I know the last chapter was a bit short, but as I said this one goes a bit long, for a short story chapter anyway.

Ch. 8 The Scent & the Ball

(CLARE)

My eyes blink open and adjust to the dark room, I turn my head to look out the window and my lips are met by another pair. My eyes closing again and relaxing into the kiss with Damon.

"Did you stay with me all night?" I question with a yawn when our lips part.

"Yes."

"Worried about me or because you wanted to be with me?" I inquire as I sit up. It's still very dark out and must be very early.

"A little from column a, a little from column b, a little from column c," Damon replies.

"Column c?" I question turning to look at him.

"I don't trust that Klaus is out of town," he explains.

"Oh," is my only reply.

"There's a couple hours until dawn still," Damon comments.

"I slept for over 12 hours and 12 hours before that, and more before that. I'm not tired anymore and I'm feeling better," I respond getting out of bed. I begin to get clothes from my dresser, and then something occurs to me. "My bra, I only brought one and he ripped last n…" I'm saying when Damon hands me a bag from Victoria's Secret.

"Elena got it but I paid for it, seems a good deal of your clothes were ripped off. We can get you more," he says.

"I should be okay with what I brought, I'm not here for that much longer. Thanks for the bra though."

I start getting dressed, Damon disappears from my room for a moment and returns dressed, and seemingly fully ready for the day. He watches me while I dress, brush my hair and put on deodorant, then he comes with me downstairs.

"You should eat, you haven't eaten except for dinner yesterday," Damon says.

"I'm not that hungry, I'll start with coffee."

"What would you like to do today?" He asks while I get the coffee on.

"I don't know, I think I saw all of Mystic Falls the other day when Jeremy and Elena showed me around. If it was better weather, I might want to go hiking and see some of wilderness around here."

"You're stronger now, not strong enough to go hiking yet. If you really want to see the woods we can take you, I'm sure Stefan will need to hunt again."

"Stefan hunts in the woods?"

"He only feeds off animals," Damon replies in a tone laced with disdain over this thought.

"I don't want to go out this early," I shake my head fixing the coffee the way I like it.

Damon makes himself some coffee as well, and we sit in the living room while he tells me stories about his family. I tell him a little of my family, but there isn't that much to tell, or that I want to talk about. Stefan joins us just as the sun is rising, it's still too early to go out and do anything, but they do force me to eat.

"We could go to Elena's, they should be up by now," Stefan remarks after I've eaten and cleaned up.

"I'll meet you two there, I have an errand to run," Damon says earning him a look Stefan. "Nothing bad I promise, I'm being a good vampire," Damon assures his brother, though he does it in a snarky voice.

"Just be careful, and don't go looking for Klaus," Stefan replies.

"It has nothing to do with Klaus," Damon shoots back.

"I'll just get my purse," I tell Stefan. I take a few steps, but Damon runs up and retrieves my purse for me. "Thanks, guess we'll see you later," I respond taking my purse from Damon. He smirks at me and I leave with Stefan.

"There is a way to keep Klaus, or Damon, from drinking your blood again," Stefan speaks up after we've been driving a few moments. "You can ingest vervaine, it will get into your bloodstream."

"Wouldn't that hurt them?"

"It won't kill them, just disable them in a way and sort of poison your blood to them. We grow vervaine in the cellar, I can show you how to prepare it," he offers.

"I'll think about it. Damon at least stops after a few sips; Klaus does not have the same restraint."

"As far as I know Klaus has never had restraint for anything," Stefan responds.

I want to ask him how long he's known Klaus, but we've arrived at the Gilbert house. Stefan parks and I follow him to the door, he knocks and Elena opens the door a moment later. She lets us in, she and Jeremy are eating, Alaric watching TV and drinking coffee.

"You look better," Elena smiles.

"I feel much better," I grin back.

"Yeah, I heard Klaus nearly exsanguinated you," Jeremy remarks.

"I wasn't that bad, was I?" I ask Stefan.

"He didn't stop when he should have, but he did stop before you were near death. If he'd drank much more I would have had to feed you my blood as soon as we got there. If we hadn't come for you Klaus may have fed you his, you were weak," Stefan says and I swallow hard. "If you don't want to see Klaus again then tell him," Stefan insists.

"Would that keep him away?" I inquire.

"Probably not," Stefan admits.

"At least, he's gone for a few days, right?" Elena asks.

"I'm not sure he's gone, but we haven't heard from him," Stefan replies.

"And, where's Damon?" Jeremy questions, with a mouth full of cereal. Elena grimaces at him, for talking with his mouth full presumably.

"He said he had something to do and would meet up with us later," I tell them.

After Jeremy and Elena finish eating and get ready for the day we leave to meet Bonnie. Alaric joins us as well, we're just going for a walk through town, looking at Christmas decorations and talking. Damon joins us after a couple of hours, although he doesn't say where he was or what he was doing. Shortly after he joins us we go to the Grill to have lunch and hang out there. Whether that decision is reached because there isn't much else to do or because a bitter wind starts howling through the streets I'm not sure. Though the vampires won't eat, and I doubt very much that the wind was bothering them.

"You want to play pool again?" Jeremy asks while we're waiting for our food.

"Sure," I smile getting up and following him to the pool table.

"So, you going to be alone with Klaus again after what he did?" Jeremy asks as I rack the balls.

"I don't know, I'd like to say no but, as much as he scares me he also excites me. Even before I knew he was a vampire, I knew he was dangerous, yet I still danced with him at Halloween. I had the vervaine bracelet, he hadn't compelled me. I know it sounds stupid, as frightened as I am when he's around, if he asks me to go with him I'll probably go. Something about our first night together, even though most of my memory was taken, something about that night keeps pulling me to Klaus," I admit. I've been chalking my cue this whole time, finally I take my shot and sink two balls making me solids.

"Maybe it's because the memory was taken," Jeremy remarks. He makes a shot, but doesn't sink any balls.

"What do you mean?" I query as I line up my next shot.

"Well, if Damon hadn't taken the memory as stimulating as I'm sure your time with Klaus was you'd also remember his attack right? You'd remember nearly dying and Damon having to save you. When Klaus returned you'd probably just see him as a monster that tried to kill you."

"That's true," I nod taking my shot and sinking another ball. "When he came back at Halloween I was frightened, but I couldn't remember why, just that he scared me. Yet, as much as he scared me I was intrigued, my body remembered him even if my mind didn't."

"I get it, having the memories taken from me wiped my mind, but it didn't keep it all from happening. I knew something was missing, I wanted it back and I went looking for what I hoped would fill in those holes. If Elena had never had Damon wipe the memory I might have stayed away, not gotten into some of the situations I did."

"I understand why Damon took the memory from me, sometimes I wish he hadn't though or he'd stayed to explain maybe? He just gave me the bracelet, told me to call him or Stefan if I saw Klaus again and then he vanished as soon as Adam and Drew were on their way to me. So, I was left with a hole in my memory, a mysterious man telling me to trust him, a wound on my wrist, and a lot of questions."

"Yeah, vampires don't really think, they just act. What about you and Damon?" Jeremy asks after taking a shot. He gets very close to me and whispers the question though, I guess hoping that Damon won't hear him.

"I honestly don't know. I trust him more than Klaus, I like being with him in every way, and I don't fear him the way I fear Klaus. I don't think any kind of relationship is realistic with either of them, for one we live pretty far from each other. And two, as exciting as the physical is right now I'm going to get older and they will not. At some point I won't be as attractive to them and they'll move on," I reply taking my last shot and winning.

"Yeah, I wonder about that with Stefan and Elena too," Jeremy says and this time he doesn't keep his voice down. I'm sure Elena didn't hear him, but Stefan probably did. "Not to mention, if you were in a relationship with a vampire, for any real length of time, your friends would probably find out at some point. And you probably couldn't introduce them to your parents," Jeremy comments as he racks the balls again.

"Yeah, I hadn't thought of that," I reply while Jeremy takes first shot and sinks one stripe. "I can only imagine Adam's and everyone's faces when they found out vampires were real. We must have some in Toronto," I muse mostly to myself.

"A city that big I'd be surprised if you didn't, probably witches and werewolves and whatever else is out there. Mystic Falls can't be the only place they flock to."

Jeremy and I play another game, chatting between shots and then return to the table to eat. Most of the idle conversation over lunch is about the ball at the Lockwood's tonight. After eating we split up to go home and get ready for the Lockwood's Christmas ball. I ride back to the house with Damon.

"You and Baby Gilbert seem to be getting along," Damon remarks as he begins driving back to his house.

"Jeremy is easy to talk to, and we have a surprising amount in common."

Damon looks over at me, looks me up and down and looks back at the road, "What could you possibly have in common? He dated one vampire, and I don't think they did much."

"We both had memories taken, we both have older sisters that thought they were protecting us by not telling us everything and it only made things worse. We've both been sheltered by other people in our lives and it made us feel like we couldn't be trusted. And, I have two vampire lovers, so far I haven't actually dated a single vampire," I point out.

"I didn't keep things from you," Damon responds, ignoring my last comment.

"Not you, my parents and my sister. You did take the knowledge of vampires from me," I remind him.

"For your protection, and ours," he says simply.

I don't believe that's the only reason, but I don't want to argue. We drive in silence the rest of the way to his house. When we get there we find Klaus waiting against his car.

"Stay in the car," Damon demands as he parks. He gets out of the car and runs over to Klaus. "LEAVE," Damon demands of Klaus while I unbuckle my seatbelt.

"I came for Clare," Klaus says calmly as I open the car door.

"I'm not letting her go with you. She's not safe with you," Damon says.

"Of course, she's safe with me," Klaus replies.

Damon growls and looks like he's going to hit Klaus.

"Damon stop," I demand. They both look over at me now, their posture relaxing just slightly.

"I told you to wait in the car," Damon replies and I twist my mouth at him.

"Klaus go home I have other plans tonight," I inform him. Klaus looks at Damon with narrowed eyes.

"Lockwood Christmas ball," Damon reminds him.

"Then I'll see you there," Klaus grins. He gets in his car and speeds down the driveway very narrowly missing hitting Stefan on the way in.

"Trouble?" Stefan questions getting out of his car.

"There may be some tonight," Damon responds and then looks at me. "I told you to stay in the car," he says grimacing at me.

"No one tells me what to do, and I didn't think a car would stop Klaus if he was set on taking me. I'm going to get ready," I remark and march inside.

(DAMON)

"I like her," Stefan grins after Clare goes inside, "and she has a point about the car."

I growl a little before following Clare inside. Stefan is going hunting and runs into the woods, he needs to feed again or he'll have a hard time tonight. It won't take me that long to get ready for the party, so I get some blood from the fridge. Just as I sit down to drink my cell rings and it's Stefan.

"Having trouble catching the squirrels?" I tease him.

"You need to get out here, someone's or something's been near the house."

"Klaus?"

"No, it's not a familiar scent."

"Be right there," I reply and hang up before running up to Clare's room. I open the door as she's changing, she shrieks a little and covers herself.

"What are you doing?"

"Stefan needs me, we'll both be away from the house for a few minutes. If you see Klaus call me immediately."

She nods a little and I close the door running out of the house to find Stefan. Joining my brother in the woods that border the house. I smell it immediately, not a vampire, but someone has been here. We follow the scent, all the way around the house, through the woods to the road.

"Whoever it was, they were scouting the house, looking for one or both of us. Maybe Clare shouldn't stay here tonight," Stefan remarks when we're nearly back at the house.

"I agree, but she can't stay with Klaus either," I reply.

"I'll talk to Elena tonight, I'm sure Clare can stay there. She'd probably enjoy waking Christmas morning at their house rather than ours anyway," Stefan comments.

"Yeah, but will she be safe? The scent isn't vampire, but it's not human either," I remind him.

"No, but whatever it is must be looking for one of us, not Clare, if she's not here she should be safe."

I nod and return to the house, running up to Clare's room again. She's dressed now and in the washroom doing her makeup.

"You could knock," she says although she doesn't sound mad. "Everything okay?" She questions.

"Fine, Stefan is hunting he'll be back in a moment," I tell her.

"I'll be ready to go in about twenty minutes," she says.

I leave her room so she can finish getting ready and go to my room. I dress quickly and am ready by the time Stefan returns from the hunt. I can hear Clare downstairs, so I go into her room and pack an overnight bag for her. I'm not giving her the opportunity to say no to staying at Elena's. I'll also talk to Ric tonight, he's prepared for most anything, he should be on alert just in case. Jeremy as well, that ring of his will keep him alive, and whatever was near our home tonight was something supernatural. I run out the door to put the bag in the trunk of my car.

"Damon?" Clare calls as I zoom out the door. I have the bag in the trunk and am back inside before she even makes it to the doorway.

"Just getting something in the car," I explain pulling her back inside. When the door is closed I look her over. "You look incredible, good enough to eat," I grin. She is stunning in her dress, her hair and makeup done, I wish that she was coming home with us tonight, I'd love to make love to her in this dress.

"Coming from you I take that rather literally," she grins.

"Maybe later," I smirk.

"You clean up quite nicely yourself," she smiles looking me over.

"I know," I reply drawing my smirk out a little more.

"Ready?" Stefan asks coming down the stairs.

"You both clean up very nice," Clare grins.

She grabs her coat and I offer her arm escorting her to my car. I drive us to the Lockwood estate, parking in the long line of cars, then offer her my arm again to escort her inside. Carol and Tyler are at in the foyer to greet their guests.

"Hey Damon, Stefan," Tyler greets us. Though not entirely happy to see us he' not slightly frightened the way Carol is of me and Stefan.

"Salvatore's," Carol says.

"Mom this is Clare Edwards, she's visiting from Toronto," Tyler explains.

"Toronto is pretty far, do you have family here?" Carol asks her.

"Clare is our guest, her family left her alone for the holidays, so we brought her here," I explain.

"How sad, well please enjoy the party," Carol smiles.

"Thank you," Clare grins back.

I escort her through the foyer to the ballroom, Stefan sees Elena and leaves us to go to her. I see Ric talking with Sherriff Forbes, and scanning the room see Jeremy with Bonnie. I know everyone in this room, but decide we should move through the room so I can get everyone's scents to be sure. You can disguise your looks, but can only mask a scent. I pull Clare toward the refreshments, Caroline is here getting a glass of punch.

"Hi Clare, hi Damon," Caroline grins, "enjoying the party?"

"We just got here, but yes," Clare nods as she gets herself a glass of punch.

"I'm waiting for Tyler to be done with greeting duties," Caroline sighs.

"Oh Mom, this is Clare the one visiting from Toronto," Caroline says as Elizabeth walks over. Ric is no longer with her, I'll have to find him.

"It's nice to meet you Clare, I've heard a lot about you from Caroline," Elizabeth says.

"It's nice to meet you too," Clare smiles politely.

"How long will you be staying in Mystic Falls?" Elizabeth questions.

"Just a few more days, I have to return to Toronto for school," Clare responds.

"And, y…" Elizabeth begins and then stops looking past us, "Klaus just walked in."

I turn to see Klaus and my arm tightens around Clare, he looks directly at us. I turn back to Elizabeth and Caroline, though not entirely turning my back on Klaus.

"More problems I should know about?" Elizabeth asks.

"Not for the town, I don't think," I reply.

"Caroline told me about his interest in Clare."

"She knows everything," Caroline informs Clare.

"I suppose in a town like this you'd have to as sheriff," Clare comments.

"Why don't we dance," I insist to Clare taking her empty punch glass and setting it down. I walk her out to the dance floor and glance at Klaus, he's still lingering near the entry. I dance with Clare and when the song ends Klaus strolls over.

"May I cut in?" Klaus asks.

"No," I reply for her.

"It's just a dance Damon, I'll be alright," Clare insists.

"I'll be watching," I tell Klaus and then kiss Clare deeply.

I walk through the dancing people, checking scents as I go. Stefan is with Elena, they're talking, though they are watching Clare and Klaus.

"Clare can stay at our place tonight," Elena says when I walk up.

"Good," I nod.

"We should dance," Stefan says to Elena. They go to the dance floor while I make my way over to Ric.

"We have a potential problem," I say to him. We leave the ballroom and go into Mr. Lockwood's study to talk privately.

"We always have a potential problem, what is it this time?" Ric questions.

"We're not sure, something that's not vampire and not entirely human circled our house today. They never left the woods except to cross the driveway, but they walked the entire perimeter. Clare's staying at your place tonight, whatever it is probably isn't after her," I'm saying when Ric interrupts.

"But just in case you want me to be on alert and weapon ready?"

"Yes."

"I'll put some out when I get home. Do Jeremy and Elena know?"

"Stefan asked Elena if Clare could stay, I don't know how much Stefan told her. Not sure about Jeremy, I plan to talk to him too, but we haven't told Clare. We should get back in there though, I don't trust Klaus with Clare for so long."

Ric nods and we go back to the ballroom, Tyler and Carol have joined the party so most of the guests should be here. Klaus is no longer dancing with Clare, now she's dancing with Jeremy.

"Klaus was taking too much of her time, I thought she should dance with someone else," Jeremy says.

"Thank you Jeremy, I'll take over now," I remark.

"I'm going to go find Bonnie," Jeremy says taking his arm away from Clare. She smiles at him and I bring her into my arms.

"I don't think Klaus will do anything in a room full of people," Clare comments as we begin dancing.

"He might try and take you," I reply and she gives me a look.

"I'm going to get something to eat, I'm pretty sure I'll be okay at the refreshments table," she says.

I watch her go to the refreshments, and watch Klaus follow her. He's close to her, whispering and telling her she should come back to his place tonight, and looking at me while doing so. She won't be doing that, so I'm not worried…for now. I find Elizabeth again, she's talking with one of the high school teachers. She sees me coming, must know I want something.

"Excuse me," she says to the teacher. The other woman looks back at me and then nods to Elizabeth before walking away. "There is a problem," Elizabeth states.

"We're not sure, something was around our house earlier. Something not entirely human. Anyone new in town recently?"

"Just Clare," she replies.

"It's not Clare, she was with us all day and it wasn't her scent. Any recent attacks in the area?"

"Actually, yes. A couple wild animal attacks reported in surrounding areas. They think it was a mountain line or a wolf."

"If you hear of any other attacks or see anyone else new call me," I request.

"Sure," she nods.

"I better get Clare away from Klaus before he takes her out of here or even convinces her to go outside," I remark leaving Elizabeth and looking around for Clare. She's still at the refreshments with Klaus.

"Care to dance again?" I ask Clare.

"Happily," she grins taking my hand.

We dance again, and I lead her as far from Klaus as I can get. After a couple of songs he strikes up a conversation with one of the doctors from the hospital. After a couple more songs Clare tires of dancing, she leaves the dance floor, and I go with her. When we get near Caroline she starts talking to Clare, Tyler is talking with Matt and when I see Jeremy leave the room I follow him. He goes into the washroom, so I wait until he's out of the washroom and I grab him, pulling him into the study.

"What?" Jeremy questions.

"Keep your ring on tonight, all night, even you're home. Don't take it off for anything, not even to shower," I tell him.

"Someone after Elena again?" He asks, his tone tight with fear and concern for his sister.

"No, me or Stefan probably. Something was all around our property today while we were gone. Clare's staying at your place tonight to be safe, it wasn't a vampire we know that. Just be safe, I told Ric to have weapons ready."

"You sure it wasn't human?" Jeremy asks as his ring only protects from the supernatural.

"We don't know what it was, the scent was not one we've come across. It's definitely not entirely human, which makes it something supernatural."

"You don't think it was something Klaus sent to take Clare do you?" Jeremy asks and I grit my teeth, we hadn't thought of that.

"I don't know, I wouldn't put it past him, whatever it was never came up to the house just stayed in the woods."

"We should get back there, Bonnie's going to wonder where I am. You two be careful tonight too, but if something is after Clare then we'll keep her safe," Jeremy says.

When we come back to the ballroom Clare is dancing with Klaus again, Stefan and Elena are dancing near them. I don't know how long they've been dancing, but I decide it's been long enough and go over.

"Cutting in," I comment taking Clare from Klaus. Stefan comes over putting a hand on my shoulder.

"We are dancing," Klaus growls pulling her back from me.

"And, if you both aren't careful you will rip her arms right off. Clare, would you care to dance?" Ric asks her holding out his hand.

She smiles at him and takes his hand, he leads her away a little, and Stefan pulls me back. I glare at Klaus, but decide it's a good opportunity to speak with Stefan and Elena. If Clare is dancing with Ric then she's safe.

"How much did you tell Elena?" I ask Stefan.

"Everything," he replies.

"I told Ric and Jeremy everything. Ric will have weapons ready and Jeremy will keep his ring on to be safe. Jeremy brought up something we hadn't thought of, maybe Klaus sent something to take Clare," I inform them.

"I still think whatever it was is after us, but that's a possibility we can't rule out," Stefan nods.

"What good would taking her do?" Elena asks.

"He's nearly drained her twice, he'd probably take her and drain her completely. Maybe keep her alive and keep nearly draining her," I reply. Elena looks horrified, Stefan silently agrees with me.

"And whatever this thing was, what if it is after one or both of you?" Elena questions.

"We'll take care of it," I shrug confidently. Elena gives me a look and opens her mouth, but Stefan speaks before she can.

"Let's dance," he says pulling her back to the dance floor.

Clare is no longer dancing with Ric, but they are talking in one corner. I no longer see Klaus, which I don't like. I stay near Clare the rest of the evening, but don't see Klaus again that night. When the ball starts drawing to a close we leave with Jeremy, Bonnie, Elena and Ric.

"Goodnight, Elena, Jeremy, Bonnie, Alaric, Clare, Salvatore's," Carol says keeping the smile plastered on her face.

"Goodnight Mrs. Lockwood, Tyler. I had a wonderful time and you have an exquisitely beautiful home," Clare grins.

"Well, thank you Dear, it was a delight to have you. I hope you'll visit again," Carol smiles.

"Where's your car?" I ask Ric when we've all descended the stairs.

"This way," he says nodding in the direction he parked.

"I'll get her bag from our car," I remark and run to my car. I get Clare's bag from my trunk and find where Ric parked. Bonnie is just kissing Jeremy goodbye.

"I'll call you guys tomorrow, goodnight," Bonnie says before walking off to find her parents.

"Why am I staying the night at Elena's tonight? Stefan and Elena are telling me that they thought I'd like waking up Christmas morning there," Clare says while I hand her bag to Ric and he puts it in the trunk.

"It is," I tell her.

"Then why wasn't I asked if that's what I wanted? Damon, what is going on?" Clare demands.

"Our house is no place to wake up Christmas morning," I assert.

"Damon what is g…"

"They think you'll be safer at our place," Jeremy blurts out. I glare at him for telling her while she furrows her brow at me.

"Safer from what? Did Klaus make a threat?" Clare queries.

"No, but something was around our place earlier. Whatever it was is probably after us and we don't want you there if it comes back," I tell her.

"Damon y…" Clare begins, but before she can argue or worry about us we run down to our car.

"She's going to be angry," Stefan comments as I begin driving us home.

"She can be angry as long as she's safe."

We drive home in silence, looking around as we pull up the drive. I stop the car and turn out the headlights, we wait a moment before exiting the car. Then we run inside, if something was out there it didn't get us or follow us in.

"So, what now?" Stefan asks when we're inside.

"Now, we wait."

Update soon picking up from around here. As I said this will be ending on chapter 9 most likely, maybe chapter ten. Next story to be updated is The Way She Smiles When She Sees Me.