Wayward Heart: Book 1

Part 8

When day finally broke Emma stirring and sitting up is what woke Damon, she stood up and stretched before walking over to the bags that Damon had packed for her. She got increasingly frustrated as she had to go through bags back and forth to find the cloths and toiletries she was looking for. Damon rolled his eyes and stood up as well, he grabbed both of her bags and motioned with his head for her to follow him. Upstairs he led her to two doors, one led to his room and the other led to one of the boarding rooms.

"Pick a door," he smirked slightly.

Emma stepped to the left and opened Damon's door. Damon plopped the bags on top of his bed before he walked over to a dresser and pulled open two drawers that were empty and presented them to Emma as if he were Vanna White. Emma rolled her eyes but began to organize her things in the large drawers; everything fit, including the little bit of make-up she had and the soaps she liked. Damon proudly grabbed her toothbrush from her and walked into his bathroom, Emma followed him and laughed slightly when he placed it in the decorative holder on the second sink.

He walked back over to her and slipped his hands around her waist, "How are you holding up?"

"The second day is always the weirdest," Emma sighed as she remembered this feeling from when her parents had died, "there isn't anything for you to do except to wait; and while you are sitting there just waiting for a call from the funeral home, or in this case Sheriff Forbes, you want to make yourself believe that you'll wake up soon. It's like all they did was go out and they just haven't come home yet."

"So instead of doing that, let's get with Alaric and track this bastard down."

"I'll take a shower real quick and then we can go."

"Would I be pushing my luck if I asked to join you?" Damon raised one of his eyebrows in curiosity.

"Unless you feel differently than I do, as far as I am concerned, nothing in our relationship has changed, it just got a little more complicated," Emma shrugged her shoulders, "besides, if you decided to do something you would be very stupid because we are pretty evenly matched."

Damon scoffed at her, "Are you crazy? I have like, over a hundred and fifty years of fighting experience on you."

"Tell that to the six hundred year old vamp I got my hands on last year, you can clearly see who one that battle," Emma put her hands on her hips and turned back to face Damon.

Damon smirked playfully, "That's my girl."

He was suddenly inches away from her instead of across the room where he had been standing only a single blink ago, Damon seemed disappointed when Emma didn't even flitch at his sudden movement, but he did find it odd that her finger was pointed at his chest before he even reached her. He looked down confused.

"Egotistical," Emma poked her finger into his chest right at his heart as if it were a tiny stake, "you were trying to show off and scare me. Usually when they use the speed card they stop just like you did because they want to see if they have the hunter cowering."

"Noted," Damon said as he stripped off his shirt and tossed it into a hamper across the room, "so you stalk your prey before you leap."

Emma did the same as Damon turned on the water so it would start getting warm before they got in, "Or lure them to me; my turf, my terms."

Once she pulled off her pants she held them up, they were the same ones from the day before, torn and bloody from her own wound on one side, she folded them neatly and put them on the counter top; she would need to toss them later, but for now they were her only reminder that yesterday had happened. When she jumped in with Damon she was shocked by how much grime was actually on her. Damon grabbed the loofa and put a dollop of soap on it before he began to run it over Emma's back, she relaxed as he then ran it over her arms before he handed it to her and grabbed a second one he had stashed away. Emma was actually slightly shocked that Damon hadn't turned the shower into anything more than a method to help her relax, but she also knew that he was treading carefully now that she was aware of what he was. It was like he was trying avoid scaring her because of what he was, while simultaneously watching his back because of what she was.