By the Light of the Moon
DG32173
Sarah: here's chapter three of By the Light of the Moon. I hope everyone enjoys!
REVIEW REPLIES
YAZMIN V: yes, Damon is very intelligent. His thoughts about the references to a crow and a wolf being uncanny will be further explained over time. So glad you enjoyed last chapter.
jairem: as you probably saw in the corresponding chapter in Moonlit Seduction, 'Master' is actually a vampire we all know. But I'm not revealing precisely who he was for some time to come. And Stefan's part of last chapter made me feel sorry for him as well. The wolf and crow references as well as Elena comparing the boys to the gems were two of my favorite parts to write of last chapter. I hope you continue to enjoy what I write.
Chapter 3
'Master' and Bonding
I sigh as I watch Stefan's back. "You know you'll desiccate without the blood," I tell him. "Sure, it may seem like the better option right now, but then who's going to help me take down the tomb vampires? They're a big threat to everyone in this town, including Elena. Sure, she broke up with you. But you really only have yourself to blame. A little honesty can go a long ways, brother." He continues to ignore me. "Yeah, well, ignore me all you want. But, one way or another, you are going to get back on the animal diet long enough to help me take those guys down. Then I'm going to take you through an intensive rehab to get you in proper control of your inner vampire."
Elena must sense the frustration that's building up in me because she sends a gentle wave of encouragement through the empathy link formed by our jewelry. I send back a bit of gratitude for her support but also give her a taste of my urge to rip my brother a new one for his stubbornness. I hear her chuckle upstairs as well as get the emotional equivalent of a warning to try to be sympathetic. I send her the emotional equivalent of me scoffing at the idea of me being the remotest bit sympathetic. I can almost see her eye roll and head shake. But I also feel the echo of her amusement that tells me she's grinning.
It's been two full days since I gave her Mother's locket and earrings. In that time we've had countless silent conversations with just our emotions. We've also discovered that, if we concentrate, we can send mental images to the other as well. But our two attempts to send actual thoughts ended up with both of us flat on our backs with killer migraines. So we agreed to never try that again.
I make up a mental image of her seated in that window seat in the room she took over and opening her journal as viewed from the door leading to the hall. I send that image to her. She sends a wave of exasperation. I send the image again. "Okay, okay," she groans, knowing I'll hear. "I'm opening the journal."
I hear the soft creak of well-worn leather and turn my attention back to Stefan. "So, do I really have to steal an IV ensemble from the hospital and get the animal blood into you that way?" I demand. No answer. "Seriously, Stefan. You know as well as I do that I'm not going to let you desiccate because you want to have a pity party. And don't even try to deny that you're having a pity party. I can sense the self-pity emanating off of you from here." Still no answer. "I'm giving you one more day to start drinking blood again on your own before I start treating you like a baby that doesn't know how to feed himself."
With that, I head back upstairs. I go straight to the bar and pour myself a glass of bourbon. I massage my forehead as I sip at it. Normally, vampires are immune to things like headaches. But between Stefan's refusal to drink blood, the rising intensity in the secret council meetings, and the mixed signals coming from Elena these days, I'm damn sure that I'm in for a monster headache if something doesn't let up soon. Right as I finish my glass of bourbon, I realize that Elena's echoing pure panic at me through our jewelry. I send a wave of worry at her.
"Damon, you should get up here," she says, her voice shaking uncontrollably.
In less than the blink of an eye, I'm kneeling on the floor next to her. Her body is shaking just as much as her voice did. "What is it, Elena?" I ask, knowing my worry is evident in my eyes.
"I don't think you and Stefan were the first vampires in my life," she says softly.
I freeze as only a vampire can, becoming as motionless as a statue. "What do you mean?" I ask. She merely passes her old journal to me and points at the journal entry wordlessly.
I take the journal and read the entry she had pointed to.
June 30, 2008
Dear Diary,
I've been noticing some strange things about Master lately. I've been having a real bout of clumsiness lately, often ending up with cuts and scrapes. Like today, I was skating home on my rollerblades. I didn't notice that the pothole at the corner of the street had grown until it was too late. I landed on my hands and knees, scraping my palms and shins to the point of bleeding. I took my blades off and walked the rest of the way home. When I came through the front door, I noticed that Master was playing chess with Jeremy. He has this saying about a healthy body and a healthy mind equaling a healthy life, or something like that.
Anyways, he looked up from his game with Jer and as soon as he saw the blood on my hands and legs, his nostrils flared and his eyes started changing. He quickly closed his eyes and took a deep breath in through his teeth before telling me to get cleaned up before my wounds got infected. He sounded really tense when he said it. I could have sworn that just before he closed his eyes, the whites had started dying blood red. But that's crazy, right? Anyways, he left while I was getting cleaned up. Jer said that Master had postponed their game until tomorrow, saying that something had come up that couldn't be delayed. Master has this strange way of speaking. He's always so formal and his wording is as if he's from another time.
I only get that far before a vicious blue streak falls from my lips with such intensity that Elena's jaw drops faster than a stone. When I can't think of anything else to say without repeating myself, I shake my head. "What can you tell me about your Master?" I demand. "Physical descriptions, the way he spoke, anything."
"He stood about five foot eleven. He was thin but very muscular. He had brown hair and dark brown eyes. He appeared to be in his late twenties or early thirties. His face was angular with high cheekbones, a strong jawline, and a straight nose," she says, closing her eyes. She obviously brought up a mental image of her Master as she last saw him because it appears in my mind. "He was always impeccably well-dressed, even when training Jer and me. I don't think I've ever seen him dressed in anything that could be remotely considered casual. As for how he talked … he talked like he was a nobleman from the middle ages. Just before he left, he told Jer and me that we will see him again one day."
"Did he ever tell you how he got hit by a bus?" I ask, remembering the detail she let drop the other night.
She nods. "He said that a little girl had chased a ball out into the road in the path of the bus. He managed to push her out of the way at the last second but got hit by the bus himself," she replies. She sighs. "That wasn't the only entry in that journal that mentioned Master exhibiting the traits of a vampire." She takes the journal from my hand and flips it back several pages before passing it to me again. "This one mentions Master displaying an inhuman amount of speed and maneuverability as he avoided getting hit by a stray arrow when he was training me in archery. Jeremy had startled me by speaking up behind me just as I loosed the arrow. It went wide of the bull's eye Master had hung on a tree, heading straight for Master. But he dodged it. I was using a powerful longbow he had given me. That arrow was going pretty damn fast. Too damn fast for a human to have dodged. I didn't even see Master move."
I quickly read that journal entry, my lips pressed together in a grim line.
June 11, 2008
Dear Diary,
Something spooky happened today when I was training my archery skills with Master. Jeremy had somehow snuck up on us without me realizing it because he spoke up behind me right as I loosed an arrow. It went wide of the bull's eye that Master had hung from a tree branch. In fact, it went so far off mark that the arrow was aiming straight for Master! I was terrified. I was so sure I was about to watch Master get an arrow embedded in his chest, possibly even his heart! But then the spooky thing happened. One second Master was in the direct path of the arrow, I blinked, and he was suddenly several feet from where he had been and the arrow had buried itself in a tree. Things have been getting stranger and stranger where Master's concerned. I have a feeling there's a whole lot more Master's hiding from us than just his name. I have a funny feeling that there's something unnatural about him. I just don't know what.
Elena
I sigh and pass the journal back to Elena. . "You need to find the entry that holds the prophecy he gave you," I tell her. "I've never heard of a vampire having the gift of prophecy. I have a feeling we may need to figure out this prophecy. I'm gonna go grab us a couple bottles of bourbon. I have a feeling we may need it before the night is through."
"Okay," she says, turning her attention back to her journal.
I vamp to my room to delve into my private stash of bourbon. It's the highest quality bourbon in the whole house. But as I'm perusing my options, I hear Elena put her journal down next door and get off the window seat.
I frown and vamp to her doorway to find out what she's doing. She's looking through the songs on her IPod. Suddenly, she smiles and hits play and repeat on one of the songs. I immediately recognize the song "Get Off My Back" from the movie Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron.
I'll admit that she succeeds in startling me when she starts singing and dancing to the song.
"Well you think that you can take me on
You must be crazy
There ain't a single thing you've done
That's gonna phase me
Oh, but if you want to have a go
I just want to let you know
"Get off my back and into my game
Get out of my way and out of my brain
Get outta my face or give it your best shot
I think it's time you better face the fact
Get off my back"
I decide to join in the singing and dancing. I feel her surprise when I add my voice to the song. She snaps her eyes open and I smirk at her. She waves me over to dance with her. I immediately comply by vamping over and dancing right up against her as we continue singing.
"You know it's all just a game that I'm playing
Don't think that that you can't find a way in
That's all I'm saying
Oh, if you want to have a go
I just want to let you know
"Get off my back and into my game
Get out of my way and out of my brain
Get outta my face or give it your best shot
I think it's time you better face the fact
Get off my back
"Oh, if you want to have a go
I just want to let you know
"Get off
Get off
Yeah, get off my back and into my game
Get out of my way and out of my brain
Get outta my face or give it your best shot
You know this train is coming of this track
Get off my back.
"Yeah, get off my back
Get off
"Get off
Get off
Get off
Get off
Get off my back!"
We collapse against each other, both of us laughing so hard that we have tears in our eyes. We keep laughing for quite some time because just as one of us is about to sober up, the other is hit with the giggles and we're both laughing again. "Stop making me laugh," she gasps out between giggles.
"Stop making you laugh? You stop making me laugh!" I retort amid my laughter.
It takes nearly half an hour for us to both calm down. By then, we're relaxing next to each other on her canopy bed. "I didn't know you could sing," she tells me.
"I've always been able to carry a tune, even before I became a vampire. But to be honest, any vampire can sing if they so wanted to. Perfect vocal control and all that," I reply.
"I bet you've used that ability to amuse yourself plenty of times," she replies.
"You're damn right I have," I retort. "Anyways, what made you decide to sing and dance all of a sudden?"
"I just had this urge to listen to the song after I found it mentioned in that journal," she tells me. "And once it started playing, the music took over and I was singing and dancing before I realized it."
"You have a damn good voice for a human," I tell her. "Ever considered taking up a career in music?"
She shakes her head. "Nah," she tells me. "I was more interested in acting than music. Song and dance was just a hobby. I got put in a drama class in seventh grade and I was hooked. I was in drama classes every year since up until this year." She sighs. "After my parents died, I couldn't bring myself to get up the drive to continue the classes. I dropped a lot of things that I used to do. Stefan may have saved my life that night, but a large part of me died alongside my parents. I'm only now getting parts of the girl I was back. But there are many things I have just lost the drive to do. Such as acting. I'm doing enough of that now that I don't need to do it professionally. And cheerleading had always been something I did to please my mom. I've spent my whole life trying to please everyone but me. I was usually downright miserable. And the one night I did something to make me happy, my life goes from simple misery to pure hell. But I can't dwell on what life would be like if I had done things differently. That's a road that only goes in circles with nothing ever getting done. The past is the past. I just gotta suck it up and learn from it so I don't repeat those mistakes."
"So, where are you going to go from here?" I ask.
"I thought that my mistake that night had been in choosing to live for me for just one night," she replies. "So I went back to the whole 'good girl' routine. But I'm sick and tired of always doing what everyone expects of me. If I'm ever going to get anywhere in life, I need to start living my life for myself. I need to stop keeping myself completely off the list of what matters most in my life. I need to figure out what I want in life. I need to figure out what my priorities should be rather than letting others decide that for me. If my parents are ever going to rest in peace, or as much peace as they'll be in with Jer and I choosing to keep the supernatural aspect of the world in our lives, then I need to start picking up the pieces of my life and finally learn how to make my own decisions rather than doing what others decide that I should do. I'll never forget them or anything they taught me. But I need to let go of them. Nothing is ever going to bring them back to me. Even if it were possible for a witch to raise them from the dead, I wouldn't ask it of one. Vampires are one thing. True necromancy is something else entirely. So I have to let go and move on with my life. I can't dwell on every mistake I've made in my life. That's not living. That's not even existing. That's just wasting away and hurting everyone who cares about me. That's doing what Stefan does. He can't let go of the mistake's he's made nor the mistakes you've made. Everyone makes mistakes in their life. No one is perfect. Holding every little mistake someone has made over their head forever is just being petty. People change as time goes on. Even vampires can change. You're proof of that. When you first came to this town, you were an absolute asshole who cared about no one but himself. But you've changed these past few months. The night you offered to compel away Jeremy's memories of how Vicki died was the first sign of that change. Then you saved me when that vampire made me crash to turn me into a snack. You got me out of my car, made sure I was okay, and then took me to Georgia to get me away from all my troubles for 'just five minutes'." I chuckle at that. "That was an even bigger sign that you were changing. I truly hadn't wanted to break your trust about trusting Stefan over the grimiore. I fought like hell with him about it up until he grabbed the necklace and half-strangled me with it in his desperation to get me to promise to lie to you." She closes her eyes. I suddenly get hit by a massive wave of terror and I realize she's remembering how she had felt during those few moments. I suck in a sharp breath at the intensity of it. "I have never been more scared of someone than I was of Stefan in that moment. So I made a promise I should not have upheld. But I was terrified of what he'd do if I had broken that promise." She sighs. "Anyways, I've seen so many examples of you becoming a better person, so many signs that the man is coming out of the monster. I can't even begin to list them all. You're a better man than you were, Damon. I know you think that's because of me, but I think you just needed a reason to care. That I happen to be that reason must be some cosmic joke considering I look like the one who turned you into the monster."
"There is a physical difference between you and Katherine," I interrupt.
She opens her eyes and turns to look at me. "Oh?" she asks.
"Apparently, my brother failed to mention it," I remark dryly. "Your birthmark." She smacks me. "Ow! What was that for?" I demand, rubbing my arm. Dammit, that stung!
"Some gentleman you are!" she snaps. We both know the only way I'd know about her birthmark is if I've seen her naked. It's on her left hip.
"I can't help it if you leave your window wide open and unlocked when you're changing!" I protest. "You should know better considering there's a vampire in town that happens to prefer using your window to get into your house rather than the front door."
She groans and smacks me again. "You're supposed to be a gentleman," she tells me. "You were born in an era where good manners were the standard."
"I never really had good manners, not even as a human," I retort. "I was constantly slipping in and out of women's rooms, whether they invited me there or not."
She sighs. "You're incorrigible," she tells me.
"And here you were just telling me that I have changed," I point out.
"On some things you have," she shoots back, though she's grinning as she says it. We both enjoy our verbal sparring matches though she tries to pretend they piss her off. "But on the subject of manners, you've probably been a complete caveman since the day you were brought into this world."
I chuckle. "I wouldn't say caveman," I say. "I'm not that old."
"Considering the fact no one's ever told me how old you are, I wouldn't know, now would I?" she teases.
"I was born June 28, 1840," I reply. I know damn well my eyes are twinkling with my merriment "I was twenty-four when I transitioned into a vampire."
She smirks. "I knew you weren't even twenty-five when you were turned," she tells me. Then she sighs. "I should get back to reading over my old journal entries. We still need to know more about that prophecy."
"Look tomorrow," I tell her. "The fact that the mere mention of a song in a journal entry distracted you to the point of singing and dancing to that song tells me that you need to take a break. Besides, it's after midnight."
"It is?" she gasps, looking at her watch to see that I'm right. "How'd it get so late?"
"Time flies when you are distracted by something or someone," I reply, winking at her. "Now, I'll leave you to get some sleep. We'll talk more in the morning."
As I move to get up, though, her hand lashes out to wrap around my wrist. "Stay?" she asks softly.
I mercilessly crush the hope that threatens to sprout up at her request. She doesn't know what she's asking. "I shouldn't," I say tersely, though I can't make my body move.
"Just tonight?" she pleads. "I … I don't want to be alone."
I turn my head, close my eyes, and breathe in deeply through my teeth. I know she doesn't mean it the way I wish she did. God, but how much I wish it was more than just friendship she wants from me. She's sending mixed signals, this one. She hasn't made the least indication that she'd even consider being with me romantically but now she's asking me to spend the night in her bed in a purely platonic fashion. Finally, I sigh as I decide I'll take what I can get. "Let me turn off the light and your IPod," I say softly.
"Damon," she starts, and I feel an echo of her rising panic.
"I'll be right back," I assure her, meeting her eyes. "But just tonight."
She searches my eyes desperately before nodding and releasing my wrist. I vamp over to the window seat to turn off her IPod, which has been playing that song on repeat. Then I vamp to the doorway to flick off the overhead. I briefly consider making a break for my room, but that would be breaking my word to her. I have never lied to her or broken a promise I made to her. I'm not going to start now. Besides, I might never get another chance at be asked to spend the night in her bed with her, even if it is in a purely platonic fashion.
I vamp back onto the bed next to her. I stiffen when she curls up right up next to me, resting her head on my chest and wrapping her arm around my waist. This is a horrible set of mixed signals she's sending now. But I don't pull away. "Goodnight, Damon," she says softly.
"Goodnight, Elena," I reply just as softly. She quickly falls asleep. But I'm left having a hellacious fight with my inner vampire and my libido. Thank God she's fast asleep before the fight becomes intense enough for her to sense through our jewelry were she awake. I take a risk and wrap my arm around her, holding her tightly against me. That eases my inner struggle enough for me to fall asleep as well. But just before sleep claims me completely, I promise myself that I'm not going to let there be a repeat of this night unless she is already my girlfriend at the time. Too bad even I know that Elena has me wrapped around her little finger and I'm helpless to resist her requests unless they happen to put her life in danger.
Stefan
I close my eyes, feeling tears slide down my cheeks. I've cried more in the past two days than I have in all the years since I was human. Damon and Elena are getting so close, their bond growing even more powerful every second. I always knew that things between them wouldn't stagnate for long, especially not if I was somehow taken out of the picture. But knowing this would happen and actually hearing it happen are two entirely different things. In many ways, listening to their bond grow stronger is a million times worse than the vervaine wreaking havoc on my system and starving myself of the blood I need to get rid of it. I don't know how much more of this I can take.