"Husband! What the fuck Mona!" Damon yells almost dropping his crystal tumbler, some of the liquid sloshing out as he bolts from the soft leather armchair and begins pacing frantically around the room.

"What do you mean, husband? Are you telling me after everything you and I had to go through because of him, you went BACK!?" Damon can't believe what he's hearing. He gives himself a moment to recall back those early years before he had finally flipped his switch, oh what a different person he had been back then. So young and incredibly stupid.

Lost, confused and bitter over the loss of his love, Katherine, he had simply wandered around Europe drowning his sorrows in ale and prostitutes not caring what became of himself as he teetered on the edge of his humanity. At that point in his life he had already seen his fair share of war and life was starting to feel just a little too.. much. Too much pain, too much suffering, too many crushed dreams with way too many lonely nights and not the kind of lonely that a prostitute or a compelled date could help with either. That's when Mona had found him. On the verge of turning it all off.

It was in spending time with Mona, her easy care free way of living and loving that had drawn Damon to her. She was vibrant and full of so much life that she overshadowed Damon's dark and gloomy façade with the power of a sun flare burning across a darkened dessert. She had been newly turned, only a few years, but like her, her story was an unusual one. Born of a family of Gypsies Damon soon discovered that not only were their powers enhanced as Vampires but that her family was actually made up of both human AND vampire descendents! They co-existed together and if life threatened a mortal family member or they simply wished to 'cross the sides' as they called it, they would simply have a vampire family member turn them. Usually it was those stronger in the Gypsy magic's that turned and there were those that never turned at all, living all their days as humans with vampire relatives! Damon had been aghast at the possibilities but Mona assured him that they all lived quite peacefully together and with the land around them. There was no real fear of over-hunting on the humans because these Vampires didn't see humans as their prey, they were family. So it was rare if a Gypsy Vampire actually killed a human, though it did happen. Nothing was perfect. They also had a council of elders, made of up all the different Gypsy families that settled any real skirmishes as they arose and marriages and alliances were often made and traded to keep the peace regardless of how the persons involved might feel. And with a family of vampires that could last hundreds if not thousands of years, keeping the peace was something of the utmost importance.

Damon hadn't been surprised or concerned when Mona would later confess to him that she had gone against her family's wishes and broken the engagement to the man they had chosen for her. She deserved better then that wimpy, boring ass-hat anyways as far as Damon was concerned. And even though he wasn't free to give his heart to this girl, he was waiting for his beloved Katherine, it didn't mean they couldn't help each other forget about their pain and broken dreams. From that moment on their forbidden love was something they had had to keep hidden and confined to stolen moments in hay lofts or rooftops. Secret glances as she was watched like a hawk by her family who struggled to repair the damages caused by Mona's refusal of Rikardo's hand.

"Rikardo!" Damon spat. "That was his name!"

Mona can only nod in his direction, a little afraid to say too much until she's given Damon a chance to calm down. She is all too familiar with how volatile and instant his outbursts can be. She also knows that despite his walls and the strength he exudes, he can be fragile too and he had loved her once, even if he didn't love her now. Mona takes a deep breath, catching the wetness in her eyes before it can form. It was best not to think on those things now. The past was the past and this was now. And now, Damon needed her or he would never have a chance to be happy with his, Elena and if she couldn't help her sweet tortured Angel to find some peace after all he had given her, what use was she at all?

He turns his back to Mona, he just can't look at her right now and instead finishes off the rest of the Bourbon as he sets the glass down on a nearby table, barely feeling the delicious taste and not at all registering the fact that the room has gone deftly quiet. Shifting his gaze he notices that Mona is starring off into nowhere, her arms are clutching tightly around herself as if she is cold or shaking. It's then he notices her body stiffen the way it always does when she's trying to suppress how she feels. The storminess in those hazel eyes tell him she is suffering but won't show it. She had always been so strong like that. Like a rock. His rock.

"Mona" he says her name softly but she doesn't seem to hear him. He calls her again and finally she turns her gaze on him and he knows what a jerk he's been. What a hard ass. What right did he have to be jealous after all these years? He had left her, he had no right but it didn't ease the discomfort in his chest.

She lowers her gaze as she turns to face the fireplace, ringing her hands. She knows she can't look at him when she tells him this part. It always makes her feel so weak.

"After you leave Damian" she hesitates a first, "I was heartbroken but I survive" her voice getting stronger as she speaks while he tries not to flinch at his own cowardly behavior all those years ago. "I was very strong with my famiglia when I tell them I would still not marry Rikardo. He was angry with you of course, he believe you take me away from him because he could not believe that I do not love him. But I did not Damian, even before you came I know I could never, would never love him". She hangs her head for a moment pausing to allow the emotions to sweep over her as they slowly subside. Damon shifts uneasily but remains quiet. He knows he needs to hear this and more than that, she needs to say it.

"So many years I spend trying to live my life but always Rikardo he pursue me when one day my mother, who say she will never be a vampire, get very sick and no one can help her. She take blood but nothing work. They do spells to cast out the demons but nothing, Damian," she says it like a plea, her fists clenching before her as they shake slightly at the memory.

"And then he come. Rikardo," she says his name like a curse. "He say he has magic that can save my mother and he will give it to her if I.. if I…"

"If you married him," Damon finishes for her, his brows coming together in a sharp grimace. He can see the back of her head nod in agreement, he shoulders slumped in defeat. "But how did he do it?" he questions and Mona knows what he's asking.

"After you leave Damian, he was very angry. He say you take away his honor," she turns to face him. "He became obsessed with power and dark magic. I never say this before but I believe.. I think.." she looks away as she bites her lip. Damon is at her side in a moment, his hands on her shoulders urging her to look into his eyes.

"You think he was the one that poisoned her, don't you?" the unmasked hatred in his voice drips like venom from his fangs. A quiet sob of a nod is all the answer he receives as he crushes her delicate frame into his strong embrace. He feels her shake as all the pent up anger, grief and sorrow come tumbling out. And to think he had left her to all of it, alone. Not knowing what else he can do to help her, he just holds her, rubbing small circles on her back wishing for a magic wand he can wave to erase all the hurt and pain she must have endured at the hands of that asshole. I knew I should have killed him before I left.

"And your mother?" he asks when he sees her breaths become more regular. She pulls out of his embrace as a hand wipes at a stray tear. "She pass away in 1988" she stands a little straighter. "That is when I finally leave him and all the families. I travel around Europe but something draws me here, to this place, this city," she gestures around her, a hesitant smile on her face. "But of course he follow me," she all but spits out, her voice tinged with venom and Damon can't help the smile that creeps across his face. Oh Yes, she was a little spitfire.

"I'm sorry Damian, you must know, I do everything I can but.."

"but what?" and suddenly he feels like he's lost the thread of this conversation somewhere.

"He knew you would be here Damian, he cast a spell and he see you," she says with a touch of panic rising in her throat. "He has vowed to kill you if he ever see you again," and he can see the fear plainly in her eyes and that she really believes her husband, or rather x-husbands threats.

"Pfft, is that all?" he smirks, rubbing his hand to her cheek. "Greater men have tried baby, believe me, and I'm still here." But his cocky grin does nothing to soothe her fears.

She shakes her head. "No, you don't understand. He knows he cannot beat you with strength but that doesn't mean he still can't hurt you, Damian. What do you think happened last night? He got to your drink before you even knew he was there!"

Damon's surprise is evident and harsh, "You mean he fucking roof'ied me?" suddenly he feels a little used.. a little cheap. What was he, some adolescent teenage girl?

"Roofie?" she says the unfamiliar word rolling it around on her tongue and just like that his depressing mood is lifting, strand by strand. She seems to suddenly understand the meaning of the word. "Ah, Si" she says, "In a way. It is meant to give you bad visions, your deepest fears to make you mad and unhinge your mind. He is trying to.. to..torture you, yes?"

He knows she's asking if she's using the right word but all he can think about is all the ways he wants to rip this guy a new asshole.

She looks away, not wanting to admit the truth. Damon was so in love with this Elena girl that he had almost driven himself mad at the mere thought of the woman's death. She feels the jealous pang but pushes it aside. Damon is her friend and they were a long time ago.

"But then what happened? I don't remember anything from last night and Elena says I never spoke to her and you.. hey, you left.. where did you go?" cold calculating blue eyes narrow as he watches her.

"As soon as I see you speak to no one in your phone," she starts to say when Damon interrupts her.

"Wait a minute, you mean to say that I was talking to myself and freaking out in that dive bar?" His groan of embarrassment is real as Damon drags both palms down his face. "Fucking hell" he moans as he collapses on the love seat. "I need another drink," but before he can get up to fix himself one there's an olive skinned arm already holding a crystal tumbler out to him half full of the delicious amber looking liquid.

"ah thanks," he says already half risen out of his spot. He had forgotten how attentive she had always been. Always seeing to his smallest comfort. He had forgotten what that was like. It was.. kind of nice.

She smiles at him, turning to face the window as she speaks, picking up where she left off. "As soon as I see what is happening I leave to see if I can find him, try to talk to him. When I come back you are.." she pauses briefly trying not to think of the broken image she had seen that night. How distraught the older vampire had been, howling in pain on the floor of the bar, none of the bar patrons daring to come close to him. She knew the nightmares would only continue until they ravaged his mind raw so she did the only thing she could think of to do to interrupt the spell. She snapped his neck.

His laugh surprises her. "Is that all?" placing the crystal on the table he stands just a few feet from her turned back, "Come on Mona, don't worry about it, are you kidding me? Stephen snaps my neck like twice a week just for talking to his girl." And there was that girl again. It was so unfair. She had missed him, had carried a piece of him with her and after all these years, here he was and he STILL couldn't see her. Still another woman stood between them.

"You must know Damian, he will not stop and his powers have grown. I.. I worry for you." She feels ridiculous and stupid, like a baby vampire all over again, but that was just the affect he had on her. On most women, she imagined with a slight grimace.

He tries to smile reassuringly at her but she won't look at him. "Thank you for worrying about me, but you don't need too. Now that I know what dipshit is up too, I can be bettered prepared. That is, until I track him, find him and stake his crazy ass." The feral tone in his voice, to match the look in his eyes if she were to turn and see it, tells her that he will broke no opposition.

Lowering her head she gives a resigned sigh, still not able to turn and face him. "I will help you how I can Damian, but you must move quickly."

"Why? What do you mean?"

"I mean the rest of the story."

Suddenly he's directly behind her, she can feel the soft pressure of his chest on her back and it sends a shiver rolling down her spine.

"Remind me," he speaks softly, his breath brushing her ear.

"The part where you come for what you need, Dami-an," stretching the nonexistent 'ah' in his name. "Where you take what you need and never look back." she can't help the sting in her voice or the wetness that suddenly brims in her eyes.

His hands are on her shoulders, softly holding her, she dips her head in grief as a silent sob escapes unbidden and Damon's heart squeezes in his chest. Only now does he begin to realize just how much she's suffering, how much she must have been suffering from their first meeting and he was too much of a self-absorbed ass-face to realize it. They hadn't seen each other in decades and so much had happened to both of them. And just like that he knows what she's really hurting over.

"Bella Mona Lisa, please," he speaks his pet name for her with all the emotion he is capable of feeling and feels her laugh between silent sobs. Slowly he turns her to face him, wiping a tear from her red rimmed eyes.

"Mia bella ragazza, I should have come back to see you before this," he strokes her cheek. The heart break in her voice is palatable and thick as she speaks the only question that has haunted her for more than 40 years, "Why Damian, why you never come back to me.. I thought.." she closes her eyes forcing the tears back. "I thought I mean something to you," her hand fists itself under her chin, just above her heart. A gesture she often made as a way to ward off evil thoughts and emotions which Damon had always found oddly endearing.

"You did.. you do," he tries painstakingly to reassure her as he runs a hand through her soft hair. "It's just, after I left, when I came back from the war.. I couldn't do it anymore, I couldn't take it," he closes his eyes, reliving the memories. He's embarrassed to tell her. When they had met the first time he had been on the verge of doing it then, but then she had brought the sunshine and he had let himself bask in her light the way he had once basked under the sun as a boy.

"I flipped the switch Mona," he looks away from her, not sure he can bear to see her eyes but he can hear the shock and surprise in her voice as she says his name, barely a whisper. "I was a different person after," he forges on, ready to say what he has to say now that the band-aids been ripped off. "I was a horrible, blood thirsty monster void of any good emotion, Mona. I didn't give a shit about anyone or anything and I sure as hell couldn't remember anything about love. I was.. I was a true walking corpse and I've been that way ever since.. that is, up until a couple of years ago.. until," he hesitates as he looks into her turbulent hazel eyes.

"Until, Elena," she finishes for him as understanding and acceptance filter across her face.

"yeah," he says softly, not wanting to hurt the vampire further but not wanting to lie to her either. He still loves her, will always love this woman and no matter what, you tried not to hurt the ones you loved if you could help it. Being around Elena these last couple of years had reminded him of that.

"I understand," she says smiling up at him, "and I am happy for you, Damian. Happy you find your way back, however the road find you".

Damon can't help the smile and relief in his voice, "How do you do that?"

"Do what?" she looks up at him quizzically.

"Say exactly the thing that always blows me away," he smiles at her. God how he had missed her. He really should have come to see her sooner but pushes the thought away as soon as the familiar roll of guilt starts creeping in. Perhaps he could make it up to her?

She blushes at his compliment and turns away when she feels Damon's hands on her hips. She stiffens but Damon can hear that her heart rate has jumped and sees the flush of red under her creamy olive skin. He pulls her towards him as his arm snakes around her waist, pressing her to his stomach, their eyes lock. "You know, I suddenly realize that we never properly said, Hello." A mischievous glint in his eye promises both pleasure and pain.

He can feel her skin heat under his touch as he bends his head to her neck inhaling her scent. She shivers as he lays kisses on the sweet spot of her main artery when she moans, tilting her head back deliberately exposing the vital part of her neck in a clear invitation. This one gesture alone is enough to drive him over the edge as a feral growl escapes his lips. Nothing was more personal or sensual to a vampire than that one submissive move. His skin darkens as his eyes pool with red and he can feel her moaning as he sinks his teeth into her and she presses herself to his body, pulling him towards her as if she can fit herself inside him. The rushing of her blood as it hits the back of his throat sets Damon's passions keeling and his world on fire. Her life force thrums inside him with a delicious intensity and a hint of sunflowers and mahogany that was nothing less than the pure taste of his beautiful, Mona Lisa. She withers and moans under his grasp as stars explode behind his eyes at the feel of her fangs sinking into his neck, their bodies pulling and sucking in unison, making an endless cycle where suddenly one was the other and there was no sense of beginning or ends, only the flow of the blood and the essence of the soul drenched in that never ending flow. It was like having a shower of orgasms raining down around and curling up inside you.

Damon opens an eye to see he has Mona's writhing and gasping body pinned to the couch and his hands are running wild up and down her body, feeling her, memorizing her. She momentarily releases her grip on his neck as she takes in huge gulps of air, blood trailing down her chin, his blood dripping from her fangs. The site is so erotic it sends Damon growling and reaching up beneath her dress to rip her underwear off. Smoothing his hand over her hot sex he plunges two fingers inside her and is rewarded with her surprised and shivering jolt. He clamps down on her mouth as she moans into him, devouring him as his fingers pump inside her, his thumb rubbing at the sensitive bundle of nerves.

"Damian" she cries, pushing back on his chest, ripping his shirt as she grinds into him, her hips searching for release that spills out of her as he feels her convulse and clamp down around his fingers. There's no way to suppress his satisfied smirk or the way he changes his rhythm automatically so she can ride out her first orgasm. Moving his hands from under her skirt he quickly strips her free of the constricting material and as the smell of her arousal hits his nose it's all he can do before he's stripped the damn blouse off her, buttons ricocheting everywhere as perfect olive breasts spill out of her black and red lacy lingerie. Damon moans appreciatively as he watches her full bosoms heave beneath him, the pink of her nipples way too appetizing a sight as he devours it with his mouth, her moans encouraging him as he massages and suckles at it, pulling on the nub with his teeth. She cries out, arching her back towards him, needing him and as he slips his hands under her buttocks, lifting her to position himself at her entrance. He pauses a moment to catch her eyes, sees them heavy with desire and dripping with need, her purr sends him growling as he drives himself hard and deep inside her, her moan of ecstasy sounding like a choir of Angels as her legs clamp around him, pushing his buttocks with her heels as he begins to fuck her, slow and deep at first.

He cups her breast, alternating between massaging and suckling as she continues to moan beneath him, grinding her sex into him, her hands twisted in his hair and running down his back as she rains kisses along his arm. The sudden feel of her fangs sinking into his forearm pulls on an erotic thread that is connected straight to Damon's swollen balls. "Fuck" his gasp is hoarse and barely restrained as he feels her drinking him and it's like he's been hit with 10 shots of Ecstasy as he pounds into her, rocking her body faster and deeper, lifting her hips at just the right angle as their moans and passions ride higher and faster when he suddenly releases a breast, her moans letting him know she's not happy about the lack of contact, but he plunges his hand between their thrusting bodies and rubs his thumb across her clit driving her over the edge as she spills around him. He levels out his thrusting, slowing just a notch so she can ride out the pleasure of her second orgasm before he picks up his pace again, moving faster and deeper.

Gods he can't get enough of her as he suddenly flips them over and she's sitting above him, her breasts bare and exposed. Tilting his hips at an angle he thrusts extra deep and extra hard while pushing down on her hips and he can see by the shocked look in her eyes that he's hit a very, very special spot. He grunts as he adjusts himself a little higher on the back of the couch, so she's just above him but he can drop his head to her neck, never ceasing his rhythm as he claims her mouths with his, devouring her as she begins to climb again, her fingernails scratching across his back as he pulls on her fang with his tongue, eliciting a pleasurable moan as she grinds against him, "need.. to taste you" he grunts before running his tongue over the pulse point of her neck, he can hear the blood pounding in her veins while she rocks above him, thrusting deep and nipples pinched between his fingers, he drags his fangs against her skin, feeling her shudder beneath him as her head tilts back, he breaks the skin easily and her howl of ecstasy is mingled with his as she orgasm's around his throbbing cock and he spills into her, his fangs pulling on her blood, her sex milking him as the shudders explode through both their bodies. Damon's body convulses as he slams against her, riding out the waves his crushing climax. Slowly he releases her, letting her collapse onto his chest, their sweat ridden bodies exhausted and intermingling as their breaths slowly return to normal.

Damon brings an arm around her waist, as he kisses the top of her sex soaked hair. His smile is lazy and at ease, "Now that's a hello".

.

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********Authors Note********

Phew! That was a long chapter and I was tempted to split it up, but then I thought, what the hell? J I hope things are starting to become a little clearer and that your interest is piqued! Also… how was the lemonade? Please review, and thanks for reading!

Translations:

mia bella raggaza = my beautiful girl