The voice sent a chill throughout my whole nerve system and sent blinding white light to cover my eyes. Though this was a good white light, the kind you would associate with mga kerubin not the kind that seemed as though you were trapped in a snow storm.
    I knew that voice, that beautiful voice. I would – no could, never forget it and right now it was the greatest sound in the world, despite the fact it sinabi one word.
    “Lost?”
    “Damon, you scared me. I thought you were someone else. How did you find me?”
    “Well I would have thought you would have been versed sa pamamagitan ng now. Stefan does a slack job. To put it basically, Bampira are good with smells. I have become accustom to yours.” His crooked smile and winced eyes were clearly defined although in the light of the waning moon.
    “Oh ... yeah, that is true” I couldn’t have felt madami stupid. It was obvious, but ... “Wait didn’t you leave town with Stefan? Why are you here now?” my head was reeling with walang sagot tanong but these were the most important. I almost didn’t feel the twisting pain of my puso ripping at the sound of Stefan’s name coming off my lips.
    “Well the answer to the first is no and the segundo it’s your birthday” he gave me a puso melting grin, that would be to anyone who didn’t know him, but I did and all too well. This grin was his awareness or something that made me unhappy and giving him pleasure in that. “That’s all you need to know”
    “But how ... my ... who ...” I couldn’t seem, as hard as I tried, to make a coherent sentence. “Who...”
    “Who told me it was your birthday” he finished for me and I was thankful because I probably would have gone on and on all night stuttering like that.
    “Yeah, that.” I looked down as I sinabi it, picking at my nails because the whole situation was making me feel madami and madami powerless to him, as if he were madami superior to me than he already is.
    “Well the humans may fall for your charade, my brother with the attention span of a four taon old might fall for it also, but I notice things.” This smile was just his smug smile, full of pride.
    “’Things?’ What kind of things?”
    “Things such as the way you cringe whenever someone mentions birthday, the way you hate all birthday balloons, the way to try to make a huge fuss out of mga kaibigan birthdays to take the attention away from yours, the way your phone always ‘rings’ when someone asks you yours but most of all the way hid away from everyone, avoided going home, avoided basically everything this araw last taon but was so relaxed the nest day. You see we are hunters we notice these things.” There was no smugness on his face at the moment or suspicious looks he just seemed ... well the best word to describe it is distant. Strange.
    “Oh, well I don’t like my birthday.” A cheap easy rebuttal but the best I could come up with.
    “Again I know and strangely enough I respect that. Birthdays for me get a little boring but ...” He was smiling again, a smile full of warmth, and the smile that I love. He was also playing with his dyaket pocket as if trying to get something out of it, the reason his sentence trailed off. “But,” he continued “you can never refuse a present.”
    In his hand he held a small box wrapped in ginto paper and a few ribbons hanging gracefully on the top. It was beautiful.
    “Damon ... I can’t. Thank you so much for the offer but ...” He stopped me before I could finish. The warmth was still in his eyes but is mouth was in a frown.
    “Elena, no. Look I can, not acknowledge your birthday, we can look at this as just a ‘sorry I been gone’ present but you are taking it!”
    “Damon ...” I whined
    “Elena.” There was no uncertainty in his voice. I could tell if I didn’t take it now I’d be here all night.
    “Okay ... but I still feel wrong taking it from you.”
    “It doesn’t feel wrong to me.” He smiled his crooked smile.
    I took the small box from his hands hesitantly and started to rip carefully at one of the corners. Under the paper I could see he blue and white of a Tiffany’s jewellery box. A small gasp caught in my throat. Tiffany’s is so expensive, why would he spend that much on me? I continued to open the present, Damon taking the paper once off.
    Now it was just the box, dying to see what was inside I open the lid as carefully, but as quickly, as possible. Inside resting on the white silk cushion was a gorgeous platinum ring, the band laced with small diamonds, leading into an x shape and right where they should have met was a huge light blue sapphire. I have only ever seen rings like this in the movies. It was breathtaking.
    “OH ... my ... god, Damon this is beautiful, but why?”
    “Before you think anything, it’s just a present, no implications and because it’s your birthday. You like it?” I could tell from his face he knew I liked it and this made him happy. Strange.
    “YES, but this must have cost a fortune!”
    “When has money been an object for me? Besides your worth every penny.”
    “Oh my ...” I took the ring out carefully and place it upon the middle finger of my left hand where it lay perfectly. It was stunning.
    After I stopped admiring the ring, and I don’t know how long I had been, I just couldn’t stop myself throwing my arms around him.
    “Just glad you’re happy.” Is all he said, but he put his arms around me, taking some of my weight. We stayed like that for what seemed to be hours before Damon shifted.
    “By the way,” he sinabi in his normal, teasing tone, “you might want to get back to Jenna soon because I dealt with her for now but something might wake her.” I groaned. I was perfectly happy not thinking of my life, just living for the moment but now I guess I had to. “What’s the problem?”
    “It’s just ... well ... nothing really, I just don’t want to go home.”
    “Well if you like I could make Jenna let you stay with me while I'm in town. You know, like have a break from life. Not in that way.”
    “Well ...” it was so tempting.
    “Oh come it’s not like I'm going to try anything. We’ll have fun.” He was using the tone you use with a child trying to tempt them to eat their veggies, but it was working.
    “Okay, just don’t hurt Jenna ... she means well.”
    “Noted. Come on I’ll give you a lift.” I was expecting to see his black Porsche, but he seems to have changed it. This car was still black, blending in well with the night which seemed to rapidly be becoming dawn, but if my eyes aren’t mistaken, this was an Aston Martin Vanquish. I know because it was my dad’s dream car.
    We pulled up to my house and Damon sinabi a quick ‘stay here’ command and was gone like that. I just sat there in the car exploring all the aspects of it like the red Italian leather upuan covers, the curved shape of the windows to fit the low roof and ... before I could finish my evaluation my door was opening. I never realised how quick Damon really was.
    “Damon that was quick.” I sinabi reapproving but for some reason I was being dragged out of the car with brut strength and a cloth was being placed over my mouth but this time with a little less force, kind of gentle. Wait it’s getting black, why am I yawning I'm not tired ...