A/N: Okay so this is a bit of a monster chapter but I figured you wouldn't mind since it's Bella/Damon Centric

Important Note: I went off canon in the flashback in this chapter; merging what happened in the books and what happened on the show with my own twist, just in case you get confused. I meant to do it this way.

Gaping at what was left of what had to be a glorious Georgian Colonial house in it's day, Bella felt a wave of loss. She walked along the perimeter of the house almost able to imagine the smell of burnt wood after all these years. She was aware of Damon following her, watching her every movement cautiously.

"What happened here?" Bella stopped and turned to him, trailing her fingers along the black scorched wood.

"A S'more cook out got way out of control." Damon said. His lips twisted into a grimace as he kicked the side of the house with his black steel-toed boot causing wood to splinter and fall.

"Can you please be serious?"

He sighed in resignation and sat down on what was left of the front steps and patted the spot beside him, motioning for her to take a seat next to him. Bella sat down, her elbows resting on her knees as she stared off into the distance waiting for Damon to speak. Picking up a small rock and examining it, he contemplated where to start. Bella watched his face portray a myriad of emotions before he tossed the rock away from him. She opened her mouth and was about to tell him, he didn't have to say anything when he began to speak.

"Stefan and I weren't always the stand up citizens you see before you today." He let out a humorless laugh and gave a slight shake of his head in bemusement at that complete understatement. "Actually, correction, Stefan usually was, I wasn't. But there was one night…one damn night that quite literally changed the course of our lives forever.

We never got a chance to mourn properly…not really. Father had her…you…whatever…" He shifted uncomfortably as he pulled at the roots of his hair in frustration. "…buried in the ground the very next morning…claiming that due to some oh so important plans within the Founders Council for that night, there would be no wake." Damon spat the last words in disgust. "Harsh words were spoken by both Stefan and I but Giuseppe was stubborn and would not relent. It was disgusting…a father not even giving a decent wake and funeral for his only daughter."

"Wow. That seems really…um..cold."

"Yeah well that was Giuseppe for you. Cold and callous to the bone." Sometimes Damon wondered if he, in some ways, had become just like his father. "The sole blame can't be heaped on Giuseppe's shoulders though. The whole council agreed that what they were planning couldn't be put off. The safety of the town was at risk and certain sacrifices had to be made for the greater good." Damon sneered viciously as he remembered over hearing the emergency meeting that was called in the dead of night.

September 14, 1864

Katherine had just left his bed, the scent of Stefan was still on her when she came to him but he had been too grief stricken to care. The metallic taste of her blood on his tongue mingled bitter sweetly with the tang of Kentucky bourbon. Hours ago his sister had died and he had done nothing but drown himself into a drunken stupor since. But no amount of alcohol or mindless sex could ever erase the sheer devastation he felt…would always feel. Pulling at his hair, he banged his head against the headboard; his mouth opened into a soundless scream that went on forever as tears tracked unchecked down his face.

Feeling suffocated by the four walls that surrounded him, Damon threw himself from his bed and stumbled drunkenly across the room while trying simultaneously to pull on his breeches. Wild eyed and with no destination or purpose in mind, he staggered down the dark hallway with one hand gliding on the walls for support until he got to the stairs. There he stopped still and let out a desperate whimper. His breathing picked up until it was almost a pant. Isabella lurching over the railing played in a continual loop through his mind until he shook his head furiously to clear the image.

He ran down the stairs and out the front door into the night chased by his own internal demons. His bare feet didn't slow until he saw flickering lights and overheard a host of hushed, angry voices coming from the Gilbert barn. Finding something else to focus on besides his overwhelming grief, Damon tip toed (as much as a drunken sod can tip toe) to the small dirt smudged window of the barn. Peering over the edge of the outside sill, he spotted his father along with his cronies gathered amidst the bales of hay.

Even through the blur of his bourbon induced haze, he heard the words clearly enough to send a cold burst through his being.

"It must happen tomorrow night now that we have the device." Giuseppe banged his fist into his hand; the flickering of the lantern casting his face into a demonic glow.

"But your daughter…" Sheriff William Forbes cut in to the oncoming tirade. "What of her wake?"

"'Tis no matter." He waved his hand in a dismissive gesture. "We have vampires in our midst. The welfare of the town must come above all things. She will be buried in the morn."

"So we are all in agreement then." Jonathon Gilbert bestowed them all with a solemn but determined look. "The vampires will be burned tomorrow night in Fell's Church. Barnette, you will supply the vervain?"

Barnette Lockwood nodded his head. "I'll have everything ready."

"I'll have Miranda bring over some food for after the service, Giuseppe." Jonathon told the large man.

"Tell your wife, it's not necessary. There will be no mourning period. Life will continue as usual at the Salvatore household."

"But she was your daughter. Surely…"

"She killed my wife." Giuseppe interrupted; his voice was harsh and scathing. "As far as I am concerned Isabella's death is a blessing. I will no longer be cursed with her presence."

Damon was so sickened by what he heard; he nearly threw up the contents of his stomach right there. He pivoted, nearly falling and ran haphazardly back to the house in a blind rage. His father's cruel words tormented and enraged him. If they killed Katherine so close to him losing Isabella he wouldn't survive.

But Stefan, once Damon told him, was convinced he could make Giuseppe see reason; that not all vampires were evil. It was such a typical Stefan response to talk things out that Damon wanted to throttle him for being so naïve. Maybe Stefan was too consumed with his own guilt in the hand he played in Isabella's death to listen to logic.

Things went straight to hell right after that. Giuseppe immediately became suspicious and laced anything they drank with vervain. It was late afternoon, after the funeral when he caught them together; Katherine and Stefan. Upon drinking Stefan's blood, Katherine felt the immediate effects of the vervain and that was when Giuseppe knew. In his eyes, his sons were traitors to Mystic Falls, traitors to it's inhabitants and most of all, traitors to humanity. He had them locked up to keep them from interrupting the council's plans and all but threw away the key.

It was Emily that set them free. From a distance they watched the chaos, unable to intervene. They heard the screams of the townspeople as the vampires fought back. In the end the church was burned in a blazing ethereal inferno; the same church where their beloved sister had her memorial services only hours before. Twenty seven vampires including Katherine were supposedly trapped inside the mass funeral pyre.

Damon wearing his grief shrouded in anger, attacked his brother. Attacked him for the death of their sister, attacked him for Katherine. It was a fight to the death and no one won. When they woke up by the river side without knowing how they got there, they were vampires in transition. It was then that Emily told them the truth; that the other vampires weren't dead but trapped in the tomb under the church thanks to her spell; that Katherine had escaped and left them there despite her knowledge of what they were now becoming. That was the first time that Damon felt the bitter sting of her deceit. He wasn't aware then that he would spend the next 145 years loving to hate her and hating to love her.

Before Emily left them to their own devices she exacted a promise from them to keep the Bennett line safe as she had always tried keep Isabella safe despite any favors she had done for Katherine Pierce . Then she bestowed them each with a Lapis Lazuli ring and a cryptic message that death wasn't always the end.

Stefan was the one to embrace the vampire lifestyle first. Damon wanted no part of it; not anymore. He was resolved to wither and die. There was no point to anything anymore. Life as he knew was both literally and figuratively over. That was until Stefan brought him back a girl as a "present"; her throat already open and bleeding. She wasn't dead…not yet. The terrified expression in her jewel green orbs told Damon that she knew she would be soon. He wanted to tell her not to fight it; that it would be less painful that way. It was a lesson he learned quickly with Katherine.

Stefan taunted him with the girl; licked the blood right off her neck; his tongue moving tantalizingly slowly over her skin. Stefan's cruel eyes never left Damon's, watching his older brother's expression turn from disgust to bloodlust. Damon could feel the desire for the warm red liquid as it pulsed out of the girl's veins and it sickened him. Just as he was about to run away from the temptation, Stefan threw the girl at him and watched with a satisfied smile as he sunk his teeth into the carotid artery. Internally, Damon felt the horror of what he was doing but was unable to stop until every last bit of the tangy liquid was gone. The reflection of blood dripping from his canines stared back at him through her glassy dead eyes.

That night they had both gone to exact revenge against their father and the rest of the council. Stefan was the one to ultimately kill Giuseppe but not before Damon unleashed his all encompassing fury upon the older man. He beat him but not to the point where he wouldn't know what was going to happen to him. No, Damon had wanted him very much aware that he would meet his maker by the very thing he was fighting so hard against. Venomous words spewed from Damon's lips to rain down upon Giuseppe Salvatore; convicting him of heinous crimes against his children; most importantly his own innocent daughter.

It was a savage, brutal death. Blood sprayed the walls in a morbid graffiti as Stefan ripped into a shocked Giuseppe. Even in death with his neck gutted and pooled thick red, his eyes held mean-spirited censure. Damon wanted no part of Giuseppe's tainted blood. Instead, with a cry of rage, he set fire to the staircase that was the scene of his sister's death. The whole house went up in flames very quickly after that.

The rest of the council was next. There were several deaths that night as the two brothers meted out their own brand of justice. They eventually parted ways once the morning came; Damon unable to look at his brother without wanting to kill him too.

Present Day

Bella felt shell shocked after Damon finished his tale as she sat there in stunned silence.

"I…she…my own…her own mother?" Bella stumbled over the words. She stood up suddenly, wrapping her arms around herself.

Damon came up behind her and grasped her shoulders, turning her around to face him; his blue gaze desperate for her understanding. "No. It wasn't like that. It was childbirth, Isabella. Plain and simple." He felt the déjà vu pierce through him as he remembered a conversation from so long ago.

She nodded, not quite sure what to feel only knowing that Damon was trying to convey that it wasn't her fault.

"What happened? After you left, I mean."

"Nothing good." He sighed. "I flipped the switch. Became an unfeeling bastard and fed all my vices. I was never able to turn it off completely though. You were always there." He tapped his chest. "keeping me from plunging too far into the deep."

"And Stefan?"

"He was worse from what I heard. Despite my hatred towards him for all he did, I still kept tabs on the runt. Became what we in the vamp world call a ripper." At Bella's confused expression, he explained. "Went on a complete bender. He sunk his teeth into every warm body he could find and left the bodies to rot. No discretion or finesse what so ever. He had a friend, Lexi, that turned him onto an animal diet; not unlike your sparkle boy." He wasn't about to mention that he had been the cause of Lexi's untimely demise.

"My God! It's amazing the Volturi never got involved."

"Yeah well maybe they are not as omnipotent as you think they are. Anyway, that's what happened and now here were are."

Bella looked once more at the remains of the house. "I want to go inside." She told him.

"I don't think that's a good idea. Can't have you falling through the floorboards."

"You'll be there to catch me."

But Damon wasn't so easily swayed. "Isabella, that burned out corpse of a house is where you died."

Just as Bella was about to argue her point further, Damon pulled out his vibrating phone. "How did she get my...never mind." After looking at it for a second, he smirked and handed her the phone. Apparently your psychic thinks it's a bad idea as well."

Bella read the text: DO NOT GO INTO THE HOUSE!

Deflated, she handed it back to him. "Fine. We'll do this your way...for now."

"Good. So how about that motorcycle ride?"

"What?"

"Sure. You can be Peter Fonda to my Dennis Hopper - I never really thought of myself as a freak, ya know...but I Love to Freak!-" Damon jumped up and spun in a circle.

"What the hell are you talking about?" Bella stared at him like he had grown two heads.

"Easyrider? Tell me you haven't seen the greatest road trip movie ever made…besides Thelma and Louise that is. Even I have to admit Susan Sarandon is a babe."

"Uh, no."

"Well that we'll have to be remedied then. In the meantime…"

Damon's phone vibrated with another incoming message: Don't forget helmets.

"We'll take the hot pink helmet and the matching leather jacket." Damon told the salesman at the Ducati dealership. "Oh and the hot pink leather pants too."

"Why Damon, I didn't think pink was your color." Bella said amused.

"Not for me. For you, Sprite."

Before she had a chance to be offended by him calling her a soft drink, she realized what he was doing. "Oh, no. No way. Absolutely not." Bella stared at the outfit in horror and shook her head at it. She could not wear that. It was way too far out of her comfort zone. It was too loud...too bright...too sexy.

"Trust me. Mr. Sparkle Pants is going to love it."

"Yeah, it will look real pretty on me when I am locked up in a room, which is exactly where I'll be when Edward finds out I'm doing this."

"Oh come on. Live a little. He can't keep you in a gilded cage forever. The little birdie has to fly the coop sometime. Now go put this on while I secure the bike."

The bike in reference was a red and black Ducati Multistrada. Damon struck a good deal with the salesman...free, thanks to compulsion. Sometimes it paid very well to be a vampire.

Bella nervously walked out of the bathroom of the dealership. If she felt like all eyes were on her it was because they were. Even she had to admit to herself that she felt different in the leather. She felt almost invincible and more than a little bad ass. Damon smiled when he saw her. He'd crack that self conscious shell of hers, yet.

Dubiously she looked at the Ducati as Damon hopped on and revved the engine with a flick of his wrist on the handlebars.

"Are you coming? Or are you going to ride by osmosis?"

"Oh, what the hell." Bella grinned and swung her leg over the back of the seat after putting on her helmet.

"Are you sure you know how to ride this thing?" She asked as she shifted to find a comfortable position.

"No but I have a steep learning curve." He said just before he took off.

Bella had no choice but to wrap her arms around him and hope for the best. Her bike back home was just a pile of spare parts slapped together with sweat and prayers. What she was on now was a museum masterpiece with a motor. It was exhilarating, liberating and made her heart speed up and stop at the same time. She loved it.

"Woo Hoo!" She shouted as they turned onto the freeway and Damon really let loose with the speed.

"See, isn't this better than skulking around some creepy old house!" Damon shouted over the motor.

"Yes!"

"I can't hear you!"

"Yes!" She shouted louder.

"Look ma no hands!" Damon said taking his hands off the handles.

"Are you fucking crazy?"

"Yes!" He answered back with a laugh before securing the handle bars again.

He drove without any particular destination in mind. They ended up on the South Lee Highway headed towards Natural Bridge when inspiration struck. It was near lunchtime anyway and he knew of just the place to take her.

Bella didn't know what to think when Damon pulled into the parking lot of a diner and parked next to a huge statue of King Kong crushing an airplane.

"Where are we?" Bella asked as she took her helmet off and looked around, noticing a giant pink Cadillac in front and small statue of a creepy looking Humpty Dumpty holding a menu by the entrance.

"The Pink Cadillac Diner. A truly singularly unique dining experience."

"Unique as in good or unique as in horrible?"

"We'll let your discerning palette decide for itself." He held out his arm for her. "Shall we?"

Bella giggled and looped her arm with his. When they walked in, they were greeted by a sixty something waitress wearing plaid pajama pants and way too much hairspray.

"Well Damon Salvatore as I live and breathe!" She exclaimed giving him a bear hug before pulling back and pinching his cheek. "You look sexier every time I see you."

"And you are still one hot mama, Marge." He said with a grin giving her a pat on her ample behind, causing her to blush.

"Hot mama, hmmph. You always were a charming hound dog." Marge rolled her eyes at him but blushed like a schoolgirl. Her friendly gaze strayed to Bella who just stood there observing the exchange with an amused expression. "And who is this pretty little thing with ya?"

"This is my sister, Isabella." Damon stated proudly putting his arm around Isabella's shoulders.

"Hi" Bella finally said.

The waitress gave her the once over and looked back at Damon suspiciously. "Sister, huh?"

"Yep."

"For real?" She looked at Bella again more carefully this time. "Well, damn. C'mere girl and give Auntie Marge a hug." She said pulling Bella into a tight embrace. "Oh child, we've got to put some meat on these bones. Damon Salvatore, you should be ashamed of yourself. She's such a frail little thing." She gave Damon a look of admonishment. "C'mon" she grabbed both Damon and Bella's hands leading them to a table. "Now sit and I'll bring you some menus. Mind you missy." She told Bella. "I won't be serving you any salads, so if that's what you're thinking of ordering, get that notion out of your head right now."

"She's a force of nature, isn't she?" Damon said after Marge left them.

"You could have warned me, you know."

"That's no fun." He smirked. "And for the record, I don't think you're frail." He whispered behind his hand.

"And I don't think you're a charming hound dog." She quipped back with a knowing grin.

"Isabella, you wound me." Damon placed his hand above his heart and made a painful face. In response she threw a crumpled pink napkin at him.

After they ordered (both opting for a cheeseburger and brew fries), Bella sat back and looked around at the loud décor that filled the busy diner. There was a bronze statue of Elvis, a cardboard cut out of James Dean, a giant stuffed pink flamingo, and was it her imagination or were the eyes of a Betty Boop picture was watching her.

Damon watched Bella with a smile as she observed her surroundings but some of his attention was on the other occupants of the restaurant. As per usual, there were some unsavory road trippers that looked like they walked out of a ZZ Top video and some of them were lasciviously eyeballing the brunette in the hot pink leather. Bella was completely unaware of the attention being paid to her but Damon sent a vicious glare in their direction.

"What's wrong?" Bella asked glancing around her when she saw Damon's expression turn from teasing to dark and foreboding.

"You seem to have acquired some admirers." He groused as he bit violently into a fry.

Bella spotted them and shrugged off handedly. She wasn't worried. She had dealt with things far worse than a few lewd stares. "If you keep paying attention to them, they'll take that as an invitation to do something." She told him.

"And you know this how?"

"My dad's a cop. Some of his lessons had to sink in over the years."

"Okay, O Wise One. We'll play this your way. So what do you think of this place?"

"The burgers are good…greasy but good. I feel like I'm surrounded by every weird 50's pop icon known to man, though. I mean what is it with all the Elvis crap?"

"Hey don't knock the King. He was a good guy." Damon said teasingly affronted.

"You knew him?" Bella practically squealed.

"When you've been around a long time, you get to meet lots of people. Elvis was awesome. He was an even bigger man whore than I am."

Bella nearly choked on her burger. "I don't believe that."

"Oh, he was." He assured her.

"Not that." She slapped him playfully on the arm. "I don't believe you are a man whore." Her brow furrowed in thought. "I mean you may have been but I don't think you are now."

"What makes you say that?"

"Because you're in love with Elena." She said bluntly.

Damon almost spit his sweet tea across the table at her revelation. Sure, it was true but he wasn't about to admit it. How the hell did she know anyway? He thought he was being so inconspicuous about it.

"Pfft, that's ridiculous." Deny, deny, deny, he thought.

"Is it?" She cocked her eyebrow at him, clearly not believing him.

"Completely."

"Okay." She shrugged. "If you say so."

"Oh now you're just humoring me."

She shrugged. "It's obvious you don't want to talk about it so…"

"So…"

"So I can't eat anymore. I'm stuffed." She said changing the subject. Damon was practically squirming in his seat and she didn't want to ruin the good time they were having by pushing him to talk about something that he obviously wanted to avoid.

"Ditto. I'll pay the check."

"What? No compulsion this time?" She teased.

"Nah, Marge needs the tips." He said getting up. "She has her grandkids to support." He added sheepishly.

Bella kept quiet on how sweet she thought that was, knowing Damon wouldn't appreciate it. 'I'll just go to the restroom before we leave."

"Then I'll take you to Foamhenge. It's just up the road a bit."

"Foamhenge?"

"Yup. A must see roadside attraction. An exact replica of Stonehenge made up entirely of Styrofoam. The tree huggers hate it." He said with a snigger.

When Bella went off to the ladies room, Damon approached Marge who was now behind the cash register. She beamed at him as she rang up his bill.

"Don't make it so long in between visits, ya hear? And bring your sister around too. She could use more of Mac's greasy burgers." She scolded him.

"I promise."

Marge's face suddenly changed to one of barely repressed anger. Her lips thinned in disapproval as she leaned over to him. "You best go get your sister now. One of them creeps that's been looking at her just followed her into the back." Her voice was a hushed whisper but to Damon, it felt like she screamed at him. His whole body tensed and without a word, he stalked towards the bathrooms.

Bella was grateful she was able to squirm in and out of the tight leather pants fairly quickly. It felt like the whole day whisked by so fast. She exited the restroom only to be trapped by a strong burley body that smelled of grease, sweat and cigarettes. It was one of the creeps that had been watching her.

"Excuse me." She mumbled as she tried to shoulder past him but his arms caged her against the wall.

"Not so fast. What's your name, sugar?" He leaned over her breathing his fetid breath in her face.

I will not panic, Bella told herself. "Nona" she finally said straightening her shoulders, letting him know in silent communication that she wasn't going to be intimidated.

"Nona?" Creepy questioned with a lewd grin.

"Yeah." Bella's chin tilted stubbornly upward in defiance. "Nona Yer Damn Business."

Creepy laughed revealing a row of crooked tobacco stained teeth. "I like my women with a little spunk."

"Perfect." She sneered. "Go find one of them."

"Why go lookin' when I got you right here?" He leered at her.

"Think again." Damon spoke menacingly as he flew at him and had him against the wall before he could blink. Damon gripped him by the collar, holding him several inches off the ground.

"Hey! I was just havin' a bit of fun."

"Have it somewhere else." Damon said darkly. "You okay, Bella?" His eyes never left Creepy's face.

"Damon, I'm fine." She tugged pleadingly on his arm. She wasn't going to be responsible for someone's death…even if he was a jerk and Damon was very close to ripping this guy apart. "Let's just go…please."

"Looks like today's your lucky day, asshole." Damon twisted the man's collar until he was choking and grasping for breath. "But if you had hurt her, I would have killed you…slowly." His face twisted into an ugly smile and threw the man against the wall. "And I would have enjoyed every minute of it."

"C'mon Nona." Damon grabbed Bella's hand and they quickly left the restaurant after receiving a thumbs up and a quick wink from Marge. He was still feeling the panic that had set in when Marge mentioned that Bella was in trouble. He should've known one of those pricks would try something but he had let his guard down. He would never make that mistake again.

"Are we still going to Stone…I mean Foamhenge?" Bella asked Damon with a smile when they got back to the motorcycle.

The question threw him off. He looked at her carefully, examining her for any injuries she may have lied about. He was satisfied that he found none. In fact, she didn't even look like she was upset in the slightest. "Do you still want to go?"

"I'm not going into shock, Damon." She told him brusquely at his overt inspection.

"Just checking. Okay. Get on…no sense in letting that little bastard ruin our whole day."

"Thank you…for rescuing me, I mean."

Damon's face softened. "I will always be there for you, piccola." He cleared his throat. "Let's go behold the wonders of Foamhenge."

Bella found Foamhenge and bit anticlimactic and a lot cheesy but being with Damon made it fun. He was like a big kid, hiding around the structures as she took pictures of him with her cell phone camera. A father who was there with his five rambunctious kids even offered to take a few pics of the two of them together.

"You are going to show up in these pictures, right?" She asked him as they were leaving.

"Oh, please. The camera loves me."

They were a few miles from the boarding house on an old dirt road when Damon pulled over, stopped and got off motioning for Bella to do the same.

"What's going on? Why are we stopping?"

"Because you are going to take this baby the rest of the way." Damon said patting the seat of the bike.

"I don't think that's a very good idea."

"Why not? You've driven a motorcycle before, haven't you?"

"Yeah but that was a Schwinn compared to this."

"They both have two wheels and a motor. There's no difference really."

"Kind of like there's no difference between a hamburger and a steak." She snorted. "Damon, I can't do this." Bella was reduced to pleading.

"Yes, you can."

"What happens if I fall or crash?"

"You won't. Listen to me, Isabella." He gently gripped her shoulders and forced her to look directly at him. "You can do this."

"Are you trying to compel me?" Her eyes narrowed in suspicion.

"Is it working?" He smirked.

"No."

"Damn" he muttered under his breath. "Okay, we'll try this another way. Do you trust me?"

"In theory." She responded a bit unsure at what he was getting at.

"Well then trust me when I tell you that you will be able to get on this bike and ride it like you were born to it. The moment when you believe that you can't do something is the moment you will fail."

Bella inhaled a few breaths, watching the Ducati warily as if it was going to jump and attack her. It wasn't like she didn't want to drive it, she just didn't think she could. She closed her eyes and imagined herself actually in the driver's seat.

"Okay. I'll try." She said opening her eyes.

"Don't try, do."

"Okay, Yoda." Damon gave her an odd look. " – I have seen Empire Strikes Back too, ya know."

Damon laughed and showed her where the controls were and what to do. It reminded her of when Jake taught her to ride except this was a little more involved. When he felt she was ready, Damon sat in the passenger seat and hoped for the best. "Remember…believe you can and you will."

With a rev of the engine they took off. Bella felt like she was flying. She was doing this…she was actually doing this! Her face held an ear to ear grin when she heard Damon's boisterous laugh behind her. In this one moment, she felt more in control and carefree than she had in months, maybe years.

Anxiety only started to creep in when they reached the boarding house and she saw all the cars were there. Everyone was back from their hunt and Bella half expected to see Edward charge out of the house with a look of terror and shock on his face.

Inside the house, Edward was getting nervous. Neither Bella nor Damon were around when they got in. There was no note and thanks to Alice, he didn't even know if Bella tried to call. Alice had swiped his cell phone and would not allow him to contact Bella all day. Anything could have happened to her, but Alice tried to assure him Bella was safe. He wouldn't be able to believe that until he saw her with his own eyes. Somewhere in the distance was the sound of a loud motorcycle.

Alice approached him with a stubborn determined look on her face that spoke of trouble.

"Did you come over here to give me my cell phone back?" He asked her.

"Here." She dropped it into his hands. He looked at the phone, checking for any indication that he missed a call or a text; he didn't and felt disappointed. "But don't bother calling. They are on their way now…Oh and Edward." Her tone spoke of a warning and her eyes narrowed at him. "She had a good time today. Do not ruin it for her."

He was about to ask her what she meant when the motorcycle engine noise sounded like it was right in the front yard and then it stopped and if he had a beating heart, it would have stopped too.