Disclaimer: I do not own anything. Just playing with the characters.

A.N. Hey guys! Sorry for the delay of the chapter. It's the holiday season and it's my family's favorite time of year. My muse is finally cooperating with me, so I am hoping to get back to updating at least once a week. All mistakes are mine. It has not been beta'd. Thak you for the continuous support by reviewing, following and favoriting. :) Enjoy!

Chapter Ten

Bella remained lost in her memories before she continued her story. Damon made to stand and go to her, but Klaus shook his head. "Don't go to her yet. She needs to get this out to you." Damon growled at the hybrid, hating being told what to do, but sat back down anyways. He didn't want to break her concentration. He could feel the tension rolling off of her, so he sat in his chair and gave her silent support.

Bella, unaware of what was going on around her, started retelling the rest of her story.

"I watched as two other vampires moved to the dais behind the pile of bodies and took their seats in the thrones that were sitting there. The rest of the vampires moved to line the walls and watched me warily, wanting to know who I was. They didn't have to wait long."

Memory

"Well, Little One, care to tell us your name?" Aro inquired, raising an eyebrow at while waiting for a response.

"Isa," she growled out. Bella was on edge. Sure she knew how to fight, she learned from Original Vampires, but she was still young, both in her human years and her vampire years, and there were at least fifteen Cold Ones in the room with her.

"A last name dear one?"

"None that you need to know. Look," she started, while glancing quickly around the room, cataloging where everyone was standing, even knowing that it wouldn't matter. There was no way she was walking out of this hell without making a deal to spare her life. "I was looking for some...old acquaintances. I followed a scent, hoping they would be here. Obviously they are not, so I am just going to head on out and continue my search elsewhere." She began backing away, knowing that turning her back to them, would be instant death.

Aro tutted and frowned at her, outwardly showing disappointment, but she could see the glee in his eyes. Bella's mind started working in overdrive, trying to find a way out of the situation she found herself in. "Such a shame. You are quite the beauty. You look human. Your heart beats, yet it is slow. You smell different too. What are you?"

Bella just stood there and watched Aro as he made his way towards her. He slowly walked a circle around her, leaning in and sniffing at her neck, making her shiver in revulsion. He stopped next her and placed a cold hand at her elbow, effectively stopping her from making an escape. "Interesting," he murmured, making his way to his throne.

"Like I was saying, it is a shame. You are beautiful and you show no fear of us. You blocked my gift, which is a rare occurrence, mia bella. I would like to offer you a spot on my guard, but not knowing what you are, poses a threat to our world."

"I am not a threat to you," she spit out, glaring at the three "kings".

"No need for the hostility, Isa."

"You are threatening me, but yet I am not allowed to return the favor? Screw you, Aro. If you are going to kill me, then get on with it. I don't have time nor the patience to stand here and watch your grandstanding!"

Aro cast a disdainful look. "Tsk, Tsk. There is no need for such appalling language, Isa."

"Fuck. Are all of you Cold Ones the same? I'll talk however the fuck I want to."

Bella noticed Aro perked up at that statement, but it wasn't for the reason she thought.

"You've met one of our kind before?" He asked.

"What? Of course of I have."

"Who? Who have you met? Are they the one you are looking for?"

"Nuh uh, Aro. I'm not passing up this opportunity. If you want to know what I know, then I want something in return."

"What makes you think that what you or who you know is that important to us?" the blond one sneered.

"Why else would I still be standing here- alive-, if you didn't want to know what I know?"

"Brother, calm down," Aro said as he placed a hand on Caius' wrist. He then turned his attention back to Isa. "What is it you would like in return?"

"I want to walk out of here. Alive. I don't want to be followed." She crossed her arms at the end of her demand, showing more confidence than she felt at the moment. She was just hoping to get the hell out there before they tried anything to make her stay or even worse, kill her.

Aro assessed her as she stood there glaring at him. He smirked at her brazenness. She was practically daring him to deny her her requests. Steepling his fingers under his chin, he made her sweat it out a little bit, before giving her an answer.

Nodding once, he spoke his counter offer. "Alright, dear one. I will grant you your safe release from Volterra, but I have a condition of my own." When she made no move to respond, his smirk turned into a feral smile, enjoying the little game they were playing. "You are to work for us for two years. During this time, we will call and ask you to do things for us, such as check in on a nomad or dispose of one causing problems for us."

Bella thought it over. It was a small price to pay for her life. She had plans to follow through on before even thinking about leaving her life behind. Her thirst for revenge was the only thing that kept her 'living' everyday, and today was no different. Letting her arms fall to her sides as she stood straighter, she held Aro's gaze and accepted his offer. "I accept. Now, the name you wanted?" she asked as she moved back towards the door once more. At his nod, she told him. "The Cullens." With that bomb dropped, Bella made her way out of the room and out of the castle. Well, more like ran her ass as fast as she could out of building.

Taking a risk and stopping right outside the walls of Volterra, she glanced around to see if she was followed. Surprisingly, she wasn't. She let out the breath she had been holding since revealing the Cullens were who she was after and made the split decision to head back to New Orleans to regroup.

As the memory faded, Isa finally came back to her senses and was equally surprised and wary that everyone was still in the room. She thought that at least one of them would have walked away from the drama that was her life. Looking at Klaus, he just nodded his head and she knew that was all the approval she would get, at least until they were in private.

She saved looking at Damon for last, not quite sure what she was expecting. Confused at the determination she read in his eyes, she cocked her head slightly to the side, silently asking him what he was thinking. He shook his head, and before she knew what was happening, he had her outside and buckled into his car.

"Damon? What is going on? Where are we going?" she asked, trying hard not to let the panic she was feeling, come to the surface.

When the only response she received was in the form of a side glance and a small growl escaping his clenched jaw, she decided not to ask anymore questions. Hopefully he would speak soon, because patience was definitely not something she had mastered and her panic level was beginning to rise.

After about an hour in the car, Damon pulled off onto a dirt road, that even as a vampire, Bella could barely see what was in front of them. The large branches of the trees that ran on both sides of the road, overlapped above the fast moving car, not allowing any light the moon would have provided, to shine through. When the car finally stopped, Damon turned in his seat and faced Isa head on.

They needed to have a serious conversation about them. Their relationship and what they meant to each other. He saw the look in her eyes when she finished some of her story. He knew there was more, but that she was unwilling to share it just yet, if at all. He needed her to understand that no matter what she did before she came to find him, he would still love her.

Bella remained facing forward. She knew he was waiting for her to face him. She knew he wanted to know the rest of her story. She just wasn't ready to let him in on it yet. She also knew, that he would understand this and not push her. Hell, there are things that he kept to himself about his life and what he has been through since his turning back in the 1800's.

Deciding to be an adult, she finally tore her eyes away from swaying tree branches and silent forest, and gave her attention to Damon.

"We need to talk," he began, not taking his eyes from hers.

She nodded. "I know."

"Isa, you have to know that I am not going anywhere. I won't-"

"I've heard those words before, Damon," she gritted out.

"No. You haven't. I told you I would come back, and I didn't. Not yet, anyways. I know you think I abandoned you-"

"YOU. DID. ABANDON. ME."

"Stop interrupting me, Isabella!" he growled as his patience with her was running thin. "I didn't abandon you. I was working my own 'game' Isa. I let Witchy and the doppleganger think they had some semblance of control over me, in order to get what I was after."

"Which was what, Damon? What was more important than being with me, especially when I needed you?"

"MY freedom, Isa. Witchy came from a long line of very powerful witches. One witch in particular; Witchy's cousin, Lucy, put a spell on me. She had been watching my movements for a long time. She knew about you. She knew what you were..are..to me."

"How could she control you, even through a spell?"

"She had the backing of a very powerful coven of witches. They were after something that they believed Elena or someone in her family possessed."

"What was the item?" she asked, still not sure if should could trust what he was saying. It all seemed a little too convenient.

"I don't know. She didn't tell me. She just made sure that I stayed around Mystic Falls and watched over the Gilberts, Elena especially. I tried fighting it, I even tried to drain Elena, but every time I got close enough, I was somehow pushed into a different direction. The spell made me believe I didn't want to hurt her," he shook his head, remembering how frustrated he felt that he couldn't follow through on any of his plans concerning Elena. "Then, you came strutting into town," he said, a smirk crossing his face, remembering the havoc she caused that first night.

"I was hurt that you never came back for me. That I went through everything I did, and you weren't there for me to lean on. I wanted to make you pay, especially when I heard all about your escapades here with CopyKat."

"I didn't remember who you were. It was part of the spell. Between that and the fact that you had changed due to the different types of vampire venom and blood, it's no wonder it took you acting like that to snap me out of it."

Isa sighed, looking back outside. "So, say I believe you. What is to say it won't happen again? You initially left me to come back here and harass your brother and whatnot. You were threatened and spelled on your way."

"It won't. You killing Elena broke the hold Lucy and her coven had over me. Which leads me to think that they needed her for something. I don't care anymore. I'm glad you did it. As for Saint Stefan, he has Lexi with him now. She should be able to give him hell, leaving my days free," he smirked thinking how the rowdy blonde vampire was a force when it came to Stefan.

"Ok." It was all she said, but it was all that he needed to hear.

He let out a silent breath of relief. "So we're good?"

She nodded. "What now, Salvatore? You going to stick around Mystic Falls?"

Reaching out and grabbing her chin, forcing her to look him in the eyes, he answered her unasked question. "I go where you go."

She gave a tight smile before letting him in on her present plans. "Alright. Well, after we go back to the boarding house, I need to talk to Klaus. Then we are going hunting."

"For what?"

"Cold Ones. I have some revenge to exact." He would never admit it out loud, but the look Isa had on her face, caused a slight shiver to travel his spine.

"The ones who abandoned you?"

"Yes." It was all she said, and he left it at that. He knew when to push for more and when not to. She was like this as a human, so it wasn't surprising it manifested ever stronger after she was turned.

Nodding, he leaned in closer so their faces were millimeters apart. "Ready to be mine again, cara?" His lips whispered his words against hers.

"I was always yours, Damon."

It was all he needed to hear before he closed the distance between them and sealed his mouth over hers. He moaned, as her hands ghosted their way up his chest and over his shoulders, tangling into his hair and pulling, forcing his head closer. She needed more. He was more than happy to oblige, pulling her over and into his lap. It was her turn to moan when their centers met and she felt how hard he was for her. She ground against him, seeking friction to help alleviate the painful throbbing that seemed to spring up as soon as he attached his mouth to hers.

Soon tearing could be heard as clothes were being removed impatiently. They both hissed in pleasure as Damon slid into her, holding her hips, to stop her from moving. After a few seconds, they began moving in sync, both reveling in the pleasure they brought each other. It wasn't long before Damon took control and was moving Isa up and down his cock. He felt her pussy start to get tighter, gripping him as he maneuvered her body over his. They both shouted each other's names as the came together. Isa collapsed against his chest, shivering slightly when he cracked the drivers side window and the slight breeze caressed their sweat soaked skin.

Once their breathing returned to normal, they got dressed, reluctantly, knowing they needed to get back to the boarding house. Just as Isa pulled her shirt on, she gasped as pain flooded her system.

Damon looked on in alarm, asking her what was wrong, after making sure nothing had physically hurt her.

"We need to go. Now!" she shouted.

He was already reversing the car as she told him what she felt. "It's Jeremy. Something is happening. Something to him. I felt his pain. We need to get to him."

He nodded and pressed his foot to the gas pedal, causing them to lurch forward as the speed increased. He had a bad feeling that Bonnie was somehow involved and he knew that if he was right, she wouldn't live to see the next morning's light. There was no more conversation as they made their way down the highway, back to Mystic Falls.