Humanity 4 "The Rivalry"

Chapter 16

ASHLEY’S POV

“I got you something.” Damon tells me as I get dressed in his bedroom.

“What is it?” I turn to face him with a smile. He walks over to me and holds up a tiny silver ring with a blue stone.

“Bonnie made this for you last night.” He says, taking my hand and sliding the ring onto my finger. I smile and hold my hand up, looking at it. “Now, sun’s not a problem.”

“Thanks.” I smile, pressing my lips to his cheek.

“So, you’re not thirsty at all?” Damon asks me, sitting down on his bed.

“No…I’m not, that’s what I’m saying. I feel like I should be, but I’m not.” I tell him honestly, pulling my sweater over my head and grabbing a scarf.

“Well, yeah, you definitely should be.” He tells me and I nod. Since I’ve turned, I haven’t had any blood. The blood bag that I drank from on the island was my only time.

I’m not sure why I’m not thirsty, but I’m not. Damon doesn’t know either which is probably not good. He’s worried that I won’t drink because I’m not thirsty and I’ll end up desiccating or something.

“We can figure it out later. I’d rather focus on Elena right now.” I tell him and he nods. “We’re gonna lose her, Damon.”

“She needs time. It’s only been a couple days.” He reminds me.

“Her humanity’s off. She basically numb to the person she used to be.” I say, worried about what kinds of things she might do.

“She’s a vampire, Ashley. As a vampire, you should know that the off switch is one of the biggest perks. If being undead gets you down, voila, vampire Prozac.” He teases and I smile, shaking my head.

“She burned down her family home with her brother’s dead body still inside.” I say, remembering that horrible night a few days ago.

“Saves us the trouble of having to do it ourselves. I call that a win.” Damon shrugs as he drinks his bourbon. “Besides, worse case scenario, I’ll invoke the sire bond and tell her to turn it back on.”

“No, her brother just died. If you force all that grief on her at once, it’s going to overwhelm her. We need to give her a reason to want to turn it on.” I suggest.

“Fine, we’ll show her a good time.” Damon says and I look at him skeptically.

“You think that would work?” I ask, walking over and standing in front of him.

“I think that although Elena may be your priority, she is not mine. Now tell me the truth. Do you feel okay?” He asks, creasing his forehead into a frown.

I take a deep breath and place my hands on his face. “Yes, Damon. I actually do…I hate that this happened to me, but right now, I feel good.” I say truthfully.

“Well, I’m glad. If that feeling of goodness changes, you tell me right away.” He demands and I nod as he pulls me in for a kiss.

DAMON’S POV

I keep telling Ashley that everything with Elena will be okay and I really do hope that it will be. The only problem is that right now…it isn’t.

I arrived at an intersection outside of town to find a car pulled off to the side of the road. When I got closer, I saw Elena feeding on some random woman.

“That’s enough.” I say firmly, running over to her.

Elena ignores me and continues to drink from the woman’s neck.