It was a lazy, hot Sunday afternoon as Damon and Bonnie watched The Walking Dead marathon on television in the living room.

Damon lay with his head in her lap, every now and then his soft hair tickling the bare skin of her right thigh whenever he moved.

"Rick wants to fuck Michonne so badly." He blurted aloud, causing Bonnie to laugh.

"No he doesn't!" She said, grabbing some popcorn from the bowl that Damon held firmly on his flat stomach so that it wouldn't fall.

He snorted. "Yes hell he does. The next time they share a scene, watch how he looks at her...better yet, watch how his eyes always drop to her ass every time she walks away."

She chuckled, shaking her head as she stuffed the popcorn into her mouth.

Stefan came into the room and some of her amusement died down, but only he noticed as he took a seat in the armchair adjacent to the sofa.

"What are you two watching?" He asked, conversationally.

His brother answered. "The Walking Dead Marathon, season three, I think…isn't this season three?" He asked looking up at Bonnie.

Her fingers had been softly tapping his chest when she nodded in confirmation.

Stefan's eyes went to Bonnie, his brows raising. "I thought you didn't like that show?"

Her brows knitted together. "I never said that I didn't like the show…I just hate watching the killings, but other than that it's pretty good."

Damon chimed in. "Yeah and besides, during the gruesome scenes I cover her eyes so she doesn't have to see."

All the help that did, Bonnie thought to herself, snorting lightly. Damon's hand would barely cover her eyes because he was all into the scene. Hell, if it wasn't for the fact that she kept her eyes tightly closed, she'd be able to see everything.

Stefan chuckled having read her thoughts.

These two were a trip. He shook his head looking at the both of them. They were happy just sitting there doing nothing but watching TV. On second thought, they were happy because they had each other.

And it wouldn't be right for him to try and come in between that.

Damon was his brother and Stefan knew that he loved this girl more than anything else in the world, including probably him, truth be told.

It was time for him to leave Mystic Falls.

But before he could tell them of his plans to leave, the soulful R&B voice of Melanie Fiona filled the room, drowning out everything.

It Kills Me, To Know How Much I Really Love You, So Much I Wanna Ooh Ooh Ooh, To You Ooh Ooh

He watched as Bonnie reached over Damon's head and grabbed her phone from off the coffee table and turned it over in her hand to see that it was Matt. She started to lean back but before she could answer the call, his brother grabbed the phone from her.

"Hey!" She yelled out.

"No phone calls."

"But Damon, it's Matt." She said reaching for the phone.

He dodged her hand. "Exactly. Matt's been taking up a lot of your time lately, but not today. Today it's just me and you."

How could see argue with that? But the thing was Matt was going through a hard time right now and he needed her.

"Okay Damon, I understand that but Matt's going through a tough time and I don't want him to feel like he's alone. Just let me see what he wants and then I'm all yours, I promise."

She reached for the phone.

"No." He said firmly, his jaw tensing.

Damon couldn't believe this shit. He'd made the mistake of thinking that with Jamie being away at summer camp he would finally have Bonnie all to himself, but then Matt Donovan just swooped right in taking the boy's place and with it, all of her time.

In the beginning he tried to be cool about things, but damn, enough was enough.

"Matt has always been there for me when I've needed him, Damon…so it's my turn to return the favor. Now please…give me my phone." She said holding up her hand.

For a second, she thought he would argue further but he gave her the phone. She smiled gratefully about to say thank you when he proceeded to get up from her lap, standing to his feet and placing the bowl of popcorn on the coffee table.

"Seriously?" She uttered, looking up at him with wide eyes.

Why was he acting like this?

"Yeah, seriously." He said, walking away.

Bonnie's mouth dropped. He was getting upset over this. She scoffed, disbelievingly.

She looked at Stefan.

He gave her a sympathetic look.

She exhaled loudly and then remembering Matt, answered the call.

"Hey Matty."

"Hey Bon…um look… are you doing anything?"

She turned her head to the right to see Damon going upstairs and she sighed. "No…I'm not doing anything."

"Well, do you think you can take me to work? My truck won't start and my mom's not home and Vicki's not answering her phone?"

"Yeah sure. Are you ready now?"

"Yeah."

"Well, I'm on the way." She said, getting up from the sofa.

"Hey thanks Bon, I appreciate it."

"No problem."

They hung up.

"I can't believe he's mad right now." She said, shaking her head as she slid her small feet into her flat scandals. "Matt's my best friend…I just can't turn my back on him. Why can't he get that?" She said, pulling down her shorts on her inner thighs.

Stefan rubbed his hand across his mouth, sighing. "Probably because he's never had a best friend. My brother only has associates. So he doesn't understand that dynamic Bonnie."

Hearing this made her stop. "What? He's never had a best friend?" She asked incredulously.

"I think Jamie maybe the closest he's ever come to having one…and of course you."

Her mouth slightly dropped.

He stood to his feet. "Look, I'll take Matt to work." He said so that she could go talk to Damon.

She slowly nodded her head, lost in her thoughts. "Thanks."

He left the house and Bonnie made her way upstairs.

She came to a stop when she got to his bedroom. She leaned against the doorframe. He was sitting on top of his bed propped up against two pillows with his legs cross at the ankles, reading a book.

"Matt's truck wouldn't start and he needed a ride to work… Stefan is going to take him."

No response. He didn't even look up from his book.

"Why is it that you and I are always pissing each other off?" She asked, coming into the room.

She walked to the bed, standing over him and slipped off her shoes. She climbed onto his lap, her thighs flanking his and she took the book from his hands, setting it aside.

Blue eyes finally met hazel, which for some reason or another looked a lot greener than usual to him.

"We argue a lot." She continued.

His arms went around her waist, bringing her closer. "True. But that wasn't an argument just now. I walked away before it could escalate into that."

He was tired of arguing too.

"Yeah, but you walked away angry with me when all I was trying to do was be there for my best friend."

He shook his head, sighing softly. "Bonnie, there's more to it than that. Since I've been back, it's been about Matt and what he's going through."

She looked away, but he gently captured her chin with fingers, making her look at him. "I know he's your best friend, but all I'm saying is that you can't keep neglecting us to go see about him, okay?"

She dropped her eyes, nodding her head.

"Hey, look at me." He didn't say anything more until she did. "I love you."

She tried to smile, but it was difficult because it seemed like in a round about way he was trying to tell her that she would have to choose between him and Matt, even though he'd used the pronoun us.

"I know."

He kissed her lips but after a few moments abruptly pulled away, surprising her some. "Now, tell me that you love me too." He said, watching her carefully.

"I love you too."

He gave her a soft smile, tucking a strand of loose hair behind her left ear. "As long as you love me Bonnie, all will be good."

She swallowed hard, trying hard not to take that statement as a threat.

So it turned out that the "dog" Bonnie had met towards the end of last summer was Damon.

Unlike Stefan and most other vampires, he was able to shape shift.

It seemed there was no rhyme or reason of vampirism; they all were extremely strong, had superhuman speed, hearing, and agility and were able to compel people with their minds, but some were "blessed" with other abilities such as mind reading, some could even fly and just like Damon a few were able to transform into different species of animals.

And come to find out he wasn't a dog like she'd thought.

He was a wolf.

"But you barked and wolves howl." Bonnie said in confusion when he first told her.

He smirked condescendingly as he tapped the tip of her nose with his index finger. "That's a misconception my Dear. Wolves can indeed bark…if you don't believe me, Google it."

It was all so very fascinating and yet underlining frightening to know that all of this supernatural stuff really existed, except in the real world vampires didn't sparkle prettily in the sunlight like Edward Cullen but had Lapis Lazuli rings spelled by witches that allowed them to walk in the daylight among humans.

Bonnie had noticed Damon's ring the first time she met him, but had assumed like so many others that it was just an ordinary signet ring.

She was learning so much about his world and they did most of their talking while lying in bed at night. Damon patiently answered all of her questions and didn't sugarcoat anything. He wanted Bonnie to know that he was a predator and that he needed human blood in order to survive.

Though tonight, she finally asked the question he'd been dreading.

She asked if he killed people.

There was a short pause before he answered her honestly, telling her yes.

Bonnie lowered her eyes as that fact sunk in. She loved this man with everything that was in her. He had become everything to her, so much so that when he left, she thought she'd die.

These late night conversations had revealed one thing that refused to leave her mind and that was that the man she loved was truly dangerous, in every sense of the word.

All those times he'd spazzed out on her and she called him crazy; that was because he actually was.

Damon Salvatore was genuinely, certifiably psychotic.

How was she supposed to deal with knowing all of this about him?

He gently took hold of her chin, pulling the seventeen year old girl from her thoughts.

"Tell me that you love me." He demanded softly, needing to hear her say it.

There was silence as she stared into his penetrating blue eyes.

"I love you." She whispered just as softly, meaning it.

He leaned his head forward, wetting his lips before capturing hers in a hungry kiss and within seconds he rolled on top of her, settling himself between her thighs.

Bonnie softly cried as he made tender, sweet love to her.

She stopped asking him questions after that night.

For days afterwards, Bonnie felt weighed down by everything and at the center of it all was her questioning herself. Damon had done so many horrible things and yet her heart still loved him as much as her body continued to crave him.

She felt crazy because what type of person did that make her, being in love with a serial killer?

Because when it boiled down to it, that's exactly what he was.

"Hey, where you going?" Damon called out from the living room.

He heard Bonnie bound down the stairs in what seemed like a hurry, heading straight to the door without stopping to say one word to him.

Seconds later she found herself being pressed intimately against the wall with Damon towering over her.

"Answer me, where are you going?" He repeated, pressing his body fully into hers, so that she could feel him.

Bonnie cleared her throat, looking away from gorgeous face and trying to ignore the bulge in his pants.

"It's April's birthday today and we're all going to the beach…I thought I told you."

For the first time Damon noticed she was carrying her bright yellow beach bag and he could see the straps of her white bikini top peeking out from beneath the pretty, summer dress she wore. Her hair was up in a messy textured bun with her sunglasses perched on top of her head.

He frowned. "No, you didn't tell me."

Her eyes went back to his. She swallowed hard. "Well, I thought I did."

"When will you be back then?"

"I don't know. It's going to take at least an hour to get to the beach, so I guess it all depends on how long we stay."

"Who all is going?"

"Just some of the girls on the cheerleading squad."

A loud car horn sounded from outside.

She lightly pushed at his chest, but he didn't budge. "I have to go Damon, they're waiting for me."

"Kiss me goodbye first." He demanded.

She leaned up on her tiptoes and pecked his lips, but when she went to pull away he gently grabbed hold of the back of her head and deepened the kiss, not letting her go until he was ready. She was panting heavily when he finally released her.

"Have fun." He said stepping back from her.

Bonnie didn't trust her legs to walk. She sort of sagged against the wall for a moment until she saw Damon's eyes. The fucking bastard was laughing at her. He'd done that on purpose, knowing the effect it would have on her.

It was very evident that he knew the type of hold he had on her. She carefully pushed herself from off the wall, not looking at him as she straightened her dress.

Damon felt the hairs on the back of his neck rise. Something was wrong. "Hey." He said, forcing her to look at him.

She pushed his hand away from underneath her chin, still not looking at him. "I have to go." She turned away from him, pulling the door open and quietly walking out.

What just happened, Damon thought to himself.

The frown didn't leave his handsome face for the rest of the day.

Bonnie was mostly quiet at the beach. And after a while, she left her chatty group of friends in favor of a walk along the beach, feeling the warm sand underneath her feet.

However when she returned, it was to see that half the guys from the football team had showed up and Jesse was with them.

Just great.

She'd told Damon that it would only be the girls going.

She pulled April aside to talk to her. "Hey, what's this…what are they doing here?"

The pretty brunette shrug. "It was pretty boring with just us here, so Caroline called the guys and they drove up." She grabbed Bonnie's hand, pulling her back to the group. "Come on, they brought beer!"

When it got dark, some of the guys built a bonfire and it turned into a real party just like they had in the woods with the music blaring loudly as underage teenagers drank their fill of beer, including Bonnie who decided to join in on all the fun.

She stumbled slightly, giggling to herself as she made her way back from the keg of beer to her friends on the beach.

"I think you've spilled most of it on the ground Bon, come on…I'll refill your cup." Jesse laughed.

She followed him back to the keg that they kept in the bed of one of the guy's truck just in case the cops showed up.

He took the plastic red cup from her hand and filled it up to the brim.

"Thanks, you're such a sweetie beer." She said reaching for the cup and taking a small sip, not really liking the taste of beer, but loving the effect it was having on her.

She felt good. She no longer had a care in the world.

"So is that why you never gave me the time of day…because I'm a nice guy?" He asked, all of a sudden becoming serious.

She pulled the cup from her mouth looking up at him.

He continued. "I mean I didn't peg you for the type who liked the bad boys, Bonnie."

She didn't say anything. She couldn't.

There was an awkward silence and he realized that he'd had too much to drink tonight. He didn't mean to put her on the spot like that, so being the nice guy that he was, he let her off the hook.

He shrugged. "Hey, you like what you like, right? People can't help who they are attracted to."

Silence.

Say Something by Christina Aguilera and A Great Big World could be heard clearly coming from the beach.

He gently took the cup from her hand and Bonnie watched as he sat it down on the ground.

"You owe me a dance and I'm collecting right now." He chuckled softly. But then his manners kicked in. "May I?" He asked, holding out his arms.

Bonnie nodded.

They danced silently, allowing the song to speak for itself.

But after a moment, Jesse couldn't help himself and spoke honestly. "You will always be that girl that got away, Bonnie."

She had been dancing with her head pressed against his shoulder, but she pulled back slightly so that she could look at him. There was a good chance that if she'd never meant Damon, Jesse probably would have ended up being her boyfriend.

Her life would be completely different and she'd be just as blissfully ignorant as everyone else of the supernatural world that surrounded them.

"Hey Bon, what's wrong?" He asked softly, when he saw her face.

She cleared her throat, shaking her head. "N-Nothing…I think we should get back to the others." She said, turning to leave.

"Bonnie wait!" He called out, but she ignored him going back to the beach.

By the time she got home, it was one o'clock in the morning. There was no use in trying to sneak into the house because Damon would hear her regardless.

She was surprised that she was able to make it all the way upstairs to her bedroom without incident.

Maybe he was out with Stefan.

She opened her bedroom door and turned on the light to find him waiting inside.

Shit.

She dropped her bag to the floor, leaning her forehead against the cool door and closing her eyes.

She licked her dry lips. "Is it possible for us to have this conversation in the morning? I've had a lot to drink tonight and all I want to do his sleep."

Damon pointed to the clock on her dresser, getting up from the cushy white chair in the corner of her room.

"It is morning."

She gripped the doorhandle. "Then can you come back around noon?"

The amusement that started to creep over Damon instantly vanished when he crossed the room and caught the scent of that boy on her.

Jesse.

His jaw tensed. "I thought you said it was only supposed to be you and your girls going to the beach?"

She sighed loudly, opening her eyes and the smell of beer on her breath assaulted his nose. She pulled herself away from the door.

"If you must know, Caroline invited the guys to come after we got to the beach because she was fucking bored to tears with just us girls there, you happy now…DAMN!" She snapped, stumbling slightly on her feet.

She drunkenly took off her shoes, dropping them to the floor.

"I didn't lie to you, so get off my fucking back already!" She said angrily, walking passed him.

He flew at her and within nanoseconds she was pinned against the wall.

Shit!

The sudden movement caused her head to spin wildly. "Stop doing that!"

He released her just as abruptly and she fell to the floor with a loud thump.

"Ow, that hurt!" she whined in that annoying drunk girl voice.

"Good." He said walking away from her.

She glared up at his retreating back, bringing her left wrist to her chest, having twisted it slightly trying to break her fall.

"You would say something that fucked up wouldn't you?" She sneered.

He stopped walking.

She gingerly got up from the floor, being careful of her hurt wrist. "It's a good thing that I didn't break any skin otherwise I'd probably be dead right now, like all the other innocent people you've killed."

It wasn't so much what she said, but how she said it that had Damon slowly turning his head to look at her and what he saw in her eyes made his none beating, long dead heart tighten painfully in his chest.

Because the woman that he loved above anyone else was staring at him like he was the devil incarnate.

And it hurt him to see that look in her eyes and when Damon Salvatore was hurting, he became unstable and lashed out, doing stupid things he'd regret later.

And Bonnie saw the exact moment his blue eyes glinted dangerously at her and she realized too late that she'd gone too far, and she stupidly tried to make a run for the bathroom.

But three things were her downfall.

The first being she was intoxicated; the second was her hurt wrist, and the third one trumped them all. Damon Salvatore was a fucking vampire with superhuman speed. There was no way in hell she was getting away from him.

She didn't even make it to the door, but found herself being thrust onto the bed with Damon straddling her body.

"Don't ever make the mistake of trying to run away from me again Bonnie because it only excites the beast in me!" He informed her.

He then viciously bit into his wrist and forced his blood down her throat.

Bonnie struggled in vain against him.

He leaned down so close to her face that their noses were almost touching.

"If I wanted to I could snap your pretty little neck right now and you'd wake up just like me, a murderous, bloodthirsty vampire!"

Her eyes widened in fear, but it was only when they began to shine with tears that he removed his bloody wrist from her mouth and he realized what he'd done.

Bonnie didn't swallow the remaining blood in her mouth, but instead spit it hatefully in his face.

Their eyes remained locked to each other with the sound of Bonnie's heavy breathing and fast beating heart drowning out everything around Damon.

"Get off me." She said with loathing in her voice.

He didn't move.

"Get off me!" She screamed angrily as the tears finally slid from her eyes.

He finally moved, getting off her trembling body.

She sat up on the bed, wiping his blood from her mouth with the back of her hand. "Now get out of my room!"

She was so upset by what just happened that she didn't even notice that her wrist was healed.

Damon ran a shaky hand through his hair. "Bonnie, I'm sorry I …"

She wasn't trying to hear it, cutting him off. "I said get the fuck out, right now Damon!"

He swallowed hard and then after a moment he nodded his head.

She ran to the door locking it as soon as he was gone, not caring that the puny little lock was not match against Damon's superhuman strength.

The teenager slid to the floor crying, hitting the door with her fist. "If you did do it, I would walk out into the sunlight and kill myself."

Damon froze, having heard her. His blood running cold at her chilling words.

In that moment, the vampire promised himself that history would not repeat itself. Bonnie would not end up like Emily. Because if it ever came down to that, he wouldn't think twice about locking her away for the rest of her undead life.

He would rather she hated him for all of eternity than live without her. She wasn't going anywhere.

Not even death would keep her from him.