A/N: Yeah, triple digit reviews equals a happy dance! Hard to believe this story started out as a smutty one-shot and then was going to be a neat and tidy seven chapters before the characters refused to let me wrap it up and they, plus you lovely readers, inspired me to write more. So thanks as always for reading, favoriting, and reviewing, and hope you like it.
Chapter 19
Damon escaped from the Council as soon as the meeting ended, eschewing his usual habit of checking in with Liz and Carol. They could call him tomorrow if there was anything important to talk about. For now, he was sure Aedan was ready to leave, and he more than impatient to get back to the privacy of the boarding house. He quickly spotted Aedan back at the bar, and he smiled as he wondered if the older vampire was still keeping up his drunk act. But before Damon could take more than a couple of steps in that direction, he felt an uneasy feeling pass over him. Damon had learned better than to ignore his instincts, and he stopped, scanning the room for the threat that he sensed.
His gaze settled on a tall, slim woman with red – or maybe brown – hair who was turning away from him. She had moved just quickly enough that he hadn't caught her features, and he watched as she slipped out of the room. He would have followed, but there were dozens of people between him and the door the woman had taken and rushing after her through the party would just draw unnecessary attention. He had already done a poor job of blending in at this party, which probably meant he should keep a low profile for the remainder of the evening. That couldn't be who it looked like anyway, Damon thought. It looked like his old mentor Sage, but he hadn't seen Sage in decades – just about a hundred years in fact – and he couldn't imagine what would bring her back to Mystic Falls now.
So Damon continued across the room to where Aedan was waiting at the bar. He tried to shake off his uneasy feeling. At some point it all had to stop, right? "Ready to go?" he asked.
Damon thought he had sounded casual, but Aedan knew him well. "What's wrong?"
Damon shrugged. "I thought I saw a ghost."
Aedan raised an eyebrow at him. "I hope not literally," he said.
Damon laughed. "No, that's Jeremy's thing." Fucking Mystic Falls. The place was messing with his head. "It was probably nothing. Overactive imagination."
Aedan smiled at that. "Let's go then. Put that imagination to better use."
Damon grinned. "Definitely."
•••••
Damon moved to pour himself a drink when he and Aedan entered the boarding house. He had been too busy most of the night to fortify himself with as much bourbon as he usually consumed to get through those things. He looked questioningly at Aedan. "Drink?"
"Sure." Then Aedan added, "Do you know how many drinks I had tonight?"
Damon tilted his head, curious. "No. How many?" When Aedan just shrugged, he asked, "Are you drunk?" It could be fun, if Aedan was drunk. He could see if the reality in any way resembled the act from earlier, although it was pretty clear that Aedan wasn't that drunk.
He felt slightly disappointed when Aedan shook his head. "Nah. I'm old. It takes a lot to get me drunk."
Damon grinned and passed the other vampire a drink. "That sounds like a challenge," he said. "But maybe one for another night." It would undoubtedly take a while to get Aedan drunk, and Damon had other plans for the rest of the evening. Although he would have an advantage tonight since he hadn't spent the whole night at the bar. Unfortunately. "Are you at least buzzed?" he asked.
Aedan smiled too at that. "A little," he conceded.
Damon smirked, but he sobered after a moment. "So did you really hate the party? Despite the open bar?" He sipped his drink, trying not to show that he was worried about what Aedan might say, worried that Aedan hadn't had a good time. What if he decided he couldn't stand Mystic Falls – not that Damon could blame him if he did – and wanted to leave?
