𝕍𝕒𝕞𝕡𝕚𝕣𝕖𝕤 𝕊𝕦𝕔𝕜 ⦉ᴛᴠᴅ⦊

Ch 1. Vampire Barbie

"Jersey Shore's on," Caroline remarked when she noticed Bonnie.

A beatific tranquility seemed to blanket the private suite. Bonnie sank into Caroline's embrace, letting her friend's warmth infuse her essence.

Caroline absorbed Bonnie's reverence with a serene smile. "Careful," she murmured affectionately. "Still a little sore."

Bonnie immediately eased her clinch, eyes rounding with contrition. "Sorry," she breathed tremulously.

But Caroline simply shook her head, crystalline depths crinkling as her grin intensified. "It's okay. But they say I'm healing really quick..."

Her lapis gaze flickered to Damon's looming form for an imperceptible instant, unguarded devotion bleeding between their auras in prismatic shatters. Damon absorbed the wealth of meaning in that glance, his smirk intensifying.

Without preamble, he extended a tumbler brimming with golden juice towards Caroline. "Here, have this," he rumbled, undercurrents of smoldering sensuality lacing his tone.

"Freshly-squeezed by yours truly," he purred in a resonant baritone that saturated the stillness. "Just how you like it..."

Caroline rolled her eyes dramatically even as she accepted the glass, plump lips curving into an answering grin. She brought the crystal to her mouth, throat undulating with each languorous swallow.

"Aw, since when do I have a personal butler?" she teased without inflection.

Damon absorbed her playful rejoinder with an exaggerated shrug, cobalt eyes blazing intensity. "Well, the things I do for you, Barbie..." he growled, each syllable saturated with affectionate bravado.

Though their banter hinted at burgeoning undercurrents, Jessica and Samantha seemed oblivious, simply watching the intimate tableau with beatific rapture.

"It's sad I'll have to find a new butler when you leave for Mayor Lockwood's funeral," Caroline stated, her clipped tone belying the profound weight beneath the words.

Damon tensed imperceptibly at the mention of the deceased founder, eyes narrowing. "Do I have to go?" he countered, affecting bored indifference despite his taut frame.

Caroline's delicate features sharpened with somber resignation. When she spoke, it was a rasping exhalation tinged with harrowing sobriety. "Yes," she breathed, unable to conceal the dawning anguish etching hollows beneath her stare. "I wish I could but I can't...Poor Tyler. The Mayor was a shitty father but he didn't deserve this fate."

Caroline's crystalline gaze flickered to the mounted TV, glittering with amusement as an athletic specimen strutted across the screen. "Oh, isn't he cute?" she murmured conspiratorially.

Only after absorbing the raw emotion ghosting Bonnie's features did understanding bloom in Caroline's infinite well of empathy. With sublime grace, she extricated herself and cradled Bonnie's face. "Why are you crying?" she murmured, the words resonating like a saccharine benediction.

Bonnie didn't disguise the rivulets scoring her caramel cheeks. Hugging Caroline tightly, her emerald eyes shimmered with rapture and residual anguish. "I'm just happy you're okay," she rasped tremulously, profoundly vulnerable.

As if spurred by Bonnie's affirmation, Jessica and Samantha surged forward, enveloping Caroline and Bonnie in a reverent embrace. The four young women remained interwoven in that achingly poignant tableau, barriers dissolving into infinite cosmic tributaries.

"Oh, I love you guys!" Caroline murmured, her honeyed cadence laced with profound devotion.

Damon watched their communion unfold, and for an instant, something primal and eternal kindled in his cobalt depths. Then, concealing his revelation, he spun on his heel and stalked from the chamber.