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Damon licked a trace of blood carefully from the back of his hand and smiled at Katherine. They'd come across a couple walking through the woods just after dawn and fed together, and now it was midmorning, sunlight streaming down through the trees and casting black and golden shadows on the path. Damon felt full and content, ready to go home and sleep away the brightest of the daylight hours. A slight unease crossed his mind as he remembered the expression of panic on his victim's face, and he pushed it away: he was a vampire; this was what he was supposed to do.

Dabbing delicately at the corners of her mouth, Katherine cocked her head at him, as dainty and quizzical as a little songbird. "Why didn't you kill yours?" she asked.Advertisement

Shrugging defensively, Damon slipped his sunglasses out of his pocket and over his eyes. He wasn't, to be completely honest, sure why he hadn't killed the girl this morning, or why he hadn't killed any of his victims since the blond jogger he'd hunted down more than a week before. He could remember how good the kill had felt, the rush as her life passed into him, but he wasn't eager to repeat the experience, not when the lingering aftertaste was guilt. He didn't want to feel anything for them; he wanted to take the blood and go. If that meant letting them live, that was fine with Damon.

Shielded behind the sunglasses, he said none of this, but merely smirked at Katherine and asked, "Why didn't you?"

"Oh, we're all keeping a low profile. Too many deaths and this campus will panic again. Klaus wants to keep the humans happy and easy to hunt while he finishes off your girl and her friends." Katherine eyed Damon as she smoothed her long golden hair, and he kept his expression carefully blank. Whatever Katherine wanted from him, she wasn't going to get it by bringing up Elena.

"Of course," Damon said, and added, "You know, you came back from death much saner and more practical, my dear." Katherine dimpled at him, and mock-curtsied gracefully.

They walked peacefully together, listening to the chirps and calls of sparrows, finches, and robins overhead. The quick rattle of a woodpecker drilling a tree sounded a little way away, and Damon could hear the rustle and patter of small, furry creatures in the undergrowth. He stretched luxuriously, thinking of his bed.

"So," Katherine said, breaking the comfortable silence between them. "Elena." She said it again, stretching the syllables of the word out as if she was tasting them: "E-ley-na."

"What about her?" Damon asked. His voice was careless, but he felt an uncomfortable heat at the back of his neck.

Katherine fixed him knowingly with her jewel-blue gaze, and Damon frowned at her behind his sunglasses.

"Tell me about her," she said softly, her expression coaxing. "I want to know."

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Damon stopped walking and pulled Katherine to face him. "I thought you weren't angry at Elena anymore," he said, deflecting the question. "You're supposed to leave her alone, Katherine."

Katherine shrugged gracefully. "I'm not angry at her," she said. "But Klaus is." Her eyes glittered. "I thought you didn't care about Elena anymore. You were quite clear about it, you know. Why won't you tell me anything?"

"I . . ." Damon's heart fluttered in his chest, quicker than its usual vampire-slow beat. "I just don't want to," he said finally.

Katherine laughed quietly, her beautiful bell-like laugh. "Oh, Damon," she said, and shook her head mockingly. "You might be wicked in theory, but your heart is so pure. What happened?"

Grimacing, Damon turned away from her, letting go of her hand. "My heart is not pure," he said pettishly.

"You've gotten soft," Katherine said. "You don't like hurting people anymore."

Damon shoved his sunglasses farther up his nose and shrugged. "It'll pass."

Cool hands touched his cheeks and then Katherine gently pulled off Damon's sunglasses, gazing into his eyes. "Love changes you," she said. "And it never fades, no matter how much you might want it to." Rising onto her tiptoes, she kissed him lightly on the cheek. "Don't make the mistakes I've made, Damon," she said sadly. "Don't fight love, whatever form it takes."

Damon brought his hand up to touch the spot where Katherine's lips had kissed him. He felt stunned and lost.

Handing him his sunglasses, Katherine sighed. "I don't really owe you any favors, Damon," she told him, "but I'm feeling sentimental. Your Elena's in class right now. Rhodes Hall. I don't know exactly what Klaus is going to do, but he's planning something. You might want to get over there and stop it."

Gripping the sunglasses, Damon stared at her in confusion. "What?" he asked.

There was something soft and wistful in Katherine's eyes, but her voice was firm. "Better hurry," she said, raising an eyebrow.

Damon felt as if a living creature was clawing its way through his chest, something huge and painful. Was this what love felt like, after all?

"Thank you," he said absently. He walked away from Katherine a few paces, then sped into a run. He gathered his Power and began transforming, feeling his body twist as he changed into a crow. A moment later, he was aloft, stretching his wings to catch the airstream as he flapped his way quickly toward campus. pqdm.com