Beyond the Blood

Chapter Eleven

His room was large, larger than the one that he had put her in for the night; and it was open plan. The bathroom bedecked in black tile was an open space to the left of the room, his bed at an angle against the wall facing it. She was surprised to see light coloured bedding upon it; for some reason she had expected black silk, or something like that.

Damon crossed back past her in the middle of the room and flung himself onto the bed, so he was lying comfortably upon it, his gaze watching her in the middle of the room. She felt a little like a child that was about to be told off, something in his gaze was testy.

She didn't quite know where to start.

"Help me understand," she said quietly, "It all seems so real, and yet so unreal to me. As if I've stepped into a fairy tale. Expect one without the fairy godmother,"

"Oh I don't know, maybe Stefan could fill that role," Damon quipped.

Autumn looked at him seriously and he sighed slightly, "Alright. Well as I said about two hours ago, if you choose to learn and remember this, then your life will change forever,"

"What do you mean if I choose?" she said, "You've told me, and I'm not likely to forget anytime soon…"

Damon sat up slightly and looked at her, "Vampires have the ability to compel humans, to manipulate their minds"

"Manipulate them?" she asked, her breathing increasing slightly as a thousand possibilities went through her head, "Have you…?"

"No," he said instantly, "I haven't needed to, and as I've promised not to hurt you..."

Autumn nodded, in spite of herself believing him. She desperately wanted to believe him because the man sitting in front of her was still the person who, despite Elena's warnings, was the one who had started to become her friend, the first man as well who she thought she could truly feel something for. She wasn't in love with him by any means, but he made her feel something that she had never experienced in the company of any other guys she had ever met.

"So," she said thinking she might as well ask the big question, "What do you eat?"

Damon grinned despite the severity of the situation, "I can eat almost anything. What I crave, however, is blood. Specifically human blood. But animal blood will do in a pinch even though it tastes disgusting,"

The part of her body that didn't engage with her brain spasmed with fear at the thought of human blood being a food source, of her blood being a food source. The thought was repugnant and horrific and yet somehow she found herself still standing here. She guessed it was like when an animal keeper gazed into the eyes of the tiger; they knew that death could await in those jaws and yet there was something holding them there, something fantastical and something mesmerizing.

"Say something," said Damon after a moment

"I'm not entirely sure what to say," she said, "I have so many thoughts, that I need to decide which of them are worth saying."

Damon nodded, "Well we have all night,"

Autumn glanced at the window, but nothing indicted to her the time as the curtains were firmly drawn against the October night.

"Tonight, the… vampire… who attacked me, his face… it looked, different. Distorted, even…" she said eventually, "Does yours…?"

Damon smirked again, "You want to see?"

Part of her shied away from what she might be about to see, but the other half of her was utterly fascinated, "Yes"

"Promise you won't scream?" Damon chuckled, only half-joking.

"I might look weak, but I'm made of fairly strong stuff," said Autumn levelly.

"I gathered," he said, "Otherwise you wouldn't be in here,"

Autumn shrugged slightly, wondering what he might do next. She remembered the ebony blackness in the eyes of the vampire earlier in the night and wondered if Damon's own icy blues would descend to the same colour.

"Come here," he said, in a tone little higher than a whisper but she found herself obeying. She moved from her spot in the centre of the room and sat gingerly on the edge of the bed upon which he was sprawled. Nobody in their right mind could fail to register the intimacy of such a moment, even if she had no intention of going any closer, which she didn't, she was sat upon his bed sheets, he half-naked less than a metre distant.

Damon's eyes found hers and she held his gaze, trying not to let any of her thoughts or emotions betray her. Then something shifted in his face, the veins under his eyes became more pronounced so she could see each pound of the heart, each pumping of blood run through them; his eyes darkened as well not losing their blue entirely, but going to something closer to the midnight sky than their usual morning frost colour. Then her eyes were drawn to his mouth, the mouth that was usually slung in some of lazy smirk, was now slightly open at the lips so she could see the bottoms of his teeth. Two razor sharp white points sat amongst the rest of his perfectly human teeth and she couldn't help but gasp. Somewhere in her mind she had told herself that this all must be a joke, a Halloween trick gone wrong – but now she could see it for herself, Damon had literally transformed before her eyes. There was no joke or trick here. He looked utterly deadly.

And then his face returned to normal, his eyes cleared to their normal shade and the tenseness that he had all over his body had relaxed. Autumn had noticed that tension until it was gone, but then it was perfectly obvious to her. He was the ultimate predator, and every muscle in his body was probably screaming – especially when he allowed his vampiric side through the tiny chink in the armour – to kill her. Or certainly to taste her blood.

"Satisfied?" asked Damon after a moment more of silence.

"Not really," she said, drawing herself further onto the bed so she was more comfortable, "I still have a whole repertoire of questions"

"Best get comfortable then," he said, chucking her a pillow for her to prop herself up on facing him. She couldn't help but smile at the gesture.

"Aren't you frightened?" he asked suddenly.

"Not really," she said honestly, "There is the odd moment of fear, but then I remember you've promised not to hurt me,"

"But I'm a predator," he said bluntly, "What if I'm lying? Or what if I lose control?"

She faltered somewhat at that suggestion but then rallied herself, "I guess I'm just going to have to trust you,"

Damon chuckled, "Not many people have ever done that,"

"Poor you," said Autumn with a slight hint of a sarcasm, but just a touch so that he knew she meant the sentiment somewhat.

"So," she said, "Obviously I'm not an idiot… and since you've been in town there's been a lot of animal attacks. Victims in the hospital… loss of blood…"

Damon breathed out through his nose, "Well, what do you want me to say?"

"It was you?" she said calmly, somehow, of course she already knew that this was true without even asking.

"Most of them," he said, "But I never kill unless I can absolutely help it,"

She nearly spat a sharp retort at him here, something about nobility, but she bit it back – she clearly had his trust and his tongue and she didn't want to lose it.

"What about the three who were with Vicky?" she said

"Accidents," he said almost dismissively, "They were so far gone on drink and drugs that they succumbed quickly, I didn't mean to,"

She nodded, forcing the churning of her stomach to be still, "And the death of the hiker the other day?"

"Not me," he said quickly, "I swear it. I don't kill unless it's by accident, or unless there's something to be gained from such a death,"

"So who was it?" asked Autumn, "Stefan?"

Damon laughed despite himself, "No. No, Stefan is on what a vampire might call a vegetarian diet. He only drinks the blood of animals,"

"Why don't you do that?" Autumn challenged

Damon raised an eyebrow at her, "Because it would be like me saying to you that you had to live on nothing but tofu and soya for the rest of your life. That it would make you weaker, less able to be yourself…"

Autumn was silent before saying, "So it's a selfless decision?"

"Very," said Damon and then his eyes caught Autumn's, "Have I ever come across as selfless? If so then I apologise for misrepresentation."

"Not really," agreed Autumn, "It seems like a fairly serious thing to be dismissive about,"

Damon didn't say anything but made a noise of displeasure, "It is a decision I made a very long time ago after seeing what Stefan was like at times, I don't really need to be taxed upon it now,"

Autumn could clearly here the cease and desist note in his words and apologised accordingly. She wasn't entirely sure why she was apologising – Damon was guilty of grievous bodily harm, murder even, and yet here she was, accepting his justification. She supposed that the laws of the land didn't apply here, that black was now blacker and everything needed adjusting accordingly.

"You mentioned a very long time ago," she said not moving from her spot, "How long have you been a vampire for?"

"A very long time," he replied evasively and when she raised an eyebrow at him for more he just shrugged, causing her to frown. As she did so she shivered very slightly, due to the fact she was just wearing leggings and a singlet in this large room.

"Cold?" he asked, and she nodded slightly.

"The fire could do with stoking up," he said motioning to a fireplace far away from the bed, on the other side of the room, "I put it down when I came up, but we can bring it back up again,"

"If you don't mind?" Autumn asked, sliding off the bed as Damon said he didn't mind, "Where's the stoke and logs?"

"In the cupboard by the fireplace," he said lazily, not bothering to actually show her. Well she wasn't an idiot, so she found it quickly and chucked another log onto the smoldering embers of the earlier evening's fire. She then reached for the iron fire poke to encourage it to take. As her fingers closed around the cool metal, a pain worse than anything she had ever felt in her life shot up her arm and seemed to set her whole brain aflame. She dropped to the floor with a yelp before she'd even realised what she was doing. The next thing she knew, as the pain subsided about five seconds later was Damon crouched next to her, seemingly real concern etched onto his features.

"Are you okay?" he asked, "What happened?"

"I don't know," Autumn replied, "I just touched that and then this pain floored me, no idea what on earth that was – I feel fine now,"

"This?" asked Damon taking the fire poker out of the cupboard, Autumn automatically shied away from it, not wanting to feel that same pain over again.

"Yeah that," said Autumn staring at it, "Why would it?"

Damon looked at it and then her very closely, his brow furrowed deep in thought.

"Well?" asked Autumn, after he had been silent momentarily.

"I have a hunch," he said, "But it's so crazy that it couldn't possibly be true,"

"What?" she asked, "Tell me!"

"No," he said with a finality in his voice, "I have no idea if it's even possible, or anything close to the truth, so there's no point disclosing it."

"Spoilsport," said Autumn childishly

"Maybe," said Damon grimly, chucking the poker back into the cupboard and then turning to help her up, "That fire doesn't look like it's going to catch without relaying it,"

"Oh," said Autumn looking across at it.

"Have you got any more asinine questions to ask about Vampires?" he asked with something close to a grin.

"Only several hundred," she said softly.

"Well come on then," he said, "You can get in here – it's big enough for about five,"

Autumn looked across at him, a little bit shocked at the suggestion.

"Just promise you won't tell Elena?" asked Damon, "I don't want Stefan lecturing me"

Autumn giggled slightly at the thought, "Promise,"

"Come on then," he said, and in one of his more human moments of the night he mock-glared at her as they got in, "You better not be a duvet-snatcher"

Autumn couldn't help but laugh at this paradox of a man.