Written 2012 by VeGirl

Damon took me by the upper arm and dragged me out of the Grill and toward his car. He opened the door; "Have a seat miss Emma!" he said in a clipped voice. I snickered and put my shades back on.

"That was fun," I said as we drove off. "But isn't it hard to be pissed off all the time?"

He looked at me. "Like I said yesterday, sarcasm helps..." He smiled. "You of all people seem to know that it's just a reputation; you might actually be the only one..."

I smiled back at him. "Thank you." I looked away for a while thinking hard if I could tell him that I knew his secret and finally I decided. "I even know about that night when you laid in the middle of the road, when Rose had died," I admitted quietly. He snapped his head my direction and looked at me astonished. "When you said that you missed being human..." I continued, even more quiet.

"How the..." he blurted out and stared at me suspiciously.

"I would never tell anyone, I swear to God," I promised, looking him straight in the eyes. I had been crying when I watched that episode on my tv even though I knew it was just a tv-show, or at least that's what I thought.

He kept looking suspicious for a while and then it was like he relaxed. It must be hard to always being alone with your secrets. I didn't say anything more but I noticed that he passed the driveway up to the house. I looked at him with question visible on my face.

"I want to show you something," he said and kept driving.

"What?"

"You'll see."

He drove out of town and then into the forest on a small road. There was a roadblock that said 'Private property' but he had a remote which opened the boom so we could pass. It was a small road with trees close by on both sides and I looked up at the sky, where I could see birds flying high above us. When there was no more trees I looked out over a beautiful little lake with a waterfall. The sun shined straight at it; making a sparkling rainbow appear.

"Wow!" I breathed.

"You like it?" he asked. Just by the lake were the most beautiful log cabin. "It's mine. Nobody knows about it, unless you already knew...?"

I shook my head slowly. "Oh I know far from everything! Wow Damon, it's amazing!"

He parked the car and was fast by my side to open the door for me. "May I please show it to you, Miss Emma?" he asked formally and I nodded enthusiastic.

He took my hand and led me to the front porch, It felt amazing just to walk with him hand in hand. There was a porch swing, just the kind I loved, but was hard to get hold of in Sweden. He opened the door and stepped aside.

"Would you please come in, Emma?"

I smiled at him and took a step inside the house. After a small hallway we stepped into a combined living room and kitchen with huge window panels that showed an amazing view of the lake and a big patio outside. The living room had a big stone fireplace and a couch by it. It was nothing like the boarding-house, of course much smaller, much more light and it felt more like a home to me.

I spun around and faced him. "This is the most beautiful place I have ever seen."

He smiled and I got the feeling that he had a bit hard to take a compliment when he had no sarcasm to hide behind. "I've had it a couple of years, not even Stefan knows about it..." I felt honoured and didn't know what to say. "I've never taken anyone here..."

I looked at him dubiously.

"You're not like anyone I have ever met, Emma."

"You can't mean that." There wasn't anything special about me, I was just ordinary.

"I have been around for a while, Emma," he said and suddenly sounded so tired.

I stood close to him and put my hand on his cheek. "Things will work out," I tried to comfort him, but what did I know?

He just looked into my eyes for a while, then he took my hand and continued the tour by opening the doors out to the patio and we got out.

"Come I want to show you something." He held my hand and walked over to the end of the patio towards the waterfall.

"Wait a minute! I'm not really wearing my hiking shoes." I pouted as I pattered along in my heels behind him.

Mirth was back in his eyes. "Hmm, that could be a problem - for you," he said teasingly.

"Hey!"

He snickered and I was fast kicking my shoes off, to easier tag along, barefoot. There was a little surprised look on his face when my walking changed and I was suddenly a couple of inches shorter than before as we walked along the small path. It really was a short walk for us to get to the fall and it was so beautiful!

Just by the fall there were a small beachfront and another garden swing. "All this is yours?" I asked amazed.

"Yes, the house, the lake and a couple of acres of the woods around it. Secluded..." he smiled.

"This is a little piece of heaven," I breathed.

He smiled at me. "I'm glad you like it."

We sat down on the swing and he put his arm around my shoulders. The feeling of sitting there with him was pure happiness. A small breeze tousled my blond hair and made my dress flutter.

"Don't they say that you can find happiness at the end of the rainbow?" I asked as I watched the rainbow in the fine mist of the waterfall. The rainbow stretched all the way over to his house.

"A pot of gold, I've heard."

"Well in Sweden the saying goes that you find happiness there," I stated and leaned my head on his shoulder. We sat there quiet for a while but then my stomach started to growl.

"Oh sorry, it's dinnertime? I forgot." He was on his feet and we walked back to the house. I of course tripped on a rock or something and cut my foot. He helped me on my feet.

"Thanks, I'm fine," I said but had a hard time walking. I looked down at my foot and saw blood trickle out from the cut.

"You're not fine," he said and his eyes started to get black around the edges. He scooped me up in his arms and carried me to the house. I couldn't help but to stare at his face as it changed. The veins became visible around the eyes and the eyes started to turn red.

"Am I scaring you?" he asked without looking straight at me.

"No," I said and swallowed hard.

He smiled that crocked smile. "Liar!" he whispered under his breath without looking at me. I looked away, pondering if I really was scared, but surprisingly I felt safe, even though his face was altering and his fangs started to show.

"Is it hard for you to resist?" I whispered quiet.

He looked surprised at me, and then he smiled. "Mind over matter," he simply said as he carried me inside and put me down on the kitchen counter with my foot in the sink. As I sat there, the odour of blood made me instantly chose to breathe through my mouth to avoid it. In one of the cupboards Damon took out a first aid kit and then rinsed the foot in the water and put a band aid on.

"It's just a small cut, it'll heel fast since you have my blood in your system," he explained and I noted that his face had changed back; his eyes were no longer bright red around the ice blue iris'. "Now, let's get you some food," he said and I watched him go to the fridge, pull out a drawer where I would keep vegetables if it was my kitchen; take a blood-bag, pour in a glass and gulp it down.

"See, crisis over," he said and smiled. "Let's see what we can feed you?" I was still watching him amazed.

He was actually surprisingly stocked up on food and pulled out a couple of steaks and fried up while I chopped salad for us, being careful with my foot. Luckily I didn't cut myself; that might have put a little too much strain on our relationship. It felt a little weird when he poured himself another glass of blood. He saw me glancing at it.

"Are you okay?" he asked.

"Yes, as long as it's way over there," I said and glanced at the glass.

"You're okay with me drinking it?"

"Of course I am, as long as I don't have to smell it." I shuddered all over. He looked surprised at me. "It's the awful coppery smell, didn't I tell you last night?" I shuddered again. "Urkhh."

He laughed. "So it's the smell you don't like? Well you have to get over that," he said, closed in on me and kissed me.

My head instantly started to spin as I felt his breath and the coppery taste I dreaded in his kiss. I groaned, my legs got wobbly and I sank down to the floor where had to lie down with my feet up along the kitchen counter, trying in my dazed state to make sure I was decent in my dress.

"What happened?" He looked worriedly at me when I sank to the floor.

"I told you, I can't stand the smell." My voice cracked.

He looked confused at me. "So you can kick my butt and you can see me go into vampire-mode without flinching, but when you smell the blood you faint?" He laughed as he walked over to the bar table in the living room, poured himself a whiskey and rinsed his mouth before he swallowed the gold liquid. He walked back over to me. "Are you going to lie there all day?" he asked as his eyes glittered from suppressed laughter. He offered a hand and helped me on my feet.

He looked suddenly at me like he was about to put a puzzle together. "Now I have to ask; when you where laying there bleeding, in the arms of a vampire, you were asking how I was coping. What's wrong with you girl?"

I looked away, feeling a bit stupid. "I trust you," I mumbled. "Are you saying that's wrong?"

"Duh!" He looked like I had totally lost my mind. "Never trust a vampire, trust me!" He went over and put our steaks on plates and carried them out to the patio furniture and I limped after him with the salad bowl. He poured wine in our glasses and we sat down. "I didn't even ask if you wanted your steak bloody," he commented with a teasing smile, I just stuck my tongue out to him.

"You fixed me again; you must be a good guy."

"You forget that I have a psychotic mind that snaps and kills people impulsively," he said as he chewed on the meat. I just looked at him with a judging face. "Well, hello - vampire!" He gestured towards himself while laughing.

"In the era of blood banks I would say that's bullshit!" I said.

"Language, please! What kind of lady are you?" he reprimanded me.

"The one that don't take your bullshit?" I challenged, snickering.

He recoiled slightly, but a smile lit up his face. "You're amazing; I've never met anyone like you. You are so cocky!" he snickered.. "Even though I could take you down any minute and you know that, don't you?"

"Yes I know. But I know stuff about you that most people don't."

"Don't you understand that's one of the best arguments for me to actually kill you?" he snickered with his crocked smile and one eyebrow in the air.

I reflected about that while I chewed. "And now you have taken me to a secluded place that no one knows about. I'm not very smart am I?"

He laughed and shook his head. "But amazingly sweet, and it's like you don't even care that I'm a compulsive liar and a monster."

"Well I don't like liars, but who am I to talk? I had really fun, fooling Caroline today."

"You missed the part where I told you I'm a monster."

"I heard that, I just ignored it," I deflected. "This food was really good, you're a good cook," I continued and took a sip of the wine.

"Still ignoring me..." he chastised soft and quiet. I started to giggle. "You have no respect for me at all, do you?"

"Of course I have! I respect you; every man and woman needs to be respected," I said smiling.

We had both finished our meal and he leaned back in his seat and watched me in silence for a while. His eyes glittered and a smile was lurking on his face, almost not visible yet. His gaze made my heartbeat quicken, and there were butterflies in my stomach once again.

"You're not afraid of me..." he tilted his head to the side and said it slow and it was so obvious that he saw it as a challenge that I almost smiled.

"Oh I'm sure that you could scare the crap out of me if you wanted to." I spoke slowly just like he had and I was sure that he could hear my heartbeat pick up.

He just nodded. "I could."

None of us said anything for a while; we just watched one another and excitement tingled along my body.

We rose to do the dishes together and I noticed I didn't have any problem with my foot anymore. "Hey, my foot is okay!" I exclaimed.

"Of course! I told you, you would heal fast." He smiled and put his arms around my waist.

"Thank you! I would need to have you around more often, you wouldn't believe how often I trip and fall. That was one of the reasons I started with the Aikido-training."

After the dishes were done with some teasing about me being clumsy, we sat down in the porch swing out on the patio, just like the one he had on the front porch. Damon had put his iphone in the docking station and soft music surrounded us where we sat watching the sun set over the lake.

Ingrid Michaelson was singing about 'they say home is where your heart is...' and I smiled. "I was just thinking about this house as a home," I said. "Much more so, than the boarding-house."

"Thank you." He put his arm around me. "I've done stupid things in that boarding-house..." He got lost in contemplation and I knew he had killed Zack; perhaps there were more...?

I leaned my head on his shoulder, alowing him to ruminate. We sat quiet for a while, both wrapped up in our own thoughts.

"I can't help thinking about all the things you have seen during onehundred and fifty years." I looked at him and saw memories fill his mind.

He shook his head and looked dreamily out over the water. "It was quite a different world... no computers, tv:s or cars..."

"I wonder what life will be like in another hundred years..." I said quiet.

"I can arrange for you to find out." He smiled teasingly. "No, I couldn't do that to you," he added and I thought about all that memories that must be full of pain and grief. He leaned his cheek on my hair. "You have your whole life ahead of you, with a family and children..." there was a sad edge to his words. I could almost hear the pain in his voice and understood that he needed the sarcasm to hide his emotions behind.

"That's not really for me..." I said quiet. "The family with children... I was..." I cleared my throat, wondering if I should say or not, but then continued. "I was raped when I was fifteen... and afterwards they told me I couldn't have children anymore..." I revealed it slowly as I looked out over the lake.

He immediately took me by the cheek and turned me to face him. I slowly raised my eyes to meet his and saw them full of tears. He didn't say anything but hugged me hard. He then pushed me on an arm's length and looked me hard in the eyes. "Tell me his name so I can kill him..." his voice was venomous and hard.

"It's a long time ago and he was convicted," I said tired, not wanting to ruin our evening. That guy wasn't even worth the anger I had held for him. "I don't want to talk about it." I almost regretted mentioning it, ruining this fabulous moment in Damon's arms.

He put his arms around me again and we sat on the porch-swing in silence for a while. He kissed me on top of my head. "I'll make sure no one ever hurt you again," he mumbled and I smiled.

At least until I have to go home... I thought sad.

We sat there close together as the sun disappeared down the horizon by the lake and darkness surrounded us. I snuggled close to him for warmth when the sun didn't keep me warm anymore.

"Are you cold?" he asked smiling, and I nodded. "I think it's time for me to take you to bed."

All of a sudden, there were butterflies in my stomach. I could almost hear my heart beating faster, and I was certain he could hear it. He didn't comment it, just took my hand and I followed him as he turned the music off, locked the doors and turned off the light. His bedroom was upstairs along with an office and a bathroom.

We stopped by the bed and he took my face gentle between his hands and kissed me. It was such a sweet kiss that I forgot everything around me. Suddenly I was slowly unbuttoning his shirt. He let out a soft moan as I let my fingers slid along his flat stomach and around his back. I gasped when I felt him unzip my dress and it was suddenly in a heap around my ankles on the floor.

His hand went to the small of my back and he pressed me to his body. His kisses became more intense and I kissed him back with a hunger. The passion I felt at that moment I had never felt before in my life, even though I had been with guys before. Of course I had; Hello, I'm 25!

It wasn't long before we were naked in bed together, and I'm not going into details. A lady doesn't tell!

~~Authors Note ~~

So how do you like the story so far? Please comment, I'm dying to know what you think since this is my first story here. (But maybe it's a good day to die?) Please vote if you like it.

Enjoy / VeGirl