Once again thank you to everyone who has favourited, followed and especially reviewed this story. I love your love!

In theory there's not too much left of this story now. If I have it planned out right, then probably only 5 or so! However sometimes the characters get carried away and don't go along with what I have planned so we'll see what happens :D

I hope you all enjoy this chapter.

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Rather long A/N at the bottom

Chapter 23

Battle Stations

Bella P.O.V

Without word I gladly handed over Edwards ear. It was wigging me out slightly to touch it if I were being honest.

Damon had been right – unsurprisingly, though annoyingly – Bonnie had worked her magic juju and the Cold Ones weren't able to come inside the house. A weight I hadn't realised that I'd been carrying had lifted off my shoulders as Carlisle had tried to follow me into the house but couldn't. My family were safe form the things that were hunting me. They wouldn't get hurt because of me now. Or at least not while they were at home. Bonnie was getting the best Christmas present I could find.

Esme and Carlisle both thanked me as I handed off the appendage before grabbing Emmett – literally – from where he had stood with Damon and promptly left.

"What was that about?" I asked Damon while sitting myself down onto the porch swing. It was a nice crisp night, I would need more layers to stay out for long, but it was calm and comforting, I'd enjoy the still night for a little.

"Not a clue." Damon frowned in thought as he came to join me.

"I had a really good time tonight. Before the ex-drama I mean. Thank you."

"Hmmm…" Damon gave me a small smile, wrapped one of his arms around me and pulled me, gently, into his side. I was a perfect fit.

I could never get over how safe and right I felt with Damon. He never made me feel less than him or inferior. Though I knew we'd never be equals – he was after all a member of a species that was, by nature, superior to my own – he didn't flaunt that. Didn't make me feel less than him. No, on the contrary, Damon made me feel right for being me.

We sat together in silence for a while. Just content to sit and enjoy the night together side by side in quiet. The peace was only broken by Alaric returning home with a small bag of groceries.

"What are you guys doing here? I thought you were having a meal together?" Alaric said before smirking, a glint in his eyes. "Let me guess. Damon burnt the meal? So you came home for some real food?"

"Very funny Uncle Alaric." Damon smirked right back.

"No the meal was delicious." I stepped in before they sniped at each other anymore. For friends you think they'd be nicer to each other. Then again this was one of Damon's friendships. "I had to come back to give Carlisle and Esme Edward's ear."

"There is no way that will ever not be weird." Ric said with a tiny shudder. "Was everything okay?"

"Yeah fine." I smiled at the concern in his voice.

"Cool." Ric said after glancing at Damon, probably to make sure I was telling the truth. "Jenna, Jeremy and me were going to watch a B rate horror if… er… you two want to join us?"

I looked to Damon who rolled his eyes at me. "What do you want to do Klutz?"

"I wouldn't mind watching I also wouldn't mind sitting out here with you." I replied honestly.

"Fine we'll watch the scary movie. Don't worry Klutz, if it get's too scary I'll hold your hand." Damon smirked pulling me to my feet as he stood.

3rd Person P.O.V.

Damon and Bella sat together in an overlarge armchair watching the movie. To say that Ric had called it a B rate it was pretty good. Paranormal something or other. Damon had almost jumped a time or two himself. Almost. His Klutz though did jump. And every time that she did she pulled herself tighter into him. He was enjoying it immensely, especially as the pretty blue top she was wearing was rather low cut. Maybe he should invest in some more horrors Damon pondered to himself. If it hadn't been for those sparkling fuckwits earlier, he was sure he would have got underneath that top properly as well. Second base at the very least.

That had been the problem with Isabella declaring herself a virgin and not ready for sex. He was now longing for it more than ever. After all the forbidden fruit always tasted sweeter. And she tasted so god damn sweet before he'd even taken a bite.

Half way into the film and during a rather tense moment Elena came home shouting 'Hey!' as she did. Everyone jumped, including Damon. Wildcat smiled a low sexy smirk that Damon was positive she didn't know she was capable of before she leant in closer to him. "Don't worry Toothless, I'll hold your hand if it's getting too scary." She whispered making him chuckle.

Of course, Saint Stefan walking in with a grin directed at Damon letting him know that his little brother had heard wiped the smile off his face. As did the look that Elena sent Wildcat. It was equal parts pity and scorn. What had happened there and why hadn't Isabella told him? Did it have something to do with her odd mood tonight?

It wasn't as though she'd been in a bad mood, or that Damon had pissed her off – always a chance but not this time. No, it was almost as though she was distancing herself emotionally for him. It was hard to describe but even to himself that was the best he could come up with. What he couldn't work out was why. Now though he was realising that it perhaps wasn't his doing but Miss Elena's instead. Hmm…

Saint Stefan and the Doppelganger joined them for the rest of the movie. Elena every so often glared at Damon – which wasn't unusual – and at Isabella – which was.

The movie was just reaching it's final few minutes, the climax having them all on the edge of their seats except for Damon. He was listing half a dozen reasons for Elena's problem when someone started pounding at the door. Everyone in the room bar Damon jumped, the dark-haired vampire would have smirked. If someone pounding at the door at eleven forty-five at night hadn't been such a bad omen.

"Any ideas Wildcat?" Damon asked as Ric got up and opened his weapons chest, handily placed in the central room. You had to admire how prepared he was in the event of a supernatural emergency. Though seeing as how one seemed to pop up at least once a week Damon wasn't sure why they weren't all this prepared.

"Umm… Werewolf… No? Erm… Not sure, not human though." Bella answered her voice holding disappointment. Ric rolled his eyes knowing that she was shouldering too much once again. He also knew though that telling his niece this wasn't her responsibility wouldn't help. She was too stubborn.

"Silver blades, wolfsbane for everyone." Ric mumbled, quickly gathering the items for all assembled. The pounding at the door was carrying on all the while.

Together the group approached the front door, the Salvatore's taking point with Alaric directly behind them. The rest of the family gathered together in a lose group behind. Adrenalin was coursing through each one of them.

Damon swung the door open and instantly cursed as he caught the half dead guy that fell through the doorway in to him. "Shit!"

This did not bode well.

Bella. P.O.V.

"Shit!" Damon cursed, and I struggled to see, trying to catch a glimpse of the person he had his muscular arms full of.

"Damn it! Get him inside Damon. Stefan shut the door! Bella go get some towels and old sheets! Jenna the first aid kit!" Alaric barked out orders and without a second's hesitation I was following them. I ran upstairs to the linen closet, tripping on the last step and sending myself hurdling to the floor. I jumped back up and grabbed the requested items before hurrying back down the stairs at a more sedate speed.

I rushed to the dining room where the sight of the person laid out brought me up short.

"Jake!" My voice came out in a tortured gasp.

Jacob, my one-time best friend, was laid bleeding out on my dining table. His right arm was bent at an unnatural angle, his left ear was barely still attached to his face, he was bleeding from multiple wounds, the worst of which seemed to be his right leg which was missing a substantial chunk. I fought back a retch at the sight, my stomach twisting grotesquely in line with Jake's injuries.

He was murmuring though his eyes remained firmly closed but none of what he was saying was intelligible.

"Bella!" Ric snapped bringing me back to the present. "Start wrapping his wounds tightly, leave any that'll need stiches, I'll do those." I nodded my hands shaking as I started twisting a towel to wrap around the forearm closest to me.

"Shouldn't we be calling 911?" Jeremy asked, his voice as panicky as I felt.

"His wounds will heal faster than a human's. We're going to have to treat him here and hope for the best." Ric said his voice not as commanding now as he was sowing together a large wound on Jakes chest.

"How did he get these?" Elena asked while looking at me.

"I don't know. I didn't even know he was still here, I thought he'd gone back to Forks." I said tearing a bed sheet and twisting it into an improvised bandage/tourniquet.

"He smells like Cold One." Stefan declared quietly with his usual intenseness. Damon who had been leant casually against the wall just watching suddenly tensed up and leant forward sniffing the air.

"He smells like multiple Cold Ones." Damon growled out before turning his piercing blue eyes onto me. "Are there any near here?"

I had to make up for earlier when I could have put us all in danger by not knowing what was at the door. I would do better this time. I would.

I closed my eyes and focused as hard as I could, trying to get my brain to work in a way that could help us.

There! On the very edge of my brain, sparks, little itchy sparks. How many? How far would that be? Oh shit.

"What!?" Damon said his voice urgent, my face must have given something away.

I opened my eyes to take in the room. "There's at least sixteen in the woods, about four maybe five streets away I think? Or the equivalent of four streets away, they're behind us." I told the now silent room, Goosebumps broke out along my arms and the hair on the back of my neck rose. I was scared. Really scared.

"What do we do?" Elena asked quietly, I could tell she was as scared as I was.

"But they can't come in, here right? Unless we invite them in." Jeremy said.

"Doesn't mean they can't try to burn the house down or use one of your neighbours against you." Damon said thoughtfully. As everyone looked at him surprised he spoke again. "What? That's what I would do."

"So, what we make a run for it?" Stefan asked his brother. I'd noticed that whenever there was a crisis that everyone turned to Damon for leadership and guidance, though they rarely liked the methods that he employed to get the job done and most of them outright didn't like Damon at all. It was more than a little unfair. No wonder he was a dick sometimes, add that to his heartbreak, which he still hadn't told me about, and most people would be assholes.

"Why don't we stay here till the morning when, hopefully it'll be sunny and relocate then? If they haven't attacked yet they're unlikely to do it now, right? And if they do… Well we'll just have to deal." I suggested, not because I thought it was a good idea but because I didn't want it to have to be all on Damon's shoulders once more, that and this was my mess, I could at least try and help tidy it up as best as I could.

"It will be sunny tomorrow Wildcat, don't worry. It'll be the sunniest day of the whole damn year. Ring your sparkling friends Rocky, see if they'd be useful and keep an eye on the house tonight. Then yeah, I think the best thing is to call in the… I would say Cavalry, but can you really call Witchy, Vampire Barbie and Teen Wolf the Calvary? More like the supernatural Brady Bunch. Anyway, we call them and relocate to our place, get witchy to work her voodoo on the house, safe and sound from Cold Ones and work out a plan from there." Damon declared as Ric started working on Jakes wounds once more.

"How can you be sure it'll be sunny tomorrow?" I asked confused.

"Ring now, talk later Wildcat." Damon said his brow furrowed as he was obviously thinking.

"I don't have…" I was cut off from telling Damon that I didn't have the Cullen's numbers by Damon passing me his phone, good job he hadn't thrown it, I'd never have caught it.

"Under Big Sparkling Dude and Sparkle Emo." Damon said.

"You need better nicknames for them, they suck." I muttered scrolling through his contacts.

"I'll work right on that after I've killed the rest of the Cold Ones." Damon smirked at me.

As I rang Emmett, Jenna went to make-up the guest bed room for Jake, Damon and Stefan were talking about staying awake in shifts as they needed less sleep then anyone. Though Jeremy pointed out that wouldn't be necessary if the Cullen contingent helped us.

Emmett informed me with a smile in his voice that he, Rosalie and Jasper were on the way now and that they would be happy to keep on eye out over night time. Though apparently Jasper was chomping at the bit to just hunt down the Cold Ones and finish them now. Damon had taken over the conversation from there, he wanted the fight in his territory on his terms.

An hour later I was trying to sleep, cuddled next to Damon who had wrapped both arms around me. Sleep though wouldn't come.

"You don't need to be scared Bella, I won't let anyone hurt you." Damon said his voice barely a whisper in the darkness.

"I'm not scared for me, I'm scared for you and everyone else. I know that you can take on Cold Ones without a problem, but there are sixteen of them at least that I know about. The odds are someone's going to get hurt, because of me." I whispered back.

"Have you met me? I'm awesome. It'd take more than sixteen little vamps to kill me. Ric and I took on 15 of my kind of vamps before, and look, we came out on top." Damon said his voice louder now.

"You'll have to tell me about that someday." I said wrapping myself further in to his side. "Why did you say it will be sunny tomorrow? As though you're sure?"

"You know when we spoke about how the older vampires get the more powers they accumulate?" I nodded intrigued. "Well after five hundred years I've got a few tricks up my sleeve. One of which being I can control the weather. It will be sunny tomorrow Wildcat."

"Wow!" I said honestly amazed. "What else can you do I don't know about?"

"You'll find out eventually." I could hear the smirk in his voice.

"Oh, come on, tell me, please…" I whined.

"Nope, you'll just have to stick around to find out." Damon said with a laugh in his voice. Instantly I remembered Elena's words. I would stick around but it was doubtful that Damon would.

"What is it?" Damon asked, obviously feeling the change in my mood.

"No…" I started saying 'nothing' then remembered the last time I'd try to blow something off, Damon wouldn't accept nothing as an answer, especially when it was something and it made me feel physically ill to lie to him. "When I was at Caroline's, Elena said something that upset me. I don't really want to go over it right now, it's something I'm trying to work through on my own. If that changes I'll tell you, I promise." It was the best I could do, and I hoped Damon would accept that.

He was quite for a minute or two after that before he finally sighed gently. "Okay." Was all he said in response.

Sleep didn't come for either of us for a while.

~0~

I was exhausted when Damon woke me up the next morning just after dawn. As promised the day was exceptionally sunny considering it was now winter.

Damon passed me a cup of coffee and chucked some clothes at me. "You're going to have to stop doing that or I'm going to start getting use to it." I smiled at Damon before looking at the clothes he passed me. For once he'd gone sensible and that more than anything let me know just how serious our situation was despite Damon's cavalier attitude towards it.

"Maybe you should Wildcat, if I get to wake up in your bedroom every morning." Damon smirked, though it didn't touch his eyes which were a blue so icy they were almost silver, though he still managed to send a shiver of want down my spine.

"It's a very sunny morning." I said as I finished off the last of my coffee.

"Yes, funny that. Now get dressed Klutz, we've got a battle to plan." Damon smirked again before leaving the room.

I got dressed then stuffed a couple of changes of clothes into a duffle bag along with the vervain gloves Alaric had made me and a couple of other weapons that I had stashed in my room. I also grabbed the latest book that I was reading. The DaVinci Code that Damon had insisted I had to read as although factually incorrect was interesting. So far, I agreed, it was interesting.

Downstairs was a hive of activity, Elena was still in bed according to Stefan who took a large mug of coffee up to her. "Getting lessons from me" Damon had told me in an aside that made me smile. Jeremy was barely awake eating cereal at the breakfast bar but everyone else was moving. Alaric and Damon were moving Weapons from the trunk and other hiding places into large bags near the front door, Jenna was grabbing food and the first aid kit. Damon and Stefan had some food in but not enough to last all of us apparently. Stefan when he came back downstairs was busy making phone calls to the others.

I went upstairs after a quick bowl of cereal to check on Jake.

He looked a million times better this morning than he had last night. It was obvious that his wounds were healing at an accelerated rate. His arm looked better, or at least straighter and less crooked and his bruises were virtually gone. He was obviously going to be fine though he was still out for the count.

Damon was waiting for me as I left the guest room and motioned me to follow him into my room.

"What's up?" I asked the vampire who had sat himself on my bed. His motions heavier than normal, his face enclosed in a mask once more.

"I want you to take my blood." Damon said without any preamble.

"What?" I asked confused. I wasn't hurt. Yet.

"Look, I know we haven't spoke about this or anything and there will be a conversation when this is all over. But if anything happens I want to know you'll come back. So please. Take my blood." Damon stated seriously.

I got it instantly and it warmed something deep inside of me. He would turn me. At the minute it was just so I didn't die but he was willing to turn me. We would talk about. But that had to mean something, right? It had to mean that I was more than just a passing fancy to him? Something more than someone to keep busy with until he got bored? Maybe Elena was wrong.

We would have the conversation when this was over. But I knew without a doubt that I would turn for him. Not because I would like to be a vampire, especially as I would never be out in the sunny again unless I could get one of the nifty daylight rings. But I would, I would give up the sun just to spend eternity with Damon.

"Okay." Was all I said.

"Okay?" Damon repeated confused.

"Yeah, okay. We'll have a conversation after?" It was half a statement half a question.

Damon gave a small smile then nodded before biting into his wrist.

I locked eyes with Damon as I drank down his blood, still slightly squeamish about it. Staring into his eyes as the warm liquid slid down my throat was… incredibly hot. And by the time the cut had closed I was struggling not to just jump him here and now. Screw not being ready.

"After." Damon said breathlessly his arm still wrapped in my hand, his eyes darkening to their normal bright blue.

"After." I confirmed my chest heaving despite not moving a muscle, my heart pounding and my stomach tingling.

"I'll grab wolf boy, you help load up the bags." Damon said after a long moment of just staring into each other's eyes. I nodded and did just that.

Ten minutes later and a convoy left our house, heading for the Boarding House and battle.

Alaric and Jenna had the majority of weapons in their car though all the cars had some in just in case of an ambush, it was also the reason we were all driving in close formation. I had the food and Jake passed out on the back seat. Elena and Stefan had clothes and Damon had Jeremy.

We would be meeting Caroline, Bonnie, Matt and Taylor there. Emmett, Rosalie and Jasper would be there as well after a little while, they were hunting first followed by a bit of recon, according to Damon. I just hoped whatever they found would be in our favour. Though my luck didn't normally swing that way.

~0~

3rd Person P.O.V.

He stood at the very limit of the range of his gift, downwind, listening to their plans. Or what they knew of said plans anyway. He would use any advantage he could to get her away.

He hid himself as three came his way, not heading towards the large group but past them, deeper into the forest. He knew the scent of the other three. He wondered if it was worth staying where he was or following them.

He decided after a moment on staying put, working out a fool proof plan as he did. He wouldn't be able to rely on strength or speed. He'd have to rely instead on his brains and cunning. Thankfully, he thought to himself, he had plenty of those.

It wouldn't be long now.

He didn't notice the red head watching him in the trees above.

I hope you enjoyed this chapter! Sorry about the wait. Trying to get time to write at the moment is difficult but I will be writing every chance I get.

I'm really surprised that only 1 person got that it was Jacob in the woods! I hoped you liked it! We will be seeing more of him later!

As this story is coming to an end and I have the worse case of writers block ever for Lies for My Protection I have got another Damon/Bella story plot bunny attacking me. I am looking for someone to bounce ideas off and maybe pre read for me when it gets to that stage. If you're interested, please give me a PM. :D

Until next time, Tametiger x