(You're My) Second Choice
As Elena closed the front door behind her, she heard a clatter coming from the kitchen. Tucking her phone in her back jean pocket, she headed down the hall. "Jeremy?" she called. "Jenna! Is that you? I'm home! Sorry I'm a little late. Someone took my -" She stopped mid-sentence, silenced by the scene before her.
"Oh my god..."
Elena stared in horror at the sight of John slumped over on the kitchen floor, haphazardly leaning against the cabinets. Blood was all over the front of his shirt, pouring from a wound in the center of his chest. Resting on the floor, near the body was a kitchen knife smeared with blood. Elena's eyes fell to his neck where there were several bite marks.
Vampire.
Elena stumbled backwards, hand covering her mouth. She blindly looked around, searching for help as panic grabbed hold of her and reared its ugly head. Eyes resting on the kitchen counter, she caught sight of four bloody fingers lying next to a half-made sandwich. Stomach turning over, Elena fumbled for her phone with clumsy, shaking fingers.
Stefan. She thought frantically. I need to call Stefan. She paused, hesitating over pressing the send button. He had just gotten over the whole I'm - not - drinking - human - blood - again and right now... she was completely surrounded by it. Afraid he would lose control, Elena tried to come up with another solution that would keep Stefan safe. Damon. He would be able to help. She scrolled through her phone contacts until his name came up, and pressed the send button with shaking fingers.
"Please pick up, Damon. Please..." she muttered, putting the phone up to her ear. She closed her eyes blocking out the horror show in front of her, and walked unsteadily out into the hall, toward the stairs, away from the lifeless body.
Damon cursed at himself and kicked at the sidewalk cement a little too hard, watching moodily as it broke free and scattered across the street. Elena was never going to forgive him for kissing her. He could already see it. By tomorrow she would be running back into Stefan's arms proclaiming, "Oh, Stefan. I'll never want anyone else but you." Damon rolled his eyes at the thought, disgust welling up inside of him. It was pathetic. He was pathetic. These feelings he had for Elena were ridiculous! Elena would choose Stefan in the end, because he was the good guy. He didn't drink human blood. Not anymore at least. No, he drank squirrel and little baby Bambi deer blood. Forest animals beware! Didn't girls like her think killing animals was worse than killing humans? Oh, yeah… innocent lives. But really, who went for that kind of crap? Definitely not him, that was for sure.
What puzzled Damon the most was how Elena still wanted to be with Stefan, after everything that had happened over the past couple of weeks. She had seen it herself. When Stefan drank human blood, he transformed into a completely different person. He was the bad guy. Damon had had years to master his bloodlust if needed, but Stefan had never learned to control it. In all honesty, Damon really didn't understand how Elena still wanted to be around either one of them. Considering all the things they had done. Considering all of the things he had done. Damon angrily kicked at the sidewalk again. He supposed it was the regret that Stefan showed after drinking human blood that had persuaded Elena to forgive and forget. Yes, Stefan would always be Elena's first choice. Damon was sure of the fact. Rolling his eyes, he felt the urge to feed on someone. Just for a bit of fun. Thinking of Stefan and Elena romantically made him want to puke his guts out. He was just so sick of hearing it from the both of them. I love you so much, Stefan! I love you so much, Elena! When we're apart, my heart beats only for you!
Heading towards the Grill, his thoughts once again, turned back towards the kiss with Elena. Something about their kiss had seemed eerily familiar. It had reminded him a little bit of how it was like kissing Katherine. He had pushed that thought towards the back of his mind earlier, chalking it up to Elena's physical resemblance to her. But now…
Damon stopped in his tracks, thinking. Elena hadn't shown much regret after their kiss. He had figured she was just a bit dazed because of his superb kissing skills and Jenna's interruption, but she had seemed a little bit off beforehand. The way she had tilted her head slightly towards the side, how she hadn't tried to push him away when he leaned in to kiss her and a knowing gleam in her eye. Memories of Katherine kept leaping towards the front of his mind. Sure, Katherine and Elena looked the same. But, would they really kiss the same way? His phone started to vibrate, interrupting his thoughts. He answered quickly when he saw Elena's number on the screen.
"Elena?"
"Damon, come over here, quick." Elena said. She sounded on the verge of tears. "I don't know what happened but-"
"Are you-"
"Just hurry, please! I'm at home."
"Okay."
He hung up, as he began to run towards her house. Dread was slowly replacing the uneasiness that had settled inside of his chest. It had been Katherine.
Damon burst through the Gilbert's front door, the smell of blood hitting him hard. He spotted Elena, or Katherine, or whoever she was, sitting on the steps leading upstairs. He quickly grabbed her by the arms, and pushed her up against the wall. "Katherine?" He asked forcefully. Eyes narrowing, he tilted his head looking into her eyes, searching for the truth.
"Katherine?" she said, sounding frightened and confused. "Damon, what are you talking about? It's me, Elena."
Damon searched her face. He could only see pain and shock. Taking a closer look at her, he noted that the clothes she had on were different from what she had been wearing earlier. Looking down at her neck he realized she had on the vervain locket Stefan had given to Elena. Deciding it was Elena in front of him, he let go and turned towards the kitchen.
"You'll never guess who I just ran into a few minutes ago."
Elena raised her eyebrows at him. "Katherine? She's here in Mystic Falls?"
Damon sighed when he caught sight of John's body on the kitchen floor. "Really? She couldn't have been at least a little less messy?"
"Damon!"
He smirked. "Sorry, sorry. But now we have to clean up her mess."
"Why is Katherine here?" Elena demanded grabbing his arm.
Damon looked down at her. "I don't know." He answered harshly.
"How can you be sure that Katherine did this?"
"I was here earlier. Jenna let Katherine in. We both thought she was you."
Elena frowned and said, "What were you doing here earlier?"
Damon grabbed Elena's shoulder, attempting to distract her. "No time to ask questions." He said quickly, "I'm going to go upstairs to check on Jenna and Jeremy. I don't hear anything, but I'll check anyway. I'll help you take care of the body once I make sure they're safe."
Elena nodded her head. "I'm not sure if they're even here. I shouted for them when I first got here."
"They're here."
He started up the stairs, half way up, he paused, and said, "Why did you call me instead of Stefan?"
Elena looked up at him, worry creating lines on her face, "I didn't know how Stefan would react to all of the blood. I knew you could handle it, and be able to protect me."
Damon nodded his head satisfied with her answer.
Protection.
He could give her that.
Turning to climb up the rest of the stairs, Elena's voice rang out, stopping him.
"Thank you, Damon."
Maybe being her second choice wasn't such a bad thing after all.
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