Another little chapter for you guys! Thanks for all of the amazing reviews and for being so patient with my spaced out updates.
Beta: currently un-beta'd
Disclaimer: I own nothing of TVD's, only Grace and my story.
Grace didn't allow herself a moment to think as she jumped at her mother. She was trying to wrestle the gun from her hands without firing it. Finally getting a good grip on it, she yanked it from Diana's hands and disarmed it, making sure the bullets were released from their chamber.
"What the hell are you doing, mom?" Grace hollered.
"He's a vampire, Grace!" Diana clenched her fists at her sides. "You invited him in?!"
"He's my friend! Damon is my friend!" The Guardian fought back and she ran towards the fallen vampire hearing him groan out.
"Leave him, Grace." Her mother spoke firmly.
"No," She knelt down to his side and gently opened up the buttons of his shirt. Her mom had pretty good aim and had done a lot of damage. Dark red blood was everywhere, on his shirt, on his skin, and even some of it was making puddles on the floor.
"I said, leave him! He doesn't deserve any mercy for what his kind has done in this town." Her voice was dark and commanding; Grace had never seen this side of her mother before.
"No!" Grace snarled. "He is not the reason for everything that's happened. There are other vampires in this town and they are the ones to blame." A pained groan brought her back to Damon who was squirming on his back. "Shh, it's okay."
"Grace?" He cracked his eyes open a little.
"I'll heal you, Damon." She told him and spread open his shirt even more, showing the bullets that were embedded in his skin. She pressed her hands firmly on his chest and Damon howled out. A warm honey colored glow emanated from her hands and it soothed Damon's open wounds. The vampire felt the pain slowly dissipate until all he could feel was numbing warmth throughout his entire body. Grace watched the bullets disintegrate into nothing and the skin stitch itself back together. Diana watched on, never seeing her daughter use her powers before and was in awe of the stunningly beautiful white wings that had emerged from her back. The Guardian pulled her hands back and the glimmer of light went with it. Damon's skin was completely healed, but he was still weak. He looked up at her and reached a hand out to touch the white feathers that were curled around her back, she guessed that her wings had come out when she tackled her mother and didn't even realize it.
"Do not touch her!" Diana growled from the corner of the room.
"Mom!" Grace scolded and helped Damon off the floor. She slung his arm around her shoulders, being mindful of her wings. The vampire shook weakly against her and sent a deadly glare to the woman that shot him. Grace scowled too before turning them and moving towards the front door.
"Where are you going?" She hissed.
"I'm bringing him home." Grace replied and threw open the front door.
"Grace! Come back here!" Diana demanded but she was met with the door in her face before she could even storm after them.
"Was your mom a sniper by any chance?" Damon wondered as Grace led him up the front steps of the boarding house. "Because she got me good."
Grace sighed and adjusted Damon's hold on her as she nudged the front door open. "I'm so sorry about all of this. I would have let you stay at my place, but I'm sure my mom would have tried to kill you in your sleep." A fire roared to life in the fireplace with a quick sweep of Grace's hand and she sat Damon on the couch. "Tell me what I can get you."
"Blood. There's a cooler downstairs." Damon groaned. She quickly darted off, jogging down the steps and to her horror; she saw empty blood bags strewn all over the floor. She threw open the lid to the cooler and peered inside, it was completely empty. She reported back to Damon who muttered the name of his brother under his breath.
"What else can I do for you?" She asked and sat beside him.
"I'd ask you to rob a blood bank, but I think that's a little extreme." He shook his head.
"You think?" She remarked.
"I'm so hungry." Damon moaned and Grace found herself offering her wrist to the weary vampire. "Grace?"
"Please drink, Damon." She begged. "You need your strength."
"I can't." He shook his head and Grace lifted the sleeve of her long sleeve shirt up and pressed her wrist against his lips.
"You have to." She spoke firmly and Damon took her wrist in his hand, cradling it gently. His nose nudged along the pale skin and bluish veins that rested just beneath, the smell of her was assaulting his nostrils. Her scent was sweet, Damon couldn't quite put his finger on a particular smell, but she was sweet nonetheless. His fangs poked impatiently against his lips and he bit into her skin, his hunger becoming too much to control. Even though he tried to be somewhat gentle, Grace still let out a pained gasp and her body tensed up. It hurt and it felt even stranger to actually feel her blood leaving her body. Damon drank slowly and in moderation, he knew better than to guzzle down blood, but he was fighting pretty hard. If he thought she smelled sweet, she tasted even sweeter. She was refreshing and absolutely delicious. A whimper from Grace brought him back to reality and he immediately pulled back. Little dribbles of blood still oozed from the wound and Damon lapped it up with his tongue like how a cat would with cream. "Ow."
"Are you alright?" The vampire breathed and swiped a droplet of blood from his lips with his thumb. She nodded and cradled her wrist. "Here, take some blood."
Damon handed her his wrist and she immediately shied away. "No. I don't want it." She applied pressure to the wound and Damon was suddenly gone from the couch. He blurred back with a medical kit and started to bandage her hand. He eyed the wound and pursed his lips.
"It's not too deep. A little bit of my blood would heal that right up." He offered.
Grace frowned and watched him apply some healing cream. "I don't wanna take any chances." She spoke.
"Well, I don't think anyone would be killing you anytime soon." Damon chortled and she glared at him.
"It's Mystic Falls, Damon." She grumbled.
The vampire sighed and rolled his eyes as he wrapped the bandage around the bite mark. "That's true."
Grace stood up from the couch and wobbled slightly, hoping Damon wouldn't catch it. "This has been fun and all, but I have to-" Her eyes crossed and her vision grew blurry.
"Woah!" Damon rose and stood behind her, trying to keep her body steady. "Easy, Grace. You can't go anywhere."
"I'm fine. Besides, my mom will worry." She shook her head but that did nothing to help clear her head. If anything, that made it worse.
Damon scowled and picked up the weak Guardian. "Your mom just shot a vampire. She'll be fine."
"Shut up." She grumbled and leaned against him as he took her upstairs. Three doors down, he stopped at one on the right side of the hall and nudged it open. Grace could make out a large king sized bed, a fire place built into the far wall and some bookcases lining the walls. "This. This is your room?"
"Yep. You should consider yourself lucky, feathers. Only a few special handful of women get to see my room." He smirked and gently placed her down on the bed.
"Gross." She held her head as it throbbed.
"You flatter me." The vampire turned on his heel and gathered some clothes to have her change into. "You can shower in the adjoining bathroom. You want me to help you?" He asked cautiously as he could see Grace's eyes spinning around in their sockets, unable to focus on anything.
"Why? So you can sneak a peak?" She hissed and tried to stand on her own. With a huff, Damon threw her over his shoulder and carried her to the bathroom. "No! Damon, please put me down!" She beat at his back. "If you're going to carry me, at least do it the right way!" Damon ignored her and turned on the shower. Hot steam filled the room and clouded the mirror. "I'm going to throw up on you if you don't-" Grace's feet met the floor and the water from the shower head drowned her clothes and hair.
"Shower." He ordered gruffly and closed the glass door to the shower.
"Don't look!" Grace spat water at him.
"Grace. Shower now or else I'll shower you." His threat made her glare back at him and she turned her back. She tossed off her shirt and grimaced as she wiggled out of her wet pants. She knew that Damon was getting a laugh at seeing her completely naked. As she reached for the shampoo, she happened to look over her shoulder to see that Damon was nowhere to be found.
The raven haired vampire snuck back into the boarding house and gently placed a duffel bag filled with clothes on his bedroom floor. He'd taken the liberty and courage to go back to Grace's home and take some clothes from her room to bring them here. Who knew how long she'd be staying at the boarding house, so Damon just took one of her large duffels and stuffed it with things she might need during her stay. He didn't see her mother at all, it looked like she had left the house and for that, Damon was grateful that he didn't have to dodge any bullets.
Grace was sleeping soundly in his bed, her body was all wrapped up in the mass of blankets and her damp hair was sprawled around her head like a halo. Damon chuckled at that, she did have wings, so she looked the part. The vampire ghosted the back of his hand over her cheek and she stirred slightly, not fully waking up. He stripped off his clothes and threw on a pair of grey sweatpants before climbing into the other side of the bed. As he pulled the covers over him, Grace turned in her sleep to face him. He watched her closely as she dreamt, he was almost amused by it since he barely dreamt anymore. Damon tucked a curl behind her ear and kissed her forehead.
"Goodnight, Grace."
The morning came much too early for Grace as she buried herself further under the covers. Once she was plunged in darkness, she took in the scents around her. She abruptly sat up, falling out of the bed and tumbled to the floor. Her eyes darted around wildly. This was not her room. Then she remembered last night with Damon and her mother.
"Feathers? What are you doing on the floor?" Damon asked teasingly as he traipsed into the room with two mugs in his hands.
"I...I forgot where I was for a moment." She stammered and clamored back up into the tall bed.
Damon sat on the edge of the bed and passed her a cup of coffee. "I took some clothes from your house last night and brought them over. I didn't know how long you'd be staying for." He took a sip of steaming hot blood from his mug.
"You went back?!" She asked incredulously and he nodded.
"You so owe me." He grumbled and nodded to the duffle bag by the end table.
"Thanks, Damon." She walked over to it and picked out some clothes. The Guardian was ready to get dressed, but she looked to Damon who was still sitting there. "Uh,"
"What?" The vampire threw his hands up in surrender.
"Get out!" Grace threw one of her pointe shoes at him and he easily dodged it.
"Alright! Fine!" He decided to settle for going into the bathroom and closing the door, giving Grace her privacy.
"Damn vampires." She shimmied her sweatpants up her legs.
"I heard that!" Damon's voice came through the door and she rolled her eyes.
"It was meant for you to hear." Grace sighed and threw off one of Damon's shirts that she had commandeered last night after her impromptu shower. Very quickly, she threw on a bra and t-shirt just as Damon stepped out of the bathroom shirtless. "God! Must you always walk around shirtless?"
"What's the matter, Grace? Is this bothering you?" He gestured to his shirtless chest and wiggled his eyebrows at her.
"No, it doesn't bother me, but your cockiness does." She handed Damon back his clothes, trying not to stare at his chest.
"So, what's on your agenda for today?" He asked as he took the clothes and dumped them on his dresser before grabbing a new shirt from one of the drawers.
"I'm actually off today." She smiled. "But I have to choreograph that Miss Mystic Falls dance for the pageant."
"I know how to do it." Damon was smug about it as he buttoned up his shirt.
"You learned it in 1864?" The Guardian smiled and hopped back up on his bed, fiddling with her phone.
"Yep. Although I never got to actually dance it. Katherine went as Stefan's date." She could practically hear the sadness in his voice.
"Well, maybe you'll get another chance one day." Grace offered with a sincere smile.
Damon returned the smile, but he was a little pained thinking of Stefan waltzing around with Katherine while he stood idly by. "Yeah, maybe. Listen, I've got a council meeting, so I can trust you not to burn down the house?"
The Guardian looked to him and rolled her eyes. "Shut up, Damon."
Grace held her cell phone up to her ear as lounged on Damon's bed. There really wasn't much to do in the boarding house since Stefan was at school and Damon was at a council meeting. She perused through the Salvatore library but found nothing of interest so she settled for texting Adam who had called her soon after. "So, tell me all about your trip." She asked excitedly. "We didn't have time to talk about because you left so quickly."
"It's going really well." Adam smiled. "Yeah, I'm sorry that I had jet so soon."
"It's okay. You had to do what you had to do. Was it Guardian stuff?" She eyed her toenails and frowned. She was in desperate need of a pedicure.
"You could say that." He spoke.
"Listen, I've got some great news." Grace bubbled with a wide smile. "Mrs. Lockwood asked me to teach the traditional dance for the Miss Mystic Falls pageant."
"Wow! That's great, Grace! Paid gig?" Adam asked her.
"Hell yeah! And I can use that money to buy a dress for the pageant. You'll be able to see the dance when you take me." She rolled around on Damon's bed.
"Oh, uhm, there might be a little problem with that." Adam interjected and Grace went quiet. "I might not be able to take you."
"What? Why not?" The younger Guardian asked sadly.
"I have some business to take care of here." He told her.
"But you knew about this months ago." She frowned.
"I know, Grace, but this is important to me." Adam spoke.
"And this is important to me." Her anger rose slightly.
"I promise that I'll make it up to you when I get back." He was trying to assuage her, but it wasn't working.
"Don't bother, Adam. Continue with your secret Guardian business that you can't tell me about." She spat and just as she was about to hang up, she heard another voice over the phone.
"Adam, come on. Get off the phone." A female voice made her blood boil even more.
"Who is that?" She asked heatedly.
"It's no one." He dismissed it immediately.
"You know what? I'm done with the lies and the secrets." Grace growled. "Call me when you want to stop." She promptly hung up the phone and tossed it aside. Adam called back multiple time and texted as well, but she didn't reply. Grace let some tears streak down her cheeks but she quickly wiped them away. She wouldn't let herself cry over some guy.
From downstairs, she heard two voices arguing. A man and a woman. One of them was Damon's but she couldn't place the other one, but her aura was telling her that it was a vampire. They were really going at it and talking about blood being stolen from a hospital. The blood bank was completely robbed, not a single blood bag left. Grace tuned out their conversation a little while after and stuck her ear buds in her ears. She needed to get working on choreographing this dance and she needed to find the perfect song.
"Okay! Ladies and gents, get with your respective dance partners." Grace said coming into the cafeteria of the high school. "Mrs. Lockwood asked me to teach the dance you will perform at the pageant." She explained and all the couples paired up. "Now, this dance is really traditional. It starts off by having the couples not touching at all." That remark received some sniggers from the guys and she giggled too. "I know, it's weird, but think about it. Back then when this pageant was first created, the rules of society were very different. You couldn't kiss your girlfriend in public because people were always watching you. It was considered to be improper." Grace clapped her hands together, "Alright! Let's get started. Right hand around first."
The couples stood across from one another and held up their right hands. They circled around each other. "This is ridiculous." Elena giggled as she danced with Stefan.
"Remember, no touching." Grace instructed as she walked between the couples. "The idea is about the intimacy of near touch. Left hand around now."
"You're only saying that because you don't know how to do it." Stefan chuckled and held up his left hand, circling around Elena.
"Now both hands. Great job, everyone!" The dancer smiled. This was going a lot better than she thought.
"Sorry that only one of us was around when the dance was invented." Elena teased and Stefan scowled playfully.
"Ouch!" He quickly grabbed her hand and spun her around.
"Woah!" She shrieked out as he dipped her.
Grace giggled at the pair, happy that they were in a good place after Stefan's blood problem. "Easy, Stef. That part comes later." She joked and clapped loudly, getting everyone's attention. "Actually, let me use Stefan for a demonstration. You all are doing great, but I want you to watch the waltzing portion of this dance."
"Don't embarrass me too much, okay?" Stefan quipped and Grace chuckled as they got into a waltzing position.
"Now, boys, you want to hold your partners gently with one arm higher up on the waist and hold her other hand." Stefan did just that and an electrical shock passed through Grace's hand.
She was in the basement of the boarding house. It was dark and damp with only a few dim lights around to pierce through the darkness. Grace heard the sounds of sucking and moaning and she quietly moved through the basement. She squinted and was able to see a man hunched over a large metal cooler. He leaned his head back and let out a long groan before tossing what was in his hands to the floor. Grace eyed the item and her eyes grew wide seeing that it was a drained blood bag. Now appearing in front of the man, Grace watched as Stefan ruthlessly ripped off the top of another blood bag and drained it in mere seconds. His mouth was dripping with crimson liquid but it didn't seem to bother him. He continued to drink until he was sucking on an empty bag. Once again he grabbed another bag and didn't even bother ripping the tab open. Instead, he just used his fangs to pierce the bag.
"Grace? Are you okay?" Stefan's voice suddenly shook her and she stared back up at him. She had to blink a few times to get the image of Stefan's bloody face out of her head.
"Yeah, sorry about that. I, uh, zoned out." She tried to smile, but that vision freaked her out. She knew that Stefan had a blood problem, but now it was true that Stefan was getting worse. That must have been what Damon was talking about with that girl the other day at the boarding house. Stefan robbed the blood bank and he was now addicted to blood.
This was not good.
Hmm, so Grace knows that Stefan robbed the bank. Will she tell Elena? Will she try to help? And what's up with Adam suddenly blowing Grace off? What secrets is he hiding from her?
Please review :D