Damon felt the burn of the scotch as it slid down his throat. Eligible bachelor? Check. Dangerous mystique? Check. Crushed by Katherine and her real-life doppleganger? Oooo that's the one that hurt the most. The thought that someone as powerful as Damon Salvatore could be brought down by a female. Well, it was just a blow to a man's ego, not to mention his nether regions. He swirled the amber liquid in the glass and then threw it at the fireplace.
He laughed out loud, the guttural sound of it echoing off the rafters of the Salvatore boarding house. He was a vampire, dammit. Not someone who could be pushed around by any female who so chose to. But, Elena...she was different. He thought that Katherine had loved him, back when he was naïve. But a small part of him knew she never did. Elena was something else entirely. She wouldn't admit she felt something for him, that part of her ached to be with him. But he could sense it. It was in the set of her jaw when he called her out on some ridiculous folklore about vampires. It was in the depth of her eyes as he had helped her through Stefan's "fell-off-the-pedastal" phase. Part of her, perhaps deep down or perhaps not, wanted him. Not Stefan. Damon.
He sank down into an armchair and put his hands to his head. He wouldn't give up on her. He still cared about Elena, part of him longing to be with her. But he wouldn't show his true feelings again. Not at the risk of being torn apart. This was what being a vampire was supposed to save him from. The pain.
Elena Gilbert stood at the doorway to her brother Jeremy's room and watched his chest rise and fall in his slumber. She had almost lost him, she thought. He could have been gone had it not been for the ring of Grayson Gilbert, her adopted father. All of this, all of the pain and fear she was feeling right now, had a root, and it even had a name. Damon Salvatore.
She walked to her bed and slowly sank onto the edge of it. She used to care. Damon wasn't a good guy. He wasn't a saint. But he had some good left in him. That's what she had thought before tonight. Now she knew he was nothing but a psychopath, what she had thought of him at the very beginning. He had lost all of her trust and faith in him. With a single snap, it was all gone.
"Elena.." She heard a familiar voice behind her and turned to see Stefan standing by her bedroom window, his figure a shadow amongst the billowing curtains. She ran to him and threw her arms around his neck.
"Stefan..I hate him. He almost took the last piece of my family that I have left. I...I despise him." She managed to choke out the sentence before it got lost in the sobs that now spilled from her mouth.
"I won't let him hurt you again, Elena." Stefan pressed her head to his chest and ran his hand soothingly down her back. He wouldn't let anything harm Elena or Jeremy again. Especially if that thing was a he. And that he...was Damon.