5.

I woke up in my car and went to the base. Damon had given me a fucking great idea. He removed the vampire potion, his weakness. I'd show all the fear demons what would happen if they even tried to come near me. At the base, I just told them general things about fear demons and how they were a danger to humans and all other creatures.

From then on, everyone had to determine if they were vulnerable to fear demons or not. Then, everyone had their own plans for fear of demons. We used the hive mind of the fear demons against themselves. We knew that fear is their food, and my fear is almost irresistible and tasty, if they heard where I was they would surely come and eat me, and then when it became obvious how the weak versions were dying, stronger ones would come out, better targets for us.

I had a funny plan. First, we put out a rumor about where I was so that the fear demons would be sure to get the hint. Then, whoever tried to come to where I was supposed to be would die. I was always in a good sniper position, and when I took the fear demons out of the game with flea bullets; I wanted to see how long it would be before the message was clear.

I didn't chase the usual demons; I let my husband take care of the slave traders and other problems on the day. It was my turn to make the world a little safer place for myself. I started in America first, going from state to state, almost only a day or two in each state, and I always got dozens of fear demons destroyed.

I wasn't the only one doing the killing; no, we had a strike team. I was just the decoy, and when we got enough targets to flush out, we would strike. Those that were resistant to the fear demons did most of the killing, but yes, my sniper rifle sang.

Damon sighed. He had heard about Mimi's little mission against the fear demons, and it would not work; she didn't realize that the portals to their dimension were open all the time, and they would be flooded with new demons, even stronger ones.

Besides, she was being careless and reckless again. Damon knew what he had to do, and he would do it out of pure love, even if Mimi would not see it that way. He would protect, guard, and teach, just as he had sworn in his wedding vows and she had warned, then next, she would see the action.

One vampire approached Damon again to tell him about the next den of demons. Damon sighed. A lesson would have to wait before he could bring this satanic slave trade to a proper end and make these demons believe. Demons were naturally afraid of vampires as they hated to be meals, so they tried not to attract the attention of vampires. So it would only be a matter of time before he got his message across properly, and the demons retreated into their shadows and left the supernaturals alone. But he had to keep going until then. 

Once I'd taken care of America, well, it took a month, then I left for Europe. I'd told Adam what I was doing, and although he didn't appreciate it much now, he let me do it while there was a strike team. I always taught in the base house about demons and fear demons.

We always looked at who was susceptible and who wasn't; some went with me as we toured Europe, and then others stayed somewhere to do other jobs, either in the medicine facilities or succubus incubus problems. It was looking like the demon slave trade was dying down, and I knew it was Damon's doing. I was actually amazed at my husband when he made the change.

I was driving along the road, wondering what he could do when he always found the right motivation. I started getting to grips with my scars; they weren't gone. I saw them every time I looked into the mirror and my life, which had seemed so bleak without my pheromones. Well, I learned, accepted it, and moved on; what could I do about it? I couldn't do anything about it. 

I went through a lot of countries in Europe; some were easier than others, and Italy, France, Germany, and Spain required a lot more work, but I had a lot of fun. I knew Damon was still in America, and I was in Europe doing my thing, so I didn't have a problem with him hearing what I was doing.

In every country, there were always stupid fear demons who either didn't believe in their destiny or just didn't care. My fear was just too delicious for them not to care. It was a siren song for them.

I looked through the scope and waited. I was now in Greece, and I was on the beat. I was waiting for a sign from Lucy or Lance. Trust fleas, and they were resistant to the fear demons.

The way I recognized the fear demons was to put on the food radar. They were actually green on my radar, but they had a warning triangle on them. So I saw it through the scope of my rifle. I didn't capture any fear demons for my blood farms just because of their hive mind. This was perfect.

Then the earpiece in my ear crackled.

Lance said, "Scout to the Eagle. The target is moving."

I replied, "That's clear, scout, the eagle is ready,"

I was now not a flea leader. We had our own call signs for this operation. The club door opened and out stepped three men. Oh fuck. Sark and the two fear demons. This was way too good a catch, but Sark was so that I couldn't hit him. But I could get both demons out at once.

My finger squeezed the trigger. I felt the gun go off and saw through the scope how the demons suddenly turned into a puddle of slime, soaking Sark's fancy suit, at the same time three men came and surrounded Sark, quickly helping him into an armored car that sped away from the scene. 

Sark had glanced almost point-blank at me, as if to know that I killed the two fear demons. Well, it wasn't a good thing that the fear demons were messing with Sark, but there was nothing I could do about that. Maybe Sark wouldn't mess with them anymore if he found out that I was chasing them.

We were in Greece for another week, and I saw Sark with the fear demons another time. Again, I killed two more fear demons and this time I wound Sark, but only in the arm. That was enough, and the next day, the fleas watching Sark told me he had left the country in a hurry. 

I then moved from Greece to Moldova when I heard there were colonies there, too. This was actually a very lovely country, and the nature here was somehow perfect. I was driving towards a town. It was a country road that I drove along when I had time.

I saw a really magnificent castle on the way, but I didn't stay to explore the properties here as I still had colonies to destroy. Well, well, that castle would eventually become my refuge, just mine, not Damon's or the pack's, but mine to be feared. 

To this day, though, I am well off, so to speak. Moldovan Castle is my refuge. It has taken the place of the house of Chicago because it has not existed for centuries, so I must always have one refuge. Moldovan castle is to me what Irish castle is to the rest of the pack. Even though I am in the pack, I am always different- I don't fit in as well as the others. And I have learned that I have tried to teach the rest of the pack that. That I can have independence and I actually enjoy it. I need it even if the rest of the pack doesn't understand it.

 For three months, I toured Europe, teaching fear demons and fleas how to deal with them; I also expanded my blood farms and visited both my castle in France and my castle in Italy. I only noticed in the Italian castle that the main bedroom was locked with a bolt and a strong enchanted egg lock.

I knew Damon had the keys, and whatever he did on the wedding night was obviously important to him, as it was to keep the room safe. I remembered how he carefully put my wedding dress away, and I laughed to myself as I wondered how holey the dress was after all those flanks, and the front too, as he wouldn't leave my liver alone.

I made blood storage in one room there, too, but then, when Mimosa gave me the idea, I made a blood room. i.e., I got some refrigerators, had Dresden put a spell on them to make sure the blood always stayed fresh, and then filled the cabinets with everything I had.

I received a very special donation of blood the day after I arrived in Italy. I had just destroyed a large colony of fear demons that had actually plagued and consumed the fear of the local people, making them sicker, consumed by fear.

 I was walking in my car. A woman walked up to me, and I knew straight away that she was not human.

She said, "Hello, I'm Gabriella. I'm an angel, and you'll be rewarded by upstairs, now my blood. You've been saving and helping humans, and he wants to reward you, so I agreed to volunteer."

I nodded and said, " My name is Mimi, and thank you very much, but I'm not hungry right now."

The angel laughed. She handed me a bag and said, " They're pre-packed. Keep it up, and you'll always get a reward."

I nodded and said, "Thank you very much, then. Is there anything strange to expect from this blood?"

The angel laughed and said, "You won't get wings from it, but you will get pleasure and euphoria, so watch out when you taste it."

I nodded. And the angel just disappeared. I stood in the street for a moment, and then the bag in my hand was the only proof that that had really happened and I wasn't just hallucinating. I took the blood to my floor hiding place.

I didn't leave the angel blood where Mr. Darling could get it. Dresden had made me stones with the same spell on them when I told him about my blood hiding. These stones would keep the blood fresh in my hiding place, too.

 Then I went back to America. I didn't know where Damon was, and I didn't care. If he was still a vampire lord, at least from what I had heard rumors, the same thing had continued. I just laughed that he hardly gets angels in front of him, and they give him 20 bags of blood just like that. And yes, that angel blood was really enjoyable. I was in ecstasy for three days after drinking half a bag, and even then, I felt really invincible. 

I went back to Tennessee. I bought myself a big, big house there and started fixing it up. I had told Adam what I was doing, and although he didn't always appreciate it, he didn't make a fuss about it or demand that I stop. He himself was doing demon-destroying jobs part of the time. Not the fear demon, but others.

He apparently worked with Damon on some of it. I also told him about the angel and its blood.

Adam then came to visit and see my Tennessee mansion. He looked at me. My scars were still there, also on my neck.

I said "I know, I'm lukewarm, there are no pheromones to tell you what mood I'm in, as you can see, the mating bond exists but it doesn't tell you as much as my pheromones always did, so I'm even less interesting than a human."

 Adam grunted and said, " Honey, yes, I love you, believe it. Pheromones or no pheromones, but I have to admit you're right. You're lukewarm. I can only believe what an advantage this is to you at a gig. You're about invisible when you want to be."

I nodded. I didn't always want to be invisible, but I had learned to accept it for eight months and counting. I cursed in my mind when I just couldn't get on with it. Well, it would have the advantage that Bran wouldn't pay any attention to me when I was this dull.

I still hated Bran for what he actually deprived me of. I knew or thought it was impossible to get them back, or else Damon would have done something about it by now if he could, but he probably didn't want to say it to me directly. I knew he wasn't lying, at least not on the darling side, but he doesn't tell everything, and so he protects himself by not telling the truth because if I asked him, he'd have to admit it to me, too.

I knew a vampire man could take a lover, and it was just a matter of time before Damon replaced me with some other woman, a woman with pheromones. Adam walked through my mansion as I explained to him what I was going to do.

He grunted, " Honey, those jobs will have to wait. The team is coming to set up security for this house the day after tomorrow, so be gone by then."

I nodded. Adam and security were one thing I would not argue about. He took the other key and looked at the security code. Even though this had good security by human standards, I knew Adam's guys would set up many accessories from cameras on up, and then this would be safe.

He left then; he, too, had worked things on his mind, and that I had no pheromones made me almost like a spayed female dog around male dogs—someone who just wasn't interested. Even though I still smelled like strawberries, it didn't matter when I didn't have the damn pheromones.

The irony of it all was that every man, from Damon on down, had turned me on, but when there was no response, I had completely restrained myself and didn't let them know how I really felt.