiet there," the vampire says. "Never."

Elena nods with a dry smile, "that's what it's like having siblings, Gem."

"Is your sibling a vampire?"

"Good point. Were you up all night?"

"Yes."

"You don't think that, maybe, sleep is vital? Lack of sleep can cause depression, too."

"Oh, wow," Gemma marvels. "Thank you, Dr. Elena. That explains it."

"You're welcome," the girl snides.

"Do you ever think that maybe you're cranky in the mornings because your coffee is bitter?"

"Get... get in the car," Elena pinches the bridge of her nose. "Just go wait in the car, please."

"Yes ma'am."

\\

Gemma sits back and watches her brother nail up the window, her eyebrows in a pinched expression. Her anxiety had come back full force when she learned that her brothers had been attacked. Regardless of their supernatural abilities, they could die. What if one of them had been hurt? She wasn't here, she was with Elena. Playing house, of all things. The exact thing she had condemned Stefan for weeks earlier.

"I say we go to Pearl's, bust down the door, and annihilate the idiot that attacked us last night." Damon pipes up, moving away from the window.

"Yeah, and then what? We turn to the rest of the house of vampires and say, oops, sorry?" Stefan snides, folding his arms over his chest. "I don't feed on humans and Gemma's probably been fasting again, so our odds aren't looking good."

The female Salvatore glares at him, "you're making fun of my relationship with food? Really?"

"Yeah, I mean, this coming from the Ripper of—"

"Shut up," Stefan growls.

"Guys, please," Elena begs. "Can we focus on the fact that we actually made a deal with her?"

"We didn't. Damon did," Gemma points out.

"It was more like a helpful exchange of information," the raven haired vampire argues. "It's not like I had a choice... she's scary. Besides, she's going to help me get Katherine back."

"Good Lord," Gemma collapses on the couch, burying her face into her hands. Her shoulder shake as she laughs loudly, the absurdity of the situation washing over her. Damon would always chase after Katherine, even after the woman so clearly wants nothing to do with him. If the empty tomb and the century full of lies didn't clue him, Gemma wasn't sure what would. "I thought we were over this, buddy."

"Of course she is," Elena snaps. "Damon gets what he wants, as usual. No matter who he hurts in the process."

The female Salvatore looks up, surprised. The teenager had become more and more outspoken as of lately. It didn't bother Gemma, but she did worry about Damon's temper.

"You don't have to be snarky about it," Damon grumbles.

"I woke up this morning to learn that all the vampires have been released from the tomb, I've earned snarky."

"How long are you going to blame me for turning your birth mother into a vampire?"

"I'm not blaming you, Damon. I've accepted the fact that you're a self serving psychopath with no redeeming qualities."

Damon glares at her, the veins under his eyes becoming prominent as he steps forward. Gemma stands from the couch and places a hand on his chest, giving him a stern look. "Cool off, Damon."

He shrugs off her touch and spins on his heel, stalking out of the room with his fists clenched. Gemma sighs heavily, turning toward her younger brother with raised eyebrows. "That one's all you, little brother. Seeing as your girlfriend caused it."

Stefan rolls his eyes before moving away from Elena and following his brother's path out of the foyer. Gemma sits on the arm of the couch, looking up at Elena when the human shuffles closer to stand in front of her.

"Are you upset with me?" Elena questions, peering down at the woman.

"For?"

"Making Damon mad."

"God, no. If I got upset with everyone that pissed Damon off, the entirety of the population would be in trouble."

"He just makes me so cranky," Elena expresses.

"He has that way about him, doesn't he?" Gemma grins.

"What are we going to do, Gemma?"

"We'll handle everything. You go and be a normal teenager. It's not your responsibility to carry all of this weight, you got me?"

"I've never been just a normal teenager," Elena murmurs.

"Maybe not, but it's never too late."

"I can't just sit here and do nothing."

"You can if it'll keep you safe," Gemma tells her. "Don't think for a second that Stefan would disagree with me."

"That doesn't mean anything if you..." She trails off, her eyes searching Gemma's face. "If you guys aren't safe."

"I'm perfectly safe. I've got Stefan and his hero hair and Damon— the self serving psychopath on my side."

Elena laughs, "you have a gift. Truly."

"Mhm," Gemma stands up, brushing past Elena. "I've been told."

"Where are you going?"

"For a walk," the vampire hushes Elena. "I'll be fine. I just need a breather."

"You'll call if you get into any trouble?"

"Absolutely, peaches. You'll be my white knight."

"I better be," Elena smirks.

Gemma rolls her eyes and exits the house with a soft laugh, feeling Elena's eyes follow her out the door.

\\

Gemma Salvatore never thought she'd get herself into a situation like this. By 'situation', she means tied up and held captive by low-life vampires she had know over a century ago. She'd been awake for all of two seconds before she realized what had happened; that Fredrick had jumped her during her walk and carried her unconscious body back to his hideout. As of the past minute, she'd been having a staring contest with the said man, but that was before they dragged Stefan's lifeless body in and threw him in front of her.

"What's this?" She keeps calm, her eyes staying trained of Fredrick.

"Your brother killed my Bethanne," he spits. "I only thought it fair to return the favor."

Gemma tenses for a second, thinking he means Elena. Her mind races with questions; where is she? Is she safe? God forbid, does he have her?

"What better way to get revenge than torture his sister right in front of him?" Fredrick smirks. "The Salvatore who was unseen and unloved by her family. I can only imagine the guilt he'd feel if I killed you before he could make amends."

"You're an idiot if you think he'll care," she informs him. "Stefan and I weren't close when we were human, and definitely not now that we're vampires."

"You're saying that so I'll spare you," he accuses.

Gemma leans forward, raising her eyebrows with a blank expression. "Do I look like someone who's afraid to die? My time should've been up whenever I died in eighteen sixty-four."

"What I'm going to do to you should make you afraid." He glares at her. He nods his head at two of his accomplices and they move forward to grab Stefan by the arms, forcing him into a chair where they begin tying him up with ropes. Gemma assumes they're laced with vervain, seeing as how the vampires are wearing gloves. "Wake him up," he instructs.

One of the vampires rear back and slaps Stefan across the face, the Salvatore waking up with a sharp gasp. He looks around in panic before his eyes land on Gemma, his expression contorting into one of weariness. "What's going on?"

"I am punishing you for killing Bethanne," Fredrick grins, grabbing a stake from a nearby shelf. Stefan shifts nervously and the vampire laughs, shaking his head as he moves the stake from hand to hand. "Don't worry, you won't be the one getting hurt today, Stefan." He points the weapon at Gemma, his eyes darkening. "She will."

"Wait, wait, wa—" Stefan attempts to protest as Fredrick moves toward Gemma.

The female Salvatore braces herself as Fredrick lunges, the stake plunging deep into her abdomen. The cry of pain is inevitable, no matter how hard she clenches her jaw and strains against her bindings. She sees Stefan flinch from her peripheral vision and she huffs out a shaky breath, glancing up at Fredrick with a challenging stare. "Is that it?"

"Not even close, sweetheart," he smirks. "I'm just getting started." He looks at—what Gemma has deemed as— his goons. "Get some vervain and pour it over her ropes."

Gemma inhales sharply as they approach her with a bucket of liquid, her chest heaving up and down as they smile down at her.

"Stop!" Stefan yells, struggling in the chair they placed him in. His skin steams and sizzles against the bindings but he pays no mind, his wide eyes focused on Gemma.

In an instant, they pour the vervain over her arms, her skin scorching and searing with pain unknown the woman. A scream tears itself from her throat and she loses her breath, her eyes stinging with tears she's not willing to let fall. Her body slumps into the chair from the pain, her form trembling from being overwhelmed. Torture would be a first for the woman, and she wasn't enjoying it.

"That's got to sting," Fredrick faux sympathizes. "You like you're going to cry, Gemma. Maybe I can help with that." He grabs an eye dropper and a vial from the shelf next to him, extracting some of the vervain from the vial. Gemma cringes back but doesn't speak, her lips pressed into a tight line. "What was it you were saying in The Grill? You prefer the eye clinic? Maybe you can take a trip after today. If you live, that is."

"I thought the pain was supposed to be torture," Gemma croaks. "Turns out its listening to you."

He hums with a dry smile, moving forward and forcing her eyelids open. He roughly drops the vervain into her eyes, stumbling back whenever she curls into herself with a loud groan. She clenches her eyes shit as the tears fall down her cheeks rapidly, the vervain in her eyes scarring her skin as it mixes.

"This isn't right!" A new voice exclaims, causing Gemma to squint as she opens her eyes.

"Her brother killed Bethanne!" Fredrick growls. "One of us, Harper. Don't you think for a second he wouldn't kill you if he had the chance. Pearl says we're not here for revenge, right? I say that's exactly what we're here for. Starting with this."

Gemma had accepted the torture, and even death up until this point; but when Fredrick begins to tug at her shirt— trying to pull it off of her body, chaos ensues. Revenge and pride be damned, no man would ever belittle her in that way ever again. She uses the last of her energy to slam her forehead into his when he gets close enough, throwing herself back so the chair would break and set her free. Crashing against the ground weakens her even further and causes her to pause, giving Fredrick's goons enough time to grab her by the arms and hold her still.

With a dark glare and snarled lips, Fredrick charges forward and grabs her shirt, ripping it straight down the middle.

"Don't touch her!" Stefan struggles, yanking his hands from the binding. He charges toward the men but with one look, Fredrick has his guys pinning Stefan down while he handles Gemma. "Please, don't hurt her! Hurt me, do whatever you want, j—"

"Shut him up!" Fredrick screams.

One of the two vampires reaches down and easily snaps Stefan's neck, the pleads and begs silencing in an instant. Fredrick seemingly sighs in relief, pinning Gemma's hands to the ground above her head. "Now, where were we?"

"D—don't," she gasps, panic swelling in her chest.

"Mm," he hums. One of the vampires hand him a hunting knife and he peers down at her, his eyes wide and eager. "Don't what? Don't do this?" He carves into her chest, his lips pulling at the sound of a sob finally springing free; as if it's what he's been waiting for. "You're not as strong as you think you are, Gemma. You're just a weak, little girl."

The female Savaltore's body falls slack, her eyes glazing over as she stares straight through him. Seeing that she's unresponsive, Fredrick sighs and let's go of her arms, placing his hands on either side of her head. "I'll let you rest, miss Salvatore." With a quick movement, he twists her neck and everything falls dark.

\\

"Gem?" A soft hand taps her cheek lightly, a firm touch stabilizing her head as it lolls to the side. Her eyes flutter open and she meets those of Damon, a worried smile gracing his lips. "There she is, my baby sister."

Gemma moves her face from his touch, her eyes darting around the room as white hot anxiety slithers down her spine. "Wh—"

"He's taken care of for now," Damon says stiffly. His eyes flick around Gemma's form and he grits his teeth, shrugging out of his jacket and wrapping it around Gemma's shoulders. "Gemma, did—"

The woman catches Elena's eyes over Damon's shoulder, the doe eyed girl gazing at her in horror. "She shouldn't be here," Gemma rasps. In that moment, both she and Damon come to a silent agreement that the vampire's not worried for Elena's sanity after seeing Gemma. She's worried for her own.

"She was supposed to stay in the car," Damon says.

Gemma flexes her sore hands, pushing herself up from the ground and stumbling into her brothers arms. She fists his shirt desperately, burying her face into his chest as if to seclude herself from the rest of the world.

"Can you stand?" Damon asks.

"Yes."

Gemma's not one hundred percent sure she's telling the truth, but for the sake of preserving whatever dignity she has left, she'll try. Damon leans her against the wall and rushes over to Stefan— who had since been retied—his hands hovering over the binds as if he's not sure what to do.

"There's vervain on the ropes," Stefan tells him.

"Elena, pull that," Damon instructs, pointing to the one rope that'll unravel Stefan's binds. Once Stefan weakly stands with the help of Elena, Damon claps his hands together, "alright, let's go."

"Wait," Stefan pauses. "We've got to help him." He motions to Harper. He moves toward the vampire and pulls the stake out of his legs with the help of Elena. "The other one." They pull the other stake out, shuffling away from him whenever he's free from being pinned down.

"Can you get both of them to the car?" Damon questions Elena.

"Yeah."

"I'm fine," Gemma zips Damon's leather jacket to cover her bra, folding her arms over her chest. She sways in the slightest bit but gives Elena a reassuring nod, trudging forward to wrap her arm around Stefan's waist so she can help the Gilbert get him to the car. "Damon, what about you?"

"You guys rescue, I'll distract."

She gives him a tight smile before urging Stefan to move forward, her grip tight around him.

\\

Gemma sits on top of the closed toilet in her bathroom, her shaking hands clasped together in her lap. She had just gotten out of the shower, her skin raw and burning from scrubbing so hard. It didn't matter how much she washed herself, she couldn't get clean. From a century ago, from tonight, from anything. She'd always be dirty, she'd always—

"Gem?" Damon calls softly, peeking into the bathroom. Once he sees she's decent, he shuffles in and kneels on the floor in front of her. He rests his hands on her knees, looking up at her with a gentle smile. Gemma's grateful for Damon. He makes himself small, less intimidating, more submissive to her whenever something like this happens. He goes out of his way to show her that she's in control, even if they both know he'd never hurt her. "Do you want to go to bed?" He questions.

"No," she replies blankly. "I don't think I could handle it tonight."

"Have you fed?"

She falls silent, shaking her head in response.

"I'll get you a blood bag in a little bit. Do you—?"

"I feel dirty," she whispers sadly. The woman notes that her confession shocks Damon. They weren't ones to share feelings or to have ooey-gooey moments. "I took a shower, but I... I feel dirty, Damon."

"Gemma, did he...?"

"No. He just... he ripped my shirt and—" Her voice catches in her throat. "He pinned me down and ripped my shirt and I thought... I was so scared. All I did was just lie there."

"Gem, you can't help how you react," he murmurs. "You froze up because it's a trigger. It'll take a little while to remember that you're clean, but you are. You always have been."

She shakes her head, biting the inside of her cheek as tears well in her eyes.

"Listen to me," he cradles her face, his eyes boring into hers. "You are clean. You're not what happened to you, and you can't hold yourself accountable for for somebody else's sins. Let it go, little sister. I'll be here to catch you when you fall, alright? I'm here to carry it with you. Hell, I'll carry it for you."

"I can't..." She chokes out, her face crumbling.

"It won't make you weak, Gem. Let it go. You're allowed to cry. You're allowed to grieve over what they took from you. Let yourself grieve, Gemma."

Her lips tremble and her face crumbles, a sob wracking her body as she clenches her eyes shut. She feels Damon yank her off of the seat and she wraps her arms around his neck, gripping him tightly. He doesn't let go, nor does she ask him to. It's something they've both needed for years. Not quite closure, not quite comfort, but simple acknowledgement. Acknowledgment that Gemma went through something life changing, and Damon was the only one there to pick up the pieces.

"I've got you," he mumbles.

And if the two Salvatore siblings sit on the bathroom floor for hours that night, then nobody in the world has to know.

\\

not edited.

me to fredrick while writing this chapter:

hiii lovely babies, how are you? drinking enough water? taking care of your skin? thank you for reading, hope you enjoyed it. a hint of vulnerable!gemma in this chapter :)

(be mindful of your triggers off and online pls <3 i added the triggers at the beginning of the chapter just in case some of you were sensitive to violence/implied assault.)