Here is chapter four :)
I'm trying to get some good updating done this week. My other stories that haven't been updated are next, then I'm taking a short break. Don't panic, though. I won't be gone for months, or something like that. Unless I get mauled by a bear. In which case I am never coming back.
On a side note, a reviewer asked if this was going to be a Bamon story. The answer, as you'll find out once you read, is no. BUT if you're in the mood for some Bamon-y goodness, I recommend you check out my story Love That Reunites. For those already following the story, you should be pleased to know that an update to it is on the way. I'll have it up either tonight or tomorrow. There's another story (The Untold Stories of the Salvatore Brothers) that I really have to update, because it's been awhile.
Okay, enough of my shameless story promotion.
DISCLAIMER: Go and read the other ones, if you're so concerned. Mwa ha.
CHAPTER 4
"You were talking about me," Adelina said, lounging on a sofa as Damon and Bonnie reentered. In the living room, the group sat around silently as Bonnie and Damon talked in the kitchen. Adelina shooting sly grins at everyone, and the rest trying to avoid eye contact with her.
"I'm the least of your worries, you know."
"What do you have us so worried about, by the way?" Damon sat next to his daughter and draped an arm around her shoulder.
"Well, I could tell you. But since you don't trust me," Adelina removed Damon's arm, "I think I'll just be going," she finished.
"You can't just leave without telling us what's happening." Stefan stepped in Adelina's path as she headed for the door.
Stefan looked down at Adelina, who was smiling sweetly. He formed his lips to say something else but instead found himself flying into a wall before the words got out. In a flash, Adelina was hovering over him with the same sweet smile. Her upturned mouth contrasted the coldness in her eyes.
The others stood in surprise, not sure what move to make – or if they could do anything at all.
"Now here's the deal. You don't know me. You know nothing about me. I have a temper that's best left unprovoked, but I'm not afraid to use it to my advantage." One hand around Stefan's neck, smile never fading, Adelina picked Stefan up and slammed him into the wall. "Don't ever cross me."
"Enough!" Damon called from behind. Gently, he removed Adelina's hand from his brother's throat and guided her away. She shrugged his hands from her and proceeded to open the front door, and this time no one intervened.
Before exiting, Adelina paused.
"I hope your deaths aren't too painful."
Before Damon could ask her to elaborate, Adelina was gone as quickly as she had appeared to him in the forest.
"I'll be back," Damon said as he headed towards the door.
"You're not going after her, are you?" Elena spoke up, hands clutching Stefan as he sat on the floor recovering. Damon answered by walking out the door and shutting it behind him.
It wasn't long before Damon found Adelina lounging high in a tree, deep in the Old Wood. He joined her on a neighboring tree limb.
"What?" Adelina said coldly.
"That was an impressive display, back there. Who knew you could get so angry?" Damon's tone was nonchalant.
"That wasn't me getting angry. Believe me – when I'm angry you'll know it."
"Why are you here, Adelina?"
"Why are you here, Damon? Residing with the humans. Playing by their rules."
"I play by no one's rules," Damon replied as coldly as Adelina had.
"Do you, now?"
Damon gave one nod.
"Sure. It's funny that you should go for the redhead, though. My mother had dark red hair, but it was always tousled and down. She didn't wear it up like the other women did." Adelina spoke as if she was talking to herself as she undid her braid. "You do remember what Mother looked like, don't you?" Adelina lifted a section of her hair, revealing auburn strands that contrasted the jet black. The entire hidden section of her hair was red. Adelina dropped the section she was holding and looked at Damon, her hair taking on all black again.
"I remember what Gemma looked like," Damon replied.
Gemma, Adelina's mother, had been a beautiful woman of copper red hair and a small, hourglass figure. Instead of being pale, like one with her hair color would typically be, Gemma's skin was olive-tinted and had a slight glow. Her eyes were grey. No one looked like Gemma Pelosini, and that's what drew Damon to her. Not to mention it took months of flirting before she would give Damon a second look. It was obvious how that worked out in the end.
"Damon Salvatore," Gemma purred as she batted her eyelashes at the young man flirtatiously. They stood on the cobblestone streets of Italy, people bustling about with everyday errands.
"Belissima Gemma." Damon bowed and kissed her outstretched hand. "If this was a beautiful day before, you have made it far more lovely."
"Oh Damon. Always the one with words like honey." Damon smiled coyly at her reply. "'Tis a shame I have heard these things from many men who have tried to impress me. It leaves your kind words meaningless."
"Pity," Damon replied, releasing her hand.
"Yet again, you have always been the most appealing."
Damon's smirk reemerged as Gemma turned away from him, entering a dress shop.
"Or is it the blonde girl that you're after? The one that loves your little brother?" Adelina asked teasingly, her voice pulling Damon from his reminiscence. "I wonder what the blood of a spirit girl tastes like?"
"Ask your uncle," Damon replied. "Just try not to kill him in the process."
"What gives you the assumption that I'll be around to do so?" Adelina folded her arms, hair blowing softly in the wind. Damon really studied her features for the first time. Though pale-skinned like him, with black hair (apart from the hidden red) and black eyes, she also had her mother's beauty. The high cheek bones and full, upturned lips reminded him of Gemma.
"Because you're coming back with me," he replied.
Adelina narrowed her eyes at Damon. "I thought you didn't trust me."
"I don't," Damon stated honestly. "But maybe we can change that."
Damon was too intrigued by this girl to just let her walk off. Despite his distrust, something about her Power, her aura, made him want to learn all he could about her. She had so much Power. But how? How many humans could she possibly be bleeding? Something told Damon that very little of her strength came from ingesting human blood, and he wanted to know where it came from.
"Maybe," Adelina replied.
"Let's start earning that trust by telling me what new force this cursed town has attracted."
"If you want to know, you have to earn my trust first." Adelina jumped 25 feet to the ground and Damon followed.
"What have I done to be untrustworthy?" Damon asked, truly puzzled but never one to show it.
"The sooner you remember, the less danger you'll be in." Adelina began to walk to the boarding house, only to have Damon grab her arm and yank her back.
"I'm tired of your games, little girl. You speak of this 'danger' yet you won't give a hint as to what it is. What makes you think that I believe you?" Damon spoke in a low voice.
"What other choice do you have? In this situation, you won't be able to do a thing without me."
"Answer me!" Damon's patience was finally wearing thin.
"Hmmm, I see where I get my temper from." Adelina grinned in Damon's face. When he didn't break eye contact, his grip on her arm tightening, Adelina sighed.
"All I know is that it wants to tap into the ley lines here and drain out all the Power, destroying the town in the process. Fell's Church is a good place to start because it's crawling with supernaturals, which adds to the Power, which attracts even more creatures. The cycle goes on and on until this place is swelling, like a tick, with energy – which it already is." Damon's grip on her relaxed. Adelina continued. "Touching Spirit Girl living here only makes it worse."
"So we have to get Elena some place safe?" Damon released Adelina completely.
"For once, it doesn't matter. Take her wherever you want, but that's no longer the problem. Like I said, this place is already consumed by Power and there are other places like it."
"Other places?"
"Fell's Church isn't the only location with supernatural appeal, it just has the most right now. This town is just the beginning of what could be a long, hard battle unless we stop it now."
"So this 'force' you speak of wants to take over the world?" Damon asked, sardonically.
"Well look at you, Father. Figuring things out." Adelina crossed her arms and mirrored Damon's stony glare.
"You can't be serious."
"I am. But it's not the world you should be concerned with saving. I mean, really? Talk about cliché."
"Then what?" Damon was getting impatient again.
"I'm telling you this so you can save yourselves. You'll just be saving others in the process."
"What's this force and how do we stop it?" Damon asked.
"That's one we'll have to figure out together," Adelina replied. "Can we go back to the house, now?"
"Not so fast. I want to know why."
"Why what?"
"Why are you showing up now? Don't you think we could have used your assistance sometime in the past year? This isn't exactly the first time we've been under threat." Damon pointed out.
"No, you didn't need me then. You're a strong group. But I'm telling you that you need me now. Whatever's about to happen, you can't fight on your own despite the strength that you and your humans possess," Adelina explained.
"So you're willing to risk yourself to help people that you don't know?"
"If I die, I'll die fighting alongside people that matter. You and Stefan, despite that small disagreement we had, matter to me. You're all that I have left."
Adelina's honest confession shocked Damon, and his hardened expression soften in the slightest bit. The change in face was hardly noticeable, but Adelina saw it anyway.
"Do you trust me now?" she asked.
"Only a little bit – but not by much," Damon replied. Adelina gave him a full smile, showing straight, white teeth.
"That's good enough," she said.
Damon allowed her a small smile in return, and for once he didn't turn it off a millisecond later. Side by side, the two Salvatores made their way back to the boarding house.
Am I sensing a little father-daughter bonding?
Be sure to review and let me know what you think. Constructive criticism is welcome.
:)