I hope you all don't think I've abandoned you with "It's a bet." Truthfully, I do not have any inspiration for it whatsoever. I did have the next chapter written for it and was about to post it but then I realised it was lacking something. So I deleted it and I am trying to start afresh but it's hard. Here's a one-shot in my poor attempt to apoligise for leaving you all hanging. Hope you enjoy! Twitter: _ohmySalvatore

Jessica

Halloween. Damon Salvatore's favourite holiday. In fact, bar his brooding brother, Damon didn't know a vampire who openly despised the holiday. He thought it was terrific. A blessing in disguise. For it was the one day a year where he could really be himself, ironically. Whilst everyone else was pretending to be someone they're not, Damon was giving everyone the biggest clue of all regarding his identity. For, every year he would throw a black cape on, drip some fake blood down his face (well it was fake at the beginning of the night, at least) and stick some plastic - and somewhat unrealistic - fangs in his mouth that couldn't bite through shit. Then he would go out in whatever damned town he happened to be dwelling in, usually taking it upon himself to gatecrash some wretched teenager's party, whereupon he would prey upon one unsuspecting woman who would always be unfortunate enough to ask him the question he longed to hear:

"Why don't you bite me?"

And, in that short sentence, - though unknowingly to her - she had openly given Damon the power to do what he so wished to do. He would allow a small smirk to play around the edge of his lips as he led the poor girl into a quiet room away from the crowd, he would lean down slowly towards her whilst whispering sweet nothing's into her shaking form. The girl would expect nothing; perhaps a small kiss planted on her jugular and when Damon gently bit her often a nervous giggle would escape her lips. The fangs would come out only when Damon was certain that whatever genre of music was current that year was being played loud enough to drone out her screams of terror. Damon didn't normally kill his victims, not anymore at least. He'd quench his thirst before leaving her confused on the floor of whatever room they were occupying with false memories of a dark haired stranger, amazing sex and too much alcohol. Damon didn't expect this year to be any different.

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"Well?" A voice called in front of him, breaking Damon out his dazed state. He glanced upwards.

"Very creative." Damon smirked at the blonde haired vampire who'd decided an angel would be an appropriate Halloween costume this year. Well, if you could call it a 'costume', it was a skin tight white dress with long sleeves, white heels that Damon would never admit looked cheap because he actually liked being alive and a halo that he suspected cost about as much as a carton of milk.

"I thought so as well, Count Dracula. I see you've taken up my idea to me a bit more creative yourself."

"Indeed," Damon laughed. "You seem to have rubbed on me." In spirit of events, Damon had painted his face white and added red contacts; he had even thrown some glitter over himself for the hilarity. "Just call me Edward Cullen."

"Puleez," Caroline smirked. "Edward Cullen has much better hair than you."

"Dream on, Blondie."

Damon and Caroline had been getting on much better in spite of recent events. With all his brothers' time being dedicated to Elena and her new transformation, Caroline had called upon Damon to help her with her own issues. Stefan seemed to believe that Caroline had everything under control that she was 'born' to be a vampire. He was wrong. Nobody was born to have these extreme urges to rip every living person apart every second of the day, Stefan often forget that Caroline was still a new vampire herself who occasionally relapsed due to these urges.

"You ready to go?" Caroline asked.

"We're going together?" Damon queried. "Aren't you going with Donovan or the Witch?"

Caroline rolled her eyes. "Matt is already there, he helped Tyler set up and Bonnie is going with Jamie."

"Oh delightful." Damon rolled his eyes in fake annoyance. Truthfully, he did not mind going with Blondie, it did not particularly interfere with his plans; in fact it might make it easier to talk to his next lucky victim if Caroline introduced them first.

"Oh shut up Salvatore. You know I don't infuriate you quite as much anymore."

"You're more bearable now than the girly and insecure human who had a horrible taste in dresses, that's for sure."

"I can't believe you made me wear the blue!" Caroline whined. "The yellow was so much prettier."

"No, I am not going back into this awful chit chat again. I had enough of it the first time. Let's go."

Caroline laughed. "You still suck."

Damon bared his plastic fangs to her. "How did you know?"

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The party was intolerable to say the least. It had just struck 11.00 and so far Damon had found no one to pry away for a little 'chat'. Of course, there had been many willing volunteers but Damon was just about to make his move when he took a sip of beer - to say that humans had a ridiculously bland taste in alcohol was an understatement, Damon couldn't find one glass of bourbon to save himself - and tasted vervain. And then he tasted another half-filled glass, more vervain. A third one, spiked with vervain. In fact, it seemed every single glass of alcohol in this damned house was filled with the lethal substance. And when Damon had alerted this problem to Caroline, she had simply disregarded it with a shrug of her shoulder and went back to smacking lips with Tyler. That left Damon bored and hungry and, as a result, he had ended up spending his time annoying Elena and Stefan about how bored and hungry he was.

"Then go home Damon!" Stefan had groaned for the fifth time as Damon interrupted his and Elena's dancing again.

"And then how will I eat? You know what happens when I'm bored and hungry Stef, it gets messy. People die."

"Then what do you suggest I do for you?" Stefan sighed, exasperated.

"FIND ME SOMETHING TO EAT!" Damon moaned.

"Damon you are being irrational, everyone is on vervain you pointed that out yourself. Now leave us alone."

"And now I'm bored, I'm hungry and I'm mad. Let's see what happens now shall we? Goodbye brother, Elena."

Damon stomped off in a rage, he knew he was being unfair and a complete jackass; it was stupid to put Stefan on the spot but he was seething. He hadn't ate for what felt like days, he had been excited to drink up some slutty chick only to find out their blood was basically toxic to him and to top it off, seeing his brother and the girl he loved making out in front of him, well that was just the icing on top of the crappy cake. So if he was miserable, his brother would be as well. He had promised him an eternity of misery after all.

"Damon!" Only her voice could break him out of the violent rampage that was going on inside his head. The thoughts to kill, and to destroy, and to feed were chortling through at top speed and Damon couldn't keep up. But she broke through it all, she stilled his un-beating heart.

"What do you want, Elena?" he snarled spinning around to face her before she managed to place her hand on his shoulder. He would probably just come undone at the seams and surrender to her every need if she touched him, even just a simple touch like that.

"It's my fault, ok? I am the reason everyone's drinks are spiked with vervain, I begged Tyler to do it. I said that if I lost control then I could be stopped before I hurt anyone. It's my fault you're hungry, I'm sorry Damon, if there's anyone to blame it's me." She stood before him, a whimpering mess; spilling tears on her 1920's dancer outfit that was so accurate Damon suspected Stefan had helped her pick exactly what to wear. Of course he should have realised it before, Elena was just a few weeks old, nowhere near old enough to be able to control her cravings around a group of people this large and this tightly bounded together. Hell, Damon was having trouble right now he dreaded to think how Elena was coping.

"How are you doing?" Damon whispered quietly to her, he knew she could hear anyway.

"I want to rip every throat of every person in this room out including Stefan's Damon how do you think I'm doing?" she replied, her tone snappy and strained.

"I'm going to go with not well, come on." Clutching her arm, he spun her out the room. On the way there he made a quick pit stop at Tyler to beg him to reveal where his deceased father kept the expensive liquor and, after having to solemnly promise to replace it Tyler finally pointed Damon in the upstairs direction. The same room where Damon had hidden that useless crystal that he'd planned to use to get Katherine out the tomb - only to discover the bitch was never in there to begin with. That same day Elena had yelled at him for hurting Caroline. She hadn't known about vampires then, they'd come a long way since that day.

"What are you thinking about?" Elena broke him out of his daydream as they walked through the room door.

"The first time I was ever here," Damon mused aloud. "I was with Caroline and looking for the crystal, I came in here. The crystal was in that box." Damon gestured to a small mahogany box.

"I remember." Elena smiled fondly. "I didn't know about vampires, god I broke up with Stefan that night. I thought you were abusing Caroline."

Damon laughed. "I bet now you wish I had been."

Elena laughed quietly.

"Ok Gilbert. Let's get drunk on the dead mayors liquor and help curb your cravings."

"Thank you, Damon." Elena smiled genuinely as he grabbed a bottle of bourbon from the hiding place Tyler had told him about and poured it into 2 glasses.

"For?" Damon had guessed she hadn't been talking about the whiskey here.

"Everything." she admitted. "God Stefan tries his hardest but he doesn't understand what it's like sometimes. His instinct is to reject the blood completely, to repress the ripper. As a human, I think that was what I loved most about him but now all I can think about is blood and I can't take his self-righteous talk anymore Damon, not when I'm this hungry, not when I want to kill every person in sight, I just can't Damon, I can't, I-"

"Shh, 'Lena." Damon soothed handing her the glass of alcohol. "Just relax and drink up."

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The first bottle disappeared within minutes as Elena realised that in fact yes, her cravings were dulling and as the second bottle opened up both parties began to open up with them. Elena faded from her tense, scared posture to a more chilled stance whereas Damon was about the same, only his words became more prominently slurred. Elena aimlessly shared useless information with him and in return Damon told her about his childhood, pre-vampirism. Stefan had come up once to see what Elena was doing but upon finding her, sitting on the couch opposite Damon, both of them acting only in a friendly manner towards the other, he disappeared again satisfied that his brother respected him enough to not make a pass at Elena. And that Elena was far too drunk to attempt to retaliate anyway. Stefan was not particularly fond of drunken Elena; she mocked his brooding too much, something that Damon found hilarious. Even then when he'd came up to the room she'd indirectly insulted him more than once in just five minutes "Smile Sad Stefan. Oh look hey I made an alliteration! Were alliterations invented in the 1800's? No? Is that why you're sad?" Stefan's broody reaction was too funny to bear. And Damon could not for the life in him stop laughing.

"Let's play a game!" Elena's far-too-perky voice broke the comfortable silence both of them had fell in to.

"Like?" Damon replied, confused. What sort of game?

"Let's play 'Never have I ever'" she clapped her hands in delight.

"There's only 2 of us?"

"Exactly."

"And I have 170-odd years on you, there's barely a thing I haven't done."

"There must be something." She pouted. "You start."

She looked so excited and really happy, something Damon hadn't saw in her since way before she'd turned. He couldn't say no to her.

"Fine. Err, never have I ever..." he pondered for a while thinking of things he'd never actually done and coming up a blank. "Elena this game sucks let's play something else."

Elena rolled her eyes. "Like?"

"Truth or dare."

Her eyes widened in anticipation. "Alright. Truth or dare?"

"Dare."

Elena laughed. "I dare you to strip off and walk through Tyler's house naked. Human speed. And you can't tell anyone it's a dare."

Damon blinked. Once. Twice. Three times. Elena Gilbert did not just ask him that, did she? He'd expected her to dare him to drink animal blood or something stupid. Not walk naked through someone's house whilst it was filled with people.

"What's the matter? Too scared?" Elena teased noticing his hesitation.

"Just you wait till it's your turn, Gilbert." and then he was gone, his clothes a crumpled mess on the floor. Elena heard gasps fill the room downstairs, a scream from Caroline asking him what the hell he was doing and many cheers from drunken girls no doubt staring at Damon's 'package'. He was back a few minutes later, a very prominent slap mark across his face. Elena glanced away as he retrieved his clothes, tears streaming her face.

"Truth or dare." Damon growled sitting back down on the couch and grabbing the bottle of bourbon.

"Truth." Elena giggled.

"Who do you love?"

The laughter died down immediately. Elena raised her eyebrows so far Damon was convinced they were about to touch her scalp. "This is supposed to be fun, Damon. No personal questions."

"You just made me walk through the Lockwood mansion naked Elena, you can't get more personal than that."

"Damon." Elena whispered.

"Answer it." Gritted teeth.

"Alright. I love you, I love Stefan." She paused for a moment, watching his eyes widen in surprise before continuing. "And I love Jeremy, Matt, Caroline, Bonnie, Tyler, my parents, Jenna-"

"Right Elena I get it. But that wasn't the question and you know it."

"Be more specific next time." A small smile. "Truth or dare?"

"Truth."

"How many people have you had sex with?"

"Ah, this may take a while..."

And so the game progressed slowly, Elena's dares getting stupider and stupider as Damon tried to force Elena into picking truth again. She never did. He had one last trick up his sleeve.

"Dare."

"Are you sure, 'Lena? You can switch, I'm giving you that option."

"Dare." she repeated.

Damon moved forward, over to kneel in front of her until their noses were almost touching.

"I dare you to kiss me. On the lips. For at least a minute. No holding back."

Elena blinked. Once. Twice. Three times. And then, suddenly, no hesitations whatsoever were in her movements. She leaned forward and touched her lips with his, slipping her tongue into his mouth as she did so. And just as the dare had stated, she did not hold back at all. Damon would describe the kiss similar to the one they shared in Denver but oh so much more. It was fierce and powerful but also sweet and kind; it was the kiss of a girl who'd been forced between two people and only now was she questioning her decision. Damon suddenly realised what deep down he'd knew all along, Elena Gilbert loved him and damn be it if he wouldn't get her to admit it. She loved him, maybe not as she loved Stefan, maybe her love wasn't as pure as it was for him but it was still love. Elena chose Stefan because he was the easy choice but wasn't it every damned cheesy love song she listened to that said if love isn't hard then it wasn't worth it? Didn't Elena see how amazing they could be together? She was his warrior, his princess of darkness, she was his and until she realised it, Damon would never stop fighting for her.

So whatcha think? Review if you wish. - Jessica