The Bourbon Diaries ✢ 2024 Amby Award Favourite ✢ The Vampire Diaries FanFiction

Chapter Sixty - Gabe Morelli

Three years ago

Mystic Falls, VA

"No, wait, please, I just need a few more minutes," Gabe begged desperately. "I'm not ready yet."

The time was now eating into Elena's lunch break and Stef was going to arrive any second, so, running out of patience, she yanked Gabe's arm towards her and applied the tourniquet. Honestly, there were children braver than this man when it came to needles. "Gabe, what was the deal we made when we first met?"

His voice warbled as he watched her tighten the band around his upper arm. "Technically we never made a deal when we first met." It was true. He hadn't stuck around long enough to make a deal the first time he met her. That was the day he'd stumbled into A&E with a broken stake grazing his heart and hit the jackpot when he'd found Elena. Nobody else could have saved him.

"What was the deal we made the second time we met?" Elena corrected, rolling her eyes. Now he was just being pedantic. "When I gave you my blood---despite being pregnant with Stefanie---remember? My blood for yours? The deal we made to donate your blood to save my patients' lives?" She leaned her head, following his line of sight as he avoided both her gaze and the question. "The first time we met, you fed on me---without my consent, which Damon is still super touchy about, by the way---and discovered human blood that once contained the cure can heal vampires from lethal injuries. Then, almost a year later, you were back with more injuries from a... what was that device called again?"

Gabe groaned as Elena's palm pressed his wrist into the cushioned armrest to stop him writhing while she inspected his veins. "A Wood Wheel."

"Right," Elena remembered. "That little, round witch contraption that locates vampires and fires wood splinters into their hearts? I haven't heard of those for a long time."

"The Council banned them." Gabe parted his legs in order to slip them off either side of the leg rest to stand, but Elena simply kicked his nearest leg back into place. He exhaled sharply in frustration. "Look, I know we had a deal, but Phoenix is a vampire now, so I could convince him to donate blood instead of me."

"Oh, don't be such a baby," Elena scolded. "You can't handle a needle once a month when you feed on people all the time?"

"Not all the time." He tolerated animal blood and blood bags as much as he could, but he occasionally treated himself. Why not, when there were entire online communities with a vampire kink nowadays? Willing participants---no compulsion necessary---except to tweak their memories ever so slightly afterwards. It was just role play after all, and it was Zara who had introduced him to it, sending him down that rabbit hole. "Besides, I feed on them, they don't feed on me," Gabe pointed out. He watched Elena nervously while she unsheathed the needle. There was no getting out of it now. He balled his fingers into a fist and squeezed his eyes closed. "Fine, get it over with."

"Well aren't you the big, brave vampire," Elena commented dryly, offering no further warning as she pushed the needle into his vein. When Gabe let out a pained groan through his teeth, she added with a shake of her head, "That's exactly how I felt when you bit on me all those years ago, so suck it up, mister."

Gabe blew a calming breath through rounded lips as Elena secured the needle with tape. "Your blood saved my life," he reminded her with gratitude.

"And now your blood saves the lives of others," she responded matter-of-factly, repositioning the blood bag and opening the tube. Once the blood was flowing nicely, she pulled over a stool and sat in front of him. Only another seven or eight minutes of him complaining... she may as well give him something different to complain about. "Now that you're all hooked up, I should probably tell you that I've got another vampire donating blood right after you, which is why I'm short on time and sympathy today."