I am SO pleased with all your responses to this re-'vamping' (See what I did there ;) ) of this story! I love that you are all as excited for this as I am!
Please keep on sharing your thoughts with me in the reviews! And please point out if there's any grammatical mistakes as English is not my first language. I might be an english teacher, but since I'm a little bit dyslexic as well there's no guarantee that I won't make a mistake.
Please enjoy the next chapter :)
xoxo
As Damon walks towards the pair in the meadow he makes sure his smirk is firmly in place. His eyes are blazing with anger, but he tries to keep his emotions in check. He doesn't want the girl to be too afraid of him.
The confusion is clear in the eyes of the girl but Damon doesn't take his eyes off the Cold One. What he sees in Laurent's eyes make his smirk even more profound - a small flare of fear shows as his nostrils flare at my scent. Damon knows he smells like a being far superior to the other man's kind and he almost chuckles as Laurent tries for nonchalance even though they both know it's a fake front to hide the fear behind.
"Why are you here my friend? Do you want to share with me?"
Damon merely sneers in Laurent's direction. Sure, Damon would love to taste the enchanting girl's blood but it would be under completely different circumstances.
Apparently Laurent interprets his sneer as confirmation as he turns towards the Bella girl again.
"Victoria will be so disappointed. She won't be happy about me killing you, but I can't help myself. You are so mouth-watering!"
A smile graces his face and he turns towards Damon.
"Would you like to go first, my friend?"
This is the way things are supposed to be. The laws of the predators. The one highest in the food chain gets to have the first taste. Find the tastiest parts and leave the rest for the lower creatures. Damon presses against Bella's mind again, but the wall has closed completely on him. This time there's no entering her mind since she can't sense him through her fear and anger.
Damon turns to her and makes sure the Cold One can't see her. Normally one shouldn't put their backs to a predator but for Damon it's an act of confidence to show that Laurent is so inferior Damon doesn't even consider him a threat.
"Well princess. What do you think? Should we let the gentleman have the first taste?" Damon makes sure his voice is full of indifference so Laurent won't notice him trying to comfort Bella with his expressions.
Damon can see the moment the girl gets it because of the frown spoiling her face lessens. He winks at her and turns halfway back to Laurent.
When Bella doesn't reply Damon simply raises an eyebrow at her, informing her of the need for an answer. The fire in the girl's eyes are back at full power and Damon can't help but feel a sense of pride flowing through him. Most people in these kinds of situations would crumble to the floor and pray for their lives, but not this little fire-cracker.
"Why would I care? It's not like I'm going to survive this fascinating encounter anyway!"
A sneer is firmly in place by the end of her sentence and her voice is positively dripping with sarcasm. Damon lets a small chuckle escape him because of the image comparing her to an angry kitten pops into his mind. He thinks she's utterly adorable when she's angry.
The Cold One is apparently a bit more comfortable with the situation by now. Some of the tension has left his shoulders and his eyes are almost black with thirst by now.
Damon takes a step back as if to allow the other man to go first. He sends Bella another wink behind Laurent's back to comfort her.
While Laurent starts to circle his prey Damon slowly makes his way behind the Cold One to get into a better position to attack.
The fire in the girl's eyes dim a bit and she closes her eyes and lean her head back as if to await her incoming death.
When Laurent is close to her and reaches for her, Damon jumps.
Within a split second Damon has Laurent's arms behind the man's back and a threatening hand clamped around the Cold Ones neck.
"I would move back a bit sweetheart" Damon tells Bella. Her eyes snap open and she stumbles back a few steps.
The anger that has been blazing through Damon for the last few weeks has finally found an outlet. He can feel his adrenaline levels rise well above the normal at the thought of a fight.
"You really shouldn't touch what isn't yours, my friend" Damon sneers into the Cold One's ear. Laurent's eyes keep flickering from side to side as if to search for an escape. A dark chuckle escapes Damon.
"Oh, I wouldn't bother if I were you. We both know there's no fleeing this"
Damon's eyes turn to the girl. Her breathing is hard, her wonderful brown doe eyes are blown wide open and she is holding her breath. Her heart is hammering away but the rest of her body seems frozen.
"Turn around princess. Close your eyes" Damon lets a small amount of compassion into his voice, but the only response he gets from her is a glare.
Well, suit yourself he thinks and shrug his shoulder.
Damon makes quick work of removing the Cold One's arm and an exhilarating feeling spreads through him at the pained filled scream leaving Laurent. Damon can feel his adrenaline rising even further and the smile showing on his face is nowhere near pleasant. It's a smile that holds the promise of pain and suffering. He makes a quick work of removing the other arm as well, while he keeps a hand firmly around the other man's throat.
The Cold One would have fallen to ground if Damon didn't keep him up with his hand.
Suddenly a horrible smell of wet dog reaches Damon's nose and he scrunch it up at the unpleasant smell. His ears pick up the sound of what seems to be several huge canines running towards the clearing. He can't tell how many there are over the anguished cries of the now armless Laurent.
His eyes dart to the girl and she doesn't seem to realize what's coming their way.
"Now I really need you to back up a bit sweetcheeks!" he says with urgency in his voice. This seems to capture her attention and she scrambles further back towards the tree line.
When Damon deems her distance from them acceptable he turns towards the point where the running creatures should emerge from the tree line. He can hear them fast approaching.
Five enormous wolves enter the meadow. Damon figures they must be some sort of shapeshifters since the full moon is still a few days away plus they don't smell like werewolves should either. Damon would know - he has encountered plenty back in Mystic Falls.
The black one in the middle, probably the alpha, snarls and bares his teeth at Damon.
Damon's brain kicks into gear. He has to think fast to find a way to make sure the upcoming fight doesn't happen. He doesn't like the thought of fighting things when he doesn't know how powerful they are.
"Hey there BlackJack" he says with a smirk firmly in place. In hindsight the smirk might not be the best idea Damon has ever had, but it's basically his default setting by now.
The wolf's growl seems to increase in volume and intensity and Damon lets go of Laurent to lift his hands in the universal easy there gesture.
"I found this douchebag trying to attack that lovely lady over there and thought I would do the gentlemanly thing and interfere" He points towards the place Bella has scrambled to. The russet wolf in the pack looks towards the girl and lets out a small whimper.
The Cold One on the ground has realized he's not being detained anymore and is trying to stumble to his feet. He takes a few hesitant steps towards where his arms are laying. His entire posture mimics that of a fleeing animal. Before he gets a chance to flee Damon catches him by his dirty dreadlocks.
"Hold it there Bob Marley. I think there's someone here who would just love to meet you" Damon sneers into the Cold Ones ear while he looks towards the wolves with a raised eyebrow. The wolves confirm his statement by intensifying their growls.
"You be good boys now and go play fetch" Damon says as he throws the Cold One a few feet in the opposite direction of himself and the girl.
In a blur the Cold One is up on his feet and running as fast as he can. The wolves chase him, and Damos is left alone in the meadow with the girl.
"You can come out now princess" Damon yells with more volume than necessary to shake the girl from her frozen state. "I'm not going to hurt you" he adds with an eye roll after hearing her heart rate spiking up as her eyes turn to him. When he looks at her he can see a slight sense of fear creeping into her large chocolate eyes.
The girl raises from her crouched position and makes her way towards Damon. It seems like the adrenalin has left her body completely since her legs just don't seem to work properly anymore. She stumbles about halfway through the meadow and falls over. Damon doesn't want to scare the broken girl more than necessary so he chooses no to run to her for aid. When she tries to get up Damon can smell the small excoriation the fall caused her. He can smell two small single droplets of blood slowly forming just below her knee and his face starts to transform. Damon swallows the pool of liquid gathering in his mouth and forces the veins to retreat from his eye area. It wouldn't do for the girl to see his transformed face yet, even though he gets the feeling it would take more than that to scare her.
"You okay there buttercup?" he says once the veins have left his eyes and his fangs have retreated enough that he can speak normally. The girl shoots him a glare as she manages to get closer to him without falling over again.
"Who are you?" she exclaims and Damon chuckles again at the angry kitten image showing up in his mind and his Smirk™ replaces his amused expression.
"Well, you're welcome for saving your life sugar"
"Enough with the names. It's just Bella" her eyebrows have formed a truly impressive frown on her pretty face.
"Well, Just Bella. A beautiful name for a beautiful girl" Damon even exaggerates a small bow.
The girl merely snorts at my response and somehow she manages to roll her eyes while the glare is still there.
"Sure. Are you going to tell me who you are now?"
"The name's Damon Salvatore sweetheart. Pleasure to meet you" Damon puts a bit of compulsion behind the word 'pleasure' to see if he can get her riled up a bit. The girl's nose scrunches up at the compulsion as if she can feel something tickling her brain, but she remains unaffected by it. Damon mentally makes a note to explore this later on.
"You entered my mind before Laurent tried to attack me. How did you do that?" the accusations in her voice are now paired with a fair bit of curiosity.
"Maybe I'm simply just that awesome?" Damon says with a shrug and sends his most charming smile her way.
"What are you? I know you're not a vampire because that's what Laurent is but I don't know what else you could be"
Damon's chuckle actually evolves into a small laugh.
"Oh, but princess that's exactly what I am" The girl now looks confused and opens her mouth to form what I'm sure is another question. Damon places his index finger over her lips to stop her from blabbering on. For a second he allows himself to simply enjoy the feeling of her warm, soft and slightly chapped lips against his finger.
"Ah, ah, ah sweetness, let me finish okay." He straightens up to better be able to gesture around. "What you met back there is not a vampire" His smile turns into a disgusted sneer at the thought of being put into the same category as that creature. "That was an abomination. We call them the Cold Ones. I, on the other hand, am a real vampire" He says the last part with a certain pride in his voice and spreads his arms out to let the girl look her fill. He's damn proud of what he is, and since his conscience, better known as Saint Stefan is currently miles away Damon allows himself to bask in the glory of his species.
The girl on the other hand looks even more confused and Damon can practically see her mind spinning and overflowing with questions so he makes an get on with it motion with his hand.
"So, where's the differences? Do you have cold skin as well?"
A genuine laugh escapes Damon before he gets a chance to stop it. "Oh, honey. I sure as hell don't sparkle like a bad 70's artefact". She smiles a bit at his antics but her face quickly falls again.
The looks on her face tells Damon she's back to thinking about why she's out here in the meadow by herself. He lets himself re-visit the memory of the beautiful breakdown he witnessed before things got out of hand.
"So, what is a gorgeous thing like you doing out here in the middle of nowhere hmm?"
"I was just trying to find … ehm remember … ehm", and that's all she can get over her lips before the tears start streaming down her cheeks once more.
"Hey there" Damon says while putting his index finger just below her chin and lifting her head up so he can get a look into those hopeless sad chocolate eyes.
"No more crying princess. Whatever happened is not worth your tears" He again tries to put some compulsion behind his words. What can a guy do? Crying girls are the male gender's weakness and Damon would very much like for the girl to stop crying.
She still doesn't seem affected by the compulsion at all.
"How about I take you back to wherever you came from before those overgrown puppies come back? Then you can tell me about it on the way back"
The girl meekly nods her head and starts to walk a few steps before stopping and looking around. She then turns in another direction and walks a few steps again. She repeats this procedure a few times before she realises she's lost. A smirk finds its way back to Damon's face, because he'll be damned if that isn't just adorable.
A small glimpse of her fire returns to her eyes as she throws her arms up in the air, huffs and turns to Damon with a "Isn't that just typical?" muttered under her breath.
"Are you lost princess?" Damon can't help the mirthful tone his voice takes.
He takes mercy on her with a smile. "Just follow me. I can follow your scent back to where you came from" and he starts walking back in the direction her scent comes from.