Yes! Tis I, back from the dead of writers block and lack of computer. Hopefully I'm not losing the plot staying up in a frenzy of moving and writing.
BELLA
Her twin? Sure, they looked alike, but Bella was nowhere near that pretty. Her hair was the wrong shade, her hips too wide, and her eyes much darker. There was no way Elena could think Damon was searching for her in Bella's features.
Elena stepped backward into the arms of Damon's brother, Stefan, and suddenly, Bella recognized the hurt hidden behind his joy.
A love triangle, if I've ever seen one, she thought dryly, observing the exchange of glances between Damon and Stefan over Elena's head. A tension filled the air, with an almost palpable current sparking between the brothers. The situation felt eerily familiar, as if she were witnessing a scene from some romantic drama.
A love triangle, and it seemed he was Jacob. That realization sent a pang through her heart. Jacob... Angela... Holy shit, Angela!
"Damon?" Bella waited for him to tear his gaze from the mental battle he was waging with his brother. "Where did my phone go?" Her mind felt like it was frayed at the edges, but somehow, an odd calmness washed over her.
If Damon was aware that his brother and the brother's girlfriend were staring intensely at them, he didn't show it.
"It's on the counter, charging," he murmured quietly as he moved closer. "Angela brought the charger for you yesterday when you... fell asleep... after that phone call." He spoke slowly, his gaze scrutinizing her expression, searching for something.
Phone call? Bella's brow furrowed in thought before her face blanched. "Th-that really happened?" she asked weakly, recalling how Damon had hung up on Edward.
"Yeah, and good thing she brought the charger too because that ex of yours is persistent. He practically killed your phone, calling and texting you over and over." Damon gently guided her to the bar, pulling out a chair and helping her settle into it. "I don't think you should check it, Isabella."
She couldn't suppress the goosebumps that raised along her arms at the sound of her full name. Holding her hand out expectantly, she thanked him when he pressed her phone into her palm, his fingers lingering for a moment before retreating to his side.
Meanwhile, Stefan and Elena stood off to the side, their expressions a mixture of disbelief and surprise. Elena exchanged a glance with Stefan, her eyes wide. "Is this really Damon?" she whispered, half in awe and half in confusion.
Stefan's brow furrowed, and he shook his head slightly. His gaze focused on the way Damon moved with a quiet protectiveness, that gentle but firm hand at Bella's back as if he was determined to shield her from the world's chaos. It was a stark contrast to the reckless, often impulsive man they both knew.
Damon shifted his attention back to Bella, brushing a stray hair away from her face, his eyes reflecting an unexpected seriousness that shocked both Elena and Stefan. It was as if Damon, for the first time, was embracing a role that came naturally to someone like Stefan—a protector, rather than the charming troublemaker they had long associated him with.
Ignoring the heat of his gaze on her, Bella scrolled quickly through the notifications. Each missed call and voicemail made her wince—nearly fifty in total. But it was the texts that gripped her heart with a vice-like intensity.
She read the messages one by one, her breath hitching with each word. The first few were desperate and pleading: "Please pick up, Bella. I need to talk to you." But as she scrolled further, the tone shifted dramatically. A cold sweat broke out on her brow as she saw one that read: "You can't just ignore me. We need to sort this out." Then came the venom: "You think you can just let some random gentleman speak to me this way and then ignore me like a child?." The last few messages devolved into outright rage: "How could you do this to me? You've changed, Bella. I don't even recognize you anymore."
Each text was a stark reminder of a connection she was unready to admit she wanted to escape, a tether she was terrified of severing completely. Faced with the whirlwind of emotions conveyed through Edward's written words, Bella felt the weight of their shared past crash over her like a wave.
Fingers trembled as her eyes darted through the torrent of messages, each one sending waves of anxiety crashing over her. Just then, she felt Damon's tension shift beside her; silently reading over her shoulder it seemed. His gaze was suddenly fierce, darkening with each text he read.
"Who the hell does he think he is?" Damon growled, his voice a low rumble that sent a shiver down her spine. His eyes blazed as he scanned the screen, and she could see the way his fists clenched at his sides, the muscles in his jaw tightening as anger coursed through him.
"Damon…" she managed to whisper, feeling a knot form in her stomach. This wasn't the playful Damon she had just begun to know; this was something raw and barely contained.
"Look at this," he snapped, his gaze fixed on the phone. "You've changed?" Damon scoffed, the words dripping with disdain. "I know what it's like to have people assume you're doing things to hurt them on purpose." His eyes shot toward Stefan and Elena, his voice a pointed dagger. "But newsflash, they don't get to decide how you feel or what your choices mean."
Bella flinched at his intensity. She wanted to tell him not to get worked up over Edward, but the pit in her stomach twisted as she realized how deeply Edward's words had cut her.
His frustration hung in the air, heavy and palpable, making her acutely aware of the growing distance between herself and the tangled mess of her past. Though his anger wasn't aimed at her, she felt the weight of it, a reminder of the storm that lay beyond their fragile connection.
They sat in tense silence for some time before he moved away from her and around to the other side of the counter, Bella letting tension ease from her body she wasn't aware she'd been harboring. She continued skimming the few messages left, a lump trapped at the base of her throat as she tried to keep herself calm.
A few were from Alice, assuring her that Edward wouldn't be showing up and that he didn't mean anything he was saying. The one from Angela was telling Bella that the bridal party had been notified that she had a very minor family emergency to deal with pertaining to her mother and thus would not be expecting her to go to any of the last night's festivities; and that she was to call if anything else happened.
Another moment or two she sent off a few replies and set the phone face down in front of her. She realized suddenly that they'd all be staring at her, not just Damon. A little too intently and as though she had several heads, or they were waiting for at breakdown.
A deep scarlet blush flashed across her face, suddenly hyper aware of her hunched gremlin posture, and straightened up, crossing her legs and smoothing the pajama shirt she was wearing. "Sorry," She mumbled, unable to look at anyone suddenly. "Personal problems." Damon chuckled at that and slid a cold water over the counter towards Bella who took it happily, thankful for something to fiddle with so that she didn't have to speak.
"You don't say." Elena's voice dripped with sarcasm, her eyes fixed on Bella with a mix of disbelief and irritation. The tension in the room was palpable, a thin line Bella felt forced to walk as she sipped the lukewarm water. They sat in uncomfortable silence that stretched on, the only sound being the faint clink of glass as Damon poured himself another drink.
Bella's mind raced, her instincts telling her something was off. She had to know. She glanced at Damon, her curiosity overcoming the unease. "What did he mean," she pointed towards Stefan, "Do I know what you are?"
Damon paused mid-motion, the ice clinking in his glass, and she noticed the contemplative flicker in his eyes. The typically confident facade momentarily cracked. "Come sit, little doe," he said softly, his voice losing some of its usual bravado as he gently pulled her up from the chair and guided her to the couch, in defiance of the mounting tension.
Stefan and Elena exchanged silent, tense glances; the air heavy with unspoken words. Damon shot a warning glare at his brother, who looked ready to launch into a defense, while Elena stood stiffly, arms crossed.
"I should start with the basics," Damon continued, his voice firm but laced with an underlying tenderness for Bella. "Before either of the Negative Nancys have anything to say, I recommend you pay attention to the fact that the door is nearly in splinters, and she definitely noticed."
Elena's eyes narrowed, her frustration rising. "Stefan or you can compel her, can't you?" she interjected, her tone betraying her annoyance with Damon, as she glared at him from across the shattered coffee table, as if she could will him to reconsider sharing everything.
"I could," Damon replied, his voice oddly calm, the agreement sounding foreign even to himself. He caught the surprised expressions that flickered across both Elena's and Stefan's faces. "But how about I let her know everything first?" He emphasized the word "everything," making it clear his intentions were to keep Bella informed, to treat her with a respect that his brother and Elena sometimes failed to offer.
"So... Vampires... Witches... Doppelgängers..." Bella's voice trailed off as she stared blankly at the broken table in front of her, a deep furrow forming on her brow. She felt her mind racing, grappling with the overwhelming reality of what she was hearing. How were these beings not cold like her family back home? Did the Cullens know about this other breed of vampire, this chaotic web of supernatural existence?
The silence stretched on, heavy and tense, as Elena stood rigid, arms crossed, watching Bella absorb the revelation as if she were sizing up a disappointing movie poster.
"I don't even understand why you bothered to explain any of this, Damon," Elena interrupted, her voice cutting through the stillness with a sharp edge. "You're going to compel her to forget all of this," she said, gesturing broadly at the disarray of the hotel room, the charged atmosphere, the four of them caught in this web of strangeness. "Then we can go back home and pretend none of this happened."
Bella had been about to interject when Damon spoke, his calmness hiding an undercurrent that made her skin prick. "You're very good at that, Elena. Forgetting."
For a moment, Bella straightened her back, feeling a rush of indignation. It was as if she were watching two parents squabble over custody, the disconnect and tension reminiscent of her childhood memories—every time her own parents engaged in their bitter arguments and all the times the Cullen family had held 'family meetings' that always ended in a fight while she sat silently on the sidelines. The thought ignited a fire within her, and with a resolve she didn't entirely feel, she rose to her feet, the sharp crunch of glass beneath her slippers accentuating her unexpected boldness.
"No one wants to ask what I want?" Bella's voice cut through the tension, a gentle but obvious challenge. Though her words sounded directed at the group, her eyes were locked onto Elena's, sensing the fire behind her annoyance. Elena's expression shifted, surprised by the sudden assertiveness, as she too stood, stepping forward to meet Bella's stare.
The air crackled with unspoken conflict, both women buoyed by the strength of their convictions. Bella felt that frustration well up inside her, a mixture of annoyance and determination as she wrestled with her own feelings of being an outsider, of being talked about rather than consulted.
"Do you think I want to be some pawn and watch you all decide what's best for poor, human Bella?" Bella continued, her voice steadying as she met Elena's eyes. "I deserve to have a say in this, too."
Damon watched the exchange quietly; Bella was no longer the uncertain girl caught in their crossfire; she was starting to find her voice, and it resonated in a way that demanded respect. Suddenly, the dynamic shifted, and for the first time, he could see their confrontation as more than just irritation—it was a clash of wills, both fighting for their truth in a world that threatened to swallow them whole.
DAMON
Damon watched the exchange quietly; Bella was less of just the uncertain girl caught in their crossfire; she was starting to find her voice, and it made him oddly proud.
"No," Elena shot back, shaking her head with an air of finality. "You knowing puts you, us, and everyone we care about in danger. Honestly, Damon." She turned to him, her disapproval heavy in her tone, "Are you really willing to risk an innocent human life just to satisfy your own desire to- to what? Get back at me?"
Yes. The thought was instantaneous and without hesitation in Damon's mind. But instead, he responded smoothly, "No, I happen to be completely enthralled by Isabella. Besides, I've developed a growing suspicion that this isn't her first encounter with the supernatural, is it, wife of mine?" He flashed a charming smile, masking the intensity of the situation.
All eyes turned to Bella, whose expression switched between surprise and uncertainty. She opened and closed her mouth, as if struggling to find the words. Finally, she managed, "How did you... No, it's not."
Damon could practically taste the frustration radiating from Elena as she processed Bella's response. "Exactly." He leaped to his feet, sudden but careful enough not to startle Bella, wrapping an arm around her shoulders and pulling her close to his side. The warmth of her presence against him was comforting, and he couldn't help but revel in the protective instinct that surged within him.
"Damon, this isn't something to take comfort in! You should be asking her more questions—like what kind of experience?" Elena's accusatory glare bore into Bella, the intensity of her scrutiny stark and fierce. His heart danced at the sight of Elena's anger—it was a precious thing—but nevertheless, he shifted his weight slightly to block her view of Bella.
"She's right, you know," Stefan interjected, finally breaking his silence after a long moment. His voice was calm but heavy with concern. "What are the odds that you just happened to meet her here?" He gestured widely, encompassing the chaos of tourists and neon lights filling the Vegas strip. "Hundreds of thousands of people passing through, and you end up with the only one familiar with the supernatural?" A deep frown marred his features, an undeniable worry shadowing his usual calm demeanor.
AN: Sorry this one was short! I am trying to figure out how to branch this out without it being overwhelming if the time break doesnt work please someone tell me T.T, and also deciding if I want them to go to forks or mystic falls, or maybe both.
Let me know what y'all think! Already working on the next chapter so it will likely be up soon. I'm sure i'll run out of steam soon so my goal is once every other week or once a week.