The First Death

FLORENCE WOKE to the sound of loud knocking on her bedroom door. She groaned, mumbling a short, 'Come in,' before shoving her face into her pillow. Loud footsteps were heard from the entrance and she lifted her head for a second to see who it was, but lowered it once again after seeing that it was her best friend.

"Oh, it's you," she muttered, rubbing her eyes.

"We need to talk," he snapped, and only then could she see the anger in his eyes. Shell-shocked, she pushed herself into a sitting position and nodded, teeth grazing her lower lip in anxiousness.

"He told you, didn't he?" she countered, voice softer and gaze faltering when his anger didn't move. She made a face and placed her head in her hands, shaking it in agony. "I'm so sorry I didn't tell you, Ryan. I didn't know how you were gonna react."

The anger from his eyes left for a split second and he furrowed his eyebrows, which made Florence confused as well. However, the rage he carried soon returned and he had to keep his fists clenched to keep his anger at bay.

"He killed him."

Her stomach dropped at the sentence that left his lips and she prepared herself for the worst. Did someone close to her die? —did Damon die? She racked her brain for any possible explanation and, when the most logical one came to mind, her hands quickly went to her lips, involuntary tears springing to her eyes.

"Ryan, I—"

"He killed him, Florence," his anger came out once again through his tone of voice and it increased when the disbelief returned to her eyes once again.

She wiped a stray tear from her eyes and shook her head once again, much to his dismay. As much as her heart ached for her best friend in that moment, she knew Damon would never do anything like that — sure, he was the same murderous man she knew, but never would he kill someone like Logan especially after she'd informed him that he was Ryan's father.

Something was wrong.

"I am so, so sorry he's dead, Ryan," said she, moving closer to him so that she could examine his reaction, "but Damon didn't kill him. Someone else might have, but I know Damon didn't. He—"

After hearing the words that left her lips, she stopped herself and her breath hitched. There, it occured to her for the second time in her life — the first being the day she found out about Damon's sadistic nature with Caroline — that the oldest Salvatore brother was a ruthless killer. There was nothing she could do to stop the tears that filled her eyes again and it felt as if a weight had been placed on her chest.

"He—" she tried again but cut herself off, mind spinning.

She decided against verbalizing her feelings and Ryan came rushing to her, tightly wrapping his arms around her. The pain in her heart intensified when she felt the wetness that had gathered on her shoulder and she could physically feel her heart being ripped from her chest — she never would have thought Ryan would be the one crying on her shoulder.

The last time the Fell boy had ever shown her such raw emotion was on his eleventh birthday when Florence was the only one to attend his birthday party. At that moment, she was transported back to that day, body in the present but mind at the sad boy's party.

"He killed my dad," he repeated through sobs and she soothed him, combing her fingers through his hair as he cried.

"Hey, you have me, okay?" she said in a hushed tone of voice, pressing a hard kiss to the top of his head. "You'll always have me, whether you like it or not, 'cause I'm never gonna leave you."

And as much as Florence wanted to believe herself, she knew that the words that left her lips were lies.

°

"DID YOU do it?" she demanded, storming into the Salvatore Boarding House. There wasn't a soul in sight to hear her words, but she could sense Damon's presence through the familiar smell of his cologne that was in the air. "Did you kill him?"

"Kill who?"

A presence behind her made her turn around, revealing the confused brother. A glare settled on her face and she sped forward, pinning him to the wall with her hands around his neck, veins portruding from under her eyes.

"Did you kill Logan Fell?"

He made a thoughtful face, though he seemed unaffected by her pathetic attempt at choking him. He lifted a hand to graze the side of her cheek, tilting his head at the smell radiating from her. The red veins under her eyes were of no threat to him, and so she morphed her face back to normal — but not after giving him a warning snarl.

"You smell like her," he muttered, a distant look in his eyes.

She paid his comment no mind and repeated her question, this time in a harsher tone and he rolled his eyes, pushing her off of him. His action caused her to hit the sofa with a thud, a hiss of pain leaving her lips when her back made contact with the floor.

"No, I didn't kill him," he said with a scoff. "Who do you think I am?"

"You didn't have to throw me across the room," she snapped, pushing herself off the ground with a wince. "That hurt, asshole."

"Walk it off," he remarked, shaking his head afterward. "You really think I'd kill the guy after I realized he's related to someone close to you? You wound me, Bambi."

She shrugged, sending him an innocent smile. "At least now I know you didn't. Ryan, however . . . let's just say he's gonna need a bit more convincing and an honest apology."

He pressed his hand to his chest, seeming personally offended by her words.

"An apology? You really don't know me, Bambi."

She let out a chuckle, shaking her head through her laughs.

"Oh, please, I know assholes better than anyone — I dated one, for Pete's sake."

He hissed in feigned pain, raising his hand to point at her with a face of mock-hurt.

"I can feel Jeremy's pain from here."

She snorted, which had him speeding over to tackle her in a hug, causing a laugh to escape from both of their lips. He burrowed his face into her neck and she realized that, not only was Ryan her best friend, but Damon was quickly filling that spot as well. And when she pulled her head back for a second to examine his face, she felt an involuntary grin spread across her cheeks and tugged him back into another hug.

"This is just the tiniest bit weird."

"Bite me, Salvatore."

"Don't tempt me, Bambi."