Chapter 7 ~ Dangerous Distraction

Vella woke up a few hours later. It took her a few moments to realize where she was and with whom.
As Vella wiggled around a bit to get more comfortable, she woke up Damon.
They both looked in each other's eyes for a moment and then Damon carefully kissed Vella on the forehead.
Vella could feel the blood rushing to her cheeks, she knew she was blushing but couldn't stop. She hoped deep down that Damon couldn't see her blush in the dark, but she knew he could. After all, he was a creature of the night.
Damon was just as surprised by the kiss on the forehead as Vella was. He wasn't quite sure what possessed him to do it. He had never really felt what he was feeling right now with anyone before, even Katherine. He could feel the defenses he spent many lifetimes building up, beginning to come down and he was more than a little frightened.
When the two of them would later reflect on what happened, neither would remember who began kissing who or if it was both of them at the same time.
What began as gentle kissing, soon became very passionate. Damon carried Vella upstairs into her room and gently laid her on the bed. What began as kissing ended with them naked in the bed together.
After what seemed like hours later, Vella was laying in Damon's arms feeling euphoric but confused. She was trying to make sense of what had just happened. It was nothing she had ever expected would happen between them.
Damon held Vella, while absent mindedly stroking her hair. He was also trying to make sense of what he had just done. It wasn't like he hadn't ever slept with someone before, but since he had been with Katherine, it had only been for his amusement or some sick, twisted, sadistic way to control someone. This, however, was like nothing he had ever felt towards anyone before.
The sun was barely beginning to come up through the curtains before either of them spoke.
"Damon? " Vella asked in a whisper.
Damon lifted Vella's head gently by her chin, so he could look into her eyes. "Yes, Vella?"
Vella suddenly felt her stomach doing flip flops. She opened her mouth and hoped something would come out.
"Are we still being honest with each other?" she asked him.
"Of course," Damon answered without hesitation. "Why?"
"What is this? Us? Is there an....us?"
Damon wasn't surprised by the question, but he wasn't quite sure of the answer himself.
"I'm not sure what to say, Vella. I have never felt like this for anyone before. I'm not even sure what this feeling is," he said with a furrowed brow.
Vella was glad he was at least being truthful, even if she was a little upset by his answer. But at the same time, she thought it might be for the best. She had to keep reminding herself he was a vampire, no matter how sexy he was.
With that thought, her hand automatically went to the necklace around her neck, which she didn't even realize she had on. At least she knew she wasn't being influenced to feel what she was feeling.
"How would you know, Damon?" Vella asked.
Damon knew the answer to this question but he wanted to think of a way to carefully word it.
"There is a way, but I don't think I'm willing to go that far, Vella," he said with a worrisome look on his face.
Vella almost felt like she had been slapped in the face. Tears began to form in her eyes even though she tried hard to hold them.
Why am I so emotional lately? This is not like me at all.
Damon gave her an apologetic smile and wiped at her eyes gently. "Vella, I don't want to hurt you. I hope you can see that."
"I'm sorry, Damon, but I don't understand."
Damon didn't want to tell her. He knew it wasn't right, but he couldn't lie to her, keep this from her or most of all, hurt her, he just couldn't hurt her. But could he resist the temptation?
"The only way is to share blood," Damon said.
Vella looked at him in surprise, she wasn't sure she had heard him right.
Damon went on to explain,"If we share blood, I will feel closer to you. And you will feel closer to me."
Vella looked at him incredulousy as if she didn't believe him.
"I will be honest with you, Vella." Damon started. "I haven't done that in a very long time, I mean for this reason, and never thought I would ever again..."
Vella felt a mix of sadness and pity at his admission, but she would never admit it. Before she realized what she was saying, she told Damon she wanted to do it, if he was willing.
Damon looked deep inside himself to see if he could go through with it. But after much reflection, he couldn't say no, he wanted to be with her in the most intimate way he knew. All he worried about was hurting Vella, or worse, killing her.


Vella looked a little frightened. She wasn't quite sure what to expect, but she knew Damon wouldn't hurt her purposely, he promised her.
Damon laid next to her on the bed and looked deep into her eyes. He wanted to make sure she wanted this.
Damon told Vella she needed to take her necklace off, which she hastily took off and threw onto her nightstand.
"Look at me, Vella," Damon pleaded with her. "You must be totally sure this is what you want. If I bite you and you resist it will be very painful"
Vella felt a jolt of fear course through her body at this news.
"I'm afraid though, Vella. Afraid to hurt you, to take too much blood from you, I am a little hungry" Damon admitted to her.
"Look into my eyes, Damon. Look for the truth. I trust you, fully and completely."
Damon looked into her eyes. He could see she had a fear but it was a fear of the unknown, she wasn't afraid of him at all. This made him relax a little.
Damon leaned in to kiss her neck and she shuddered a little, but she was still relaxed. As he pierced her neck with his fangs he felt her whole body shudder, but she didn't fight him off. He stopped for a minute and bit his own wrist, until the blood was flowing enough. Damon offered his wrist up to Vella's mouth, which she took without hesitation and he went back to suckling on her neck.
Vella was feeling something more than she could ever have imagined. She felt so close to Damon right now. It was like he had dropped all of his defenses and let her in. Like they were joined mind, body and soul. It was almost more euphoric for Vella, than the night they had just spent together. She think she knew exactly how he really felt towards her, but was it strong enough. Strangely enough, it also seemed to be stirring memories from her past that she didn't even know existed or wanted to remember, but she wanted to forget those right now and focus only on Damon and herself, so she pushed everything else out of her mind.
Damon couldn't believe how delicious Vella tasted, like nothing he had ever tasted before, almost heavenly. He could feel Vella breaking through his defenses but he didn't care anymore, his mind was free like it never had been before. He knew he loved her and trusted her, that was the best feeling of all. He had never truly had that with anyone, ever.
Damon had to stop himself from wanting more. If he wasn't careful he could take too much blood and kill her. And even more worrisome, was he imagined she had enough of his blood inside her that she would change into a vampire, if she died. He swore he wouldn't let that happen.
When Damon pulled away from Vella's neck, all that was visible was what looked like two tiny little pin pricks. He was happy he hadn't been too forceful and left a bruise, he wasn't really used to being too gentle.
Afterwards, Damon and Vella laid in each other's arms for awhile just enjoying each other's company, until Vella's phone rang.
It was the hospital, wondering if she was feeling well enough to come in for her shift that afternoon.
"I have to go in Damon, I missed the past two days as it is," Vella told him after she hung up the phone.
Damon didn't want to let her out of his sight. He was sure the vampire, or maybe even vampires would still be close by.
After much discussion, Damon agreed, albeit reluctantly, to let her go. He didn't want to control her life, but he wasn't about to let her go that easy. He intended on keeping a close eye on her. Vella was much more stubborn than he had previously thought.




Vella got home that night at 8:15, an hour earlier than usual. She had been feeling faint, so she asked to go home early. She hoped Damon wouldn't be irritated at her for not calling him and letting him know, she just wanted a bit of time to herself to reflect on all that had happened recently. There was so much she still couldn't comprehend.
Vella called for a pizza, had a quick bath and decided to relax with a glass of wine while watching TV.
It was about 15 minutes into her show when the pizza arrived.
Vella got up from the couch to answer the door.
She opened the door a crack and told the driver to come in a second while she got the money.
As Vella turned to grab her purse, she was thrown part way across her livingroom, hitting the couch and falling on the ground. Before she knew what was happening, she was being snatched up forcefully from the ground by her shoulder and arm.
When Vella finally opened her eyes, she saw it was a vampire, the same one who had killed her parents eight years ago.
Fear had struck Vella. She knew she wouldn't be able to be compelled because she was wearing her pendant, but she hadn't been drinking her daily dose of vervain. All she could do was hope that Damon would make it to her house on time.
"What do you want with me?" Vella asked as bravely as she could.
"We want something of your mother's. Its ours and we want it," the male vampire replied.
Vella turned her head when she saw movement to her side. It was the female vampire, the one who had been with the male vampire when he killed her parents and the one who had hurt her sister.
"What could my mother have had that you want?"
The male vampire, which she soon realized was named Gabriel, tightened his grip on her shoulder, digging his nails in and drawing blood.
Vella winced in pain, but didn't scream.
"We will know what it is when we find it."
The female vampire, who was named, Lilith, was busy tearing apart the house searching for what they had came for.
It only took about ten minutes for Lilith to turn the entire house upside down, ten very painful minutes for Vella, but she hadn't found what she was looking for.
Frustrated, she walked over to Vella and slapped her hard across the face. "Where is all of your mother's stuff?"
Vella was dazed by the slap, her shoulder was aching and she was feeling faint again.
"I don't have everything of hers, I got rid of some and the rest was taken by member's of the Founder's Council."
The two vampires shot each other knowing glances.
Vella hoped they would leave her alone now that they knew she obviously didn't have what they wanted, but they weren't going to give up that easily.
Lilith grabbed Vella by the hair, pulling her head back, exposing her neck.
"I want you to take that pendant off, or I will have to do this the hard way."
By 'hard way', Vella imagined she meant biting her, which she wasn't going to allow to happen. So she agreed to take the necklace off.
Gabriel grabbed both of Vella's arms and pulled them behind her, while Lilith grabbed the hair on the left side of her head, so she could stare into Vella's eyes.
Lilith was searching for the truth in Vella's eyes, but when she found the truth she was livid.
"This witch doesn't know anything useful that I can see, Gabriel. But she does know where her mom's stuff is, it's in a storage place somewhere nearby."
Vella wasn't quite sure what they wanted, but she was positive that she didn't want them to find it, whatever it was. She wasn't sure why or how she knew this, but she did.
Suddenly, Gabriel let go of her arms and began to dig his fingernails into the soft flesh on either side of Vella's waist, piercing the skin.
Vella cried out in agony. The pain was so excruciating she nearly passed out.
Lilith once again pulled on Vella's hair and looked into her eyes, hoping to find out more information. Eventually, Vella couldn't fight Lilith's compulsion anymore and told her what she wanted to know.
Gabriel was about to bite her neck when Lilith stopped him.
"Don't, not yet. We may need her still," Lilith ordered.
It was the last thing Vella would remember. She was in so much agony, she finally succumbed to unconciousness, her last thought was of Damon.




Damon had went home ealier that day and slept. He hadn't slept much while he was with Vella and he was exhausted, both physically and mentally.
He assumed Vella would be safe while she was at work. Most vampires wouldn't do anything in broad daylight around alot of people, especially if they knew this town. And that was only if they could go out in the sun any way.
Damon slept until it began to get dark and then went in search of someone to feed from.
He had had enough blood from Vella to get him through the day, but he needed to stay strong if he wanted to fend off this vampire who was after Vella.
After Damon fed, he went home to talk to his brother. He wanted Stefan to know what was going on, or at least as much as he knew.
Stefan was very worried by this new information. He didn't want Elena getting caught up in whatever was going on with Damon and his friend.
Stefan wasn't completely heartless though. He was also worried for Vella. She obviously was into something way over her head and had no idea what was going on. And resorting to help from Damon, Stefan figured she must really be desperate.
Damon made Stefan promise to keep his eyes and ears out for the vampire, but there was no need for him to ask because he would any way. Not for his brother, or even Vella, but for Elena and the town.



Damon left the boarding house a little later than he had planned that night. He had lost track of time talking with Stefan.
He drove quickly, determined not to be too late. He was worried, which was soon replaced by anger and blind rage. If he caught that vampire who was after Vella, he was going to rip him into little pieces.
As Damon got closer to Vella's house, he began to feel uneasy. He could sense another vampire, or was it vampires?
When Damon arrived at her house, he noticed the front door was slightly ajar, which he knew was unlike her.
Damon didn't even think, he couldn't, he just reacted.
Damon flew into the house just in time to see Gabriel and Lilith trying to leave with Vella.
He barely had time to yell, "Get away from her." Before Lilith let go of Vella's arm and dove at Damon.
Damon was too quick for her though and she ended up running past him.
Gabriel took a hold of Vella and threw her across the room, the opposite way of the front door.
Damon caught Vella before she could hit the floor. He placed her gently on the couch and ran after the vampires, but they had already escaped into the night. His blind rage changed quickly into concern for Vella.
Damon knew Vella would never be safe here again. The only way they could have gotten in to her house was by being invited by her.
The only thing Damon could think of doing was taking her back to the boarding house, she would be safe there for the time being.
Damon looked Vella over to make sure she wasn't hurt too badly. She was bleeding but it didn't seem to be too bad. So he proceeded in wrapping her tightly in a blanket and taking her to his car.
Damon placed Vella gently in the passenger side and buckled her up. Her breathing was quiet but laboured, which had Damon worried. He wished he knew how to help her.
Damon drove as fast as he could to the boarding house. For once he actually hoped his brother was home.
Stefan was waiting for his brother when Damon arrived. He had sensed Damon needed his help.
Damon ran out of the car after he stopped, picked up Vella from the passenger side and carried her into the house while Stefan followed from behind.
"What happened, Damon?" Stefan questioned.
"She was attacked by two vampires, a male and a female," Damon replied as he gently placed Vella on the couch in the livingroom.
Stefan bent over to listen to Vella's breathing. It seemed to be getting stronger by the minute.
Stefan asked his brother to remove the blankets around Vella so he could examine her.
Damon carefully untangled the blankets surrounding Vella. He could see the blood staining the blankets which made his rage return. He clenched his fists and closed his eyes for a moment trying to calm himself down.
Stefan examined the wounds on Vella's waist. They didn't seem to be too deep, which he was relieved to see. But Stefan did find something odd, her wounds seem to be healing somewhat quickly for someone who wasn't a vampire.
Stefan told Damon to take her upstairs to his room and then asked him to come back down once she was settled so they could talk.
Damon carried Vella upstairs to his room and placed her gently on the bed. He covered her with his blankets and then kissed her on the forehead. Damon could tell Vella was going to be okay, so he preceded to go back downstairs to talk with his brother.