Chapter Forty-Four
Stefan needed Rebecca's help? She'd known, of course, that he'd been having a hard time, but she'd thought he'd been handling it. He was supposed to have been handling it.
"Please!" Stefan said desperately. "I can't go to Elena and I can't tell Damon."
Rebecca didn't think that was true. Damon didn't live to torment Stefan anymore; he lived because he was with her - everything he did was for her. Damon would help if Stefan let him. Granted, Damon would do it his own way, but he'd help nonetheless.
"What happened? Is everything okay?"
"No." Stefan nodded his head toward the road. "Come. We'll walk and I'll talk on the way. I, uh, I need to be moving."
Stefan was getting restless. Rebecca felt a small rush of trepidation at walking with him alone. Stefan wasn't stable right now. . . . she'd have to be careful.
"Matt and Tyler had a fight, and Matt's mom got caught in the crossfire. I tried so hard to keep it together tonight. And it was working, it was working, but . . . but then Matt's mom, she got hurt, and she was bleeding, and I had her blood on my hands. And there was a guy in the parking lot. I - I think I broke his hand. He made me so angry -" Stefan almost growled the word "- and I wanted to feed on him so bad. It took everything inside of me not to do it."
"Oh, Stefan. I don't know what to say. I mean, of course you wanted to feed on him. You're a vampire. One who's not used to human blood. You're not used to the feelings that come with the blood lust."
"Oh, God, Becca. My head is pounding. I feel like my - my skin is on - is on fire! I have this hunger inside of me that I've never - I've never felt before in my entire life. And I know only one way to make it stop." Stefan suddenly looked worried. "Please don't tell Elena. I don't want her to see me like this. I don't want her to know this side of me exists. You're the only one who can help me now. I'm afraid of what I can do to - to everyone."
Rebecca stopped walking and realized they'd only made it to the end of the yard, where she'd parked her dad's car. She looked around sheepishly.
"She already knows, Stefan. I told her the night you almost -" Suddenly she was pushed against her dad's car and, because she'd forgotten who she was dealing with for just a second, she was shocked.
"You told her?"
"She needed to know, Stefan." Rebecca could tell he was scared of what Elena would do. "You weren't exactly forthcoming with the information, so . . ."
Rebecca reached behind her and gripped a stake she'd placed at the top of her pajama bottoms - Chase hadn't been lying; she did keep a stake on her at all times; if not on her person than definitely close by. When she went to use it on him he caught her wrist and squeezed until it was too painful for her to hold onto the sharp wood. Stefan was working on instinct alone now and she was only half a Slayer at the moment. This was not going to end well. Within three seconds, Stefan had her hands pinned over her head and shoved against the hood of the car. He had her angled so that her back was pressed tightly against the hood, too, and he was leaning over her almost to the point of being on top of her.
"Stop moving!" he whispered in her ear and she was so repulsed she shivered.
Oh, God, this had already happened once tonight, with, Chase. Why did Stefan have to do this too? Did she wear a sign on her back that said, "Come harass me" on it? Though, to be fair, Stefan seemed to be warning her that moving might end badly for her. It would excite his predator side if she fought.
"Stefan, you don't have to -"
"Yes, I do. This is who I am. The animal blood hides it, but this is who I am."
Rebecca was terrified when she felt a stiffness on her thigh. Blood and sex usually went hand-in-hand when one was vampire, so that he was aroused from the thought of her blood didn't surprise her. What surprised her was when he began rubbing against her.
Oh, God, scarred for life!
She understood he was in animal instinct mode, so whatever he wanted he was going to try to get. Whatever felt good to him was what he would continue doing, but why did he have to do this to her? Because she was the Slayer? Because she was Damon's girlfriend? Or just because she'd done something he hadn't liked?
"Stefan!" she hissed. "Remember Elena! Please. And Damon!"
She began struggling, but that just made him hold her tighter. He placed a hand over her mouth and jerked her head to the side. Then the sharp pain came and she let out a muffled scream. She would've moved had she been able, but she couldn't. Her body was pressed against the car and she was bleeding faster than Stefan was drinking.
He'd hit her artery; he'd torn into it.
Damon was not in a good mood. He still didn't know what John was really up to. And Damon hadn't been able to track Chase down. Yes, Damon had found the hotel Chase had supposedly been staying and had even found a room with Chase's name as the current resident, but none of Chase's things had been there. Damon hoped that meant Chase was gone for good. The realist in him said otherwise, but . . . he could dream.
And now . . . now something was seriously wrong. Something inside him was telling him that Rebecca was in trouble. Serious trouble. He'd even almost had an accident because of the feelings. He'd been driving toward Rebecca's house and he had all of a sudden been hit with that empty feeling he got when Rebecca was in fatal trouble. That feeling had almost caused him to swerve into a parked car. That was how bad it was. Something was really wrong.
Damon almost freaked out - okay, he did freak out - but he remembered that he could track Rebecca the way he couldn't track anyone else. Their bond was different for him - made stronger because he was a vampire. So where Rebecca couldn't always tell where he was, he could tell where she was. He had a sort of homing beacon for her when he used it right.
The first thing that popped into his mind was Chase. What if Chase had come to find Rebecca and finish the job he'd started earlier? But . . . no. Rebecca was at home and Chase hadn't been invited in. Rebecca should've been safe from that particular threat.
Damon hightailed it to Rebecca's house and found Rebecca outside, pushed on top of the hood of her dad's car. The life was being sucked out of her by . . . by his brother.
"Stefan!" Damon growled. He almost couldn't believe what was happening. Stefan was killing Rebecca.
Damon was no longer in his car; he was faster on foot. Damon was going to kick Stefan's ass, but then Stefan pulled away from Rebecca, looking horrified. He choked a few times and then passed out.
"Hm . . ."
Damon didn't have time to worry about Stefan now. Rebecca had had vervain in her system and now Stefan had it in his. Stefan would be out for a while; Damon knew that from experience. But Rebecca . . . Damon could hear her heart slowing down to a dangerous level.
Damon hadn't really meant it when he'd told Stefan he wanted him to give in. Okay, maybe he had - a little - but he hadn't meant for him to give in by attacking Rebecca. Stefan hadn't needed to attack anyone. That was what blood bags were for.
It was pretty late, which was good because it meant that nobody was around to see all this. Damon couldn't have cared less that Stefan had hit the ground - Stefan had done this; it was his fault - but Damon caught Rebecca before her head could hit the ground.
Damon didn't really think about it. He bit into his wrist, opened Rebecca's mouth, and poured the blood down her throat. He knew she had his blood in her system already, but he wasn't taking chances with her healing because of that. Rebecca couldn't die; she couldn't leave him alone. He knew if she died he would follow after as soon as he could. All he would need would be for the sun to come up.
Damon looked at Stefan and a silent, familiar rage began to fester.
Why Rebecca? he wondered. Why did Stefan have to pick Rebecca? There were plenty of other girls Stefan could've attacked and yet he'd picked the one Damon loved. Had his brother done it on purpose? Stefan could be spiteful and childish. No one else saw that, but Damon did.
At that moment, for a second, Damon genuinely hated his brother, wanted to kill his brother. Rebecca was dying there in his arms because Stefan couldn't control his urges. Suddenly Rebecca's heart stopped beating - Damon's heart stopped beating, too - and it felt like all the air had left his body. But it was worse than that. That connection that he'd always felt with her was gone. She wasn't alive any longer - he couldn't feel her.
"Don't leave me," Damon whispered without even meaning to.
Rebecca had to wake up - he hoped enough blood was in her system to make a difference. She had to be okay. If not . . . then he would die with her and then hopefully they would be together again. Because God - if there was a God - couldn't give him something this good and strong and then take it away. God couldn't take Rebecca away without a way to get her back; it wouldn't be fair.
For the first time in a very long time . . . Damon Salvatore prayed. He didn't barter. He didn't promise to be good because he knew that wasn't going to happen. He just asked God to not take Rebecca away because he didn't have many things in his life that were good, that he believed in. But he believed in Rebecca and if God took her away Damon didn't think he'd even believe in anything again.
But for now . . . Damon needed to get Rebecca out of there, and as much as he didn't want to help Stefan right now, he couldn't leave him there either, not without the risk of exposing Stefan and himself. He picked Rebecca up and raced her to the car. He was debating whether or not to take Chelsea with them. Like it or not, Damon cared about the little girl, and Robert wouldn't take care of her, even with Tina there, but Rebecca would not appreciate a crying baby if - no, when - she woke up. On the other hand, though, she wouldn't like being away from Chelsea either. Rebecca had been like a mother to Chelsea for the first eight months; having Chelsea there may help ground Rebecca. Rebecca would freak out if Chelsea wasn't with her when she woke up. So . . . he got Chelsea from her crib and began to leave the room when she woke up. He stood still and held his breath,
"Please don't cry," he whispered desperately. "Please don't cry."
He grabbed her diaper bag and ran out to the car. He had a hell of a time getting her strapped into her car seat. Who the hell invented the thing? NASA? Not to mention when he leaned over her she grabbed his hair and refused to let go.
"Hey!" he said. "No, Chels."
Chelsea giggled a little until she saw Rebecca in the front seat. She went still like she knew that Rebecca wasn't alive anymore.
"Bec," Chelsea said, tears beginning to form in her baby eyes. "Bec 'kay?"
How did she know something was wrong? She was only a year old. She shouldn't be so . . . perceptive.
"Chels, she'll be okay. I promise."
Even though Damon didn't really want Rebecca and Chelsea in the same car as Stefan, he couldn't leave Stefan there - he put Stefan in the trunk. Rebecca still hadn't woken up, and the longer it took, the edgier Damon got. What if the blood didn't work? What if, because she was a Slayer, she couldn't be turned? Why hadn't he thought about that before?
No, it had to work. He'd prayed for it to work. Ask and you shall receive, right? Wasn't that how it went?
Damon headed straight for the boardinghouse. He was holding onto the steering wheel so tightly that he was surprised he hadn't broken it.
Chelsea was asleep when they reached the house. Damon put Stefan in the cellar first thing. Stefan would be out for a while and when he woke up he would be weak and disoriented. He would deal with Stefan later. He was more worried about Rebecca. He went back to the car to get her and Chelsea. Rebecca, he put in their room; Chelsea, he put in the room he'd made up for her when Rebecca had started bringing her sister with her when she visited. Then he went back to his room, to Rebecca.
For the first time, Damon noticed that her pretty white dress was ruined. He'd liked that dress, too. Or he'd liked the thought of taking her out of it, anyway. He hadn't imagined she'd be dead when he undressed her, though. It had never been one of his fantasies.
Damon went down to the kitchen, grabbed a bowl and filled it with water. He had an urgent need to clean her, remove the blood. He had the irrational idea that if he washed away the blood that it would make her better; he could wash away what had happened. He grabbed a rag on the way back up and then shut himself in his room.
He carefully unclasped the two rope-like pieces of cloth that held the dress up from the back of her neck and slowly brought it down to reveal her breasts. The usual milky skin that Damon loved had a bluish tint to it now. Damon had to force himself not to think about that. He didn't want to think about the blood that had dried there, either.
Damon swallowed back the emotion that wanted to spew forth because he didn't want to cry. If he cried . . . it would make all this more . . . real.
A light trickling sound filled the room when Damon dipped the rag into the bowl and lifted it out again. He rang it out and brought it to her breasts where he reverently began washing the blood away. And this . . . this wasn't right at all. He'd washed her before. She was supposed to sigh and moan and get pleasure from it. She wasn't supposed to just lay there, non-responsive. She was supposed to wake up.
Disheartened, Damon moved to her neck and proceeded to wash there, too. When the blood was gone he noticed that Rebecca no longer had a bite mark there. His blood had worked! Or it had healed her at least. That meant - or he hoped it meant - that the blood would turn her. All he had to do was wait.
Rebecca was drowning in a pool of black. She had the very odd sensation that she had actually drowned but that she'd somehow been brought back. The next thing she knew, her eyes were open and she was no longer drowning in blackness; she was swimming in twin oceans of blue.
Damon. She was with Damon. She didn't know why but she saw that he'd been worried - tense, too - but now he was letting out a breath. She remembered what had happened, suddenly, and she raised her hand to her neck. There was no wound. Damon had healed her; Damon had gotten there in time to save her.
Rebecca was going to kill Stefan. She'd only been trying to help him and he'd attacked her, like a maniac.
"Where's Stefan?" she asked softly, her voice hiding her anger.
"Locked up. But you're gonna have to get in line if you wanna kick his ass. I call it first."
"Oh. We were . . . we were talking and he got angry," Rebecca said just to give Damon a clue about what had happened.
Rebecca realized she had on an over-sized button-up shirt.
"I, um . . . Your dress was ruined. I changed you."
"Oh."
Damon's eyes were concerned and a little vulnerable. "How're you feeling?"
"Better, since my neck isn't ripped open anymore." Though, to be honest . . . she felt a little achy, and her head was pounding. And her throat was burning like she needed something to drink in the worst way. That wasn't a good sign. But the biggest give-away that something was wrong was that Damon was being cautious, almost. Why? What was wrong? She was fine; everything was fine.
"Damon . . . did I die?" she asked softly, knowing he wouldn't lie to her about this. In general he didn't lie to her, period, unless it was for her own good.
"Yes," he whispered. "I didn't get there in time, I'm sorry."
Rebecca sighed and closed her eyes. This meant she had a choice. She could become a vampire or she could die for real. She'd always planned on turning for Damon so he wouldn't have to watch her die, but . . . she had only just turned eighteen. She hadn't wanted to turn until she'd at least been the same age Damon had been when he had turned.
Still . . . she didn't really have a choice. She'd promised Damon that she would turn for him. She would be with him forever.
"You still want me around forever?" she asked.
"God, yes!" Damon said, some of the tension leaving his body. "I don't know what I would've done if you hadn't woken up."
Rebecca took a deep breath and let it out slowly. Reassured that she at least wouldn't be alone, she nodded. "Well, then . . . I guess I need something to drink."
Damon couldn't tell what she was feeling; she wasn't sharing. But . . . as selfish as it was, he wasn't going to ask her if she was sure. He didn't want her changing her mind. But before he opened the door he turned back to her.
"Hey, promise me something."
"Yeah?"
"I know I don't have the right to ask you this, considering who I am, but . . . after you turn, your instinct is going to be not to feel, but I need you to feel. Okay?"
Damon needed her to love him. He needed her to be able to love, period. He loved that she could love blindly, passionately, and unconditionally. It was part of what made Rebecca who she was. Take that away and she wouldn't be herself.
"I don't want to not feel, so . . . I'll try my best to keep that promise. But it goes both ways, Damon," Rebecca said. "You can't go flipping the switch either."
Damon grimaced. She wasn't supposed to have turned that around on him.
"I'll give you a very reluctant 'I'll try' to that," Damon said.
He left to go down to the cellar to grab Rebecca a blood bag. He avoided looking at Stefan but he could hear that his brother was still unconscious. He could stay that way for all Damon cared. He grabbed two bags of blood; Rebecca would be ravenous when she first changed. She would need both.
On the way back upstairs he saw Sarah sticking her head out of her room. He couldn't stop to chat, not really, but he did tell her that everything was going to be okay.
When he returned to his room he saw Rebecca in pretty much the same state she'd been in when he'd left. The only thing that was different was that she looked more nervous. He wondered how she really felt about all this. She hadn't really said.
"Becca?" Damon squeezed the bags of blood in his hand, anxious to give them to her so she could change and be done with it. "I really can't tell what you're thinking right now."
What Rebecca was thinking was that her body felt really funky. She was breathing out of habit and yet . . . her body didn't need it. The oxygen wasn't necessary anymore. But when she didn't breathe, just as an experiment, she felt weird, empty. Without the oxygen her lungs felt flat and uncomfortable, but she didn't feel the pressure she'd usually felt that told her she needed to breathe.
Her body felt like it was on overdrive, like she should get up and do something, like maybe she could run forever. But on the other hand . . . she felt like she could be unnaturally still, too.
"Does it hurt too bad?" she asked. "When you change?"
Damon wasn't going to lie to her. "It hurts, but it's bearable. If you focus on drinking and not on the pain, it won't bother you as much."
Rebecca nodded. That was a comfort at least. She took one of the bags from Damon and took a deep breath. This wasn't what she wanted; it wasn't supposed to have happened this way, and Stefan was never supposed to have been the cause, not ever. But she couldn't just die. She wasn't ready for that either. Too many people needed her here. Damon, Chelsea, her friends . . . so turning was her only option.
"Did you want me to leave?" Damon asked. "Or . . ."
"Don't leave me," Rebecca said, unknowingly repeating Damon's earlier words.
Damon watched Rebecca look at the blood bag and could see her contemplating. She seemed to be wondering whether she could really be on a liquid diet for the rest of her life. She really had no idea how her opinion would change once she took her first sip.
Damon was going to have to find someone to spell Rebecca's necklace. She would not like being cooped up all day. She socialized too much to do that. Bonnie wasn't home yet and she probably wouldn't help anyway, judge-y thing that she was. Though she and Rebecca got along well enough, Bonnie was not fond of vampires in general. Once she found out Rebecca was one . . .
Oh, God!
Rebecca was gagging. She'd just taken her first sip of blood. She'd had blood in her mouth before, of course, but this was different. This was her food source now. And the thought of that made her want to be sick. Until she noticed the taste. The blood wasn't coppery or metallic like she'd expected it to be. It actually tasted a little sweet. Maybe that wasn't even the right word. It was more like . . . like . . .
The best way to describe it was that she had craved things when she'd been human and it had been the best thing she'd ever tasted when she'd finally gotten it. This was definitely like that. If blood tasted like this every time . . . maybe she wouldn't mind drinking blood for the rest of eternity after all. But then the pain came. There was a cutting in her gums where her canines were and she winced. God, they were growing and she could feel them. How was she supposed to focus on the blood when her gums were killing her. And her eyes felt weird. She felt the skin underneath her green orbs and realized her face had taken on the visage of the vampire she now was.
Damon saw Rebecca struggling with the pain of her new fangs and heard her take a few deep breaths in between gulps of blood. Her eyes were closed but he could still see the veins protruding underneath, blackish-blue. Her hand flew to her mouth and she groaned. He noticed the fist blood bag was gone. She'd forced all of it down fast to get it over with.
"My jaw hurts," Rebecca whispered. "How long does it take for that to go away?"
"Not long. A couple of weeks. It helps if you . . . bite something."
"So I need a chew toy? A teething ring?"
"You know, Chelsea actually has one of those, I can get it for you."
Rebecca's eyes widened. "She's here? She can't be around me while I'm new. I could hurt her."
"I'm not gonna let you hurt her," Damon said. "Does your head still hurt?"
"A little."
Damon opened the second blood bag and the liquid's scent filtered through her nose. She suddenly got really, really hungry again. When Damon handed her the bag she brought it to her mouth and began to suck. She didn't limit herself. She could learn control later. Right now she was hungry. Right now nothing mattered except for soothing that hunger.
After the second bag was gone and Rebecca's stomach was pleasantly full, she got tired quickly. It was like when Chelsea had been younger. Rebecca had fed and now she wanted to sleep. Or she had wanted to, but she became distracted by a noise.
Ba-boom, ba-boom, ba-boom . . .
Damon's heartbeat. She could hear Damon's heartbeat. She'd always had the disadvantage of not being able to hear his heart, but not so now. And her heart had started beating again. It was slower than normal, but it was there regardless.
"I can hear your heartbeat," she said, awe filling her voice. "That's new."
She closed her eyes to just listen but was distracted by a stray thought. She'd always gotten lost in her thoughts; she wondered if that would happen even more now that she was a vampire.
"Does anyone else know yet? About me or Stefan?"
"No. I figured I'd wait for you. I didn't know if you'd want to be around people yet, and you know Elena's gonna wanna see you. Think you can . . . not rip her jugular open?"
"I don't know. Think she won't piss me off?" her words were less severe because of the smile on her face. "It's up to her whether or not she comes over. If I feel any . . . urges . . . I'll just stay away from her."
Truth was . . . if anyone was going to piss Rebecca off, it would probably be Elena. They had been best friends once, but now Elena was almost always making her angry with her control freak ways. But she trusted Damon enough to know he wouldn't let her hurt Elena, if only for the reason that Rebecca would never forgive herself if she did. And it would imply Stefan would have to die, too, because once Stefan got free he would come after her nonstop if Elena were to die by Rebecca's hands.
While Rebecca went back to sleep Damon stayed with her. He kept an ear out for Chelsea, too. She was stirring, but she wasn't awake. He thought back to her asking if Rebecca was okay. How had Chelsea, a baby of one year old, known something was wrong? Yes, there had been blood, but a one-year-old should have been able to make the connection between blood and pain and death.
Damon was trying to forget Rebecca's lifeless body. He would remember it forever, so the effort was futile. For a second after finding her he hadn't known what to do. He hadn't wanted to move, or . . . his body had refused to move for a split second. Any longer and he might not have gotten there on time.
He was so sure his heart had stopped when he'd seen Stefan draining the life from her. He'd wanted to go numb but he hadn't let himself. And it had been agonizing; it had been like 1864 all over again, Stefan trying to take her away from him. This undid everything. He and Stefan had been becoming brothers again, but he couldn't just overlook this. He shouldn't have to.
Rebecca was a vampire now and she was going to be living with him for a while - maybe forever. He wondered if that meant Chelsea would be staying there, too. If she was, they would have to get some things.
He really didn't fancy going shopping - it really went against his tough guy image. But Chelsea would need food and a booster seat and diapers and things like that. It wasn't like Rebecca could go shopping now. Maybe he could get Elena to do it. Or Blondie. Caroline liked shopping and she would know better than he what to get.
Rebecca woke up with only a couple of hours of night left. She still felt really out of sorts and her tummy was rumbling again. She was already hungry and she had just fed before she'd gone to bed.
She woke up with Damon beside her. She realized then that she could wake up next to him for the rest of forever. It made her giddy but also scared. Rebecca knew the concept of forever and she'd contemplated it many times since she'd met Damon, yet . . . she'd never actually thought-thought about it. To be with Damon she'd given up her human life. Now she was going to be able to experience forever with him. It seemed a daunting task. The only good thing about it would be the love she and Damon shared.
Rebecca sighed and got up to take a shower. Damon had washed her well, but there was still blood in her hair. Her beautiful golden blond locks were matted.
Taking a shower was odd. Her body was more sensitive now so she had to get used to the hot water hitting her. And the noise . . . God. The sound of the water shooting forth from the shower head penetrated her ears and made her head hurt. How did Damon do it? The noise was annoying. No wonder vampires could snap so easily. The noise alone was enough to drive her crazy.
She hurried up with her hair so she could get out fast and stop the infuriating noise. When she stepped out onto the hard-wood floor she grabbed the closest towel and dried off. The towel felt good, at least. It was soft and fluffy and it felt wonderful against her skin.
Now she knew why Damon favored bubble baths over showers. Speaking of . . . that sounded very soothing. Since her hair was done, she decided to run herself a bath so she could soak. She covered her ears and felt her body tense as the water spewed from the faucet. She wondered when she would get used to the noise. She remembered, and understood now, why the noise had bothered Sarah when she'd first been turned. The noise was annoying and overwhelming.
Rebecca was suddenly glad the boardinghouse was so secluded she might hear animals, but no vehicles or other noises of civilization. She did, however, sense Damon moving around in the room and, since the tub was actually in a room that was part of the main room, she looked behind her. Damon was leaving the room, but he gestured that he'd be right back. By the time the water had filled the tub Damon was back. He shut the water off and she relaxed slightly.
"Where's Chelsea?" Rebecca hadn't asked about Chelsea before, but now she wanted to know. "I can tell she's here. I don't know how, but . . ."
Rebecca felt Damon's hand on her stomach and she sighed. She wondered what his fingers would feel like now if he would begin to caress her. If everything was magnified . . .
She let out an involuntary shiver.
"Chelsea's in the next room over. You'll hear her when she wakes up."
"Oh."
She grabbed his hand and slowly brought it up to her towel-covered breasts. Damon's breath caught but he didn't stop. He tugged the towel away from her body and then his hands made contact with her skin and she hissed a little. His hands were warmer than her body. He tweaked her nipple with his thumb and she looked over her shoulder to see him smirking at her.
"What?" she asked.
"Nothing. I was wondering when you were going to want me to show you the good parts of being a vampire."
She heard as Damon's shirt hit the floor and as he began working on his pants. He glanced appreciatively at the tub filled with water and then situated himself so he could sit behind Rebecca and she could sit between his legs and lean against him.
"I'm gonna have to find a way to explain to my dad way I can't come home. And about Chelsea. And I need my necklace spelled. Bonnie, maybe. And we need to let Elena know what's going on. And Jeremy. I know Elena won't like it, but he's my friend. He needs to know, and I won't stop spending time with him just because -"
"Becca, stop." Damon knew her mind was going about a mile a minute now. "You don't have to figure everything out all at once. Don't worry about anybody else but yourself for a few days. You're always taking care of everyone else; you don't worry about yourself enough."
She smiled. "I've got you for that."
Rebecca focused on his heartbeat and found it drowned everything else out. Hearing that was okay. It soothed her. It wasn't too loud; it didn't penetrate her mind like thunder.
Damon began stroking her stomach and she relaxed even more. She leaned her head back and made contact with his shoulder. She grabbed his hand and guided him to her breasts. Needless to say, he got the hint.
Rebecca had always like sex - or . . . she liked sex with Damon, and foreplay was amazing. But now her emotions were on overdrive, and the mere thought of him touching her was making her want to lose control. When she guided his hand to her nether regions, because really, that was what she'd wanted all along, she felt Damon stiffen against her back.
"Shall we move to the bed?" she teased. "That was why you put Chelsea in the other room earlier, right?"
They stood up, kissed, forgot to dry off, and ended up on the bed.
"Chelsea is in the other room . . ." He kissed her again. "Because you were a mess earlier. She didn't need to see that. She, uh, knew you were hurt, somehow.
"Now the next few hours are gonna be about you. I know you didn't want this yet, and I remember how hard it was to adjust. So . . ." He made his way down her body and she anticipated what his glorious mouth was planning on doing. "I am going to show you the good parts of being a vampire."
"Please," she said, panting already. He hadn't even started yet. Within seconds, he had her trembling and making all sorts of fun noises. She dragged him back up her body before she could finish and she easily flipped them over. "I can't breathe. Give me a minute."
Damon noticed she was having trouble breathing. Too many new sensations, he guessed. But she began kissing him anyway. It didn't last too long because she pulled away. Her face had changed and she was hiding in the crook of his shoulder. He took the chance to flip them back over and smiled when she let out a little gasp of shock.
"Hey!"
"Yeeeees?" he drew out.
Her face was back to normal and she shook her head, smiling. "Never mind. Carry on."
He grinned back. "God, I love you."
Before she could say it back, he had slipped inside her and she groaned as he slid all the way in in one solid move. She even cursed, which Damon thought was a little hot because she wasn't usually a potty mouth.
Then . . . "Oh, I love you too!"
Damon chuckled against her neck and began moving slowly. He knew she'd be able to feel every inch of him. She'd feel more than she ever had before. It would overwhelm her, but in a good way.
They'd been together enough times to know how to drive each other crazy. They knew where to touch, how to touch. Damon knew her body well enough to know how to move just by how tight she was around him or by her sounds.
Damon felt a sort of exhilaration flow through his body. Rebecca was a vampire now. He didn't have to hold back with everything he did. Not anymore. That didn't mean he was going to be unduly rough with her - no more than he usually was - but he could let himself go without the fear of hurting her. She was no longer a fragile human. She could no longer be easily broken. If she was as adept a vampire as she had been a Slayer, she would be a force to be reckoned with.
He was still going to take it easy on her tonight because everything was new for her. He let his hands travel to his heart's content while Rebecca grabbed him to plant a kiss firmly on his lips. He maneuvered them so he could slip a hand between her womanly folds. He knew her nerve endings were probably on fire but he continued to play anyway.
Rebecca had never felt this good. Her body felt like it was having a continuous orgasm, only she hadn't come yet. When she actually came, she was going to die, again. A person couldn't' feel this good without some kind of drawback.
"I love you," she said again.
Damon chuckled and said, "It doesn't count when you're out of you mind with pleasure. Of course you love someone's who's making you feel good."
Rebecca deliberately squeezed her womanly walls around him and he cursed.
"Just say you love me too, Damon."
That statement was just so Rebecca that Damon had to comply; he usually did.
Damon wrapped his arms around her and brought them up so he was on his knees, and she wrapped her legs around his waist. He let her set the pace now, since her feelings were the ones that mattered to him.
Rebecca took notice of that, too. That he was making sure the pleasure was drawn out for her. Everything he was doing was for her. Of course, Rebecca wasn't a selfish lover so she was making this good for him too, but she appreciated the gesture nonetheless.
She realized she could have this forever. This love, Damon's love. His loyalty and his devotion, his undying commitment to her. She literally had an eternal love. She could tell he wanted that, too, every time he looked at her with those amazingly get-lost-in-them-forever blue eyes of his.
Rebecca felt her face change and she was right by his neck. Yes, Damon was a vampire, but she was new and felt like biting someone.
"Damon?" She started nipping at his shoulder and knew what would happen, if he let her.
Damon, being a vampire himself, understood exactly what she was going through. She instinctively wanted to bite someone. Her emotions were at the surface, and emotions were not something vampires took kindly to. Damon had already marked her as his a while back; the bite mark would never fade. Now, even though Damon would heal, Rebecca wanted to mark him as well. It was predatory, claiming someone, but Damon wouldn't say no, not to her.
"I won't let you hurt me," Damon said, panting. He didn't think he'd feel it anyway, with the way they were grinding together. "Go ahead."
He was surprised when she didn't just go for it. She kissed and sucked at his neck first, preparing the spot and bringing the blood to the surface. He shouldn't have been surprised, though, because she'd been on the receiving end of a bite before - a good bite, not a bad one; though she'd had a fair share of those too. It was so like Rebecca to have paid attention to how it was done and it was kind of hot having her put it into practice. She even timed it right. She waited until she was coming around him to bite him. She would've known that the sensation of her body falling into oblivion would distract him from most of the discomfort that followed the sharp jolt of pain that her fangs would bring.
And it worked. Her body was so tight around him that he could barely move. He didn't hate it. He felt he could stay buried inside her forever if their bodies would allow it.
Rebecca was happy and proud beyond words at that moment. She was drinking from Damon and not hurting him too much. She already knew how to feel better and cleaner than Stefan did and she wasn't even a day old. Granted, Damon's blood wasn't fresh and he wasn't human, so she couldn't hurt him but so much but still . . . she was drinking slowly and she was coherent enough to be able to move with Damon so he could come with her. She was herself enough to be able to stop on her own without any prodding from Damon. She withdrew her fangs and watched as his wound healed and then she licked up the blood like a cat would milk.
She felt him nipping on her skin, too, and embarrassingly enough, it made her moan. She'd never minded Damon's bite during sex. In fact, she had come to expect it. Now that she knew what it felt like - the need to bite and even ravage - she appreciated the fact that his bite would've been considered loving and careful.
Damon collapsed forward on the bed, reclaiming his place on top of her. He kissed his way from her ear down her jawline. Butterfly, barely there kisses. Rebecca was trembling her legs quivering.
"I love you," he said.
Rebecca grinned, sated. "I thought you said it didn't count right now."
"We're not actually having sex right now. Of course it counts."
"It's only because you said it, right?"
"Absolutely," Damon said.
She laughed and Damon, still buried inside of her, felt a zing and began to harden again instantly. Rebecca stopped laughing when the fact that he wanted her again became very clear. He began kissing her with all the tenderness he had to offer.
Rebecca hadn't thought she could ever love someone so much. It took her breath away, feeling all her love for him and knowing he felt the same way.
"Damon," she whispered. She didn't know why, but the fact that she could feel him hardening inside of her touched her in a way she'd never acknowledged before. She felt powerful, as a woman, because she was making him want her.
"Can you go again?" Damon asked. "Or do you need a break?"
Rebecca took that as a challenge even though she was fairly certain Damon hadn't meant it as one. No, she didn't need a break because it was so clear that he didn't.
She used the strength in her legs to turn them over so she was on top now.
"Does that answer your question?"
Rebecca and Damon explored each others bodies until the sun came up, and Damon had stayed true to his word. He'd made everything about her. He'd wanted to take her mind off of everything and he'd succeeded. Now Rebecca was there next to him seeming completely content.
"That was intense," she said, nuzzling against his chest. "Must do it again soon."
"Mm . . . we can do that every day."
She giggled and he felt her nod. "Definitely. I think that's an awesome idea."
Damon watched as she stretched. She was still naked, so he got a good show - it was a very nice view. She wiggled a little and made a noise of disgust. Her face scrunched up too and made lines appear above her nose. She clenched her legs together and hmmed.
"I'm all gooey. We're gonna have to change the sheets because I think I'm leaking."
Damon grinned and held back a laugh. "Leaking? Well, that can sometimes happen. Bodily fluids and such . . ."
"Don't make fun," she said, pouting. "And it's your fault anyway."
Damon did not take offense because he was silently thanking whatever higher being was watching this moment that vampires could blush because Rebecca was definitely blushing. He was also trying not to laugh at her reaction to her problem.
"It's not funny," she said. "I'm not used to having that much . . . fun . . . in one night. So of course I'm gonna comment on how squishy my insides feel."
Damon did laugh this time. He couldn't help it. First she was gooey and now she was squishy? And she was probably still leaking. When she stood up it would probably drip down her thighs; he couldn't wait to see her response to that.
He reaction was instantaneous. As soon as she stood up she said "Ew," and rushed to the bathroom. He heard water running and grinned as he pictured her thoroughly cleaning herself. She had never before made a big deal about any of this, but they had never spent that whole night making love before either. The most they'd done was three times in a night. She had been human then and could very well have passed out from exhaustion - now it wasn't so.
"How's it goin' in there?" he said in his regular voice. knowing she would hear him anyway.
"Fine," she half-yelled.
Damon smirked even though no one could see him.
"Are you gonna be all right if I have to go out? There's supposed to be a council meeting today."
"Yeah, I'll be okay."
"Uh-huh. Is that a real okay or an 'okay, but I'd really like for you to stay?"
"No, I'll be okay. Just hurry back."
"Kay. Good luck with the leaking thing."
A bar of soap was suddenly launched at his head and he ducked in time to keep from getting hit.
It didn't take long for Rebecca to realize she didn't like being cooped up during the day. She got bored and restless and she got hungry every couple of hours. Rebecca knew that it was because she was new that she kept thinking about blood. Without Damon there to distract her, she had nothing to keep her from feeding every time she wanted to. Not that Damon would care, but she'd already had two blood bags and Damon had only been gone for an hour. But Damon would understand how hungry she was and he would never judge her.
Then there was Chelsea. She was glad Chelsea was a relatively good child who didn't cry a lot. That meant that . . . maybe, once Rebecca got a handle on herself, she could once again take care of her sister without the fear of snapping. Not only for herself did Rebecca want to take care of Chelsea. Yes, Damon had compelled Robert and Tina to take care of Chelsea, but being taken care of wasn't the same as being cared about.
While Rebecca was at the boardinghouse, without Damon, she called Elena and left a message asking her to come over after school. She didn't tell Elena about becoming a vampire; all Rebecca said was that Stefan was locked up in the basement of the boardinghouse. That would definitely get Elena's attention.
Rebecca called Bonnie, too, but she got her voice mail like she had every other time she'd called the witch since she'd been gone. Rebecca didn't know why, but she was sure Bonnie was avoiding her calls. Whenever Elena called, she got voice mail too. They didn't even know how Bonnie was doing; they hadn't spoken to her for about two weeks.
In a desperate attempt to get rid of her boredom, Rebecca even broke out Damon's alcohol, but she couldn't drink a lot. One, it was too strong and it burned going down. Two, Stefan was downstairs. She was not getting drunk when her killer could get free.
After twelve, Rebecca had gotten a call from her dad; he sounded like he'd just woken up. He wanted to know why she hadn't left a note or a message the night before stating that she'd left. Rebecca couldn't tell him the truth, obviously, so . . . she just told him she was sorry and that she hadn't thought about it. She couldn't fault Damon for not thinking of it either because he'd been so worried about her that he hadn't been thinking of anything else.
"Well, I just called to tell you that Tina won't be staying with us much longer. She can't handle the stress; it's not good for her or the baby."
"Oh . . ." Rebecca felt kind of guilty for that. She had been the one to introduce the reality of vampires into Tina's life. It was her fault that Tina was stressed out about it.
"So . . . I need someone to watch Chelsea for a few days because I'm not gonna be here. I'm helping Tina get settled in a place near where her folks live."
"California? She's leaving the state?"
"It's what she wants. After you got kidnapped she said she couldn't wait around for it to happen again, so . . . she's going."
"Oh. I - I'm sorry. I thought . . . I don't know what I thought."
"Becca . . . I . . . I want to go with her. I'd like you and Chelsea to come with me. Get away from Mystic Falls."
"No," Rebecca said automatically. "My life is here. My friends, my -"
"Damon . . . is here," Robert said. "You want to stay with him."
"I'm going to stay with him. I'm over eighteen; you have no legal right to stop me."
"Right. Well, we'll talk about it later, just . . . I guess just stay there and keep Chelsea with you until I get back."
That was it. He hung up. It was just as well because someone knocked on the door.
"Crap," she muttered. The not-being-able-to-go-out-in-the-sun thing was a bitch. "Uh, hold on!"
Sarah, who was still asleep, would've been no help even if she were awake. She couldn't go in the sun either. Rebecca positioned herself so the sun wouldn't hit her skin; basically, she hid behind the door. Rebecca was surprised that it was Anna who was at the door.
"May I come in?" the dark haired girl asked.
"Uh . . . sure." Rebecca quickly closed the door when Anna stepped over the threshold. "What's up?"
"I figured you'd be here," Anna admitted. "I'm here on behalf of my mother. Is . . . Damon here?"
Rebecca shook her head. "Council meeting or something."
"Hm. I wanted to know if you were okay since . . . I haven't seen you since the hospital."
"Right."
"I'm sorry about what the other vampires did to you and Stefan. Abducting you, torturing you. It wasn't supposed to go down like that."
Rebecca had decided to forgive Anna and her mother while she'd been being tortured. She'd known they'd had nothing to do with it; they hadn't even been there while it had been happening.
"My mom is devastated. They tried to overthrow her."
Rebecca smiled at the girl. "I don't blame you, Anna. Or your mother. I never did."
Anna hadn't only come to see Rebecca; she'd also wanted to check on Sarah. While Anna went upstairs, Rebecca called Damon and left him a message about him needing to come home so they could talk. She didn't know how to deal with Robert wanting her to leave with him. She needed Damon's input.
Damon was lost. Metaphorically, anyway. Damon should've asked Elena or Blondie, or . . . someone to do this for him. But he hadn't, and he had to learn sometime, right? He had gone to the Wal-Mart just outside of town after the council meeting and was now stuck with getting baby stuff. Food and diapers . . .
"Jesus, who knew babies needed so much crap these days," he muttered.
He remembered the diapers that needed to be pinned together. These new astronaut-tested things were . . . odd. There were too many to choose from. And now that he thought about it, they made disturbing things go on in his head. Grown-ups floating around in space with diapers on. And why were they going to space anyway? Weren't things just fine the way they had been before? Scientists were always messing things up, meddling in things that were better left alone.
But that was neither here nor there. He was trying to decide what type of diapers to get Chelsea. He didn't want to call Rebecca and ask because how pathetic would he look admitting he couldn't perform this one simple task?
No, I can do this," Damon thought. Rebecca does this all the time. And if worse came to worst, he could always make his own diapers for Chelsea.
By the time Damon got home he was in a huff. He'd bought a car seat for Chelsea and had found out the thing was harder to figure out than a damn Sudoku puzzle.
Some of the irritation melted away when he saw Rebecca and Chelsea in the living room, the latter standing up and walking with the help of the former. Chelsea was grinning her baby smile and Damon smiled back.
"When did this happen?" he asked, meaning Chelsea being able to stand up.
"Just now. She was sitting down and all of a sudden she was dragging herself up my leg."
"Hm."
"Damon, we need to talk about Robert."
"Yeah, okay, what about him?"
"Tina's leaving; he's going to help her settle in. He wants to go with her and he wants me and Chelsea to go with him."
"Oh?" Unbidden, the insecurity of being alone for 145 years came back. "And?"
"And I don't know what to do. He's compelled to care so now he wants to get me and Chelsea far away from here. I don't . . . I don't want to go. My life's here with you." She looked down at Chelsea. "We've become a family, Damon, and I don't want to give that up."
Rebecca wondered it that was how her dad felt. Tina, Robert, Chelsea, and herself had become a sort of family.
"Well . . ." Damon moved closer so he could grab Chelsea. "My life is with you guys. Mystic Falls just came with the package. If you wanted to go . . . I'd drop everything, leave here, and go with you."
Tears were glistening in Rebecca's eyes and Damon realized what the problem was.
"You don't want to leave, though, do you? I'm not the only thing keeping you here."
He really wasn't. She had her whole life here. Friends, memories. Everything that made her her . . . every event that had shaped her had happened in Mystic Falls.
She wouldn't leave her home.
So . . . things are not all hunky dory here. There's stuff seething underneath the surface for both Damon and Rebecca. Anyway, let me know what you guys think.