When I woke up I was still in Stefan's arms and we were walking though a doorway. "Where am I," I asked groggily. I squirmed in his arms, and he slowly lowered me to my feet. I swayed a little before grabbing on to the wall to steady myself. I saw a figure coming towards me, but everything was spinning so I couldn't make out the face. I felt hands slip around my waist, and I was lifted up once more. "What happened to her? Who did this?" Whoever was talking sounded very worried and frantic. When I listened further, my boggled mind managed to deduct that the owner of the concerned voice was Damon. I must be at his house. I opened my mouth to call his name, but once again I fainted.
"Norah," I heard someone say. "Norah, wake up," the same voice ordered. I opened my eyes and saw Damon. The day's events flooded my head. "Ugh." I lifted my hands and rested them on my throbbing head. I felt an arm slip around my shoulders and lift me up to a sitting position. I opened my eyes to see that I was leaning against Damon's chest. When my eyes met his face, I noticed his forehead creased in concern. "Are you alright," I asked. He let out a defeated laugh. "No, I don't think so." "What's the matter?" I still felt a bit disoriented, but I managed to make out what he was saying.
"Well you see there is this girl I know. Stunningly gorgeous, but unfortunately she has absolutely no sense in her brain, because after I warned her to stay out of the woods, she foolishly decided to do the opposite and take a leisurely stroll with my less awesome brother and his useless girlfriend. Then, like I predicted, she got attacked, and now I have her here in my bed in pain." I smiled sheepishly, realising he was talking about me.
I pushed myself out of his arms and slowly swung my legs to the edge of the bed. I held my aching head in my hands. "What attacked me? I feel like I was hit by a truck." Damon chuckled, "Not even close, I'm afraid it was much worse than that." His light attitude toward the situation was not helping my sour mood. As I turned my head to look at him, I felt a sharp pinch coming from my neck. I lifted my hand to touch the wound, but Damon swatted my hand away. "Don't touch that, it just stopped bleeding." As Damon inspected my neck to see if my "lack of sense" caused any further damage, the door opened to reveal Stefan and Elena, both with worried looks on their faces. I ignored them. "Damon, you're avoiding my question." Damon sighed. He looked over at the newest additions to the room. "What would it take to get some privacy around my own house?" Elena gave him a stony glare and didn't move, but Stefan lightly grasped her arm, urging her to get up. "I'll be right outside Damon. Don't do anything you'll regret." Damon's faced turned serious, and Stefan followed Elena out of the room.
As soon as he heard the click of the door closing, he began to speak. "You were attacked by a vampire." I let out a hearty laugh, but quickly stopped when I realised that he was being serious. "Excuse me," I asked incredulously. "You know, sharp fangs, suck blood, burn in the sun kind of thing," he said smugly. "Oh well when you put it that way it makes perfect sense." Damon got off the bed and walked over to the window. The sun was still dimly shining over the trees. "I'm telling the truth," he stated as if that was the only evidence I needed. "Prove it." He walked back over to me and started to gently unwrap the bandage from around my neck. I winced as the dried blood that was stuck to my skin was ripped off as well.
"Go look in the mirror," he ordered, pointing to the mirror in the corner of the room. I walked over, my eyes rolling in disbelief. What I saw when I got there however stole my breath away. Gracing my neck were two bright red bite marks. As I looked at them, I went over in my head what kind of animal could possibly make these marks, but I couldn't think of anything. "Why did they did attack me," I asked tentatively. "Oh so you believe me now," he asked back. "No, I mean yes, I mean, I don't know." I let out a defeated sigh. "Let's just say I do believe you for a second, why would two vampires attack me?" He laughed. "Well, here comes the real kicker. The people responsible for your current distress are your brothers. Oh, and your brother's wife." This was getting way to bizarre. "What do you mean, my brothers and Amy?" Damon moaned as if it was a bother to explain any further. "They're vampire hunters if you must know." What? I tried to wrap my head around the idea, but I just couldn't do it. Damon continued talking, interrupting my thoughts.
"Come on, it makes perfect sense. They're gone all the time, and then they come back hurt and don't tell you anything about it. Put the pieces together sweetheart, their hunters." I had enough of this. I pushed myself up of the bed and attempted to rush out of the room, but when I got to the door, Damon was already there. I gulped. "You're one too, aren't you?" He nodded his head, "Yep." I looked down at the floor, unable to make eye contact with him. "And Stefan?" He nodded his head again, "Uhuh." Damon moved away from the door and as soon as I blinked he was back on the bed. I took my chance and ran out the door. Elena caught me on the way out. "Stop," she said, grabbing my wrist. Damon was now at the entrance to his door, and all four of us walked back in.
I sat in a chair on the opposite side of the room. "What are you going to do to me," I asked nervously. Stefan stepped closer to me and gave me a warm smile. "No one here is going to hurt you Norah; we're only trying to help." I believed Stefan. He was nothing but nice to me since the day I met him, and I had no reason not to trust him. Plus, I was nearly positive that it was him who pulled the other vampire off of me.
I looked up at Damon. "You said that my brothers were hunters, but what does that have to do with those vampires attacking me?" Stefan stepped in to answer again. "We can sense hunters. They're something different about your scent that draws us to your location; just like you can sense us." I thought back to the feelings I got when I first met Damon and then Stefan. "But, I don't get those feelings anymore, and I had no idea that the ones that attacked me were anywhere near." Stefan paused for a moment and Damon came back into the conversation again. "You've gotten used to us. Most of the time, if a hunter spends too much time with vampires; they start to lose some of their instincts."
I took a couple of minutes to absorb everything that I just heard. "So let me get this straight; you two are vampires, and my brothers are hunters, and just a couple of hours ago I was attacked by other vampires who want to kill me?" Damon sat back on his bed and stretched his arms up in a lounging position. "Yep, that's about it." Stefan glared at him. "We're not going to let anything happen to you Norah, but there is one thing you have to do for us." I looked at him expectantly, "What's that," I asked with a questioning face. "You can't tell anybody." I reassured him that I wouldn't tell a soul. Everyone would think I was crazy anyway.
Damon drove me home at around ten o'clock that night to an empty house. When I thought about why the house would be empty, I realised that Owen was finally coming home after spending some extra time in the hospital due to some minor complications with his concussion. They must have all went to pick him up. I slowly got out of the car and leaned against the passenger door while the dark spots disappeared from my vision. I was told that I lost a lot of blood, and it would take time for me to fully recuperate. I felt and arm on my shoulder as I opened my eyes.
"Let me walk you in. As soon as you get settled, I'll leave," Damon said while lowering his hand to the small of my back to guide me up the steps. I knew by the tone of his voice that this wasn't something to argue over. He had his mind set.
I tried to unlock the door three times before Damon grabbed snatched the keys from my shaking hands. As he successfully opened the door, I made a mental note that if this was what blood loss felt like, I would never donate blood.
I managed to make it down to my bedroom after only stumbling twice, but when I got there I felt unsettled. "Damon," I said, surprising myself by how vulnerable I sounded. He turned to face me, and for a fleeting second I thought I saw a touch of concern in his eyes. "Do you think you could stay here until you hear someone else coming home?" He made a gesture for me to move over, and he sat on the bed next to me. "You don't need to worry about them coming here. A vampire needs to be invited in, and I'm positive that I'm the only one of my kind that has ever been invited into this household." I turned my head to look away from. "You can leave if you want," I said, probably sounding pathetic. "No, I think I'll stay."