A/N: So it is finally time to find out the past that Damon and Claire share. I actually loved writing this chapter, so I hope you like it! Please let me know what you think of Claire when you are done!
Claire's legs wrapped tightly around my waist as I carried her hurriedly into the bedroom that we shared in our flat overlooking the Mediterranean. Her fingers twisted in the shaggy locks of my hair and she moaned as I kissed her deeply.
"Damon," came her voice as my lips left hers for a mere second.
Ignoring her, I kissed her again, biting her lower lip sharply. I was rewarded with a pinprick of blood. She gasped and a seductive smile crossed her lips.
"Damon, we left our meal half eaten," she complained through heavy breathing.
I grinned wolfishly as I thought of the young girl left in the sitting room, nearly drained of blood. I had compelled her to forget what she knew if she got away, but I wasn't too worried about that. She would most likely bleed out by the time we were finished. Right now I was hungry for something besides human blood.
I let Claire fall from my arms onto the bed. Taking my hand, she pulled me on top of her.
"I told you if you let another one go to waste you would have to make it up to me," she teased, running her tongue along my collarbone provocatively.
"Oh, I will do more than make it up to you," I whispered back.
I lowered my head and nuzzled at her neck, the soft skin tempting me. Her fingers, meanwhile, unclasped the buttons of my shirt, pulling it off of me, and then working their way down to my pants.
Pressing myself against her, I nibbled my way down her neck leaving drops of blood as I did so, blood that I willingly lapped up seconds later.
"Mmm," I almost moaned. "You taste so good."
"Better than the human girl downstairs?" she asked, knowing the answer that she would get.
"A million times better," I breathed into her ear.
I felt her smile against the crook of my neck then, a smile that turned into sharp teeth against my skin. As her fangs pierced my throat, I tangled my fingers in her hair and returned the gesture with a bite of my own. Through the high of sharing blood, I felt her beckoning to me then, her fingers splayed on my back, begging me for the thing she needed. I smiled against her throat and let her warmth over take me.
…
I woke in a tangle of sheets. The sound of the shower came from the adjoining bathroom and steam slipped out from underneath the door. I smiled as I reached up to touch the marks on my neck that were already healing. My mind wandered to the girl that was now dead in the sitting room. I strained my ears for the sound of her heart, but heard nothing. It didn't matter. Claire and I would just bring another back to the flat tonight and another after that. Our houseguests were never ending.
From the bathroom, I heard the water shut off and Claire step gingerly out of the shower. I closed my eyes to image the wet locks of blood red hair that hung past her shoulders. I had just made up my mind to surprise her in the next room when my phone vibrated on the bedside stand beside me. Groaning from the interruption, I checked to see who it could be.
Arlo Russo's name appeared on the screen. My breath caught in my throat as I realized what this could mean. All thoughts of the freshly showered Claire dropped from my mind.
Sliding the lock across to answer my iPhone, I brought it my ear.
"Arlo?" I answered breathlessly.
"Mr. Salvatore?" Arlo returned, clearly surprised by the speed in which his call was answered. "Uh, this is Arlo Russo from the astronomy lab in –"
"I know who this is," I interrupted, hissing each word. "What have you found out?"
"T-The comet is due to pass September 17th," he stuttered out. "The town you asked about—Mystic Falls—it will pass right over the town that night. I—"
"Thank you Arlo, that's all I needed to know."
I ended the call then, afraid that I was going to drop the phone, or more absurdly become overwhelmed in emotion that I hadn't felt in decades.
"Who was that on the phone?"
Claire approached me from behind, wrapping her soft arms around my torso. The silky fabric of her robe brushing up against my skin.
"Wrong number," I mumbled, lost in my own thoughts.
The bed moved under her weight as she made her way beside me, now looking me in the eyes.
"You're lying."
It wasn't a question, and there was no doubt in her statement. She had been with me long enough over the years to hear a lie in my voice.
"Who was it?" She pressed.
I ignored her question as I rose; grabbing my pants off the floor and sliding them back on. I should have known better than to do this. Silence only angered her.
"Answer my question, damn it," she shrieked. "Who the hell was on the phone?"
I rolled my eyes at her outburst. As much as I enjoyed having her around since we had met a century earlier, she really was a pain sometimes. The angry side of her was vicious, but nothing I couldn't handle. I was use to dealing with bitches, rather enjoying it most of the time apparently, hence the reason that this comet meant so much to me.
"Get over yourself, Claire," I sighed, moving to leave the room and clean up the mess we had left downstairs the night before. Dry blood was such a pain to get out of the carpet.
Before I could leave the room, Claire had ripped open the drawer of my bedside stand and was standing in front of me, papers in her hand before I could blink twice.
"Is this what the call was about?" she interrogated, shoving the papers in my face.
I looked at them then as I had looked over them hundreds of times. They were records of comets passing over North America over the past 150 years. I had pored over these papers frequently as Claire slept beside me, watching for the one that would beckon me home.
Obviously, Claire wasn't as oblivious to this as I thought.
"Claire," I started, wanting to avoid the monstrous fight that would ensue if this was taken any further.
"Don't Claire me," She seethed "You're still looking for her. After all these years."
Before I knew it, Claire's hand was soaring through the air and connected with my face. The force of the blow cracked my head back, leaving a trail of blood along my cheekbone.
Without thinking, I had Claire by the throat, shoving her against the wall. It took all my strength to hold her there as she was almost two centuries older than me, but I managed. My rage gave me the strength.
Claire struggle beneath my grip uncomfortably, and I felt the bones of her neck cracking with my strength.
"Don't you dare," I roared, not even bothering to finish my sentence.
I let her fall to the floor then, and I watched as she rubbed her neck. I heard the sound of her bones breaking back into place and I went to turn away, too infuriated to even look at her.
Before I could leave, however, her voice came strained from the ground.
"You're still in love with her," she said, defeated. "I can see it in you're eyes."
I turned to look at her, tears forming in her eyes for the first time in my memory. She continued, now that she had my full attention.
"You don't know how many times I have wished that I could see that same thing in your eyes when you talk to me, when you touch me."
I looked down at her then with no pity in my eyes. She had taught me to turn off the emotions inside of me and that is exactly what I did then. I knew in that moment that Claire regretted the efficiency in which she had trained me, regretted the monster she had turned me into because even now there was nothing reserved for her. No pity. No true love. It had all been for pleasure, for a way to pass the time, and she saw that now.
My one and only emotion was reserved for the love of my life—or more accurately the love of my existence—because I had never stopped loving the woman that had turned me. My Katherine.
Callously, I turned from the woman now weeping on the floor, the woman I had spent over a century with. I had to get that damn blood out of the carpet, before leaving without even a goodbye.
A/N: So….. hate her? Feel bad for her? Love her? Let me know. Next chapter may be up a little after next Monday because I'm going out of town this weekend (: