What Comes First: Chapter Four

Blood Promise

Bella screeched to a stop and started bucking on her hind legs. The mare was skittish around snakes.

"Whoa, girl! Heel!" She cried, tugging uselessly against the reins. The horse was far too agitated and edgy to listen to her mistress' commands, and started to buck harder.

Beth was bouncing on the saddle and started to get anxious. Bella had never behaved like this before.

The horse reared one final time, apparently too psyched out by the snake's presence, and kicked. The little blonde flew backwards off of her horse and landed on the road. Her head it a rock and she was afraid that she had heard something crack.

Beth fought with her eyelids, trying to stay awake, but the sleepiness won over in the end, and the last thing she remembered seeing was her chestnut-coloured horse running away into the thicket of trees; the snake long forgotten.

~x~

Elizabeth woke up what felt like hours later. She felt refreshed, if a little disorientated, and wondered when she fell asleep. She swore that she could feel the sun above her, the breeze still lingering in the air… It mustn't have been that long that she had been asleep.

Feeling lazy, she opened her eyes, and was met with blue eyes so light, she thought that she was looking straight into the sky.

A worried look came across his face. "Miss?"

Beth was still staring. Mentally crossing herself, she replied, "Hello." She blushed.

"Hello, I'm Damon." The boy with the sky-eyes and jet-black hair smiled. She blushed again, thinking that it was cute. "Would like some help up?"

Beth nodded. "Thank you," she mumbled, taking his hand. Normally, she would have jumped up and dusted herself off before he would have had the chance to offer, but today she didn't feel normal. She felt… different, weaker, empty.

Once at her feet, she stumbled and almost fell. Damon caught her before she could hit the dirt. Yes, she definitely felt weak; she could barely feel her feet and her neck felt oddly sore, as if out of place. Beth didn't make a move to leave his arms when two adults – complete strangers – came to her aid.

~x~

Damon had escorted Beth inside because he thought it was best. If she really did fall off of her horse, then surely something must've been injured.

"Are you sure you're okay?" He had asked for the thousandth time. She waved away his comment. Saying that she was absolutely fine and nothing was wrong with her.

Doubting her, Damon managed to convince his mother to let her stay for lunch, but she had insisted that someone was to tend to her. After all, the little blonde did have a gash on her forehead; her tiny, little bangs were matted with dirt and blood. This then led to letting his mother take her away for an hour to clean, bandage and reclothe her.

"What's your name, child?" Damon's mother asked, scrubbing a patch of dried blood out of her hair.

Beth was pretty preoccupied with trying to figure out why she felt so weird. Living on a farm for all her life you'd expect she'd be pretty well versed in the world of injuries. After all, she is a female, so she's meant to be doing all the domestic duties like all the other girls her age. She should be learning from her mother about how to cook, and clean, and sew. But the was something undeniably wrong with that statement.

She blinked the water away from her eyes. It was nice having someone else look after her for once.

"Elizabeth, ma'am. Elizabeth Olivia Thomas." Just because she was a farm girl, it didn't mean that she didn't have any manners.

The scrubbing paused for a second as the older woman mulled it over. "Elizabeth Olivia… what a beautiful name," she said with a slight southern-belle accent.

"If you don't mind me asking, what is your name, ma'am?"

"Of course I don't mind, and you can stop with all those "ma'am" formalities. You can call me Alicia."

After Beth was bathed, Alicia had called upon a maid to fetch some bandages and a freshly ironed dress for her. It was a girly little thing. I was pink and flowing and frilly. The dress brushed the floor every time Beth took a step, and because she wasn't used to wearing such long items of clothing, she was afraid that she was going to fall over… especially down the stairs. Alicia managed to get some pink shoes that matched the dress, and urged the girl to wear them.

The only thing that looked out of place on her person – other than the dress in her opinion – was the largish bandage on Beth's forehead. She frowned at herself in the mirror. She didn't want to walk around all day with that thing visible on her head, especially in front of people she didn't know.

"Excuse me, Alicia…" she trailed off, hoping that he woman could hear her tiny voice.

"Yes dear?" She replied, wrapping Beth's – now clean – clothes up in brown paper. They weren't anything special, just a pair of slacks and a white shirt. Alicia frowned when she turned back to the girl, to see her pointing to clearly visible bandage on her pretty, heart-shaped face.

"I have just the idea," Alicia said proudly, an idea forming in her head.

~x~

Damon had just sat down at the table for lunch. The girls still hadn't resurfaced and he was worried if something more happened to the girl. He still didn't know her name.

His worry had made for something humorous, in his father's opinion, and was told multiple times to "Relax, son, she'll be fine". It was hard to though. Besides, he wasn't there to see her barely being able to stand up on her own. Damon could still feel her hands on his forearms, grasping for support.

Just when he started to fidget again, his mother was descending the stairs with the girl from before behind her. She looked quite shy, and for some unknown reason, he felt as if this was highly uncharacteristic of her. This only made Damon more determined to know more about her. Being the (young) gentleman he was, he stood and pulled out a chair for the little blonde in pink. This was responded with a very subtle roll of her eyes and a silly grin crossing her face.

Once everyone was settled, Beth couldn't help but feel a little uncomfortable with the stares of the boy and his father upon her. She forced herself to look away, shoulders square and back straight. She never slouched.

"What's your name child?" the man asked with a firm voice. She could hear Alicia's quiet scolding, and slyly grinned to herself.

Taking a glance at Alicia's warming smile, Beth felt her regular attitude – which was her over-confidence, her boisterousness, and her ability to unfazed by many things – begin to return, making it easier to answer all of his questions. Addressing the older man and speaking loudly, she had said, "My name is Elizabeth Thomas, sir."

"And how old are you?"

Smiling smally to herself, Beth replied wittily, "Isn't impolite to ask a lady her age?"

Alicia fought hard not to laugh at her husband's stunned expression; Damon didn't. He laughed but was quickly silenced by a stern look form his father. The elder Salvatore male resumed his questioning just as lunch came on the table.

"What brings you to our home this afternoon, young lady?" He said, trying out what Beth had "titled" herself.

"My uncle allows me to go horseback riding whenever I wish. My horse is normally well behaved, she had just gotten shocked today…" She blushed. "… and I fell off. It's never happened before and it is embarrassing."

Mr Salvatore looked confused, her uncle? "What about your parents, child?"

Beth pretended that she didn't hear him, and she continued eating as if he hadn't said a word. Which he didn't in her opinion.

"Elizabeth?" She heard Alicia ask tentatively.

Beth didn't look up. She didn't want to talk about her parents. She felt a feathery light touch on her knee, looked up to see whom it belonged to and was met with encouraging, sky blue eyes.

Damon.

"I'd rather not discuss that topic," she mumbled, taking Damon's in hers under the table. He gave it a gentle squeeze. She looked down.

"I don't see why not."

Beth looked up again and fought hard not to glare at the privileged, older male who was probably only tolerating her because his wife said so. At this moment in time, Beth could make a solid decision of which of the two adults she liked more.

"I do."

Mr Salvatore looked taken aback. He didn't expect this small, delicate little girl was capable of being defiant. Boy, did he have a lot to learn. He continued to stare her down, hoping to drag the answer out of her.

Feeling uncomfortable from the quizzical stare, Beth dropped Damon's hand scrambled away from the table, wanting to get out of the house as quickly as possible. She could get lost, she knew that, but she didn't care, she just wanted out.

Beth ran through countless halls and corridors, fighting against the barrage of tears threatening to flow from her eyes. She felt offended, vulnerable, hurt, sad; all because one curious man wanted to know more about the small female stranger entering his home. Alicia was nice enough, she thought. But that doesn't mean that I – I… Oh gosh, I don't know.

Elizabeth felt as if the only person she could trust wholly in that house was their son – Damon; the boy who, unnecessarily, came to her rescue, and showed warmth and concern in his contradictory ice-coloured eyes. She picked up the pace of her running as soon as she saw sunlight towards the end of another corridor and barged past a man in her haste to get away.

"Elizabeth! Wait, please!" She heard someone call from behind her. She didn't wait. Beth just kept running aimlessly through a hedge-maze at the back of the property. She knew that she was going to get lost, that much was certain, even though the hedge was barely lower than her eyes.

Somewhere in the middle of the maze, Beth just gave up. Falling rather ungracefully to her knees, she concluded that she was really out on her luck today; falling off of her favourite horse, which was now most likely halfway across the state, meeting a curious family and getting lost in their expansive estate…

Beth felt a drop of wetness on her forearm and looked up just in time to see millions more of those very same drops falling from the overcast sky.

…and getting drenched head to toe with water in a summer storm.

"Great! Just, great," she said with anger in her voice, standing up. "The perfect end to a perfect day."

"It could be worse," came a young, breathless voice. Beth turned around to see Damon standing the rain with her. Immediately she became cross with the boy, he was going to ruin his good clothes.

"It doesn't matter, I have others." Beth didn't realise she had said that aloud. She flushed a bright pink and looked away.

"Do you want to tell me why you ran off? It's okay if you don't."

"No, I don't actually."

"Are… are you sure? I mean—"

"Yes. I am certain that I don't want to talk about it, Damon," she said, facing him. Her sadness was slowly turning to anger.

"Okay." Damon backed off, he wasn't sure he wanted to see how she would react… but being curious by nature, he decided to push his luck just that little bit more. "I just want you to know that you can talk to me, if you want. I might be able to understand…"

"How could you?" She exploded. "How could you understand about me? You have a big house, parents that care and provide for you, huge, grassy fields for you to run and play in. You don't have to struggle to survive. You have never known what it is like to have your parents abandon you when you're helpless." She stopped fighting against the tears, and let them flow. The rain was the perfect disguise. "I have never had any of the things you have… I don't even have parents…" Her voice grew softer as she spoke.

Damon felt a little bad. "You must be doing okay, though. I mean you obviously have a home."

"Not a big as yours."

"That has nothing to do with it. The only things that matter is if you have someone who loves you and that you feel safe with them." He studied her face for a moment, and saw nothing but distant, staring, golden eyes behind an emotionless mask. "You do have someone like that, don't you?"

She nodded and faintly spoke. "My uncle."

Damon cracked a small smile and strode the remaining four metres so he didn't have to speak so loud. "Then it's not all bad."

"I guess so," she said, still staring and reflecting on some memory, Damon thought. He looked down, waiting for sufficient time to pass before either one of them to end the silence that shrouded them, when an idea struck him.

Bending down to retrieve a large sharp stone from the gravel beneath their feet, Damon had gotten Elizabeth's attention. Instantly, she was curious. What did a stone have to do with anything?

"What's the stone for—" Beth didn't get the last of question out before she watched as Damon raised the stone and slashed it down the middle of his right palm. "What are you doing?" She exclaimed and grabbed the stone from him.

Damon winced as some water got into his newly cut palm. He looked her straight in the eye, "Blood Promise."

"Blood Promise? Are you kidding?"

"Quite the opposite actually."

She folded her arms across her chest. "Oh, really? And what do you intend to promise, Master Damon?"

"Well, what I propose, Miss Elizabeth, is that we have no more moments of sadness, and we get on with our lives."

"Oh, and you just expect me to just have a Blood Promise with some complete stranger?"

He rolled his eyes at her silliness. Truth be told, he knew that he was the silly one. "Not just that—"

"Wow, there's more," Beth retorted sarcastically.

"—But that we should become friends…" He mumbled.

"Excuse me?"

Sighing, Damon repeated louder, "We should become friends."

Beth scrutinised him. She could detect no motion of insincerity or lie in his expression. Slowly, not leaving his eyes, she, too, brought the sharp side of the rock down the length of her right palm.

"You know, for a ten-year-old, you sure are pretty weird."

Damon shrugged. "You're beyond your years, Elizabeth."

"I could say the same, Damon."

Holding out his bleeding hand, Damon asked, "Friends, Elizabeth?"

"Friends." She clasped her own into his and she could practically feel their blood mixing. After one final shake, she pulled back her hand held it out in the rain, washing away any excess blood. She reached into her hair and pulled out the two pink ribbons that were hold her hair back and wrapped one around her gash. Damon took the other and did the same.

"So, now what?" Damon asked.

"We go home and get warm," she said, affirmative.

"Are you sure you want to go back home in this weather?"

"It won't matter. I'll be getting wet anyhow. Besides, I really do need to go, my uncle will be getting worried."

"Okay then…"

"Well, bye." Beth said and started to walk out of the maze, toward Millers Lane.

"Will I see you?"

"Sure. Around town, maybe. I know where you live, so I'll come around," she called over her shoulder and kept walking.

Reasonably satisfied with her answer, Damon hollered, "Bye Elizabeth!"

Rolling her eyes, she turned around and replied one last time.

"One more thing: Don't call me Elizabeth."

~PRESENT DAY~

Settled on an almost alcohol high – and that's after drinking a bottle and a half of strong Russian vodka – Beth found herself leaning her head on Damon's shoulder, subconsciously running her thumb across the place on Damon's hand where he initiated that silly little Blood Promise. And she said exactly that.

"It's your fault, you know?"

Eyes closed, and a little sleepy, Damon replied, "When isn't my fault?" Beth slapped his knee, mumbling something along the lines of "Don't say that".

"No, seriously. What's my fault?" Damon rested his head a top of hers.

"That we're friends."

"And that's a bad thing? 'Cause the last time I checked, you were okay with that."

"I still am, and you know what I mean. Besides, you were the one who went and made it all official."

"Oh really? How?"

Beth rolled her eyes. "You and your stupid Blood Promise just had to go there…"

"…And back. Hey, I even got the t-shirt… Well, technically, the ribbon," Damon joked.

"Har, har." Beth stopped the rubbing and just held his hand. She didn't mind, and neither did Damon – he never had – because neither of them thought anything of it. So they sat, in an incredibly comfortable silence.

"Hey, you still haven't told me what you've been up to all these years, or in the very least, exactly what you are," Damon said, ruining the moment.

"Honey, you wouldn't believe me if I told you."

"I think I'm pretty down with the super—" Damon cut himself off yawning.

Beth giggled. "Looks like someone needs to go to bed."

"Nuh uh…" he whined.

"Yah huh. C'mon, I'll even give you a hand," she said, jumping up a little too perky and faster then Damon would've preferred. He let himself flop to the side, peeked out from under his lashes and mock glared, as if saying What're you gonna do about it?

"Don't give me that, cheeky. Gimme your hands." She held hers out and he just stared at them. She let it slide and started to walk away. "Fine. I see how it is. You're obviously big enough and ugly enough to do it yourself. Night!" She hollered from the foyer, grabbing her cardigan from off the stand on the way.

She was almost outside too, if it weren't for the lightning fast speed that was Damon. It hadn't always been that way, you know, there was a period of time when she could beat him at any race. Rain, hail or shine.

"'Ugly enough'? Really? Ouch, Elizabeth, that really hurt. I'm cut deep." He put on a face of mock hurt; his eyes one hundred per cent playful.

Beth raised a thin, blonde brow and crossed her arms. "You'll get over it, and I thought I told you not to call me—" she shuddered "—Elizabeth."

"You'll get over it," he mimicked.

Beth mock glared at him. "Touché."

"I learned from the best."

"Why, thank you."

"I didn't mean you."

"Ouch. I thought I meant more to you."

He shrugged. Their little fight was light hearted as they always were. Still, it had been a while, so they were just warming up. Both Beth and Damon knew that they could bicker pointlessly for hours on end… sober. With alcohol, though, the bickering normally stopped not after it usually began, so Beth felt that their little mock-fight was coming to a close.

Damon's expression softened. "You don't have to go, you know." She was right. "You can stay the night here."

Uncrossing her arms, Beth replied. "I don't want to impose."

"Don't be ridiculous. There are a helluva lot of spare rooms upstairs, you can stay in any which one you please." He dropped his face closer to hers, so that to an outsider it would have looked like they were kissing or were about to. Beth knew better though and grabbed a hold of his hands again.

"I just got you back," he whispered, his sky eyes as crystal clear as they were the day she met him… and they showed exactly how he felt; desperate. It made her feel sad. "I don't want you to leave so soon."

"If that's what you want…"

He looked at her as sternly as he could manage. "I wouldn't be asking it if I didn't mean it."

"Okay," she said quietly.

Damon smiled. "Okay, then."

~x~

Beth took in the actual size of the house that her best friend now resides in. The grand architecture was, well, exactly that: grand. The twelve-foot ceilings with trims that almost looked antique; hardboard wooden floors and floor-to-ceiling wooden panelled walls in a deep earthy colour and when you looked all the way up, you could see exposed beams. A little shoddy in Beth's opinion, but then again, it added to the overall character of the mansion. She could see the appeal of living here, she thought.

"Big house," she said, stating the obvious. Damon just shrugged and opened a door that lead into a large bedroom—but then again, everything in this house was huge, go figure—with light, cream coloured walls, charcoal shaded curtains (which were probably more for usage than being décor), and what was most likely the biggest bed she had seen in her entire life.

"That bed looks like it could fit an entire sorority house in it."

Damon wiggled his eyebrows and smiled seductively. "It has."

"Ew! Gross!" Utterly revolted in that last statement, Beth gagged and rebuked him. "Dee! Did I really have to know that?"

Laughing, he claimed, "Well, you did say earlier that you wanted to catch up on all the things we've done in the last century and a half."

"Alright, alright. Now shut up and get into your sorority bed. I wanna go to sleep. It's been a long day for me."

Damon, being the cheeky character he is when he's drunk, did that all to literally. There was something he really wanted to say to her before he fell asleep, and for some reason, that was happening really, really fast. It was like he had no control over it.

"Beth?"

"Yes?"

Without saying a word, he blindly reached for something on his bedside table, no lights were turned on, so he was hoping that she hadn't seen what he was reaching for. When Damon felt the cool smoothness of the letter opener, he quickly slashed it across his right palm, drawing blood faster than he did the first time he had ever done this.

"Promise me, that you'll stay. No matter how much of a jerk I am, please… I don't want you to leave never, ever again."

Shaking her head as if saying Where are you going with this? and responded, "I'm not. Not ever, you need me I wouldn't—"

"No," he said, stern now and Beth could barely see the fire in his baby blues. She felt something roughly shoved in her hands. "I want you to promise me. Please?"

On further inspection, Beth discovered that it was a letter opener that seemed to be sharper than an average one. Then again a vampire lived in this house, so nothing was bound to be just average.

"What do you want me to do with—" That was when she noticed blood, it was all over blade. "Really?" Damon nodded. "That's childish and stupid. No way."

"What? We've never broken the last one."

"Yes we have," Beth said the defiantly.

"Let me rephrase that, we've never broken the last one without good reason."

Beth didn't look pleased. Damon was serious about this. He really wanted her to make another Blood Promise. Damn it.

"I hate you, you know that." Unimpressed, Beth—without second thoughts—brought the sharpened letter opener down the length of her right palm, almost on the exact same line where she cut herself with the rock. She cussed after a second or two. "Damn. That hurts like a bitch."

"Promise that you won't leave me."

"I will, but only if you promise the same thing."

"I promise," he said and clasped Beth's hand with his own and she was surprised at how cold his hand was.

After a few moments of intense (and awkward, but that was no secret) silence, Beth blurted, "So… now what?"

"We go to sleep."

"Sounds good to me."

"G'night Beth," he slurred sleepily. What was with that? He was so not ready to sleep yet. Oh well, he was too goddamn tired to worry about it now. Maybe in the morning when he's… had a… full… night's…

He broke off into soft, sleepy snores, and Beth walked backwards into the hall smiling as she watched her best friend fall into a peaceful sleep. God knows he needs it, she was glad she interfered.

"Good night, Damon," she whispered, closing the door. "Sweet dreams."

~x~

A/N: Hey Y'all, I'm sorry about the delay in updates. I hope 4,160-odd words makes up for it. This is, officially, the longest chapter I have ever written in any one of my stories. Seriously, this story has gotten so much love and attention from me, it better have loads of reviews. Hey, I have elective art projects to do over these autumn holidays, but no. I'm writing this for you guys…. And the fact that Elizabeth and Damon won't stop bombarding my mind… So I just have to get it out. Oh and, chapter five is being written as we speak.

I hope you have enjoyed the latest instalment of What Comes First and this took me forever to write, so please, review to give me feedback or criticism (negative or positive, I don't care, just so long as they're not flames). Have a great day.

xSimone