I woke up or rather came to. I was incredibly tender all over and even breathing could be felt. I remembered the night's activities and I didn't wonder at all. I was intact, though, so Damon must have healed me with his blood. My head was confused and fuzzy and I realized that some kind of sedative was already working there. Damon came up to me and said " Morning darling, time to get dressed. Let me help you. That's it." Damon dressed me. A dress, an animal-like, leopard-print, full-length dress that was like a second skin. He put my hair up and bit the stuff around my neck, and the makeup was done with that. Then again high heels so I'd be at the appropriate level for medication and then we went downstairs. Damon had his arm around me and I was getting a flank before the elevator got there.

After a short walk, it was my liver's turn and oh my god it hurt, my whole stomach was still so tender from the night's stabbing and Damon could feel my muscles tensing as he rubbed my liver. We finally got to the dining room and went side by side to eat again, Damon still feeding me. " A husband has to feed his wife when she always complains that I take all the food so now, darling now it's my turn to feed you." And everyone was completely taken in by what was now a hangover reaction. And again the same thing all day. The flank, liver, pancreas, spleen, abdominal cavity, the threat, maybe the flash of a syringe so that, more or less, I already offered my flank, where he could inject the stuff. Adam and Bran, Samuel even Charles were surrounded by women and had apparently had wild nights. Bran even said something about the party going on after the wedding but Damon just looked coldly, emotionlessly at Bran.

He said to me " Darling, now you can be sure that I will not easily abandon you, not even after the honeymoon. Now you will learn to live with me, all the time. There are so many things we need to discuss, Darling, including whether to continue the gigs in the same way. I think you should specialize in sniping, and leave the street killing to others. As for the fleas, I'll teach you how to delegate. You don't have to be the one who's always pulling the strings. I won't let you. And another thing. Fight clubs. Those I'm not quite sure what my opinion is on yet because, Darling I know your rage, I really do. No one ever takes it seriously, except me. A rage like yours. It's an asset, but it can also be a kind of weakness that consumes you. That's why maybe fight clubs, and an absolute no to chasing Sark." During that speech, I got another flanker and I even got something to liver for, so I was a good girl and listened.

If I hadn't been so medicated and threatened, oh fuck that I would have had a couple of nice comments to share. I was so tempted to start making comments when this guy always brought out that side of me. I felt like saying try and take the flea threads away from me and I'll hang you with them. Damon looked at me very pointedly and very quickly gave my abdominal cavity the substance now, while saying in a velvety soft voice, " Darling, telepathic, and strong, meaning if you continue in this manner, you will face the consequences." I stopped thinking like that and concentrated on thinking about the clothes of the guests in my head. Damon laughed and said, " Much better darling, I didn't know you had such strong opinions about people's clothes, this is actually fun listening to your thoughts."

The night's activities were the same, at the end of the evening we had a proper drink and up in the lift, me with a cannula and some fucking medicine, clothes off, and into bed, where I always passed out for a moment to wake up to Damon taking me in his arms and starting to stab me, fear and terror. Then again standing up on his lap the stabbing continued now also on his back. And finally, now he did, when I was almost sober, slit my carotid artery open and drained me dry. For some reason, it was frightening, distressing, horrible. No amount of reassurance in my head would help, nothing. I felt like I was definitely going to die or something really bad was going to happen until the darkness took over.

I woke up again with my stomach in a state of shock. If possible, even more, tender than the morning before. But today, today I would be ready. The last day and some of the guests would be leaving after lunch, just like the vice president. Today I would be looking for someone, someone to whom I could say, hint, or show. Adam might be one good target, but I wonder how I would do it. Which would be so subtle but clearly identifiable. A way. There had to be someone, because the night was already much rougher than Damon would have been excited about, what could be done to me, and for some reason. My control gives him power, or some sense of power at least. My dress was pink, a pink satin dress, again body-hugging, it was obvious to everyone that my underwear consisted of nothing but panties, nothing else.

I tried to be calm as we were back at breakfast and Damon lazily stroked his fingernail across my neck. For some reason, some part of me didn't like it at all and downright loathed it. Damon leaned into me and whispered "I love the way your vampire side has come out, she doesn't like me doing anything near your jugular. No no Mirella, Mirella is not the same as your vampire side, not even close. Think of it this way. Mirella lived and died, but her essence remained in storage. Now every now and then a vampire is born who can take on such an essence, to be an advisor, to help. A symbiosis. To have such an advisor, you have to be a vampire yourself. Mirella can be taken away from you or even destroyed but it won't take your vampire nature anywhere. It won't be long before you need to start drinking blood regularly and in sufficient quantities. But, darling don't worry, I will teach. I'll show you everything. Where have you been getting your blood from, you haven't been eating only Adam, if you're drinking from demons at fight clubs. We'll see about that after the honeymoon. darling." My reward was a flank and a good dose of my pancreas. The thought of my vampire side waking up felt foreign, but also worrisome. My bloodlust, my rage. Mimosa. Mimosa would be your vampire wolf, too. Mimosa was already a vampire wolf, but then how would my vampire side awakening affect Mimosa? I don't know.

We continued with the day's activities and indeed afternoon, the guests began to leave. Adam Bran, Charles and Samuel, and Magnum were very hungover very tired, and not interested in getting terribly close. Jarod left it that way and I was grateful for that because for some reason this part of Damon doesn't like Jarod at all and sees him as a downright threat, even though Jarod is married. As the day progressed the options diminished but the medication did not. I thought this might be awkward but I saw my chance, now it would just be a matter of whether the recipient was able to receive my transmission. Nick and Elias. Adam had taught me the Morse code, but I had no idea if Nick knew it.

I kept tapping my fingers to keep them ready so that, no matter how drugged I was, I would get my message across. That message was simple. Sos. Damon off Dresden. Dresden had said that if this side came out more, it could be controlled. Dresden suspected that Damon takes his switch off partway through these episodes. Because a couple of times when I've been rescued, when Damon has tortured me real good, Dresden put the switch back on and it always helped. Dresden's theory was also that this darling side is actually Damon's vampire side. He had already made a potion for that. It was already 6 o'clock in the evening when the brothers came to say goodbye. After Elias shook Damon's hand and they talked for a while, I took Nick's hand in mine and put my index finger in his palm and tapped it probably three times, Nick winked, very discreetly and I hoped he got the idea.

Then Damon was already leading me on, watching contentedly as the brothers left. My stomach got an extra big dose and I was really drugged, now there was no need to keep such a careful balance as the castle was almost empty "Come on darling, we'll go to the suite to change and spend the night there, in the morning we'll be on our way. And that night was wild. By now a machete was in use, and my neck was being ripped open several times. He wrapped himself around me from behind, trapping my wrists in one hand, then he took one of his vampire claws and slashed my entire neck open. Or just a vein or an artery. He held his nail there so the vein wouldn't clot and soothed me.

Always a fucking heartbeat. They were no longer soothing, and safe, they were like bells of fate, I didn't want to listen to them anymore. Morning came and I was sore. In addition to the throat cut, I was introduced to my cervical vertebrae, which were wonderful to break especially the occipital ribs, and ribs, another enduring favorite. In the morning my stomach was open, and my neck had healed. I was already firmly sedated, now he didn't heal my stomach but put a dry bandage on it so my clothes wouldn't go. Velvet dress. Purple was my travel outfit to hell, I thought when I could. Now the cannula was not removed but covered with a scarf. I was told it would be easier to medicate in the car as we have quite a long drive here in Italy too, darling. Oh how I wanted to shove that darling down his throat, but the slightest doubt or something flashed in my eyes and I got a mega flank. This morning everything was mega. Every single dose of sedation.

We headed downstairs and now I wasn't wearing quite so high-heeled shoes, we went to the car and Damon put me in the back seat, took out of his pocket a 500ml syringe that was full, and attached it to my cannula and started to slowly push the plunger. "Now Darling, this is going to knock you out, I just need to make sure you are properly sedated and anesthetized before we get moving. This is a combination of different medications for most of my teeth, isn't it darling perfect how precise and functional the medications in my teeth make them, especially for you? The right precision medicines. Work in moderate doses, long enough, and most importantly you don't quite take them off easily. " My eyes began to glaze over quite badly as Damon slowly but surely depressed the plunger. He would occasionally grab my chin and look into my eyes. He felt my stomach and was satisfied that it hadn't healed yet. Eventually, my vision blurred completely, I heard Damon talking to me and shaking me, and then nothing.

Mimi was sound asleep and Damon went to the driver's seat and started driving with her, he had the route all set but after driving for an hour he realized he was running low on fuel. Damon furrowed his brow and thought. Didn't he fill up his car before the wedding, but then again, as it was sort of a pack car, someone else could have used it, no worries. Mimi was very deeply medicated. In a medically induced coma. She wouldn't wake up for a long time. Damon's dentures were precise and had very few side effects. Like, for example, all the common animal anesthetics and large animal tranquilizers that still worked on Mimi, lowered and messed with Mimi's thermoregulation, she cooled down, and easily.

But not with dental substances. These allowed Mimi to maintain her body temperature, even though she was indeed in a coma. Damon checked the GPS for the nearest gas station, which would be here in a few minutes. A quick refuel and the journey would continue. Damon drove to the station and filled up his car. Then he went inside to pay. After he paid he came out and felt pain in his thigh. A red tranquilizer dart. Really. Who the fuck dares. Damon looked around and saw no one. Behind the gas station was a forest.

Adam was waiting. The first dart had sunk and he was ready to fire another if the Salvatore didn't falter. Poor Mimi. Three days, Wonder what Damon's actually done to her. If Nick hadn't caught on to Mimi's distress signal, what would have been Mimi's fate? On her honeymoon. Adam remembered how Damon had earlier grabbed Mimi and stabbed her for a week, chasing her first and calling her Darling. And now Adam clearly remembered that he too had actually heard Damon call Mimi darling. Salvatore swayed.

Adam decided to play it safe and fired another shot. It was a bull's eye. 10 minutes later Damon collapsed on the ground and lay there. Dresden went over to Damon and moved him with his foot with no reaction. Nick and Elias came with a van and put Damon in restraints and lifted him into the van. Meanwhile, Charles and Samuel had picked up Mimi, who was in a deep coma and brought her to Samuel's car. Samuel examined Mimi for a moment and then left her in the back and got into the driver's seat himself.

Adam went to talk to Samuel " What's Mimi's status? " Samuel sighed " Stomach full of knife wounds or something, deeply asleep in a coma, not even trying to go to hibernation. I gave her a blocker just in case. We are now driving to the airport and from there to Chicago, I'll check on Mimi a bit on the flight but I doubt I can do anything about those drugs. Dental stuff, Mimi is miraculously not underheating at all so that's a bonus. Are you coming to Chicago on the same ride?" Adam nodded as he left his rental car at the gas station and hopped in with Samuel, Charles was in the back watching Mimi. Dresden would get Damon fixed up and then let him go. Adam just wasn't sure where or when Damon would end up.