A.N.: So, there will be some hints slipped into the story from now on, building up to many sequels in the future! MeliaAlexander, you asked about Willem – not yet, is my answer.


Dangerous Beauty

11

Neighbourhood Watchdog


The Gilbert house was unusually tidy. Scents of food filled the house that had once been the epicentre of Giulia's friendship with three girls she had loved. Their quartet; with Caroline's mother working so many hours, Giulia's father's introverted personality and the girls' misgivings about the 'creepy' Boarding House, Bonnie's dad being, well, him, the Gilbert house was where they had usually ended up hanging out. They'd always had the best Disney movies, Mr Gilbert was a great cook, and Mrs Gilbert had given the girls sage advice while sharing a glass of wine with her much-younger sister while they went through her raging issues.

Just for a moment, hearing the laughter and chatter from the kitchen, the sharp tang of scallions and the smokiness of a barbecue mingling on the sticky air, everyone enjoying yet another day in the unseasonable heat-wave, the house warm and inviting and scented with a familiar perfume, music playing, Giulia blinked and had to remind herself that Mr and Mrs Gilbert weren't there. This wasn't the annual cookout where the girls' families all came together – Giulia's dad usually providing the bourbon and cigars for the men after dinner, Caroline bounding in with homemade cupcakes and a potato-salad.

Mr and Mrs Gilbert were gone.

In their place was the sexy Jenna and her vampire-hunting boyfriend Ric.

Mr Saltzman during school-hours, Giulia had run into him at The Grill last week, finding him eating alone; glancing around, he had invited her to join him, and they had eaten dinner together. Discussed her classes at UV. Whether she was disappointed to have missed touring the Duke campus; was she thinking about other campus-tours? It had…felt like…

Like she was eating her weekly dinner at The Grill with her dad.

And it made her uncomfortable and heartbroken and maudlin thinking about that.

But he'd been incredibly…nice, he was a decent man and he knew the big bad secret. They'd had a really lovely dinner together…they'd spoken as if he was a teacher in his thirties and she was a seventeen-year-old student. His natural default wasn't to grimly start discussing vampire business; he'd asked about her insomnia, whether she was handling getting to Richmond for her classes okay, if she was having any trouble with students there picking on her for being younger, giving her sage advice on the best coping-mechanisms for juggling dissertations and studying for exams, the best and most disgusting hangover cures he'd ever found, and assuring her she didn't have to feel uncomfortable approaching him if she ever felt like she couldn't keep her head above the water any longer.

It had been alarming, how earnest and wise Ric had been. So like her dad.

There was a reason Ric made such a good teacher.

As Damon lugged the Igloo toward the kitchen, Giulia grinned and hopped over to the island, eyes on the bottle of amber-coloured liquid with a recognisable label – and the ripped surfer pouring shots from it. "You've got the goods! I mean – the good stuff! I meant the good stuff," she said, grinning, reaching for a shot-glass.

"Uh-uh," Jenna said, shaking her head.

"You can have that one," Ric said, giving Giulia a look even as Jenna tried to take the shot-glass from her. Giulia judo-chopped her wrist playfully, but pulled a face at Ric as he added, "So sip it slowly, you're not having anymore." She pouted, turning to gaze beseechingly at Damon, who dumped the ice-box by the porch-doors and swiped a shot himself.

"Hard to imagine who your role-model and responsible adult guardian is," Jenna said coolly, giving Damon a look. He gave her a glittering smile.

"Hey, I taught her how to ride a bike, how to handle a hangover, and to stay away from fads," Damon said, holding his hands up defensively, with that annoying smug smile of his. "She's pretty much grown. I just sign the permission slips for field-trips."

"No you don't!" Giulia scoffed.

"You're right; I let her forge 'em," Damon said, shrugging unconcernedly. "Quite a little criminal blossoming under our family-tree."

"Takes one to know one," Ric said, with a lazy smile. He pointed the grill tongs at Damon and Mason, who had been watching the exchange with a half-smile. "Damon, this is Mason Lockwood, the mayor's brother – Mason, I, uh, think you already know Giulia already. This is her, uh, what? Cousin?"

"Ish."

"The famous Salvatores," Mason said, shaking the hand Damon offered.

"I'm the tits," Giulia quipped. Damon scoffed, giving her chest a pointed look.

"If that wasn't obvious." Giulia stuck her tongue out, and pointed at Damon, smiling at Mason.

"He's the eyes. Stefan's the hair; he's the 'nice' one. Is he here yet?" she glanced at Jenna and Ric.

"He called just a couple minutes ago," Jenna said, glancing up from the sink, where she was washing corn as Ric tore off tin-foil to wrap it in. "Said he'd been held up, to start without him; he wasn't sure if he was going to make it till later." Giulia glanced at Damon, who seemed just as surprised as she was; he raised his eyebrows, glancing at Ric, who shrugged.

"So, am I the only 'child' here?" Giulia asked, using are quotations as she glanced pointedly at Damon.

"Elena and Jeremy are upstairs," Jenna smiled.

"Putting on their makeup?"

"I think Jeremy's talking to Ashlyn," Jenna smiled happily.

"Oh, really?" Giulia grinned. When Elijah's away, the little witch will play, she thought. "How delicious."

"Why don't you go grab him, he can help Ric with the grill," Jenna suggested, and Giulia nodded.

"Jeremy!" she shouted, bounding out of the kitchen. "Jenna says you're talking to Ashlyn, and if you're having phone-sex, tell her I want in! The hot-weather's made me frisky and Mason's big enough to fend off my amorous advances!"

She bumped into Jeremy on the stairs, tumbling back a few steps. "And I'm not?" he grinned, slinging an arm around her shoulders as they hopped down the steps into the foyer. "You're happy."

"Tequila!" she smiled, and Jeremy chuckled. The doorbell rang, and something clattered behind them.

"That's Caroline!" Elena's voice called from behind her open door. "I'm still getting dressed – let her in, Jer!"

"I thought I'd just leave her on the porch!" Jeremy called back, rolling his eyes, but he yanked the front-door open, and Caroline beamed, perfectly styled blonde curls bouncing.

"Hi!" she chirped. "I brought potato-salad and cupcakes!" Giulia laughed, taking the platter of lemon-coloured cupcakes piped high with zesty pink lemon-strawberry cream-cheese frosting and little strawberries. It put Giulia in mind of the pick-your-own strawberry fields just outside of town, and she wondered how long they'd have to wait for the local crops to come in.

"Hey," Jeremy smiled, taking the potato-salad. "Elena's still getting ready. Come on in, they're all doing tequila shots in the kitchen, apparently."

"You're on the booze already?" Caroline exclaimed, giving Giulia a disapproving frown, as she strode with them into the kitchen. "And – are you even wearing a bra?"

"Too hot for that," Giulia laughed softly.

"But still –" Again, the disapproving look.

"Jenna, are you with me on this?" Giulia asked, turning to the only other busty woman in the building.

"Oh yeah," Jenna nodded. She was wearing a pink halter-top, and looked very pretty. "Those who don't have to wear underwire can't talk." Giulia laughed victoriously as Elena joined Caroline at the island, tiny, perky little boobs barely making a dent in their tops.

"Okay, let's talk about something else, please," Jeremy suggested, and the grown-ups started getting the food ready, talking football and Mason and Jenna's high-school misadventures.

"–face down, butt in the air, in front of the entire school," Mason laughed richly, as Jenna hung her head in embarrassment.

"And I thought no-one would remember that," she sighed. "That story's almost as good as the one where Mason lost his shorts at the swimming-hole and his dad–"

"Okay, okay, we don't need to go into that one," Mason chuckled good-naturedly. The beers were flowing freely, Jenna was on her third glass of white wine, and it…felt nice. There was an awkward undercurrent from Damon's continued dog-related quips, not-so-subtly trying to goad Mason into 'fessing up to being a werewolf, but other than that, the food was excellent thanks to Ric's Texas origins, the music set a good ambiance, the warmth sticky in the air made it feel like summer had come already, her stomach hurt from laughing at Mason and Jenna's easy banter, and the only disappointment was in the continued ban against Giulia playing any board-games.

"Why can't I be on a team?!" she implored, as Jenna brought out the Trivial Pursuit.

"Because it's like cheating, you're like a walking Wikipedia," Jenna admonished, pushing a Long Island Iced Tea toward her, an attempt to soothe Giulia's ruffled feelings at being excluded.

"I am smarter than Wikipedia, thank you muchly," Giulia sniffed. She pouted, but sipped at the boozy iced-tea through the straw, grinning lazily. She had her feet in Jeremy's lap, where he kept playing 'This little piggy', a sketchbook propped against her shins, she had been given the iPod to choose the music, and she was allowed to be the referee for tie-breakers, and after the Clue board had been packed away, she was given a thousand-piece Van Gogh 'Starry Night' jigsaw puzzle to do while they played Trivial Pursuit. She climbed onto the floor, Damon sat behind with her between his legs, sipping his beer, almost cuddled up to her as he leaned over her, one arm wrapped around her, the other helping piece together bits of the edge of the puzzle.

"If I didn't know better, I'd swear you two were twins," Mason said, smiling lazily at them from the armchair, as Caroline continued to take photographs.

"It's eerie," Jenna agreed, swaying slightly where she sat curled up against Ric. She looked a little bleary-eyed, but grinning happily.

They were all laughing uproariously at Ric's attempts at Charades when Damon's phone started to ring. Given the fact all but one of the people who would ever call him were sat in the same room with him, Giulia glanced up, stealthily downing half his beer while he frowned at the screen, hastily hit 'Accept' and asked Stefan when he was planning to grace them with his presence. The glower on his face only grew more dangerous as he listened to whatever Stefan was saying, but Giulia felt the atmosphere change, he caught her eye with a sharp look, his jaw clenching, and she glanced subtly at Mason while Jenna and Caroline argued technicalities about Elena's miming of 'Back to the Future' and Jeremy helped Ric carry in the banana-splits the boys had been making, bonding in the kitchen over jokes about Jenna's level of inebriation.

"Get that photo up on your phone," Damon said quietly, telling Stefan he'd see him back at the house later. Giulia frowned, but did as asked, bringing up the photograph she knew he wanted to see; the one of Mason with Katherine on Facebook.

"Okay, wolf-boy," Damon growled, springing up; in the blink of an eye, before anyone had comprehended what was happening, he had the huge guy dangling a foot in the air, hand clamped around his throat. "Charades was great and all, but you're gonna tell me exactly what you're doing here in town with Katherine."

"Damon, no!"

"What the hell–?!"

"Damon, put him down!" Caroline was suddenly fierce, strong – she'd broken Damon's hold on Mason, who dropped back into the armchair coughing and wheezing as Jenna gaped, still trying to process, and Giulia sighed.

"Well. That escalated quickly," she murmured, sucking on her Long Island Iced Tea. "Damon, simmer down. Communicate. What's going on?"

"Apparently Stefan was waylaid by Katherine this afternoon," Damon growled, eyes glowing with rage as he glared at Mason, still coughing and spluttering. Beside him, Caroline looked like a grim-faced security Barbie. Damon glared, towering over Mason in the armchair, his voice low, simmering with white-hot rage, "If Katherine so much as harmed a perfectly coifed hair on my little brother's head I will peel the pelt from her new pet and hang it from the flagpole. Mystic Falls is a No. Werewolf. Zone!"

"Not in this house!" Jenna's voice was suddenly very loud, and very unyielding. She had found her way to her feet, all evidence of her buzz gone. She glared at Damon. "You are not doing this here. You do not come into this house threatening our friends."

"His little slut started it!" Damon said indignantly, pointing at Mason, who looked thoroughly confused, his anger quickly catching up to match Damon's.

"I don't care who started it, I'm ending it," Jenna said sharply. "Sit down and eat your ice-cream before it melts." She took a banana-split from a stunned-looking Jeremy and shoved it at Damon.

"You know, maybe I should've chased after you, you're…fiery," Damon smirked, his ire completely dissipating as he eyed Jenna like she was a particularly fine bottle of bourbon.

"Call it protective mama-bear instincts roaring to the fore when I found out my kids are neck-deep in vampire drama," Jenna said, her tone glacial, and Giulia saw Mason jump in shock, his eyes widening as he stared at her. She shoved a banana-split at him with a lethal glare.

"You can blame your niece for that," Giulia spoke up, using her finger to scoop up the nut-sprinkled whipped-cream from Damon's sundae.

"Stefan's eyelashes played a part in it too," Damon chided, waving his spoon at her.

"True. No hot-blooded teenage girl can ever resist," Giulia sighed, opening her mouth so Damon could spoon-feed her Chocolate Fudge Brownie Ben & Jerry's.

"You really do have a very short attention-span, you know," Caroline remarked lightly, eyeing Mason warily as she accepted her own sundae. She had been eating nonstop since she arrived, taking to heart Stefan's advice to eat to sublimate the kill-innocent-people cravings.

"I'm bored," Damon shrugged.

"In general, or just tonight?"

"In general, usually – although things are looking up. Expensive tequila, feisty drinking buddies, titillating threat of a murderous ex and her dim-witted new pet henchman, good couple things to get me out of bed in the morning," Damon said, with a jaunty, threatening grin at Mason, who was glaring but too well-bred to pick a fight in someone else's home – around the very-human kids left in her guardianship by her now-dead sister. Giulia was impressed with Mason's self-control – considering he was from a family notorious for having absolutely none. She hoped Mason could teach Tyler a thing or two; his temper would be the death of him.

"You know, it's really not good practice to call a werewolf names only a couple weeks before the next full-moon," Mason remarked.

"Oh, that wasn't a dig – just an observation. Anyone who gets into bed with Katherine Pierce is either stupid or delusional," Damon chuckled. "Been there, done that. Had the wool pulled from my eyes the morning I woke up from being shot in the back by my old-man, remembered everything she ever…coerced me to do. Or forget. Of course, you being supernatural I'm sure Katherine used her other…charms to get you to do what she wanted."

"Can we please not talk about this?" Elena grimaced, eyeing her sundae with a disgusted look, setting it down on the coffee-table.

"Oh, let them antagonise each other," Giulia said, opening her mouth again for another spoonful of ice-cream. "It's good for them to get their aggression out in a way that doesn't incur property-damages. My home-insurance is due for renewal soon."

"What do you need insurance for, you have two fanged security-guards," Damon said, giving her a quizzical look.

"You're the reason I need the insurance. You two brawling all over the place, blood on my antique carpets," she said, narrowing her eyes at him. "And you guys have no respect for Baccarat crystal tumblers."

"There's more in the attic," Damon sniffed. Giulia rolled her eyes.

"Speaking of, I've asked Caroline to spearhead the spring-cleaning at the Boarding House," she said, with an innocent smile.

"Wait, what?" Damon blinked, and Caroline sat up a little straighter, beaming.

"I may have to compel an army," she said thoughtfully. "Do you know how much crap there is gathered in that basement?"

"A few decades' worth," Damon said unconcernedly. "What, you want to hold an auction at Sotheby's?"

"Why not? I'm thinking about long-term investments, and whoring you out won't get me that much," Giulia sniffed, licking syrup off her finger.

"More than you'd get with Stefan."

"True."

"You didn't tell me you were planning anything with the Boarding House," Damon frowned.

"I like to keep you on your toes."

"Just don't touch the stained-glass windows," he ordered.

"Oh, those I'm having restored, BTW," Giulia glanced up. "Hey, do you want to go around the Boarding House and put a pink Post It on anything you particularly want to keep?"

"Gonna ship it out when you run me out of town?"

"I've got the pitch-forks and torches in my car," Giulia said, her face deadpan.

"I'll help," Caroline murmured.

"You're gonna miss me when I'm gone," Damon warned.

Giulia grinned, slurping at her Long Island Iced Tea with gusto. "Wasting away, all forlorn."

"When are you leaving?" Elena asked coolly.

"I should just leave you all to deal with Katherine by yourselves, but me, being the emotionally mature grown-up that I am," Damon said, and Giulia was not the only one to snort in derision, "I've decided to stay and take responsibility for cleaning up my baby-bro's messes."

"His messes?" Elena blurted indignantly.

"Uh, Katherine came back to town professing her undying love for Stefan – sorry, Mase – not me. She's a Kitty-Kat playing with her little mice until she gets what she wants. Which is your BF, BTW, spread out like a buffet," Damon said, with a lecherous grin, aware of how uncomfortable he was making not only Elena but Mason, whose eyes were trained on Damon, his anger seemingly draining away. Damon grinned slowly, glancing from Elena to Mason. "Does it bother you that your significant others have spent the day together? With chains and things? One wonders what they got up to – you know, faking your death and leaving your One True Love behind with a bullet in his back has to leave some emotional scarring. I'm sure Stefan's kissing the booboos."

"Damon," Jenna warned, glancing from her friend to Damon.

"What! Oh, come on, you can't say you approve of Elena dating a vampire," Damon blurted, grinning. "I mean, he's my baby-bro but even I'm a little eeged out by the math. Elena's what, seventeen? She could live her life ten times over and still not be as old as Stefan. And let's not overlook the Ripper."

"Damon," Giulia now warned, not bothering to look up from her sundae as she dug for some banana, whipped-cream, fudge sauce and peanuts.

"Withdrawn," Damon smiled easily, hands raised palms-out in defence.

"Just – eat some cake," Caroline frowned, shoving a cupcake at him, smearing frosting over his mouth. "There. Mm, frosting. Yum."

"Caroline, don't take this the wrong way, but I will stake you," Damon said, wiping the frosting away with a napkin.

"And then Giulia would behead you!" Caroline smiled jauntily.

"I still have the guillotine I built when I was seven," Giulia smiled, feeling the effects of the Long Island Iced Tea.

"Aw. I still remember the re-enactment of Struensee's execution. Pity Stef moved," Damon sighed lightly. "Although I don't think the mauling of your bunnies quite measures up to usurping the power behind the Danish throne. Or screwing the Prussian queen."

"God, what are your conversations like when no-one's actually there to feel stupid around you?" Caroline asked, staring at them.

"Tipsier," Giulia snickered, chewing on her straw, and Damon chuckled.

"Um… How do you know Mason's here with Katherine?" Jenna asked, and Giulia glanced up. Damon jumped.

"Oh, did we skip that part?" he asked, and Giulia produced her phone. "My sexy little protégé here Giulia did some digging, as only a teenager in this day and age can – on Facebook. Apparently you can find out everyone's shit on here. And so my darling found this. Where was that, Mason, Emerald Coast? I mean, I can't imagine Katherine really fitting in in the beach-bum scene but I guess you had something she wanted."

"Why's my relationship any of your business?"

"Oh, it's all our business, when you show up in town around the same time Katherine appears, organising mass-genocide of vampires – including me, BTW – and actually turning the Mystic Queen over there, causing death and destruction and almost-fatal-mutilations of the townspeople," Damon said jauntily. "Especially when Katherine is the exact double of the lovely Elena over there – props for not reacting when you saw her, though. I mean, either she told you she had a double or you're just a better actor than I gave you credit for. I'd go with you being warned by Katherine about Elena – probably about us, too, right, me and my brother Stefan? I mean, Katherine's only come to town pretending like she wants nothing more than to sail into the sunset with my baby-bro. Kinda leaves you out in the cold, huh?" Giulia's phone – the photograph on Facebook – was passed around, Jenna stared at the picture, shocked, Elena's jaw dropped, and Caroline grimaced. "So, what'd she get you for? Hm? What, don't feel like talking? Werewolf got your tongue?"

The fact that they were all so casually throwing around words like 'werewolf' and 'vampire' in front of everyone – Jenna, Ric, Jeremy, Caroline, Elena – it was so surreal it was almost funny. A month ago they would never have dreamed of having a conversation like this – but Damon's simmering white-hot rage, their shared secret, Katherine's reappearance, Mason's connection to her, proved a perfect shit-storm to throw caution to the wind and just have it out.

Mason seemed to be working extremely hard not to react to Damon. Coming from a family of aggressive men who couldn't walk away from a fight, douche-bags who were the biggest bullies on the playground, it said a lot of Mason's self-control, and Giulia admired him for not taking the bait, no matter how much goaded him.

But something had happened to Jenna. Learning the secret had turned her spine rigid as tempered steel. She had never been a pushover, had always been fierce about her family, about the two kids now left in her care, and in her sister's house, she refused to let Damon do anything more than push Mason's buttons, while Giulia plied the both of them with alcohol in the hopes they passed out before things could come to blows.

The night ended with Ric escorting Mason to the door while Caroline sat next to Damon, hand clamped over his knee, pinching and making him writhe in discomfort. Only when Caroline had heard Mason's truck pull away from the house did she release him; and they stayed to help clean up the den, the kitchen. Elena had disappeared as soon as she could, punching in Stefan's phone-number to the house phone, and Jeremy sat at the kitchen-table, drawing while Giulia tucked her dishes and things into the Igloo, pointing to Damon and then the icebox to make him carry it out to his car. She had stopped by the Boarding House, afraid her Beetle might not make it further into town toward Main Street; Damon had given her a lift, and Caroline had been dropped off by her mom, so Caroline climbed into the backseat. The top was down, the leather warmed by the sun all day. Despite the rumbling of the engine, it felt quiet after the music and atmosphere of the Gilbert den, the tension and the sugar-high and her wooziness over the Long Island Iced Tea she'd been nursing all night.

"So…did you like have to threaten Mason?" Caroline blurted, after shrieking at Damon that he wasn't to drive off until Giulia had buckled her seatbelt.

"Sure he's used to it," Damon said nonchalantly.

"But don't werewolves hunt in packs?" Caroline asked, giving him a look.

"Maybe you should be a little more careful who you upset," Giulia mused.

"Dude's here in town with Katherine," Damon sniffed. "Trust me, I'm not worried. She's just using him. If he's idiot enough to leave his pack, then he deserves whatever hand he's dealt."

"You could've warned him away from Katherine," Caroline said fairly.

"I did! What, you think me snarking about Stefan to Jenna, trying to appeal to her misgivings, was just about breaking up the Epic Love that is Stelena?" Damon scoffed. "C'mon – Mason took the bait; did you see his face when I mentioned Katherine had come to town mooning over Stefan?"

"I wonder how long he's been a werewolf," Giulia mused. "I'm guessing Katherine had something to do with that… Although I would love to be a fly on the wall tonight when he heads back to her."

"Maybe we should tail him, find out where she's staying," Damon frowned thoughtfully.

"He could probably sniff you out."

"You think?"

"Maybe," Giulia shrugged unconcernedly. "You have heightened senses, it would be stupid to underestimate his. Besides, it wouldn't be that hard to track Katherine down if you really wanted to."

"Wouldn't it? I've no idea where to start looking," Damon said, glancing at her.

"Katherine is used to being waited on – and used to comfort, luxury. She'd want privacy but I doubt she'd ever stay in a sordid motel. She'd need to stay out of sight unless she's purposely masquerading as Elena," Giulia yawned. "And an available food-source that won't draw attention. That limits where she can find accommodation in Mystic Falls – she's not a most-expensive-foreclosure-in-town girl, no matter how much the house cost."

"Most expensive foreclosure?" Caroline asked.

"Bank-owned properties, no trouble getting your foot in the door, pun absolutely intended," Damon grinned lazily, glancing over his shoulder at her.

"Is that what you usually do?" Caroline asked.

"Depends where I am," Damon said, drawing the Camaro into a lurching stop in front of Caroline's dark house. "'Night, Blondie."

"I'll see you bright and early and happy to be there at the picnic," Caroline chirped.

"Oh god, it's on the agenda?" Damon grimaced. "What Founders' event are you dragging me to this time?"

"The Fells donated some land for the newest public park," Caroline said happily.

"Means they don't want to have to keep paying the land-tax," Giulia said drily. "Caroline's signed us all up to help clean up the area and make it pretty."

"Doesn't the county have enough juvenile delinquents serving community-service to do that?"

"Apparently not."

"Fine. But I am not wearing a hard-hat," Damon threatened. He pointed at Giulia. "I don't want this one miming the YMCA song behind my back all day."

"How's a girl to resist?"

"I put you on the grill, and the donations stall," Caroline said, tossing her curls over her shoulder. "Stefan's going to be raking up leaves and building benches."

"What about you?"

"I'm supervising." She gave them a jaunty smile and strutted to her front-door.

Damon frowned at her, watching her disappear inside. Her bedroom-window soon glowed amber, a slim shadow moving about. Damon said thoughtfully, "It's a shame Napoleon never met Caroline Forbes."

"She could conquer Russia through sheer force of will," Giulia agreed, pulling a face at the amber window as Damon put the car in gear and drove off. The Boarding House was dark, imposing, and she didn't stay longer than it took to transfer her icebox into the Beetle, give Damon a brief hug, and promise to text him when she got home.

In a contrast, her house was warm, flickering with romantic amber light, the warmth of the day trapped inside so she just wanted to strip off her clothes. Maybe the draw of Elijah being somewhere inside added to that desire, but she smiled, putting things away in the kitchen before she went in search of him, carrying a cupcake she had swiped from Caroline's leftovers. Elijah had such a sweet tooth.

It wasn't hard to find him. Though the house was large, it was nothing to the Boarding House, and there were only a few partially-furnished rooms. The living-area, her study/library, and her bedroom – well, she had a bed… The bathroom had been designed by Damon, high-ceilinged and magnificent, full of different textures, elegant and timeless and unusual, with an enormous copper tub the focal-point besides the walk-in shower. She paused at the threshold, leaning against the wall, and smiled.

"Bubble-bath, candles, wine," she said softly, and Elijah smiled at her, eyes twinkling in the half-dark. "I didn't know you were planning date-night. You're just missing some music." Elijah smirked tauntingly, reaching to pick up a sleek remote from the little occasional table beside the bath, and dramatic music started swelling, filling the rooms from speakers hidden by a cleverly-concealed, staggering sound-system. "Ah. Turandot… I'm glad you're making yourself at home." She gave him a warm, earnest smile as she sidled into the bathroom, perching on the lip of the huge tub, reaching her hand to curl a finger along his jaw in a simple, affectionate gesture, feeling the light stubble scratch against her skin. His dark eyes seemed to glitter, light refracting off the steaming water, making the copper tub glow, and that dimple in his chin drew her eyes to his mouth.

"I brought you something," she smiled, offering him the cupcake with two fingers so she didn't get frosting everywhere. He sat up a little straighter, eyes widening in delight. "Courtesy of the Mystic Queen."

"Would you unwrap it for me?" he asked, and Giulia smiled as she peeled the yellow case away, handing him the little cake. Looking like a four-year-old at an all-you-can-eat sundae bar, she chuckled, her smile warm and indulgent, watching Elijah take a bite out of the cupcake. Relaxed in the tub, surrounded by bubbles, dark wet hair pushed back from his face, she smirked, pulling her phone out of her pocket, and Elijah chuckled richly, unselfconscious as she snapped a photograph.

"A lot of people would pay good money to see a picture of you like this," she said, smiling sweetly, meaning it. She doubted few ever got to see Elijah like this; relaxed, unselfconscious, playful delighted. He dimpled as he finished off the strawberry, sucking all the flesh from the stalk, licking frosting from his thumb. She cleared her throat softly, exhaling on a tired sigh, and tucked her hands into her pockets, tired. She just wanted to take her bra off and fling herself into bed. Preferably landing on Elijah. The heat-wave was affecting her more than just tanning her skin; every day she had felt drowsy, contented by the end of it, happy and relaxed. It was dangerous to think it was Elijah and not the sun that had brought out this chance in her, but she couldn't deny there was a direct correlation.

"How was the barbecue?" Elijah asked, sipping his wine before offering her the glass. She sipped it, appreciating the delicate sweetness of the chilled white wine, the way it cut through the stickiness of the air.

"I should've worn a dress," she said darkly, and Elijah chuckled, resting his head back against the side of the tub and gazing up at her through heavy-lidded eyes. The music, the quiet lap of the water as he floated, the light glimmering off the water, caught on the high bubbles slowly disappearing, lulled her into a sense of peace. Not for the first time since she had invited him in, Giulia was struck by how lovely it was to come home to someone.

"The perils of denim," Elijah murmured laconically. "Was everyone on their best behaviour?"

"You know, I'd say that would be a no, really," Giulia said, taking another sip of wine. She preferred Prosecco. "Stabbings, tantrums and ultimatums – and that was just over Trivial Pursuit."

"Did you win?" Elijah asked, smiling lazily.

"Oh, I'm not allowed to play," Giulia yawned, glancing down at Elijah and carefully avoiding looking anywhere but his face, the column of his throat, the puckered scar winding wickedly across and down his collarbone, the faded blue-black ink swirled on his upper-arm and shoulder, creeping down his back toward his shoulder-blade. "There's a blanket ban on me playing games in any semi-public social situations."

"And why's that?"

Giulia gave him a sidelong look, then burst out indignantly, "Colonel Mustard had to kill himself! It's the only logical conclusion! But apparently that's not in the rules of Clue." Elijah's chuckle was so quiet she almost didn't hear it over the lapping of the water. She sighed, shaking her head. "Anyway…Mason knows we all know about the supernatural, and now they all know Mason's been dating Katherine. There were a few threats about Damon flaying the pelt from his body as a warning to other werewolves, but nothing's resolved… But I doubt there will be any candlelit baths for Katherine tonight – not after Damon told Mason she'd come to town professing her undying love for Stefan… I'd hoped you might be playing the piano when I got home. Or…in bed." Elijah's smile was subtle, teasing, he flicked his dark eyes over her face, licking his lips.

He looked very relaxed; she was tempted to climb in with him. He made that male noise, eyes on the bubbles he was sifting across the surface of the water. Water droplets shimmered on his chest, caught in the dusting of gold-tipped hair, and she braced herself against the sides of the tub, leaning down to kiss him.

"Are you getting out?" she asked, between light kisses. He tasted of wine and lemon-cake.

"Mm-mm," he murmured, shaking his head, drawing her in for another lingering kiss. "I just ran the water…Are you getting in?" Giulia broke away, grinning, and they caught each other's eyes and laughed.

"Alright – but you're not allowed to watch me," she said softly, already plaiting her hair into two Dutch braids, traipsing over to the console for pins, wrapping her braids around her head in a milkmaid braid, sticking them in place with pins. She washed her face free of makeup and pulled off her top, smirking to herself as Elijah watched her in the mirror. She sighed as she unbuttoned her jeans, shimmying her hips out of them and kicking them off. She might have to retire her jeans for shorts if the heat-wave continued… Or skirts. Skirts, definitely, she thought, eyeing Elijah in the mirror, already wanting to nibble his collarbone, his jaw. He watched her shimmy out of her black Brazilian briefs, throwing her sweat-sticky clothes into the laundry hamper in the corner of the room, and she traipsed back over to the tub. "I mean it, you're not allowed to watch me; no-one can climb into a bathtub elegantly." Elijah chuckled richly, and he dimpled before closing his eyes; she was touched when he offered her his hand. She took it, smiling at the warmth he had absorbed from the water, lifting a foot to climb in. She hissed as the water stung. "Have you got lobsters in there? Or are you the blood of the dragon?"

He laughed richly. "The what?" he asked, eyes still closed as she squatted down, wincing as the water stung her bare ass, the backs of her knees.

"Game of Thrones," Giulia said, tightening her core and grimacing as she settled into the water. As her lower-body acclimated to the heat, her breaths cooling against the water on her bare breasts felt delicious, bubbles tickling her waist and nipples. She had never been more hyper-aware of her own body than with Elijah, and she smiled, resting back against the tub, sharing a glass of wine with Elijah as they discussed literature – he was reading Far From the Madding Crowd again and she had no sympathy for Bathsheba – music playing softly in the background, Elijah's voice rich and resonant as he read aloud, utterly relaxed, drowsy in the lulling water. He set the book down on the little side-table, reaching for her hands, gently pulling her into his lap. She sighed happily, draping her arms around his shoulders, and they kissed lazily, savouring, chase and delightful.

She was growing accustomed to Elijah, infatuated by him, his body, the way his mind worked, his dry sense of humour, his wicked play in bed, his gentleness and ferocity, subtle strength. She had found herself more and more often daydreaming about him…in a way she never had about Tyler, or any of the boys she had been on dates with, even crushes she liked the look of… Elijah was special. She could have sat in that bathtub with him arguing about Chaucer and Machiavelli and JK Rowling for hours, and been happy, sharing a glass of wine, kissing.

Giulia regretted that they wouldn't be able to live like this forever; but it made her smile, determined to enjoy every single moment she had with him.

Outside of the sacrifice, their time together was their own. Only they could dictate how they spent it together; she was determined the curse would not define their relationship.


A.N.: A long one for you… Hehe. Yeah, I did mean it that way!