A/N: I'm changing her animal to a cougar just because bobcats aren't exactly fighters. And she'll prove to be more useful and more powerful as a cougar, anyway since. y'know. they're kind of huge.

Thanks for the reviews!

Chapter Three

The cougar roamed the forest with the vampire trailing behind her and she came to a sudden stop, turning around and pinning Damon. He hit the forest floor with a grunt and looked up into the yellow-brown eyes of the cat on top of him.

"Well, that was rude," he said, raising an eyebrow, and Summer let him go with a growl before stalking off into the dark. Damon stood up, looking around and wondering what Summer was doing out this late at night, because while he did stuff like that, everybody else just... slept.

"Summer," he called out, chasing after her and he found himself pinned to a tree this time. "You know, this is really starting to turn me on a little." He could've sworn that he could see a smirk form on the cougar's face and he watched as she turned back into a human. Well, those cracks and the sound of bones shifting definitely was not a turn on, but naked Summer in front of him definitely was. Summer turned into Rose.

"I am going to kill you," she said in a sickly sweet voice, "if you keep following me around like this." She let a finger trail up Damon's chin before she took off, running while turning back into Summer and her animal form.

Damon woke up with a start and he spun around to get his bearings. When he found himself on his bed, he sank back down against the cushions and sighed, covering his face with a hand for a few seconds to think.

He had cared immensely about Rose. Rose understood him and he understood her - they were both two vampires running from attachment and emotion. When he lost Rose, it almost felt like he had lost Summer all over again. Almost. But with Summer walking around his town and his house, he couldn't help but feel a little bit of resentment towards her. She thought she knew him? She thought nothing had changed while they had been apart? She knew nothing. She was just as naive as she was back in 1849. Rose, Rose, Rose... Summer, Summer, Summer...

Damon sat up as he heard the creaking of someone walking down the hallway and he turned his head to the door.

"Summer?" he asked, squinting his eyes and Summer opened the door slightly, giving him a smile.

"Yeah. Hey, Damon." She made her way into the room and observed her surroundings, touching books on shelves until she got to a chair, where she sat. "I..." she started, then she glanced at the door and closed it, wanting their conversation to be private and free of anger for once.

"What're you doing here?" Damon asked as he slid himself to the edge of the bed, across from Summer and the freckled girl shrugged her shoulders.

"I dunno. I couldn't sleep and was hoping you were up and maybe you wanted to talk a bit," she said and she smiled. Damon turned his eyes away from her and onto his bed sheets as he thought about something to say to her.

"Yeah, okay," he finally said and he patted the spot on the bed beside him once he scooted back all the way against the headboard. Summer joined him up onto the bed, a good distance separating them and she fell silent as she looked around the room again.

"I couldn't come back," she said again, looking to Damon and the vampire let out a soft laugh, shaking his head. "I mean it. I would have if I was allowed to but, people would have recognized me. You would have been pretty freaked out to see 11-year-old me while you were 20 or 25, admit it."

"I would have, but then again, I was sort of infatuated with a vampire," he said, giving me a look. "Believe me, I would've been able to deal with weird." He reached for a glass on his bedside table and filled it a quarter way with blood and bourbon, taking a sip. "I went looking for you, you know. When I turned. It was one of the first things I did."

I looked at Damon in surprise and I pulled my knees up to my chest, bringing my gaze back down to his sheets and I cleared my throat.

"Where did you look?" I asked and Damon shook his head, shrugging his shoulders.

"I don't know, I went state to state for a year or so, just... looking for you. Asking people if they knew someone named Summer Monroe." I could feel him looking at me, so I brought my attention back up to him.

"I was in Salem," I said, nodding my head, "being a, uh. A shape-shifter in 'training'." I used my fingers as quotations. "When I first started turning, I would lose control."

"Is that what Bonnie saw?" he asked and I shot a look at him.

"What're you talking about?" I asked and he shrugged his shoulders, scrunching up his nose.

"So I eavesdropped on you two a little bit. I didn't know shape-shifters could compel, too, by the way. Looks to me like you've got a little secret," Damon said with a smirk and a raise of an eyebrow.

"You little shit. Bonding time is over," I said as I made to get off his bed and he grabbed my arm, tugging me back down before pinning me to the mattress.

"Bonding time is over when I say it's over. What did Bonnie see?" Damon demanded and I struggled against him, but his grip around my wrists tightened to the point where they felt like they were going to break. "Why are you here, Summer?" he shouted and I finally heard a crack, feeling one of my wrists give out. I cried out and Damon let go, almost surprised at himself. I gave him a push with my good hand and he went flying off of the bed and the door burst open as Stefan broke in.

"Damon, what did you do?" he asked as he ran to my side and I let him look at my wrist. Damon popped up from the side of the bed and he looked at the two of us. His concerned expression changed to such disgust that I almost felt like melting away into the floorboards.

"Go ahead, baby brother," he said meanly, his eyebrows furrowing together as he smirked. "Why don't you just go ahead and take her, too? Turn her against the big, bad Damon?" He broke his window open and jumped out and Stefan ran to it to see where he was going. I pulled myself off of the bed and onto my feet and hurried down the stairs to get some ice. I counted to three before snapping my wrist back into place, biting on my bottom lip and Stefan came to me, filling a baggie up with ice.

"Are you okay?" he asked and I looked up at him, taking the ice from him.

"I don't think Damon's in there anymore," I said, pressing the bag to my wrist and he frowned, looking at me.

"He's there," he called after me as I walked off to my room. "I promise, Summer, he's still there."

Damon smashed a bottle of scotch against a car and swayed a bit as he walked down the street, letting out a large burp. A light flickered on in a nearby house and Caroline Forbes stuck her head out the window, staring at the drunk vampire.

"What happened now?" she asked in a bored voice, propping her chin up on her hand and Damon looked up at the blonde, throwing his hands up in the air in drunken bewilderment.

"Oh, Caroline, you better stay away from me!" he said loudly and sarcastically, using a very animated face. "Because, y'know. You might end up dead or hey, maybe you'll just leave me and maybe after that I'll just turn into some asshole that doesn't give a shit about anything and - better yet! Maybe you'll end up stuck in a fucking tomb or maybe you'll just... fall for my ugly younger brother-"

Caroline leapt out of her window and ran to Damon, pressing her hand over his mouth.

"My mom just woke up, don't be stupid," she hissed and Damon pushed her away, arms out in front of him as the living room light turned on. Caroline grabbed at Damon's arm, only to get pushed away again and she had no choice but to jump back into her room.

"Sheriff Forbes!" Damon exclaimed as Liz opened the door and she held out her gun.

"Damon, what are you doing here?" she asked, looking around the street cautiously and Damon stopped in front of her.

"I found a vampire, Liz," he said, tilting his head to the side and Liz reached for her cartridge of wooden bullets, loading her gun with it and cocking it.

"Where?" she demanded, walking out towards him and Damon smirked and said softly,

"Right here."

Stefan burst into my room and I flew out of bed as he ran to my window, looking around my room.

"Stefan, what?" I asked as I stopped him in the middle of my room and he threw a jacket to me.

"Damon got shot. You can come if you want," he said and just like that, he bolted off at the speed of vampire. I pulled the jacket on and tugged on my boots before taking off after him into town, following his scent.

The blonde girl that had been with the Lockwood werewolf was talking to Stefan and she froze when she saw me entering her house. I nodded my head at her, now recognizing her as Caroline Forbes, the Sheriff's daughter and a vampire that Damon had accidentally turned. The Sheriff herself was lying down on the couch, knocked out and I looked around the living room.

"Where's Damon?" I asked and Caroline looked to Stefan before bringing her attention back to me.

"He's upstairs in the bathroom," she said and I nodded my head.

"Sure, thanks, Blondie," I said and headed up the stairs to the bathroom.

"Blondie?" I heard her repeat with a scoff and I opened the door, finding Damon lying in the bathtub.

"Idiot," I mumbled under my breath as I pulled the toilet seat down and sat on it, reaching over to look at his wounds. Damon's eyes opened and he looked up at me, weakly but with as much disdain as ever. He didn't speak. I reached into one of the bullet holes, seeing Damon flinch and I transformed myself enough to just let my nails grow, pulling the wooden bullet out. He groaned underneath me and tilted his head back.

"That's a little creepy, Freckles," he murmured lazily and I set the bullet down on the counter, looking up at him with a raised eyebrow.

"Freckles," I repeated, and Damon just smirked and nodded his head, closing his eyes and preparing himself as I took out the next bullet.