Blood and Bourbon

10

I smiled to myself as I poured some coffee into a couple of mugs. Laughing a little, I thought about drunk Bella dancing in her seat at the bar, about her loud, musical laugh that she let out over just about everything I said after her fourth drink. That girl is something else.

Whistling under my breath, I walked out of my apartment and had just started up the first flight of stairs towards Bella, when the world stopped. Frozen in place, I felt my heart skip as I watched her trip over the edge of the roof in horror.The crash of the mugs shattering as they hit the ground snapped me out of my shock. The next instant, I was crouched down by my Bella's side. "No, no, no." I whispered, she's not moving. I felt tears pool up in my eyes, and I laid my head down on her chest.

Duh dum. Duh dum. Duh dum.

Her heart is beating!

The next thing I knew, I had bit into my wrist and I was pouring my blood down her throat. I pulled her head into my lap, hoping, praying that it would work. "Don't die on me, Bella."

I woke up with a splitting headache, instantly rolling over to press my face back into the dark, and instantly regretted it when pain shot through my back.

"Bella!" I heard. I whimpered, and pulled my hands up to face. What happened last night?

"You're awake! Thank God, I thought I lost you." What? Is that Damon? I forced my self to roll back over, stopping to take a deep breath as the searing pain shot through me again.

"Hey, take it easy." He whispered. I felt his hands on my waist, stopping me from moving any further.

"Where am I?" I wondered.

"You're at my apartment."

I shot up. "I'm what?! I don't remember what happened. How much did I drink?" I looked at him in horror.

"Relax, Bella. I'll explain everything."

"Wait, my mom! I was supposed to go home last night!" He smiled a little, and brushed some hair out of my face.

"And I answered when she called earlier-"

"You what?!" I asked, eyes wide with horror. She must be freaking out. Wait. Oh my god. "Damon, did we have sex last night?"

He let out a booming laugh. "No, Bella, we didn't. And relax, your mom is ok. She said she wants me to come over for dinner." He wiggled his eyebrows.

I groaned, and flopped back onto the bed and crossed my arms over my head when I felt my cheeks burning. We sat in silence for a minute, thankfully, my cheeks would not stop burning, even as the thought of him in the bed with me made my mind wander.

"Bella, there's something I need to tell you." Every drop of humor fell from his voice.

"What's wrong?" I asked, lifting my arms away from my face to look at him with confusion.

"You didn't drink too much last night, well, you did. But not so much that you would have blacked out." Scrunching my eyebrows at him, I asked "What do you mean?"

He bit his bottom lip and grabbed my hands, his blue eyes shining with the sunlight streaming in from the window behind me. "What's the last thing you remember, Bella?"

I tilted my head, "Umm, I remember walking up onto the roof, and the-um-the view of the beach was gorgeous, and that's it. It all goes blank after that. Why? What's going on?"

"Well, I don't really know how to say this, so I'm gonna need you to just hear me out, okay?" I nodded.

"Okay. Well, When you went up to the roof, I came in here to get you some coffee, and when I came back out, you, um, you fell off the roof."

"What? There's no way. Damon!"

His eyes pleaded with me. "Just let me finish, Bella. It'll make sense in a minute." I rolled my eyes, but kept quiet.

"There's something you need to know about me." I felt confusion swirl through my mind as Damon grabbed my hands again, placing a small kiss on them before his soft blue eyes met mine again.

"I'm a vampire, Bella."