Chapter 6 ~ Truth and Secrets

When Vella awoke the next morning, she was surprised to find Damon in her bed. She tried to recall what had happened the night before, but the last thing she remembered was slow dancing with Damon. A million different possibilities ran through her mind, each worst than the last. As Vella rolled over to face Damon, she realized she was still dressed, which she was relieved about.
Damon felt her movement and opened his eyes immediately. He hadn't really been sleeping soundly, he had been too worried about Vella for that.
"Well good morning, sunshine," Damon said with a relieved smile.
"Good morning, Damon," Vella mumbled.
She was feeling a mix of light-headedness and weakness and almost passed out when she spoke.
Damon was worried when he spoke. "Vella, just lay in bed and don't move around."
Vella opened her mouth to speak, but Damon put his finger on her lips and said, "Shh."
She wasn't sure what was going on, but she complied with his wishes. She was too tired to fight. With that thought she fell back asleep.

Damon frowned even though he was relieved to know she was okay, at least for the moment. He hadn't really slept at all during the night with all the questions running through his head. What exactly has she gotten herself into? he wondered.
Damon went downstairs and put on a pot of coffee, he was going to need it and if Vella were to wake up again, she would need it too.
It wasn't more than a few minutes later when he heard a rapping at the front door, it was Stefan.
Since Damon couldn't invite his brother in, he had to go outside to talk to him.
Stefan didn't have much to report. He lost the vampire and never found him, even though he searched all night.
Damon was disappointed in this information, but not completely surprised. His brother was not as fast as he was and when a vampire wanted to hide, he could make himself almost impossible to find.
Stefan began to ask Damon questions about Vella, but Damon wasn't in the mood to answer any of them. He wanted to go back into the house to be with her when she woke up. He didn't want her to hurt herself if she woke up alone.
"I promise to tell you what I know as soon as I know it," then Damon added. "Or at least, what you need to know."
And with that, Damon thanked his brother for his help and bid him goodbye.


It was much later in the day when Vella finally woke up again. Damon had to help her to sit up in the bed. He propped her up in the bed and made her promise not to move even an inch.
Vella didn't argue at this, she felt too sick and out of sorts to disagree with him.
When Damon got back to her room, he had brought a tray covered with food and drinks. He wasn't quite sure what she would need since it had been a long time since he needed food and drink to survive.
The tray had plain toast, crackers, some fruit. a cup of coffee and a glass of water, which he set next to her on the nightstand.
Vella was so grateful for the help, but she really didn't want anything. She accepted the glass of water with a smile.
For a long while, Damon and Vella just sat in the bed not saying anything. It was Vella who spoke first.
"What happened last night, Damon?" she asked quietly.
"What is the last thing you remember, Vella?"
"I, uh, um," she stammered. "The last thing I remember is dancing with you."
Damon wasn't sure what to tell her. He didn't want to upset her right now, she needed to fully recover first.
"I promise to tell you when you are feeling better," he said after much thought. "For now, I want you to make me a promise. Promise me you will rest as much as you can and not argue with me?"
Vella reluctantly agreed to that promise, but only because she felt too tired to argue with Damon.
For the rest of the day and night, Damon watched over Vella and made sure she kept her promise. But he found she did little more than sleep.
It was early the next morning before Vella was actually able to get out of bed, with Damon's help. All she felt like doing was having a shower. Damon's response was the only way he would let her shower was to have one with her. That didn't go over well with Vella at all, so she decided to ask him to run her a bath instead. Damon wanted to stay in the room to make sure she would be okay, but he had a feeling she could handle a bath, so he waited outside for her.
After Vella had bathed and gotten dressed, Damon helped her down into the kitchen. He made her a breakfast of scrambled eggs, toast and fruit.
Vella ate as much as she could stomach because she was famished. She wasn't feeling one hundred percent quite yet, but she was feeling much better. She was quite shocked at how well Damon had been taking care of her. She really wondered why he was doing this. Did he really care? Or was he feeling guilty for not being able to protect her?
A few hours later, Stefan stopped by to see how Vella was. She invited him in, but he didn't stay long. He was just happy to know Vella was okay and that his brother had been behaving himself.


By the time the sun began to set that day, Vella was feeling more like herself. It was time to plead with Damon to tell her about Friday night.
Damon gave Vella a serious look. He made her promise to tell him what was going on with her, if he told her about Friday night.
Vella had to think about it, but she reluctantly agreed. She knew he needed to know and now was the time.
Damon told her everything that had happened during the party and what happened after they left. He was surprised by Vella's nonchalant attitude at the mention of a vampire attacking her.
After Damon was done explaining, he sat back and waited for Vella to talk.
Vella got up off the couch and started pacing. She then sat back down on the couch but only on the edge of it.
Damon slid closer to her, put both of his hands on either of her shoulders and looked straight into Vella's eyes to help calm her down.
Vella fought against it, but soon gave up. All he wanted to do was help her calm down. She would rather feel calm than jumping out of her skin.
Vella leaned back on the couch and looked at Damon with a resigned look. She wasn't quite sure where to start.
"I already told you I needed help. And now that I can trust you, I will tell you why and how," she started. "But first, I want to tell you what my plan for you was...in the beginning."
At this last statement, Damon, smirked a little.
Vella started to shake a little again, but Damon rested his hand on her knee and it calmed her down.
"There were two possible outcomes, Damon. Either I would be able to convince you to help me or...."
"Or what?" Damon prompted her.
"Or, I was going to convince you to change me into a vampire."
Damon was startled by her admission. "Are you serious?"
"Completely serious, Damon."
Vella eyes told him she wasn't lying. But why would she want this kind of life when she knew what it was about?
"It's a very long story." she looked down and closed her eyes, trying to keep away the tears.
Damon grabbed her hand and squeezed, hoping that the support would help.
"While this all started about 125 years ago, my part in it started about eight years ago, when I was 17"
Damon found the 125 years ago part very curious and worrisome at the same time. He remembered only too well what being a vampire in that time was like.
All the pain Vella had been holding back for years suddenly came to the surface and she couldn't control the tears.
Damon put his arms around her and pulled Vella close to him.
Vella's cries soon became gentle sobbing and she was able to go on.
"I had a fight with my parent's that evening. I was 17, nothing unusual. But I was angry so I took off for awhile," Vella said choking back some tears and sobs.
"I came back later that night, it was around 11 p.m. The front door was wide open, which was unusual for my parents, especially at 11 p.m."
Vella took a few deep breathes, and wiped her eyes before going on again.
"I was scared, so I went to the livingroom window and looked in. There was a man and a woman who were arguing with my parents. I didn't know that they were vampires at that time, but they were."
Vella started to hyperventilate a little, but Damon calmed her down by stroking her hair and whispering, "It's ok."
Eventually she was able to go on.
"I couldn't hear what they were fighting about, but they were really angry. My mother must have said or done something they didn't like because the male vampire attacked my father, he was dead before he hit the ground. I was so paralysed by fear, I couldn't even move or scream."
Tears were now coming down Vella's cheeks like a river, but the sobs had slowed down.
"My little sister must have heard the noise because she came out of her room. The next part is kind of a blur, but the female vampire grabbed my sister and the male attacked my mother. And the last thing I remember is waking up in the hospital."
Vella was relieved to finally be able to tell someone about her grisly past. She stayed in Damon's arms for a little while, enjoying the comfort.
Damon still had questions. He was hoping she had the answers to them.
"Do you know why the vampires attacked your family?"
Vella thought for a minute, but she wasn't entirely sure. "All i can tell you is that my mom was a witch, but not just any witch."
Damon wondered what she meant by that.
"She wanted to train me, teach me to be a witch since I was about 12, but I never had any interest in it, now I wish I had," Vella said regretfully.
"My mom was always meeting with various people in the town, like the mayor and the town sheriff. Many of them were descendants of the town founders. I never really heard what they discussed but it had something to do with vampires and something about 125 years ago."
"But what did the vampires want with her, Vella?" Damon asked bluntly.
"I wish I knew," she answered sadly. "All I know is what I've been told by the Founder's Council."
"Then what does this have to do with you?" Damon wondered.
"I don't know," she replied. "But a few months ago I got a letter in the mail. Let me show it to you."
Vella walked to the little desk by the front door where she kept her mail, pulled out a creased envelope and handed it to Damon.
Damon opened up the letter. It read, "We are coming to do to you what we did to your family unless we get what we want. Just give us your mom's stuff, that's all we want. If you don't cooperate you will end up dead.....or worse than dead." Dead had been underlined in blood.
Suddenly, Damon realized how much trouble Vella was in and why she would go to such lengths to get his help. He was so angry right now he didn't know what to do with himself. His anger was quickly replaced by an overwhelming feeling to protect Vella. Even when Damon was at his most violent and evil, he had never decimated a family, especially in front of children. These were the worst kind of vampire.
Vella was emotionally drained. She hadn't talked about her past in a very long time. In fact, she never really thought about it anymore either, not until she had received that letter.
She sat back down on the couch, letting the tears drop down her face, wondering what she was going to do.
Damon came over, sat beside her, grabbed her hand and made her look into his eye's.
"I will swear this to you now Vella," he said in a forbidding voice. "I will help you in any way I can, except for one."
"And what is that?"
"I won't turn you into a vampire. I care about you enough that I wouldn't condemn you to this kind of life," he answered with a tone of finality.
Vella took that as her cue to relax. She cuddled up with Damon and was soon fast asleep.