Disclaimer: I do not own TVD! If I did…well… 3x14 would have been a bit different. And Ian would have been naked :D The title The Enemy and lyrics are property of the lovely band Mumford and Sons and not moi.

AN: This chapter starts off in Elena's POV like the first chapter, but will quickly shift for the remainder of this chapter to Damon's POV after the break. Thanks so much to everyone who has put this story on alert and to Polia for being my first reviewer! I tried to reply back but was being difficult. I appreciate everyone's lovely support of this story!

The Enemy

By: MsBigBad

Chapter 2: I Came And I Was Nothing

But I came and I was nothing
Time will give us nothing
So why did you choose to lean on
A man you knew was falling?

The Enemy- Mumford and Sons


When she arrived at the boarding house, the lights were all off and she noticed that Stefan's car was not in its usual spot, which meant he was probably not home yet. She was surprised at the relief that she felt by that fact. Throwing herself at him a few hours ago and then coming to beg his brother's forgiveness now would have been a little degrading, though she would have had no one to blame but herself.

As she threw the front door open she called for Damon. Her voice echoed eerily through the silent and apparently deserted house. He was probably at The Grill drinking himself to death, or at least trying to. It would be no use going out to find him, as she was sure it would mean a very public scene that she just didn't have the energy for at the moment. She found herself wandering into his bedroom to wait for him, and possibly try to think of something to say to fix or at least band-aid the wounds she had made tonight until they had time to heal. When she arrived, she was not prepared for the scene that lay before her.

Damon's room looked like a cyclone had hit it. Furniture was overturned, there were cracks in the wall were someone had obviously been thrown against it, and Damon's shirt from the ball lay in shreds on the floor. What had happened here? And more importantly were was Damon?


He'd come back from his reflective, what the hell happened tonight quarry visit to the knowledge that someone was in his house. Not just anyone either, Elena. The very bane of his existence was in his house probably looking for either his brother to bring back from the darkside or for himself to apologize for tonight's thrilling events.

Hey could hear her breathing. Imagine the confusion on her face when she found the boarding house empty. The concern in her voice as she called his name and found only the torn scraps of his clothing.

His encounter with Rebekah had been fierce, primal, and fast. The quick fix for both of their oppressing situations, but it had meant nothing to either of them. When they were done tearing each other down she had left without a word, and he much preferred it that way. The evidence of their feral madness littered his room, broken chairs, busted walls, rumpled sheets, and regrettably his torn shirt, which had actually cost quite a bit to be torn up so quickly.

He could hear Elena's heart quicken when she reached his bedroom, though of course she'd come to the wrong conclusion. She was scared for him. She thought he'd been vamp-napped or some other equally ridiculous circumstance.

His phone buzzed in his pocket and he knew it was Elena calling to check on him. His finger swiped across the ignore option on his touch screen.

Good, let her worry about his safety for a change. Let her agonize over the stupid, rash decisions he had made, and let her find out the truth of it all. Let her heart shatter as she realized that he did not care. Not anymore. Not one iota.

He was finished playing lapdog to women who would and could never love him back with the same passion and ferocity of his own heart. He should have learnt his lesson with Katherine. One-hundred and forty-five years wasted on a lie. She never loved him. Stefan was her goal, and he was merely the price she had to pay to obtain it at worst, and passable entertainment at best. She had played him. Elena was no different, though maybe her game was a little less intentional, but she had still used him, knowingly or not.

She was calling his name now and the desperation in her voice almost broke him. Almost. Rather than go rushing to her like a lovesick schoolboy though, he decided to slowly saunter through the door of his home, casually pour a drink, and wait for her to realize she was not alone.

It didn't take long before she was down the stairs and starting at him quizzically.

"Damon. Where were you? I went upstairs and I found your shirt," She held up a tattered sleeve for him to see. "I thought something had happened to you. Your room is trashed and you wouldn't answer my calls."

He took a moment to contemplate the glass of bourbon in his hand before he knocked it all back.

She kept starting at him with that mock concern written all over her face and it irritated the hell out of him. For someone who thought he was a problem a few hours ago she was pretty damn shaken up. Yet she was not nearly shaken enough for his tastes. The impulsive dick side of his personality craved to make her suffer and right now impulsive Damon was behind the wheel. He would regret it later, he always did, but hurting Elena, breaking her heart was pretty much top of his to do list at the moment. He could add brood like a pansy to his agenda later when he was feeling a bit more Stefanesqe.

"Damon, are you okay?"

He couldn't help but laugh, a startling crazy person laugh at her before he replied, because it was just all too damn much, and what a loaded question.

"Everything is just peachy Elena. Now go home."

He narrowed his eyes at her in his most serious stare before, pouring his glass to the brim with more of his favorite alcoholic friend. He took a short pull letting it swirl in his mouth before swallowing slowly. Unfortunately, when he looked up she was still there studying him in that annoying way of hers.

"I don't understand Damon. I get that you're mad. What I said… it was stupid. I should have never…"

"I said GO HOME ELENA." He cut her off before she could finish her faux apology.

"No." She countered, setting her jaw in pure Elena-like determination.

He'd once admired that about her, but he had no room in his head tonight to admire anything other than the blessed fact the at least he still had the balls to stand up for himself. He'd given her an easy out twice despite his silent vow to make her suffer and his self-control was waning.

'Damon tell me what happened." She demanded.

A sarcastic smirk blossomed across his face. "Nothing I didn't fully enjoy."

His eyes took in her beautiful form, the beautiful girl still wrapped in the beautiful dress that she had worn to the ball from hell. So beautiful, yet untouchable. Forbidden. He wanted to tear her down.

"Though I'm sure my brother is a stickler for missionary, slow and gentle, and with some Barry Manilow background accompaniment, so maybe rough play is a lost one on you."

"Wh…What? You slept with someone?" The hurt and confusion in her voice let him know that he'd hit his mark. Let her feel as naked as he had when she'd accused his love of being a problem.

"Rebekah." He supplied just to see how far he could push this uncaring side of himself tonight that relished in the sight of her pain.

"Oh my God! Damon, she tried to kill me not 24 hours ago and now you're having sex with her?"

"Newsflash Elena! Someone is always trying to kill you! I can't be cataloging my sexual conquests by if they have ever stood in line behind the Elena kill wagon, now can I?"

"Damon." Elena pleaded, fighting back unshed tears. "This isn't you. Listen to what you're saying."

"Stop." His eyes flashed brilliant blue with color as she tried to psycho analyze him.

"Stop making excuses. This is me Elena. You've just forgotten what I'm like when I'm not wrapped around your finger!"

'Well you've turned into a real ass!" She screamed, finally fighting fire with fire.

"I've always been an ass. I'm just not being one that's convenient for you, that's your real problem." The remaining bourbon in his glass crashed down his throat burning its way through his veins as he waited for her response.

"Why are you doing this first Kol, and now acting out with Rebekah and rubbing it in my face. I know what I said tonight hurt you, but…"

"Oh let's not forget the snapping of my neck so you and saint Stefan could exact your diabolical plan. Now that really hurt." He said rubbing the back of his neck as he watched her squirm in guilt.

"I'm sorry. I didn't know any other way at the time. You were not going to let me anywhere near Esther without you, and she wouldn't agree to that. I was stupid."

"Save your apologies Elena. It was necessary. I was a problem. I was in the way. I cared too much about your safety to let you do what needed to be done."

It wasn't as much an acceptance of the situation as it was an accusation.

"You're not a problem. I shouldn't have ever implied… but I was angry and upset about the meeting with Esther. Damon look at me." She pleaded.

Her hands came up to cup his face and he was reminded of a time very much like this one and yet completely different. Back to summer when the night was hot and her hands had caressed his skin in the same way. When she had stood in front of him, as she did now in this very room, and with that fire in her eyes she had given him hope. She had told him that it was okay, that they would let Stefan go, that they would survive, they always survived. He'd wanted to kiss her that night so badly. His desperation had taken hold of him. Months of searching for his brother only to discover that, he didn't want to be found, months of fighting what he felt for this extraordinary woman when all he wanted was to lay it all bare. He wanted to kiss her. He would have, and he thinks she would have let him, and then Katherine had called him and ruined the moment.

This was a completely different situation, and though kissing her was never far from his mind, especially after that night on her porch, that would be the easy out. He knew unrefinably that she wanted him. That she would welcome his lips, his affection even at this moment, but in the end, he would still end up with nothing. Alone. Because he was the monster, and because Stefan had come back and Elena still wanted his brother. Everyone in his entire life had always chosen Stefan over him, why should he expect her to be any different?

The moment passed by them as it had that night months ago. The chill of the winter air drifted through the open window and he remembered what he felt that sticky, humid, summer night. When he had been a different person, and more undoubtedly a better man than he'd shown himself to be tonight, upset or not. He let the moment pass and the silence surround them as he pulled from her grasp and turned away from her.

"I made a deal with Esther." She confessed all animosity forgotten for the moment.

"Of course you did." He smiled just slightly at her predictableness.

"What did you offer her you're firstborn? Because I don't think you'll have to worry about that too much with my baby brother." He rolled his eyes and collapsed into one of the leather armchairs gesturing for her to do the same as she rehashed last night's meeting with Mama Original.

"She wanted my blood."

"Did you tell her to get in line behind the rest of her family?"

"I gave it to her." She admitted looking at her feet and pushing a stand of dark hair behind her ear.

He sat a little straighter in his seat, not quite sure if he should have been surprised or not, but then again it was Elena.

"Why would she need your blood? Some sort of witchy voodoo?" Curious of whether she knew the full implications of her decision before she went slitting her wrist for Original Glinda.

"She's going to kill Klaus, but to do that she has to link all her children together. She's going to kill them Damon. All of them, and I helped her." Her voice was laced in guilt.

"Believe it or not that's actually a good thing. No more Klaus using you for his hybrid making cookbook and no more original of the week wanting to kidnap or kill you. Problem solved."

"What about Rebekah?" She challenged.

His mouth quirked into a lopsided smirk. "What about her?"

"You just slept with her and now you're just going to let her die?"

"It was sex Elena! Hot up against the wall and every other flat surface vampire sex, but don't assume I made a connection with her, other than the obvious one!" He put on a nonchalant air hoping she would get the point.

"You know what; this hasn't gone at all like I planned. I need to go."

Her heels clicked briskly toward the front door but he positioned himself in front of her faster than she could react. She collided with his chest and he took her arms by the wrists steadying her before she fell backwards.

"What Elena? You thought we were just going to kiss and make up? Make it all better?"

"No, I…" Her shoes seemed to be the only thing she could look at as she tried to formulate a response.

"You thought that I would go back to being my brother's stand in until you got the real thing back?"

"Isn't that what Rebekah was for? A blow up doll for what you can't have?" She spat back.

"I told you she meant nothing."

"Yeah, well you're still an ass!"

"Good, because I've been a whipped pansy for too long! You think that I'm sorry? You got what you wanted Elena. This,"

He gestured wildly between them with his empty bourbon tumbler.

"You and me. This means nothing to me. Isn't that what you wanted? Huh Elena? For me to stop caring so damn much unless it's convenient for you?"

"Damon stop. You're upset. We both are. We're saying things we don't mean." She tried to reason with him, but he was having none of it.

"No Elena, upset implies feeling and I refuse to feel anything for you anymore. That's one thing you can bet that I mean fully." He said before opening the door for her.

The shock on her face was evident as she slowly walked out his door and down the walk to her car.

He tried to mean his last words to her. He really did, because he'd had enough. His heart had been cut out and fed to him too many times to count in his lifetime. It was time for the pain to finally stop. So he tried furtively to ignore the niggling feeling that he would regret everything he had just declared.


AN: Please do review, as I am a little nervous of if I took Damon's personality a bit too far in this chapter. As you may have guessed this story is now A/U as it follows none of the story line of 3x15. Also, if anyone would like to beta or can recommend a good beta for this story I would be grateful because right now it is me, spell-check, and my husband who is entirely sick of hearing about TVD by now :D