Damon finally shifted his attention to the elven girl standing next to him. The girl was trembling from top to bottom as if she was terrified of him. Damon sighed. "It's ok. You can relax. I am not that bad."

His words, however, did not really help with anything. The girl was still shaking and looking at the ground, afraid to look anywhere else.

"Listen, if I wanted you dead, you would already be dead. I already have a girl friend and she is a lot more well endowed compared to you. I absolutely have no interest whatsoever in a small brat like you. You can really let go and relax. I came back for you, didn't I? I mean… cough. Cough. I agree I forgot about you for a minute there and almost left you alone but I still came back."

Damon waited for a reaction but there was absolutely no response. He sighed and decided to give her some more time to get used to things.

"Now then." He stood up and looked around. There wasn't much exactly for him to do at the moment so he went for a round around the castle. The elf stayed where she was. Damon wandered around by himself.

The place wasn't large. The walls were simple stone walls and most of the rooms were empty. There was a library of sorts but nothing worthwhile was in it. Even the castle grounds were still foggy which meant he couldn't really access those.

Without much to do, Damon returned to the main hall. It was just him and the elf and after taking a look at the nervous mess, he decided to close his eyes and reflect on the battle.

He barely meditated for a few minutes when a set of rushed footsteps snapped him out of his thoughts. "I am sorry. Please forgive me. My clan members do not know anything. Otherwise, they wouldn't have treated you like this."

Damon opened his eyes slowly. A woman stood in front of him. She had long black hair with thin crimson streaks. Her skin was pale and sickly even for a vampire and before she could finish speaking she coughed up a splatter of blood. She doubled over, chest heaving, each breath coming hard and ragged.

A young man came running up behind her. He had a powerful aura around him, strong blood essence that danced around but not a single drop leaked. It might not be apparent at first but if one observed it properly, it spoke volumes about his talent.

He reached out and grabbed the woman's arm to steady her. "Hinata, you need to rest," he sounded worried. "You shouldn't be pushing yourself. Couldn't this wait another day or two?"

When his eyes landed on Damon, the warmth in his face disappeared. His whole posture changed. The friendly helper turned cold as he stared down at Damon with clear contempt in his eyes.

Damon remained calm. Some sort of drama was unfolding in front of him and he allowed it to play out to see where things were headed.

Hinata, on the other hand, did not seem to care about him at all. She only looked at Damon, genuinely apologetic. "Thank you so much again. Without you, we would have never made it out of there."

The young man again interrupted. "You only barely came in one piece. Whatever happened over there was not acceptable. You were way too reckless. You should have told me before leaving. Then things would have never come down to this." He once again shot a death glare towards Damon.

"Stop it, Alaric." Hinata finally snapped. "Why are you even here? You are being very disrespectful to my guest. Please leave."

Alaric snorted. "And if I don't, do you have the strength to make me? You need to take some time to rest and recover."

Hinata glared at him stubbornly.

"Fine. Have it your way. I will wait for you back at home."

Alaric flicked his gaze once more at Damon, the contempt still there, then turned and walked out of the hall. Two shadowy guards fell in step with him. The heavy door groaned shut behind them, and for a moment the castle felt quieter

Hinata sagged against a pillar, breathing hard. She forced a weak smile at Damon. "I'm sorry about him. He's… an idiot." She tugged on the hem of her sleeve, trying to hide how pale she had gone. "Thank you again. For everything."

Damon smiled. He was inwardly shocked to see the arrogant, mysterious vampiress turn into this friendly, nice person. "Its fine. My survival also depended on it. So I didn't really do anything for you. We just helped each other out. There is no need to be so formal."

"Don't play humble," Hinata shook her head with a small smile. "You dragged half my people out of that inferno. I owe you more than thanks."

Damon shrugged. "Alright. I will take all the credit then. Thanks. So for all this help, any chance you can get me out of here and actually get me into the crimson mountains? It sucks to be treated like an outsider by my own people."

Hinata's laughed a little. She rested a shaky hand on the back of a chair, then looked straight at Damon. "You're not getting out of this that easy," she said, half teasing, half serious. "I'll do what I can but you know how things work here. I can't just shove you past the elders. They'll want answers. They'll want a reason to trust you. Wait, do you even know how things work here? Is this your first time here?"

Damon nodded. "Guilty. This is my first time here. As for answers and explanation, I can only try my best."

"Don't worry. It won't be that big of a deal. You are a vampire after all. In the end, that should be enough for them to let you in without much of a fuss."

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