Damon and Bella haven't walked very far before she trips over some unknown object. This time Damons supports her by grabbing her elbow to prevent her from falling and hurting her knees again.
"You do seem to have a certain problem with your balance buttercup" he says while chuckling at her again in hope of provoking the fire back into her eyes.
"Yeah, I've heard that before" The sadness seems to settle a little more firmly in her eyes.
"I could carry you if you'd like?" He asks. He feels very proud of his small action of gentlemanliness, as if it the thought of having her small appetizing body in his arms had nothing to do with it - he firmly calls it chivalry in his mind!
The girl's eyes widen in panic and her breath hitches and her heart beat speeds up. "NO!" she exclaims. Damon raises an inquiring eyebrow in her direction hoping for an explanation.
Her voice gets lower and more unsure as she explains. "It's just that Ed.. I mean he used to carry me on his back, and I didn't like the experience. I wasn't very comfortable with the speed"
She lowers her lovely eyes to the ground and while Damon was all for her watching where she was going, he was more interested in looking into her eyes and reading her emotions straight of her face.
He decided to live on the edge a little and scooped the slight girl into his arms to carry her bridal style.
"What are you doing?" she shrieks, "Carrying you. What else?" He asks her with a smirk and a raised eyebrow.
"Please put me down Damon" she says and Damon was surprised by how much pleasure he took in hearing his name coming from those pretty pink lips.
He decided not to give her a choice in the matter and tightened his grip on her.
"Sorry princess, but I haven't got time for picking you up every time you fall down." It is a lie of course since he has got nothing but time, but he likes the feel of her in his arms way too much to let her go already. He keeps increasing his speed while he continues to talk to her.
She just keeps huffing and sending him glares, but she has surrendered to her fate if the relaxation of her muscles is any indication.
When Damon is almost at his top speed, which is so much faster than one of those Cold Ones could ever run he looks at her. "Just stop huffing sweetheart and look around"
It seems like their speed hasn't registered before now if her shriek is anything to go by.
"Slow down, you speed devil!" she yells. Damon rolls his eyes but slows down anyway. Once they're at human speed again he says; "I don't see the problem. You didn't even notice the speed", "Well, I don't like the speed okay?" she whispers.
"At least admit that you didn't notice the speed until I told you about it!"
"Fine!" she crosses her arms as much as possible with the way she's pressed against Damon's body. "It wasn't as bad as the rides I've been given before"
"I know" he says with a shrug and the pride is evident in his voice again. "I'm way better than any Cold Oce could ever be!"
"You never told me more about the differences between them and you"
Since Damon knows it's a rather long explanation better suited for other surroundings where girls don't have a chance of catching pneumonia he offers her a deal.
"How about I make sure you get home safe beautiful, and once you've gotten dry and seated with a hot cup of something, I'll tell you about it?"
"And you promise you're going to tell me all about your kind of vampire?" She looks a bit sceptical, almost like she's expecting him to hide things from her. Damon doesn't really see any reason not to tell her about his kind since she obviously already knows about the Cold Ones.
"Sure thing sweetheart! On the one condition that you let me run you back to your car like this" It's a simple case of give and take, and since he can feel her temperature lowering by the minute he feels an urgency to get her back and warm. She narrows her eyes at him and gives a single nod of her head for approval.
He can't help but add; "You might want to hold on a little tighter" which promptly results in her putting her arms around his neck and Damon can feel her hands shaking lightly against the back of his neck. "Hide your face, it'll be easier that way" he tells her and releases a small smile when she tucks her head beneath his chin. He can feel her breath on his throat and the feeling of her fluttering eyelashes against his skin is simply extraordinary. He is savouring the feeling of her soft body melting against his form and he revels in the feeling of her fitting there perfectly.
"Are you ready?" he asks her and when she gives a small nod he begins to run, increasing the speed the same way he did before to prevent her from noticing the fastness of their travels.
When we're almost at the car a few short minutes later she suddenly jerks her head up from it's previous position against Damon's collarbone.
"Hey! You have a heartbeat!" Her eyes are wide open and staring straight at his face. Damon chuckles at the confusion there's so obviously displayed in her eyes.
He might not be able to read her mind or add compulsion to guide her, but at least he is able to read every single one of her emotions by looking at her face and her gorgeous eyes.
"How do you have a heartbeat? You're supposed to … I don't know … not have one"
"All in good time princess. Let's get you home first and I will tell you everything then".
When they reach Bella's car Damon simply stops and stares at her car. The old red truck seems like it should have been left for dead at least a century ago. The color is faded and it looks like it could fall apart at any given moment.
"Oh no, you aren't driving that thing anywhere. It's a death trap!" Damon says with outrage.
"Dont hate on the truck Damon. Respect your elders" She mocks him while slapping him on his bicep. A small twinkle has entered her eyes and it suits her much better than the hopelessness he experiences earlier.
"You know - that thing might very well be older than me and that's saying something" He says, still rather suspicious of the truck.
"Well, get in" she says while picking the keys from her jacket pocket. With a flash Damon runs to her and takes the keys from her hands before she has taken another step.
"I'm not letting you drive this thing to a certain death when I just saved you from that Cold bastard!" Damon lifts her from the ground by grabbing her waist and whisks her to the passenger side of the truck, opens the door and steps back with a bow.
Amazingly enough they arrive at Bella's house without further arguing or tripping accidents. Her house is in the small dump of a town Damon drove through earlier in the day. She gets out of the truck and walks to the front door while looking over her shoulder. Damon fears her clumsiness and follows her.
"My dad is not home yet. Do you want to c…" She doesn't get any further before she is being stopped from continuing by his hand. He looks in her eyes and with complete sincerity he tells her; "My kind has to be invited inside princess. You better think real hard about it before you say it". With eyes as large as saucers she merely nods her head. He lets go of her face and brings his hand back down to his side.
"That's good to know. The Cul… I mean they didn't have to be invited inside. They could just come and go as they pleased" As she says the last part the tears start to gather in her eyes again. She turns towards the door and swipes her eyes with her sleeve once her back is turned to Damon. Before Damon can stop himself his hands have already reached for her, and now that hand is resting on her shoulder in what he presumes is supposed to be a comforting manner.
That's the problem with having vampire reflexes and a mind that runs so fast, you sometimes have trouble keeping up. Sometimes your body just reacts before your mind can follow.
Bella turns to Damon and he can still see some of the tears clinging to the inner corner of her eyes and clumping her lashes together a bit.
"Okay Damon. I need you to answer honestly now" Her bros furrow while she says this and Damon wills the smirk forming on his face away.
For some reason he knows this is not the moment to play the cocky bastard. He wants to get to know this girl and since she's so fixed on getting to know about his type of vampire he has a win win opportunity. He'll answer her questions and get to know her at the same time.
He gets the feeling that if he wants to be invited into her home he has to show her that she can trust his word. A man, or technically a vampire, is only as good as his word after all. Damon merely chose to nod his head.
"If I invite you inside my house, will you hurt me? Or more importantly, will you hurt my dad?"
Those deep chocolate eyes are piercing their way into what feels like his soul. For a moment he feels completely naked, and not in a way he is normally comfortable with.
"No Bella. I give you my word that I will not hurt either you or your father" Damon's voice is grave as he tries to convince her of the truth that lies behind his words.
Her eyebrows clears up a bit while her eyes bore into his. Damon makes sure to show all the emotions he normally keeps hidden. He wants her to see that he means to keep his promise. The nod she gives him is very business-like.
"Well then. I believe you. Now please, come inside with me"
This time Damon can't help the smirk that spreads across his face.