Page 31 of A Vampire's Pain
“You seem … strangely, tense,” he said and looked me up and down.
I just smiled, trying my hardest not to give anything away.
“Oh well, I didn’t sleep so well.”
“Nightmares again?” he asked.
I shook my head. I had often been plagued by nightmares, but they didn’t come as often as they used to. They hadn’t for a long time. I had gotten better, but they never stayed away forever.
“No, just … thinking.”
“Thinking?” he asked.
“Are you … still mad about the party?” I asked.
Damon sighed, and then leaned a little to the side, so his arm was resting on the armrest.
“No. I just … I wished you had talked to me about it,” he said.
“You would never have let me go,” I sighed and walked around his desk.
I went and sat down in front of him, and Damon turned so, we were facing each other. He looked almost sad and had a hard time looking at me.
“It’s not that I don’t trust you, Val,” he said.
“You just don’t trust the rest of the world.”
“I lost you once.”
“Times have changed. We don’t live in the eighteen hundred,” I said. “We have all changed.”
Damon sighed deeply, leaning back in his chair.
“No, not really,” he said.
“What?”
“The world is filled with even worse people. The world hasn’t changed. It has just become clearer that it is filled with bad people, who are just waiting for someone vulnerable to get to,” he said.
“How can you look at the world like that?” I asked.
“BecauseIlive in it!” he said and jammed a finger into his desk.
I looked angrily at him.
“Well, there is a good reason why I don’t live it,” I said.
Damon looked at me almost disappointed.
“Don’t you understand that I am trying to protect you?”
“Don’t you understand I just want a chance to live?”
“Valeri, you lost your mind after you came back!” he said. “It was like I hadn’t even gotten my sister back!”
“But I am back!” I said.
“Now … It wasn’t even that long ago that you couldn’t eat without help or shower or leave the room.”
