Page 97 of A Vampire's Pain

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“He can’t be trusted, and if he could, you wouldn’t be sitting here,” he said.

I looked down at the seat I was sitting on and then at my brother before I looked at him a little angrily.

“Or maybe I was just trying to save both of you!” I said.

“Save us?”

“If I had not gone with you, you would have fought him again,” I said.

Damon didn’t answer that, but that was answer enough.

“And if you had taken the time to really look at what was happening, you would see Gabriel wasn’t even fighting back in the end,” I said.

Damon seemed to think over my words but still didn’t comment on them.

“I know you, Damon,” I said. “I know how you feel about Gabriel.”

“You can’t really think that—”

“And I know how I feel,” I said.

Damon looked at me for a long time, but then asked:

“And then why are you sitting here?”

His question surprised me a little, even though it shouldn’t, and I had no idea what to tell him.

“Well …”

“Well?” he asked.

“I …”

“You?”

“Damon, you would have forced me home in one way or another,” I said.

Damon shook his head a little.

“Or I might just be right,” he said.

“What?”

“You don’t actually believe Gabriel is serious about you,” he said.

I looked down again, feeling my heart beating faster, and I wasn’t sure what to tell my brother. I wasn’t even sure what to think myself.

“I …”

“Tell me I am wrong, Val,” he said.

“And then?”

“Then I will let you be with him,” he said.

“What?!”

He smiled a little.

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