ELENA

With the sunlight falling through the blinds the next morning, the incidents of last night seemed almost like a distant dream. I woke feeling slightly disorientated, though not in a bad way. I was still caught in the remnants of a dream in which Damon had been very present – not taunting, enraging or flirting, but gentle and caring – much like he had been in Fells Church, and like he had been again last night. I thought I even remembered him tenderly caressing my cheek and pressing a kiss to my forehead.

Then reality set in, and with it came the other – gloomy and disturbing – memories of last night's events and all the pressing matters that were waiting to be dealt with.

I climbed out of bed with a groan, already feeling a heavy weight on my shoulders. Caroline was going to be a vampire. Cheerful, ever optimistic and frequently off to la-la-land Caroline – except that there were no rainbows and unicorns in it for her, but blood, chasing prey and darkness. How was she going to cope with that?

In the kitchen, Alys was already waiting with a cup of coffee for me. She had probably heard me moving in and out of the bathroom. "How is Caroline?" I asked, still fearing that something might have gone wrong.

"Same as yesterday. You don't need to worry, Elena. If she made it into death sleep, nothing's gonna happen to her anymore. She'll get through this."

"I'm sorry. I'm just – still freaked out about this, I guess..."

"No need," came Damon's unruffled voice from the parlor. I turned and saw him enter the kitchen. "She's not dead, Elena. She's just a vampire, that's all."

As if it wasn't much of a deal. My shoulders slumped. "I'm afraid she's not gonna be the Caroline I knew anymore."

"Trust me, she'll wake up the same obnoxious, slightly irritating drama girl she used to be," Damon said in the cool-headed and lighthearted tone that he used to cultivate his facade of aloofness and indifference, but which I knew was meant to ease my concerns. "Just on a different diet. Honestly, can you picture Caroline caught up in all the doom and gloom that our siblings like to bathe in so much?" He threw a meaningful glance at Alys, who flipped him off in return. "The thing is: Personalities don't change when you become a vampire. If anything, you become even a bit more yourself. Alys has always been brooding and melancholic, even before I changed her."

Knowing now that it meant putting someone through living hell, I wondered how he could have done it to her. Especially against her will. No wonder their relationship was strained.

"Yes," Alys chimed in, shooting a dagger gaze at Damon, "that's actually true: Damon was an arrogant and selfish asshole even before he transitioned. The change just intensified that aspect of his personality." Her eyes softened when falling back to me. "Caroline as a human was easy-going, uncomplicated and cheerful. She'll be great as a vampire, you'll see."

Before Alys and Damon could resume bitching at each other, I quickly steered our discussion back to the more pressing matters. "What about Caroline's mom?" I worried, suddenly realizing that nobody knew what had happened to us. "God – everybody must be out of their minds, with all of us suddenly disappearing from the party and not showing up at night..."

"Everything's fine," Alys reassured, putting a calming hand on my arm. "Stefan took care of that yesterday. He called both, Jenna and Bonnie, and Jenna told Liz that you and Caroline were staying with me here at Damon's place. Of course, she was a bit confused about that, knowing that Caroline and Damon had broken up, but Jenna convinced her that the two of you all needed to clear out some misunderstandings and sort our your relationship issues. As to Matt – well, Bonnie called him and told him the same thing, but he's really suspicious by now. Your reaction yesterday had him really scared, and it's not helping that Caroline hasn't returned any of his calls."

I sighed, feeling only temporary relief. It was getting more and more difficult to maneuver safely through this maze of lies. I knew from experience that once you got yourself tangled up in them too deeply, there wasn't a lie big enough that could get you out of your mess again.

I picked up Caroline's phone and looked at her messages. Yes – Matt was definitely worried. There were about ten missed calls from him and half a dozen voice messages.

In my opinion, we only had one option left: Letting him in on the secret. We discussed this for the length of the day – Damon was totally against it, feeling that far too many people had already been made aware of Mystic Falls's vampire population, and that, at the rate we were spreading it, the secret wasn't going to be much of a secret any longer. But we could easily brush aside this argument by pointing out that we already had vampire hunters on our tracks. Most likely, the council had gotten suspicious after the tomb accident and had called them in. If that was the case, their mysterious disappearance would only serve to confirm their suspicions. I sighed. It looked like Katherine wasn't our sole problem anymore.

The fact remained that we couldn't keep Matt safe from her unless we explained everything to him. Besides, it would be impossible for Caroline to keep her new and improved self hidden from him. Alys and Stefan agreed with me on this, so we outvoted Damon. He hated having to put his trust in people. This time, he had to trust my assurances that Matt was trustworthy, which didn't really make it sit well with him. But in the end, he complied.

Quite spontaneously, we called everybody to the boarding house the same evening, including Bonnie and Jeremy, and told them to bring Matt. We figured that it would be easier for him to accept everything when seeing that so many people he knew and trusted were okay with it. Damon had sarcastically proposed that we video tape this 'coming-out' for Caroline – and for any other person who we felt needed to be included into the vampires-and-friends-circle in the future.

When it was all over, I thought that his suggestion had some merit. My mouth was dry from all the talking. Disclosing that vampires existed, explaining how they lived, died and how they were created and how everyone had gotten into the middle of all this was getting kind of boring after the third repetition. No wonder Damon and Alys usually didn't bother to go through with it. Astonishingly, Matt had taken it reasonably well – just like Jenna, Jeremy and Alaric before him. It probably helped that they had the truth broken to them a lot more gently than I, at the time. Now we only had to break it gently to Caroline.

Very late in the evening, Bonnie, Stefan and Jeremy drove off again, taking a still flustered Matt back to Mystic Falls. Alys, who had given up on chaperoning me and Damon ever since I had moved back into the boarding house, retreated to her room. I wasn't entirely sure what her lack of guardianship meant. Was she more trustful of Damon now, or had she simply given up trying to influence things that were clearly beyond her – or my – control? Maybe I should do stop trying, too. But with basically everything in my life spiraling out of control rapidly, I was too scared to let go.

Wrought up from all my worrying, I stood in front of the huge fireplace, trying in vain to focus on the things that we had successfully kept from falling apart tonight. I just needed to make sure that I made it onto that list myself.

"Well – I'd say that could have gone worse," Damon said, coming back from the kitchen and handing me a big glass of water, which I accepted gratefully. He often surprised me with these small, considerate gestures that might have gone unnoticed, given they seemed so ordinary. For all his pretended indifference, Damon was remarkably observant.

"Caroline is going to be fine, Matt is going to love her still, everything is just peachy," Damon summed up the bright side, pouring himself a glass of bourbon, while he watched me staring into the dying fire. "So why are you looking like somebody just drowned a puppy?"

I took a moment to answer. The truth was that Caroline's transition wasn't the only thing on my mind. She had paid a high price for being my friend. And even though Matt and Jeremy and all the people I cared about were now warned of Katherine, they had nothing to set against her. They needed to go on with their lives, and while I was Katherine's prime target, she could always strike at me through them. There was no way we could protect them all.

"There's no chance for me to come out of this without becoming a vampire, is there?" I asked quietly, lifting my face to him. I was afraid I already knew the answer.

"Of course there is," Damon said, but he didn't return my gaze. "We just have to find it. Bonnie might still come up with something to undo the spell."

"But turning me would be the obvious solution," I insisted, finally acknowledging the white elephant we had been dragging along for some time now. "Katherine is not going to give up on this. She can't, I'm a threat to her."

"We're not going to play Katherine's game and do her bidding." Damon's voice sounded harsh saying this.

I shot him an inquisitive glance. "Is that why you're so determined to keep her from turning me?"

"Not to let Katherine win?" He shrugged and took another sip from his glass. "Admittedly, I would hate to let her get the upper hand. But I'd hate for you to become a vampire much more."

He'd hate me if I was a vampire? Strangely, that hurt. "Why?" I asked, a challenging tone in my voice. "You said it's not changing people, just emphasizing their characteristics."

At that, Damon set his glass aside and turned the full intensity of his gaze back on me. "Yes," he said, a strange, almost raw expression on his face. "But your strongest streak is your humanity. I don't see how that could be magnified in a vampire. And I can't have you lose it."

Not knowing what to make out of that, I simply stared back at him. I had the distinct feeling that there was more to his words than the obvious, but I was still fishing in the dark. "So you want me to stay human?" I asked, not sure why this bothered me. With a human, there was no forever. Not even close, for the time frame for a normal relationship was probably much shorter than the human life span. But Damon didn't believe in forever. Probably even less so after Katherine. And where would that leave me?

Damon must have seen the conflicting emotions in my face. He slowly closed the distance between us, took the glass out of my hands and set it on the mantel. Then he cupped my face like he always did when he had something really important to say to me. There was no escaping the magnetism of his eyes.

"This is not about what I want, Elena," he said emphatically, his voice raw and haunting in its honesty. "It's about you. Becoming a vampire is not what you want, not now. And you, above all, deserve to get everything you're looking for."

His heartfelt words and the passion behind it took my breath away. He was always so confident, so sure about everything, whereas I was totally at a loss, insecure and confused. What did I want? My idea of a future – a safe and secure life in a good marriage with a house full of children and a dog – it seemed like a fairy tale, something I felt life should be like. But life wasn't a fairy tale, and it sure didn't come with a guaranteed happily ever after. I knew that from first-hand experience. Lives could change within one horrible moment – even if you chose the low-risk path, the comfortable, secure road. If I had wanted that, I could have stayed with Matt.

"I'm not sure I know what I want anymore..." I whispered. The hope of falling in love one day, finding the person I would want to spend my life with – what if I had already found this person... and what if he wasn't human?

"Of course you are," Damon said with calm certainty, his thumbs caressing my face. The sheer force of the emotions in the depth of his eyes blew my mind. "You want what everybody wants: A love that consumes you. Passion, adventure – and even a little danger."

Yes. He was right. Though he hadn't said it, it was all of a sudden perfectly clear to me. There was no denying it: Ever since he had kissed me, I had been fantasizing about feeling his lips on mine again. Ever since I had felt his body against me, I had been wishing to get even closer to him. Ever since he held me in his arms, I had been longing to be back in his embrace, to drown in his eyes, to bath in his scent and to be swept away by the force of his passion.

"I want you, Damon," I said softly, finally daring to voice my most secret desire. I wanted him to continue to challenge me, to provoke me, to nudge me out of my comfort zone. I wanted his matter-of-fact approach to life, the calm acceptance that nothing was perfect and that nothing, not even myself, had to be. I wanted draw from his strength and his courage, I wanted the thrill of his presence and the comfort of his arms.

I stared into the beauty of his face and the endless depths of his eyes and forgot about everything else: Katherine, Caroline, the complications that came with falling for a vampire and all my troubles, concerns and precautions about guarding my heart. I even forgot how to breathe.

All of a sudden, the air around us seemed to crackle with electricity. Or maybe that was just what I expected to happen when I saw the smoldering heat in Damon's gaze. His mouth came down on mine, and this time, there was nothing remotely hesitant or unsure about it. We had both wanted this for a very long time, and when all the bottled-up feelings were suddenly allowed to burst free, it didn't matter anymore if this was just lust, passion and adventure. So what if there might not be a forever – for all I knew, I could die tomorrow, and before that happened, I wanted to live. And never had I felt so alive as in this very moment.

We kissed with all the passion we had so long been keeping at bay and all the dams broke. He tasted like I remembered, with an added flavor of bourbon that still lingered on his tongue. Just like he smelled – uniquely Damon. I couldn't get enough of him. I started to unbutton his shirt, longing to touch what I had been itching to explore on several occasions before, but he caught my hands and broke our kiss. "Wait," he murmured into my mouth, although his breath was already ragged. "If we're going to do this, I want it to be right." And with that, he swept me up in his arms as if I weighed next to nothing and carried me up into his room, kicking the door shut behind us.

He gently lowered me to the ground, searching for my eyes, making sure that this was really what I wanted. And God, I had never wanted anything so much as I wanted him right now. I threw my hands around his neck and pressed my body into his in a non-verbal response that left no room for doubt. Immediately, his mouth was on mine again, tasting, drinking me in, devouring me. His hands were moving more purposefully this time, lifting the hem of my shirt and slowly pulling it up over my head, and I was finally allowed to unbutton his shirt.

Just as I had imagined, his unblemished, perfect skin was smooth and soft beneath my fingertips, encasing firm muscles that felt like steel underneath. For the first time, I found that 'appetizing' was indeed a valid description for a person. Just looking at him stirred my longing to taste him, if only by letting my mouth wander across his skin.

Touching, embracing, kissing and exploring we disposed of shoes and shirts, trousers and underwear, until I was naked before him – not only bare of all clothes, but also stripped of prudence, of reason and of all my defenses.

"Elena..." No one ever said my name the way he did: With so much reverence, feeling and passion behind it. As if it was a prayer, a blessing or an incantation. Just like the way his eyes were taking me in, feasting on me. It should have made me feel self-conscious and nervous, but it didn't. The raw desire in them made me feel wanted and special, and just like his touch made me feel safe and cherished.

Damon took his time, drawing out and savoring the moment and making sure that I was right there with him every step of the way. He needn't have bothered. I was a bundle of naked heat and firing nerves at his merest touch, and my longing intensified to an unbearable degree that soon had me squirming and panting beneath him. I was yearning for him, desperate to be close, needing to hold and to be held. Answering my silent plea, Damon returned into my embrace, finally connecting our bodies and sweeping me away in a flood of sensations.

DAMON

I had not realized how much I had been wanting her – needing her – until she was finally there in my arms, hot skin, soft flesh and hammering heart. Though I had fantasied about this more than once in the last months, my vivid imagination that had colorfully mapped out every kinky detail, had not foreseen what was my undoing now: The unexpected tenderness I felt for her.

All the experience of 150 years, countless times of meaningless sex with nameless women – nothing had prepared me for the intensity of emotions that overwhelmed me as she gave her herself to me so unconditionally, so accepting and so trusting.

Finally being able to touch her, to taste her and to bury myself in the incredible warmth of her body, hearing her stifled gasps and ragged breath, and seeing her come undone – it was beyond words. I wished I could have dragged out the moment forever.

When we had finally both caught our breaths again, Elena nestled up to me, resting her head on my shoulder and putting her arms around my chest. Her heartbeat was gradually slowing down, beating at a steady rhythm now that I always found comforting to listen to. I buried my nose in her hair, just enjoying her nearness and the warmth of her body. Another novelty. I usually wasn't big on cuddling.

With Katherine, it had always been me struggling to keep up with her, fighting to prove myself equal. She never allowed herself to be weak, not even with me. And so I couldn't be weak, either. But Elena – I could only marvel at how easily she was making herself vulnerable to me. Trusting that I wouldn't hurt her or make her regret this. Katherine had often enough beaten me with her iron will. Elena was killing me with her softness, fragility and her sweet surrender.

"Why didn't you tell me?" I softly asked into our comfortable silence, caressing her shoulder and inhaling her scent. Saying that I had been taken by surprise would be putting it mildly. After all, I had heard about her and Matt, even if Stefan had fallen out of the picture, lately. I was grateful now for having wanted to draw this out, for trying to savor the moment by taking it slowly and for not allowing myself to lose control even for a second.

"Because it didn't matter," she answered, just as softly, her fingers drawing invisible patterns on my chest.

"It must have," I objected. "Otherwise, you wouldn't have been evading this for so long." She was silent for a minute, probably debating whether she should tell me. "You're right, I was afraid to let this happen," she finally admitted. "But for an entirely different reason than what you might be thinking."

There were at least two reasons that came to my mind. Apart from the obvious, there was still her biting issue, which she obviously wasn't to referring right now. "If not for fear of me hurting you, one way or the other, then why?"

"For fear that your heart might not be in it." Not the answer I had expected. I frowned, feeling a bit disconcerted. "And that is something you don't care about anymore?"

She propped herself on her elbow and looked into my eyes. "I do," she said honestly. "But I also have come to accept the possibility that what we have, what we shared, is something to cherish just for itself, no matter what might or might not come out of it. You encouraged me to take a risk, to let go from time to time, without planning each step of the way in advance and without knowing for sure where the path is taking me..."

"So I did..." Usually, though, nobody ever paid heed to the advice I gave.

"... and I figured I should give it a try and take a risk," she concluded. The risk that I was just playing around with her, using her like I had used Caroline? I couldn't blame her for suspecting that. It was simply what I did. Never since I had become a vampire had I bedded a woman without the intention of feeding on her. The sex had just been the icing on the cake, and never ever since Katherine had there been feelings involved on my part. But my need to be with Elena was as fundamental as my hunger for blood.

Which in the long run could never work. I had trained myself for years to attain this level of self-control, but this, tonight, had been really putting it to the test. So here I was, in bed with a woman who wouldn't let me have her blood, but who held my heart in her hands. It should be utterly disconcerting.

"I guess we are both on unfamiliar territory here, walking undiscovered and unmapped paths..." I murmured, gently tugging a strand of hair behind her ear and caressing the soft curve of her neck. She didn't ask what about the path was unfamiliar to me, but – sounding a little unsure of herself – enquired if I intended to stay on it. "Oh, definitely so!" I assured her, rolling over and taking her with me.

Feeling her warm, soft and inviting beneath me instantly had my body voice demands again, telling my rattled mind to take a time out and go play elsewhere with all its disturbing thoughts. There were more pressing matters to attend to, after all. "We could just explore a bit more and make this familiar territory," I suggested playfully, lowering my head and trailing kisses down from her neck over her breasts to her stomach.

"Sounds like a good plan to me..." Elena said, her pulse picking up pace again.

I threw her a wicked glance. "We have to work on your self-control, though," I said, and saw her wrinkle her nose.

"What's wrong with that?" she asked a little indignantly. "Actually, I think it was pretty good, given the circumstances..."

"Exactly," I deadpanned. "That's what we'll have to work on." Her eyes grew big and I couldn't help teasing her just a little bit more. She was so cute and refreshing in all her innocence and modesty. Smiling devilishly I whispered: "Next time I want you thrashing, and begging and maybe even screaming."

Her eyes fell shut and she obliged me with a soft moan, when I put my suddenly shabby and petty-seeming experience to a wise use at last. "It's highly likely to happen if you continue doing that..." she breathed, before her words were lost in the less vocal sounds of her pleasure.

ELENA

After we had both come down from another breathtaking high, I finally fell asleep in Damon's arms, utterly spent and exhausted, but blissfully happy. I slept soundly and peacefully, awaking hours later to the bright morning sunlight.

"Good morning," Damon greeted me cheerfully, a truly happy smile playing on his face. He had obviously been awake for a while, as he sat propped against the headboard, one arm behind his back, watching me contentedly.

"Hey..." I said softly, giving him a slightly self-conscious smile. Waking up in a man's bed was still a novelty to me. Yet it felt right to be here. Everything about this night had felt absolutely right, and I could only marvel at that. Never in any of these weak moments when I had given in to imagining sex with Damon had I imagined it to be sweet and cuddly. I had known that being with him would be all about heat and passion, and I had expected skill, boldness and dominance. But what had made me melt like wax in his hands had been his gentleness, the unexpected patience and the restraint he had exerted.

It must have been extremely difficult for him to rein in his other hungers while giving in to the ones I had at least been able to sate. I felt myself blushing, realizing at the same time how weird this reaction was after everything we had done yesterday. Still, Damon didn't seem to mind.

His expression was full of delight as he leaned towards me, lightly tracing the outline of my face with his fingertips. "If you continue looking so cute and sweet and appealing like that, I will be sorely tempted to pick up right where we left off last night...," he said with a wistful sigh. "But I don't want to come over as awfully pushing and demanding. Or as needy as that."

"I wouldn't mind," I said softly. "I think I like you pushy, demanding and needy."

His eyes lit up. "Oh, I surely love to hear you say that! But right now, since we're still in the courting phase, I want to impress you with being considerate and mindful of the fact that you're a mere human. You need a respite. And breakfast."

True enough. I was feeling a bit sore, and hungry. And what he probably wasn't saying out loud was that he needed to have some kind of breakfast, too. Or that I'd be tempting fate by another roll in the feathers with a hungry vampire.

Though I felt relief that he had not yet given in to his other natural urges, I knew it was only a reprieve. We couldn't continue this kind of intimacy if I kept denying him what he surely lusted for just as much. And yet I wanted this to continue, more than anything.

If I had been concerned that I might lose my heart to him at some point, I could stop worrying about that after tonight – it had already happened. Whatever the future held for us, I knew one thing for sure: If Damon wasn't to be in mine, I'd never fully get over him. The possibility of having to deal with yet another substantial loss scared the hell out of me. I determinedly pushed the thought to the far back of my mind, deciding to worry about it when the time came.

Sighing, I sat up. "Mind if I use your shower?"

"You are most welcome to use anything of mine," he said, his voice low and suggestive. I couldn't help blushing again as I got out of the bed and headed to the bathroom in all my naked glory, which made him groan.

"God, woman. You're seriously tempting me – again!" Feeling more secure in the knowledge that I had the power to affect him that much, I deliberately turned when I was at the door. "Well, I suggest you make yourself useful, then, and find me my clothes," I said, batting my lashes. "I can't remember where you tossed them after taking them off me, and I'll be in a similar state of undress after the shower." Before he could do anything inappropriate to backfire on me, I quickly shut the bathroom door.

About half an hour later, after taking in the pile of clothes Damon had left at the door for me, I emerged from the bathroom fully dressed with my slightly moist hair pulled up in a messy bun. Damon was just buttoning up his shirt which I noticed a little regretfully. As far as I was concerned, he could walk around bare chested all the time, I certainly wouldn't mind the view.

Given that his hair was slightly damp as well, he probably had taken a shower in one of the other bathrooms. What a regretful waste of water. His shower was easily big enough to accommodate two. Well, maybe some other time.

Damon pulled me in for a quick, yet thorough kiss before we finally opened the door and headed downstairs.

"What the hell..." muttered Damon, when he we entered the kitchen and were confronted with the mess Alys must have been taking ample time in making. It looked as if she had slaughtered something – or someone. Alys herself looked very pleased with herself, though.

"Goodness gracious, Alys – just what are you doing here?" The metallic smell was awful and made me feel slightly sick. I quickly covered my nose with my hand, stretching my sleeve so I could breathe into the cloth.

"I just had this idea... for Caroline," Alys said, all excited. "If she's going to keep her secret from her mom, she needs to be discreet about her feedings. I tried to figure out how to disguise the blood more efficiently." She poured a glass of what looked like cranberry juice, but – according to her introductory speech – clearly wasn't.

"Here, look at this!" Proudly, she offered me the glass.

"Well, I'm not going to try that, for sure..." I said, spreading my hands in a deprecating gesture, and searching Damon's gaze for help.

"Don't look at me!" he said, wagging his finger in a no-way gesture. His grimace turned into a frown when his eyes fell on an almost empty bottle of bourbon standing it the middle of bowls and tetra paks and blenders. "Is that my good old bourbon?" he asked, his voice carefully and suspiciously neutral.

"Well, yeah – I wanted the blood to look more fluid, more like juice. So I used the alcohol to dilute it. I figured it would make the blood more durable and give it that extra flavor. Besides, it will help curb the cravings, so it might be a useful ingredient."

Damon looked as if he was about to commit murder. "You used a bottle of 120 Dollar first class bourbon to make bloody cranberry juice? Are you out of your mind?"

Alys put her hand on her hips and gave him a stern glance. "Are you saying that you're going through an estimated 1200 dollars worth of bourbon per week? Are you sure you can afford such an expensive debauchment on your assistant job's salary?"

I hastily stepped in before we had any more casualties in the kitchen. "What did you do with the tomato juice and – just where did all the blood in that bucket come from?" I eyed the huge, 4 gallon bucket suspiciously. Converted into humans, that must be about 3-4 adults.

"That's pig blood." Alys explained. "I got it from a slaughterhouse. I've come up with a mixture that actually works great: one half animal blood, a quarter of human blood and a quarter of either bourbon and cranberry or tomato juice. And it looks amazingly real, doesn't it? And it's pretty tasty, too. That way, Caroline doesn't have to worry about keeping a healthy variety of human and non-human blood in her diet."

"Where, if I may ask, do all the human blood bags come from?" It was a question that had been worrying me for some time now, but somehow, I had never found the courage to ask.

Alys answered a little reluctantly, which seemed to confirm my suspicions. "Elijah keeps me stocked up."

"He's robbing the blood bank?" I asked, just to make sure.

She twitched uncomfortably. "Well, sometimes. But mostly, he get's it from his patients."

"His patients? But he's a pathologist... Wait – are you saying he's draining the corpses?" Damon's eyes were actually bulging out of his head.

"It's strictly speaking the same as donated blood," Alys hastened to explain, a little defensively, though. "People donate their organs all the time. While the corpses are still fresh, the blood is, too. Elijah is working on a way to make a sort of blood concentrate from it, something that can be stored in a box like instant broth and stirred into water. But he's not quite there yet."

Damon was totally grossed out. "We're vampires, for God's sake, not ghouls! We prey on living, healthy humans, not on powdered blood, not on animals and certainly not on corpses! That's disgusting!"

"Well, I actually think it's a great idea," I said, defending Alys, who seemed rather proud of her creativity.

Damon turned his fiery gaze back on me. "Sure you do – 'cause you don't have to drink it! And frankly, you're not much of a friend if you allow her to feed that to Caroline. Just pointing that out!" Grabbing what was left of his precious bourbon and shooting another deadly glare at Alys, he turned his back on us and headed into his study.

"Gee, I hope he has hidden a clown in there he can snack on for breakfast," Alys muttered before turning back to me with much friendlier expression. "That might make him cheer up a bit. Want some coffee?"

A/N: A small annotation to all the non-Germans about the 'clown' reference. It's actually a weird thing Germans might ask someone who seems unusually chipper and cheerful or who's trying to be funny: "Did you have a clown for breakfast?" I have no idea where that line originated from, it really only makes sense if you were talking to a vampire. Maybe the vampire population is in fact higher here than anywhere else? Who knows... Anyway, I couldn't refrain from using it here :)