12. Hush, Hush

            “What’s bringing this on?” I panted once I ripped my lips away from Damon’s. My heart was fluttering, butterflies bounced in my gut. This was a new sensation for me.

            “You’re asking like you don’t know the answer,” he crooned, giving me a heated kiss. “I know you know it.”

            “You’re in love with me.” The words sounded foreign on my lips.

            “I’d prefer to think of it as you’re in love with me.”

            “I’m not as into you as you think I am. I’m pretty sure you are into me.”

            “Just stop it, Faith. Stop trying to deny what’s here.”

            Now it made sense as to why Damon had popped into my dreams all those times. I had taken a liking to him, he had me interested. The one person who I thought I couldn’t stand was in love with me, and apparently, I shared the same feelings, but I didn’t think about it much. Well, how could I with everything that had happened recently around me?

            “I never thought there was a soft side to you.” I chuckled. “A protective side, yeah, but not a sensitive side.”

            “I didn’t think I had one until I met you. You have no idea of the effect you have on me.”

            “I’m just a human to you, though,” I whimpered. “A play toy.” I winced.

            “Not anymore.” He gave me a dizzying kiss which made me sway dangerously.

            Up close, I could see Damon’s eyes turn strange. The whites of his eyes were turning a scary red, and there were some lines going under his eyes. I swallowed, having no idea what to do. I swore I saw fangs poke out as he exposed his teeth. I whimpered. When was the last time this vampire fed on anybody?

            “Damon,” I squeaked, my voice unusually high. “Take it easy. You can fight it.” Gingerly, I grabbed his face. “Breathe. Relax. Come on, it’ll help.” Maybe, I thought hopefully.

            It wasn’t working. Damon was making an effort to fight his hunger off, but he was slowly losing. I closed my eyes. What did I think I could accomplish by trying to convince a hungry—thirsty, whichever the correct term was—vampire to avoid temptation? There was no way to avoid it; I was going to be his next meal. Whether or not I gave myself willingly to him, I was going to end up being bitten by him.

            Well, this was going to be a short romance between us—if that’s what this was even considered.

            “Go ahead,” I said softly. I dropped my hands from his face but still kept my face close to his. “Do it. Bite me. I won’t run, I won’t scream.”

            “What?” That snapped Damon out of his extreme hunger mode. The whites of his eyes were white again, those lines under his eyes disappeared. “You’re willing to let me feed off of you?”

            “Hey, if I were you, I’d be thankful that you have a willing donor,” I snapped lightly. “I bet you don’t get many of those. This will be a onetime deal, got it?”

            “You’re being stupid.”

            “Excuse me?”

            “You’re willing to give yourself to a monster that could easily kill you!”

            “What do you expect me to do, Damon? I can’t outrun you, I can’t fend you off! I’m human! The most I can do is run and scream for help, but that won’t help me! I might as well throw myself to the sharks since I can’t do anything.

“Besides, you’re not a monster. I trust you.”

“That’s a bad idea.”

“I’m sure you have will power,” I went on, ignoring his comment. “Use it. If you care about me, you’ll find the will to stop.” I shrugged. “Give it a go. I’ll take the pain. After all, how much more can it hurt than what I’ve been through emotionally?”

            “You can’t compare emotional and physical pain, Faith, they’re not the same.” The wind got knocked out of me as I was tightly compressed between the door and Damon’s body. “I’ll try and make it as painless as possible for you.”

            The anticipation of the bite made me fidgety. Damon’s eyes turned pitiful, an emotion that was probably rare to see on his face or in his eyes. I sucked in a breath, prepping to take the pinch of his fangs into my skin. If I was lucky, he wouldn’t burst open a vein and let me bleed to death. Elena would surely kill him if he did.

            It was almost like a nip, a very small pinch. I felt Damon’s fangs sink into my neck. I squeezed my eyes shut, grabbing his shirt to hold myself steady. An arm was around my waist while the other held the side of my neck that wasn’t being devoured. I was stunned. Having someone draining me of blood was a very…odd experience and sensation.

            But—I couldn’t believe I was even thinking this—the sensation was amazing. I was pretty sure my hormones were kicking in at this point; because there was no way that a vampire biting me should be a good feeling. I leaned into Damon, basking in the oddly blissful experience.

            “Is that better?” I gasped once I felt Damon detach from me. I jumped when seeing my blood dribbling down his chin but I relaxed, looking into his normal eyes once again.

            “You have no idea.” He chuckled.

            He tried to kiss me again, but I put my hands on his chest. I shook my head. “I’m not kissing you when you just drank from me,” I said. Those words sounded wrong coming from my mouth. I had to remember I was in a different world now, one where vampires, werewolves, witches, and vampire hunters existed.

            Damon would have never gotten the chance to kiss me anyway, because we could hear the door open downstairs. My hand flew right to my neck, my eyes bulged. Elena and Jeremy would flip if they saw bite marks on me! I tried to conceal my small wound with my hair. Damon sighed.

            “Hair won’t be enough,” he said simply. He ripped off a section of a shirt I had packed and wrapped around my neck, like a scarf.

            “Hmm, creative,” I commended him, grinning.

            “Just hope Elena doesn’t notice it’s a piece of a shirt.”

            “You just hope. I didn’t bite myself. You fed off me.”

            “Let’s not forget you let me.”

            “Touché. Wipe off your chin.”

            I walked down the stairs normally, trying to calm myself. If Elena was home, she’d hear my heart, and then she’d start asking questions. I wasn’t in the mood to start answering any.

            It was Jeremy and Elena. I found them in the kitchen, talking. Elena threw me a smile while Jeremy looked a little unnerved—probably because Damon was right behind me. I wasn’t sure what Damon was to me now—a protector, a friend, or something more? I was confused about that, but that matter had to be decided later.

            “How’s Caroline doing?” I asked Elena.

            “She’s better. Bonnie’s spells will keep her settled down, I hope,” she said wistfully. “There weren’t any problems around the house? No attacks?”

            Oh there was something, but it wasn’t a problem. “If there were any, I would’ve called you. Did you tell Jeremy?”

            “She just finished explaining it when we got in the door,” Jer told me. “And she told me how she put Damon on guard duty for her until she got back.” His brown eyes shot a dirty look at his sister. Apparently, Jeremy didn’t approve of Damon being near me either. Did he suspect that Damon was in love with me, or did he just not want Damon around me period?

            “Did they actually get to Caroline?” I asked Elena.

            “No, they were just around her house. I don’t think they’ll be able to get past Bonnie’s spells if they try to break into her house again.”

            “When is she coming to do our house?”

            “Soon. The spells took a lot out of her; she needs a few days to recover.”

            “That’s understandable. So she might not be around for training for a few days?”

            “Most likely not.” Elena’s eyes narrowed curiously. “I didn’t know you packed a scarf in your bag.”

            “I guess I did. I found it buried.” I shrugged.

            Thankfully, Elena didn’t bother to ask questions. Damon and I were under the radar. Now it was up to me to keep the little marks out of Jeremy’s and Elena’s sight.

*       *       *

            I wasn’t sure what Damon and I had, but it was something new to me. I acted the same as I always did, but when Damon and I were alone, I openly showed him affection. It was hard, because we were keeping it hushed up from everybody else. I didn’t want to have another repeat of what Elena and the rest of the gang did when I had fallen for Trevor. I didn’t want to succumb to being under house arrest, not again.

            That little discovery with Damon had been revealed two weeks ago, so October was ending and November was just around the corner. The first bite marks he had given me had healed and thankfully didn’t scar. Of course, I didn’t hold up the whole the-first-feed-off-me-is-the-last-one deal. Damon would work his way to my neck then make his move. Twice he did it, and I wasn’t too happy with him on it. Even though I got pissed at him, one kiss would melt my anger towards him. He was that good of a kisser. Well, he had had a lot of girls to practice with so it was kind of hard for him to not be good.

            It was night. I decided to stay home by myself since there hadn’t been much talk about the vampire hunters lately. Training was less frequent than weeks ago. I figured it would be nice to stay home. Besides, going to a dance club with Caroline, Elena, and Jeremy wasn’t my thing. The idea of “club dancing” didn’t seem very enticing to me. I would rather stay home.

            I curled up into the couch, resting my head against it. I rubbed my bitten neck. They weren’t considered love bites, more like hunger bites. I didn’t know how I managed to keep hiding the newly made marks on my neck with Elena. She was bound to catch the scent of my blood. Either she really didn’t know, or she did and just didn’t say anything.

            I jumped at hearing the house creak. I wondered how my grandparents were doing without me. Life had probably gone back to normal for them before I moved in with them. I was sure they missed me even though it had been a few months since I’d moved here to Mystic Falls.

            I wondered what my parents would say if they knew where I was now, what world I was being exposed to. They’d probably deem me crazy and send me to an asylum. At least I knew I wasn’t crazy, because I knew other people knew about the existence of vampires, witches, and werewolves.

            Out of a nervous habit, I hastily trotted to the door to check the lock. Still locked, still safe and secure. My muscles relaxed slightly but soon tensed again when I heard a bump upstairs. My head swerved to the stairs.

            Damn, I kind of wished Bonnie had come over to set up protective spells on the house. Elena had totally forgotten about it, and so had I. There was no time to call her now, what with the possibility of intruders upstairs.

I pondered on what to do. Would it be too much to call Elena so she could come home? What if it’s nothing and you waste her time because you heard a noise? I thought to myself. Would it seem fair to waste Elena’s time on me when I thought I heard someone upstairs when really nobody was up there at all? If I did call, she’d probably say I wasn’t wasting her time, when in reality she would be hiding her annoyance because of me.

            I decided that I would take the risk and investigate the noise. I kept telling myself that I was hearing things, that the house made noises like that all the time. If there was someone breaking into the house, I’d use what self-defense I knew and kick their ass and send them home, or keep them there until I called for help.

            Each step I crept up felt like it was trying to give me away. The tiny squeaks they uttered sounded loud in the quiet house. I took my time. Okay, where did I hear the noise come from? It’s up here, but which room? A small knock came from my bedroom. I inhaled deeply.

            I tried to think calm thoughts as I tiptoed into my bedroom. I flicked the light on. Nothing was touched. The window wasn’t wide open; the door was open, just like I left it. Pursing my lips, I went to the window to check the lock. It was latched. My brows furrowed.

            “I must be going crazy,” I told myself. I shook my head, yanking down the blinds.

            A thought got to me. What if it was Damon trying to be funny and scare me? He knew I scared easy. It sounded like something he would do. I frowned. This felt like that part of a horror movie where everything was too quiet and then something jumped out moments later.

 If it was Damon behind these antics, I’d give him a few good choice words.

            Debating on whether or not I was paranoid, or if Damon was playing a trick, I turned around only to bump into someone’s chest. I bounced off them, a little stunned. The familiar odor of vervain made me cough. I panicked immediately. How could that scent be back? Trevor was dead…

I waved away the stench, trying to clear the air around me. I supported myself with the window. My limbs locked, my heart almost stopped for a second. I was about ready to scream but they covered my mouth with their hand.

            Right now, I really wished it had been Damon playing a trick on me. But it wasn’t.

            An intruder was in my house, and I had walked right into their path.