AN: So in this chapter there's some Damon/Rin interaction during her first lesson with him. (:
Part Nine: Blood and Brandy
At promptly six fifty-eight PM, Rin's Toyota rolled into the Salvatore's driveway for the second time that
week. She rang the doorbell and waited for someone to open up. Appropriately, it was Damon who answered the door.
"Sleeping Beauty. You made it. And ridiculously prompt, too. Come in," he said, stepping away from the door. He looked a little bewildered, as if he'd just awoken or as if someone had just slapped him across the face.
"Hello, Damon," said Rin calmly. She thought to perhaps ask if he was alright but decided against it – it was his life and his bewilderment, and neither of those things were her problem or business. She followed him into the spacious living room and watched as he reached into the cabinet of a console table and pulled out a blood bag. She wrinkled her nose a little as he pulled a crystal glass out as well and squeezed the contents of the bag into it. The sound the bag made as he slowly squeezed out the red stew was sickening.
"Sorry, Princess, man's gotta eat," he said solemnly as he then reached for his trusty bottle of brandy and mixed in a liberal amount of that into the glass as well.
"Blood and brandy – is that a good combination?" asked Rin casually as she took a seat on the arm of one of the antique sofas. Damon turned around as he drank half the contents of the glass in a few gulps.
"A lovely combination. Hopefully you'll never have to try it," he said, raising the glass in her direction as he paced into the center of the room. His bewildered, tired expression was gone now that he was feeding. "So. Training. I have a question – can you target inanimate objects?" he asked. He was definitely all business here. His tone had changed; the sarcastic, obnoxious Damon was gone. Rin had been concerned that he wouldn't take her training seriously, but his apparent desire to jump right into it was reassuring.
"I don't know; I've never tried," replied Rin. "Why?"
"Because I don't have anyone for you attack and I'm not interested in being a target," he said simply. "So you're going to try targeting something without a heartbeat today. Bonnie gave me this," he said as he walked into the closet connected to the living room for a moment. He emerged with a creepy-looking three-foot-tall doll and put it in the middle of the living room. Rin raised a brow. Upon further inspection, she realized it was supposed to resemble Damon since it was wearing a tiny black coat, but the messy stitching and exes for eyes made it look more like a demonic Raggedy Ann doll than anything else. Rin laughed a little.
"Do you and Bonnie get along at all? I'm sensing a little hostility," she said, bemused and curious.
"Well… we get along as well as we need to for Elena's sake," said Damon. "But that is discussion for another time. So what I'm supposed to teach you today is visualization. The most important thing to learn how to do right now is try to figure out who you're taking energy from. The reason why I'm not going to be the target of your attack is because I want you to take energy from me, since I've got a lifetime supply of energy walking around town. Got it?" So this was how she was supposed to keep herself from killing strangers. By draining a controlled amount of energy from someone she chose. Damon stood behind the dummy, his hand on its shoulders. "I hear you need to be threatened to use your powers. You sure you can't otherwise?"
"I've never tried to use them; it comes naturally when I'm threatened," said Rin. Was he going to try to get her to transform and drain energy without a reason?
"Well, unless this creepy doll is threatening, you're going to have to summon up your will. From what I can tell, you have a lot of that," said Damon with his trademark sarcastic smile.
"Got it…" Rin sighed quietly. She didn't know how to do this.
"When you've transformed, think about me. Think about draining me and my life. If you do it right, you should have a hard time stopping," continued Damon. "According to Bonnie it's like drinking blood. At that point, I'll show you how to stop. That's where vampire self-control comes in."
Rin took a deep breath and sat on the seat part of the couch – she had to be focused here. Closing her eyes, she imagined fear. She thought about the man outside Provocateur and Klaus' hand on the back of her throat, pushing her against the wall. She thought about the fear she had felt when he took that terrifying step closer to her in her room and how it had made her sweat with panic. She thought about the way he could have ripped through her larynx with no effort at all, and how fast her new vampire friends moved. How they were calculated killers, and they could end her life at any time. She felt a familiar chill through her scalp.
Her eyes snapped open, exposing snow white pupils. She stared at the dummy and struggled to keep her focus – she wasn't afraid enough. There was no real, physical danger. Clinging to her heightened state, she quickly shifted her thoughts to Damon. She pictured his life slowly draining from his chest in a misty fog. Out of the corner of her eye, she realized this was actually happening. Her surprise helped to keep her in her transformed state – she could actually see Damon's energy leaving his body through his chest in a hazy, white tendril. It floated toward her and when it reached her body, she felt a rush. When she shifted her thoughts to destroying the dummy, the white fog started rushing towards her faster. It was becoming a steady river of white through across the living room that only she could see. She barely registered that the bewildered look was back on Damon's face. She continued drawing upon the life force; only a fraction of it was needed to wreak havoc upon the dummy. Before long, it was ripping apart at the seams, but she couldn't stop drawing the fog into her mind. Through her hazy thoughts she heard Damon's voice.
"Rin, do you want to destroy me?" he said. His voice was even; he wasn't suffering any major energy losses yet; he was only trying to pressure her into stopping. After all, he was a vampire, and much more resilient than any human source. "You don't want to take everything, right?" She glanced at him for a moment but looked back at the dummy, which was developing a massive rip along its side where the stitching used to be, pushing his words out of her mind. She didn't even know Damon. She didn't care what happened to him and she knew how good she felt after stealing someone's energy. "Rin, listen to me. Reason. Think. You don't want to hurt me," he said. He was wrong – she did want to hurt him. It felt too good.
A moment later, Damon was in front of her. There were slight dark circles beneath his eyes. Glass in hand, he took a sip, staring at her. "Rin. Stop. Now." She looked up at him curiously, unable to figure out why he was so concerned. Oh, I'm using his energy, right. It took a moment for her to remind herself. She ignored him and leaned farther back into the couch, smiling wickedly. Damon's face contorted as he was weakened further. It wasn't enough to seriously damage him but it was odd, suddenly becoming so exhausted. This was going too far.
He leaned over her, both hands on the back of the couch. "Rin. Listen to me. You need to stop." He made direct eye contact and flooded his voice with the power of vampiric compulsion. Rin found she was unable to resist his command and reverted to her regular appearance. As soon as she did, Damon plopped down on the couch next to her. The dummy was no longer obstructed by his broad shoulders, and it lay in pieces on the antique carpet.
"How'd I do?" asked Rin cautiously. She had a feeling she hadn't performed very well. Damon didn't answer right away; he was busy squeezing another blood bag into his glass.
"Well. Let's put it this way. You have horrible, absolutely horrible self-control." He took a long swig of blood. "We're going to have to work on that," he said, raising his glass in her direction again. Rin wasn't sure if she should apologize.
"Well, from what I've been told, that might be something you and I have in common," she said, pulling her knees up onto the couch and turning to face him. Damon grinned at her.
"That's why I like you, Princess. You're addicted to what you want. I had to compel you to stop draining me. You almost had me falling asleep there." He paused, taking another sip. "You know what's interesting? You're better at draining energy than you are at causing damage." He gestured to the dummy. "With the amount of energy you took from me, I'm pretty sure you should have been able to completely obliterate that thing. But it's still held together in some places." He paused again to drink once more. "You're hoarding it all for yourself, aren't you?" Rin stared at him, not used to being psychoanalyzed, and especially not on a supernatural level.
"I guess I'm growing to like my energy fix," she said simply.
"So you've been practicing?" asked Damon. Shit. She shouldn't have mentioned that she'd used her powers before training with Damon.
"Sort of, I guess," she said. It was unlike her to be ambiguous, and she prayed he wouldn't pick up on that. Thankfully, Damon didn't mention it any further Instead, he bounced onto the couch and kicked his legs over the armrest, placing his head in her lap.
"Well," he said before taking another carefully balanced sip to avoid spillage, "You should probably become an expert at targeting an energy source before you practice again. Don't want you feeding on the already weak," he said with his classic, condescending Damon smile.
"I'll try not to," replied Rin as earnestly as she could, looking down at him and flicking his bangs away from his face. "How's blood taste, anyway?" she asked, trying to lead the conversation to another topic.
"It tastes like the only thing I need to survive. Why; you wanna try it?" he asked with a wicked smile. "You seem concerned about the flavor of my choice in beverages."
"No. No, no, no," she said, shaking her head in disgust. "Definitely not interested on a personal level. Just curious."
"Good. An idiot vampire who was having a brief stroke of genius once told Elena to cherish her humanity. It's good advice." Rin wondered who he might be talking about.
"Evidently, she didn't listen," mused Rin aloud. In a moment, the front door opened and Rin's stomach flipped as the irrational fear that it might be Klaus struck her. It was not; it was only Stefan.
"Hey, whose car is—" he stopped when Rin squirmed around as much as she could with Damon's head in her lap. He didn't move. "Oh, hey Rin. Didn't know you were coming over today. Did you guys actually train or did Damon just hit on you and drink for an hour?" Rin flashed him a curt smile.
"We actually trained and I almost put him to sleep. It was lovely," she said briskly. "Damon, can I get something to drink?" She'd been meaning to ask – it was hot outside and her throat was still burning from hitting Marissa's pipe too hard in the morning in an attempt to get high.
"Of course, Princess, I'll be right back. Are you looking to get drunk?" he asked as he rose to his feet.
"No thanks; sobriety is my game for tonight," she said with her usual cold smile. There was still the drive home and meeting with Klaus early in the morning that she had to take care of. She made a mental note to remember that Damon Salvatore was the person to hit up if she ever wanted free booze.
"As you wish," said Damon, bowing slightly before disappearing into the kitchen. "Look at all my self-control, Stefan!" he called from the other room. Stefan was not impressed.
"Doing what people ask you to do isn't self-control, brother," he said. He then addressed Rin. "Hey, you've already got him mixing you non-alcoholic drinks. Match made in Heaven," he said as he started up the stairs. "Is Elena home?" he asked, raising his voice a little to speak to Damon once again.
"Not yet; dunno where she went," said Damon as he re-appeared in the living room with a bright red Shirley Temple. She thanked him as she took it from him.
"Thanks, Damon," she said as she took the tall glass from him. It was refreshing, combatting the blazing summer heat outside and the fire in her throat.
"No problem. Feel free to stick around if you like – it's been pretty dry around here lately and we could use some new company. By that I mean me. I could use your company," he said, his voice dripping in exaggerated flirtation. Rin allowed herself a small laugh and successfully fought back a blush. Damon really laid it on thick.
"So sorry, Damon. I'm going to have to leave pretty soon. I have something to do early tomorrow," she said, taking another sip of her drink.
"Ah, pity. Next time you're staying," he said, implying that she had no choice in the matter.
"We'll see," she replied, not wanting to give him the satisfaction of knowing she would stay if she could.
When she was finished with her drink, she said her goodbyes to both Damon and Stefan. It was almost eleven – Damon and Rin had spent more time chatting than actually training. But she left feeling as if she'd learned something new. She knew how to choose who she was draining energy from now, and that was something vital.
When she got home, she decided it would be a good idea to at least attempt sleep. Eventually, she wanted her sleep schedule back to normal, and she had to be ready to meet Klaus by five AM. However, she was brimming with the vampiric energy she'd stolen from Damon. She felt distinctly alive, as if she hadn't known the meaning of the word until tonight. Damon was right – stealing energy was addicting. Wanting to channel the new life force within her to make it last, she did some yoga on her bedroom floor before crawling into bed out of habit. As she lay awake blasting her mp3 player, she found herself thinking about her night. She'd had a good time with Damon. He was carefree and came on so strong she was sure he wasn't serious about the way he felt about anyone at all. It felt safe to be thinking fondly of him, knowing he wouldn't want anything from her that she wouldn't feel comfortable giving – Damon could have any girl in the world, so what would he want with her?
