"I wanted it to be you. When the safe opened and somebody found me... I wanted it to be both of you."

For some reason, those words would not leave my head. As much as I tried to think past it and pretend the conversation never happened, the words would still resurface no matter what I did to ignore it.

I screwed up big time.

I knew I screwed up big time.

If anything, Stefan had a right to be pissed at Elena and I.

We should have noticed. The entire summer when I had Elena all to myself, when I had her in my bed everyday, and everything just felt right and peaceful at that moment for me... I should have known something was up. Even if Elena didn't notice, I should have at least felt something wrong was going on. Stefan's my brother. Thinking about it now, if he wasn't locked up in a safe for months, he would have at least tried to contact someone over the summer. Hell, he could even call his female blonde friend. But he didn't, because he couldn't.

Normally when it came to my brother, I'd normally ignore whatever problem we had with each other for a while and go on with my life for the time being. But this time, even though it probably didn't look like it, I felt really guilty. I didn't regret having the summer of my life with Elena, of course, but I did regret not at least trying to contact my brother once over the summer and figure out instantly that Silas was imitating him this whole time.

"What are we going to do, Damon?" I heard Elena's soft quiet voice ring out. We were back at the boarding house, in the living room, just staring at the lit up fireplace in silence. Today was an eventful day. Stefan got his memories back, Silas, Qetsiyah and Amanda or whatever her name was, Elena's true first doppelgänger ancestor were all 'dead-dead' this time, Bonnie was back to the land of the living and the cure was officially gone.

"What is there that we can do?" I questioned. Elena sighed as she turned her head to look over at me, wanting to say something but the words just wouldn't come out. I kept my eyes locked on the stirring fire within the fireplace and took a short drink out of my glass of bourbon, allowing the familiar burn to slide down my throat. I held back a cough and ended up clearing my throat.

That was weird.

I've been drinking bourbon for so long to the point where I've build up tolerance. Why did I wanted to cough for?

Maybe it went down the wrong pipe...

As if karma was reading my thoughts, I started coughing again, this time muffling it over with my hand. However, it wasn't quick enough to not alert Elena. "Damon. Damon, are you okay?" Elena asked. I nodded while clearing up my throat again before saying in an almost strained low voice, "I'm fine."

Just like that I suddenly looked down at my finger tips and noticed specks of blood. Not wanting to freak Elena out, I rubbed the small portion of blood off my hand on the side of my jeans where she couldn't see. I then got up from the couch. "Damon.." Elena started out, looking at me with worry. "I'm gonna go lie down for a bit." I told her. She still looked at me oddly but nodded, thinking it was for the best. The atmosphere in the room changed drastically from stone silence and cool clear air, to a heated up temperature room continuingly rising as I was starting to breath less.

I'm a vampire. I don't need air. I kept telling myself. But the thought alone was making me uncomfortable. I soon took a deep breath, before whipping the side of my forehead, realizing just at that moment I was sweating. A lot if I'm being honest.

Elena, noticing I was practically frozen on the spot, came over to me and grabbed me by the arm to perhaps pull me out of my trance or whatever the hell was happening to me. "Damon! Can you hear me? What's going on?" She kept asking as her anxiety went up. As if things couldn't go worse, I could have sworn the room was tilting more to the left every 10 seconds. I quickly grabbed onto Elena's shoulders to make sure she wouldn't slide away, only to see she still remained in place.

Seeing as she hadn't moved an inch as the room was 'tilting', I knew it all had to be in my head. But how can this be possible? Silas is dead. He can't possibly mess with people's heads even in death, can he? No, it's impossible. Also, he died as a warlock. I have never met a witch or warlock who was this powerful to mess with my mind to the point of hallucination.

As I whipped the sweat out of my eyes, my vision worsened as everything around me appeared blurry. Feeling an unknown weight off my shoulders, my vision darkened and the last thing I could hear well and clear was the once sweet concerning voice of my girlfriend, screaming out my name.

Regaining consciousness, I felt a light warm ray hit against my face. I slowly tried to force my eyes open, but to no avail. I tried again several more times, until finally I was in control of my body. I squinted my eyes as the bright light pierced through my eyes. I turned away from the light wanting to groan, but no sound came out.

What had happened to me?

As my eyes, which still remained blurred, were trying to adjust to the scenery, I was certain another presence was in the room.

The light scent perfume may have given it away.

"Oh, my god." I heard an unfamiliar, what seemed like, female voice mutter out. "Lori!" It went out, before existing the room.

Yep, it was female.

As my vision cleared up, I was able to identify the room and the air I was breathing. It was all a stranger to me. Even the air I was breathing was different, with the side of husky burn ash, unless that was just me.

I scanned the room carefully, trying to figure how I got here and why I was even here. I was lying down in a bed with completely white sheets everywhere, as well as wearing a long white T-shirt and drawers. I felt weak, yet felt determined about something.

Maybe it was about figuring a way out of here and to get off this bed.

Soon enough, I heard footsteps entering the room and turned my head to the side to only stare back at two unfamiliar older women. "Oh, my god." The dark-haired woman let out as I was certain tears were sparking within her eyes. She smiled softly and walked over to my side, where the light wouldn't irritate me. I kept my eyes locked on her the entire time, almost forgetting the blonde in the room.

She reminded me of someone.

Someone.

I just couldn't think of who.

"Damon." She said softly after taking a deep breath. She was still grinning and placed the back of her hand on my cheek. I flinched away and tried to attempt sitting myself up. She looked at me surprised by my sudden movement, but shook it off. "Baby, you're awake. I missed you." She told me. My eyes continued to stare at her, having no clue how to respond to the stranger.

"How are you feeling? You don't seem so good." She tried making conversation with me, since I refused to respond to her. At that point, I gave in and simply stated, "Look lady, I don't even know you. But can you please tell me how I got here in the first place?" She looked at me stunned in horror.

"Y-You.. You don't remember me?" She started out in denial. "Am I suppose to?" I asked her rhetorically. "Yes, of course you're suppose to! I'm your.." She soon was cut off by the blonde.

"Lori, he just woke up. He's probably going to have to take some time adjusting. Give him some time." The blonde told her. "But this can't be happening. I want him back." Lori demanded, forcing the clearly upset tears back. "Lori, please. For his sake.. just... just give him some time." The woman tried to consult with her.

"I've given him time. Months. I just... I just want both of my boys to be okay." Lori stated. What did she exactly mean by 'boys' and also, why was I included?

"Trust me, he'll be fine. I'll make sure of it. I'll have Maggie or Beth check up on him hourly and maybe even have that girl of yours watching over him." The woman stated. "What girl?" Lori asked. "The one with the long brown hair and brown dew eyes. Thought she might be your daughter." She answered her. "Who? Elena? She's not mine. Rick and I have no relation to her. But you're right. She can watch over Damon too." Lori informed her.

"Where is she?" I asked out, feeling a sudden suspicion on the women. I didn't think I could trust them, and the fact they knew Elena's name and what she looked like, put me on edge.

"Where is she? Where's Elena?" I repeated again firmly, seeing as none of them responded. "I do believe she was in the kitchen earlier." The blonde thought it over. "Where is she? I want to see her." I demanded. "I'll go check on her. Lori." The woman motioned for Lori to follow her and they both left the room.

Right after they left, I attempted to sit up straighter. For some odd reason, it was as if my body was half paralyzed. There was only but so much limits of body parts I could move. I still needed time to figure out what was going on. And hopefully fast.

I broke out of my train of thoughts as I heard footsteps approaching the door. Nothing happened and I could hear muffled up voices behind the closed-door. Oddly enough, I couldn't hear what they were saying behind the door or walls, which was strange since I've never had this probably before. I couldn't even hear heartbeats, as I was certain that Lori chick was human, given the fact how warm she was to the touch. Unless...

Before I could even begin to think of the possibility, I looked up to see the door swing wide open barely touching the back wall of the door, as a pair of boots walked in. I looked down and up at her stunned.

"Elena?" I asked out, confused on her appearance.

She looked as she normally did, yet she didn't at the same time. She wore a beige top with a rolled up long-sleeved brown silk shirt jacket on top of the shirt with blue jeans on as well as matching brown boots and belt buckle for the shirt jacket. Her hair didn't have a red dye on it and was its usual straight self with the exception of waves on the side in her pony tail. Her makeup also appeared different. She seemed a tad bit tanned, most likely from the sun, was wearing simply lip balm or clear lip gloss for her naturally pink lips and may have been wearing a bit of blush. Somehow, her eyes reminded me of Katherine's from the way they sparkled when she smirked cockily and mischievously at me.

"Well, well, well... if it isn't my least favorite person in this world. Welcome back, Grimes. We've all been waiting for you to wake up." Elena stated with a teasing look in her eyes, before closing the door shut behind her. While she briefly closed the door shut, my mind was spinning in confusion.

Grimes? Who the hell was she talking to? I thought to myself, seeing she said so directly at me. She slowly walked over to where the window was and ripped the curtains away from each other, allowing the burning sun to enter the room. I groaned slightly as the sun was burning my eyes slightly, despite the fact my eyes had already adjusted to my scenery. "Ah, come on Grimes. A little sun ain't gonna hurt you." Elena stated. She soon picked up a chair and pulled it near the side of my bed to get closer to me. Seeing as I had no choice, I turned my head right where the sun rays were hitting upon my face, just so I could look at Elena up close.

She was really different.

Everything about her was different. From her appearance to her attitude for sure.

"Elena... can you tell me what the hell is going on here?" I asked out, seeing as I couldn't piece together where we were to begin with and why she was to different. "I don't know what you mean by that, boy. But, I know one thing for sure. We need some catching up to do." Elena started out, as I raised my eyebrow a bit in curiosity.

Catching up? What's there to catch up on?

This should be interesting...

(To Be Continued...)