CHAPTER 5

As Stefan guided me towards Damon's bedroom, I could hear Damon talking to the Sheriff about the fanged bastard lying outside.

"So... what is the worst thing he's ever done?" I asked Stefan in as soft a whisper as I could pull off. He simply chuckled.

"I'll let him tell you all about it." I looked at him with pleading puppy-dog eyes. "Oh no. I'm not going to risk him kicking my ass because of it." I cocked an eyebrow.

"He can kick your ass?" Stefan made a face.

"Unfortunately. As I said, he's older, a technicality that, in this case, does count, AND he feeds properly." I can only imagine the puzzled look on my face.

"Okay, fine, he's older. But what do you mean properly?" Stefan looked over his shoulder.

"Add it to your list of questions." I smirked.

"He can hear us, right?" Stefan nodded with a small smirk of his own. "Oh Goddess, this is too good."

"So you really don't mind?" Stefan had a serious look on his face. Suddenly, I remembered every time Damon had made a mention of his brother's broody moments.

"I'll answer that to his face. Maybe that way, he won't try to avoid me afterwards." Stefan looked at me, surprised. "What? You think I didn't notice the look of worry on his face while we were out back? He is not going to avoid this." Stefan chuckled, opening a door.

"Maybe you are exactly what he needs, after all." I smiled, stepping in and turning to wave a hand as he disappeared back into the hallway, closing the door behind him. I took the chance to look around.

It was nothing like I would've expected Damon's room to look like. But then again, I didn't expect Damon to turn out to be a 170-year-old vampire. When I met Damon, I pictured his room to be something extremely sophisticated, like a bachelor's pad, with high-tech stuff, plasma screens, all minimalistic, dark and alluring. His actual room belonged to an, at least, 145-year-old mansion. Adding the newly acquired knowledge about his real age, I thought it quite fitting that he had a huge bed, wooden furniture, and quite a few books strewn around, with the appearance of having known better days. It seemed that nobody had moved a thing since the 1860's. But everything was in dark colours: the sheets were a satiny black, the wood was as dark as it got, the clothes. In many ways, it suited him better than the minimalistic bachelor pad I had imagined. I took a seat on the bed and, suddenly, I realised how exhausted I was. The workout earlier, the adrenaline-filled escape, the planning, the attack. It had all been kinda tiring. As I thought back to all the things that had happened today I thought back to how Damon had gotten those bodyguards off my trail. It had seemed awfully easy at the time. Lying down on the bed, drifting off to sleep, I connected the dots. Damon had done his Jedi-mind-control thing on them. I smiled, the feeling of safety the last thing I registered.

A soft pair of lips on my forehead brought me out of my unconsciousness.

"Hey." Damon's blue eyes were the first thing I saw.

"What time is it?"

"A little after 1. The Sheriff took her time with this one. Not to mention, I had to intervene on several occasions so that the idiot didn't spill on Stefan and me." I nodded.

"I better go home then. I'll come by with my questions tomorrow." However, two strong hands were already pushing me back down on the bed.

"I already called Elena. Told her that, since it was late, she wouldn't be seeing you until morning. So stay where you are." I cocked an eyebrow, amused.

"And she just let it go?" he scoffed.

"Of course she didn't. But it's not like she can come drag you home, and I swore on every deity known to man that I would keep you safe. Then I hang up. She's been calling your cell ever since."

"How long ago was this?"

"About 5 minutes ago." I checked my cell phone. I had about 30 missed calls.

"I better call her." He nodded. Goddess bless speed-dialling because, sleepy as I was, I never would've managed to call her.

"Hello? Sophie? Are you ok? Do you need me to come get you?"

"Whoa! Slow down there Lena. Damon just woke me up so that I could answer what would've been the 31st missed call in about 5 minutes so don't test my brain power just yet."

"You fell asleep?"

"Yes, Elena, I fell asleep. And my neck is still intact, thank you very much!" I could practically hear her gulp.

"He told you?"

"Actually, I found out when he protected me from that alleged 'serial-killer' Jeremy told us about the other night. Turns out, that guy really was a vampire."

"WHAT? You got attacked? Oh my God, Sophie!"

"Chillax, I'm good. Now can I please go back to sleep?"

"How can you feel safe there?"

"Because he hasn't tried to kill me, and I have no mysterious bite marks, and because I trust him. You should try it sometime. Face it, Lena, despite my sleepy state of mind, this doesn't bother me. Like you knew it wouldn't." She sighed.

"I'll see you tomorrow, after school."

"Oh no, missy. I'll be going to have lunch with you and a certain brooding, century-old gentleman. It's time to straighten that out." She sighed again.

"Fine. Goodnight Soph."

"G'night Lenny." Damon was staring at me with a small smirk.

"Wow. You handled that pretty well for being as sleepy as you claim to be." I smirked back at him.

"The sleepiness helps to deter Elena from trying to deter me. Now come here. The bed's big enough." Damon chuckled.

"You sure you want to sleep in jeans and boots?" I looked down at myself.

"Any suggestions?" laughing quietly, he got up, rummaging through a drawer before pulling out some black, silky PJs.

"You get the shirt, I'll keep the pants."

"Deal." Taking hold of the shirt, I started pulling off boots, socks, jeans and T-shirt without much regard as to who could be watching. I barely registered that I should turn around, which I thankfully did, before taking off my bra and pulling the shirt on and buttoning it down, placing the piece of underwear upon the pile of clothes I had already discarded. The shirt reached half-way down my thigh so I had no problem with getting up, granted a little wobbly, and putting my clothes on one of the chairs in the room. Then I walked back to the bed and slipped under the covers.

"Thanks for the show..." I turned to look at Damon. His eyes were impossibly dark, a look of hunger in his face. But it wasn't the hunger I had seen on the killer's face as he looked at my neck. No. This was something much more common. Much healthier. Lust.

"I expect one in return..." Boy, was I hoping for one...

"Then I shall oblige." He had already kicked off his shoes and socks. Standing at the foot of the bed, he started unbuttoning his black shirt. Suddenly, I was as alert as can be. Every button was a promise of something more. Every pause was a bloody torture. Slowly, too slowly, the shirt was pealed off and his chiselled, porcelain chest was there for me to behold. Oh how I wanted to jump the man at this point. Until he reached for his jeans and then I had to wait and see. Popping the top button, toying with the zipper till I wanted to reach out and rip it off, and then the jeans were also off.

Boxer briefs. I should've guessed that Damon Salvatore wore silk boxer briefs. But as I hadn't anticipated this far, all I could do was stare.

"Oh sweet Circe..." he smirked widely at my mumbling. Suddenly, disregarding his state of dress (and mine), he jumped on the bed and started crawling up to me. Trapping me between the dark, carved head-board and himself, he slid his cool hands from my toes, up my calves, my thighs, past my hips, finally settling on my waist and pulled me as close as inhumanly possible. My breath had left me long ago, though I was gasping for air and my heart was going a mile a minute. The devilish look on his face as he looked at my lips and then back into my eyes told me everything I needed to know. I would have to stop calling him Mr. Salvatore soon enough.

When he kissed me, his lips were cool and gentle, but they set me on fire, ablaze with passion. His tongue did wicked things to my senses, his hands overpowering my brain as they travelled all over me. I moaned as they grazed my breasts, gasped as they glided over my thighs, groaned as he didn't go any further, whimpered as he pulled my bottom lip between his teeth, growled when he let go of my mouth only to moan again as he latched onto my neck. Goddess I was in heaven.

Suddenly, he pulled away. I groaned in complaint, but he was already standing on the other side of the room with his back to me. I blinked, got my bearings and started walking over to him.

"Stay there." His voice sounded strained. As if he was fighting something.

"Look at me." He didn't move. "Damon. Look. At. Me." Slowly, he turned to look at me. I saw the dark veins under his eyes, saw the red tinge of his irises, saw the fangs glinting from in between his lips. "Don't hide it. It's part of who you are." When he didn't seem too convinced I went for the kill. "Damon Salvatore, don't you dare go all Edward Cullen on me!" I stated firmly and with a pointed look. He looked into my eyes, with a chuckle, and I was able to see the reverse change. The veins cleared off, the fangs retracted and the eyes went back to the hypnotising blue. "Good. Now get your gorgeous vampire ass over here. If your going to be no fun, at least be a decent pillow." He flashed me a smirk and then he was suddenly under the covers, waiting for mortal, little me to join him. I slid under the covers next to him and sighed.

"Sophia?" he angled his body to face me. I looked up with slight surprise. I don't think I'd ever heard him calling me by my name yet.

"Yes?" I said, facing him.

"I think I love you." For the first time I was speechless. I was never one to believe in love at first sight. I thought it was bull. But this wasn't first sight. This was a two-week-notice. With a lot of sensitive secrets involved. So yeah. I could admit it too.

"I think I love you too." I felt his lips on mine and I closed my eyes to enjoy the feeling. The kiss was short, but, dare I say it, full of promise. As goes the Disney-famous line, this could be the start of something new...

He pulled me against his chest and the last thing I saw were those blue eyes watching over me.

The next morning, I woke up with no intention of getting up. I was in a warm and fluffy heaven, with strong arms wrapped around me and a soft and firm pillow underneath my head. I breathed in deeply. Damon. I rubbed my face against his chest. I opened my eyes at the sound of a soft growl. Almost a purr. He still had his eyes closed. But I knew he was awake. I closed my eyes and snuggled closer, if possible, to him. I felt his arms wrap around me still more firmly, felt his sigh and knew he had opened his eyes.

"Hmm... I could wake up to this every day..."

"Blessed clichés." I mumbled back, opening my eyes to look up at the sky-blue eyes of the gorgeous vampire beneath me. I felt him chuckling. Suddenly my stomach complained at the lack of food. He held back from laughing out loud.

"Breakfast?" I glared at him.

"Our attempt at dinner last night was thwarted so yeah. Breakfast." He chuckled once again, getting up, pulling on the discarded pyjama pants, pulling me up with him and carrying me down to the kitchen in the blink of an eye.

"Morning, love-birds." Stefan was already comfortably seated at the kitchen table. A knock on the door of the house saved him from being pulled into a head-lock by Damon. I jumped on the table, sitting down and looking around. The kitchen looked, surprisingly, used.

"You guys can eat?" Damon nodded from behind the fridge door.

"Keeping a healthy diet we can eat normal food."

"Oh right, what exactly qualifies as a healthy diet cause, last night, Stefan mentioned that you fed 'properly'." I remembered, doing air quotes. Damon froze. "I get the 'vampires feed on blood part' so skip over to explaining the difference." He grimaced.

"Stefan has the Cullen diet. I feed on humans."

"Oh." I nodded. "And that makes you stronger? He mentioned you could kick his ass." Damon smirked walking over to me.

"Twice over." I laughed. He leaned in and kissed me. The feeling of his lips on mine triggered the memory of last night. He wrapped his arms around me, getting as close as possible, standing between my dangling legs.

"Guys, come on. Not on the kitchen table." Stefan's voice made us pull away. We both turned to him, Damon fully intending on throwing him out, by the look on his face. Elena's presence, however, made the comment die on his lips.

"Well, hello Mrs. Brooding Forehead!" I barely contained the laughter that attacked me at that point. If Stefan's expression was anything to go by, he was also fighting off at least a smile. Elena didn't look too amused though.

"What are you doing?" she barked at me.

"I'm kissing my... what are we?" I casually turned to Damon. He pretended to think about it.

"I think boyfriend and girlfriend titles can be bestowed from this point onwards." I nodded in agreement as if it was a wise decision. I heard Stefan snickering.

"Yeah, I'm kissing my vampire boyfriend. If it bothers you so much, go get your own." I stated with a pointed look at Stefan. I heard Damon's soft snort. And I felt the tightening of his grip on my waist when I said 'vampire boyfriend'. For his benefit and Elena's chagrin, I turned and continued kissing him.

"Sophia!" I pulled back and turned to her.

"Yes?" she started opening and closing her mouth in a very amusing way. "Lena, I don't know what you expected to get out of this visit. What you will get is a kick in the ass if you keep pushing the issue." Elena looked at me as if she couldn't understand what I was saying. "Why do you seem to have such a huge problem with this?"

"Because it's Damon. I wouldn't care if it was someone like Stefan, but you don't know what Damon's done!" I huffed.

"Fine. Then let's find out." I turned back to Damon, then back to Elena. "What are the charges against the accused?"

"The charges, you Honour, are nothing short of murder, manipulation and a general lack of regard for humanity." I looked at Damon, perfectly unfazed.

"How does the accused plead?" Damon looked me in the eye with the smallest of smirks. "Hey, you have to answer the judge!" I whined. He gave a very soft chuckle, still fighting off a smirk.

"Guilty as charged, your Honour."

"Okay. This body condemns Mr. Salvatore to making me happy for as long as he can as payment for his crimes." I turned back to Elena. "There. I'll be judge, jury and executioner. Happy? I think it's a pretty fair sentence. You know how hard I can be to please." Elena was looking at me as if I'd gone mad.

"I just told you the guy's a murderous vampire, he admitted to it, and you still want to be with him?"

"Lena. Some people, actual, living, breathing suckers, kill other people just because. They don't need to be vampires to do it. What are psychopaths? What are terrorists? Think about all the people that, at some point or other, directly or indirectly, have sent other people to their deaths. I'm sure that if you dig deep enough, Damon probably had better reasons to kill who ever he's killed, than all those other very much human people. Besides, let's face it: humans just aren't at the top of the food chain. Personally, I think that's a good thing." I could've laughed at their faces. Elena was just dumbstruck, Stefan had 'I hadn't thought about that' written all over his face. Damon... Damon was a mix between 'that's my girl', 'Thank the Gods she thinks that' and 'I so totally love you'.

"How can you take death so lightly?" Elena's voice was soft, almost hesitant.

"Lena, I'm sorry. I know that right now, talking about death, the only thing that comes to mind are your parents. But let's face it. Death is as common as life. It always has been. It always will be. They complement each other. Death will come for all of us. These two," I said, pointing at both Salvatores, "They're anomalies, but not for that do they need to be burned at the stake. They feed off our blood. We feed off the meat of other animals. It all comes down to that: we are not at the top of the food chain. And that's that. Besides, you know my view on life. I like taking things lightly because there is no time to take things seriously and still live a full life. Drama is just a waste of time." Elena sighed, finally a small smile making its way onto her face.

"You always could make me see it your way." I smirked.

"And don't you forget it! You were always too hard-headed for your own good anyways." I jumped off the table, and crossed the room to hug her. "You are one stubborn little... itch!" she laughed.

"Isn't that like the pot calling the kettle black?" I pulled back.

"No. The pot knows exactly what she's talking about. So she has every right to call you stubborn." We chuckled. Then Stefan cleared his throat.

"Elena, I'm sorry, but... we're going to be late." Elena snapped her gaze to her watch.

"Oh my God! Sophie, we'll continue calling each other stubborn later. I... we need to get to school." We hugged each other goodbye, and Stefan guided her outside.

"Well that went... well..." I turned to look at Damon.

"Hey, you heard her. I can be very convincing." I said with a smirk. He smirked back at me.

"Really? Can you convince me of letting you eat first before whisking you off to my room to ravish you?" I pouted.

"That is not fair! You can't confront me with two things I want at the same time! It defeats the purpose of convincing you to let me do what I want!" he chuckled lowly.

"Actually, I want to know what you want more: food, or me." I glared.

"Well, I'm sorry Mr. Salvatore, but if I don't eat, I won't have much energy left for whatever activities you have planned. So you better let me eat..." Damon laughed then set me on the table, moving around the kitchen making breakfast.

I watched with new-found understanding of how anyone could be as graceful as a tiger and as lethal (or so I hear) as a pissed-off cobra. I sat there thinking over all the conversations we'd had and how they made all the more sense now.

"Wait a minute." It was as if the metaphorical light-bulb had turned into a massive bonfire. Damon looked up, as worried as last night. "Exactly how long ago was the Katherine incident?"

"Oh. That." It seemed as if he was on the verge of saying something along the lines of 'you scared the shit out of me'. But that would be a very un-Damon thing to say. "1864. She turned us." My eyes widened far beyond average human proportions. I shook my head.

"So, now could you, pretty please, tell me your whole life's story?" I asked with a pouty smile, milking the situation for all it was worth.

Damon was about to say something, a smirk peeking from in between his lips, when his phone rang from the dinning hall.

"Saved by the bell." He whispered as he passed by me. I sighed in contentment, wondering how many things he had witnessed throughout history, what it had all been like. I've always wondered at the Roaring 20s. At least ever since I read 'The Great Gatsby'. I heard the door-bell and went to answer.

I shouldn't have.

The minute I opened the door, 2 pairs of hands shot at me, another pair holding a stun-gun. The glimpse I was allowed let me recognise the suits from my mum's goon squad. And there were six of them.

"Not you guys again!" I twisted away from them, pulling one in front of me to avoid the stun-gun, then running towards the sitting room. Hopefully, with a little more space I'd stand a chance. I kept an eye on my back to see if they would stop for aim. All I got was 3 arms rising simultaneously and enough time to throw myself behind a sofa to avoid unconsciousness.

"You know, I could have you guys arrested for breaking into private property." I sighed in relief. They may be giving me a little trouble. But they were no match for a 170-year-old vampire. MY 170-year-old vampire.

"Back off, Mr. Salvatore. This is between Mrs. Natchios and her daughter. We are here on official business. We will exit your property as soon as she is in our custody." I peeked out from behind the sofa at this point. They were fairly distracted by the interruption. I looked at Damon. Now he really looked like a pissed-off cobra. Combined with a pissed-off tiger. This would be good.

"Duck." He growled at me. I cocked an eyebrow, much as he would.

"Nah uh." He growled again.

"Fine. But I'm warning you, I need a snack." I made a face.

"Fine. But you can't kill them. If they don't all go back, my mum will send the whole army after me." Suddenly, the goon squad realised I was still in the room and three stun-guns went off. I barely had time to duck. I heard the meanest growl ever to come out of a (at least seemingly) human and peeked again. Damon was now sporting the vamp look. Boy was he pissed. And were the goons pissing their pants from what I could see. Damon looked at me.

"Then well be taking the road-trip somewhere else. I haven't killed anyone in far too long. And you dearest mother needs to get the message." I grimaced slightly, understanding why Elena had been so worried. But I wasn't. After all, it wasn't me he was mad at.

There was a rush of movement and three suits went down, Damon crouching low in front of one, teeth securely attached to the bastard's throat. As the remaining three let out screams of fear and started making for the door, I grabbed a pair of pokers from the fireplace and run to cut them off. They had seen Damon. They would either be brain-washed or his lunch. The first three could be breakfast. I managed to get to the door before either one of them and stood with my back to the door. They pulled out their guns.

"Looks like you will be lunch." I pretended to bare my non-existent fangs, which scared them off to no end. I took my chance and swung the pokers at them, properly knocking them out. I carefully dropped the pokers across their heads for good measure.

Now, I know what you're thinking. How could I willingly give them up for vamp food? Well, please consider that these men where responsible for many failed escape attempts as a teen, which, in turn, resulted in far too many punishments. So maybe I was letting my resentment flourish. But, as I said, they'd seen Damon. And I don't like people pulling guns on me.

I looked up from these musings and saw Damon walking out from the sitting room, black veins marring his otherwise porcelain skin, eyes black and bloodshot, fangs out and thick, crimson drops dripping from his chin and onto his chest. I won't lie. It was a little scary. I again reminded myself that it wasn't me he was mad at, that if he hadn't cared he would've just let them take me, and how scared he had been last night when I found out. And how scared he looked now. Slowly, the veins cleared away, the eyes returned to their dazzling blue and the fangs disappeared. He raised his hand to wipe of the blood, but I stopped him and grabbed his hand to drag him to the guest bathroom to clear it away. I grabbed a towel, dampened it, and gently wiped off the blood. He still wasn't talking. I cleaned his chest as well and then walked out, him trailing behind me. I felt as if he was a kid silently begging for forgiveness after a temper tantrum. We arrived back the foyer where the remaining three goons laid still out cold.

Then I remembered what we were doing before the half a dozen idiots arrived.

"Do I get breakfast now?"

A/N: My darling readers: I AM SO FREAKING SORRY! I know it's been ages since my last update. And for those of you who wanted a peak at badass Damon, there it is. I was kinda missing him too. But don't worry, Chapter 6 is well on its way. So no, I haven't fallen off the edge of the world. I'm not dead, and you will get to read the end of this. Thank you all for all your support and for reading my story.

Toodles!