A/N: So my mac was gone so much longer than I imagined. Somehow the display went bad… poor little guy. But now I have him back and I'm back to writing. Another side note: I started my second summer class today. 16 weeks packed into 5. Despite the craziness that my life is most likely going to become, I am determined to keep updating each of my three stories weekly. If I slack I give you permission to yell and throw things at me to keep me motivated.

Happy Reading!

Riley's blood washed over my tongue. I had never tasted anything so exquisitely mouthwatering. Somewhere in the back of my mind, I realized that I should stop, that I would regret my actions, but I couldn't force myself to do it. I sank to my knees on the hard floor, taking Riley with me, not wanting to miss a drop of her precious blood.

Riley's body had gone limp in my arms moments earlier. Her heart was barely beating at this point, but I was hungry for her blood and refused to stop until she was entirely drained.

Before I could consume her completely, though, my brain exploded into pain. I dropped Riley's body to the ground and grabbed my head, pressing on my temples, thinking that it would dull the throbbing. I was wrong.

I'm dying, I thought. This is it.

The bite was taking its final hit and then I would be no more. Or at least that's what I thought until I heard Bonnie's voice from behind me.

"Damon," she shrieked. "What have you done?"

Shocked back into reality, I quickly took in the scene before me. Bookshelves were toppled over and books were scattered aimlessly all over the floor. Riley's body was lying in front of me, her throat covered in blood. The little bit that was left was pooling in a dark red circle on the carpet of the library. Bonnie was on her knees as well, taking her jacket off and pressing it to the wound on Riley's throat.

When Bonnie spoke again, her voice was panicked.

"Don't just sit there! Give her your blood, idiot!"

I watched as Bonnie applied more pressure, trying to stop the bleeding. I shook my head. It was too late. It was then that I heard it.

Thump…Thump, thump.

The tiniest sound of her heart, barely audible to even my hearing. I quickly bit into my wrist and pressed it to Riley's lips as I pulled her into my lap. At first there was nothing, but then I slowly started to feel the pull of her lips on my skin.

"Drink," I whispered.

I held her tightly to my body as she continued to drink more and more of my blood. The pull of her lips became stronger and her heart beat more regular. It wasn't long before her eyes slowly blinked open.

"Damon?" She whispered. "Did it work?"

He voice was so weak and it sounded as though each of her words took an extreme amount of effort to produce.

"Yes." I smiled. "Everything's fine. Everything is going to be fine."

Bonnie broke the moment.

"We have to get her to the hospital, Damon."

I felt Riley stiffen in my arms at her words.

"Why?" I asked the witch condescendingly. "I just gave her my blood. Plus she's a werewolf, she'll heal fast on her own."

"With any normal injury that would be true. She's not going to heal as fast from a vampire bite and your blood isn't going to work fast enough on a werewolf to make up for the amount of blood she lost…. If she were human it would be a different story."

"Damn witches and their curses," I muttered under my breath. I looked to Bonnie and continued. "Ok, so let's get her to the hospital."

At these words Riley literally jumped. Trying to push herself out of my arms she starting muttering protests.

"N-No. I can't go. I can't."

She amazingly pulled herself up to a standing position and backed away from the two of us, continuing to claim that she couldn't be taken to the hospital. Her heart beat frantically, and I could tell she was going to collapse before she did. Just as she was about to hit the ground, I caught her in my arms. Simultaneously the breath was knocked out of me as I saw and felt the impact of the oncoming car.

….

The car was slamming into the side mine before I had time to react. The airbag hit my chest, effectively robbing me of breath. Pain shot through my left leg and shards of glass cut my skin as they flew around me. My first coherent thought, despite all of this, was for the little girl that I somehow knew was sitting just behind me in the back seat.

"Jenny!" The voice that came from my throat was shockingly not mine own but one that I had come to know. It was Riley's. Confusion washed over me… I was remembering Riley's car accident. How was I remembering something that had nothing to do with me?

I turned in my seat, the nerves in my leg screaming in agony as I did.

"Oh God Jenny! Are you ok?"

I stopped shouting then as I saw the petite little girl in the pink leotard. Jenny was sitting in the back seat; her head slumped over on her chest, blood trickling down over her closed eyes. Tears sprung to my eyes, and I started screaming once again but this time for help, for someone to save my little sister.

My vision went black.

"Get her into emergency surgery now!" I heard a man scream somewhere near my head. I was lying down, but I even with my eyes closed I could tell I was moving. The sound of heart monitors echoed through my ears, and I felt the prick of a needle in the crook of my arm.

"What about the passenger?" a woman asked with a shaking voice. "The little girl in the back seat? The little ballerina?"

The man that answered did so stoically.

"DOA. There was nothing we could do."

I tried to listen to the rest of their words, but grief overtook me and I felt myself fading again.

…..

The library of Mystic Falls High slowly faded back into view. When I fully realized where I was, I felt tears in my eyes. What I had just experienced had felt so real. I had felt her pains, her emotions, and I thought I knew why Riley didn't want to go to the hospital. Memories of her time spent there would surely haunt her.

"We aren't going to the hospital," I stated firmly.

Bonnie looked at me in disbelief, but before she could say anything I continued.

"I'll go to the hospital and compel someone to make a house call. I'm not making her go back there."

Within an hour everything was handled. Riley was safe in my bed and the doctor that I had compelled to come to the house had promised me over and over that everything would be fine before I let him go. He had left an IV in Riley's arm and instructions to make sure she got plenty of fluids throughout the next couple of days.

After finally biding the doctor goodnight, obviously compelling him to forget everything, and convincing Bonnie that I wouldn't finish Riley off when she left, I made my way to my room. I was surprised to find Riley propped up on a mountain of pillows reading my old, battered copy of Gone with the Wind.

As I entered the room, she sat the book down beside her, gesturing me to sit with her.

"You know, you are fantastic at making yourself at home here," I said as I sat down beside her, pulling my feet up on the bed, crossing my ankles, and lacing my fingers behind my head. "First you drink all my alcohol, now your taking up residency in my bed…."

A smile spread across her face and she giggled.

"And you're not happy to have me in your bed?"

"Oh well I never said that." A sly smile spread across my lips and I raised my eyebrows suggestively. When my eyes fell on the white bandage on her neck, though, my smile faded into a frown. I reached up to touch it and she tilted her head approvingly so that that I could see.

I slowly peeled the bandage back a bit and felt disgusted in myself as I saw what lay beneath—a circle of jagged, ripped skin. My teeth marks were clear and pronounced. My throat went dry and it was hard to speak.

"Riley," I managed. "I'm so—"

Her finger went to my lips.

"Don't be. I knew it was going to happen."

I didn't know what to say. I thought about all the horrible things that I had done to her in the past few days, the things I had said, and I couldn't imagine why she would risk her life to save me. It was then that I remembered her words when I told her to leave, to run. She had told me that for some stupid reason she cared about me. I wondered if it was true, or if it was just something she said to get me to comply.

"Of course it was true," Riley said, interrupting my thoughts.

"What?" I asked.

"What I said, it's true, that I care."

She said the words slowly and her eyes fell to the sheets that she nervously played with in her hands. I was not thinking about what she had just said, or at least not the words. I was thinking about why she had said them, why she had brought it up.

"Why did you just tell me that," I asked slowly. I could see the hurt in her eyes as I responded as I did.

"I don't know, Damon," she almost shouted. "Maybe because you just freaken asked."

I could feel her pulling away.

"I never asked…" I said slowly.

"Yes you did! I was sitting right here!" She was infuriated.

It was then that I remembered what had happened earlier that evening at the school when I had caught Riley as she was falling to the floor. The car accident. Jenny dead in the back seat.

"Riley, I think you just heard my thoughts," I said slowly.

"What?"

"I never asked you if the things you said earlier were true, but I was thinking about it when you 'answered' me." She didn't look convinced so I continued quickly, shocking her with my next words. "I saw Jenny."

That got her attention.

"At the school, when you were freaking out about the hospital and passed out. Somehow I saw the accident. You hurt your leg." I reached down and lightly touched her left knee. A breath caught in her throat. She looked up at me. "I saw Jenny, in the back seat."

Tears threatened to spill onto her cheeks at the mention of her sister.

"How did you—"

"Were you thinking about the crash when you were telling me not to take you to the hospital?"

Riley nodded her head slightly.

"It's impossible," she whispered.

"Are you sure?" I asked in return.

I reached towards her and tucked a spiral of hair behind her ear. I had to try one thing.

"Think something," I said.

"Damon…"

"Just. Do it."

She closed her eyes squinting tightly, like a little kid making a wish. I laughed quietly.

"I don't think you need to—"

It was then that I heard it. It was like a mix between a thought of my own and a voice from Riley herself. Soft but distinctly audible.

Kiss me.

I hesitated for a moment too long, surprised at her simple request. Riley opened her eyes.

"This is stupid," she started to say, but before she could continue I leaned into her, capturing her lips in mine. Her heart hammered in her chest. My hands tangled in the perfect curls of her hair and a precious sigh escaped her lips.

I could feel the excitement course through her body. Not because I could hear the pounding of her heart and feel the heat of the blood in her veins, but because on some level I could feel what she was feeling, think what she was thinking. It was because of this that I knew I shouldn't stop. That she needed and wanted my hands on her just as I needed and wanted her hands on me. I could tell from the way that she purred my name and lightly bit my lower lip that she was feeling the same connection that I was, that she knew what I wanted from her.

I hesitated for just a second as I ran my hands through her hair at the nape of her neck.

"Are you sure about this?" I breathed.

Riley looked me in the eyes not saying a word, but letting her mind tell me that she most certainly was.