Wow! The response that I got for that last chapter was freaking awesome! Seriously, a huge thank you to everyone who took the time to review, you all make my day! :)
I want to say another thank you to my beta ArabellaWhitlock, my beta. Without her encouragement and help you wouldn't be getting this chapter - she helped me so much! :)
I own nothing.
Firework
Face To Face
I raised my groggy head from the soft moving pillow I was using and shielded my eyes from the sunlight. It burnt!
"You'll be a little sensitive to the light till my blood leaves your system." Damon told me as we walked. "You'll also be a bit stronger, a bit more emotional and probably able to hear better." He informed me while he lifted me into Alaric's car and set me down gently.
I groaned in protest as he pulled his arms away, he started chuckling at me. "Don't worry Wildcat, you'll have the chance to see me again real soon. I know you can't go without your daily Damon fix, after all I am awesome." His eye brows raised and the smirk was clear across his handsome face.
"I'm just complaining cause you're body fat is sooo comfy as a pillow." I replied with my own smirk as I rested my head against the soft leather of Ric's seats. God I was tired and I still ached.
Ric and Damon said a few words to each other before Ric climbed in and started driving us from Damon. It was pitiful but I almost ached to be away from him now, it was almost painful. Stupid over active hormones and stupid sexy vampires. In another part of my brain I was really hoping that Damon and Ric didn't stop being friends now just because of me. Their friendship was one that I didn't understand at all, but they both clearly needed it. And the best of all friendships were never understood by outside parties as far as I was concerned.
The drive back home was taken in tense silence, probably not helped by the fact that I was still sat in Damon's shirt and his boxers with my own clothes in a plastic bag at my feet. Though I was pretty sure that they had been ruined from my session with Laurent.
As soon as the car stopped outside the house Ric was round my side and helping me in to the house so fast it was almost supernatural. "Thanks." I muttered as he closed the front door behind us both.
"Bella! What happened? Are you okay?" Elena asked rushing forward. "Why the hell did you run off in the morning? Have you got a death wish or something?" She said as she put an arm under my shoulder and helped me to the couch. "And what are you wearing?" I couldn't help the chuckle that escaped me at that, trust Bonnie, Caroline and Elena to worry about what I was wearing, I loved that, even in the midst of terror and madness they managed to keep things normal somehow.
"I think we all want to know why you thought you'd run off alone in the middle of the night!" Alaric glared at me.
"I wasn't running off." I said quietly, upset that I'd made everyone worry about me, that I'd pissed Ric off, especially when all they'd done is look after me and look out for me. Another worry started up, a deep seated fear that I wasn't sure that I'd ever get over; maybe they'd decide that I wasn't worth it, worth the trouble anymore, what if they wanted me gone? I don't know if I could do that anymore, if I could leave another life and another family behind.
"Then what were you doing?" Jenna asked me, seeming to be every bit as annoyed as Alaric was. But underneath that, in her eyes I could see concern and hurt.
"I just..." Deep sigh, big girl attitude, not a wall flower, have your own opinions and don't be scared of them. These things that I'd learnt to be, learnt to become, I channelled them so I could answer my family. "I just needed to be alone, to have time to think. So I went for an early morning job. I wasn't running away."
"An early morning run!" Alaric said with a snort letting me know just what he thought of that idea while running a hand through his hair.
"I know it was stupid..." I started saying.
"Well as long as she knows she was stupid! Alaric raised his voice, threw his arms up in the air and turned his back on me, anger strong in his voice.
"I needed some time to think, to be on my own Ric, I'm sorry I worried you guys, I really am." I said, my guilt making tears spring to my eyes. "But you've gotta understand my need for space, to be on my own for half an hour, surely." A tear broke through my barriers and slid down my cheek.
"Then why didn't you tell us?" Alaric asked me his voice sharp again. He took a deep breath and visibly tried to calm himself down. "I understand the need to just be on your own for a bit. And if you'd have come to me - to any of us - we'd have figured something out where you could have some time and still be safe. But you didn't, and look what happened."
Dread ran through me, he used the same disappointed voice that Charlie had, that Rene had, I knew what was coming, it had come before. Tears welled up in my eyes as I stood up, not looking up at anyone, my bare feet becoming more interesting than the angry faces of my family. "I'm sorry. I'll go pack." I whispered. Where would I go now though? Who would want me now? I supposed that legally I could be on my own, I could live on my own. And I did have money, maybe I could rent somewhere?
I was brought out of my musings by Jenna's hand gently taking my own and pulling me away from the family towards the kitchen.
"Take a seat." Jenna asked me in a firm voice as she let go of my hand. I did as was asked and finally looked up at the woman who'd been so motherly towards me.
"You have got to stop doing this Bella." Jenna said sounding annoyed and slightly hurt as she leant over the counter and looked at me.
"Doing what?" I asked in a small voice.
"Thinking that we're gonna ask you to leave. I'd no sooner ask you to go than I would Jeremy or Elena, so you screwed up? You're not the first one and I'm pretty sure you won't be the last. But no matter how much you piss us off, no matter how bad you do screw up, this is your home and we are your family. We're not going anywhere and neither are you." Jenna smiled kindly as tears once again sprung to my eyes. "Now go up to your room get changed and come back down for some dinner okay? Because I for one want to know all about that party that Caroline's roped you into planning with her."
I groaned slightly, but it was put on, Jenna was right, I did have a family here, I did have friends here and the one thing I always felt in Mystic Falls was loved and cared for. I wasn't going to have to leave, all I had to do was literally feel the love to know that. Corny but true.
~0~
3rd Person P.O.V.
"Maybe you were wrong for once Ali, it happens occasionally." Edward said as they stood in the forest surrounding the house, not close enough to hear anything but close enough to see her. All the family could hear the hope in his voice, hope and sadness, hope and hurt, hope and despair.
"Wasn't it you who started the phrase 'don't bet against Alice' Edward? So why doubt me now?" The little pixie asked. She knew what she'd seen, she was also a little surprised that they were in time to stop it, surprised but releaved.
"That smells like Bella, looks like Bella, but she sure as hell ain't acting like Bella. Are we sure it's her?" Emmett asked with a grin while looking on at the girl who he considered to be his little sister.
"Emmett!" Esme scolded good-naturedly as her 'son' swore.
"Sorry mom." He grinned back.
"It's her. It's the life she should be living. I did the right thing. Look how happy she is." Edward said, his voice almost breaking with the sadness he felt.
No-one could argue with him as the family looked on at the girl who meant so much to them, who'd brought them together and then torn them apart. She was dancing in a room, surprisingly well, dragging a tall blonde girl from the bed to dance with her, her beautiful face open with a bright smile that seemed to lighten the room impossibly.
Together Bella and the blonde were dancing and laughing, dragging other people in with them as they came to the door and watched. A small dark brunette, a pretty petit red head and a tall dark man all joined the girl that the family loved, dancing round the room and singing with her.
Alice hands twisted at her temples, making her look more human than normal, she looked like a human with a bad headache. "I can't see her, my visions they've gone blank." Alice said, worry and pain in her voice.
Jasper put his arms round his wife, wanting to comfort her, but worried just the same. How had her visions just stopped? Over time vampires powers got stronger, not weaker, and he'd never heard of anyone losing their gifts. Never. Jasper had the unnerving feeling that this was something to do with Bella. Even now they were here, even though they'd do all they could Bella's future had disappeared.
Esme and Carlisle shared a worried look before walking closer to the street that Bella was in. They weren't sure whether this was her actual house or the blonde girls, Bella's potent scent was saturated across a few houses and the high school, this was just the first place that they'd found her. As they stepped closer everyone saw Bella stop in her tracks, her smile sliding off her face instantly before she rushed to the window. Her gaze shifting to where the Cullen's stood hidden by view.
"Can she see us?" Rosalie asked slightly worried but even more nervous. Surely the human couldn't see them, couldn't know that they were here?
"No, we're hidden." Edward replied, but took a step backwards anyway.
"Then why is she staring at us then?" Rose asked, acid in her worried voice.
"I don't know!" Edward snapped back.
Emmett looked from his wife to his brother and then to his little sister who was speaking to someone over her shoulder, her face twisted in worry. Emmett didn't know what was going on but he was pretty sure that Bella knew they were out there, even if she couldn't see them. She'd always been intuitive after all.
"Maybe we should just see if we can track Laurent's scent, see if he's been around here recently?" He suggested, he knew they'd think that he just was looking for a fight, let them. In reality he was wanting to give Bella some space, he wanted to make contact with her when she wasn't so on edge, rather than her knowing that they were spying on her, just like Edward had done back in the day.
~0~
B.P.O.V.
I was sat on my bed with Caroline, the radio playing softly in the background, talking about the upcoming party that I'd somehow gotten roped into planning.
We'd discussed and dissected my recent run-in with the sparkly vampire, and the fact that now I seemed a little more than human with Damon's blood running through my system. It had only been a few hours since I'd gotten back, a few hours since my almost kiss with the dark haired vamp, but the difference in me was astounding. For example, I could hear Jenna and Alaric downstairs talking seriously with the vampire in question who'd arrived only minutes ago, I could hear Jeremy and Bonnie in his room. I could see better and my twisted door-knob showed that I was impossibly stronger. Which was slightly annoying as now I had to fix it.
So now we were talking about the party that was happening in a few days time.
"What about balloons?" Caroline asked excitedly. "Everyone loves balloons!"
"I thought we were going for high school party, not pre-school party?" I asked with a grin.
Caroline thought about it for a second before smiling and nodding. "See! I knew we'd make a party planner out of you!" She giggled, I rolled my eyes at her but couldn't stop my own smile, if only Alice could see me now, she'd been so proud, I thought. It didn't hurt to think of the Cullen's at all now, Alaric had been right, the hole that they'd left had been filled with other things.
"I love this song!" I exclaimed as Ke$ha's Tik Tok came through my speakers.
I started dancing and singing along after turning up the volume, my voice out of tune and my dancing ridiculous but not caring. I grabbed Caroline and dragged her up with me. Spinning and giggling as we both sung along to the song.
"Before I leave, brush my teeth with a bottle of Jack.
Cause when I leave for the night, I ain't coming back!"
When I spun around in a crazed dance move, it was to see Bonnie and Jeremy stood in the open door to my room, smiles that looked almost incredulous on their faces. Still singing I bounded to the door and grabbed Bonnie's hand bringing her into the dance with me and Caroline.
Caroline jumped on to my bed before singing louder, Bonnie and I shimmying on the vast floor that I'd now found a use for; dance floor.
I could hear footsteps coming up the stairs and turned just in time to beckon Jenna in to join the fun.
Soon enough Damon joined us and my room was almost full as we all danced round each other laughing as we did. This was it, this was what I was meant for. Fun, laughter, friends and family. I could feel it. I knew it.
Alaric and Jeremy wouldn't be budged from their posts at the door, but they were both laughing with us anyway. Or at us. Either way they were enjoying the moment as well.
As the song ended and we all stopped dancing the next track on the radio came on. Queens Don't Stop Me Now. So the crazy inpromptue dancing continued along with the off key singing and almost manic laughing.
Or it did until I felt something.
Something tugged at the edges of my brain. I couldn't describe it exactly, it was almost like when my scar tingled but at the edge of my mind rather than on my arm. Something was outside. I could feel it, something was there.
I went to my window and stared out at the street, seeing nothing. But it was there I could feel it. In the forest over by the house opposite ours.
"Bella?" Caroline's voice pulled me out of my staring, but still I could feel it. "What's wrong?" Her voice came out breathless as she jumped off my bed and stood behind me.
"There's something in the woods. I think." I told her quietly, still staring intently at the spot as though the trees would suddenly part and show me what I was looking for.
"What do you mean?" Damon asked, his voice sharp as he also came to stand behind me.
"I can feel something out there. Like when my scar tingles, but it's almost like it's in my mind instead." I tried to explain as best as I could but it was difficult, telling someone else what you couldn't quite grasp yourself.
"What?" Bonnie asked sounding confused and a little freaked out. I was right there with her.
"I don't know, that's the best I can explain." I said, still staring at the spot as the feeling receded.
"Vampire Barbie, you're with me. Witchy, stay here. If anything comes that isn't us keep them out. Ric now might be the time to get out those weapons that you were saving for the rainy day." Damon said, no hint of joking in his voice, he at least was taking this seriously. Without another word him and Caroline left at vampire speed.
I spun away from the window to face the scared yet determined faces of my friends and family.
"Damon's right, I've been working on some weapons that might hold off a Cold One." Alaric said, his face the one he used during training; all business.
"Let's go break out the holy water and garlic then." Jenna said, trying to smile but the worry she was obviously feeling marred the effect slightly.
We started walking out of my room and downstairs together, keeping in a tight pack despite knowing it was of no use. If a cold one got in to the house there wasn't much we could do, even together. "Are you okay Bella?" Bonnie asked me quietly as we brought up the rear.
"Fine. Just more vampires after me. It must be Thursday." I tried to joke, but it fell flat. And also made me remember that I'd missed a full day of school. But in my defence I had been recovering from a vampire attack and finding out the guy I had serious feelings for somehow seemed to like me too. School was a minor detail in comparison.
We gathered in the family room as Ric started dragging a huge chest that normally stood next to the tv into the middle of the room. I'd always assumed that it held blankets or throws or something. I've never felt so glad to be wrong before.
"So for Bella we have some reinforced gloves that are made out of metal and vervain." Alaric said as he rooted through the box and chucked me a pair of very heavy gloves.
I looked down at them before putting one on. It felt weird. Like chain mail covered in hemp or something.
At my questioning glance Ric expanded for me. "I know how you like to punch things and these are made up so that you won't break your hand no matter how hard you punch, also we're pretty sure that vervain works on the cold ones." He said looking slightly shifty as he added that last part.
"Why?" I asked. "And who's we?"
"Damon and me. We've been experimenting. Trying to come up with something that would work against them that you could carry round." Ric explained before giving me a apologetic look. "Damon thinks that as vervain's uncomfortable for you it would work against a cold one."
"Why?" Jeremy asked, as he pulled out what looked like a grenade and examined it.
"We think the reason it's uncomfortable for Bella is the venom that was in her system. Venom from the cold one that first bit her." Ric said, but he didn't look happy to be sharing the news.
"So you think it stayed in me!?" I asked, more than freaked out. I didn't want anything to do with that kind of vampire, I didn't want any part of them running through me. The thought of it made me feel dirty and uncomfortable.
"Trace amounts Bella, that's all. And it's a good thing when you think about it." Ric said softly, still handing out other weapons to the rest of the gathered would be hunters.
"How? How is me being infected by one of them a good thing!?" Again I wasn't taking this very well.
"Because you can tell if someone not what they say they are. And now you can tell if somethings waiting for you apparently. They won't be able to sneak up on you or surprise you in anyway." Ric said, his voice and expression soft. "It makes you safer."
"What's this?" Bonnie asked after he handed her a short sword - see I had been paying attention during weapons class.
"Werewolf coated blade. It's a last resort and we're really not sure if it'll work. So try not to let them get too close." Alaric gave a kind smile as he said that. Bonnie just looked more freaked out and gave a shudder.
"Okay, so we're armed to the gills, we've got a witch and two vampires out there. Now what do we do?" Jenna asked projecting more calm than I thought any of us would be capable of in this situation, but then again it was starting to get routine.
"We wait." Jeremy answered.
So we waited in silence, all of us on high alert.
After what felt like hours, but was realistically only ten minutes the front door opened. Alaric rushed to the front and Bonnie started chanting under her breath, a language I'd never heard before.
"Wait stop! It's just Damon and Caroline!" I called stopping everyone in their tracks and making them turn to face me. "What?" I asked blankly.
"How do you know?" Jeremy asked as Damon and Caroline came to join us. In response I just shrugged. I didn't have a clue how I knew, I just did. It's like they were familiar to my head, or weren't seen as a danger or something. It was hard to explain even to myself, so I didn't try.
"Wow! It's like a Buffy convention in here!" Damon tried to joke, but his normal cocky voice was tinged with worry and anger. I had been right, something was out there.
"What was it?" I asked, ignoring him and skipping straight to the point.
"Gone by the time we got there." Damon said, his eyes hard, his expression dark and formidable, something that sent a shiver of desire running up my back and pooling in my stomach. Stupid hormones. "But you were right Rocky. There were cold ones out there. Seven of them if I'm right. And I'm always right."
"Well that's just great. What do we do now?" Jenna asked looking defeated.
"Nothing." Damon said.
"If you think that we're just going to let Bella be..." Jeremy started saying heatidly only to be cut off by Damon who looked furious.
"I never said anything. You Van Helsing Junior and your wanna slay brigade are going to sit nice, safe and cosy right here. The grown ups are going vampire hunting. I'm not going to let anything happen to Bella. So sit down and speak when your spoken to like a good boy. Okay?" Damon snapped, arrogance and anger making his eyes seem to spark as he spoke.
Jeremy sat back down on the sofa but clearly muttered "dick!" As he did. I had to agree, that was a dick move. But then he was Damon, what did we expect?
"Can you track them?" I asked pocketing my gloves and taking a couple of vervain grenades as well.
"What did I just say?" Damon bit out at me.
"And you expect me to start listening to you now?" I asked while raising my eyebrows. "If I go I can feel where they are, also they'll probably come to me if they can smell me right? So I should go." I tried logical reasoning. I should have know that logic wasn't going to work on a mythical creature.
"We're hunting vampires to keep you safe. What would be the point in that if we put you in the line of fire Isabella? Now do as Jeremy's doing and be a good girl, sit down and wait for us to come back." Damon scowled at me. Too bad I'd never found him scary.
"No! I'm not the weak little girl that I was when I came here, when they left me Damon! I'm not going to sit here while you go out and risk your life for me! I'm not worth it and I'm not going to have that! I'm coming and that's the end of it!" I argued back, crossing my arms at the end as though that would make a difference.
"You are impossible!" Damon groaned out but still looked angry. He stalked over to me before grabbing my arm and towing me out of the room and out onto the porch. Throwing a quick sentence over his shoulder as he did. "I'm just going to reason with the mental patient, I'll bring her back in a second." He said in a biting voice as Ric started coming after us.
Damon let go of my arm as we were stood on the porch. "You need to stop this low self-esteem self pity thing you've got going on. And you need to listen to me when I'm trying my best to stop you from being killed! I haven't finished yet!" Damon spat out as I opened my mouth to argue. "I think you're worth it! And I happen to be a brilliant judge in character. Plus I'm never wrong." He stepped closer to me and started speaking in a softer voice. "I don't want you getting hurt again. I won't let you be hurt again. Please just stay here, and stay safe"
Tension filled the small space between us as I also took a step towards the dark haired, blue eyed vampire as well. "I don't want you getting hurt. Not for me. I... It would... Hurt me, if you were hurt." I said trying to get my sentiment out, my words while heart felt not exactly articulate, but the pounding of my heart was so hard that it was making it difficult to speak.
"Please... Stay safe." Damon whispered his hand reaching up and cupping my cheek, his bright, icy blue eyes staring straight into my own. His lips coming ever closer.
I stood up on my tiptoes, wanting this moment to happen with every fibre of my being. Lips millimetres apart Damon stopped and looked once more into my eyes, as though searching for something. Whatever he was looking for he found. As his lips came softly down to my own.
The kiss was unlike any I'd ever had before. It was soft and tender, his lips warm and moving with my own. His hands cupped my face and hair, mine twisting on to his shoulders. Damon's slight stubble brushed roughly against my skin, as his lips tenderly parted mine, his tongue licking against my tongue. It was perfection.
Damon broke the kiss first. Which was the only way it would have broken, I could have kissed him all day. A gentle smile spread across his impossibly handsome face, one that I could feel mirrored on my own, plainer face.
I opened my mouth, but was cut off from speech as a new voice echoed across the street. One that stopped me dead.
"Bella?"
~0~
3rd Person .P.O.V.
He'd given Bella back to Ric who'd taken her home and went back inside his house. But now the house felt empty, his library felt empty, his bed was empty. Damon had given Bella back without the talk that he'd promised himself he'd have with her. The talk that would make her realise, that now, she was the only girl, no the only woman that he saw.
With a sigh he poured himself a glass of blood mixed with bourbon, he couldn't believe that she'd been pulling away from him because she thought he was in love with Elena. As if. Though it was fun to pretend. Or it had been, not anymore, nothing that would keep Bella away from him.
He managed to distract himself for three hours. Three pitiful hours before he couldn't take it anymore. Before he had to see her. He knew that meant going through aunt and uncle guard dog, but he didn't care. He'd battle an army for his wildcat. Which the way the vamps were coming right now would be what he had to do, he thought to himself with a chuckle.
Damon pulled up outside the Gilbert house twenty minutes later, feeling lighter already. He was getting frustrated with himself, he shouldn't be acting like this, he couldn't act like this. Not after the bitch. Not after that slut Katherine. He knew Bella was nothing like her, but she still had the power to hurt him, and he'd wait hundreds of years for her too. And that scared the crap out of him.
Damon knocked at the house before walking in, the door was locked here as rarely as it was at his own house.
Alaric and Jenna were stood deep in conversation in the kitchen. He was tempted to just bypass them altogether and go up to Bella's room, but he could hear her talking with Vampire Barbie. So with a sigh he dutifully walked into the kitchen.
"Damon." Ric said, his hostility towards his so called 'friend' not quite gone just yet. He realised that Damon had done nothing but good where it concerned his niece, and he also realised that Damon was falling in love with Bella, but he didn't like it. He wasn't sure if he'd ever like it. "What are you doing here?"
"Boredom mainly." Damon grinned at the two young guardians. "But also I came to make sure that Isabella was okay. I had to give her a lot of my blood." Damon still felt half drained even though he'd drank seven blood bags after Ric had taken his Wildcat.
"She's fine. Thanks for checking you can go now." Jenna said, her voice full of dislike just as it always was whenever she spoke to him.
"Yeah." Damon rolled his eyes, so wasn't going to happen.
"Are you sure that the cold one you killed was the only one out there?" Alaric now had the chance to ask what had been bugging him, what he and Jenna had been worrying about.
"No." Damon replied, his voice hard, that fact also bothered him, so far the vampires that had come had come in groups, this one though was alone. But he was also older - which was how he'd managed to stay alive for more than thirty seconds against Damon. "I didn't have time to check. If I'd checked then Bella would be half way through her transformation into a walking, talking, blood-lusting, disco-ball right now."
"He bit her! You didn't tell me he bit her! How is she not dead! Or one of them!" Ric asked, his temper jumping back up.
"Because I was too busy from trying to stop you from killing me, and then I was telling you about her broken bones. You didn't want to listen to anymore Ric, you didn't want to hear anymore." Damon was starting to get pissed, all he'd wanted was to come and see Bella, and now he was getting shit for it. Again.
"How is she not one?" Jenna asked, a softer edge to her voice now as she realised that maybe, just maybe Damon might not be so bad for the young danger magnet after all. She still thought he was a shit though.
"I sucked his venom out, just like fairy boy ex did." Damon told them, trying not to think about the disgusting taste and not make a face, something he failed in doing.
"Why?" Jenna asked, her voice questioning. His answer would make a decision for her once and for all.
"Because she asked me to. Because she didn't want to be one of them." Damon replied with total honesty and no bullshit for once, even he could see when he was walking a tight rope, and these were the people who could stop Bella from seeing him. While she was still living here anyway.
Jenna looked over the dark haired vampire for the millionth time, this time though she was seeing something different. Instead of the hard faced joker, the killer, the complete jerk who messed with peoples minds, who manipulated people and had lost his humanity... Instead of that she saw a young man who actually cared about someone but himself for a change. Bella was changing him, just as he was changing her. And it was for the better. She was prepared to give him a chance. Maybe.
Music distracted the small group from their deep thoughts, loud music coming from upstairs accompanied by terrible singing and lots of giggling.
The three adults shared a look of surprise and happiness before darting for the stairs together. Bella was quiet and shy, she kept to herself and rarely came out of her shell unless she was coaxed out, except when Damon was around anyway, though she'd been better since she came to Mystic Falls, anyone could see that. This new side of her they all had to see, and they were extremely happy to see it.
As they reached Bella's open bedroom door Damon's smile for once reached his eyes. There she was, dancing and singing as though she had no care in the world, as though her life was perfect. Her amazing body moving in time to the music, her long glossy brown hair whipping round her shoulders and a smile that shone in her eyes directed at him. He couldn't help himself. He had to join her. Had to be part of this memory. One that he'd never forget.
It was perfect. She was perfect as she danced with him, with her friends, with Jenna. As she sang so badly but not caring. As she lived.
The moment didn't last for long though as once more sparkly fuck-wits interrupted their lives. Only this time Bella could feel them with her mind. Damon was pretty sure that it had something to do with the extra venom that would be in her system after this morning. That was going to be a fun conversation. Especially considering how Bella felt about them.
Caroline was scared, in fact she was petrified as she followed Damon out into the woods surrounding Bella's street, but if she could do something to help, she would. Anything. "You know vampire killing and disposals not my strong suit." She said nervously as she blurred after Damon, his anger seemed to surround him as they moved.
"They're weak, you'll be fine." Damon brushed her off.
Damon roared in anger when he found the scent of seven different vampires, even with him Caroline and Stefan that it was going to be difficult to make sure that one didn't get by them. Didn't get to Bella. With that thought Damon started heading back for the girl, his stomach twisting with anger and dread. Why her? Just because she fell in love with the wrong person? Shit that was something anyone was capable of doing as he'd proved.
When they'd got back Bella had been as difficult as he'd expected her to be. Not caring about her own safety but his and Caroline's instead. Too caring, too trusting. It was going to get her killed, but he couldn't hate that about her, as much as he wanted to, that was one of the reasons he love... Liked her so much. Liked her.
He took her outside, away from her family to argue with her. Knowing while he did that it was pretty much useless. She wasn't going to listen. But it didn't mean he wouldn't try.
She terrified him, the way her doe eyes looked into his own with so much trust and so much innocence. It scared him more than anything else ever had. But it also intrigued him, and that was what made him take the step forward. That was what made him kiss her.
She was so soft, so soft and warm and eager. And it was just him that she wanted. All this. This was his. No-one else's. That little sigh, the tiny gasp, the way she herself pulled closer as their tongues caressed each other? All of that was for him.
It was the best kiss that he'd had in five hundred years. One that promised more and yet not enough. Never enough.
As Damon stepped away slightly from her he couldn't help but smile.
That is until a musically grating voice sounded from across the street. "Bella?"
~0~
I really hoped you enjoyed this chapter! :)
I know some of you are hating the fact that I brought the Cullens back - especially Edward. But I have to confess - I hate him! So don't worry...
Anyway I'd love to hear what you thought.
Tametiger x