"No, please don't give up, I'm begging you!" Elena cried at Damon as he began to stumble.

She was frantic, her hair disheveled, her clothes stained with his blood but she didn't care. Nothing mattered, nothing at all. She should have known, she thought to herself, she was such an idiot! Those words he had said just a couple of days ago, I will always choose you, they should have turned on a light in her head. Damn it! She said cursing herself.

"Stop, just stop" she heard him say as he let himself fall to the ground. " We both know how this little story is going to end" he said.

"No! You can't give up, your stronger, your , your Damon,! Remember? Please just.." Elena said fiercely grabbing his face.

" Damn it Damon! Why did you get in front of that werewolf! I should be the one dying! I'm not worth as much!" Elena sobbed

"Are you kidding me" he said mustering up enough energy to sit up straight. " I will never let anything hurt you, even at the cost of my own life" his blue eyes pierced into hers. She couldn't imagine this being the last time she'd see them animated.

"It's okay, Stefan, he'll find us and he'll find a cure! I know he will" Elena said looking back into his eyes.

"St. Stefan won't be able to help this time" Damon said trying to hold back a groan as he turned away and started to vomit blood.

Elena began to get nervous. She started to cry more frantically and desperately, she clinged to him trying to memorize his feel.

"I need to tell you something" he said suddenly pulling away from her. "Look at me" he asked softly .

Elena didn't, she couldn't , he couldn't give up like that, she couldn't accept that fact. She finally looked up after a moment of silence.

" I think I realized it in Georgia" he said, taking deep breaths. The werewolf bite was beginning to work through his system more quickly. He layed down on the grass on his back, hoping he could finish the sentence.

"That I loved you I mean" he said clarifying the unspoken question in the air.

"Damon" Elena whispered.

"Let me finish," he said silencing her " I am sorry for everything wrong that I did, for being a complete ass to you, for ruining moments for you, everything I am sorry" he said glancing at her.

"You don't have to apologize, because I've already forgiven you for everything." Elena said, choking on her own words. He smiled and Elena could see the color leaving his face. It was too fast !Elena thought, the werewolf venom went through rose's body much slower.

"I love you, Elena" he whispered quietly, " I will always love you."

Elena grabbed his face almost on instinct. It was like she was on auto pilot , she felt him grow limp and she forced her lips on his. She kissed wildly, trying to get a reaction. He opened his eyes registering what was happening, he kissed her back with the same passion, but he was the one to stop the kiss.

"You are nothing like her," he said a sad smile on his face. She didn't need to know who he was talking about.

He started to close his eyes, and his body was beginning to go limp again, his whole body starting to cover with spider web like black veins

"No!" she screamed trying to bring him back. " I need to tell you it back!" she said shrieking louder. But Damon couldn't hear her. The spider web like black veins were starting to cover his face.

"Damon, I need to tell you it back! Wake up! I hate you! Wake up!" she said pounding his chest with her fists.

He was gone, it registered in her mind after a few more minutes of screaming and curses, trying to bring him back. She would never see that smirk, the intensity of those beautiful blue eyes, his sarcastic and witty comments.

It finally clicked in Elena's mind like a missing puzzle piece. All this time he had been giving her subtle hints of his love for her. He loved her. And, I love him, she thought. She had tried to avoid it, but she couldn't anymore. Somewhere along the lines, she had fell for him, where exactly she didn't know. She still loved Stefan , she knew that, but it finally slapped her in the face that her love for Damon rivaled the one for Stefan.

Elena wept. How long she didn't know, she could have probably spent all of her life weeping over his body . Stefan found her in the early hours of the morning. She was hunched over Damon's body as if trying to protect it. Her voice had gone hoarse from the crying and all that was left was a constant whimper.

"Is he?" Stefan's voice quavered. Elena confirmed it by staring to sob again.

"We need to leave Elena" Stefan said in a strangled voice. " Nobody can find us, here"

"Did you kill Klaus?" she asked in between sobs.

"He got away" Stefan said looking away. He couldn't bear see Damon's body, he didn't want to cry in front of Elena.

Stefan tried to pull Elena away, but she pushed him " I don't want to leave him alone! Stefan please!" she said hugging Damon's body again.

"I 'll drop you off and bring his body back to the house right away I promise!" Stefan pleaded, " I jus can't carry you both and I can't risk anybody seeing you"

Elena nodded silently. It was true what Stefan had said, but she just felt numb now. He took her away and placed her on a couch near the fireplace of the Salvatore boarding house but she was sill in a frozen state. She felt that someone had pressed a pause button on her life. The world around her moved but she didn't., she was frozen.

Stefan brought back the body and Elena immediately curled herself next to it. Stefan told her he was going out, he needed to think, Elena nodded her head still in shock agreeing.

"Is there a way?" Elena asked. She could sense Elijah watching her from behind.

"I'm afraid not unless.." he didn't finish her sentence.

"Unless what?" she asked impatiently.

"How much are you willing to give up for him?"

"Everything!" she said confidently, her stubborn eyes boring into his.

"There is only one way, and your life will be at stake"

"Vampires, witches, and werewolves aren't the only supernatural being im afraid, tell me Elena have you heard of demons?" Elijah asked casually/