AN: Thank you everyone for your reviews and follows and hearts on my story. I am so thankful you guys enjoy this story. I started the BellaxPaul one-shot but it's harder than I thought it would be for me haha. I keep wanting to keep going.
DAMON
He had fuck up, he had really done it this time. He broke her.
Damon stared at Bella sitting beside him in the bed as she spiraled deeper and deeper into whatever thought process had her in its grip. He thought he might have to give her his blood soon in case her heart ever just stopped one of these days when her heart took off like this. He'd been so focused on Bella, calling her name and trying to gently nudge her out of her comatose state that he hadn't heard the pair who had approached his front door.
The doorbell is what actually alerted him, the ancient tolling sounding throughout the house. Damon listened for a moment, watching Bella's dark eyes continue to cloud with thoughts.
He was at the door in an instant when he realized that he could hear the shuffling of footsteps, but not the familiar thrumming of a heartbeat.
He stopped short of the door, taking the last few steps over to it unnecessarily loudly. Whoever it was was obviously not welcomed, as they hadn't let themselves in. He opened the door, surprised to see a man and woman; if he could call them that.
The boy in front of him looked like he was barely 17. The girl looked only a few years older. He looks like Stefan. Damon noted, amused in his head, turning back to face the boy as an image of awkward, 17-year-old, Stefan came to mind with the same unruly bronze hair and bright green eyes. Though he was just assuming the boy's eyes had been green at some point; since two pairs of honey-gold eyes starred back at him.
"Can I help you?" Damon asked the woman next to him. She seemed nice enough. Not glaring daggers at him, that's for sure. The woman had her hair styled in spikes, and Damond found himself wondering if her hair simply fell that way due to the cut, or if she made the conscious decision every day to comb it out and to the side.
"Yes, I hope so." She gave a pointed look to her companion, who in turn gave his own answering look. If he didn't know if they could be twins, the way they seemed to communicate telepathically.
"We're looking for a friend of ours. Bella Swan." The teenie one started, stepping in front of the teen.
"Well, we don't get very many visitors in the old boarding house anymore. Especially not cold ones." They blinked simultaneously, again solidifying the idea in Damon's mind that they were twins.
"We're not twins, you idiot." Tall, dark, and brooding finally spoke up, his voice quaking with what Damon could only assume was rage.
"Edward, You're not going to get to see Bella if you keep acting like this. You're going to blow our cover" The woman snapped, turning to face him.
She'd spoken low, and fast. Too fast for human ears to hear. Hearing the name Edward, however, the thoughts of their conversation upstairs flashed in his head.
It's like a game, and every round he's changing the rules.
Bella's voice echoed in his head.
"Nope, sorry. Don't know any Bella Swan, buddy." Isabella Salvatore is here... He thought to himself smugly, not even noticing the way that Edwards expression had gone from angry to murderous.
Several things seemed to happen at once after that thought.
firstly, Damon had moved back as if the close the door between them when his little doe's dazed voice reached all of their ears simultaneously. "Damon?"
Secondly, "Shit." Damon had said.
And then, whatever flimsy control Edward seemed to have had snapped, and he apologized quickly to the woman beside him. "You can't hear him, Alice." That was all he said before the Bronze stone flung itself at Damon, hitting him hard enough that Damon stumbled back for a split second before launching them out into the roundabout. He heard the splintering of the front door.
The fact that Damon hadn't instantly died on impact shocked Edward long enough for Damon to grab him by the back of his coat and throw him as hard as he could into the forest at the edge of the property. He followed the boy's body as it flew, standing several feet away as he dusted himself off.
"You know, Edward, You seem shocked. what's wrong, never seen an original bloodline vampire?" Damon felt his eyes blacken and his fangs fall as he spoke the last sentence. To the boy's credit, the snarl on his face never faltered. Even when the black of Damon's eye spread to the veins in his face.
Isabella, Damon thought to himself as his head turned in the direction of her scream.
"Her name is BELLA." Edward roared at Damon, catching him when his guard was down and sideswiping him.
"How the fuck do you even know-" Damon had started to say as they grappled on the forest floor. Sure Damon was centuries older than the copper-headed boy he was wrestling, and sure he knew exactly how to kill a cold one, but he doubted his little doe would like the idea of Damon coming back alone from this fight.
"I see she hadn't told you everything." Edward spat at him, taking great joy in the confusion of Damon's face.
"I see you barely know anything." Damon shot back; he knew it was childish but his growing irritation at not being able to pin down the boy in front of him was getting to him.
"Edward, stop. You said you could handle this!" Came the small one's, Alice, voice. The voice seemed to cause him to falter and Damon took the opportunity to pin dear eddy so his chest was on the forest floor, Damon's sock-clad foot on his back, and both arms extended unnaturally far behind him.
"Yeah, Edwad," Damon huffed, irritated the fight had even taken the few short minutes it had. They stayed that way until edward finally seemed to calm down, and Damon arched a brow at Alice standing several feet away. "If I let him go are we going to behave? Or do I have to take the arms?"
Punctuating his statement, Damon started to pull on both of his arms, grinning at the sound of metal groaning that reached his ears.
"He'll be fine! I swear." Alice spoke quickly, coming over and putting a hand on one of Edward's arms. "Right, Brother?" The two standing looked down at the vampire in the dirt. When Edward nodded wordlessly, Damon let one arm go. The other, however, Damon proceeded to rip from the boy's torso.
Edward roared in pain and Alice's expression was full of shock as Damon flung the arm into the thicket of trees surrounding them.
"He made me fight in my socks." That was all Damon said before disappearing faster than even the pair of cold ones could see. He had to check on his little doe.
He found her carefully picking her way through the downed trees muttering something about stupid vampires just leaving the human to find her own way.
BELLA
She was stepping over another tree, glaring at her slow feet as she tried her best to get to the group. Her heart was slamming so hard she could hear it in her ears. Damon was strong, but Edward was indestructible. Truthfully, she knew a lot about Damon as a descendant of an original but could they really stand a chance against a cold one? Especially given Edward could read minds.
She screamed when a pair of arms wrapped around her from behind, thrashing against them until his voice was at her ear "It's me, little doe." His grip on her loosened and she was able to turn around and hug him tightly, surprising herself with the feeling of relief that washed over her.
"I was so worried!" Bella exclaimed, pulling back slightly to inspect him for damage; though with his super healing there wasn't likely to be anything to see. Just holes torn in his shirt and pants. "How did you even beat Ed-him? Can he read your mind? Do cold one powers work on your type of Vampire? Where are Alice and Edward?" The questions ran a mile a minute out of her mouth, which Damon simply scooped her up into his arms and had begun to carry her back into the house.
"Damon, stop." Bella started pushing at his chest, kicking her legs girlishly in an attempt to free herself "You're not even going to tell me anything? Where did Alice and Edward go? Did you hurt them?"
She was surprised when Damon loosened his grip and actually put her down, stepping an arm's length away from her and gesturing for her to continue moving forward. She was even more taken aback to see the way that his eyes and expression had become guarded. Had she done something wrong?
"Alice and the boy are going to come to join us shortly, Edwards getting himself together." something about the statement seemed amusing to him, and she took the time he was looking back to the forest to close the distance between them and take his hand forcefully. She knew he could easily have removed his hand should he want to, and was relieved when he didn't, just squeezed hers gently and rubbed soothing circles in the back of her hand.
They walked in silence to the house, Bella was sent to sit in the living room and start a fire for herself since the door was no longer blocking the harsh winds. Damon eventually came back to her, having gone upstairs to change into jeans and a fresh shirt.
Bella was sitting, reading one of Stefan's journals from the shelf about his and Damon's life as humans. She turned a page as Damon sat beside her, pulling her legs into his lap and rubbing her legs slowly.
He seemed to be waiting for her to stop reading, see she finished her page, and shut the book; putting it behind her on the end table.
"I'm glad you're okay."
"I promise I didn't hurt him that bad."
They spoke at the same time, Bellas eyes widened with the realization that Damon thought she was upset about Edward being hurt.
"Damon," She spoke softly, waiting for him to look at her. When he refused to, she huffed and clambered from her spot tucked into the end of the couch and stood in front of him, leaning over with her hands on his knees. "Damon I was worried about you." She said when he finally brought his eyes up to meet hers. An uncertain look on his face as he sat back and sighed, running a hand over his face roughly.
DAMON
Damon watched as Bella sat on the table in front of the couch, her hands still on his knees, her knees on each side of his legs. "Isabella. I know a thing or two about trying to keep something that didn't really belong to me."
It was true. He'd tried to keep bonnie as a friend when he knew her loyalty was to Elena ultimately. He'd tried to keep Elena to himself... Historically it seemed the odds were not in his favor. He knew their days were numbered anyway. The 90 days was nearly up; After the Founders Day celebrations ended he'd still half-expected her to ultimately choose the glittering family of Cold Ones. It made sense to him, they had more history with her.
He was shocked when she sntached one of the books she left on the floor and threw it at him. "I'm not a thing, Damon." Fire was in her eyes as she rose to stand over the shocked vampire. "I'm so sick of everyone treating me like they knew best. Everyone knows better than the pitiful human. Bella hasn't lived as long, she doesnt know any better."
He realized she was no longer yelling at him, but ranting out loud, venting her frustrations. He could hear Alice and Edward approaching the house and knew they had to be within hearing distance. Damon simply followed after his little spitfire, carefully dodging the books and glasses she had started throwing. He could clean the mess, she needed to get this off her chest.
He wanted them to hear it.
"I'm tired, Damon." She shouted exasperatedly, whirling to stare at him as if she expected an answer from him. His mouth opened and shut twice before she continued. "I'm 21 years old and I am already tired of life. I'm tired of playing Bella Barbie. I'm tired of pre-emptively distancing myself from Renee and from Charlie so they won't be devastated when I 'disappear'. I'm sick of jumping through hoops, and clutching empty promises of 'just one more human experience, love." Bella nearly spat the word 'love' as if it left a bad taste in her mouth.
The pair had stopped walking but were still a distance away, Damon could vaguely hear them shuffling their feet.
The rant only stopped them momentarily, and they continued at a walking pace toward the home.
He stopped listening to their footsteps when the scent of blood hit his nostrils. He realized she had started to clean the broken glass from the floor and had cut her palm on a large shard. Damon walked up to her, speaking softly.
"Isabella."
Bella sighed softly, almost tenderly, obviously comforted by his voice.
One set of footsteps started into a run.
"Little doe," He spoke again, taking a shard of glass from the floor and cutting his own wrist. "Here, it will help your hand."
The runner began to sprint, soft snarls reaching Damon's super hearing.
He watched her stare at him hesitantly, the blood on her hand and the smell of the iron filling the room making her dizzy. She decided to drink from him, Damon grinning when she did.
She watched in awe as her hand began to heal itself, broken glass forgotten as she stood and stared at her palm.
"Damon, I-" Her voice stopped abruptly, and she was no longer in front of Damon.
Her beautiful brown eyes held shock as she found herself above him on the catwalk, locked in a freezing ice-grip.
"Now, Edward. Let's be adults abo- Oh... Right. Sorry." Damon smirked up at him, flashing up the stairs so he was at the other end of the side of the room Edward had her on. He didn't want to worry his little doe, who was currently gasping softly and pushing at the Bronze-haired statue who was unaware of how too-tightly he was holding her. "I know you wouldn't want to hurt Bella, Edward." He spoke slowly, aware that Alice was now standing below them, staring up at the stand-off happening.
"He wouldn't ever hurt Bella," Her bell-like voice rang out into the tense room. "I've seen it."
"I forgot. She did mention you guys had some freaky cold one mumbo jumbo going on..." As he spoke his eyes were still glued to Edward, who looked very similar to an animal being corned with something it wasn't supposed to have.
"Sure, mumbo jumbo. If you want to call it that. Edward is upset you have his mate. Obviously, he'd never be able to hurt her. He loves Bella far too much." She spoke so matter of factly. It made him pause.
Mate? There was no way.
Without his permission, his eyes flashed to Isabella's face. She had become a tad red, huffing breaths in short bursts. Surely no mate could treat the other half of their pair this way. Edward would have been more gentle.
Damon would have been more gentle. He knew it for a fact. A sliver of memory flashed in his mind from their time hiking to the falls.
Of his vice grip fighting the urge to hold her as tightly as he could against her as her pleasured gasps and whimpers had burst from her mouth.
Her mouth, which, was now turning blue around the edges as she pleaded weakly with the boy to lessen his hold.
Edward's eye had gone from the golden hues of this morning to a nearly pitch black, his snarls shaking himself and Bella.
Alice screamed shrilly suddenly, darting forward from where she had stood firmly rooted for the past nearly 10 minutes.
"Edward, no!"
The woman's screams fell on deaf ears. The boy, in his rage, could obviously only hear and feel his own rage. Damon thought for a split second that he looked like himself or Stefan when they had been reapers.
He'd expected this response. It was similar to the way that Katherine had reacted when she realized she was losing her grip on the town all those centuries ago. Edward knew she was done. Damon had even done his best to mentally prepare.
It still didn't stop the way his dead heart clenched and he fell to his knees watching as Alice was too slow to stop Edward. Damon had to watch, nearly helplessly, as his little doe's body hit the catwalk with a dull 'thud'. She lay in a crumpled heap, her eyes wide and unseeing as Alice scrambled uncharacteristically clumsily to gather Bella's body in her arms.
"Edward, what have you done?!" Alice screamed again, Damon watched her shoulder heave with tearless sobs.
She might have been dead, but Damon knew not for long. After all. He'd expected this response. Edward knew she was done. Damon had even done his best to mentally prepare.
AN: THANKS SO MUCH FOR BEING PATIENT WITH ME! I KNOW THAT THE CONFRONTATION WITH EDWARD HAS ENDED ABRUPTLY. BUT IT'S FAR FROM OVER.
ENJOY THE EXTRA-LONG CHAPTER! I COULDN'T BEAR TO SPLIT THIS SCENE INTO TWO.