Chapter 12
Damon went to a bar. Ordering a variety of whiskey to try and find one he liked enough it wasn't long before he found himself engrossed to what used to be his normal party mode.
Dance with as many girls as possible.
Get said girls drunk enough to muddle their minds.
Dance with them some more.
Compel them to shut up.
Dance close and sensually so he can bite down and drink.
Compel them afterwards to go clean up and forget it ever happened.
Drink at the bar and be chased by the image of a certain brunette, brown eyed, lethal vampire at the bottom of his glass.
Go for a do over.
Dance with as many girls as possible.
Get said girls drunk enough to muddle their minds.
Dance with them some more.
Compel them to shut up.
Dance close and sensually so he can bite down and drink.
Compel them afterwards to go clean up and forget it ever happened.
Drink at the bar and be chased by the image of a certain brunette, brown eyed, lethal doppelganger at the bottom of his glass.
Go for a do over.
Dance with as many girls as possible.
Get said girls drunk enough to muddle their minds.
Dance with them some more.
Compel them to shut up.
Dance close and sensually so he can bite down and drink.
Compel them afterwards to go clean up and forget it ever happened.
Drink at the bar and be chased by the image of a certain brunette, brown eyed, innocent girl looking at him with cold yet compassionate eyes at the bottom of his glass.
Damon groaned and changed bars. Not that it helped. Almost twelve hours and six bars later Damon woke up with a wicked hangover, or he would have the hangover if he could still get them, in a bloody tangle of girls in a huge bed that definitely wasn't his own.
All of them were softly tanned brunettes. Bella's image came to his mind and he wanted to growl at himself for giving a damn about what happened to her.
So Damon did what Damon does best. Go for a drink.
The denim clad person leaned against a tall tree. Their eyes widened slightly as they took in the simple structure of a house that stank of vampire.
Not just any vampire, no. It was a scent they knew perfectly well, a scent that came with a suave and a name. Damon Salvatore, the vampire that hurt them. What's the best way to hurt Mr. No Feelings? Remind him that he does have them.
So here they were. In Arizona, that no plants in their right minds would set roots and no flowers would bloom. And yet the soil on this property was freshly raked and the grass bright green. A bunch of cacti were in their own small garden and someone had put huge sunglasses and a sombrero hat on one, smurf hat and dress on another... A mess of red poppies, white lilies and purple bougainvillea made the property look and feel welcoming.
The sign hanging on the white picket fence would serve as an excuse. The place was for rent.
Damon content in his own skin once again, walked leisurely through the big city enjoying the sunlight on his skin. It was nice now that he had his ring back on.
His feet led him to a park and through the park to a cafe/bar. Ordering a red label his eyes scanned the crowd checking his next meal. A peal of laughter demanded his immediate attention. At the park among the ten or so teenagers having fun setting up and painting a playground was a slim girl his eyes rested on.
"Look what the cat dragged in"
A dirty blond guy called out to her as she set a bike with a cute white basket down and walked to the group.
"har har"
She mocked them pushing the dark sunglasses to rest on the top of her head. The same guy walked to her and gave her big hug. Damon's hand fisted around the glass in his hand tight enough to crack it.
"If I didn't know any better I'd say you missed me"
She laughed. When they saw them, the rest of the teens headed their way, the brushes and paint forgotten
"If it isn't Miss Hellfire"
A girl with straight blond hair called to her. He watched as Bella relaxed and hugged her friends.
"Did you miss us?"
A guy with darker hair asked her with a pout. Bella bit her bottom lip
"I'm sorry guys. I completely went MIA when I moved"
"Did you ditch the toyfriend yet?"
Blond guy asked her
"How?"
"We came to see you last year at the hospital. He sent us away"
"Sounds like Edward"
She frowned
"Well, you're here now!"
The blond girl swept it all under the rug and handed her a spray bottle of paint.
"Think you can do it without getting paint all over you?"
"No but where's the fun in doing it right?"
And just like that the teens went back to work. Crisis forgotten. Damon emptied his glass. So much for turning 'it' off
It wasn't how she let him say his life story. It wasn't that she'd saved his ass by dragging him out of the encroaching sunlight and gave him his ring without him asking for it. It was more. It was her.
By rights he should have been gone by now. Far away from her and what she made him feel. He was trying to move on, fuck! But he couldn't. Maybe he already had. So he ordered another and watched.
Bella had woken up feeling strangely alone. It wasn't the literal loneliness that comes from being alone in a place and it wasn't the emotional loneliness that stems from being estranged from the people that surround you. It wasn't the dark hole she had fallen off once already either. She knew what it was, but refused to acknowledge it.
Do a good deed and throw it away. Isn't that what they say?
Forcing herself out of her comfy queen bed Renée had given her when she and Phil bought a bigger bed right before their wedding she went for her morning routine. Since there was no cliffs around to jump from and jumpstart her brain, she chose the next best thing. Find her old friends, apologize and make amends. It didn't matter if they refused her, all it mattered was to reach to the old Bella. the one who remained in phoenix right after the van incident.
So she baked and cooked and cleared the landscaping. She called Renée who got out to do her own garden in Florida and they felt together like the good ole times. then she called Charlie and even though the two of them were bad at talking when near and their phone call was almost comical, it brought a calmness within her.
of course it didn't stop her subconscious from looking at the shadows for a black dressed vampire with captivating ice blue eyes.
There was a deep, undeniable connection between them, though neither could understand how it had started. Both knew it couldn't end well. She was human. He wasn't. She would eventually grow old and die and he would still look as he did today. She knew that, she was still mending her heart and mind over the broken relationship based on the same facts.
She had finally realized why Edward left her. it wasn't that he didn't love her, or that she was a distraction. it was the simple fact that they were different species.
So why did she spend so damned much time thinking about him? Was he a substitute painted by her brain because she couldn't have Edward? Would it be the same if she had stayed in forks instead of jumping to Renee's offer? Would she find one of the La Push shape shifters instead? Would she have gone for a normal, human, boy next door like mike?
Was he doing the same? Was he transferring his feelings for those two vampires to her? Was it all just a huge misunderstanding?
And why did that thought brought a crippling pain to both their chests?
