"I could just go out and buy myself the three of them you know," Stefan was amused that a little girl should be trying to make him promise not to hurt Damon because of a book, "aren't you a little young for all this anyway? Don't they give you nightmares?" he asked, now it was Tasha's turn to be amused.

"I'm twelve and I've read part of The Rats by Stephen King when I was nine. I've read Point Horror but there were only a couple that I liked- The Boyfriend and April Fools. If you want to go and but the whole series then fine, I can't stop you. If you want to borrow my copy then you're going to have to promise me that you won't get into a fight with Damon."

Stefan's eyebrows were almost in his hair, Damon was looking very amused, "I'd lend you the other two but you're going to Florence tomorrow so you won't have time to read them and by the time I walk back home and get back here the palace will be shut anyway." Damon and Stefan exchanged glances, Stefan frowned at Damon and then shrugged his shoulders.

Damon broke out into a wolfish grin, "where do you live Tasha?"

"I'm staying at my Dad's house, the books are there. He lives in Hampton." Damon continued to grin, Tasha was struggling to keep her mind blank. Right now she was loving the wolfish grin and knew that he could hear her heart skip beats every time he even so much as looked at her, she didn't want to have thoughts about it as well, that would get her into serious trouble. "How would you like a ride in a Ferrari?" Tasha nearly passed out, Stefan grinned and then started staring at the floor trying to hide it.

"To get the books? Okay, it's only down the road by car, first left at the roundabout." Damon motioned to her, Tasha gave the book in her hand to Stefan and ran after Damon who was already walking towards the exit.

She suddenly became very shy and tongue tied, she had no idea what to say to him. They got in the car and Damon grinned at her as he revved the engine, the traffic wasn't very bad and Damon put his foot down once they were on the straight road for a minute to give Tasha a bit of a ride, then they hit traffic and the thrill was over.

"He's going to go mad at you when you get back," she said to Damon, he winked at Tasha.

"I can handle him, there's nothing to worry about."

"So how comes you wanted to go to Hampton Court today?" I asked him.

" I wanted to see the old palace again. I spent of bit time here when Elizabeth was queen, it's changed a great deal."

"Damon, do you know anything about the Night World?" she asked him casually, Damon nearly crashed the car in shock.

"How do you know about the Night World?" he asked.

"The woman who wrote Vampire Diaries has written another series of books based on the Night World. I've only read a couple so far, but they're quite good as well. I quite like Soulmate about Thierry and Hannah, she's so lucky living in Montana and with Paleo. Parents and what's with that Quinn character? It sounds as though he looks a lot like you right down to the eyes- that's weird don't you think?" Tasha was still nervous and had taken to burning Damon's ear. He wasn't impressed.

"I have no idea who you're talking about, I've never even been to Vegas."

"Two things. One, it's second left and Dad's house is about halfway along. There's probably no spaces so you'll have to wait in the car. Two, I didn't say anything about Las Vegas." Tasha looked very smug with herself and even managed a grin at Damon, who suddenly looked quite angry. "I just wanted to know if they were real, if you two are real and everything that happened in those books is real then are we really in danger from Hunter Redfern and the fourth wild power?"

"I have no idea and to be honest I don't care. Is this is?" Tasha answered a quiet yes and they drove down the narrow road with cars parked on each side until she told him to stop. "There's a car park at the end of the road if the gate's open, or else you could turn around in the business park, but I'll only be a couple of minutes."

She got out the car and ran to the house, once in the porch she got the old golf club that was standing there and ran it along the top edge of the front door until the spare key dropped down, then she let herself in the house and ran upstairs to the spare room where after rummaging around in the sports bag she found The Awakening and The Fury, then she ran downstairs and into the kitchen where she silently cursed her Dad and his wife for being veggie health freaks- no chocolate and no snacks, she was starving and had no money to get anything with. Tasha sighed and slammed the cupboard door shut, she'd have to make do with what was left of the muffin if Stefan hadn't thrown it.

Then she heard Damon in her head. "I'll give you some money to get something to eat. Just get out here, I'm parked in the middle of the road." Tasha sighed and ran out the house, putting the spare key in her pocket and grabbing a pen from the dining table.

She got in the car and was still trying to put her seat belt on when Damon reversed at speed into the business park.

"Why the pen?" He asked, Tasha looked surprised, Damon just looked at where he was going. "I can see it sticking out of your jeans and I can feel your surprise," Tasha laughed.

"I figured you can feel my surprise, I wasn't sure about the pen. I was wondering if you could sign the books for me. Please" She blushed as he gave her a surprised look, then he laughed very loudly and for such a long time that she blushed even more. "You have a thing for my brother don't you?" It was Tasha's turn to laugh hard and loud.

"I gather I was mistaken then," said Damon as Tasha's laughter died. Tasha looked at Damon and burst into a fit of the giggles again, leaving Damon rolling his eyes.

Tasha eventually calmed down just as they were approaching the palace. Damon found a parking space and switched off the engine, he pushed his seat back and turned to Tasha, "I'd be delighted to sign your books my dear."

Tasha gave him the books and got the pen out of her pocket, she handed it over to him, took a deep breath and said "actually Damon, you're my favourite. Not Stefan." Damon's hand paused, he looked at Tasha with a raised eyebrow and laughed for a bit making her go bright red, then with a brilliant smile, wrote something in both books and handed them back to her with a wink, "no peeking until I've signed the book that my brother's got." Tasha sighed and accepted the books back from Damon, who laughed at her disappointment.