Cosmic Love

We stopped beside Damon’s old Chevy Camaro. He opened the door and gestured for me to step inside with a bow. “You always were a gentleman,” I said stepping inside. He shut the door before coming into the driver’s side. We then started the long drive to Georgia. I fell asleep within minutes.

I woke up during the night and turned over to look at Damon. Tears looked to be falling from his eyes. This is a strange dream, I thought. “Don’t be sad, Damon,” I mumbled. My voice was thick with sleep. I wiped a tear off of his cheek. “We’ll get her for you.”

Damon turned to me and I could see the pain in his eyes. “Go back to sleep, Emma,” he said gently. “Close your eyes.” I obeyed and gladly closed my heavy eyelids. Damon then began to hum a song. I listened to it with a smile on my face before I fell asleep again.

In the morning I woke up to the sunlight streaming in the car. I stretched my cramped muscles before turning to Damon. He seemed perfectly fine, the same Damon as always. “Why are you staring at me?” he asked.

“Just thinking of the strange dream I had,” I said almost to myself. Damon gave me a sideways glance.

“What was it about?” he asked.

“Nothing,” I said shaking my head and pushing the images out of my mind. “Where are we?” I asked changing the subject.

“We’re in Georgia. It won’t be long now.”

“You drove the whole night?” I asked completely shocked. “I slept the whole night? Why didn’t you wake me up? I could have driven some.”

“You were obviously tired. Plus you looked too cute to wake up.” He sent a cheeky grin my way.

“And you’re too arrogant to admit that you’re tired,” I mumbled to myself while turning to look out the window again. “We’re in the middle of nowhere,” I complained. All I could see were fences and woods. And the occasional house.

“It’s a small town outside of Atlanta,” he explained. “I didn’t think you were expecting big city.”

“I wasn’t expecting farms,” I argued. Damon had a smirk on his face as I stared out the window. We pulled into a small town, maybe even smaller than Mystic Falls. We parked outside of a bar in the center of town. It was called Bree’s Bar.

As we walked inside Damon opened the door and let me in first. There weren’t a lot of people since it was the middle of the day. There were a couple men playing pool and that was about it. There was a woman behind the counter of the bar. As we approached she looked up.

“No, no, it can’t be,” she said when she saw Damon. He had a smile on his face looking pleased at her reaction. “Damon?” she said still not believing he was here. Sitting on the counter, she swung her legs over and landed on the other side. “My honey pie,” she said standing in front of him. She was taller than Damon was in her heels.

I was shocked by what happened next. The woman grabbed Damon’s face and pulled his mouth to hers. I felt awkward seeing them make out but was too shocked to look away. They paused for a second before Damon kissed her again. I cleared my throat wanting them to stop. Thankfully Damon pulled away from her and stepped back. “Bree, this is Emma,” he said introducing me. Bree gave me a short smile before turning back to Damon.

“I’m going to give a round on the house,” she told him. She went back over the counter the same way as before. Damon followed after and took a seat at the bar. After a second I sat down too. Bree lined up seven shot glasses before grabbing a bottle.

“Listen up everybody,” yelled Bree holding the bottle of liquid above her head. “Here’s to the man that broke my heart,” she said as she poured alcohol into the glasses, “crushed my soul, destroyed my life, and ruined any and all chances of happiness.” She placed a shot glass in front of both Damon and I. “Drink up,” she said before taking her own shot. I watched Damon take his before doing my own.

“So, how’d he rope you in?” Bree asked me.

“Oh, I’m not roped in,” I readily explained. “We’re just—”

“Honey, if you’re not roped, you’re whipped. Either way just enjoy the ride.”

“Okay,” I said not bothering to argue with her. It wasn’t worth it. Let her think what she wants. “So how did you two meet?” I asked Bree.

“College,” she said after a short laugh.

“You went to college,” I said with laughter in my voice.

“I’ve gone to college campus, yes.” He took another shot.

“About twenty years ago, when I was a sweet, young freshman, I met this beautiful man and I fell in love.” She looked at Damon with something I couldn’t read in her eyes. “And then he told me about his little secret. Made me love him even more. Cause you see I had a little secret of my own. That I was dying to share with somebody.”

“She’s a witch,” Damon whispered to me but loud enough for Bree to hear.

“Changed my world, you know,” Bree said to Damon.

“I rocked your world,” said Damon with a smirk.

“He is good in the sack isn’t he?” Bree said to me. “But mostly he’s just a walk-away-Joe.” She downed the shot and placed the glass in front of Damon. She then turned around to help another customer.

“Why does she think we’re sleeping together?” I asked Damon.

“Because I’m Damon Salvatore,” he said with a hint of ‘duh’ in his voice.

“Right,” I said with a tight smile and downed my other shot.

“So,” said Bree coming back over to us, “what is that you want?”

“Why don’t we discuss that in a more private place,” suggested Damon. “I’m sure you’d like to sit down.” He stood up and walked towards a table and some chairs where nobody was sitting. Bree followed him and after a second I followed her. She sat on one side of Damon while I sat on the other.

“I need to open the tomb,” said Damon.

“I already told you that,” said Bree.

“Come on,” urged Damon. Bree put her feet up on the table. “There’s got to be another way.”

“After all these years it’s still only Katherine?” said Bree. You could tell she wasn’t happy about it. Damon just shrugged. “How do you even know she’s still alive?”

“Well, you help me get into that tomb,” said Damon beginning to stroke Bree’s arm, “and we’ll find out.” Bree looked at his hand in disgust and moved away.

“I already did twenty years ago, remember? Three easy steps: Comet, crystal, spell.” She listed each one on her fingers.

“There’s a little problem with number two,” said Damon lowly. “I don’t have the crystal.”

“That’s it, Damon. There’s no other way. It’s Emily’s spell.” She put her hands face up in a gesture of surrender.

“What about: new spell with a new crystal that overrides Emily’s spell.” He had a smile on his face like he was on to something.

“It doesn’t work that way, baby,” said Bree in pity. “Emily’s spell is absolute. You can’t get into that tomb.” Damon stared off across the bar with sadness in his eyes. “I wish I could help you,” said Bree standing up and moving to go behind the bar again. There were some more customers up. Then my phone started to ring. Looking at the caller ID I saw it was Stefan. I quickly went outside since it was too noisy in the bar.

“Hello?” I asked as I picked up the phone.

“Emma, what’s going on?” asked Stefan. He sounded worried and upset.

“I think I should be asking you that question.”

“Elena left early last night. And now she’s not answering her phone and I don’t know where she is. I’m worried about her. Maybe Logan wasn’t the only vampire. Somebody had to turn him.”

“I’m sure Elena’s fine,” I said rolling my eyes. “Maybe she’s busy.”

“I’ve called her seventeen times,” said Stefan hysterically.

“Well, I can’t help you,” I said and hung up the phone. Elena wasn’t my responsibility. I turned around to go back in the bar and came face to face with Damon. “You scared me,” I said taking a step back.

“Everything okay?” he asked me.

“Stefan’s just worried about Elena,” I said rolling my eyes. “Lover’s quarrel.”

“I see,” he said knitting his eyebrows together. “Well, let’s go back inside. I ordered us some burgers and fries.” He put his arm around my waist and steered me inside to the bar stool. Waiting for us were two plates of burgers and fries. We both sat down and began to eat. Damon got a beer with his food too.

“Do you know what’s with Elena?” I asked Damon.

“You’re going to have to be more specific than that,” he said putting a fry into his mouth.

“That she looks like Katherine. Any idea why? Or how? Are they related?”

“No, if they were related it would mean Katherine had a child before she was turned.”

“What’s with Stefan dating her? I feel like she’s just a Katherine replacement.”

“It’s kind of creepy is you ask me,” said Damon with a smirk on his face. “Come on, you don’t like pickles?” asked Damon plucking them off my plate. “What’s wrong with you?”

“Ugh, pickles are disgusting,” I said scrunching up my nose. Damon simply laughed at my expression and popped a pickle into his mouth. “I’m going to need some blood before we leave,” I told Damon.

“Alright we can go hunting,” he said with a smile on his face while looking at me.

“What?” I asked confused.

“Here you go, honey,” said Bree placing a fresh beer in front of Damon.

“I’ll have one too, please,” I said before she walked away. Damon gave me a surprised look.

“Helps curb the cravings,” I said before taking a drink.