The next morning, Caroline and Bonnie had a couple blood bags for breakfast before Caroline drove them to Damon's house. She would stick around for a bit under the guise of getting some more blood for herself and hoped to be able to see his reaction to Bonnie's surprise. When they got there, Caroline headed into the house for some blood, while Damon took Bonnie outside to get started. Damon could smell vampire on her, but assumed it rubbed off from Caroline. He wasn't paying enough attention to her scent to notice that there wasn't any human underneath it. "Okay, so let's see what you've learned," Damon said as he faced off against her.

"Yes. Let's," Bonnie smirked and then moved like a blur, throwing an elbow to his gut and knocking the wind out of him before flipping him over her back and putting a knee on his chest. "Like that?"

"What..." Damon blinked in shock.

"Oh, did I forget to mention? Caroline turned me yesterday so I'm a vampire now too."

Damon tapped her leg to get her to move off him and then got to his feet, turning to Caroline who was snickering in the doorway. "You what?! Why would you..."

"Because I asked her to," Bonnie cut him off.

"And on that note, I'm out," Caroline said blurring to her car. She got the entertainment and wanted no parts of the fight. Or the blame.

"Great. So now I have to handhold another newbie," Damon huffed. "Come on. Might as well have a drink while we talk." He really needed one right about now.

Bonnie followed him, trying to contain her emotions now that the eagerness of seeing his reaction had passed. She'd known that her emotions would kick up a notch, but her love for him was beyond anything she could ever have anticipated. If he felt like this about Elena, then she had to wonder how she would even have a chance. She remembered the future Damon's words though. 'Accept me and fight for me. That's all you'll need to do.' She hoped that he was right. She didn't even want to consider the kind of heartache that was waiting for her from this if it didn't work. Bonnie waited until the drinks were poured and he handed her one before telling him, "You don't have to do any handholding, Damon. Caroline's got it. Though I would appreciate some tips for live-feeding since Caroline doesn't do that."

"And you plan to?" Damon asked with a tilt of his head, trying to read her. It hurt a bit that she hadn't come to him for this and was just even more proof that he didn't have a chance with her. She didn't want him involved despite the fact that he had so much more experience than Caroline so he wouldn't push his way in unless he was invited.

"I don't know how often I will or anything, but I'm not opposed to it, no. I don't intend to kill unless I don't have a choice, but I don't see a problem with feeding that way. It's kind of a hassle to go all the way into the city for it and without knowing how much better it is than the blood bags, I can't really make a decision," Bonnie shrugged. "Either way, knowing how to do it safely is always a good thing."

"Yes. It is. The same argument I've tried to make to Barbie more than once," Damon sighed.

"I think she's just still trying to come to terms with the way you treated her before. And that hasn't been helped by Stefan and Elena's attitude. Getting slammed with all those memories at once really threw her for a loop and she's just not comfortable with you yet," Bonnie tried to reassure him.

"But you are," Damon said skeptically. "Even after I tried to kill you."

"Yeah. That threw me for a good while, I admit," Bonnie said honestly. "But I didn't have to contend with forgetting it and then getting it back later and it was only one incident. And once I got some distance and really looked back on it...the look on your face...you didn't mean to. You were like, totally shellshocked just as bad as I was. You just lost control for a minute. You didn't really want me dead."

"I didn't really want Blondie dead either," Damon told her. "I just wanted to scare her so she would think twice about offering herself up to dangerous older men and get her to grow a pair and fight for herself."

"Yeah, I get that," Bonnie said after a moment's consideration. "It was a shitty way to go about it, but I can see your point. Do you mind if I tell her the reasons behind all that?"

"Well since I intended her to learn the lesson, it would be rather dumb for me to object to having it explained to her," he shrugged. "But we're not here to talk about her. How are /you/?"

"I'm...a mess," Bonnie chuckled. "My emotions are all over the place, my mind won't stop racing, I'm constantly starving..."

"Have you had breakfast?" Damon cut her off to ask.

"Yeah. I had two blood bags before coming here," Bonnie nodded.

"Okay, good enough. Carry on," he waved a hand for her to continue.

"Caroline and I went running last night and it was awesome. I've been working on moderating my strength, but it's going to take practice. I'll get used to it though. All of it."

"And you actually /wanted/ it?" Damon asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Yeah. I did. And before you ask, no. I don't regret it."

"Why?" he had to understand.

"Because this is my world. The supernatural world. It's where I belong. But without magic I was a sitting duck. I have no intention of being the damsel in distress that needs saving every week like Elena. If I'm going to be a part of this world, I need to be able to take care of myself. To protect myself. In general and against all the Bennett enemies who will take the opportunity to come after me when it gets out that I've lost my magic."

"So you want me to keep teaching you to fight then?" Damon guessed.

"If you don't mind. I don't want you to feel like you have to 'handhold a newbie'," she chuckled.

"I don't mind. We already had an agreement in place for that. If anything, it makes it easier now," Damon said. "And I don't mind teaching you to live-feed either."

"I would appreciate that," Bonnie said gratefully.

"We don't really have time for a full lesson now before I have to meet Ric and Elena, and this is the kind of thing that's better done in the evening anyway, so tonight?" he suggested.

"Yeah. Tonight's good," she agreed.

"We'll make sure you have a blood bag first. Take the edge off. Be prepared that it's going to be a lot harder to control yourself that way. And that it's a hundred times better than blood bags."

"I'll keep that in mind," Bonnie nodded. "Just...don't let me kill anyone?"

"I won't," Damon promised. He may not care much either way if he killed, but he wouldn't expect anyone else to live his way. If she didn't want to kill, he wouldn't let her. At least for now until she learned to control herself. Then it would be on her. At least she wasn't a ripper, or she would be showing signs already even on the blood bags. "I don't care if Barbie comes along if you need the extra assurance." He mostly offered that to see what her reaction would be. He would really rather not deal with little miss perky if he could help it.

"No, I'm good. I trust you, Damon," Bonnie said honestly.

Damon frowned and tilted his head at her. That was the second time she'd told him that, both times about very serious issues, but he was still having trouble believing it. And it irritated him because it made him much more hesitant to risk breaking that trust. "Why?"

"I don't know," Bonnie shrugged. "I guess I just get you now."

"You think one little walk in my shoes and a day of being a vampire is enough to 'get me'?" he scoffed.

"Well, no. Of course not. Not completely," she backtracked. "I just...it got me thinking back over things and I realized that I've let other people's opinions influence mine more than I should regarding you. You've helped and saved us enough for me to give you the benefit of the doubt. And so far you haven't made me regret it."

"That's growing up for you, I suppose," Damon chuckled and refilled his drink before offering her one.

"Yeah. Please. It's actually helping a lot."

"It does. Alcohol helps to dull both the hunger and the emotions. Most of the time. Sometimes it makes the emotions worse if you're already in a tailspin, but the rest of the time it helps."

"Well I'm not in a tailspin at the moment, so we're good," Bonnie told him. "I definitely need to start keeping some booze at home too apparently."

"What would your father have to say about that?" Damon asked amusedly.

"I'm actually going to move into Grams' old house. I'm eighteen now and have plenty of money that I won't have to worry about it for my senior year. I don't feel like having to hide in my own home, you know?"

"Yeah, I know that feeling well," Damon said understandingly. "But you're aware that living by yourself without a human deedholder means that any old vampire can walk into your house as they wish."

"I know. I'm thinking I might hire a live-in housekeeper or something. Some random person that I don't mind compelling and get the house put in her name. I don't know. I'll see if it becomes a problem first."

"As long as you're thinking," Damon said in acceptance. "Now. Do we want to get back to the practice for real this time or would you rather take a couple more days to settle?"

"I'm good to practice," she assured him. "Just give me a little leeway for the emotional instability?"

Damon laughed. "I promise I won't rip your head off when you lose your temper." He was old enough and experienced enough that he could take her with his hands tied behind his back when he was actually expecting it, so he wasn't worried about her hurting him.