Miles From Normal

Chapter 7

After school got over, Percy was waiting in the parking lot for Paul to finish teaching, so that they could drive home.

Just when she got tired of standing and decided to call Paul on her cellphone, Damon appeared in front of her.

"Damon," Percy greeted. "What are you doing here?"

"I came to talk to Stefan," he replied. "You remember the girl I told you about who we both don't like? Katherine? She's demanding things that are very difficult for him to do."

"The doppelgänger? What does she want?" Percy asked. "You don't have to tell me if you don't want to," She quickly added.

"No, no it's okay. It's not a big deal. She wants Stefan to break up with Elena so she could have him for herself."

"Oh, wow," said Percy. "That is messed up. I'm guessing you want another fact about me in return for that information?"

Damon grinned and nodded.

She sighed. "Fine. I can talk to horses and pegasi."

"Wait, pegasi exist?"

"Yes, they do."

"And you can talk to them?"

"Yes, I can."

"That's so cool," said Damon. "Hey, I wanna watch you interact with a horse. I bet you'd look silly talking to something that can only respond to you inside your head."

"Heh. You got that right." Percy looked amused at Damon's imagination of her talking with a horse.

"What are you doing today?" asked Damon curiously.

"I'm just gonna head home and go to sleep," answered Percy.

"Come to my house," Damon invited. "I've been meaning to ask you something."

"More questions?" Percy rolled her eyes. "I'm tired of your questions."

"You better come if you want me to tell you what's going with the Elena-Stefan-Katherine love triangle."

"Who says I want to know that?"

"C'mon. Pretty please?" Damon gave her the puppy-dog eyes. "I'm bored."

Damn, he could pull that off, thought Percy. "All right," she agreed. "But you're walking me back home."

"Okay."

"Let me call Paul. I'll let him know I'm going with you."

Percy called her stepdad. After she hung up, she got into the car with Damon.

The ride to the boarding house was silent. Neither Percy nor Damon seemed to want to talk, or rather couldn't find a topic to talk about.

In his 169 years of life, Damon had yet to spend such a long time - a good half hour - in an awkward silence.

He seemed to find the silence very uncomfortable, and floored the accelerator, making the engine rev, the noise cutting through the quietness of the surroundings.

Soon, they reached the boarding house. Percy could see her backyard from where she was standing.

Once inside, she saw Stefan who gave her a look of immense dislike. She ignored him and went with Damon who began to throw a volley of questions at the raven-haired demigoddess. "You keep using the phrase, 'gods.' Most people say God. Why is that?"

Percy decided to answer honestly. "I believe in the Greek gods." She hoped Damon wouldn't infer anything from that fact.

"You're stronger than vampires. That shouldn't be possible. Vampires are among one of the strongest species."

Percy couldn't help but be amused that Damon thought that vampires and werewolves were the only supernatural species that existed.

"My kind are stronger than vampires," Percy answered after a lot of careful contemplation. "But I can't tell you about it yet."

"Thought so," Damon shrugged.

"Now you tell me what's happening in Elena-world."

Damon rose an eyebrow. "Elena-world?"

"Yes. Anyone with eyes can tell that you both are trying to win her over, and so far Stefan's having the most luck. So what's the story behind that?"

"How did you even know that I like her?" asked Damon, apparently shocked. "You've never even seen us together."

"You talk about her enough to last a lifetime," Percy rolled her eyes.

"I don't."

"Do too."

"Don't."

"Do too."

"Don't."

"Okay, stop it. Just tell me the story behind all the vampire drama."

"There was this girl, Katherine," Damon started, and Percy began to listen with interest. "Back in 1864, Stefan and I both fell for her. We didn't know she was a vampire. Then, she revealed herself one day when we were making out, by sinking her fangs into my neck. She couldn't control herself. After that incident, she asked me to drink her blood and I did it willingly, while she had to compel Stefan to do so. Her intention was to turn us both into vampires. She lead us both on, but chose Stefan in the end. End of story."

"And Elena also chose Stefan?"

"Well, yeah."

Percy sensed that it was a sensitive topic for him and changed the subject. "How does one turn into a vampire anyway?"

"You have to die with vampire blood in your system, and then wake up and drink human blood to complete the transition," replied Damon.

"Hmm," said Percy, looking lost in thought.

"What are you thinking about?" Damon asked.

"Just the fact that you have to die to become a vampire."

"Yup. That kinda sucks."

Percy looked at her watch. "I gotta go. It's getting late. Mom and Paul will be waiting for me."

"Okay. I'll walk you back, as promised."

She grinned at him. "Good. You remembered."

As he left her at her house, she said, "It's nice having someone to talk about supernatural stuff with. I thought I was the only one."

Damon nodded. "Yeah. It was great talking with you too."