Ch8 Vampires and witches

When I woke in the morning, Damon was on his back. My head lay on his chest, one arm wrapped around his stomach, and one leg on top of his leg. I lifted my head to look at him.

"Sorry," I said as I moved my leg away.

"It's okay," he told me.

I lay on my back on my side of the bed, my hands crossed over my stomach. Damon turned to face me, his head propped on his hand.

"How do you feel?" he asked. I shrugged.

"I feel fine," I told him as I turned my head to him. He smiled a sideways smile, his dimples showing the depth of his soul.

I turned onto my side and mimicked the way he lay. I went to kiss him, but he stopped me. That hurt a little.

"Let's eat first, you need to eat." I looked at my bedside table to see the clock. It read nine AM. I nodded. I made my way to the bathroom and did my morning routine. When I left the bathroom, Damon was no longer there. I made my way to the kitchen, and saw him cooking.

I leaned against the door frame and watched him sing and dance, all the while cooking. Whoever said men couldn't multitask had yet to meet this guy.

I smiled at the thought of my mum always saying it to my dad. It made me sad.

Damon had stopped singing.

"You know watching someone quietly, like that, is a form of stalking," he was still facing away from me, so I moved towards him.

"You're in my kitchen, using my cooker, my ingredients, and I'm the stalker?" Just as I reached him, he turned to face me.

He pecked me on the lips before telling me to sit down at the table. I did.

He put down a plate of pancakes. Then in front of me, he placed a plate of scrambled eggs, bacon, sausages, and beans. I also got a mug of tea. There was also a jug of orange juice. I raised an eyebrow questioningly.

"I didn't know what you'd like to drink, so I made both," he shrugged, like it wasn't a big deal.

"Thank you, this is amazing." I took a bite of my food. "Where did you get all this? I had none of this in my fridge."

"I went to the shops."

"A vampire going shopping? I wanted to see that," I chuckled. He smiled too. He had a smaller portion of food in front of him. He had told me that vampires found no benefit in human food, but it felt weird eating more than him.

"Damon, I want to ask you something." He nodded as if to say go on. "Last night you said something about witches being important to vampires."

"We praise witches. They are important."

"Okay, but what happens if you drink from a witch, without permission?"

"The blood becomes poison for us," he answered so calmly.

Wow. He carried on eating, but I just sat there.

"Eat, please," he told me, not a command but a plea.

"Can you compel people?" I asked.

"Yes, but not witches. Like I said, witches are higher than us. They can compel us, but we can't compel them, or you."

I just nodded and started eating again.

My phone rang somewhere from the living room. I was about to stand to retrieve it, but Damon stopped me. Using his vampire speed, he got my phone before it got to the second ring. I saw the caller ID.

"Shit," I whispered. Damon raised an eyebrow. I answered the phone using a croaky voice, "Hello." Damon looked at me questioningly. I put a finger to my mouth, telling him to stay quiet.

"Anastasia? Are you okay? You're not at work. Where are you?"

"I just got home. I was in the hospital all day yesterday, Aaron."

"Why? What happened?"

"My body is covered in a rash. Doctor says it's contagious. I got home about twenty minutes ago. I forgot to ring you." I coughed a little to show him how ill I was.

"Okay, well, you get better. Get plenty of rest. I'll see you when you get back."

"I will. I'm sorry, Aaron," I told him. When I hung up, I covered my face with my hands. I felt so bad lying to him.

"Are you okay?" Damon asked. I shook my head. Looking at him, I told him I hated lying, but he just smiled and told me to eat.

We made small talk in the living room later as we watched TV. We were watching some movie on Netflix; I can't even remember the name. I sat with my head on his chest. A question had been bugging me since the first time I hugged him.

"Why don't you have a heartbeat?" I asked.

"Because I'm dead," he told me in such a calm voice. I raised my head to look at his face.

"How would one turn into a vampire?" I asked. He raised an eyebrow as if to say "Why?".

"I'm asking for a friend," I shrugged, to which he chuckled. So sexy.

"One would need vampire blood in their system. Then they'd die. They would wake up and drink blood from a human, and that's it," he shrugged.

"You died?" I asked, a little upset for him. He nodded.

"That was a long time ago. I'm here." He took my hand and put it on his chest. There was no beat, but his chest rose and fell as he breathed. That made me smile. I straddled his lap and kissed him passionately as the TV played in the background. My hands traveled to the hem of his shirt, and I took it off, coming away from the kiss long enough to do so. We started to kiss again; our tongues fought for dominance, and he won. He didn't remove my shirt; he just picked me up and lay me on the couch. His hand lay on my stomach as he kissed my neck. His other hand propped him up, so no weight fell on me.

I was a moaning mess. I lifted my hips, wanting more. He stopped kissing me and looked deep into my eyes. After a few seconds, he backed away, sitting up properly. I rose onto my elbows and sat up. Putting a hand on his shoulder, I asked if he was okay. He shook his head.

"I'm sorry. I... I can't."

"Why?" I whispered, holding back the tears. He touched my face.

"I'm a vampire," he told me.

"No kidding, really?" I joked.

"I have strength, Anastasia. You don't realise how much I have to control myself in case I hurt you."

"You don't have to control yourself, just let go," I pleaded. He shook his head.

"If I let go, I could hurt you. You don't have your powers, you can't fight me yet. If I hurt you, I will never forgive myself. If I hurt you, it will kill me."

I didn't know what to say, so I lay my head on his shoulder. I hadn't realised how much I meant to him. His hand sat on my thigh. I stared at it, not knowing what I wanted.

We sat in silence watching the movie, whatever movie it was. I wasn't really paying attention. I wanted to give myself to the man I loved, but he couldn't give himself to me in fear of hurting me. I needed my powers. I needed to get initiated, but that posed a danger.

"Are you decent?" entered Robert, his hand covering his eyes.

"Hi, Robert," I greeted as Damon looked around, in hopes of seeing him. "We're decent," I told him as I looked at Damon. Damon smirked.

"We need to talk," Robert told me as he removed his hand away from his eyes.

"About what?"

"I'm going to leave for a while. I'll see you later," the announcement came from Damon. I was about to protest, but he carried on. "Listening to a one-sided conversation was awkward enough yesterday. I'm sure you'll fill me in later." Damon smiled. He kissed me goodbye.

"I've been thinking," I began.

"I'll alert the media, shall I?" Robert joked. I crossed my arms across my chest to show I was not amused.

"I'm serious, Robert." Robert put his arms up in surrender and told me to go on. "I think it's high time I got initiated," I said.

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Hope you enjoyed that. I've never been good with romance; this was a first for me. So please tell me what you thought. Creative criticism would be appreciated. Thank you.