Salutations, my lovely readers. This chapter was fun to write. Read on.
Elena looked at me expectantly as I struggled to come up with what I should say.
"Well… they do seem strangely old fashioned. When I met Damon he kissed my hand, like, nobody does that anymore." I said after a moment. Elena ran her hand through her hair nervously.
"Did you notice how at the game Jeremy cut Stefan's hand with glass but he wasn't hurt?" She asked.
"I mean, I was a little distracted by the fact that I had been punched in the face, but… yeah, that was odd now that you mention it." I said, scratching my head.
"Stefan and Damon…" She hesitated.
"What? Elena, whatever it is you can tell me, you know that right?" I said honestly.
"They're vampires." Elena whispered, tears forming in her eyes.
Well, no duh.
"Elena, I know that you and Stefan have your issues and that Damon is weird, but you can't just say 'they're vampires'." I laughed nervously.
"I'm serious! Damon has been the one behind all of the animal attacks." She said in a hushed voice. My smile faltered.
"Wait." I blinked in confusion before gasping.
"Alexa, what's wrong?" Elena asked worriedly.
"I remember… I saw Damon in the woods before Vicki was attacked and he was at the game when Tanner was killed!" I stared at my duvet and shook my head.
"I confronted Stefan about it because Tiki's grandpa recognized him from 1953 and he admitted it." Elena looked at me with fear in her eyes.
"This is crazy." I whispered.
"I'm going to ask Stefan to meet me at the Grill tomorrow. He said he would explain everything." She said quietly.
"You're crazy." I said.
"What, why?" She asked, frowning.
"Elena, he is a vampire. Vampires eat people. We are people!" I whisper-shouted.
"I need to find out what's going on, okay? I'll be careful, I promise." Elena reached over and squeezed my hand.
"Okay, but I'm going to need you to text me with updates every half hour, just so I know that he hasn't eaten you." I said seriously.
"I will." She got up to leave for the night, pausing before she shut my door. "Thank you, Alexa. For believing me." She said.
"Of course, what are sisters for?" I smiled softly at her. Elena smiled back before closing the door. I sat there for a moment before moaning nervously. "This is about to get very stressful, I just know it." I muttered before getting ready for bed myself.
Elena was gone by the time I had woken up the next morning. Upon checking my phone, I saw that she had already texted me twice.
Elena: At the Grill
Elena: I told Stefan that you expect me to text you so if he planned on trying anything, you would know something was wrong
Figuring that I should confront Damon about the day before and make sure that he didn't turn Vicki into a vampire, I forced myself to go see him.
I was about to knock on the door of the boarding house when my phone buzzed.
Elena: Still alive
I snickered before knocking on the door until Damon opened it, beaming when he saw me.
"Look who decided to join the party!" He called over to Vicki who had come to see who was at the door.
"Alexa! The fun-sized Gilbert! Come and dance with us!" She cheered.
"What is she on?" I asked Damon quietly through a fake smile.
"My blood, you want a hit?" Damon wiggled his eyebrows and I laughed.
"You're not turning me into a vampire, no matter how much I annoy you." I shook my head.
"I wouldn't do that to you since you'd probably stake me." He said, closing the door behind me.
"Singing a different tune now than you were yesterday, are you?" I gave him a confused look.
"I was hungry." He said simply.
"That's still not an excuse for treating me like garbage, Damon." I said and walked over to where the bourbon was and surveyed the collection, feeling the need to drink my way through this interaction.
"I was hungry. If I had asked you to leave, you would have tried to help me some more and by the time I actually explained how much I wanted to rip into that pretty little neck of yours, I would have already done it and drained you." He pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed.
"Oh." I said quietly, processing the new information. He gave me his trademark sarcastic smile. "Thanks for not killing me." I awkwardly punched his arm in a friendly gesture.
"You," He booped my nose. Like, actually booped my nose. "Are welcome. Now, are you joining the party or not?" He whined.
"Two questions." I held up two of my fingers. "One, can you please not turn Vicki into a vampire?" I whined.
"Ugh, fine." Damon hung his head.
"And two, which of these is vervain free?" I gestured to the crystal bottles. He reached for the one closest to my hand.
"This one, but why-" I grabbed the bottle from him, took out the cork, and took a couple of gulps.
"Because if I'm trying your blood it's only fair that I let you try mine, right?" I winked at him before taking another sip. He just stared at me.
"What's wrong with you, are you feeling alright?" Damon put the back of his hand against my forehead. I batted his hand away and laughed.
"I'm fine Damon. I didn't get to live in my last life. I was a goody-two-shoes, for the most part. I never took risks. I came here and I've been doing the same thing, too scared to break my own rules. I'm changing that. Right now." I said, tying my hair into a low ponytail on my right side. "Just don't kill me or make too much of a mess, I like this top." A nervous laugh escaped me.
"You could just take it off." Damon suggested.
"One risk at a time, I don't want to burn myself out." I smiled.
"Well, if you insist." Damon muttered. He appeared before me and I jumped slightly. "Sh, sh, sh." He whispered.
One of his fingers traced my face, dropping below my chin and gently pushing it up, exposing my neck even more. His head dipped down and I felt his breath on my neck. I was positive he could hear how hard my heart was beating.
And then he bit me.
His teeth, or fangs, actually (if you want to be technical) sunk into my neck.
Did it hurt? Yes. But he was a lot more gentle than I expected him to be. He drank from me for a few seconds before pulling away and biting into his wrist, putting it in front of my face. I closed my lips around where he had bitten into it and swallowed a couple of times. Vampire blood tastes the same as normal blood, and the metallic tang of it filled my mouth.
"You good?" He asked, steadying me when I swayed. His lips were red from my blood.
"Yeah, I'm good." I smiled and made my way over to the couch. I felt a bit dizzy and wasn't sure if it was from the alcohol, blood loss, or vampire blood in my system. Maybe all three. Damon joined Vicki in dancing and I was compelled to join them. Not actually compelled, of course, because I still had my necklace and anklet on, but I needed to join in on the fun. I jumped up with a newfound energy and started to dance. The three of us danced to songs that were on my "Oldies" playlist from my last life. Damon came up behind me, his hands traced my hips as he drew me closer to him. I spun around, lacing my hands around his neck when our eyes met.
Something strange happened then. I wanted to kiss him and strip the clothes from his body. I knew he wanted to do the same to me, not from the body language or signals he was sending, but somehow I felt it. I could feel his need for me.
Why can I-
I gasped.
"What?" He murmured lazily as he began to lean in.
"Give me your hand." I said suddenly, snatching his right hand from my waist.
"Why-" He asked, but I shushed him.
"Testing a theory." I explained and pinched the top of his hand.
Hard.
"Hey!" He snapped and recoiled as I swore, feeling a sting on my right hand. "What was that for?" He glared at me.
"I felt that." My eyes were wide. I pinched my own hand and he winced. "You felt that, right? I'm not crazy?" I asked breathlessly and stared at him.
"Yeah… I did." His brow furrowed.
"What the fuck?" I whispered. I could feel his confusion. "Damon, tell me about Katherine." I commanded. As soon as I said that, a pang of longing and despair went through me. "Never mind." I said quickly.
"What's happening?" Damon asked.
I couldn't breathe, this was overwhelming. My pulse raced as I stared into the distance, a million thoughts raced through my mind and my breath becoming shallower.
"Alexa, you need to calm down." Damon ordered. I couldn't, though. He grabbed my face. "Alexa, for both of our sakes, I need you to think about something to calm down." He said anxiously. I thought of my nature walk the previous day, the warm sun on my skin and fresh forest air. My breathing became more leveled, and after a few moments I-we- were okay.
"What the fuck is happening, Damon?" I asked.
"I have no idea." He answered honestly.
I glanced at Vicki who was still dancing with abandon, oblivious to what was going on a few feet from her. Damon followed my gaze before striding over to her.
"Sorry, party's over." He said, not sounding sorry at all as he compelled her to leave.
"Ugh, fine." She said moodily. Vicki gathered her things before Damon walked her out.
"What are you?" Damon's eyes narrowed at me puzzledly.
"Fuck if I know. I didn't know I could do that." I muttered, rubbing my temples and plopping down on the couch.
"We'll have to go through our library and see if we can come up with anything." He sighed and gestured for me to follow him.
He led me into the room, immediately heading to a shelf and looking for books that would explain what had just happened while I stayed standing in the doorway in awe. Saying the library was beautiful would be an understatement. It was quaint, but it was also wonderfully rustic and cozy. I could have sat there for hours, reading all of the old books. Damon snapped his fingers in front of my face, bringing me from my trance.
"Let's get to work." He said, thrusting an old and dusty book into my hand.
"Let's." I agreed, flipping the book open.
I hope you liked this chapter, 'cus I sure did! The next chapter is mostly written and will be out sometime next week. Writing it was kinda stressful but it's important for the plot.
Please review/follow/favorite. I love hearing from you guys! :)
