I still felt the strange texture of her lips, lingering on mine. It wasn't like I thought it would be. For some reason, those lips seemed familiar. My head kept telling me to go back there and tell her it meant nothing but...my heart insisted that it meant something. I was never one to follow my heart so...why start now? I turned on my heels and flashed through the trees, back towards Elena's house. I was there in less than a heart beat. Man, I love being a Vamp! I slid my hands out of my pockets, slowly, and grabbed the handle of the door. I held it for a couple of seconds, reconsidering the choice I was going to make. I decided that, for once, I should be a slightly good brother to Stefan and let him have the girl he wanted, even though he never thought that way when he seduced Katherine away from me so easily. I held that on him for long enough and now I'm trying to change, for her. For Elena. She believes in me and...I never want to let her down.

I twisted the door handle and pushed the door, firmly, to enter the house. She was right there. Her perfect figure walking it's way through the rooms of this house.

"Elena." I called out for her, not loud, but loud enough for her to turn and look me in the eye. "Listen, what just happened minutes ago meant nothing. You're meant to be with Stefen and...I get that so, please. Let's jut forget about it and never bring it up again." I regreted every single word that slipped through my guilty lips, but I still had to do it, for Stefen's happiness...for Elena's happiness. Her happiness meant mine, even though every time her lips met his, I felt a sting in my heart, like I was back to humanity for a second and remembered how it felt to be in deep pain.

She turn so elegantly, her perfect, chocolate curls bouncing off of her shoulders and falling behind her back. She looked at me with those warm, comferting eyes but I could see complete confusion in them, like she had just forgotten that we just shared a kiss on her door step. "Damon, what are you talking about? What did happen minutes ago?" Why can't she remember? Does it mean that little to her that she just forgets about it right that instant? Is she that much like Katherine. Selfish and careless? No...no, it's not possible. She's Elena. She's different. She's special.

Blood. I can smell human blood. It's not Elena's. I know it isn't. Her blood is warm and soothing, yet I can't bring myself to even bring myself to get close to hurting her. Right at Elena's feet, I saw a pool of crimson blood spreading across the marble floor. My fangs started to appear and my eyes turned bloodshot, veins looked like they were growing from underneath my eyes, and making their way through my face. I felt horrible. Guilty for letting the innocent eyes of Elena Gilbert stand there and watch me follow em vampire instincts, but I stopped. Yes, I feed on human blood, but that doesn't mean I have no self control. And whenever I'm around Elena, I just can't bring those murderous habits of mine out. She seems to try and pull out the best in me.

"Damon? Damon, what's wrong?" She walked towards me, bringing out her gentle hands to touch my face. I could spot concern, confusion and care but...no fear. She wasn't scared of me.

I didn't answer her question with words. I just pointed my index finger to the pool of blood that was spreading across her kitchen floor. We still don't know who's blood this is, but I do know that whoever killed it...didn't want blood. They simply wanted its' death. Elena gently turned around, letting her curls bounce their way to her shoulders again. The moment she saw the blood, I could tell she felt sudden weakness in her knees. I held her, giving her the support she so desperately needs to keep her balance. She brought her hands to her mouth and kept it there in shock.

I raised my finger to my lips, telling her to keep quiet. "Shhh." I quietly hissed in her ear. She swallowed the hard lump forming in her throat and her heart start to beat faster by the second, skipping a heartbeat with each time it pounded. I could feel the blood in her body, heating up in fear. I fought the urge to bite through her skin, knowing I would never forgive myself if I ever hurt her. I held her in my arms, giving her the security she needed right now. She, now, was scared. Not of me, but of the murderous creature waiting to be spotted behind her kitchen walls. I kept Elena in my arms, her head strongly pressed against my rock-hard chest. She didn't want to see the body of whoever was lying there. She's had enough nerve-wracking experiences today to keep her terrified for her entire life, yet she never walked away from it all.

My eyes widened and I was just standing there in shock. I felt the grip of my arms around Elena loosen slightly, and she gripped my shirt tightly. I regained my strength and processed the sight before me. Even though I still couldn't believe my eyes, I wasn't taking my chances with Elena's safety. I flashed away, at vampire speed from the figure standing before me, knowing it's never up to any good. Unfortunately, the murderer expected this and flashed to the front door before I could get there. Standing in my way of Elena's safety was Katherine herself. She had that devious grin on her face, meaning she was up to no good. But again, when has she ever been up to any good, anyways?

"Not so glad to see me, now are you, Damon?" She smirked. I wanted to drive a stake through her heart right there. The pain she's caused me for more than a century was now killing me and she couldn't care less.

Elena heard the voice of the cold-blooded vampire and looked up. She seemed like she was looking at her own reflection. Only Katherine was the dark and evil side of her. she gulped down another lump in her through and uttered the name out, "K-Ka-Kather-rine...?" Her breaths weren't steady. I could sense her fear. She was petrified of her murderous look-a-like standing there.

"A century and a half of undying love for me, and you still haven't failed to mention me to...her." She seemed to say the last word in disgust and sympathy. "Shame. She has my irresistible looks but nothing else. I don't know what you see in her." She held a couple of strands of Elena's hair in her hands and started to twist them around for a while. She then tightly gripped the strands of the cascading, soft hair and pulled it downwards. I could hear Elena groan in pain and a single tear slipped down her soft, rose-red cheeks. I let Elena go and grabbed Katherine by the neck. I pushed her against a hard, wooden wall and kept my hand there. She took hold of my hand and pushed it away so easily, my hands went numb, "Did you forget I was alive hundreds of years before you were even born?" She pushed me heartlessly against the opposite wall on the other side of the room.

I felt a sudden pain in my motionless heart. How could I have ever loved a woman like her? How did I let myself fall for the unbelievable act she pulled on me? I couldn't find the strength to get back up on my feet. That was until I saw her make her way to Elena. A sudden strength over-whelmed me and I felt the need to protect Elena. Her fragile figure just standing there, awaiting her death. She shut her eyes and formed fists with her smooth hands. She gripped her hands so tightly that the blood escaped them and they were almost white. She found it hard to catch her breath, her heart beating faster than it ever did.

I saw Katherine, slowly walking towards her powerless look-a-like, her eyes turning into a burning red color and veins making their way down her face. Her fangs started to appear. She enjoyed seeing her victims have their worst fear as she approached before she took the life out of them. She liked how their blood tasted with fear taking over it. She was pure evil.

I flashed towards Elena, taking her in my arms and flashing up to her room. I gently sat her down on her bed. She still had her eyes tightly shut.

"Elena, it's okay. I won't let her touch you." I whispered in a softer tone than I thought I was capable of, while rubbing my harsh palms against her soft, bare arms. At that, her eyes slowly fluttered open, like butterflies flying for the first time. A pulled a slight, vague smile across her shaky lips. I couldn't hear anything around the house. I wondered if Katherine still wanted to get rid of Elena. I realised that Katherine probably left, knowing she's achieved what she came here for in the first place...getting rid of John. Elena still doesn't know it was John murdered downstairs. I didn't know if I should tell her but...I couldn't keep a secret from her, not when knowing she's already been kept in the dark for way too long.

"Thank you." She managed to let those two words slip through her lips.

I tried to smile, to make her feel better, but I knew that the news I was now about to deliver to her were nothing to be smiling about. I spread my arms, and without thinking, she walked into my embrace. Every time I hold her, I feel like that's all I'll ever need, and all I'll ever ask for. I lightly kissed her hair quickly but kept my lips gently pressed there.

We stood like this for what seemed like forever. Like time froze right there and then. Just the feeling of being around her made me feel human again, like my heart started to pound once again. After a while, we both realised that the position we were in was not an appropriate one, for I was her boyfriend's brother and she was supposedly in love with him, but I knew that what she felt for him wasn't exactly love, it was...I don't know. But I knew it wasn't love.

"Elena, I'm so sorry. I don't know how to tell you this but..." I paused. I didn't know how to tell her her biological father was laying on her kitchen floor, his blood spread across the room with a knife pierced through him. She looked at me with those innocent, helpless eyes, curious for what I was about to tell her. I knew that she would regret her curiosity just as soon as I told her the facts.

"Damon, what is it?" She was still looking up at me. I felt that same feeling again, in my heart. One I only felt around her.

"You know I'd never keep a secret from you. I wouldn't. I'm not Stefen..." She looked away at my last words. She knew I was right. He was no good for her, but who was I to talk. She looked back at me, accepting the fact I was right and not arguing. "It's John." I swallowed harshly. I hated seeing her in pain, but I hated keeping something from her as well. The pain would fade away soon enough but...secrets don't.

"What do you mean, 'It's John'? What's wrong with him?" Her breathing was just about to go back to it's normal rate but she started to breathe irregularly again, her heart pounding faster in the process. She kept her tears from falling. She didn't want to be weak, she couldn't be weak, not now.

I pressed my lips together, hating every single word I'm about to say. "The blood in the kitchen downstairs." I took a deep breath, keeping my feelings of pain, hurt and regret bottled up inside, trying my hardest to keep myself together, to be a man. "It's...his." I inhaled again, now ready to hold Elena once again in my arms, but to my surprise, she didn't want that. She couldn't keep her tears in her eyes anymore. I could see them falling swiftly down her cheeks.

"No, no, no!" She kept repeating those words, over and over again while running subconsciously out of her room and down the stairs to the kitchen, where the dead body of father's lay. I followed her downstairs, surprisingly, not using my vampire speed. She stopped at the sight of body. It was lifeless and pale. She started to shake, her tears flooding out her eyes endlessly. She looked at me, like I had the answer to all of this. I could see suffering in her teary eyes. She ran to my, pressing her head against my chest. I could feel her tears against the fabric of my black, cotton shirt, leaving the wet trails of her salted tears behind.

"Ever-ry t-time someone gets ne-ear me, they get hurt..." She stuttered, barely managing to lets her words out between her tears, "wh-why is that-t?" She took short, countless breaths as she tried to stabilize the speeding beats of her heart.

"Hey, no. Don't say that. You've got me. I'm not leaving." I held her tight, kissing her hair once again, trying to keep her as safe as possible. I could feel her hold my shirt tightly as she tried to keep the anger and frustration in her trapped inside. "I promise." With that, she calmed down. she slid her arms and wrapped them around me back. I felt a kind of feeling inside of me that I couldn't quiet put my finger on, but I knew it was the good type of feeling.

"Thank you." She whispered. I barely heard her but I knew she was happy now. Not as happy as she could be, but I felt her lips crack a slight smile on them. I could see she was exhausted and tired. Whens he pulled out of the hug, barely able to keep her eyes open, I slid one arm of mine behind her delicate back while the other held her legs. I took her upstairs and laid her down on her bed. Her hair was a beautiful mess and her face was just so angelic and flawless. She wasn't Katherine. Calling Katherine beautiful was a complete lie, but Elena...she was different.

I kept my gaze on her for a while and then bent down and gave her a gentle kiss on the forehead. Right that instant, I could see a smile on her face. I carefully touched her cheeks and smiled at the sight of her smiling. She was just so peaceful. I turned around, wanting to leave her to her sleep, but turned around for one last look at her. Just then, I thought I could never leave her. I couldn't take the risk of leaving her alone. I pulled up a chair and sat by her bed, just staring at the pure beauty lying on the bed before me.