Lost and Found (The Vampire Diaries)

Chapter 2: Without Blood There is no Life

Damon's view

I heard her gulp and laughed inaudibly, letting my breath caress her face all on its own. When I felt her shiver I mentally congratulated myself and made sure that no part of my body was making contact with hers. The fact that I was already so close would be enough. "Pinpoint the location," my cheek was almost brushing hers, "but don't just use smell, use your ears as well, use your mind." When I moved in and let my hands rest on her upper arms she stiffened, but I carried on regardless, "close your eyes," I instructed and she did. "Use what you have and imagine your target, then use that image to find them, like a satnav." I could feel the concentration ebbing off of her in waves, and then she had ripped herself out of my grasp as she ran for the life source at supernatural speed. I smiled as I thought to myself looks like Jade's going to be fun.

Jade's view

I didn't really know how, but I did know exactly where I was going and that's all that mattered. I needed blood, my canines ached at the thought and that made me think of the blood that I needed which made my teeth ache all the more, and so it went on in a vicious cycle. As I ran I navigated my way through the trees at an impossible rate, the wind whipped my hair behind me and out of the way and my feet were hardly touching the ground. I was running on air. A few seconds and I could see the roof tops, the houses, the roads, and then something slammed into my side, hard. I reared off course and ended up on the unforgiving ground, on my back, again. But this time Damon was on top of me, pinning me down with a wild look in his eye, as if he had never run so hard in his life.

"Hey-!" His hand slammed down onto my mouth keeping me quiet.

"From now on you'll do as I say or your stay here will not be a pleasant one got it?"

I blinked my understanding, but unfortunately I couldn't leave it at that. When he removed his hand I grabbed his biceps and threw all my weight into tackling him. The next thing I knew I had him pinned to the ground, my fangs extended as a hiss escaped my throat and I took satisfaction in the look of surprise that crossed Damon's face. But I was up and out of reach before he could do anything about it, looking down at him as innocently as was possible under the circumstances. In the time it took to blink, Damon towered over me, the look he gave me was one that could kill and I couldn't help but take a step back. As soon as I did, I mentally kicked myself for backing down. It was obviously the right thing to do though, because after looking me up and down curiously he said, "If you want to survive, surprise is probably your best option." Then he swiftly turned on his heel and headed towards society, I was right behind him.

We turned into an old parking lot of what appeared to be an abandoned warehouse. I instinctively sniffed, checking out the place, and sure enough at the far end was a lone car. I didn't know what type, it didn't really matter to me, but I could make out that it was a very small, metallic blue car with only one person inside. He was male, around his early thirties and homeless.

"Perfect," I heard Damon almost purr. I looked to him, waiting to know what we were up to. He looked down at me and inclined his head toward the sleeping vagrant as if I should know what to do. "Go on, you won't get much better than this." I glanced at the car and then back at Damon and started to shake my head. Damon frowned, "what's the matter, cold feet?" I had blanched, I didn't know what to do, and now that we were actually here looking at this man who had no idea what was coming, I just couldn't do it.

I smiled humourlessly, "something like that."

Damon looked up to the sky in frustration, "oh for-!" Then he had gone and come back holding the man by the scruff of his old, stained shirt, he was a sorry sight and still half asleep. Damon set him down and looked into his half-closed eyes, whispering, "You are not afraid and you will do as I say." Then he turned the man toward me. I stood my ground but words wouldn't come, my mouth open in shock. My canines lengthened into fangs, still hoping to get a taste, and I covered them with my hand. But Damon seemed to be confident that I would give in one way or another. He bent over the man's neck and I saw pain cross his stubbled face. When Damon lifted his head I saw two neat puncture marks. They were small, but a considerable amount of blood was dribbling down his shirt-front. 'Liquid Gold' I thought as I found myself mesmerised. Only a second passed before I pounced.

I didn't realize how dry and cracked my veins really were until my mouth was on his neck and hot blood was pouring down my throat. It was the single most sensational experience I'd ever had. My body seemed to come to life; there was a heat that started at my toes, moving up to the tips of my fingers and through to the crown of my head. I could feel each precious drop of this man's blood become mine and I just wanted more. I drained him dry until there was nothing left, and then I found myself crouched over his lifeless form. My mouth was covered with blood and my fangs had retracted, satisfied. I stayed in the same position, looking at him in confusion, as common sense slowly returned. I couldn't piece together what had just happened, why was he dead?

I felt myself being slowly pulled off of the corpse until I was standing. I saw Damon carry the man in a fireman's lift back to the car where he threw him down on the back seat. I tried to wipe away the blood but I just ended up staining my hands as well. When Damon came back I was shaking. "What's wrong?"

I wasn't sure I could bring myself to say it, but I had to. "I-I…I killed him."

Damon burst out into laughter and I knew that if I stayed then I might just kill him too. Still shaking, but with anger now, I tried to race past him into the warehouse and got as far as the locked door, which I did manage to break down, but those extra few seconds cost me, and now Damon had caught my wrists and flipped me around to face him. I heard low soothing sounds coming from him, like he had just caught a startled rabbit instead of a blood thirsty monster. "Damon I killed him! Don't you understand that?" The soothing sounds stopped.

"So what? Believe me; you'll kill so many that soon you won't even care." I struggled but he was stronger and refused to let go. When I just tried harder his face went serious and I stopped.

"Damon, what am I?" A lazy grin spread across his face as he replied,

"Vampire."

My eyes widened and for a second his grip relaxed a fraction. Luckily, with my new strength, it was just enough for me to pull away from him, and then for added measure I front kicked him into the wall at the other end of the parking lot. I didn't wait to see if he would get up or not because if he caught me again I was going to be in deep trouble. And I wasn't sure what a man who could pass off murder so easily would be capable of; but I wasn't going to stand around and find out.

In the warehouse I found stairs leading up to an open ledge way next to a window, I looked around but apart from more stairs going down to a basement, there was nothing else. Looked like the window was my best shot. I tore up the stairs, sat on the edge and waited. If he did come in, which I was pretty certain of, than no matter where I was he would see me, so I might as well look confident even if I wasn't feeling it. Time to put my lying skills to the test…