Working on Halloween is always pure hell. People come and buy all the liquor and snacks or get a ridiculous amount of candy at the last minute.

Luckily Bella didn't have to work alone on days like this and two other colleagues were assigned to help her. After all, she needed someone to restock the shelves while she was at the cash register.

The store did not decorate for Halloween except for some pumpkin and bat stickers on the windows. Instead, Bella and her colleagues dressed up specifically for the day.

Robert, a six-foot giant twice as wide as Bella, had grown a mustache, especially for his Mario costume. His natural Italian accent made the costume perfect.

Dorothy has been working here since the shop opened, she used the gray strands in her otherwise pitch-black hair and transformed herself into Frankenstein's bride for the night.

Bella, on the other hand, didn't put that much work into her costume. She had dressed up as Little Red Riding Hood. This only caused men disguised as either a wolf or a werewolf to start flirting with Bella. Some of them had to be carried out of the store by Robert because they were a) too pushy, b) too drunk, or c) both at the same time.

Bella was grateful when her shift finally ended. She could hardly stand up and she didn't know how to get home. It was almost impossible to get a taxi on Halloween and buses stopped running at this hour.

She could call someone, but the only two people she had their number on were Jenna and Damon. Jenna was at a party and couldn't be reached and she didn't want to call Damon out of pride.

Bella grabbed two bottles of whiskey and some snacks before leaving the store and heading home. She had to take several breaks and sit down in between because she felt like her legs would fall off if she took another step.

After the fifth or sixth break, she picked up one of the whiskey bottles, opened it, and took two or three sips. It didn't help much, but it helped.

Walking drunk through Mystic Falls on Halloween might not have been the wisest decision, but hey, when had Bella ever had a good idea?

After a while, Bella had to take a break again, but there wasn't a bench in sight. Not even a nice big rock to settle down on. Instead, she dropped to the ground covered with autumn leaves.

She took another sip from her bottle and looked around her.

Strange.

When had she entered the forest? Did she take a wrong turn at the last intersection? The forest was in a completely different direction from her apartment. That means she had to walk even more now. Wonderful!

She lay back and looked up at the sky. It was a hunter's moon, so there were almost no stars to be seen, but the forest was particularly well-lit.

So it happened that she could see Damon standing between the trees immediately. He was a few meters away from her. He was waiting for her to get up and run. their usual game.

But Bella didn't have the energy for that. Instead, she closed her eyes and waited.

A few minutes passed before she could hear his footsteps on the dry leaves. She slowly opened her eyes and saw Damon standing in front of her. His facial expression was completely neutral.

"Don't you want to run away?" he asked monotonously.

Bella closed her eyes again and moaned. "M tired!"

Damon nudged her with his foot. "Come on! Don't be a spoilsport!"

"Can't you just drink my blood and take me home?"

"You can't be serious."

Bella stretched out her arms to him like a small child wanting to be held.

"Please! I'll give you some of my whiskey too!"

Damon looked over at her basket which contained a full bottle and a half-full bottle.

"You can keep the cheap stuff."

"My blood?"

The vampire looked at her annoyed.

"Come on! I can't get home myself!"

Damon rolled his eyes and leaned forward. He ignored Bella's arms and grabbed her by the waist. With a quick movement, he picked her up and threw her over his shoulder.

"Woah!" exclaimed Bella. "Is that necessary?"

"You wanted me to take you home, but you didn't tell me how to take you home," the vampire explained, reaching for her basket. "And if you complain again, I'll throw you back on the ground and leave you here!"

Instead of answering, Bella just hung from his shoulder. The less she had to move, the better

The walk to her apartment was completely uneventful and after some time Bella gave in to fatigue and fell into a nice deep dreamless sleep. Exhaustion and drunkenness were, after all, the best methods of getting a good night's sleep. Even if you're hanging off the shoulder of a pissed-off vampire.

Damon didn't seem bothered by Bella sleeping. He had only one goal and he will achieve it no matter what.

He started waking Little Red Riding Hood when he reached the apartment building.

"Wake up darling! You are not disguised as Sleeping Beauty!" he cried while shaking her awake.

Bella slowly woke up and it took her a moment to realize where she was.

The vampire reached Balla's front door and gently slid her off his shoulder. "Here we are."

She was still quite unsteady on her feet, so Damon grabbed her around the waist as she looked for her key and then tried to open the door. He only let go of her when she took the first step into her apartment. Bella still hadn't invited him to her apartment and he doubted she would in the foreseeable future.

"Didn't you forget something?" he asked as Bella started to close the door behind her.

Bella was confused at first and tried to remember something until it hit her.

She took a step towards Damon, stood on her tiptoes, and kissed his cheek. "Thanks for bringing it home."

Damon chuckled.

"I meant that," he explained, holding out the basket he'd been holding the whole time.

"Oh," Bella said, taking the basket.

"Go sober up," Damon said, ruffling her hair. "I'll come for my payment tomorrow."