It was still Christmas Eve by the time Damon and Celeste finished their sex romp, both eternally blissed out. Damon had made her feel like she was the most precious thing on the planet, bigger than she could possibly be, larger than life, on fire with possibilities, ecstatic to be breathing, impatient for the next moment together. She'd been happy in those last few hours, so alive and happy.
"We should spend the last hours of Christmas with everyone." Celeste said, after a breathless moment.
"In a minute." Damon grabbed her waist and pulled her closer to him. "I want to enjoy this."
She wasn't going to argue with him.
"Present time!" They heard Elena shout from downstairs. "Get down here, you two!"
Damon groaned and after a serious case of profanities, they both managed to get some clothes on and with intertwined hands, walked out of the bedroom and down the stairs to meet everyone.
Stefan was sitting at the piano, playing a soft Christmas tune, while Elena was handing out presents. Caroline was standing by the piano, tapping her fingers on the grand piano.
"Hark, the herald angels sing, glory to the new born king, peace on earth and mercy mild, god and sinners reconciled."
Celeste let go of Damon's hand and went to stand by Caroline, who was singing.
"Joyful, all ye nations, rise, join the triumph of the skies, with angelic host proclaim, Christ is born in Bethlehem. Hark, the herald angels sing, glory to the new-born King."
Together, the vampires continued to sing, swaying softly as everyone else gathered around the piano, enjoying the vampires soft Christmas song.
"Christ, by highest heaven adored, Christ, the everlasting Lord, late in time behold him come, offspring of the Virgin's womb."
Damon watched, with a smile on his face.
Elena came over to stand beside him.
"You seem happy." She whispered.
After a moment of silence, Damon replied, "I am."
He left her standing there and went over to stand behind Celeste, wrapping his arms around her waist from behind and swaying with her as her and Caroline carried the song until it's end, her heavenly voice piercing his heart.
"Hail the heaven-born Prince of Peace, hail the son of righteousness, light and life to all he brings, risen with healing in his wings. Hark, the herald angels sing, glory to the new born king."
"Beautiful." Damon whispered in her ear, kissing her neck softly.
"Thought you didn't like Christmas?" Celeste asked, leaning into his embrace.
"I'm warming up to it." Damon replied.
A smile touched Celeste's lips.
Bonnie had bounced over to her and handed the vampire a hot cup of cocoa, to which the vampire thanked her and took a sip.
There was a weird taste to it.
She dropped the mug, glass shattering at her feet. Damon had spun around to her front, looking at her through panic eyes.
"What was in that?" Celeste choked out.
All her veins felt like they were on fire, her knees could no longer hold her up. She collapsed, but Damon had managed to cushion the fall, but taking her down to the floor with him, leaning her body against his own, the hard muscles beneath his skin contracting with the impact.
"It wasn't me." Bonnie held her hands up when Damon gave her a dirty look, just as Elena and Stefan came over to check on the fallen vampire.
"Zane had handed me the cup and told me to give it to Celeste and no one else."
Life's not linear at all. It happens in lighting flashes. So fast you don't see those lay-you-out cold moments coming at you until you're Wile E. Coyote, steamrolled flat as a pancake by the Road Runner, victim of your own elaborate schemes. She had trusted Zane. How could she be so stupid?
"What?" Damon snapped. "Where is that fur ball?"
"He and his brothers left after he handed me the cup."
"Damon..." Celeste looked down at her violently shaking hands. "I can't control them."
"Shhhh," He drew her into him and held her close. "It's okay."
"Damon, your eyes." Stefan pointed out, then took a breath.
It was true.
Damon could feel his fangs elongate. He took her hands in his and when he drew his hand back, the crimson red liquid was unmistakable. "Blood."
"Not just any blood," Stefan confirmed his suspicious feeling. "Human blood."
Everyone stared up at the deathly pale Celeste.
Anyone worth knowing breaks once.
Once.
No shame, no foul if you survive it.
You did.
That's when Celeste broke, like water being thrown on her flame, putting it out for eternity. And then it was, that grief and pain made themselves known to her more powerful than never before. The truth is, you cannot prepare anyone for this, and this she would wish on no one in the world.
Vampires do breathe, by the way, but their chests don't move like humans'. Have you ever lain in the arms of your sweetheart and tried to match your breathing to his, or hers? You do it automatically. Your brain only gets involved if your body is having trouble. Fortunately there was nothing about this situation that was like being in the arms of a sweetheart except that she was leaning against Damon's chest. She could no more have breathed with him than she could have ignited gasoline with a wet match.
"Breathe, Celeste." Damon tried to calm her, by rubbing her arms up and down.
It wasn't help.
"I'm human, and you tell me to breathe!?" She was nearing a panic attack.
There's nothing more powerful than human fear - not magic, not vampire strength.
Nothing.
Nothing at all.
There was a surge of anger that welled up inside of her and she stood, slowly at first, then definitely, like her shaking bones weren't going to stop her.
"Wait, where are you going?"
"I'm going to find me a werewolf," She turned to Damon. "And I'm going to show him what the consequences are with turning me human."
She said no more as she walked out of the house and into the frigid air.
It was the damnedest thing, life. Once you decide exactly how things are going to go, something or someone comes along and messes it all up. And in this case, it was someone that she had trusted beyond belief.
"And just how are you going to get there?" Damon asked, appearing in the doorway.
"Give your keys."
"Hell no."
"Stefan?" Celeste turned to his brother as he appeared in the doorway.
She was greeted by a set a keys coming at her. Thank the gods that she managed to catch them in her hands, instead of her face. She turned a pointed gaze to Damon. "See, he listens."
She turned, headed toward the garage, when her feet stopped.
There stood Zane.
Along with his brothers.
And she had a desirable thought to murder them all.
"I see you're still alive."
"And you've got about two seconds before I kill you."
Both Kane and Vane stood in front of their brother when she stepped forward.
"Move."
"Take one more step and I'll break you in half." Vane warned.
In a flash, both Salvatores were in front of her, baring teeth.
"Threaten her again and I'll fold you into so many pieces, you'll look like an origami werewolf." Damon sneered.
"You turned her human, why and how?" Stefan questioned.
"Our witch friend."
"The one that healed her and brought her back from the dead?"
Vane nodded at Stefan.
"Why?"
"Because I love her." Zane spoke between the two bodyguards.
"You call this love?" Celeste argued, pushing past the Salvatore brothers. "I'm human! Who gave you the power and permission to turn me human, you selfish idiot?!"
"I won't make excuses for what I did. The truth is that your whole life can change with one split-second decision, and it doesn't matter if you told yourself you'd never do it or if you stepped into the moment with no intention of doing it." Zane said, "All it takes is for that one second of absolute panic when the solution shines right there in front of you, and you grab it... only to have it turn into ash in your hand. There is no excuse for what I did." The words had come out of his mouth before he had a chance to stop them.
"That doesn't make it okay." Celeste snapped. "Shove your half assed apology up your ass and get off this property before I let them turn you three into werewolf stew. I don't ever want to speak to you again!"
Celeste took off back toward the Salvatore house, tears freely streaming down her face. She passed Elena, who tried to get her to stop, but it was no use.
"Way to screw up a good Christmas, wolf boy." Damon said dangerously low.
You know, there comes a time in everyone's life when they have to carefully examine the goals they've set for themselves. When they have to admit their limitations and look at their capabilities in a more realistic way. This was one of those times, when Celeste nearly tripped over her own two feet trying to get to the stairs. And the biggest embarrassment of them all? Elena had to grab her to keep from falling.
Terrific.
"Can I have a glass of water?" She asked, her voice was hoarse, probably from screaming as Elena helped her sit down on the couch.
Damon and Stefan walked back into the house then and took a seat in the living room.
"Their witch turned her human, so maybe she can change us all?"
"It's a lost cause." Celeste said, already missing her vampire counterpart. "I don't know where to find her and I doubt they're gonna hand over the ingredients to do it again."
She looked up at Damon, who had a clouded expression on his face.
"Damon?"
He seemed to snap out of his trance.
"What?"
"What are you thinking about?"
"Nothing." He took her hand, the one that had been cut by the fallen glass. It was still bleeding freely, but she had balled her hand into a fist, which had stopped most of the smell. "We need to get this cleaned up."
He wasn't just masculine and sexual, he was carnal in a set-your-teeth-on-edge kind of way; he was almost frightening. Being human was such a weird experience. It set Damon in a whole new light. He was deathly still to her human eyes.
It made her shiver.
Strength wasn't about being able to do everything alone. Strength was knowing when to ask for help and not being too proud to do it.
"Will you?" She asked, then repeated her question in a better way. "I mean, can you, or is it too much for you?"
Damon snorted at her in response.
"Get me the first aid kit, Stefan."
"You have a first aid kit?" Celeste asked, shock written all over her face.
"Elena liked to pretend she could pick a fight with a knife and win, which is why this," He held up the small first aid kit that Stefan had placed in his palm. "Came in handy whenever she lost, which was every time."
Elena smacked him on the arm.
It's funny how, when things seem the darkest, moments of beauty present themselves in the most unexpected places. Some people fall apart when they get hurt. Puddle into apathy and despair and never recover. They wait all their lives for someone to come along and rescue them. Hope is a critical thing. Without it, we are nothing. Hope shapes will. The will shapes the world.
She hated the feeling, the core feeling that she felt as she watched Damon clean and bandage her injured, so very human hand.
She felt human.
She felt so sickly human, a feeling she hadn't felt in over a hundred and seventy years and never thought she'd feel again until she was dead.
And even then, it was a slim chance.
Author's Note | Dun, dun, dun. Just when you thought it was going to be good, I leave you with a twist! :) This is my first on this story, leaving a little author's note at the very end of a chapter, but I wanted to see if you guys liked the twist in this chapter and if you picked up on it a few chapters back. So tell me what you think in the comments and as always, reviews are so welcome!
Oh! and ignore my lame attempt at vampires signing. I happened to stumble upon the Christmas song on my playlist and I figured, hey, what the hell, it's a Christmas chapter anyway! xD
And to those that are questioning the existence of the sire bond now that Celeste is human (again), yes, the sire bond is done. It's kaput. It died the second Celeste's blood turned human. But now does that mean, if Damon turns her again (if she demands that he turn her back into a vamp) that the sire bond will become again? I don't know, you'll just have to wait and see. :)