You win again
.
The next morning Emma opened her eyes only to find Damon still asleep, wrapping his arms around her tightly. She knew he was still asleep by the quiet movement of his chest rising and falling, as well as by the low snore she heard against his hair. Emma didn't know at what point the two of them ended up in that position, or who of the two that sought the other's body, but either way, it was good. It was so good that she tried her best to ignore the growing urge to pee just to stay there.
After a few minutes, however, Emma gave in and reluctantly disentangled herself from the vampire's arms and picked up the crutches beside the bedside table. She stood up carefully and walked over to her dresser and picked up a change of clothes. The day was colder than she expected, and she stared at the pants she had picked up and stared at the garment, wondering if she could wear it even with her leg immobilized. Deciding that the garment was baggy enough for that, she shrugged and went into the bathroom.
Jenna had left a small stool in the bathroom so that Emma could take a shower sitting with her leg out of the water, and that is exactly what she did. It was not easy, and more than once the girl almost lost her balance, but with a lot of effort she managed to take a decent shower.
As soon as she stepped out of the shower, she dried herself using one hand while leaning on her crutch with the other. Putting on her bra and white sweater was easy, as was combing her hair and brushing her teeth. The panties weren't too difficult either, however, as soon as she slipped her immobilized leg into her pants, she realized that they weren't wide enough to get through the cast and decided to take them off and choose a skirt or even a dress.
"Oh no", Emma complained lowly as she realized that the pant leg she had been wearing had locked into her immobilized leg in such a way that it wouldn't come out, but it wouldn't go in either. "Oh no no no no. Why?".
"Emma? Is everything okay?", Damon asked after giving the bathroom door three knocks.
"Yeah, everything's fine", she lied and sat down on the toilet. Dropping the crutch propped on the sink, she tried to pull her pants off her body, but couldn't.
"Why am I not convinced about that?" he sneered and Emma sighed defeated.
"If I tell, you promise not to laugh?", she asked and he smirked, leaning outside the door with his arms crossed.
"No", he replied, and heard her approaching the door muttering something about him being an idiot. As soon as he heard the girl turn the knob, he leaned away from the door and watched the girl stick her head out of the bathroom. Her cheeks were flushed from the hot water and her hair was wet, and it made her look even prettier.
"My leg is stuck", she said, and he raised an eyebrow. "In my pants, my leg is stuck in my pants!" she explained, and Damon burst out laughing.
"Okay, doll. Come out, I'll help you", the vampyre replied. Emma came bouncing out of the bathroom. In other conditions he would have laughed at the scene, after all, the girl had one leg of her jeans stuck in a cast, while the rest of her clothing dragged across the floor. It would be a ridiculous scene, if she wasn't wearing only a thin white sweater and black panties. Damon had seen her in countless styles of clothing, but he had never seen so much of her skin exposed, and something stirred within his chest. Clearing his throat, Damon indicated for her to lean on his shoulders, and the girl waited for the vampire to bend down to hesitantly bring her hands to the indicated spot, holding onto him. "I'm going to have to rip your pants, so I hope it's not your favorite".
"I don't have favorite pants", she replied, stiffening her shoulders and contracting her thighs as soon as she felt Damon's fingers touch her skin. The cast that immobilized Emma's leg reached only to the knee, but Damon touched her high up, on a sensitive patch of skin on the inside of her leg, an inch above the knee, and she knew he had done it on purpose.
"Good, you look better in dresses anyway". He had definitely done it on purpose. Damon's teeth itched under her gums, and he felt his own blood heat up when she contracted her thighs. Slowly, he slid his fingers along her skin, until he reached where the pants were attached. In one quick motion, he ripped the fabric, which ripped a gasp from Emma. He held up a smirk and stood up.
"Done", he commented, and Emma remembered to breathe.
"Thanks. Can you..." she said, gesturing for him to turn on his back.
"Sure", he replied, but he couldn't help himself and took a quick glance back without her noticing. She was bouncing toward a clothes closet next to the dresser, causing the hem of her sweater to rise and fall. Damon tilted his head to the side and felt his own eyes blacken. The vampire heard his own cell phone vibrate on the kitchen counter and walked over to pick it up. He read the message and sighed. "Okay, so Jenna is staying at the campus, doesn't want to see anyone and Stefan called us to go to the Boarding House to talk about Isobel".
Emma finished tucking the dress over her head and faced the vampire. It was a blue dress with shoulder straps that went down to her knees, and she put it on over the sweater she was wearing to keep herself minimally warm since she would have to stick her legs out.
"Will Katherine be there?", Emma asked, leaning on one of the crutches, while her other hand reached into the drawer for a pair of socks.
"I hope not", Damon replied, watching her. "I'm not going to let her anywhere near you".
"I don't feel very safe being in the same room as Katherine, especially with my leg like this".
"You could just drink my blood", Damon replied with a shrug and, seeing the girl frown, rolled his eyes. "The blood stays in your system only for 24 hours, and she won't touch a single strand of your hair. I fact, I can stay with you just to make sure of it".
"I won't take any chances", she replied and Damon snorted.
"You didn't have any problem with drinking Stefan's blood", he commented bitterly, shoving his cell phone back into his pocket. His tone denoted a bit of jealousy, because, if he stopped to think about it, that was exactly how he felt when he thought Emma had already drunk Stefan's blood. The young woman stared at him with frowning eyebrows, completely confused. Damon clenched his jaw, rolled his eyes, and stared at her seriously. "You drank his blood when Rose attacked you, remember?".
"I... I don't remember that", Emma replied confused, and it was Damon's turn to frown. The vampire then remembered that the girl was unconscious when Stefan poured the blood down her throat. She had not, in fact, chosen to drink the younger Salvatore's blood. That memory strangely pulled out of Damon's chest the bad feeling he had been carrying since the night before.
"I stick with my point", Damon replied, now in a more affectionate tone and his shoulders more relaxed. The vampire moved closer to her and tilted his head to the side. "I can stay with you for 24 hours, to make sure nothing will happen".
"Why do you want me to drink your blood so much?" she asked interested. She wasn't accusing him of anything, she really just wanted to know. Damon sighed and realized that he didn't know how to answer. He wasn't going to simply say that it was because he wanted to mark his territory, that it was because he wanted her to have something of him, even if only for twenty-four hours. He wouldn't say it was because she was his, and his alone. Emma was his friend, not Stefan's. Emma trusted him, not Stefan. So nothing more fair than for her to never drink anyone's blood but his. His motives made no sense at all even inside his head, so vocalizing them would do no good.
"Because it's really annoying hearing you complain about your leg", he lied. "And because you're gonna kill yourself with these crutches".
"I don't know" Emma shrugged and sighed, "I started to like them". Damon rolled his eyes and Emma cracked a smile. "Let's see how today goes. If it goes bad, I'll drink your blood and heal my leg. If that's okay with you, of course. I mean, it's your blood".
"It's a deal", Damon replied, walking over to her. He caught the sock from her hands, but didn't stop looking her in the eyes, and smirked when he heard her heart speed up. "Let me help you with your shoes, huh?".
Emma gasped when the vampire took her by the waist and placed her sitting on the dresser as if she weighed nothing. He shook out the sock and slowly placed it on the girl's good foot, again making a point of rubbing his fingers over every bit of skin he could find along the way. Emma felt a tug on her navel and looked away and pulled the air hard through her nostrils. He then picked up a foot of white tennis shoes and put them on her foot.
"It's just one shoe", she commented, trying to distract herself. Damon smirked again and stared at her as he tied the laces. Emma wondered how eyes of such a cold color could burn her so much.
"You know, if you did two little braids, you could easily pass yourself off as a Girl Scout", he commented and laughed when she looked offended. In fact, the white sweater under the light blue dress, the white socks, and the white sneakers made her look remotely like a sexy Girl Scout. Well, the 'sexy' was absolutely a figment of his imagination, after all, the dress wasn't even that short. Damon finished tying his sneakers and pulled his face closer to hers. "I would absolutely buy your cookies, by the way".
"You're ridiculous!" she exclaimed, slamming the stocking foot she couldn't wear over his head. Damon smiled and pulled her off the dresser.
The vampire caught the girl on his arms to walk down the stairs of the building and set her down as soon as the two reached the front door. The vampire didn't open the car door for her, he was quite distracted typing a message on his cell phone. Emma got into the car and waited for him to start the engine. The two of them drove to the Boarding House amid jokes and laughter. Emma busied herself picking out a radio station while Damon tried to make her mad by complaining about her car. The two arrived at their destination and the vampire waited for the girl to catch up with him at the door so they could enter together.
Elena and Stefan were already in the living room and Damon couldn't help noticing that there was a strange mood between the two cousins. More from Elena than from Emma. The younger girl seemed afraid to speak directly to her cousin. Emma, however, hurried to sit down on the sofa next to Elena and, after leaning her crutches against the arm of the sofa, squeezed her cousin's knee gently, assuring her that everything was fine. Damon could hear the brunette's sigh of relief. Emma slid to the opposite end of the couch, making room in case Stefan wanted to sit next to his girlfriend, but the younger vampire settled into an armchair next to Elena.
"So, Isobel showed up at Elena's and offered help against Klaus", Stefan summarized what happened rather precariously, but Emma didn't have time to even open her mouth.
"And how exactly is she helping?", Damon asked, throwing himself against an armchair that stood right in front of Emma, but a good few feet away.
"She offered a safe house", Stefan explained. "According to Isobel, so Elena would be safe from any vampire who went after her".
"Do you really think Isobel is telling the truth? Word's out about the doppelganger?", Elena asked Stefan.
"I don't trust a word she says", the vampire replied. "But I think we'd be stupid to ignore the warning".
"But why would she warn you?", Emma asked, and the three of them stared at her. "I mean, she pretended to be dead for years and now she worries about you?"
"Bitches and faking deaths", Damon grumbled, reaching forward and staring at his own cuticles with a bored expression. Emma smiled sympathetically at the vampire before turning to her cousin.
"And she was invited in, we don't even know her and she can get inside your house. I bet she can enter this 'safe house' as well", Emma continued.
"Emma is right", Damon said, "You should stay here. It's better for us to keep an eye on you".
"What, in a house where any vampire can enter?", Stefan asked, taking the words out of Emma's mouth, "Her house is safer".
"Well, then we'll stay there", Damon pointed out.
"There is my apartment", Emma suggested.
"As much as I like the idea of four people sharing the same bed, we're talking about Stefan being one of these four. Even I have my limits, doll", Damon joked, winking at her. Emma rolled her eyes and Elena exclaimed an offended 'ew'.
"So is that your plan? Neither of you let me out of your sight again?", Elena asked.
"Let me know when you come up with a better one", Damon retorted.
"Fine", Elena sighed, "Then one of you is gonna have to come with me to the Lockwood luncheon".
"That'd be me", Stefan hastened to reply, but Emma was annoyed. Elena was Stefan's girlfriend, why would she leave the escort position open to 'one of them'?
"Perfect, because me and doll over there got witchy stuff to attend to with Bonnie" Damon communicated, pointing at Emma, and the girl stared at him.
"We do?" she asked with an arched eyebrow.
"You'll be stuck with me, remember?", Damon replied with a smirk and she flashed her tongue at him in order to curb the urge to smile. She hadn't drunk his blood, he didn't need to be with her for 24 hours. But he wanted to be with her for that period.
"Does that mean that you're taking her to the..." Elena tried to ask, but Damon put his forefinger glued to his own lip in a sign that she should stop talking and be silent. Elena frowned, but obeyed, and soon Emma heard a bouncing noise against the floor of the room and turned back quickly.
"Don't get quiet on my account", Katherine commented, entering the room. It was frightening how much she and Elena looked alike, and even more frightening that Emma still couldn't tell the difference between them.
Damon, noticing that Emma had stiffened her shoulders and locked her breath, quickly pulled the girl into the seat he had previously been occupying, and sat down on the armrest. The vampire stretched his arm rather protectively behind Emma until his hand reached the other arm of the armchair. Emma instinctively leaned slightly to the side, so that her temple brushed against Damon's chest. Stefan frowned at the scene.
"If you have a plan to combat the impending vampire doom, please do tell me", Katherine said, leaning against the back of the couch Emma was sitting on before being pulled up by Damon. The vampire stared at the girl and smirked, "Oh, hello Emma. How's the leg? It must be really boring to have to wear these crutches".
"They're quite fine, to be honest. Do you wanna give it a try? I can shove them in your ass if you like", Emma replied. Elena's eyes widened, Stefan was surprised and held back his laughter, and Damon just grinned from ear to ear, staring at Katherine. Unconsciously, the vampire removed his hand from the armchair and slid his fingers down the girl's back in an affectionate sign. The gesture, rather unusual by Damon's standards, did not go unnoticed by Katherine and Stefan.
"Watch out" Katherine replied in warning, and turned again to Elena and Stefan, who ignored her. "Seriously, what is the plan to get us out of this mess? I delivered you a moonstone, a werewolf, and a dagger to lure and kill Klaus and right now all you have is a moonstone. Or so you tell me".
"Oh no, we have it", Damon replied debauchedly.
"Where is it?", Katherine asked impatiently.
"In a very safe place", the older Salvatore merely replied.
"I've been honest with you. Time to return the favor".
"You'd have to wait 145 years for that" Emma couldn't restrain her comment, and Katherine glared at her. "That's the amount of time you've lied to him, right?"
"Let me be honest with you" Damon continued. "Don't mistake the fact that we haven't set you on fire in your sleep for trust".
"Fine, be that way" Katherine replied bitterly, crossing her arms. The vampire turned away and was ready to leave the room, but decided to turn to Damon one last time. "I'm really glad you quit being that boring obsessed boy and got a new puppet for yourself".
Katherine's comment bothered Emma, but most of all it bothered Damon. The old vampire liked to tease him, and every time he believed he had come out on top, she made some comment that put him down again. The conversation he had had with Katherine in the basement was still vivid in his mind, and Damon hated that she kept repeating that the two of them were alike, and that he was doing to Emma what Katherine had done to him. Damon hated that he himself sometimes suspected that he only wanted Emma as a puppet. Even if he knew that he cared about the girl, that he enjoyed her company, that he wanted her around, deep down he feared that there was nothing good left inside of him and that ultimately he was only using Emma because he needed someone devoted to him like he had devoted himself to Katherine. Damon snapped out of his own head when he felt something touching his thigh, which was resting on the arm of the armchair. Looking down, he met Emma's whiskey eyes.
"Are you okay?" she asked worriedly, and he snorted shrugging. "Elena and Stefan are getting ready to the luncheon, shall we go meet Bonnie?"
"Yeah, let's go", he replied and stood up from the armchair. He waited for Emma to straighten her dress and pick up her crutches and walked beside her to his car. Damon was quite clear that he wouldn't drive Emma's old car unless it was extremely necessary, and the girl made a long speech defending the vehicle using the most absurd arguments she could think of, more to raise his spirits than because she was actually offended.
The two of them drove to Bonnie's house to pick up the witch, and Emma couldn't disguise her surprise to see that Jeremy was along. The young woman gave Damon a meaningful smile, and he rolled his eyes. Jeremy and Bonnie got into the back seat of the car and the four of them drove to the spot that only Damon knew was the place where the Salem witches were slaughtered.
"Since when are your cousin and Damon so close?", Bonnie whispered against Jeremy's ear as soon as they got out of the car.
The Gilbert boy looked at the vampire, who was drumming his fingers impatiently on the roof of the car, waiting for Emma to fix her crutches and exit the vehicle at once. Rolling his eyes, Damon took the girl by the waist and stood her two steps away from the car, keeping his hand firmly on her waist while using the other to slam the door. As he turned to Emma, the vampire cradled the crutches in her hands and pulled the hem of her dress down, since it had been riding up quite a bit when she sat in the car. The gesture took Emma by surprise, as she leaned her body weight on her good leg and used one of the crutches to bump Damon's leg, who complained with a 'stop it, you crazy woman'. The boy laughed softly. The two of them definitely made a rather unlikely and, oddly enough, complementary pair. In Jeremy's eyes, the two of them always looked best when they were in each other's company.
Damon gave Emma a nudge on the nose and muttered that they should walk in a certain direction, and the girl rolled her eyes before skipping off. The vampire huffed and walked quickly until he reached her, and started walking beside her.
"God, he's so... weird around her", Bonnie commented in a whisper, still surprised by the whole scene she was witnessing. Jeremy laughed again.
"Tell me about it", he replied, and waved for the two of them to follow Emma and Damon.
The four of them walked a good distance. Damon was bored with having to keep up with the human pace, but he was also surprised that Emma could walk such a long distance on those crutches and without complaining. As soon as they reached a clearing, Jeremy sighed wearily.
"Is this the place where Emily Bennet was killed too?" the boy asked.
"The Founders thought it was poetic, burning her where the witches burn", Damon replied, and Emma noticed when Bonnie shrugged.
"How do you know where the witches here burned?" Bonnie asked.
"Because I tried to save her", he replied and looked down, shrugging, but soon returned to his usual posture. "Emily was my key to getting Katherine before I knew what a nasty little bitch Katherine was".
Emma watched the vampire closely, but didn't notice anything unusual about his posture, so she merely continued bouncing around a bit behind the three of them. She was starting to get tired, when they spotted a huge mansion, completely abandoned, but also completely beautiful. The building was very old, and the details of the columns and window ledges were what most caught Emma's attention. That place could be the stage for a romance story as well as a horror story.
"You sure it's the right place?", Jeremy asked Damon, who just nodded positively and headed towards the house. Emma sighed before fixing her crutches under her armpits and hopping on. The vampire seemed too airborne to even remember to help her. Or he just didn't want to, was also a possibility.
Damon was the one who forced the handle, causing the door to open with a creak. The vampire took up an alert position and the other three copied him, walking carefully behind him. Jeremy motioned for Emma to walk between Damon and him, so that he could keep an eye on her, and she obliged with a smile. However, as soon as they crossed the foyer, Emma heard a roar and jumped back. Damon turned his face and faced her with a smirk.
"You're such an asshole!" she complained, and he smirked.
"So you keep telling me" he sneered and held out his hand to help her down the only step that divided the rooms. She rolled her eyes and ignored his hand. "Oh, don't be mad at me, dolly".
"Dolly? How could I have gone from a Barbie to a sheep?" she asked and he let out a laugh, but his laughter soon died when he realized he couldn't get out of his seat. Emma frowned. "What's wrong?"
"Whatever prank you're playing, don't. It's not funny", Damon growled at Bonnie.
"I'm not doing anything", she defended herself.
"I can't move" Damon explained in a debauched tone, as if Bonnie was faking. Emma looked from Bonnie to Damon and her eyes widened as she smelled burning flesh and realized that the smell was coming from the vampire. He was standing just below a beam of light coming through the window, and the sun's rays were burning his skin. The left side of his face and left hand were beginning to look like barbecue. "Oh, my ring's not working", he hissed.
"What do you mean it's not working?", Emma asked as she bounced toward the vampire, placing herself between him and the rays of light coming from the window. She was shorter than he was, so she couldn't completely cover the vampire's face and tried in vain to cover the sunbeams with her body and hands. The girl turned to Bonnie. "Do something!" she shouted to the witch.
Bonnie closed her eyes and in a few seconds Damon was able to move. Emma caught his hand that was wearing the ring and examined the burns beginning to heal. Sighing with relief, she let go of his hand and looked at Bonnie.
"I don't think the witches like you being here", the witch shrugged.
"Well, I guess this is the right place", Jeremy commented.
"I think I'll wait outside", Damon begrudgingly replied, feeling a little humiliated. He didn't like not being in control of the situation, and he definitely didn't like being in a place where being a vampire was more of a weakness than an advantage. Damon stepped between Bonnie and Jeremy and walked briskly toward the door. Emma looked at her cousin.
"I'll go with him", she announced, and took off after the vampire. She found Damon standing with his hands in his pockets staring at some broken columns from the mansion's balcony.
"So sweet of you to check up on me", he sneered, and she hopped up to stand beside him. "How's going your day with this leg of yours?"
"I think I'm getting used to", she replied and he rolled his eyes. "However, I must confess I'm becoming a little tired of all the hiking".
"Wanna a shot of delicious old fashioned blood?", he teased.
"Not yet", she replied.
"Your loss" he shrugged.
"What is this place? I mean, this house" she asked.
"It's simply a house", he explained. "A house built upon witch burial ground by some unsuspecting poor soul. It seems that witches don't like visitors very much".
"About that... I'm definetely going to fill this on my list", Emma commented and Damon stared at her with a raised eyebrow. "You burning in the sun? I made a two columns list. One for Cullen, one for Dracula. Burning in the sun goes in the Dracula column".
"Any chance you actually hate me and just pretend to enjoy my company?", Damon complained, drawing a laugh from Emma. The vampire approached her and took one of his hands out of his pocket, placing it on his own chest, staging as if he had been hit. "And to think I actually thought you were worried, trying to keep the sunlight from me...". Emma trailed off laughing.
"Oh, I definetely hate you, that's why I'm with you all the time", she replied playfully and brought one of her hands up to Damon's face, holding him by the chin and pulling him closer. The vampire swallowed hard and stood still, watching the girl carefully analyze the left side of his face. Instinctively, he took a careful hold of her wrist, and she stared into his eyes. He liked her touch, and he liked her eyes.
"It's healed", he commented, his voice sounding huskier than he intended, and Emma locked her breath. Damon gently stroked her wrist with his thumb, unable to break both the physical contact and the eye contact they were making, and she held his gaze. Was her mouth always so pink and velvety? Damon's cell phone rang and they both jumped back startled. The vampire picked the device from his pocket and answered it, finally taking his eyes off Emma, who seemed to have found a particularly interesting tree branch as she didn't look away.
"Okay, we're on our way", Emma heard Damon say and finally looked at him in questioning. "It's John, we have to go"
"John? But Bonnie and Jer..."
"They'll be fine, they know the way out. C'mon", he said before picking her up on his lap and running to the car. Damon was so fast that before she knew it, she was in front of the door, and the vampire was sitting in the driver's seat. He leaned to the side and looked at her through the side window. "Do you want a formal invitation to get in?"
"Sorry", she apologized and opened the door, sat and threw her crutches in the back seat. As soon as she closed the door of the Camaro, Damon took off with the car and ran to the Lockwoods.
In order not to further delay the vampire, Emma waited in the car and almost had a stroke when Damon returned carrying John's body and threw it into the trunk. He explained to her that John was wearing the ring, so he would soon come back to life and that he would take the man to the Boarding House. However, he informed her that he would drop her off at the apartment first, joking that she smelled like feet and needed a shower. The truth was that he could see on her face how tired she was, but he didn't want to give in.
As soon as Damon had left her in front of the apartment door and disappeared down the stairs, Emma locked the door and took a long shower before putting on a nightgown and getting into bed. She was so exhausted that she didn't even notice she hadn't eaten all day, she just laid her head on the pillow and fell asleep. She didn't know how many hours she had slept until her cell phone rang. The girl groped the nightstand and picked up the phone, placing it to her ear.
"Hello?"
"Can I come over?", Damon's voice asked.
"Hmm, okay", she replied sleepily and turned off the device. She threw the phone back on the bedside table and sank her face into the pillow. Less than two minutes later, she felt a breath of air come in through the window that she swore she had closed.
"Are you sleeping without me? Unbelievable!" Damon exclaimed, sitting at the foot of her bed, causing the girl to jump with fright. She stared at him wide-eyed. "Relax, I'm the only one who can enter, because you invited me in".
"Couldn't you use the door? Goes to Cullen column. Creep", she commented and he laughed through his nose. The girl sat up, leaned against the headboard and rubbed her eyes before turning back to face the vampire sitting across from her. Damon's hair was wet, he smelled of soap, and his cheeks were slightly flushed. And he looked more handsome than ever. "Is everything okay?" she asked. And then Damon told her about Isobel turning Katherine over to Klaus, about her killing herself in front of Elena, and about John being very much alive at the Boarding House. The worst news was that Katherine had found the Moonstone.
"So Klaus is really here?", Emma asked rather worriedly and Damon confirmed with his head. "Shit".
"Do you have a necklace somewhere?", Damon asked and Emma frowned. He rolled his eyes. "Just tell me".
Emma then opened the drawer of the bedside table and took out a small, rather old, hand-painted jewelry box. She opened it and took out a thin gold chain with an oval pendant of golden arabesques. Damon knew that kind of necklace, one usually kept someone's picture in there, and he found himself curious to know who she kept in there.
"It was my mother's", she explained and opened the pendant, revealing absolutely nothing. "There's nothing in here, I don't have any photos of her anymore. To be honest I don't even have photos of myself". Damon took the chain from her hands and, with his free hand, pulled out of his jacket pocket a small flask with something that looked like tea leaves inside.
She watched as the vampire opened the jar and used his fingertips to pull out some leaves. Damon hissed of pain and his fingers burned while he put some leaves inside the oval pendant. Damon closed it and handed it back to Emma.
"Now there's something inside", he commented, looking into her eyes. "It's vervain. This way, no normal vampire can compel you. You have to wear it all the time, always". Emma smiled at him and then stared at the necklace in the palm of her hand. Carefully, she opened the clasp and put it around her neck. It was strange to wear that necklace, not because it contained vervain, but because she had never worn it before. It was one of the only heirlooms she had from her mother, and all these years it had stayed inside that same jewelry box.
"Thank you, Damon", she thanked him, closing the necklace behind her neck and looking him in the eye. There were tiny creases at the corners of his eyes, which were very blue and bright. It was becoming more and more common for Emma to be the receiving end of Damon's affectionate glances. And this filled her chest with a feeling she was not used to. The feeling of feeling important, of feeling cared by someone. "Do you wanna stay?" she asked, hesitantly, and Damon smirked.
"I thought you'd never ask", he replied, and she laughed and slid to the side of the bed, pulling back the covers to free the place for him. Damon in less than two seconds was already without his jacket, shirt and shoes, lying next to the girl, and she tucked herself into the covers and lay down as well, facing him. "This way I can help you with the stairs in the morning", he commented, feeling the need to justify himself. Emma laughed softly and covered herself up to the neck. Damon turned on his stomach and stared at the ceiling.
"Okay", she replied with a yawn and closed her eyes. The girl fell asleep with her forehead resting against Damon's arm, who, smiling, closed his eyes and allowed himself to sleep peacefully, clinging to the shallow justification he had come up with only to avoid admitting that the reason he wanted to sleep there was because sleeping with Emma was infinitely better than sleeping alone.