Chapter seven

Bedtime story

Hey there, I'm back with the next chapter. I know that it took a while, but I don't have a lot of time for the moment. I' m too busy with freaking out about the examinations. Anyway because I've let you guys wait, I have written a slightly longer chapter. See, I'm not that mean .

Btw, I've seen Evanescence live this week and Amy Lee is simply amazing! They rocked…somehow it gave me some courage for the examinations (weird, I know) and to write of course…
Have fun reading!
Moonwolflove

Previous

"Damon?"

He turned to face her and he saw how she doubted whether she would ask something…or not.

"Yes?" he asked cautiously, but friendly.

"Can you read a bedtime story…please?"

Damon looked at her as if he hadn't heard her quite well. Had she really asked him to read her a bedtime story? Or did he start to become deaf? The first seemed more likely. He didn't know a lot of children. Let alone of little girls, but he did know that they were all packed up by stories. Some kind of weird obsession which would be replaced by boyfriends, make-up and God may know what else, when they became older.

"So…you want me to tell you a story?" he asked to be sure.

Ally nodded softly, with a pleading brilliance in her eyes that he could barely resist.
He ran a hand through his hair and said on a defeated tone: "Okay…what do you want me to tell you?"

She shrugged with a small, happy smile on her little oval face. He walked towards her and dropped himself on the bed, next to her. He folded his arms behind his head and looked at her with a grin. "So…I've got to tell you a story…but you don't have an idea about what?"

She shook her head.

"Dad told me a lot of stories…those were beautiful, but mom always tells me scary things. They scare me and then I can't sleep…but I don't dare to tell her."

Her face fell down and in her eyes a sorrow appeared. It was obvious that she missed her dad more than once; almost with every good memory she mentioned.
Actually it was weird how conscious she was at such a young age.

"What scary things, dear?" he asked then, interested. Somehow he had a feeling where this would go, cause Ally's mom was the sister of John and Grayson Gilbert…and it would be very strange if she was involved in their little family secret.

But what had she told Ally?

Ally stared at her hands, as if she had written her answer on them.

"Vampires," she said then with a hitch in her voice.

Yep, exactly what he had expected. So predictable.

"I don't like them…they are mean and evil…and I'm scared of them."

You have no idea, he thought gloomy.

If he showed Ally for one second what he really was…then she would probably drop dead of fear. She would have a cardiac arrest…or become crazy…or worse…she would loathe him forever. And how much he liked to deny it…he would feel terrible if that happened, cause somehow he had started to like the girl.

"Please, don't tell a horror story. I don't like them," she said as she laid her head on her pillow and watched him from under her blanket.

Damn…what did he have to tell? He had no clue what parents used to tell their kids…maybe fairytales? He knew nothing about those. Little red riding hood…that was the story about that girl with the long hair, right?

Agh…forget it, he thought. No fairytales.

Suddenly a bell ringed in his head. It probably wasn't the best idea he ever had, but it was the only story he could tell her. Although he doubted whether she would want to listen to it.
Vampires and stuff.

"Ally…what if I told you that I know a story…but…"

"But what?" she asked suspiciously.

"But…It's about vampires."

She took a deep breath as if she wanted to scream a very loud "no", but she didn't and blew it out again in one stroke.

"Is it scary?"

"Not really," he answered truthfully.

She seemed to think about it for a few seconds, with a finger pressed against her pursed lips…there was that cute gesture again.

"Okay," she said then. She crawled towards him, nestled her head against his chest and grabbed his shirt with her little fingers. It was one of those moments where Damon didn't know what to do. So he gently put an arm around her shoulders and brushed her hair softly.

"So…," he murmured a little bit nervous. He had never had to read a story to a little girl…after all, this wasn't the first best fairytale. It was the story of how it was possible that he and Stefan were still around. It was the story of how a woman had changed their lives…about how she had ruined everything. His relationship with Stefan, his life and his heart.

The words he wanted to say didn't form that easy as he had thought.

"Once there were two brothers," he began, immediately noticing that fairytales started the same way. Damn it, he didn't want it to sound that way. The story he was about to tell had nothing away from those dreary happy-ending tales.

But…he had already started…so he wouldn't do that all over again.

"They were best friends, inseparable and always there to help each other. The oldest…and most handsome one, "he added with a grin, "went to the army, cause at that time, the civil war was raging. The youngest…"

"Can we give them names?" Ally interrupted while looking up at him with those big, brown doe eyes.

He was a bit confused but said: "Of course, sweetheart. How would you like to call them?"

She thought for a moment and the silence was almost thickening the air. As if you could actually start to feel it.

"Damon," she said then. "One should be called Damon."

Ironic.

"Which one?" he asked with a smile, fully expecting that she would give the name to the youngest.

But he should have known that expectations never became the truth with Ally.

"The oldest one," she said self-confident.

Well…he couldn't complain about it.

"And the youngest one?" he asked then. There was no way that she would reply Stefan.

"Steven," she said and she must had seen the look on his face, cause she added: "Not a good name?"

"Oh, no, it's a very good name," he said quickly…and it looked amazingly similar to "Stefan".

"Why "Steven", honey?"

"My daddy was called like that," she said quietly.

Oh, that explained a lot and it blew the idea that Ally could have been a clairvoyant, out of his mind. It was just coincidence. But still…the association between her dad and Stefan…it wasn't right. After all, Stefan himself was still a big, grumpy child.

"Tell me more," Ally urged.

"Okay, the youngest, Steven, stayed with his family. One day a beautiful lady moved into the family house. Her name was Katherine Pierce."

It felt strange to mention that name in the same row as beautiful…cause she was no longer that way…in terms of personality.

"Steven quickly fell in love with her…and then Damon returned from the war. He also fell in love with her and the two brothers started to compete for her attention. Katherine was very aware of the fact that they would do everything for her. The brothers didn't know that she was stringing them along. She let them believe that she loved each of them and told them her dark secret. She was a vampire."

Ally cringed at that word and her grip tightened on his shirt. He rolled his eyes and continued:

"Damon and Stefans father was a person who had a lot of influence in the town council. He and the other founding families were the only people who knew of the existence of vampires…and they were fully aware of the presence of those creatures in their little, peaceful town.
Steven was scared of Katherine's true nature and his love for her was gone…but she hypnotized him which made him love her again. Damon was truly in love with her and he didn't care if she was a vampire or not. On the contrary…if he had to become a vampire to be with her forever, then he would. But soon after Katherine had showed what she was, she got captured. The council wanted to kill her together with the other vampires. Steven and Damon…"

He paused for a moment and threw a glance at Ally. "Can you actually follow, cause it's quite difficult."

"It's alright. I understand most of it," she said, "Please continue."

"Steven and Damon tried to save Katherine, but they were both shot by their own father."

A sigh of disapproval on Ally's side.

"Not long before they were shot, Katherine had fed them her blood and because of that they came back…as vampires."

He decided to leave the part of the transition out of it, cause if would only complicate matters and he already doubted whether she could follow or not.

"Damon promised his brother an eternity of misery and not long after that they decided to go their own ways. A lot of years past and they met again. Steven had fallen in love with another girl; he was happy and Katherine was more or less forgotten. But then both brothers discovered that she was still alive. She returned to the city to win Stefan back, cause he was the only person she had ever truly loved. She told Damon that she never loved him and left him with a broken heart.

That was more or less how it had all happened…of course he had left the piece about Elena and the fact that she was the doppelganger (and a lot of other things) out of it. Too difficult to explain…too painful.

"I don't like her...Katherine…she's so self…selfish," Ally said with difficulty.
"Poor Damon. She doesn't deserve him. He has done wrong things…but he's a much better person than she will ever be."

Damon felt a lump in his throat at those words. Tears were stinging in his eyes, but he fought against them. Those were no tears of pain…it were tears of realization. Realization that even a little girl had seen through Katherines beauty and discovered her selfish, evil, mean side, then before he had done. She had seen the bitch that Katherine really was.

But what hit him the most was the fact that nobody had ever told him before that he was a better person than she was. Ally didn't realize that Damon from the story was the same Damon as who was now sitting beside her, but despite that, her words had more meaning for him than she would ever be able to imagine.

Ally wasn't aware of the look in his eyes. No…it was obviously that she was about to fall into a deep sleep. She yawned, snuggled her head into his chest again and closed her eyes.

"Good night, Damy," she whispered softly.

He smiled, kissed the top of her head and whispered back: "Good night, sweetheart."

So…how did you like it? I had this in my mind for a pretty long time and I hoped it worked out well. Please, let me know what you think about it.
I'll do my best to update soon, but I don't have a lot of time. At this time, it's already 1,00 am and I can't continue doing that during the weeks, otherwise I'll have to make my exams with a zombie face…and that wouldn't end very well…