"How did you get in?" I asked Damon as I threw my jacket into my arm chair.
"I have my ways," He said with a shrug as he sat up. "Did I upset you?" He asked.
"Do you care?" I countered.
"Yes," He said.
"Why?" I asked.
"I don't know," He said standing, and suddenly he was standing right in front of me. "Something about you makes me want to know you better."
"You've drunken my blood several times, I'm pretty sure you know me well enough," I said.
"Not nearly," He said grinning.
"You already had a bite tonight, am I surrendering more?" I asked.
"No," He said. "I wanted to know why you left so quickly."
"A lot of thoughts running through my head," I said with a sigh as I collapsed onto my bed.
"I know why you made this deal with me," Damon said sitting next to me on the bed, a little closer than I would have liked.
"Then enlighten me," I said in a snarky tone.
"You were hoping I would kill you," He said slowly. I looked up at him, my eyes growing wide. He nodded, I didn't need to answer him to confirm what he already knew.
"I didn't want to leave Jenna, Jeremy, and Elena, they wouldn't understand, but if you killed me, I could have justified that," I said softly.
"But you, Rora, of all people, why would you want to die?" He asked taking my face in his hands and looking at me roughly.
"I just do," I said trying to turn my face away, but Damon wouldn't let me.
"You are young, and beautiful, you have so much to offer the people in your life, and the people you have yet to meet. You have a loving family, and so many people that care about you." Damon gave me a small shake. "Why?" He asked.
"The list of great things goes on and on, I've heard it all before!" I said sharply, casting my eyes downwards.
"Why!" Damon asked shaking me harder now.
"Because they didn't let her live!" I half shouted. Damon let go of me, and I stood up. "They wouldn't let her live, and I couldn't protect her. They took her from me, from right inside of me, never even giving her a chance. I failed her, I was her only protection, and I failed her." Tears rose to my eyes, but I forced them not to fall.
Damon took a minute to put the pieces together.
"An abortion," He said in a whisper.
"I wasn't given a choice," I said. "They violated me, and killed her." I began pacing back and forth in my room. "He said he wouldn't help support her, and they said that I was ruining my life. He left me, never spoke to me again, they sent me away out of shame! And now I'm afraid."
"Afraid of what?" Damon asked taking my arm in his hands and gently pulling me back onto the bed.
"Of you," I said so softly, if he had been human he wouldn't have heard me. Damon raised my face to his eyes again, only this time there was softness in his expression. I saw the intent in his eyes before he even moved, and I was powerless to stop him.
Damon's lips brushed mine ever so slightly, and then pressed harder. I didn't respond at first, I couldn't. When Damon's hands held my face and tangled in my hair, I broke! I pressed back with my lips, opening my mouth ever so slightly.
The softness of the kiss began to vanish as heat and passion took over. The tension we had been building between us snapped, and it felt like I couldn't get enough of him. My hands turned to fists in his hair, and his arms slid around my body, pulling me closer to him. His tongue traced my bottom lip, asking for entrance. Instead of letting him in, I bit his lower lip just hard enough to hurt, yet still soft enough to feel good.
Damon let out a small moan at the sensation.
"What are you trying to do to me?" He asked in a groan, resting his forehead against mine as I took deep breaths. I gave a small, weak smile.
"That is what I'm afraid of," I said slowly.
"You're afraid of what you might do to me?" Damon asked with a small grin.
"I'm afraid that if I give in, I won't be able to stop," I said. He touched my face gently with his fingertips.
"I'm afraid that if you don't give in we'll regret it forever," He said gently. "For a hundred and forty five years I shut every emotion out, and I chose the life of a cold monster. The moment I met you in the woods, I wanted to feel again. For over a century I've been dead, but drinking your blood made me feel like I had a heart beat again. I fought every feeling, tried to shut it out, but I don't want to shut you out anymore." Damon's eyes looked vulnerable as he was not used to expressing his feelings, let alone when he didn't know if they were returned.
I raised my hands and covered his with them. All I did was nod, I couldn't say anything, and then I leaned forward and left a quick kiss on his lips.
"I'm tired," I muttered sleepily. Damon stood and made his way to my open window. "Wait, stay here?" I asked.
He looked from me to the chair, and took his leather jacket off.
"The arm chair it is," He said putting his jacket down.
"No, I mean, stay here," I said touching the bed next to me. Damon looked at me again, almost suspiciously. I kicked my shoes off and curled up on my bed. Damon gently lowered himself to the mattress, not bothering to take his boots off, and stretched out on my bed.
I rested my head against his shoulder as he brought his arm around me and began stroking my hair with his fingers. I closed my eyes and curled my knees to my chest. Damon put his other arm around my legs to hold me closer to him.
"You never told me," I said sleepily.
"Told you what?" Damon asked still stroking my hair.
"Why you decided to shut out your humanity," I said. He didn't speak for a moment, and I wondered if he was going to tell my or not.
"It is a long story," He said.
"I will listen," I said with a yawn, and he gave a small chuckle.
"It starts, as most stories do, with a girl," He began. "Katherine Pierce. She moved into Mystic Falls, before it was officially a town, and my father, taking pity on her for losing her family, invited her to stay with us while she got on her feet. Stefan and I were best friends at the time, and I was off fighting in the Civil War when she arrived.
When I met Katherine, it was like my entire world changed. She trusted me with her secret, about being a vampire, and I would drink her blood, convinced I wanted to be with her for eternity. I didn't know in the beginning, but I soon found out that Katherine was carrying on with Stefan as well. While our fighting didn't start there, we both continued the affairs separately.
During the last days of my human life there was a vampire round up, John Gilbert had invented a device to track them down. He rounded up twenty seven vampires, including Katherine, and took them to a church to be burned. Stefan and I staged a rescue plan to save Katherine, but we were both shot in the process.
When I woke up again, I was in Transition. I wasn't quite a vampire, but I was no longer human. I was mourning my loss, and figured I would deny myself blood and simply die instead of turning into a vampire. Stefan on the other hand, he fed and turned into a vampire first. When he realized how to shut his emotions off, he wanted me to share in the power, share in the experience. He brought me a girl to feed on, and a large part of me resisted, but he pressed me to her neck, and the scent of blood was overpowering." Damon paused and checked to see if I was still awake.
"I'm still here," I said.
"Emily, a witch friend of Katherine's made us our rings that allow us to walk in daylight, and then she told me she had succeeded in a spell that protected Katherine from burning. Underneath the church there was a tomb that Emily sealed the vampires in. They wouldn't be able to get out, but they were alive." Damon let out a breath that tousled my hair.
"You came back to free them, and her," I said softly. Damon nodded his head.
"I can't, not now," He said tightening his grip on me ever so slightly.
"Stefan only wanted you to become a vampire because he didn't want his brother and best friend to die," I said sleepily. I yawned again, and closed my eyes tightly. Damon reached to the table beside my bed and clicked off the light there, and the room was surrounded in darkness.