Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters.

Author's Note: First Delena Fic. Critics welcome. Enjoy~ :D

Chapter 1

Elena

It has happened all in a sudden, just a split second, faster than a short gasped breath, a blink of an eye, or the thump of a hyperactive heartbeat.

The vampire, who had been pinned on the ground firmly, pounced towards Elena. But before he could touch her, he slowly slumped onto the ground, with a wooden stake penetrating his heart. His predatory eyes still trained on Elena, even when his face turned ashen. Elena could not help taking a step back, and letting out a ragged breath. The vampire finally landed with a thud, revealing his killer with an emotionless mask, the one that strode across the dead vampire without looking down and grasped Elena by the shoulders tightly.

"Are you alright?" Damon's brows furrowed slightly, his strained voice betraying a trace of the underlying concern. "Look at me and answer. Are you alright?" He shook Elena when she did not answer.

"Yeah, yeah, I am fine." Elena answered a bit shakily. She has lost count of how many times she has witnessed killings and deaths, but it was never going to be easier.

"Told you should have stayed in the house." Damon quirked the corner of his mouth, his words sarcastic but lack an actual bite. "But someone has to be the brave heroine, I totally understand."

"Have your fun, Damon. But you shouldn't have killed him; he is our only lead to finding Stefan." Elena kneeled down, in the hope of finding any details that may give them a clue in their search. "Did he tell you anything at all?" She let out a sigh, tired of losing the track once again after they have come so close.

The conversation fell into silence when Damon did not respond. Elena looked up into Damon's dark, unfathomable eyes. There was a hint of anger lingering.

"So, I shouldn't have saved you and instead should have left you to death, just to see where my dear little brother has hidden?" The anger was boiling beneath the sarcastic words, and they stung just as the dark eyes bore into Elena's.

"Look, Damon, we have been searching for Stefan for months now, and when there is a chance for a breakthrough, we cannot just discard it. Sometimes we have to take a risk. We may as well have to start again now. I just want to bring Stefan back." Elena put her hands on her hips, and stared back. She felt drained, exasperated, after all the chasing and confronting had turned out to be nothing. The last thing she wanted now was a fight with her ally, with Damon.

Damon took his time to answer. Instead, he took a step closer silently, into Elena's personal space, until their faces only inches away, until their breaths almost mingling.

"Oh, I didn't realize that you are already so deeply in love with him that you are going to give your life away." He commented sarcastically, his voice lower than usual, his trademark lopsided smile dominating his face.

"Sacrificing for your soul mate, hmm? How much are you willing to give then?" He spat on the word soul mate as if it burned him, eyes widening in a comical effect, head tilting to the right, daring her to answer.

Elena just took a second. "Everything."

Damon froze.

There was something that Elena thought herself imagining. When she looked Damon in his eyes, she could see they have changed, into something softer. She could not be sure, but she thought there was a trace of hurt, a tint of pleading, a hint of longing. They were nothing Damon would have shown at all, and it did terrify her a bit to see him so open and… vulnerable. This was not the Damon she had known for so long. Elena wanted to reach out, to wipe the sadness and anguish away, to give him everything she had, to ease the aching somehow made present in her chest. Electricity tinged around her fingers, urging her to lean in closer, telling her one touch, one touch was all it needed to end this suffering.

It had been long before she caught herself thinking all these. She clamped her fist hard, shoving every single thought down.

"And this is not the point, Damon." Elena snapped, in a stronger way than she had planned, in defense of what she really did believe – everything between Stefan and her. She turned away. "I am just asking you not to so keenly kill someone who has information next time. I don't want to lose a lead again. And did he tell you anything?" She did not need a questioning of who she loved now, or anytime. Of course it would be Stefan; it had always only been Stefan.

And at this point, Elena thought she saw something broken in Damon's eyes, and it was beyond the point of mending.

"I do what I have to do." Damon replied, cold and void of any emotions. Elena could not see through his pretense, or anything in his eyes; he had put up the wall again.

"And no." Damon looked back at her with dangerous eyes after a prominent pause. "Nothing at all."

And then he was gone.

Elena took a deep breath at the mess of her heart, and of the reality, before going back to the Salvatore mansion.

Damon sat by the fireplace, a perfect marble statue except his hand gently rocking the glass of scotch, glistening in the light of dancing fire. His face betrayed nothing, still, cold, lifeless. He was looking intently at the fire, lashing, brightening, and waning. He must have heard Elena coming over the door, but if he did he did not say or do anything that indicates him knowing her presence.

"Damon, I am sorry." Elena whispered, but she knew Damon could hear her. "I know you were just trying to save me, and I have blamed you for killing that vampire. Sorry, and… thank you."

Damon did not stir a bit, not a nod of head, not the slightest twist of fingers. The deafening silence was shrouding them; the constant flickering of fire was not enough to come between the two. There was an unspoken silent tension stretching, tying them together, pulling them closer, but no one knew when the thin string would snap, and then what will happen.

Elena stepped closer into the living room tentatively, without a sound. She just hoped Damon would have done something, anything – giving her one of his crooked smile, a quirk of eyebrow, words dripping sarcasm, or even shouting and breaking things. But not this, not silence, not this...emptiness.

The glass landed on the table with a clear clank. Damon put down his scotch, and slowly rose. Elena had thought he was going to leave the room, and leave her alone. But everything took a turn when he caught her eyes and slowly approached in her direction.

It was a Damon that was totally different from the usual flirty, charming or even cruel self. Or was this the true Damon?

Every step Damon took squeezed air out of Elena's chest, and she could not look away, when his dark eyes held hers. Every step was agonizingly slow, as if he was giving her every chance to run away, but she could not. Something has been clawing at her insides, and it hurt when that almost tore her apart. She did not know what that really was, but it was now rearing its head, anchoring her firmly to the ground, to the approaching, familiar yet an entrancing total stranger.

When he again stood so close to her, she let out a breath she had no idea she was holding all along, and backed down, against the wall. Damon followed, and put his hands against the wall just next to the sides of her head, trapping her between his body and the wall. There was no way she could escape and evade what was going to happen, but did she really want so?

"Am I really that frightening that you always have to back down?" His voice was lower than usual, rumbling in his chest and vibrating in the air between them. There was a familiar smile, but with a bitterness that was never present until now. Elena did not respond; she did not know the answer, she did not want to know.

Damon's right hand came up and lightly stroke across her cheek with his thumb. The touch was feathery light, but the electricity sparked so strong that it took her breath away. Before she knew it, she had leant into the touch, her lips parted just so slightly. Her heart tumbled a beat too fast. Her face flushed a touch too warm. She could not walk away.

"Or was it something else you were afraid of confronting? Like..." Damon took her chin in one hand. "...Your feelings for me?" Then he bent down and kissed her. And every control snapped.

It should not be happening, but somehow it felt right, it sated the dull ache in her heart. It did not come as a surprise, as if Elena had known it coming all along, and she did not escape. She was too tired to do what was supposedly right; she gave in to the urge and passion coursing through her own body. She kissed back.

She snaked her arms around Damon's neck, pulling him closer. His fingers knitted through her hair, his hand finally settling on her neck. It felt perfect. Elena knew it would complicate things, but right now with Damon kissing her, her ration and mind and will all crumbled to dust, and she could just ignore the complexity right now.

Until she heard a tiny noise of unfastening, and felt the weight of her necklace lifted. Elena pulled away and her eyes opened in surprise, just in time to meet those mesmerizing eyes, and saw the blue pupils blown wide.

She could not fight. Her mind was too weak to fight without the protection.

Before she fainted in Damon's arms, Elena thought she heard something, but she had already drifted off.