Title: Blood, Sex and Magic

Author: Roguie/ SunSpecOps

Fandom: The Vampire Diaries

Pairing: Damon/Elena, with slight Steferine, Forwood, Beremy and Mabekah.

Rating: M for explicit sexuality.

Spoilers: Up to and Including 4x23, Graduation.

Disclaimer: The Vampire Diaries doesn't belong to me. If it did it would be on HBO, Damon and Elena would have hooked up in Atlanta, and no teenager in the world would be allowed to watch it. ;) No one is paying me for this, as such, please don't sue. My house is small, my car is useless and my dogs are pains in my arse, but they're all I have.

Summary: A few years down the road brings about Jeremy's 18th birthday and a major turning point for Damon and Elena's relationship. 4 Vampires, 3 Humans, a Witch, a Hybrid and an Original walk into a bar…

A/N: So, this fic is a mess of perspectives. Elena 1st person, Damon 1st person, and then third person narrative. I did this purely because I was testing out voices and left it because it kind of suited the fic when I was done with it. Honestly, I was just having a bit of fun with the characters while I was writing this, it's not meant to be taken all that seriously. I'm fully aware that the chance of anything like this occurring with the actual characters is less than the chance of finding the same exact needle in four different haystacks over the course of three months in four different countries. Like I said, it's just a bit of fun. Give my muse a bit of love and let her know if you have some good thoughts about this fic, she's been a bit down lately and needs any and all encouragement to keep going.

A/N2: I've discovered that my absolute favorite line I've ever written is in this fic; I challenge any of you readers to pick it out for me if you can. The first person who figures out which line I love the most gets to pick Elena's next fantasy for Confessions of a Baby Vampire – tailored to whatever you'd like to see, provided Damon can bring it to life for her. How's that for a reward? Post it in reviews, direct messages, whatever… 1st person who gets it right, wins. ;)

A/N3: Oh yeah, forewarning, the characters ran away with this story. This did not end the way it was supposed to… let's just say that Damon and Elena weren't the only one's surprised how this wrapped up. Stupid characters have a mind of their own some days, but a little fluff never hurt anyone, right?

~~~VV~~~

It wasn't every day that one could celebrate a baby brother's 18th birthday. Well, okay, globally speaking that's not particularly true, but in this instance? Hell, no one was sure we'd be celebrating his 17th, never mind 18th, never mind grouped together like we are now.

Sometime in the past year we'd taken to gathering in the boarding house, sometimes just the two of us, sometimes the four of us, sometimes all ten of us sprawled out across the living room, enjoying a fire, drinking far too much expensive liquor, saving the world from things most humans don't realize exist.

Somehow, we'd managed to pair off; it started with Damon and I. We had our struggles after graduation; at one point we nearly self-destructed over Katherine of all people. She was just so human and needy that it was impossible for Damon to ignore her need for protection. The woman in me knew that he was just being the good guy, that nothing was happening no matter how hard Katherine hinted at the opposite. The vampire in me knew that he was my mate, that nothing in this world could separate us because we were bonded on a level that mere humanity couldn't comprehend. The little girl in me, however, cried and threw screaming tantrums every time he carried her frail and damaged body home in his arms much the same way he'd done once for me. I was off at college, pretending that my education meant something in this new life I'd barely adjusted to having, and she was there daily, needing him, wanting him, wearing my face and tempting him with her human heartbeat, incapable of being ignored.

I'm not good at being the petty, jealous girlfriend, so when I came home one weekend to find her naked and swaddled in the sheets of our bed, well, saying the shit hit the fan would be an understatement. I screamed while he stared at me in confusion. I cried while he reached out for me helplessly. I shattered glass against the fireplace mantle, all the while listening to his pleas for reason and the peals of her wicked laughter floating down the stairs. Only when my hand came up to meet the flesh of his face did he stop me, my wrists firmly caught between his fingers, the hurt in his eyes more powerful than the most poignant Monet. I caught the rapid, terrified beat of his dead heart, mimicked in rhythm by the rage in my own, and deflated instantly. We had the power to destroy each other and while I lay at the very cusp of doing so, he held on tightly, riding the storm with all the desperation of a man clinging to the bow of a sinking ship.

It turned out the entire scene was innocent; Katherine had had a run in with the big bad of the week and had been nearly drained. He'd brought her home and left her in our room through force of habit; he'd not even been there when she'd undressed and bathed away the dirt and blood from her flesh. An honest mistake that cost us nearly everything because I couldn't control the intensity of my reactions.

We laughed it off that night; he switched Katherine to Stefan's room, quickly changed the sheets on our bed, and we'd fallen between them desperately clinging to each other for hours until the sun rose and our guest came back to herself, stumbling down the stairs and into the kitchen. It was a turning point in our relationship; I stopped glaring daggers at Katherine, she stopped pretending she was sleeping with Damon, and when Stefan finally came home after the disaster he'd survived, none of us had the will to remind him what she'd done to him in the past.

They were the second to fall into the trap that took us over, one pair at a time. After a long period of consideration, Caroline bent under the force of Tyler's emotions and they became the third. Jeremy's misery forced us into action to bring Bonnie back from the other side, and when we'd finally broken all the rules of nature, again, they became the fourth. The fifth and final pair was perhaps the most shocking, at least to me. I must have been far more wrapped up in becoming a vampire than I realized, because I barely noticed Matt missing the summer after graduation. I know, some friend, right? He willingly died to bring me back from the emotionless abyss I'd inflicted upon myself and my way of repaying him was to not notice he was gone until he'd come back. I didn't even realize he and Rebekah had gotten close; the last I checked she was trying to bring back 1921 with Stefan, how did she even have time to win Matt's heart? We'd thought it was over pretty quickly; she went off to New Orleans with her brothers and left Matt behind with a broken heart. Turns out, she had more of a heart than any of us gave her credit for. She lasted four months away from him before showing up one night, tears in her eyes, begging him to forgive her. She was through his door and in his bed so fast that if I wasn't entirely positive Matt was human, I'd insist he'd used vampire speed to get her there.

The next year was spent awkwardly feeling each other out, letting each other in, and becoming this weird little Adam's family thing we've got going on now. Five vampires, a hybrid, a medium, a witch, a natural born human and one that was born again; it was the beginning of a bad joke, or a really popular British television series. Either way, thank God most of us had our own places to live.

Jeremy's 18th was just around the corner. Caroline wanted to throw a party at the boarding house. Tyler wanted to take him to a strip club in Richmond. Vampire faced off with wolf, but when even her most pleading eyes couldn't shake Tyler's determination, she backed off.

"Fine. If you boys want to go out, get drunk and drool over naked women all night, don't let me stand in your way. As a matter of fact, I think the five of us should have our own little girl's night on the town, too. Right, Elena?"

"Whoa, leave me out of this, Care; remember my vote was for shots and pool at the Grill." I gave her my most pleading expression, but she was on a full blown tear. Nothing was going to stop her now.

"Oh, please! We're not going to let them have all the fun. Bonnie? C'mon, at least you're with me right?"

I watched my two very best friends in the world stare at each other for a moment, before Bonnie slowly shrugged. "I could use a night out."

And just like that I was overruled. Tyler was already going on about this "Club Rouge" on 15th Street in Richmond and how it was going to be the best night ever. I hardly noticed when Caroline grabbed my arm and started tugging me up the stairs to my room, with Bonnie hot on her heels. Bonnie grabbed Katherine out of Stefan's room while Caroline dialled Rebekah's number and put her on speaker, and slowly I came to understand.

We weren't allowing the boys to spend a night at a random sleazy joint in the city. We were doing what we did best on any given day of the week.

Putting together the pieces for our best plan ever.

~~~VV~~~

They had something up their proverbial sleeves, those girls. No doubt about it. Elena wasn't giving me a single hint on what they were doing that night, just that they'd be leaving an hour before us and we weren't to expect them home until tomorrow. It was enough that I had to wrap my head around being locked out of my own bedroom while she was getting ready.

What the actual fuck?

When she finally came down the stairs, I couldn't help my body's natural instinct to spin towards her, but instead of taking my breath away with some sexy ensemble, I saw nothing but coat. Shoulder to ankle. No hint of what was underneath.

She grinned and I growled, but if nothing else, I'd learned that the best way to deal with Elena Gilbert was to trust her. Eventually, she'd crack and come clean; duplicity just wasn't in her nature. I prowled closer to her, breathing in her subtle perfume, lifting an eyebrow at the curls in her hair that I'd always associated with Katherine.

She offered me a cheeky smile and flipped her hair over her shoulder in a practiced move that had my cock instantly hard and painful against the suddenly too tight fit of my jeans. "Twins," she let the word dangle, her tongue darting out to dampen her lower lip before raising her teasing gaze to hold my smoldering one. "Get free drinks."

The carbon copy in question bounced down the stairs at that point, an identical coat hiding her outfit from view. She gave a quick look around, presumably for Stefan, and I gave her a crooked smirk before pointing over my shoulder. "He's in the bathroom. Knock before you go in, I'm pretty sure he's grooming his hero hair, and he's an attack first reason later kind of guy when he thinks his gel could be in danger."

I ducked the swat she sent at my head as she passed me by, blowing her a kiss before turning my attention back to Elena. She was picking up her purse and moving quietly to the door, intending on sneaking out before I noticed, no doubt. Fuck. That.

I prowled towards her silently, easily slipping my hand around her waist, spreading my fingers out across her stomach, pulling her back against my body. God, she's such a fucking drug to me that I can't help but breathe in her scent, letting the pure essence of Elena wrap around me, control me. I'm so fucking weak that I forgot I meant to get a peek underneath that infuriating coat and just stood there like an idiot, holding her for a forever that lasts only a moment.

When Caroline pulled up out front she honked the horn twice, just enough to snap me out of my reverie, but not fast enough to stop Elena from pulling out of my arms.

"It's only a few hours," she whispered to me as I reached out to her again. "Go, have fun with the boys; afterwards, we'll have our own fun."

It's a promise I never thought I'd hear whispered from her lips and my traitor of a heart beat an unsteady rhythm; her words filled me with hope and happiness, two emotions I never thought I'd feel again, much less deserve.

I watched her practically dance off the porch and to Caroline's car, the blonde stepping out and waggling her fingers at me, teasingly, as they call out for Katherine to pick up the pace. Sabrina and the Original Bitch sat stuffed in the back seat, neither making a move to step out of the vehicle or make space for the doppelgangers as they approached the car. Finally, Bonnie shifted to sit in the center as Katherine pushed in beside her and Elena settled into the front seat beside Caroline. I wanted to tell her to have fun, I wanted to tell her to hurry home, I wanted to voice every worry and concern I had over her going out and getting drunk somewhere I couldn't keep an eye on her, couldn't keep her safe, but instead, I just smiled in her direction as I leaned against the doorframe and shrugged softly when she smiled back.

"Don't do anything I wouldn't do," I finally settled on, cringing inwardly as I realized the inappropriateness of my words, but it was far too late to take them back.

"Hear that girls?" Rebekah laughed, poking Elena in the shoulder. "We have a blank slate for the night. No rules!"

How fucking fast did she have to pick up on my mistakes?

Instead of giving her the pleasure of reacting, I narrowed my eyes in her direction, offering her a small grin that practically dripped an acidic warning. I caught Elena's eyes as they drove away, melting against the door as she mouthed 'love you' in my direction.

Yep, I'm whipped harder than Anastasia Steele on a bad girl kind of day.

I couldn't be happier.

~~~VV~~~

Damon Salvatore was a man of means. Nearly two centuries on this earth meant he had more money than Bill Gates and didn't care how it came or went. As such, his credit card was worked hard in the days leading up to Jeremy's birthday extravaganza. If they were going to go out as a group, Damon insisted that they look the part. Five black Armani suits, tailored to perfection. Five black pin striped silk ties. Five white silk shirts, their French cuffs held in place by five new sets of highly polished cuff links. Five pairs of Stefano Bemer black wingtip dress shoes and five pairs of black argyle socks.

As they walked up to the club in question, only Matt and Jeremy struggled with the look, tugging at their ties uncomfortably, hands in their pockets. The remaining guys wore their suits with a comfort that spoke of their family and personal wealth. Damon topped off his look with a black Borsalino beaver fur felt fedora, grinning as the security guy watching the door gaped openly at the group as they walked past him with the utmost of confidence. Okay, so he was hanging out with a group of potentially rowdy, barely legal teenagers, but tonight, no one would think to question him or them. Tonight, they were going to live like they were all Damon Salvatore, and watch as the world fell to its knees at their feet.

At first, he didn't notice anything off about the club they'd stepped into. Liquor was brought to their table, bottles were left behind, each of the boys had a beer in hand and the music was thrumming quietly in the background. Slowly he began to notice the crowd thinning out until they were the only group left seated in the audience. A final click of a door could be heard over the music as the lights began to dim, and Damon turned to see that even the staff had left the premises, leaving the five guys alone in the room built for two hundred.

"What the f…"

His words were lost as the lights went down completely and he could hear the machinery kick into a preprogramed light display. Spot lights trained on the stage and the background music faded out while a very familiar voice came over the speaker system.

"Hello, boys."

Four startled sets of eyes scanned the empty room; Tyler merely raised his bottle to the air in greeting.

"You're probably asking yourselves, of all the gin joints in all the world… Oh no wait, wrong century." Katherine could hardly help the grin that spread over her face as she crossed the back of the room and curled up on the bar, leaning back against the wall as she winked in their direction. "You boys really didn't think we were going to set you loose on the innocent population of Richmond, now did you?"

"Katherine, what…?" Stefan rose to his feet, frozen in place as she raised a finger for his attention.

"Hush, lover," she grinned. "We're not cruel enough to take away all your fun, so if you'd turn your attention towards the stage, we have a rather… special show for you."

When the music came up, four very familiar bodies stepped out onto stage, still wearing their long coats, but this time big grins and sparkling eyes filled their vision. Each man focussed on their mate, eying them cautiously as the opening beats to Icona Pop's 'I Love It' began thrumming through the bar. They watched in quiet awe as the girls strutted across the stage in time to the beat, spinning at the front of the stage in unison, backs to the guys as they simultaneously opened their coats, spinning them on their fingers before turning back to face their audience, tossing their jackets towards their table.

Four jaws dropped in tandem as they took in the tiny, slinky black dresses each girl wore, cut just low enough to entice each of their mates into instant discomfort. Each girl strutted and twirled gracefully on a set of silver five inch heels that rested over top of black nylons held in place by garters placed so high on their thighs that only the barest hint of cloth let the boys know they were there. When it came to the chorus, the three youngest took center stage, pointing out at their men, mouthing in time to the lyrics, "You're from the seventies, but I'm a nineties bitch!" Rebekah moved behind them, peeking out long enough to shrug with an overly helpless motion that brought a bark of laughter to Matt's lips. The sound was enough to snap the guys out of their shock and suddenly a chorus of cheers erupted for the girls on stage. Elena and Bonnie immediately blushed, but the grins that crossed Caroline and Rebekah's faces brought out another round of catcalls. Only Stefan remained silent as he pulled himself to his feet and made his way back to the bar where Katherine sat silently, shaking her head and rolling her eyes as he approached.

"Why aren't you up there?" he asked quietly, resting a hand on her thigh as he leaned against the bar, toying with the hem of her dress, identical in every way to the girls' on stage.

"I am not some horny twenty year old girl," she shook her head softly. "They look ridiculous up there."

"Yeah, but they don't care," he murmured softly, leaning in to capture her lips in a soft kiss.

"I'm six hundred years old, Stefan; I'm not a burlesque barmaid. If I ever want to seduce you, you can guarantee it will not be done in public, with our brothers and friends in the audience."

"Yeah?" he grinned, leaning back and tugging on her hand, pulling her off the bar and up against him. "How would you do it, then?"

No one said a word as they disappeared into one of the private rooms, closing and locking the door behind them.

As the music began winding to a close, Tyler cheered loudly from his seat, grinning from ear to ear at Caroline as she held his gaze, giving him a graceful shimmy. "Take it off!" he hollered, the teasing note apparent in his voice.

"Dude, my sister's on that stage!" Jeremy groaned, his cheeks red even as he struggled to keep his eyes off Bonnie's slow movements.

Their laughter continued until the last notes of the song faded, and Bonnie hopped off stage, grabbing Jeremy's hand and pulling him with her into another private room. The public display had been a bit too much for her and she was blushing from root to tip, but the huge grin on Jeremy's face was enough to keep her focussed. Each room's sound system was already pre-programmed with each girl's music selection for the night, and the low sounds of one of Bonnie's favorite tunes floated out over the sudden silence in the main room.

Rebekah shrugged and marched off stage, pulling Matt to his feet and tugging him out the door. She'd said something to the group but it was lost in the beat of the newest song to fill the room. Caroline flashed Elena a knowing grin and shrugged quickly.

"If you can't beat 'em, join 'em," and she hopped down as well, a simple flick of her hair and curl of her finger enough to have Tyler trailing after her into one of the remaining private rooms.

For a single moment Elena stood frozen on stage, biting her lip as Damon caught her gaze, a wide grin on his face, an eyebrow lifted in expectation. She gave an annoyed, betrayed glance towards the closed doors that hid away her friends, but when she looked back to Damon, his eyebrow had just moved higher and his grin had dissolved into a daring smirk.

"Fuck it," Elena murmured softly, and as the first notes of Christina Agularia's 'Dirty' began to drift across the room, Elena began to move her hips. With a quick glance at Damon to make sure she had his entire attention, and that he was actually serious, she bit her lip, ran a hand through her hair, before reaching for the pole at the edge of the stage and began to spin.

It was heart stopping and daring, wrapping her fingers and one leg around that pole as she pulled herself up and twisted in mid-air. The other girls were supposed to be up there with her, taking the incredible amount of pressure off her, but instead it was just her and Damon's smoldering gaze on that stage. Vampire strength had its advantages, and she easily pulled herself up the pole, one leg curved around it gracefully, the heel of her shoe hooking the thin metal rod and helping her into a smooth spin as she leaned out backwards, her hair barely brushing the ground.

When she left the pole and strutted back out to the center of the stage again, that's when Damon realized what he'd thought was a tiny little dress was actually a shirt and skirt combo, made to give the illusion of one single piece of fabric. He watched, mesmerized as her lithe fingers travelled up her stomach and across her breasts, her back arching as her hips never stopped moving in time to the music. The body he knew so well surged with the beat, the lip he loved to bite held firmly between her teeth as Elena began the slow journey towards him.

Inch after inch of skin came alive in the low light of the room as Elena hooked her fingers on the hidden zipper to her shirt, slowly parting the folds of fabric back from her effort dampened flesh. Damon's breath stalled in his chest as his mouth went dry, his dead heart beating heavily in his suddenly constricted chest.

Each step Elena took in Damon's direction was in time to the song thrumming through the incredible sound system, each foot placed one in front of the other evenly as she stripped the constricting fabric from her body, mimicking the video she'd danced to a thousand times as a teenager. She allowed the fabric to dangle from the fingers of one hand as she ran the other hand down her chest, between her breasts held high by the black lace bra that clung to her curves, her fingers lingering at the low waist of her skirt before she spun in place, flinging the shirt at Damon's head, the giggle that escaped her lips lost in the pounding beat.

She bent at the waist, her hips and ass moving in time with the song, the skirt cut so short Damon was allowed the view of her olive skin disappearing beneath the garters and a flash of the black lace thong that cut between the smooth curves of her behind. She popped back up again, her curls flying free and falling easily back into position, cradling her face, giving her a look so soft and innocent that the heat building under Damon's skin trebled at the contrast with her body's wicked moves.

Damon groaned low in his throat as Elena prowled towards him in time to the music. His dark blue gaze devoured her olive skin, the toned column of her throat, the delicate bones of her collar, her dusky nipples only half visible over the small cups of the lace bra that held her contained. His tongue ached to delve between her ample breasts, tasting the dark abyss that formed between the two mounds he loved to lose himself in biting and suckling, a touch of fang against flesh all she ever needed to push her over the edge into unending pleasure.

His perfectly tailored pants no longer fit well against his strong body. His cock pulsed and swelled desperately against expensive fabric that was now too tight for comfort. He could almost count each tooth of the zipper that threatened to cut into tender skin already stretched thin by arousal.

Elena's wickedly painted lips curved upwards into a wanton grin as she paraded closer still, the tap of the long heels of her shoes lost in the heavy thrum of sound, but not to him. She spun with vampire speed, the thin material of her black skirt riding high up her thighs, the bend of her waist once again allowing him a vision of nirvana, the tiny bit of hidden black fabric the only fabric covering her swollen mound, slick with excitement that surrounded him in a cloud of temptation.

"Jesus fuck, 'Lena," he growled quietly, watching her eyes darken with lust equal to his own. She snapped back up and twirled again, her body flowing smoother than a cool stream of water, her hair a curtain of satin and perfume, surrounding his face as she finally danced within reach, her fingers curling into his powerful shoulders while she moved into the space he occupied.

He swallowed thickly as her body writhed against his own, her heated core taunting the steel of his aching cock every time her hips curved to the beat that played around them.

"What," he started, losing the thought in a groan as she lowered herself to purposely grind against the straining fabric of his suit pants. He licked his lips, dragging in an unsteady breath while she turned in his lap, the warm curve of her ass now doing unspeakable things to his very eager dick. "What did I do to deserve this?"

To an outside observer his voice was calm and controlled, but the war within his tone forced Elena to arch against him instinctively. Each word was slightly clipped as he warred with his inner demon for control. Each breath between was as unnecessary to him as words were between them. Each time his fingers flexed around the arm rest on the chair they were perched upon, the wood and plastic groaned a little louder in protest.

Damon was a vampire on the edge, any tiny push would set his true nature free and his vast battle for control would be lost to the arousal that mercilessly built between them.

When Elena arched her back against his chest, her core grinding directly down on his throbbing erection, her fingers curling around the back of his chair to support her as her head rested against his shoulder and the barest whisper of her cool breath ghosted across the shell of his ear, his control slipped further out of reach.

When the whisper against his ear turned from unnecessary breath to wanton murmur, it was all he could do to keep his feral growl in check.

"Who says you deserve this?" she purred, for a moment so much like Katherine that he blinked in confusion until just a breath of Elena's teasing grin curled her lips, and vampire or not, Damon was a man lost beneath her touch.

He watched in awe as her gaze shifted from liquid caramel to blood and back again, her own nature betraying her as the intricate webbing of veins tracked beneath her flawless skin and her fangs descended to gleam in the dim light of the club. Damon's own beast rose to answer the call of its mate, rising from beneath his flesh to dominate. His eyes darkened to blood, his face shifted and his fangs descended, long and proud, as his fingers broke their paralysis. One hand wrapped around Elena's hip, one hand rose to cup her breast and before she could move, those ivory white fangs sunk deep into her neck, ripping a strangled cry from her ruby lips as she arched into him, fingers in his hair, holding him to her throat even while her own fangs met nothing but air.

Not to be outdone, Elena maneuvered one hand between them, expertly unzipping and freeing Damon's length from its prison, her cool fingers heating against him as she stroked him mercilessly, the welcome warmth of her core hovering just slightly out of his reach. One seemingly delicate fingernail dragged slowly up the underside of his weeping cock, wrenching a gasp from his lips so deep that it rippled the hair falling over her shoulders. In a flash, Elena fled from his grasp, landing on her hands and feet six feet across the room. Damon watched for long moments as she flashed him a wicked grin and began a slow, sultry crawl towards him, her perfectly manicured nails clicking against the cool tile of the floor in synch with the tap of her heels against the same tile.

When she reached his knees, she lowered her lashes in a rare display of demure submission before her lips curved again, ruining her modest expression with a wanton smile, the most dangerous thing she held in her arsenal. She slipped between his legs with ease, settling her cheek against one strong thigh, the whisper of her breath falling over his still exposed cock, the flesh pulsing and swelling visibly under her errant attention. Damon's own breath faltered, hanging caught in his throat while he watched her move so slowly that he could almost believe that time had suspended. She cocked her head to the side, letting the long curls of her hair fall over one shoulder as she reached out one hand and recaptured his steel length between her cool fingers. Time slowed even further as she moved closer still, breath warmed by borrowed blood continuing its whispering trail over the glistening head of his cock. Without mercy, time slammed back into motion when the tip of her tongue found the tiny tear of release that had formed, waiting for her, and Damon's entire body stiffened in shock and pleasure as a distinct shiver coursed through his hyper sensitive frame, his hips thrusting upwards of their own accord. His movements drove the head of his cock past her teeth, burying himself in the warm cavern of her mouth, her welcoming lips encasing him lovingly even while a self-satisfied giggle built in her throat and mirth danced in the bloody chocolate depths of eyes that never left his face for a single second.

"Fucking killing me," he growled softly, strong fingers twining into the dark curls that framed her face.

With a rare display of her own strength, Elena pulled back just far enough that every word she spoke cooled the damp, heated trail that her tongue had left on his swollen flesh.

"If I was killing you, Damon, you'd know it… but if you're not enjoying yourself, I can always stop." Her dark eyes sparkled, fangs descending and retracting as she offered him a saucy wink.

Damon matched her grin, letting his fangs sparkle in the stage lights before tightening his grip on her hair and guiding her lips back down onto his aching length. "Not an option."

Elena chuckled softly before wrapping her lips around his cock, taking him deep into her mouth, blunted teeth scraping sensitive skin with just enough pressure to make him hiss, forcing his blood filled eyes to close tightly.

The music around them changed but neither noticed. Elena held him firmly in her hand, her cool fingers stroking his thick base with gentle pressure, grinning around him as he swelled impossibly larger under her tender care. Her tongue found the sensitive flesh just below the head of his cock and lapped at it without mercy, drinking in every soft moan and wicked growl that escaped his lips.

When the fingers in her hair tightened to near painful pressure, Elena changed tactics. It was easy to synchronize her fingers and mouth to an even rhythm, beginning a slow stroking pattern that never failed to make her big, bad vampire whimper helplessly. Her cool fingers stroked him from base to tip, her mouth coming away from him completely for just a second before her hand slid down his length and her lips followed, swallowing him whole in one long motion. With each of his strained gasps, she repeated the motion, withdrawing slowly up to the tip, sliding quickly down to the base, one errant finger unerringly finding the sensitive line in his tightly drawn sac, stroking him, pushing him closer and closer to his inevitable release.

No coherent thought formed in Damon's mind as Elena tortured him slowly with all the pleasure her little hands could bring. Perfectly manicured nails and blunted teeth drove hot, white points of pleasure through his body, her cool lips, warm mouth and hot little tongue a startling contrast around flesh so painfully swollen that he could hardly believe he hadn't already reached his peak, and yet still she continued.

If she had been human, he would have hurt her by now. His hands were wound so tightly in her hair that his nails were digging into the flesh of his own palms and drawing forth blood that did nothing to calm either of them. His hips lifted and met the rhythm of her lips, driving himself against the back of her mouth and into the impossible tightness of her clenching throat. He almost expected her to draw back as he passed the barrier of her throat, but her eyes met his with a glint of understanding and amusement, and when she pulled her fingers from his base, allowing herself to take him down even deeper, Damon finally fell.

A lightshow exploded behind his eyes, pleasure, pain, heat, cold, flesh, blood, they all bonded in a single moment of release. His body stiffened with need, his deadlocked fingers holding her tightly on him as he came apart inside her, thrusting up and into her over and over, no articulate sound escaping his lips, only rough gasps and broken groans as at last his body loosened, spent, and he was able to slump bonelessly back into his chair as she stubbornly milked the very last drops of release from his softening flesh.

The scent of Elena's arousal and his own release mingled in the air around him, making it impossible to tame his unruly beast, even while he panted like an exhausted puppy under her calming touch. He felt her draw away, the cool air a welcome relief against his damp, over heated skin, but still he remained motionless as he let reality begin dispersing the cloud of pleasure that smothered his over stimulated brain.

By the time he came back to himself with enough sense to open his eyes, Elena was already dressed and walking back towards him, pausing only to let him tuck his spent penis back into his pants before settling herself across his lap and meeting his lips in a gentle kiss.

Any rational thought he could have formed was stolen by the gentle pressure of her lips to his, by the taste of himself on her tongue that mingled with the lingering taste of her blood on his in a blend that was no less than nirvana itself.

He pulled her closer to him, his fangs slicing open her lower lip as he caught it and pulled, refreshing the flavor of blood in his hungry mouth. Her own fangs slammed down as the new scent filled the air, and she nipped at him in return, greedily lapping at the crimson droplets that stained his lips a darker red, and both their bodies returned to immediate life.

"Let's get out of here," Elena groaned softly, shifting against his fresh arousal, fighting against his strong hold to climb to her feet.

He watched her silently for a moment, blood fading to blue in his eyes as she ran her fingers through her now unruly hair and wiggled slowly as she straightened her clothes. As she prowled across the room to look for her discarded coat, Damon frowned thoughtfully, finally regaining a small measure of control over his rampant, dark nature.

When Elena turned back, her own face faded back to human; a tinge of concern and uncertainty filled her eyes when she caught his uncertain frown.

"What?" she asked cautiously, sucking her swollen lower lip between her teeth as she struggled with a sudden burst of self-conscious nerves. She swallowed thickly, a dark shiver coursing through her body while she waited in what seemed like endless silence.

When he met her gaze, his eyes were clear, radiating a sudden confidence that she'd never seen Damon wear in all the years she'd known him. The look of confusion still lingered on his face, but it mingled now with a mixture of joy, lust and love and the sudden onset of a peace he'd never before known.

"Marry me?" he asked suddenly, the words escaping his lips with the force of a hurricane, tumbling out and falling between them, lingering in the atmosphere as both sets of eyes widened in surprise.

Elena took one look at the startled expression on his face and molded hers into a teasing grin, immediately offering him an out from his hastily asked question as she sashayed towards him, dragging a finger slowly across his shoulders, forcing a new shiver down his strong frame and turning towards the door. "C'mon, Salvatore, bet you'd ask any old stripper that could give you a decent lap dance."

His jaw dropped quickly, the beginnings of an emotional wall laying a protective foundation around his heart as he desperately tried to read her body language. He watched her struggle to keep her shoulders up even while they insisted on slumping ever so slightly. He listened to her dead heart beat an unstable rhythm and watched as shivers broke her calm appearance while rapid thoughts shot through her mind.

He wished to God that he could see her eyes; he could read her very soul in the deep, chocolate abyss of her gaze and at least have some sense of where they stood on this suddenly uncertain ground he'd built around them. Finally, he swallowed once and blinked back the darkness that threatened to cloud his gaze and make him doubt himself. He reached out quickly to grab her hand and simultaneously rose to his feet while he spun her around to face him.

"So, I can't help but wish I had a bit better timing, but fuck it, it's out there now, isn't it?" He offered her a wry smirk, rolling his eyes at his own foul up and shrugged his shoulders helplessly.

Elena's brow furrowed and she forced a light chuckle to her lips, shaking her head slowly. "Damon, I'm not going to hold you to something you said in the heat of the moment. I mean, it's not really fair; propos… uh… that kind of question needs thought and consideration and… stuff." She trailed off as Damon shifted, rolling his eyes as he reached into his jacket, dipping into the small pocket sewn into the internal lining and pulled out a small, red velvet box.

"I said I wish I had better timing, not that I wish I hadn't asked." He cocked his head to the side, his gaze holding hers with a seriousness he rarely displayed. "Do you really think I'd ask something like that if I didn't mean it? No matter what the situation? Have you met me?" He let his expression fall back into a lopsided grin, his eyes mirroring the sheepishness that pushed his dead heart into a rapid, unsteady beat. "I've wanted you since the moment you drank everyone under the table in Atlanta. I've needed you since it took two people to keep you from running into a burning building to save my sorry excuse for a life. I've belonged to you since the day you laid with me while I was dying. Two years ago I would have let you go, Elena. I'd have let you be with Stefan without question if that's what would have made you happy. That's how much I love you. I could claim all the moons, stars and suns in the sky to describe my love for you, but they don't even begin to scratch the surface. You fixed me when I was broken, even when I didn't want to be fixed. You made me want to be unselfish, even though I cut bloody chunks out of my own heart to honor that. I can't ever be human again, Elena, but you've brought me closer to my human self than I've been since my transition. You are my weakness, but you've made me so strong because of it. God, we are so wrong for each other, but together we make this so right." He swallowed thickly and reached for her hand, slowly gliding his thumb over her knuckles before turning her palm upwards, placing the box gently in the center of her hand and curling her fingers around it. "I've been walking around with this in my pocket since the day I let you walk out my door for college, so don't tell me I didn't give this particular question 'thought and consideration and… stuff'."

Elena gasped quietly, blinking at him without fully comprehending the enormity of what it all meant. "Damon, that was almost two years ago! You can't have been carrying it around this whole time."

He chuckled softly. "I can and I did. I've been waiting for the moment no one was trying to eat us, when my brother didn't look at you like the sun and moon rose and set at your feet, when it was going to be about our happiness and not some other pain that we had no hope to control."

"And this struck you as that moment?" The stiffness in her spine loosened and light began to dance in Elena's gaze, the corner of her lips turning upwards as she teased him, gently.

"Seemed as good a moment as any." His lips twitched, his blue eyes shining like the purest crystal as he watched her transition from trepidation to glee in the span of a single second.

She broke from his gaze to glance down at the box in her hand, her fingers twitching to open the soft velvet that she only now noticed was rubbed thin in spots from age. Tears filled her eyes as she opened it, only to be greeted by a small diamond set into the thinnest band of gold she'd ever set eyes upon. She stared at it so long, tears falling silently, that Damon shifted nervously, running an uncertain hand through his hair as he frowned.

"Yeah, it's kind of small. If you don't like it I can get you something better… bigger, something with more bling factor? I don't know." He cringed slightly, suddenly feeling stupid, questioning the thought process that wouldn't let him leave the jewelry store so long ago without this ring in hand. "I saw it and it just seemed to be something that you'd choose. I mean, if you even want it at all." He turned away, schooling his expression into neutrality. "Since you haven't exactly said yes, Elena."

She laughed suddenly, drawing his attention back to her just as she began shaking her head. "This is the biggest moment of a girl's life, and you're the one being sensitive?!"

"Quit it," he muttered softly, watching with awe as she took the little ring out of the box and slipped it onto her left hand, holding her fingers out experimentally, watching the small diamond glitter in the dim light. His body relaxed as he watched her, his eyes matching the shine of the diamond as he intrinsically came to understand that the answer is, had been, and would always be 'yes'. His lips twitched as he reached out and captured her fingers, slipping the ring off her before she had a chance to react. "If you're going to take forever about it, Elena…"

His voice trailed off as she tackled him, kissing him soundly before holding her hand out expectantly. "Yes! Now give it back."

He laughed at her softly, holding the ring just slightly out of her reach, pulling her tight against him and breathing her in before spinning her back out and dropping to one knee, offering her a teasing wink as he lifted the little ring out to her.

"Elena Gilbert, would you do me the eternal honor of becoming my creature of the night," he winked as she scowled at him without heat, and together their eyes danced with mirth as she joined him in gentle laughter. "My bride, my mate, my everything?"

"Nothing would make me happier."

In that moment, Elena earned one of Damon's rarest smiles, the one he only wore for her, the one that told her without words that this was exactly where she belonged.

There was an air of finality about them as he slipped the ring onto her finger, a tiny symbol of a ceremony yet to come, that would bind them together for eternity. The magnitude of the moment brought a tremble to his usually steady hands, and once the ring was in place, she turned to hold his hands in her own, calming him with the sudden sense of certainty that fell between them.

Had it only been three years since they'd met? Since he'd opened her eyes to the supernatural and changed the course of her life forever? Since she'd taught him that the darkness didn't have to be his only friend?

Had it only been two years since he'd brought her immortality? Since he'd bore the weight of the loss of her life without comment, teaching her how to live after death? Since she offered him eternity in the arms of someone who loved him like he'd always deserved?

So much had changed. How could it have been only a few short years? She'd lost everyone only to have found everything she could need. He'd lost everything only to have found the one person that mattered. Together, they were the necessary good that grew out of all the bad that had threatened to consume their lives.

Damon reached out for her, tossing Elena over his shoulder with ease, carrying her shrieking and laughing out into the night. He threw her into his Camaro, grinning down at her and offering her a saucy wink before breezing around to the driver's side and climbing in next to her. The roar of the ancient engine filled the quiet night as he turned it over, slamming it into gear and peeling out onto the silent city streets, disappearing into the darkness without a single word to any of their friends. The others would find out soon enough what had transpired that evening, but for the next few hours the boarding house would be blessedly empty, and Damon fully intended to show Elena exactly what she could expect for the remainder of time.

After all, it had only been three years since they met.

Only two since they'd come together the way the fabric of the universe had always intended.

They had a long way yet to go before the end was even remotely in sight.

~~~Fin~~~