Chapter 07

~o.O.o~

“They say a person needs just three things to be truly happy in this world:

someone to love, something to do, and something to hope for.”
~Tom Bodett

~o.O.o~

It was late in the night when they returned to the boarding house, Damon and Bella making their way quickly to their room. She had drunken enough during the night to have gotten brazen enough to make out with him on the dance floor, but it didn’t end there. With her hormones in overdrive, she soon found herself laying beneath him in his bed. Their kisses quickly turned into touches. Touches that had hands disappearing beneath clothing.

Bella pulled at his shirt, struggling to get it over his shoulders, forcing him to break their kiss. He hastily tugged the offending fabric over his head and threw it to the side before his lips were back on hers, hungry for her taste. His hands sought to feel every inch they could reach over her clothes and under her shirt. He was still hesitant about how far she was truly willing to go so he was respectable enough to keep his advances above her waist – unless of course she wanted more. He wasn’t about to argue.

His hands slid back up her hips, over her jeans and under her top to slowly push it up. Damon slowly exposed more skin with each breath before he pulled it over her head, sorely tempted to just rip it from her body. He pressed himself into her core and covered her gasp with his mouth as he ground his desire into her, they both let out a groan when they were interrupted by a knock on the door.

“Go away! We’re busy!” Damon called out, causing Bella to blush underneath him. He hoped that this interruption wouldn’t force her to change her mind about where they were going in whatever they were to one another. He could see determination in her eyes as he looked at her but his vampire ears picked up what he knew hers would not. It was his brother telling him that it was information they just got about Bella. “Alright. I’ll be right down.”

He leaned in to kiss her, more gentle and slow this time. Savoring her taste on his lips. “I’ll be back as soon as I can,” he promised.

“Take your time,” Bella smiled as she pushed his hair out of his eyes. “I’ll still be here.”

“I hope so,” he grinned, though his eyes tightened fractionally with his own insecurity about the chances of losing her were.

Sighing, he closed the door to his room behind him, already thinking of ways to torture his brother for leaving the gorgeous half naked woman behind in his bed as he made his way downstairs. When he got there, he stopped short as he found Stefan gathered with Tyler, Alaric, Jeremy, and Bonnie. “Okay. What’s with the late night powwow?”

“While we were at the Grill, Jeremy went to fill in Tyler,” Bonnie explained, her eyes looking around nervously. “Um, I told you all that I believed she had those other vampires after her, the Cold Ones, right?”

“Old news. Move it along Witchy,” Damon snapped impatiently.

“Well, my visions when I touch someone aren’t always accurate, but they aren’t entirely inaccurate either. Anyway, Jeremy gave this Jasper guy’s number to Tyler to contact and he called him…”

“Why the hell would you do that? I thought we agreed to give her some time to calm down and get settled before letting herself worry about all the big bad that’s after her?” he turned on the hybrid, ice blue eyes turning red in his anger.

Tyler held his hands up submissively as he backed up. “Chill out dude. Wait until you hear what we found out before you try killing any of us. Your girl will have the chance to chill but there’s more going on that he filled me in on and I’m just relaying the details.”

Damon glared at him for a long time as he worked to calm his rage before taking that necessary step back and nodded. As Tyler watched him, he was careful how he started. “As I was saying, I called the number Jeremy gave me. The guy was suspicious, as I had expected. I was quick to explain that I was a friend of a friend of this Bella chick who was in trouble and he just hung up on me.”

“I guess Isabella was wrong that we could depend on him for help then,” Damon commented as he shook his head and went over to the bar to pour himself a drink. Knowing of the guy’s gift, a part of him knew he would have been a good one to have been allied with.

Tyler followed at a safe distance but with a sly smile on his face. Similar smiles echoed on the other’s as well making him narrow his eyes. “What aren’t you telling me?”

Stefan took the lead from there, standing up. “While Jasper was obviously unwilling or unable to speak, shortly after, someone else called back. Thankfully, Tyler had already joined up with Bonnie and Alaric so they were able to fill in details that Jeremy didn’t know. A friend of his phoned back. He questioned what we knew about Bella, assuming to confirm that it was definitely the right girl and we weren’t pulling their chain. In the end, Jasper isn’t with the Cullens anymore, having left recently after learning some troubling news.”

“And this news is related to Isabella?” Damon said sardonically as he swallowed a shot of his bourbon. “So what’s got the Cold One’s panties up in a twist?”

“Bella’s reasons for wanting to hide from Alice seem to be justified. This Peter guy, who called her a demented fairy, said she always had a few screws loose in her head. He told us what Jasper told him after he left that coven and dude it was seriously fucked up,” Tyler said as he sat down. His dark eyes were wide, still in his surprise. “Alice would do anything for her favorite brother – Edward. I mean anything. He wouldn’t go into detail on that and I got the feeling he was even kinda skeeved out by the thought. That girl is supposedly obsessed with him, to the point that she would even be willing to pretend to be the best friend to his current favorite toy. Edward only was on a high over his self control over not draining his singer or whatever and was more interested in keeping her around to prove himself even more. They want her back so that they can continue their little power trip. They don’t give a damn about this girl and when Jasper realized this after they left her, he took off himself and has been searching for her since. He returned to Forks literally only a few hours after she left there the other day.”

Damon stared at them like they had all lost their minds. He couldn’t seem to wrap his head around what he had just heard, or even if he had actually heard right. “So wait. Am I understanding, that this guy implied that there is some kind of incestualrelationship with these two? Just – wow. I um, I don’t think Bella should know about this. At least not yet. She was right when she said something wasn’t right with them and to take the precautions she did to hide herself from the freak’s visions.”

Tyler nodded with a small smile. “Peter was impressed with us using me to contact them to get around her visions. He wants to keep it that way. He explained that she can’t stand him as he purposely makes split decisions in ways that she hates so she avoids looking into him. That’s why Jasper had him return my call, he didn’t want to chance her seeing. Even though he knows what I am and what we’re doing, he wants to play things safe for Bella… So when am I going to meet this girl finally?”

Scowling, Damon shook his head at him. “Not tonight that’s for sure. She’s probably either pissed off at me for not coming back to bed or passed out by now,” he muttered as his eyes glanced up to the ceiling in disappointment. “After all this tonight, we really need her to just relax and get comfortable around here. I don’t want her being afraid around us. Right now, we’re the safest people for her – all things considering.”

“She is going to start school soon, right? You said you wanted her to finish?” Alaric said, bringing up the subject from earlier in the evening. While the man hadn’t said or contributed much to the overall situation, he still watched and listened to everything, absorbing details, ready to offer what help he could. As a vampire himself, he wasn’t happy with his nature and tried to keep to the sidelines but was ready to step in when the time was right.

“Yes. She had just started her senior year last year, so she’s behind. Obviously she’s older than everyone else in Mystic Falls, but she can look the part with Blondie’s help. We just need the right cover for her because I don’t doubt that the sparkly freaks are just using their abilities. They have to be up with the times just as much as we are,” he sneered, thinking about the all the things he wanted to do once he got them in his sights.

“Well – there’s enough gaps in my life that can help with that around here,” Ric shrugged. “I can get her set up in the school as my niece, who’s parents died. Car accident or something back in Massachusetts. It’ll be easier than coming up with anything else. If these other vampires are as determined as they claim, they might not consider her connected to another human. They would look for supernatural relationships over something more obvious.”

Damon and Stefan were quiet as they looked at one another in silent conversation as they debated the suggestion’s merit. While it had it’s potential, there was always a concern that it would be discovered and exploited by someone and that concerned the man. She had come to him and if he failed to protect her, he didn’t know what he would do. “Does your witchy ancestors think it’s a good plan?” he asked quietly, seeking the girl’s approval to her surprise.

She hesitated as she shrugged a shoulder. “I don’t know. I can ask them, but you know how they feel about you. They might not tell me if it would work or not…”

“Can you try?” Damon stressed, need filling his words for some level of security. At this point, when it came to Isabella’s safety, he wasn’t above begging – but he wasn’t there yet.

“I will ask,” Bonnie nodded, squaring her shoulders in resolve to defend this particular vampire’s actions against the witches she knew would be angry. She just prayed that because it was for the purpose of pure intent that they would help.

~o.O.o~

By the time that Damon made it back to his room, Bella had fallen asleep. Her face was pressed into his pillow and her arm stretched out across his side of the bed making him smile as he stood there watching her. For the first time since she arrived, this was the deepest he’d seen her sleep and he really didn’t want to disturb it. With a sigh, he scooped up his discarded shirt and went over to try to pull it over her head without waking her the best he could.

He was careful in unbuttoning and pulling her jeans down her legs, regretting the decision because it only made him want her more. When he had her sufficiently covered from his view, he quickly made his way into the bathroom to take a long, coldshower. He let himself get lost in his thoughts about everything, wondering how he ended up where he was. After the drama with Katherine and later Elena, he never considered anyone else. Certainly not this danger magnet girl he had met the year before. Sure, he thought she was hot. She had all the makings but she was lost. He did what he could to help her but with trouble brewing at home again, he couldn’t stick around and she had her wolves at the time to help her so he believed she would be fine.

Then Isabella showed up in Mystic Falls. Suddenly all he wanted to do was take her and run her from everything that goes bump in the night, himself included. Except Damon was too selfish to be willing to leave her the way that Edward did, or claim he did to her face. Now that she had no family to question her disappearance, they were looking for her, that much was clear. Only they didn’t know she had someone. Multiple someones to watch her back.

Falling asleep beside her, having nothing else than the ability to have her wrapped in his arms was a breath of fresh air as Damon closed his eyes and tried to slip himself into her dreams to see just how she was coping through everything.

Damon found himself standing alone in the middle of a dense stretch of woods. A part of him wanted to let out a frustrated sigh at the scene, recognizing it from the area around her old house in Washington. A slightly younger, and definitely more insecure Isabella, stood in the distance reliving her break up with Edward. He listened to the douche’s speech from her memory and it took everything in him not to intercede right then, to call him out on his lies.

What she needed was the strength to fight back and he would give that to her. “You’re better than he let’s you be Isabella,” Damon announced, speaking up as he appeared behind her. Dream Bella didn’t even flinch, even in her unconsciousness knew he wasn’t a threat considering the way her body held itself with tension in Edward’s proximity.

“All you ever told me was lies Edward. Why is this any different?” she whispered as she shook her head, ignoring both men. “If you want to leave, then go. But don’t treat me like I don’t matter, that my opinions aren’t important.”

“Gattina, let him know what you really think. Don’t hold back now,” he continued to encourage her.

Edward flashed a coal black glare up at him but gave no other response. “Bella, you’re not good for me…”

From behind her, Damon could just feel the fury rolling off his girl and it made him glow with pride as she flared. “No. You’re not the one that’s good for me Edward. Now I’d appreciate it if you would leave like you were just promising and never come back. After all I’m only human. I’ll forget you soon enough, right?”

His hunger for her overrode his common sense and lunged forward but before Damon could step in, something in the dream changed and Bella pushed Edward back. He never was able to get a finger on her, leaving him sprawled on the forest floor in a confused heap. Damon, who had taken a protective stance in front of her, turned to look at her to check on her well-being but was surprised to find a vampire version of his vixen glaring fire at the walking ice pop.

Damon was pushed out of Bella’s dream as she shifted in her sleep, waking slightly to find him back in bed with her. He kept a smooth smile on his face as he brushed his fingers over the back of her shoulders, pulling her closer.

“What was so important to pull you away?” she murmured sleepily, her head falling to his chest as she curled up to his side.

“Just some logistics for you around town. We’ll fill you in tomorrow,” he said, swallowing as he told her only the partial truth. He knew quite well that when angered, she could be one force to be reckoned with and he hoped that if she found out and was upset with him for any reason, she would be rational about it. Staring up at the ceiling, he knew they were in for a long ride.

~o.O.o~