They'd packed it all up pretty fast. He was used to moving fast on the fly – but she wasn't. Of course – she hadn't really been planning on turning at that point in her life.
She'd knew it might happen someday – that or she'd have to give up Darren. He'd told her it wouldn't matter how old she got – and there were occasional moments when she believed it. He was so damn sincere.
But that was before she'd been killed. Now he was constantly trying to get her to focus on the good aspects of being a vampire.
She'd be sexy hot and young forever. No more killing herself in the gym to stay fit – now it was just to burn off tension.
And oh did she have a lot of tension.
She didn't have to worry about accidently getting knocked up. Not that she had been – after all – the man she's been having sex with technically couldn't knock her up. He was dead after all . . . sort of . . . his heart still beat – she'd heard it, his body functioned almost like any other males – except for the fact that he healed so fast it seemed like magic – and when she'd ran tests on his blood – she was a microbiology major after all, and his blood was like nothing she'd ever seen before.
And last but not least, he needed to drink blood to live. The hamburgers, pasta, steak, chicken – you name it he could eat it – if it was regular food a human would eat, but if he didn't have that human blood – about a pint a day – he got weak – as if he wasn't eating at all – he didn't heal like he did before, and he struggled with the cravings.
She'd seen it happen with Darren once – when his supplier of reject blood from the blood blank had bailed on him, and he'd eventually had to hunt. He'd been on edge for a few days, before he'd given up to go hunting.
She saw it happen with Seth, when Seth turned. He tried to live off of animal blood. There were stories of course, of course, of vampires doing that, and Darren even knew one. But it was so hard – and not everyone could do it.
Poor Seth was just destined to be a crappy vampire, Alexandra thought. He hadn't handled stress well as human – so when he'd turned – all his neurotic, paranoia and whatever else it was that made him a stark raving mess just got worse.
He'd lost it, and fed on people until they died, and stacked up the bodies in plastic bags in a storage closet off his apartment porch. That hadn't worked out well, human bodies bloated and produced gas as they decayed, the bags burst – and the smell . . . it had been awful! Needless to say it attracted attention. So there had been a frantic night of moving them, burying them, covering his tracks.
And he swore to stick to blood bags –but he had no self-control.
A hunter had gotten wind of an out of control vampire – and then it was over for Seth. But not before rumors were running wild in Seattle about an out of control serial killer –and worse yet- it got out that the bodies had been drained of blood totally – so of course someone said vampire.
There were more than enough counter culture types in Seattle to believe in that.
But Darren, and the few others had managed to keep themselves out of the lime light. They did the snatch, eat and erase – with a little bit of blood to heal the wound, or their victim would wake up with a strange bandaged cut –and some vague memory of falling and getting hurt.
One of the local vampires worked at a blood bank – so blood that was safe for them to drink, but may not make it through the screening process, got diverted. Any kind of virus wasn't a problem for a vampire – viruses needed living cells. Vampires were technically dead, with bodies that still functioned – so any virus that got into their cells never got a chance to reproduce. Their own weird immune system managed to wipe it out.
They had their quiet life all mapped out.
Until the day of the accident.
Damn that city truck . . .
"So . . . this guy you know . . . how is it you know him?" Alexandra asked.
She ran her hand through her out of control curly flame red hair, tussling it up unintentionally.
Darren smirked, even when she was a mess, he still thought she was hot. He had it bad, and he knew it. He could watch her for hours and not get bored. The flame red hair, the pale alabaster skin, sapphire blue eye's, full rosy lips . . .
He had to stop thinking about those full rosy lips or he'd be pulling the car over and taking her right then and there. Damnit!
"Damon Salvatore – I ran into him about 70 years ago – about 10 years after I turned – and we were in the big easy - New Orleans," Darren said, taking a few deep breaths to calm himself, "He's a good guy – didn't like anyone to know he was really a good guy – but he is."
Alexandra glanced over at him, "So we're looking him up because?"
"Because New York city is one of those cities where you can just about do anything and be anyone – it's a good place to learn to hunt discretely and still mainstream - no one knows us there – except my friend – and he'll be able to clue us into some resources – and he's pretty good at a ton of ways to lure in a meal, and not get caught. He taught me a lot."
She nodded, sipped from the blood bag again. Darren was intent on keeping her very full.
Darren reached over, brushed her flame red hair back from her face, stroked his hand down to her neck. Every nerve ending was instantly on fire, and she leaned into his touch.
"Come over here," he said, gently tugging her arm.
She slid across the bench seat, and he wrapped his arm around her shoulders. She leaned into him, resting her head on his shoulder.
"My head's just still spinning . . ."
"I know baby," He said, and he pressed a kiss to her temple. "We'll work through this."
Hours later . . .
Damon Salvatore poured a decent measure of the amber liquid into a highball glass, passed it to Darren. He hadn't seen Darren in ages – but nothing had changed. Nothing much would. As a vampire, he'd be the same age forever. They could do things like color their hair, cut it, but it grew back faster than a humans. They could change the way they dress, add makeup, shave, not shave, but that was it.
So Darren was still the tall, broad shouldered Mexican guy Damon met in the big easy. But he didn't have that look on his face anymore that gave away that he was still getting used to this life.
When he last saw Darren, he was in Cancun, and they'd partied for two weeks like tourists trying to forget their real lives.
"So what's the story my friend," Damon asked, "Never thought I'd see the day you'd fall in love – especially with a mortal, human girl."
Darren openly stared at his friend. "Like you can talk!"
It was still Damon, pale skin, piercing light blue eyes, the dark dark inky black brown hair that was so dark you just weren't 100% sure. Right now he was keeping it cut short, but long enough to look messy and tussled – like he'd just rolled out of bed after a night of sex – which wasn't far off from the truth. He had after all, been married to Elena for 20 years now. But somehow, something was a little softer, not quite so edgy.
Darren groaned, "Alexandra is unique . . . brilliant, complicated . . . believe me, I didn't go looking for this – but a few years ago . . . it just happened."
"She is hot," Damon smirked, "Not that I ever expected you to hook up with some girl who wasn't."
Darren sank down into the leather sectional sofa, sipped his drink, "I've been doing the college thing – which is where we met – cultural anthropology."
Damon laughed, "You actually took a class? Why?"
"All those drunk co-eds, looking to spread their wings away from mommy and daddy . . . you used to love sorority houses."
Damon smirked, "True."
"Well, there she was . . . and It's gonna sound like one of those hallmark movie things . . . I just couldn't get her out of my head. I figured hey, she's hot, but she's not hung up on it, she's intelligent, of course she got my attention –and I figured the fascination would fade. A night or two, scratch the itch, a little taste or two . . . and it wasn't enough."
Damon laughed, thinking of Elena. It did sneak in sometimes, when you lease expected it.
"Anyway, we got involved, and I came clean – which was . . . rough . . . but we had it worked out. Anyway – she had my blood in her system – and then there was an accident," Darren said, "kind of screwed up our plans."
"What were your plans?" Damon asked, "Not that it matters now. You're way past the point of no return."
"I wasn't going to turn her now - not ," Darren said, "at least, not until she was sure – and she wasn't sure."
Damon sat down on the end of the sofa, "yet you were feeding her your blood . . . come on – you know how this works Darren!"
Darren groaned, "Yeah well . . . sometimes during sex . . . I'd drink a little too much . . . and it's fucking amazing when she drinks from me, and then she got the flu – and she was do damn sick, and I hated seeing her suffer, so I gave her a lot –and it helped – damn near wiped it out – but then this car swerved off the road, took out a whole bust stop full of people . . ."
"The flu," Damon grimaced, "bet she's wishing she'd have just sucked it up and suffered now."
Darren nodded, "yeah . . . I'd have convinced her to turn – eventually . . . we talked about it. I wasn't going to force her into it. She watched someone we know turn – and not handle it well –and a hunter got him."
Damon sipped his drink, "Fate is a fickle bitch."
"Isn't it?" Darren agreed, "Self control is not her strong point . . . and I need to teach her to hunt someplace where the occasional missing person won't be a huge surprise."
"No self control – even better," Damon muttered, "You do remember what it's like – adjusting to the strong emotions – sensation overload? Right now's she's a walking time bomb."
"I didn't say no self control – she's just not fantastic at it . . . it's made our relationship pretty damn hot actually – until now. Now she's afraid of what she'll do – and I'm not opposed to getting rid of an occasional body – but Alex . . . Alex is afraid of going all ripper – and we saw someone lose it go that way."
"So what are you gonna do?"
"Teach her to hunt – teach her to enjoy the hunt," Darren said, "Make the best of it. She'll adjust – adjusting – making the best of things – that she's good at. So what's the deal with Elena? She looks a lot like-"
"Don't! Don't say that name! We call her the psycho bitch from hell, and that psycho bitch from hell is doing my brother right now – again – They live in Chicago – which is just fine with me – far enough away that they don't just pop in for a visit. Turns out Elena is probably a descendent actually – lots of drama with that story – and we've gotta be really drunk to go down that road. Elena had my blood in her system – totally by accident. A doctor at the local hospital gave it to her – she had some of my blood to save the occasional patient – and Elena had an aneurism, slow bleed – the good doctor gave her a shot, and all was well – until the car she was in got run off the road. She did not want to be a vampire. She was actually my brother's girl at first."
Darren choked on the sip he'd just swallowed, "Stephen's girl? What the hell is it with you two? Did you piss off an entire coven of witches or some vengeful god?"
Damon nodded, "Something like that – as it is, we're doing famously well now. Shitty first year though."
"Stephen still on the bunny diet?"
Damon groaned, "God yes . . . he went on another short bender, under duress . . . another long story."
"Maybe we should go to the liquor store," Darren commented dryly.
"We'll have to stock up," Damon said, "You still drink that shitty tequila?"
"I drink decent tequila now," Darren said defensly, "it wasn't shitty tequila . . . it just wasn't great tequila."
Damon refilled their glasses.
"Any suggestions on where I could take Alex tonight?"
"We have plenty of the bagged stuff here," Damon said, "Help yourself."
Darren smiled, "She needs to learn to hunt- snatch, eat, erase – without leaving a trial of bodies – I've been feeding her bagged blood for days as it is . . . she needs to practice letting go before she goes to far."
"There is this underground club . . ." Damon said.
Darren pulled his mouth from the young man's neck, after taking just a few sips. He moved in behind Alex, she still had her mouth fastened to the other side of his neck, and she drank deeply.
"Ease up there baby," Darren said in her ear, and he stroked her cheek.
She either didn't hear him, or she was too caught up in it.
"Alex, baby, let him go," Darren said, a little more firmly.
She didn't, and Darren knotted his hand in her hair, yanked her back.
She gasped, her eye's distant, still flooded with blood, the capillaries around her eye's still engorged.
"Now compel him," Darren said firmly, "and fix his neck with a little bit of your own blood."
She pierced her own finger, rubbed it over the twin puncture marks in his neck, then did the other one, sighing deeply.
"Go," she said, pushing the man they'd been feeding from, away from her "You're tired – go home, you don't remember that last few hours, and you're going to be really careful going home."
He walked away.
They moved through the crowd again, moving to the middle of the crowd of dancing people. They spotted Damon and Elena dirty dancing with a girl, and to anyone else, it would look like the three of them were making out. What was really happening was that they each bit, drank, let her go. Darren had been showing her how to do that all night.
Watching Damon and Elena was intoxicating. Damon simply oozed sex appeal – and Elena had that kind hearted look to her – so seeing them dressed to go clubbing was like watching the bad boy enjoying corrupting the good girl. Elena was petite, young, and beautiful, and with those big doe eye's, people were drawn to her like a moth to a flame. She easily slipped into the party girl role, so drawing someone in was easy for her.
Darren snaked an arm around Alexandra's waist, pulled her up tight against his body. She could feel him, all of him, her nerves were still hyperaware of everything. She as hard for her, and the way his hands moved on her body told her he wanted her, told her how good it was going to be later on tonight.
"Now watch them," he whispered in her ear, "just watch how they interact with people . . ."
Elena and Damon were dancing away from the girl they just had, but watching closely, Alexandra would see that they watched the people around them. Two girls dancing together were checking out Damon, and Damon exchanged a quick glanced with Elena, and they were moving towards them.
It was Elena that drew them in, moving in close to one of the two girls, while Damon did with the same with the other.
With her heightened senses, Alexandra just barely caught when Elena compelled the girl, and a moment later, it looked like they were getting very affectionate. The girls hand slid around Elena's waist and down her back, and it looked like Elena kissed her neck for several long moment. She pulled her mouth away, and then she and Damon switched places, switched girls.
Alexandra drew in a raggedy breath, almost moaning softly watching them, and she shifted, rubbing her ass up against Darren's hardened cock.
"Its' intense," Darren whispered in her ear, "Watching another vampire feed like that – a little like watching someone having sex . . .
Alexandra nodded, biting her lip, "I need to get out of here . . ."
"No, you don't," Darren whispered, "You need to feed Baby . . . just the way they are . . ."
"I can't stop," Alexandra snapped, and she turned around, buried her face in Darren's neck, "what I need is you! Why can't we just get out of here – go back to our room . . ."
She reached in between them, rubbed her hand over the front of his jeans, felt him stiff and hard, "I know you want me right now . . . "
She nipped at his neck, at first with her blunted human teeth, but then he felt something sharp, and she twisted away.
God, it almost undid him, he could lay her down on the floor right here and not care who saw or tried to stop them, but he couldn't – not when she was like this.
Damon had Elena backed into one of the dark corners. It was just too much, the smell of intense sexual desire coming from Elena. He could pick out her scent above all the other scents – he was that in tune to her. But she wasn't the only one aching, and oozing and dripping with need in the club, and while he was totally 100% in love with Elena and didn't want any other woman, he could still smell them, and his body still acknowledged that primal need.
Thank god Elena understood that – and thank god it happened to her too . . . otherwise he'd spend the next thousands years never being able to leave their apartment.
He roughly backed her into the corner, and lifted her up so her legs were wrapped around his hips, and she'd franticly unzipped his jeans, releasing him. He pushed her panties aside and thrust into her . . .
Ectasy . . . intense pleasure . . .it defied words, how good it felt to be inside her. All these years, and her body was still the perfect fit for his.
She yanked his t-shirt up, and bit his nipple as he drove into her, and he it felt good – so damn good . . .
Neither one of them cared if someone saw them – and surely, anyone paying attention could figure out what they were doing . . . but by the time someone could work up the courage – if anyone worked up the courage at all – Damon would have made her come at least once – and in a little while, they'd find someplace else.
Damon pulled her face up to his, and he kissed her, his mouth hard and demanding, and she opened up to him, letting him completely taste her, explore her.
He felt her body tighten around his hardened cock, and a moment late she was gasping, moaning loudly, obviously not caring who saw them either.
A few more thrusts and he let himself go, his own orgasm rocking through him, taking total control for a moment.
Then the letdown came. Their pounding hearts slowed, the momentary insanity faded away. She pulled his shirt back into place, and he let go of her panties as he pulled his flaccid cock from her body. He gently set her down, straightening her skirt, and she looked around, seeing who was watching. She knew he knew, but she never said it. When Damon got aggressive, and had sex with her in some public place, because he couldn't wait to have her – it was the best drug on the planet – and she couldn't get enough of it.
Damon ran his fingers through her hair, then dropped his hand down her back, and they turned back to the room.
"Where'd they go?" Elena asked him, her eye's scanning the room.
"knowing Darren – probably another dark corner," Damon replied, "I'd say let them be – but he does have a newbie vampire on his hands."
They found them a few minutes later – another dark corner. A woman was stumbling away – totally drunk – not just stumbling from losing some blood. Her hair was pulled forward, covering her neck, and there was no visible blood.
Darren had always been a neat drinker, Damon thought to himself.
Alexandra's back as arched, and it was as if she struggling against Darren for a moment, but she stopped, twisted around in his arms fast, and only because they're senses were so acute and keen, could Damon and Elena see she had just licked her lips clean.
Darren pushed her back up against the wall, cupped her face in her hands, leaned over her, calming her down.
"Ah," Damon groaned, "This isn't going well."
Elena's fingers were enmeshed with Damon's, and she nodded, still watching.
"I know what part of the problem is," Elena said.
Damon looked over, eyebrow raised.
"What happens to us – when we hunt and feed like this – we get turned on – she's a baby vampire – and the man she's in love with is right there with her – and she can't separate the desire for the blood from her desire for him – it's too much."
Damon got that look in his face, the one that told her he was weighing it out.
"If Darren and I switch places, things could get ugly, he's possessive – stupid possessive – and you know how baby vampires get."
"I'll take her hunting," Elena said.
"Elena . . ." Damon started to argue, "She's out of control, and-"
"Or the four of us can . . . but not like this," Elena said, "I think a place like this is too much for her right now – we're mixing sex with the hunt - it's fun – but it's not helping her with control – she needs to learn to take a sip, and let go."