Chapter Nine.

I found myself awake, lying in the centre of my bed.
I looked to the clock on the mantel; almost three in the morning.
I sighed and rolled onto my left side, just as I heard a quiet knock on my door.
"Yes?" I asked.
The door opened to reveal a shirtless Damon in sweatpants.
"Can't sleep either?" He chuckled.
I rolled to my right side to face him and shook my head, patting the spot on the bed next to me.
He smiled and walked over, lifting the sheets to slightly expose me in my black tank top and underwear.
I blushed in the almost pitch black lighting, but he didn't say anything, just crawled in next to me.
I snuggled into him as he wrapped his arm around me.
"I love you, Alex, you know that, right?" He mumbled, softly stroking my hair.
I lifted my head, looking up at him with slight shock.
"I love you too, Damon." I whispered.
A moment of amazement passed Damon's expression, but it quickly changed to that of complete admiration, and I was sure mine did too as he pulled me in for a kiss.
It was deep, heated and passionate – his right hand finding my cheek to pull me in.
I lifted my leg over his thighs, wanting to be as close to him as possible.
The kiss turned lustful rather quickly and Damon found the hem of my tank top, tugging it a little.
I parted from the kiss and sat up, allowing him to take it off me.
I straddled him as he brought me in for another kiss, subconsciously grinding on him a little.
A small moan escaped my lips as I felt him harden beneath me, his hands trailing along my body before finishing at the clasp of my black lace bra.
He unclasped it in one swift move and threw it to God knows where before flipping us over, so he was on top.
Once again, Damon's hands trailed my body, his right finding it's spot on my breast, massaging it like dough.
I moaned again as I wrapped my legs around his waist, bringing him closer once again.
"Damon..." I whispered.

And then I woke up.
I sat up in a shot, finding myself very alone and very clothed in my bed.
I sighed impatiently and rubbed my eyes before looking over at the clock.
"Five forty-three." I sighed to myself.
I decided to get up and dressed, thinking there wasn't much point in attempting to go to sleep again.
I dressed in the clothes Damon and I had bought when we finally went on our shopping trip; a white blouse, black skinny jeans, a fitted blazer and some black heels.
I did my makeup to look rather natural - some brown eyeshadow and mascara, then went downstairs.
I put on some coffee before going down to the cellar to get a blood bag, drinking it slowly on the way back up.
I poured myself a cup of coffee just as I heard movement from upstairs, specifically Damon's room.
Moments later, he entered the kitchen.
I looked away, hiding the deep blush I could feel running through the veins in my cheeks.
"Couldn't sleep either, huh?" He asked, smirking slightly.
"No. Coffee?" I replied, still not making eye contact.
"Mmm, yes please."
I poured him a cup and passed it to him, still lacking in the eye contact department.
"What's up, princess?" He asked, studying me intently.
"Nothing." I replied, probably a little too quickly.
"You liar." Damon gasped, fraining hurt. "Anyone would think you've been dreaming about me or something."
I looked at him with shock as he smirked at me.
"You did that." I gasped.
"You may be able to compel Vampires, princess, but you can't keep them out of your head." He winked.
I threw my cup at him in a fit of rage, but he dodged it in Vamp speed, causing it to smash on the fridge.
"Now now, princess. No need to get feisty. I was only playing." He so obviously teased before Vamping to inches away from my face.
"I can't believe you did that, Damon." I huffed.
"You can believe you dreamt that up all by yourself if you want. It only makes me feel better." He smirked, using his free hand to graze my chin with the side of his pointer finger.
I scoffed and walked away from him, toward the den.

"So how much of that dream was true?" Damon asked.
"I don't know, you put it there." I snarled.
Damon chuckled. "Yes, but I'm not a miracle worker. You had some input in that dream too."
I shuffled on the couch uncomfortably.
I wasn't ready to tell him I loved him.
"I'd much rather forget it ever happened." I said, matter-of-factly. "Unfortunately, the only one who can compel me to forget is long back in New Orleans."
"Ouch." The Salvatore chuckled.
"Matt wants to meet us at the Grill." Stefan suddenly said, jogging down the stairs with Caroline following.
"Matt?" I asked.
"Oh, we don't see much of him anymore. He's kind of in a mood with Vampires." Damon whispered the last half loudly.
I just nodded, not looking at him.
"He's an old friend. Elena's ex." Caroline said.
"Wait..." I paused, looking up at Damon. "Vicki's brother?"
"Yeah... How did you know?" Stefan asked, looking confused.
"Damon and I had one of our heart to hearts during my first few days here." I scowled at the older brother. "No wonder he doesn't like Vampires."

The four of us made our way to the Grill in Caroline's car, managing to park just across the street.
"Matt!" Caroline called, happily.
A tall, muscular blonde-haired boy, who was sat at the bar in a Sheriff's uniform, turned his head and smiled slightly.
Caroline jogged over to him and hugged him tightly, though he didn't seem to reciprocate as whole-heartedly.
"Hey Care." He greeted her, before turning to us. "Hey guys."
He gave me a 'who are you' look as he separated from Caroline.
"Donovan, this is Alex, she's living with us now." Damon gave his signature half smile.
I shook Matt's hand.
"A pleasure." I smiled.
Matt nodded, giving me a rather concerned smile.
He really didn't like Vampires.
"So why the out-of-the-blue call, Matt?" Stefan asked as we all sat down in a booth.
"We've, uh... Had a few murders." Matt explained, glancing to me suspiciously. "Five bodies, all drained of blood with chunks out of their throats have turned up in the woods over the past two months."
Everyone looked at me.
"Oh no, don't look at me. I didn't do this." I furrowed my eyebrows.
"Did someone follow you into town?" Matt asked.
"How should I know?" I huffed in frustration, running my fingers through my hair.
"Well you need to find out. Because we can't keep going for the animal attack story." Matt glared.
"Who was murdered?" Stefan asked.
"Uh... Three teens and a couple campers." Matt said. "The teens were easy to cover up – we went with the 'drug deal gone bad' scenario. Jeremy helped me ID them, they were a couple of friends he used to hang out with to go get high."
"And the campers?" I asked.
"A domestic gone bad." Matt sighed, wiping his face with palm.
"I suppose we could help patrol the boarders of the town at night. We'll call you if anything happens, or if we catch someone." Caroline said.
"Okay. Thanks guys." Matt gave a small smile.
We said our goodbyes and parted ways, back to the Salvatore house.
Stefan called Elena, Jeremy, Matt and Bonnie over to help and they'd arrived by the time we got back.

"So why is Jer here?" Elena asked.
"He's strong, a Vampire hunter and has killed his fair share of them. I don't see why he shouldn't be involved." Damon shrugged.
"He's right, Elena. I want to help." Jeremy said.

Elena sighed. "And what if you get hurt? Or worse?"
"I'm wearing my ring. I'll be fine." The younger Gilbert lifted his hand to reveal his Immortality ring.
"See? Baby Gilbert wants to play with the big kids. I say let him." Damon smirked.
Elena sighed, agreeing reluctantly.