He blinked, waiting for the indignation at his curt rejection but Bonnie only stretched her lips into that crooked smile he adored.

She gently patted the empty space on the couch next to her, "I know you are scared, Damon," she began softly, making him feel as if he was just gutted, and his insides were exposed and vulnerable, and he stared at her curiously, ready to refute the truth he was intent on hiding.

"I am too," She continued, "I don't have forever like you, and after all what I have been through, all that I have lost, I learned I have to cherish every moment and say exactly what is on my heart."

And he thought about how rare it was for most people to speak the truth, to call a thing a thing.

It was a gift she always had.

He stuffed his fists into his jean pockets, rocking lightly on the balls of his feet, nervous under the weight of that very moment. "Which is?"

"I'm in love with you." She stated and then gathered her hair into her hands and pushed the curls onto her right shoulder, "And I want to spend the rest of my time here with you, being real about how I feel and what I want, and what I want is for you not to run away from me, not to run away from us."

And he moved tentatively at first, uncertain if he had fallen asleep on the couch with her in his arms and this was all just a delicious of dream, a consequence of all the wine and the smell of her snoring on his chest.

When he stood in front of her and placed his broad hand on the side of her exposed neck, she closed her eyes, biting down on her lip, anticipating him as she would have anticipated a lover.

"Open your eyes," He ordered, still kneading her neck roughly, gripping her possessively. "Since we are being honest here," he started, baring himself into pools of green, "I want you, " He admitted to her wide grin that he didn't return because he was already thinking of the lost that was to eventually come. He crouched down on to his knees to reach her, face to face, with his hand still holding on to what he believed belong to him now that he claimed to the universe his desire, "But what happens next?"

"I don't know." She said breathlessly, her pupils widened with longing. A longing that was for him. And he smirks, because he had seen it before, many times actually, spanning all the way back to the night she saved their asses by faking her death under Klaus, and he laughs to himself how all that time he had never noticed.

She sighed when his mouth kissed the inside curve of her neck and her spine stiffened under his fingers as he braced her up against his chest. Her trembling turned him on and his fangs responded by running out to their full length as he grazed his mouth along caramel skin, lapping at streams of red running down on to her collar.

"Damon."

And he bit down, embedded his teeth into her veins, pulling her blood into him in waves, rocking her back and forth as he took her in his mouth.

Fresh Blood.

Blood from the source had a tendency to make him frenzied. Mad.

And witchy blood from a beautiful Bonnie made him ravenous.

He slid his hands in between her legs, positioning his fingers to please her while he feeds.

Her nails were creating crescents in his neck as she moaned in his ear how she wanted more, and that's all he needed to press her down into the couch, tugging at his belt and jeans to lay skin on skin, bloody mouth over mouth. He was wild. But he quickly thought he should turn back, get up now while he had a chance because there would be no satiating his appetite for her once he had a taste. And she wrapped her legs over his back inviting him, come to me she mouthed over his own, and he relented, and let himself fall.

DBDBDBDBDB

Stefan pulled the car into the driveway of Caroline's familial home. The house was tastefully decorated in all white lights and the front yard had a real sleigh filled with wrapped presents in the color scheme of white and gold. On the porch were the party attendees, laughing and drinking egg nog from punch bowl cups. From the car, Damon could make out the faces of Donovan and Lockwood, both grinning from ear to ear at a brunette who had her back turned to the driveway.

Damon snorted, "Could those two be any more obvious, I mean damn, doesn't Caroline have more than one single friend to invite to these shindigs so Donovan and Lockwood don't hang on that poor girl and look so desperate.

And as he opened the car door to walk straight to the kitchen to fill a carafe of whisky for him self, Stefan grips his arm.

"Damon, wait, we need to talk befo-

But Stefan was too late.

Donovan and Lockwood aware of the eldest Salvatore's arrival, looked over the porch railing, their jovial faces turning somber as the brunette turned around slowly, her warm doe-eyes settling on the disheveled vampire in the driveway.

Author's Note

Let's see if I can finish this before this Christmas!