"Are you kidding me?" my voice raises, even as my cool exterior is broken by the smile that creeps across my lips. "Name one vampire that you have to be afraid of?"

  "Reza," Zeke shakes his head as he over exaggerates his sigh, "you are only focusing on the vampires we know!"

  "What am I, chopped liver?" Damon chimes in, pulling at a strand of hair that has fallen loose from behind my ear.

  "Oh, you know you are a softy," I tease, swatting his hand away before leaning into him and resting my head on his shoulder.

  He grunts, but doesn't bother arguing, rather wraps his arm around me tighter. I don't protest, only giggle softly as I notice a hint of a smile cross his face. I nibble my lip and  cuddle into his side, getting cozy as we stretch out across Zeke's bed. I nuzzle into him, absorbing all the warmth and comfort that he has to offer.

  My mind feels like its spinning, hardly able to believe that this is my new reality. My pulse quickens even as I try to calm my nervous excitement. To think, I am sitting here cuddling with Damon Salvatore. 

  As if he knows what I am thinking, Damon smirks down at me, making me squirm beside him as I try to avert my eyes. I can still feel his eyes on me, my cheeks warming as I try my best to ignore him. It is a hopeless attempt however, no matter how hard I try to think of anything else, my senses are hyper focused on only him. On the way my skin tingles where our bodies lean against one another.  How I can feel his strength in the way he holds me against himself, yet how gentle he is in the way he caresses the skin just below the sleeve of my t-shirt. His thumb tickling me with his soft touch as he runs it back and forth, sending waves of heat rushing through me. 

  "Will you guys stop acting all cute, its weirding me out," Zeke whines, picking up a pillow that fell off of his bed and throwing it at my head.

  "See," I shout triumphantly, hitting the pillow away and sending it back in his direction, "you just called a vampire cute, which means that he isn't all that scary!" I excitedly get back into the argument, grateful for a way to distract myself from the man beside me. 

  With a second grunt of disapproval, Damon leans his head back against the wall and closes his eyes, presumably to block us out. He acts as if he hates sitting around with Zeke, but I suspect he is having a good time. After all the craziness of the past few months, its nice just to sit in bed hanging out. 

  "That's not fair," Zeke comments, leaning back into his computer chair, crossing his arms over his chest with a pout.

  "I don't think I'm liking this debate," Damon grumbles under his breath, making me laugh even harder.

  "Your biased anyways," Zeke declares, pointing an accusing finger at me.

  "Me?" I ask, pointing to myself as I glance between the two of them, "How?"

  "Because you can create zombies," Zeke raises his hands in exasperation, "duh!"

  "Well I can't anymore," I point out, thankful once more to be rid of that ability.

  "Do you miss it?" Zeke asks, his voice soft now as he watches me.

  "No," I answer without a moments hesitation.

  "Not even a little?" Zeke pushes.

  I notice Damon peaking at me through lidded eyes, but he remains silent as I consider my answer.

  "Not even a little," I decide.

  "Still think it wouldn't have hurt to keep that book around," Zeke says quietly, as if he knows I am going to yell at him for bringing this up again.

  "Nothing good can come from that thing," I argue for the millionth time since Elena and Stefan left to hide it away.

  After the incident the other day I had tried to destroy it, but the fire did nothing to the aged leather. A small part of me was relieved. While I do believe that I will never want what that book has to offer, it was still left to me by my mom.

  "But you could have lived forever!" Zeke exclaims.

  "Yea, by sucking the lives away from other people," I remind him.

  "Right, forgot that part," Zeke mumbles to himself, rubbing the back of his neck with his hand as he continues, "and that is definitely not something I can imagine you doing."

  "Besides, I am too young to be thinking about being immortal."

  "You can be too young?" Zeke wonders aloud, his brows furrowing.

  "Well of course! I would want to wait until I was at least twenty one," I reason. "Think about it though, having to try and sneak into bars while looking eternally eighteen."

  "Oh, good point," Zeke agrees with a nod. "That makes sense though. I mean, have you ever read Interview With a Vampire? Claudia was all kinds of messed up."

  "I think she got messed up from being a vampire though, not necessarily immortal," I theorize, nibbling on my lip as I consider the fictional character.

  "It was both," Damon interjects, even as he keeps his eyes closed, "she was tormented by being stuck in a child's body. She was an adult in every sense of the word, but that wasn't reflected. Add to that the hunting of human life and she was destined to go a little insane."

  "But I still don't think that's a very good comparison," I insist. "If I were to become immortal right now, I don't think I would go crazy."

  "Your grandma was pretty crazy," Zeke utters, wincing as soon as the words leave his mouth.

  "Yea, well I am nothing like her," I announce, raising my chin in defiance.

  "Amen to that!" Zeke cheers. "Seriously though," he continues, "did you hear about what they are blaming her work on?"

  "Oh yea," I answer, not feeling the need to point out that it was actually I who accidently raised an entire cemetery worth of corpses. "Dad has been going on about it since the story broke. He is being super overprotective of me now. Convinced if I am out a minute past night fall some Satanist is going to scoop me up and sacrifice me," I finish with a laugh.

  "Well," Zeke shrugs as he considers this, "that isn't really too far off from what almost happened."

  "They were not Satanists," I start, but the argument dies on my tongue as I realize the truth sounds even more bizarre.

  "I'm not going to correct them," Zeke chimes in with a laugh.

  "Right!" I agree.

  "Thankfully you guys were able to compel everyone that was at the coffee shop the other day," Zeke goes on, turning his attention to Damon, "otherwise we really would have all kinds of strange stories spreading around town."

  "Let's just not do that again," Damon grumbles, "all that work and I didn't even get to feed on any of them."

  Zeke pales as he stares at Damon with wide, fearful eyes.

  "He is teasing," I insist, hitting Damon playfully on the chest, "right?"

  Damon smiles down at me, but doesn't say one way or another. Deep down I think there might be some truth to his words, but I don't allow my thoughts to dwell on that. Besides, I think he might  just like coming off as some dark, mysterious guy. Either way, I know what he is. Even if he does need to 'feed', I believe he wouldn't really harm anyone. At least not anymore...

  "Come on," Zeke shouts, holding a hand out in Damon's direction, "tell me how someone like this isn't even a bit scary?"

  "hmmm," I lean back just enough to be able to get a good look at Damon, tilting my head to consider him. "Nope, sorry just not scared."

  "Told you, you're just biased."

  "Honestly though, even you were afraid of zombies," I add, my voice rising with my excitement as I poke Damon in the chest, "that just proves them to be scarier."

  "I was not afraid," Damon argues, peaking down at me incredulously from half closed eyes.

  "Really?" I challenge with a raise of my brow.

  "I'm pretty sure I saw some fear," Zeke concurs with a laugh.

  Damon shifts, sitting up straighter in order to set his hard glare upon us, his piercing eyes a threat on their own. Zeke ducks his head, retreating in the best way he can in the situation. He spins his computer chair around, lowering his head to make himself appear as small as possible and pretends to have been playing on his computer this whole time.

  "Be nice," I whisper, nudging Damon with my shoulder before settling back in beside him. 

  "I'm not the nice one, remember?" he retorts, tugging at my loose hair once more.

  "That's not true," I argue, narrowing my eyes at him as I push my hair back behind my ear, "I always knew you were nice."

  "Liar."

  "Nope," I insist, sticking my tongue out at him.

  "Child," He teases, before sticking his tongue out at me as well.

  "Come on guys, seriously!" Zeke scolds, peaking at us from over his shoulder. "No more flirting while you're on my bed, its gross."

  "You act like we are doing something taboo," I grumble, rolling my eyes at him.

  "I am pretty sure in many circles the undead and the living being together would definitely be considered taboo," Zeke argues.

  "Well, who asked their opinion," I huff, making Damon chuckle at me.

  "Zeke," a soft, gentle voice calls from outside the door, "start washing up for dinner. Are your friends going to be staying?"

  "No," I call back before Zeke has a chance to respond, "thank you though!"

  "Are you sure?" Zeke asks, his bottom lip puffing out in a small pout.

  "Yea," I sigh, scrambling off the bed and stretching, "like I said, Dad is being super protective. I'm surprised he hasn't already started blowing up my phone."

  "I'll walk you home," Damon announces as he effortlessly stands and saunters to the door, opening it for me. 

  "Well thank you, never know what might happen in the whole five steps it takes me," I laugh. "See you later, call me tonight okay?" I send a little wave in Zeke's direction before heading out.

  "Will do, night you guys," Zeke calls before shutting the door after us.

  The air is crisp as night quickly closes in on us. The breeze is soft as it blows my hair around in an intricate dance. A shiver courses through me as I absentmindedly wrap my arms around myself.

  "Here," Damon says softly, wrapping his warm leather jacket over my shoulders.

  "I think I can manage to be a little cold while I walk across the front lawn," I tease, even as I eagerly pull the soft material closer to myself.

  "Definitely seems like it," he laughs as he steps closer, wrapping his arms around my waist and pulling me to him.

  Butterflies erupt in my stomach, my heart fluttering along with them as I lean into his embrace. A small satisfied sigh escapes me as I nuzzle myself into his chest, breathing in the scent of him. My smile growing even wider as I feel the gentle brush of his lips against my head.

  No matter how many times he does this, I will never get used to the euphoria that over takes me.

  "You were right by the way," Damon whispers, his breath tickling my forehead as I lean back just enough to look up to him.

  "About what?" I ask, forgetting about everything other than being in his arms.

  "I was afraid," he answers simply, his arms tightening around my waist.

  "Well they were zombies," I reason, trying to hide the smile that pulls at my lips. "We were all pretty afraid, it's nothing to be embarrassed of."

  "That's not what I was afraid of," he explains, leaning down so that his lips just barley touch mine.

  My knees tremble, and once more I am thankful for his strength, for I don't know if I could remain standing without it.

  "Oh?" I ask dumbly, my mind refusing to come up with anything smarter to say.

  "I was afraid of losing you," he finishes, my heart swooning as his words bring a soft blush to my cheeks.

  Finally, his lips come down to brush softly against mine. A gently kiss that teases me, draws me in, and then is over far to quickly. Before I am able to deepen it, Damon is pulling away, resting his forehead against mine and staring intently into my eyes.

  "I love you," I breath, the words leaving my mouth before I even knew they were there.

  "I love you too," Damon answers, his lips twitching into a small smirk before lowering  to mine once more.

A/n:

I just want to say thank you all for joining me on this journey with Nereza and Damon. I can hardly believe that we have reached its end, but I have truly enjoyed writing this adventure. I have appreciated each and everyone of your votes, comments, and messages. Your suport really has meant the world to me!