"What if one day when this is all over you want to come home again?" Stefan asked. It was a stretch, he knew, but at this point it was all he had.

"I won't." The match fell to the floor, and all Elena felt was the memory of emotion.

When vampires described turning their humanity switch on, Elena thought it would be most difficult to do right after it was turned off, but it wasn't. She could still remember how she felt before and it echoed inside her like a wave. She was too close to the rock that put everything in motion and she could feel how easy it would be to take it all back and turn her humanity back on. She had to leave.

The three of them left the house, but she didn't bother looking back. Elena knew if she did that the memories would be there waiting. She could think of a dozen ways to save the house if she tried, and then what was the point of everything?

"Damon. Take me somewhere." Her voice was flat. She supposed emotion was tied with intonation.

Damon raised an eyebrow at her before looking at the house and then at Stefan who nodded. They probably thought that Damon would still be able to help her in some way. Him and Stefan thought the sire bond would hold even through this, but she knew it was already severed. Before, her body sang whenever it was near Damon. The desire to please him took over her every thought, but now, nothing. He was just an opportunity to get away.

She climbed into the car with Damon, choosing to focus on some street sign in front of her instead of the house. She needed to get away faster.

"Where to, kitten?" He smirked. If there was ever a time she less kitten-y it was now.

Her face gave nothing away. "Just drive."

Stefan watched the car drive away and fought his instinct to get in a car and follow. He knew that Elena was lost to him, but he couldn't make his body stop trying to protect her. Whatever closeness Elena felt for Damon, whatever the reason was for her turning to Damon instead of him was because of the sire bond. He knew that Elena would never choose his brother over him, but the rejection still took the breath out of him. How was he supposed to trust Damon to help her?

Dimly, he heard Caroline in the house trying to put out the fire, but she needed help. The gasoline was making this a losing battle, but he knew that the house was her emotional trigger. They needed to salvage it in order to bring Elena back. When Damon and Elena were finally far enough away that he couldn't sense them anymore, he rushed to the house in order to help Caroline.

He didn't know what they would do if the house didn't survive.

"Damon, do you remember the Murder House that we went to when you taught me how to feed?" Elena looked over at him from the passenger side of the car. She had offered to drive, but he was crazy about people driving his car.

"Do I even need to justify that question with an answer?" He looked over at her with a smile on his face as he remembered that night. Damon's eyes lingered over her throat as he imagined all the blood that had left a trail to her breasts. His gums started to ache and he figured the road was probably where his eyes should be about now.

"You couldn't keep your hands off me."

Elena shifted in her seat so that she could look at him better. She had been trying to figure out the best way to get him…hazy for the past few hours. The most fun she could think of was a Damon who was a lot more distracted with a lot less brain power. She didn't think being direct would work; he would see it for what it was a mile away or chalk her actions up to her humanity switch. No, before she tried anything she needed him good and buzzed.

"You're a much better dancer than Stefan."

He scoffed. "That's hardly a compliment considering you're comparing me to Stefan. He's had a whole tree up his ass for decades."

Elena moved a little closer so that she had to prop herself up on the middle consol. The space was small, which meant that her scent was already permeating the car, but she wanted to overwhelm him.

"Okay, maybe not. But I could use some more fun like that night." She watched as his hands tightened on the steering wheel. Oh yeah, she was definitely getting to him. "How much longer do we have to drive?"

"That depends." Damon knew she was up to something, but he couldn't figure out the end game. This car ride was going to actually kill him. He wanted to put some space between him and Elena, but there wasn't exactly a lot of room. Damon chose to speed up. He could at least try to get them somewhere quicker so they could finally get out of the car. And do what?

"On?" She shifted again so that her arm was draped over the back of his seat. Her fingers twisted the hair at the nape of his neck, being careful not to actually touch his neck. Not touching him was hard, but she bet he was harder.

Damon was screwed. He needed to adjust his pants but there was no way to do it without Elena noticing. As if she hadn't already noticed his pants getting tighter. Any longer and circulation was going to be a main concern.

"On how long it takes you to stop distracting me." He saw a sign for a gas station and actually said a silent prayer. Not that he actually believed in God, but still, what's a little mental chatter with a non-existent deity? "And on how long it takes me to get gas."

Elena leaned back against her seat and pouted. Damon-1. Elena-0. He pulled into the gas station as quickly as he could before realizing the gas tank was on the other side. Okay, maybe it was more like Damon-0. Elena-1. Nah, no way they were totally tied.

"I'm going to go to the bathroom. Try not to kill anyone while I'm gone, okay kitten?"

It took whatever remaining restraint he had not to run too fast into the bathroom. Once inside, he propped himself against the sink to try to steady himself. Everything ached. His gums, his jaw, his… everything. And he was starving. He thought again about the night at the murder house when Elena ran her finger along his neck to pick up some extra blood before licking her finger clean.

"Dammit!" He cracked the sink before he finally took a step back. It was going to be a long three hours to New York.

"Look, all that matters is, when I lived here I fed like crazy and had a blast. And went undetected for years."

He wasn't sure what Elena was going to be like without her humanity switch. So far, she hadn't been put into enough situations to test the waters. It wasn't exactly like she had enough of a bad side when she was human to make predictions. The only way to find out was going to be to throw her into the metaphorical waters and let her sink or swim.

"So we're just here to have fun? What's the catch?" Elena stopped in front of him, making him look in her eyes. Maybe Damon was playing with her too.

"There's no catch. Look, you wanted out; I got you out. You wanted to feed; I brought you to a city sized all-you-can-eat buffet. That's the beauty of New York. There's so much life that a little death goes unnoticed." He shrugged his shoulders and decided now was as good a time as ever. "Come on, let's get some lunch."

At first all they did was walk aimlessly around the city. Elena had never seen anything so big. As a human she had always wanted to come to New York, see some musicals, eat some pizza, do all of the touristy stuff. But now all she could focus on was letting loose and finally enjoying what it meant to be a vampire.

Occasionally, Damon would point out a road or store where he killed someone or talk about a place that used to exist but didn't anymore. Overall, he seemed to be riding the nostalgia train.

Elena was getting bored. What she wanted was to a party, a place where she could finally indulge in all of the vampire urges that Stefan and Caroline had been forcing her to suppress. She wanted to fill herself to the bring with blood until she felt bloated, get Damon to drain her and get all fuzzy. And then, she wanted him to turn his humanity off. And none of that was going to happen with him walking around with some nostalgic moron.

"Why did you bring me here? We could have gone anywhere." Elena was getting tired of wandering and now she was starving.

"My history in this city has a particular resonance with your current situation. When I had my humanity off."

"What happened to make you turn your humanity switch off?" This was good. If the last time he had been here he'd had him humanity turned off, it might make it easier for Elena to get him to flip it again.

"Leave it to Beaver. The '50s bored me." He gave her one of his casual smirks that tried too hard. He was hiding something.

"Avoidance. That's a new tactic I've never seen from you before." Elena looked around her to see if there was anyone to feed on, and Damon was right. There were so many people it was more a question of who not if. "Whatever. I'm bored now."

Suddenly, Damon was behind her with his hands on his shoulders. She stilled instantly, waiting to see just where his hands were going to go. For starters, lower would be better.

"Take your pick, Elena. You can have anyone you want." His breath was warm in her ear and made her emotions blend together. She was hungry all right. But now she didn't know what she wanted more. Blood or sex. She leaned back into him and rested her head on his shoulder.

"And if I want you?" Elena grabbed Damon's hands and moved them to settle on her hips. Or tried to at least. Before they got there he moved back in front of her.

He tsked. "Nuh-uh-uh. You've got to take me out to dinner first."

"Fine. I'll take her." Elena jumped in front of the closest girl next to them and grabbed her shoulders. Before Damon could get out a syllable Elena bit the girl's neck and threw her at Damon not caring who was watching. She had to give it to Damon, his mouth only hung open in shock for a second before he moved the girl into the nearest ally. Elena followed while slowly licking the remaining blood off her lips.

"What the hell, Elena?" Damon's eyes were furious, but he didn't seem able to keep from looking at the blood sliding down the girl's through. "You can't just go around grabbing people in the open like that. You know the drill. Snatch, Eat, Erase."

Elena smiled. She had rattled Damon. He hadn't expected her to grab the girl. He was still holding to the Elena he knew before. The compassionate one. The one who had reasons to hold on. He didn't know this new Elena yet. While Damon was compelling the girl to forget, Elena had walked up behind her.

Without saying anything she slowly lowered her mouth. She felt her fangs get longer and for the first time she enjoyed the pleasure-pain of them growing. The ache inside her grew as she finally acknowledged how hungry she was. Not just for the girl pinned between her and Damon, but for Damon himself. She held his gaze as her fangs finally sank into the girl's throat and the first burst of blood hit her tongue.

Damon's hands finally grabbed Elena and pulled them both closer. The girl was now being supported only by their bodies. Damon's eyes suddenly changed, the whites turning the red, the blue veins turning black. He couldn't resist either of them anymore. Not with the way Elena was looking at him. His hands on her body would have hurt human Elena, but she was stronger now. She held on just as tight but nothing could prepare her for the moment that Damon bit into the girl's neck.

When it was just her drinking, all she could focus on was the blood. The way that it slid down her throat like warm chocolate, the warmth that suddenly spread through her like fire. It was like she was freezing and submerged herself in a hot bath, except it wasn't painful. It was the most intense feeling, until Damon joined in.

With Damon, she felt everything the same, only now it was combined with a lust so powerful she wanted to rip the girl to shreds just to get to Damon. Her attention was split between the intense fire of feeding, and the need that was burning in her core. She drank deeper, pulling harder and she could feel Damon's hands grab her so hard it hurt, but she didn't care. She wanted more. She wanted to feel everything. Her hands worked their way from his arms until they grabbed his hair and pulled. He would have moaned had it not been for the throat in his way.

The heartbeat between them slowed, finally, and Elena shoved the body aside and was slamming Damon against a wall. She had thought he would be caught off guard, forgetting that his reflexes were as fast as hers, if not faster. His hands grabbed her hips and pulled until their bodies were touching everywhere. Elena heard a crack as his head hit the brick wall behind him, but Damon didn't seem to care.

Still with her hands on his hair, Elena pulled his head to the side and pressed her tongue to his collarbone where a little bit of blood has pooled. Now, Damon did moan, lost completely to the woman in his hands and the throbbing between his legs. Elena's tongue began moving upward, catching all of the blood that had fallen, slowly. Too slowly.

Damon growled in frustration and pushed back, throwing themselves across the ally and against the opposite wall. Elena's shocked gasped disappeared as Damon's mouth slammed into her with as much force. Now she knew he had been holding back all those times. The soft kisses were nice, but even as a human she knew that there was more power than that he could give. And if the hard shaft pressed against her gave anything away, she knew he wouldn't be holding back anymore.

It took all that she had to pull herself back enough to be able to speak, but she wanted to push him, bend all of his limits and get them to break, and giving him what he wanted on the first try wouldn't be enough.

"That wasn't dinner. It was just a snack." She managed to push Damon back enough that she could sprint away and disappear in the crowd.

Damon stood dazed, panting, and harder than the brick wall he was now leaning against. He had a body to clean up and blood was everywhere, and yet…

"God I love New York."