*PLEASE READ AUTHOR'S NOTE VERY IMPORTANT*

"Stripped"

Chapter 24: Blood High

"So what are we going to do now?" Jeremy asked as he paced around the house. "Those fucking sparkly asses are here and they won't be leaving."

"Let's not forget Klaus and Kol," Matt added. "They can't be trusted."

"Neither can Rebekah," Jeremy said.

"Maybe she can," Matt replied.

"Really Matt?" Jeremy asked, "She tried to kill Elena."

"I resent that comment," Rebekah said from her spot outside the front door, "If you haven't noticed I haven't tried to kill Elena in a very long time."

"All of you calm down," Bonnie stepped in, "Look Jeremy, I agree with you. Klaus and Kol can't be trusted."

"That dear witch is an understatement." Rebekah chimed in.

Bonnie rolled her eyes and continued, "I also know that Rebekah, though lacking in certain common curtseys, can be trusted," Bonnie said, "But right now, Klaus and Kol, we are going to need them."

"You know those rings the Cullen's were wearing were very familiar," Rebekah said while looking at her nails, "If you invite me in I'll tell you all about them."

"No," Jeremy growled.

"Jer," Bonnie touched his arm, "Please."

"Fine," he ground out, "Come in Rebekah."

Rebekah came in and shut the door before she sat down in the living room, "I've seen them before long ago when I was traveling with Kol. He befriended a group of witches, even had a fling with one. They are the only ones who can spell things allowing Cold Ones to walk in daylight undetected." Rebekah said, "Quite the coincidence that when our alliance grows strong against my brothers the Cullen's just seem to pop up."

"Klaus and Kol organized this," Matt said before sitting down, absorbing the new revelation.

"I highly doubt that," Rebekah said, "When Bella spoke with her father it sounded like the Cullen's had been looking for her for a while. I'm merely thinking that Kol found out and utilized this to his and Klaus' advantage."

"What do your brothers want with Bella?" Bonnie asked.

"Who knows," Rebekah said with a sigh, "At first I thought she was just another pawn in their game they play…who can get the girl first…but now, I think it's something more. I think that Klaus has something planned that involves the cure. He wants it so badly and I thought it was because of Elena, but now I'm not so sure." Rebekah said, "I think I know someone who might though."

"Who?" Matt asked.

"Elijah," Rebekah said, "He's always been able to figure out Klaus' plans. I could call him and bring him here."

"Can he be trusted?" Matt asked.

Rebekah nodded, "Elijah is an honorable man…which is more than I can say for the rest of us in the family. He respects Isabella and he will help her if only to be redeemed in her eyes. Elijah values his honor and his other morals above almost everything else."

"Except family," Bonnie pointed out, "Klaus and Kol are family."

"As am I and I haven't stabbed him in the back like they have…figuratively and literally." Rebekah replied.

"Do it," Jeremy said suddenly, "Bring him here."

"Will you all be alright alone here for a while?" Rebekah asked as she stood up.

Bonnie nodded, "Klaus and Kol can't get in. We'll be fine."

"Call if you need anything." Rebekah said as she headed for the door.

"Where are you going?" Matt asked.

"Back to Bella's. I want to see how things are going over there." Rebekah said before she disappeared out the door.

.*.*.*.*.*.

Damon sat there in his daze as he glanced around the room. He felt as if he had the first day of his vampire life. Everything was so clear, moving in slow motion in a way. It was as if he was high. His eyes came to fall on Bella's motionless form. He smiled as he saw the light reflected off of her hair, causing it to brighten. She reminded him of a much more beautiful sleeping beauty or of Snow White. He smiled as he just sat there, watching her, examining every inch of her… dedicating it to memory.

He had no idea as to why she was sleeping in such an awkward position or even why she was sleeping on the cold hardwood floor when the couch was right next to her. He smiled before laughing when he realized just how her hair seemed to blend into the wood floors and it was as if she was sinking into them, becoming one with them.

"Bella," Damon said in what seemed like an echo to him.

He leaned over and heard her heart beating slowly.

Suddenly he was thrown away from Bella.

"What the hell?" Rebekah roared while glaring at Damon, "What did you do?"

Damon sat there for a moment and then he laughed and fell backwards onto the floor.

"What the bloody hell has gotten into you?" Rebekah asked confused then she smelled it and then her eyes snapped to Bella's bleeding neck.

It took every ounce of Rebekah's thousand years of control to resist the urge to drink from Bella, but she did and forced herself away from Bella. Rebekah heard a car pulling up outside and blurred out to it.

Stefan, Elena, Caroline, and Tyler got out.

"What's going on?" Stefan asked.

"You four need to stay out here," Rebekah said while pushing Tyler, Stefan, Elena, and Caroline back.

"What the hell?" Caroline asked, getting defensive.

Suddenly they heard a cackling laugh from inside.

"Is that Damon?" Elena asked.

"Yes," Rebekah said, shaking her head and looking at Stefan, "He drank from her."

"What?" Stefan asked shocked.

"Damon drank from Bella and he is high as a freaking kite right now." Rebekah explained.

"Oh no," Stefan said before rubbing his hand over his face.

"Okay what is going on?" Caroline demanded.

"Bella's a singer Caroline," Stefan explained, "Singer's blood is different from human blood. It's intoxicating, it's strong; it's like a drug and it causes vampires to go a little kooky."

"How do you know?" Tyler asked.

"Last year at the Miss Mystic Falls pageant I drank from Bella." Stefan said, "That's why I was so out of it and why it took me a while to detox."

"So what do we do?" Elena asked, "How do we deal with Damon?"

"I will get Damon out of the house," Rebekah said, "You call Bonnie, Jeremy, and Matt to get over here and get Bella upstairs. Also call the doctor so she can take a look at Bella. He really took a bite out of her and drained her…she's pale as a corpse."

Elena nodded and pulled out her phone.

"We can't just leave her in there with him," Tyler said.

"Tyler, right now Damon is too high to go after Bella again. He's going to be that way for a few hours." Rebekah explained, "She's not in any danger. The worst that could happen now is him stripping down and running about naked."

"Why did you have to say that?" Caroline asked and pointed to Damon who had come outside shirtless.

Suddenly he dropped his pants, (apparently it was no underwear day) and bolted for the woods.

"Stefan, Caroline, Tyler come on let's go," Rebekah said, "We're gonna have to trap him."

The four vampires disappeared and Elena stood near the car awkwardly. She finally started taking slow steady steps towards the front door while trying to focus on gaining control. She couldn't leave Bella in there alone bleeding for another few minutes while the others drove over.

As soon as she hit the front door she was hit with the most alluring scent ever and she felt her fangs descend. She grabbed either side of the door and held on tightly as she reigned in her primal side. Finally what seemed like minutes, but was really seconds, she started moving forward again and reached Bella.

Elena knelt down and gently picked her head up, turning it to the side. She saw that Bella's neck wound was still bleeding and again her primal nature reared its ugly seductive head, coaxing her to lean down and just lick Bella's neck one time.

Elena clamped her jaw shut hard as she shakily reached for a towel on the table and firmly pressed it to Bella's neck. Elena felt her control faltering, but she pressed on until finally Bonnie arrived. Cautiously Bonnie approached Elena and knelt next to her.

"Elena let me take over okay," Bonnie said calmly.

Elena nodded before she gently placed Bella's head into Bonnie's lap. The vampire then quickly blurred out of the house.

She ran as fast as she could until suddenly she bumped into Stefan who had been chasing her.

"Hey what's wrong?" Stefan asked while cupping her face as tears began to roll down them.

"I couldn't leave her like that," Elena sobbed, "I knew I shouldn't go in, but I couldn't just let her die."

"Elena did you…" Stefan trailed.

"I didn't drink from her," Elena swore, "But I wanted to. I know my cravings are bad, but this…this was on a whole new level."

"You didn't drink from her," Stefan said, stunned. He then smiled before pulling Elena into his arms, "You are never going to cease to amaze me."

"What do you mean?" Elena asked, "I'm a monster…I wanted to drink from Bella."

"Elena, you did something amazing, something very hard for us vampires to do which was turn away from our natural instinct, especially when a singer was involved. As we were chasing Damon, Rebekah broke and licked Bella's blood from her fingers. It took Tyler and me a few minutes to get her under control. Elena you are amazing and you should be proud of that. If that had been me the moment I got to the door I probably would have killed Bella." Stefan explained.

"So I'm not a monster?" Elena asked.

"No," Stefan said with a laugh. "Come on, we need to get Damon to detox and then we'll check on the others."

.*.*.*.*.*.

Bella woke up and found herself in her bed. Her entire body felt weighted as she lifted her hand to touch her neck only to find it bandaged.

"You have really bad taste in men," Meredith said from the window.

"How long have I been out?" Bella asked as she slowly scooted herself up to a sitting position.

"A few hours," Meredith said, "Damon took a nice bite out of you. Tell me exactly what were you thinking letting him feed on you?"

"I wasn't," Bella said, "Where is he?"

"Well Stefan tried to get him to the boarding house to put him on lock down, but Elena said that you wouldn't want that." Meredith said.

"She's right," Bella said, "Is he downstairs?"

Meredith nodded, "He's been kind of in and out of it." Meredith explained, "I think I'm more impressed about Elena not feeding on you. She saved your life you know."

"Is she here?" Bella asked.

"I'll get her," Meredith said before she walked out the door.

A few minutes later, Elena came in with some orange juice and a cookie.

"Doctor's orders, to get your blood sugar back up," Elena said nervously.

Bella laughed, "I guess I shouldn't argue with her. How bad is Damon?"

"He's in and out of it. I didn't think vampires could get high." Elena said before laughing, "I gotta say it's quite entertaining."

"Thank you," Bella said suddenly, "I know it wasn't easy."

"I really wanted to drink from you," Elena admitted. "I wanted to heal you too, but I was afraid if I let my fangs extend then instead of biting myself, I would bite you."

"You did great though," Bella moved to grab her friend's hand, "Better than anyone else from the sounds of it. I'm so proud of you."

"Just don't do that again okay," Elena said, "I really don't think I will have enough control next time."

"Promise," Bella said, "You wanna help me down the stairs? I'm curious to see Damon."

"Just do me one favor…when he sobers up, tell him not all of us want to see what he looks like au natural." Elena said before laughing as she helped Bella out of the bed.

"You mean he…" Bella trailed.

"Ran naked like a newborn baby through the woods, oh yeah." Elena said, "Believe me, none of us are going to let him live this down."

"I would hope not." Bella said, "Damn I really wish I could have seen that."

"Tell you what, I'll let you delve into my memories and you can see the entire thing." Elena promised before they made their way down the stairs.

.*.*.*.*.*.

Damon was being held in place by Rebekah and Stefan. He was struggling to get free, but he froze the moment he saw Bella.

"Damon," Bella said quietly.

His eyes were trained on her neck.

"Bella I don't think this is a good idea," Stefan said as Damon started struggling again.

"Let him go," Bella said as she moved away from Elena.

"Are you mental?" Rebekah asked.

"He won't hurt me," Bella said.

Rebekah and Stefan looked at one another before they finally let Damon go.

Immediately Damon blurred to Bella and cupped her face within his hands.

"You are amazing," Damon said whimsically.

"Thanks," Bella said before laughing, "You aren't too bad yourself, but I think you need to come down from the high Damon."

"I like it up here," Damon said as he bent his head towards Bella's neck.

Bella moved back a bit, "I'm sure you do, but I need you to come back down to reality."

Damon pulled Bella back to him, "It's too nice to leave." Damon said, "I want more."

"If you take anymore Damon you're gonna hurt me," Bella said and Damon froze. "Do you want to do that?"

Damon shook his head no.

"Okay," Bella continued, "Why don't you go upstairs, take a shower and get your head on straight. That would make me very happy."

Damon nodded and did as Bella said.

"How did you do that?" Jeremy asked.

"My blood is in his system so I can kind of control him a little bit more." Bella said nervously. "It's a little embarrassing."

"Wait," Stefan said, "Controlling him?"

"How do you think I got you to go back on the bunny diet?" Bella said.

"That's weird," Matt said.

"Yeah I know, but right now that is the least of our troubles." Bella said, "So what's going on?"

"Well your ex has been stalking around the place," Tyler said frustrated.

"Klaus and Kol too," Bonnie added. "Rebekah had some interesting information."

Rebekah recounted to Bella what she had told Bonnie earlier and Bella laughed.

"I'll give them points for being creative," Bella said, "Look there's not much more we can do tonight so how about this. You all go home, go get some rest and we will regroup in the morning."

"What about Damon?" Jeremy asked.

"He'll be fine here," Bella said, "In fact it would be better for him to be here."

"Mind if I crash here again tonight?" Matt asked.

"Not at all," Bella said before she headed up the stairs.

.*.*.*.*.*.

Bella sat in her room waiting for Damon to come out of the bathroom, but he didn't. Bella knew he was coming down from the high quicker than Stefan and she gently tapped on the door.

"Damon," she said quietly.

No answer.

"Damon," Bella said again.

Again no answer.

Bella took a deep breath and opened the door to the bathroom. She saw Damon leaning on the counter, staring at himself, while a white towel hung low and loose around his hips. She pried her eyes away from the towel and looked at Damon's reflection in the mirror. He was angry and she knew he was angry at himself.

"Damon," Bella said after closing the door.

"You shouldn't be in here," Damon said tight lipped, "It's not safe."

"I'm not afraid," Bella said.

"You were stupid," Damon growled.

Bella laughed softly, "Well people do stupid things for the ones they love." She said, "Tell me you wouldn't have done the same for me."

"It's different," Damon said while refusing to look at her.

Bella moved closer to Damon, "How so? Because I'm a singer? I knew you wouldn't hurt me."

"I nearly drained you," Damon said, his jaw flexing.

"No you didn't," Bella said, "You stopped when I told you to." She said and placed her hand on top of his and he tensed, but Bella didn't stop. "Damon when are you going to learn I don't scare easily? You can't scare me Damon Salvatore."

Bella saw the corner of Damon's mouth twitch as he tried to force back the smirk.

"Go on," Bella coaxed. "Do it, I know you want to."

"Do what?" Damon asked.

"Blur me against the wall to try to scare me," Bella said before she hopped up onto the counter top.

"You think you know me so well." Damon said while shaking his head.

"I know you as well as you know me," Bella replied.

"You're stupid at times," Damon repeated.

"I learned from the best," Bella countered. "You're the one that always said I should be reckless."

Suddenly Damon was standing between Bella's legs and cupping her face.

"I never meant for you to put yourself in situations that could get you killed," He said softly.

Bella's breath hitched in her chest. She couldn't think clearly with Damon this close to her and this naked underneath a thin towel that separated them.

"Something wrong Swan?" Damon asked, his signature smirk appearing.

"No," Bella said, swallowing thickly.

"You're lying," Damon said and his hand moved down to Bella's waist, "Something causing you to be at a loss for words? Is it me being in nothing, but a towel too much for you?" Damon asked and as he started to lower his head to her neck he stopped and quickly pulled away.

Bella sighed as Damon moved away from her.

"Are you always gonna be like this?" Bella asked.

"I just didn't want you to be overwhelmed by my massive sex appeal." Damon said nonchalantly.

"No you're moving away from me because you don't trust yourself." Bella replied and got down off the counter. "Damon I'm not afraid of you and I trust you, but if you can't trust yourself then there is no future for us." Bella said angrily before she yanked open the bathroom door and slammed it shut behind her.

Bella quickly made her way down the stairs and into the kitchen. She found the first bottle of wine she could, grabbed one glass and walked to the living room to grab a seat. She opened the bottle of wine, poured a glass and then flung her hand out at the fireplace causing the wood to ignite.

"Something wrong?" Rebekah asked, appearing suddenly.

"Where's Matt?" Bella asked, ignoring her question.

"Sleeping," Rebekah said, "I think he's worried about you."

"Well I'm peachy freaking keen." Bella replied before raising her glass to Rebekah.

"She's so cheerful isn't she," Damon said from behind Bella. "Rebekah do you mind giving us the room."

"You aren't going to bite her are you?" Rebekah asked.

"Not unless she asks me too," Damon replied tensely.

"No worries there," Bella said.

Rebekah went up the stairs and Damon came around to stand in front of Bella.

"You have a point," Damon said after taking Bella's glass from her and drinking from it, "If I can't trust myself like you do then there is no future for us, but you can't just expect things to go back to normal after what happened. I've never tasted something like that in my life…I've never felt like that. Perhaps I should have talked to you instead of shutting down, that's my fault." Damon said and sat down next to her. "I have a lot of faults Bella, you know that better than anyone, but no one can change overnight. You've always been patient with me and now I'm asking you to be patient with me again. I know it's not an easy task, but I'll make it worth your while."

Bella looked at Damon, "Damon you're right. It's not easy being patient with you, but if you think I'm going to give up on you you're wrong. I never have and I never will." Bella said.

Damon kissed her temple and pulled up her, "Come on, let's go to bed."

Damon and Bella headed up the stairs and Damon smacked Bella's butt. Bella quickly turned around and glared.

Damon smirked, "Don't pretend you didn't like it; I saw you staring at me in the bathroom. I was upset, not blind Bella."

"I don't have any idea what you are talking about." Bella said before looking away to hide her blush.

"Uh-huh," Damon said before laughing, "Sure you don't." He said as they reached the bedroom. "Your eyes didn't linger on my dripping wet body or the loosely hanging towel. Your heart didn't skip a beat when I put myself between your legs as you were sitting on the counter."

Bella hopped into the bed and quickly said, "You're still coming down from my blood. You were imagining things."

"Whatever you say Swan," Damon crawled in next to her, "But you know deep down I'm right."

"Go to sleep Damon." Bella said.

Damon chuckled before he pulled Bella close to his chest and kissed her on the head.

"Goodnight Isabella."

"Goodnight Damon." Bella said, "And don't call me Isabella, you know I hate that just as much as you hate me calling you Salvatore. Now shut up, we have a party to plan tomorrow."

"About that, we need to cancel it." Damon said.

"Damon you should already know you're going to lose that battle, so don't even go there." Bella said before a yawn escaped her. "Now go to sleep or I'm going to kick you out of my bed."

"Now I wouldn't want that." Damon said and gave her one last tight squeeze.

.*.*.*.*.*.

"She's fine why don't we just go," Rosalie huffed as Edward paced the floor.

"She doesn't have control," Edward said.

"Looked like she had her powers under control to me bro," Emmett said.

"What about the Originals?" Edward pressed, "We can't leave her alone with them."

"Are you more concerned about them or about her new little boy?" Rosalie asked. "Face it Edward she's moved on, let's get the hell out of here and do the same."

"You want to leave Rosalie go ahead," Edward snapped, "I'm not."

"Carlisle, why would Niklaus want Bella?" Esme asked.

"She's powerful," Jasper said before Carlisle spoke, "I could feel it radiating from her."

"How did we not know when she lived in Forks?" Alice asked.

"She probably kept it hidden and didn't use much," Jasper answered.

"Jasper's right," Carlisle said, "Bella probably was blocking him. She's an automatic shield, just like with your mind reading ability Edward." Carlisle stood up, "Look I don't know what's going on here, but I do know if the Originals are involved, we shouldn't be."

"This is Bella," Edward strained.

"I said we shouldn't be involved not that we wouldn't." Carlisle stated, "Perhaps we need to speak with Bella."

"She's irrational." Edward snapped.

"She's hurt," Esme said before making a move to touch Edward's arm, "As she has every right to be, but Edward if you think going in there guns blazing is going to make everything better than you are wrong. This is a very delicate situation and I think we need to let your father take the lead on this."

"You know me I'm always up for a good brawl," Emmett said while cracking his knuckles.

"Carlisle what exactly are we up against?" Alice asked.

"Four Originals that are at least a thousand years old apiece, and who can't be killed, for starters," Carlisle said, "We need to speak with Bella, to find out exactly what the situation is."

"The problem with that is that she won't talk to us." Alice said.

"We can't do anything tonight," Esme reminded them, "Perhaps we should feed and regroup tomorrow." She suggested.

Emmett slapped Edward and Jasper on the backs, "Come on guys, I'm hungry. The three of us are gonna hunt. See you later."

As they walked outside, Edward growled.

"How can you think about food now?" he asked.

"I'm not," Emmett whispered, "This is Bella's town right? What better way to find out what's going on and what she's been up to than to go out and ask."

Edward's eyes lit up, "And they say you're all brawn and no brains."

"I have my moments," Emmett smiled widely as the three of them ran towards the woods, "First let's get some grub."

A/N: Hello everyone. I hope you enjoyed the chapter.

I apologize for the very long delay, but I have been busy with other things. In December my grandma decided to go on home hospice. On Feb 11th one year to the day my grandfather passed away my grandma left us to be with him. It has been a very trying few months leading up to her passing and since she has passed we have been dealing with closing her accounts and just started the process of cleaning out her house to get it sold. So for those of you worried no I haven't forgotten my stories, but for now they are on hiatus because I need to help my family deal with this. I am the mediator in my family and since my grandparents are gone there is some issues within our family that I am trying to help with.

Along with her passing which has been incredibly hard and saddening because now I don't have either of my grandparents I am also in school and I am getting married in May. A lot of my planning has been put on the back burner to help for my grandma so now I have to bust butt and get it done.

I want to make this clear I AM NOT ABANDONING MY STORIES. I am simply putting them on hold until things are settled. There is a lot to go through in their house and we have to have it done within a certain amount of time. I will write when I can, but I just want you all to know don't expect an update anytime soon. I appreciate all of you my readers and I hope you all understand.

Thank you to some very special ladies.

First off my wonderful beta and friend Dark~SPN~Angel for all you've done and for being here for me. I'm sorry I disappear on you, but I know understand.

AllyDLV another dear friend who has been supportive and just fantastic.

Since there are too many of you to list I'm just going to mention the group; Bambi's Beloveds. You all have been so amazing and let me rant.

I am so lucky to have found all of you and I thank you all for all your support and love you guys have given me.

To you my readers I thank you for supporting me, your kinds words, and encouragement.

Please be patient with me my dears.

I hope you enjoyed the chapter and I hope to be back soon.

Emeraldphoenix23