Title: Revelation
Rating: T
Type: One-shot
Pairing: Damon/Elena


Hey, all – "The House Guest" was amazing, am I right? ; ) Anyway, here's a little one-shot inspired by last night's episode. If you haven't seen it – spoilers! It's slightly AU; it takes places sometime after the big fight and sometime before you-know-who shows up. : )

Happy reading and please review!


Revelation

Spiritless and mean
Ghost that comes between
I will keep my wits about myself
Disregard directions sent from hell

-The Avett Brothers, "Sanguine"


The slap to Katherine's left cheek rung loud in the front entrance way of the Salvatore boarding house. The force was such that it caused her head to turn slightly to the right. She recovered enough to stare at her doppelganger in shock. "What that hell was that for?" she hissed lowly, taking a menacing step forward.

"How dare you," Elena began in a trembling voice, "endanger the life of someone I care about? You have some nerve pulling a stunt like that. I should have known that you and my good-for-nothing father had some sort of elaborate scheme to ruin someone's life."

Katherine smirked and met Elena's eyes. "What are you talking about, Elena?" She rubbed her cheek absently and then began to twirl a piece of her hair between her fingers, letting the curls slide between them.

Elena wasn't about to play coy with the selfish bitch. "Damon," she growled, anger coursing through her limbs at full throttle. "You knew that he would die if he used that dagger and you didn't care!" She wanted to hit Katherine again, really lay into her and just beat the living hell out of her.

A dark eyebrow rose. "Survival of the fittest, Elena. You should probably practice this ground-breaking idea if you plan to live to see your eighteenth birthday."

"I'll drive a stake through your fucking heart, Katherine. We don't need you. As a matter of fact, the only person anyone seems to need is me, so I suggest that the next time you and daddy dearest come up with an ill-conceived plan to suit your own needs, you better fucking hope to God I don't find you. Because I will kill you." Elena shook; she wanted to throttle the life out of her ancestor.

Katherine laughed, low and dark. "I don't know why you're so upset, Elena. John told me that I could only save one; I picked Stefan. You should be happy about that."

Elena cried out in anger, a low, rumbling noise in the back of her throat. She reached out and shoved Katherine – hard – with both hands. "Don't you fucking dare devalue Damon's life like that!"

Katherine tsked, not phased one bit by Elena's backlash. "Hmm, seems you have a bit of soft spot for the elder Salvatore, Elena. You should probably watch out for that. It won't put you in a good place." She smirked, watching the girl come completely unhinged.

"Unlike you, Katerina Petrova, I am capable of loving; as a matter of fact, I am capable of loving more than one person at the same time!" Elena hissed, clenching her fists.

The smirk on Katherine's face grew. "I knew it. You're as easy to read as an open book, Elena."

"What?" Elena snapped. "What are you talking about?" She ran a hand through her hair, glaring at Katherine. God, she hated her. She never thought she'd be capable of taking someone's life out of pure revenge-driven instinct, but after meeting Katherine, she was completely sure that she could do just that.

Katherine snickered and turned her back on Elena, putting her hand on the front door knob. She opened the door. "You just admitted that you loved Damon. I'm going out for a bit of night-stalking – you better not leave this house until I come back, lest people discover that there are two of us." She casually strolled out, shutting the door quietly behind her.

Inside, Elena's cheeks burned and her heart beat wildly against her chest, anger dissipating slightly at her own startling revelation. "Damon," she whispered softly, holding her hands against her chest. She blinked back the sudden onslaught of tears. "Oh, my God. I'm in love with Damon."


In the living room, Damon Salvatore dropped the glass of whiskey, too much in shock to even register that there was expensive alcohol pooling around his expensive shoes. He stood stalk-still, every repressed feeling he had ever had about Elena rising suddenly to the surface. He sank down slowly onto the couch, head in hands.

"Impossible."

Fin