Brown hair swished across her face as she gazed at the scene in front of her. Though she could not tell who she herself was, she had enough knowledge to judge what was going on in her blatantly dreamlike state. She saw two attractive men she felt as though she should recognize; two figures that are important to her. One of the men was holding a different version of her; a lesser one. The feeling she had when she looked on at herself struggling feebly at the vampiric man's hold was negative and she detested the weakness her body portrayed.

GET AWAY, GET AWAY, GET AWAY, her old self thought in an ongoing chant.

Confused, the girl turned away from the scene. Why would she want to get away from her saviour? Her creator? She sprinted away from the scene in the form of a black wolf, happy to be free of stupidity and restraints.

Elena's subconscious accepted her new un-life.

"Well I guess that's what they mean by your life flashing before your eyes," a snarky voice said. "Or not."

What Elena believed to be the most killer headache in the history of ever continuously pounded on her head. She let a loud moan loose into the darkness, "What's going on? Why can't I see?"

"Well, you've gotta open your eyes first, sweetheart."

No light was shed into her line if vision as she found the nerves that enabled her eyes to open; strangely enough, this did not prove to be a problem for her eyesight. She seemed to be lying on a very soft and comfortable bed in homely room. The dust on all the objects in the room made it obvious no one had been there in a while and the windows were broken and boarded up. But what she saw in front of her with her perfect vision was the real surprise. "Damon?"

The smug smirk that somehow always found it's way to his face graced his lips, "At your service, milady."

But Elena was in no mood for games. Not with her body aching the way it did. "Ugh, my head's killing me. What the hell happened?"

Elena blinked slowly, and when she opened her eyes again, Damon's arms were on either side of her and he was looking deep into her eyes. Elena immediately reached for her absent necklace and Damon, catching the movement, grinned.

"You're not gonna want that

anymore so I took the liberty if removing it," he looked at her innocently. "You know, with it being vervain and all."

Elena narrowed her eyes, "What are talking-" for the first time she actually noticed her situation. She could see everything pristinely, she caught Damon's movement AND blinked in one moment, and ,although she felt extremely weak, she still felt as though she could throw a truck through a wall. Which is a weird feeling. "What happened?" she murmured.

"Well," Damon said, grin still in place, "I killed you."

"That's what I thought."

"That's it?" Damon looked disappointed.

"What?"

"No crying? Shouting? Raging about how mean I am?"

Elena just rolled her eyes, "You know what an asshole you are; you don't need me to tell you."

This isn't good enough, Damon thought. He felt cheated out of what he thought was the inevitable reaction. Elena must have been more ready for this life than he thought. No matter I'll just fix it.

"So you're not even the least bit upset about leaving your whole life behind?"

Elena looked confused. "I'm not leaving them behind. I'm not leaving Mystic Falls. I can make this work."

"Will you now?" Damon rolled his eyes, "Because I know that we're not staying."

"You're not the boss if me."

"Ah, ah, ah," Damon chastised, "older plus stronger equals boss of you."

Closing her eyes and laying back, Elena whispered, "No."

Damon stared straight at her with amusement from his position above her, "And it's even better now, I don't have to worry about you breaking!"

She ignored him.

Hmph.

"Although, " he continued, "I don't know why you'd care. Maybe because you're ex-junkie bro is finally pulling his life together? Or your aunt is starting to date? Or your poor, witchy friend has no idea what the hell to do with herself."

"Shut up."

Motivated further, Damon kicked it up a notch, "Or is it because you want to be around when Caroline whores around with even more guys, like your ex beau?" Finally ready to push her last button he finished with, "Or maybe you just wanna feel closer to your dead parents who died drunk. If they were alive now you could just eat them for lying to you about belonging in their family!"

"I said, SHUT UP!" Elena leaped from her position on the bed and landed gracefully on her feet posed for a fight. Baring her teeth and snarling viciously she was in full vampire mode. Considering the fact that she had yet to hunt, her mood depleted even faster.

But as she stared at Damon's satisfied face, another mood swing spread through her. She had never jumped so fast before. She has never been so graceful. She had never been so quick. And she had never felt so dangerous. Tears formed in her eyes as she brokenly sank out of her fighting stance and to her knees. The change in her strength was too much all at once and she felt her mind crashing.

Seeing Elena so disconnected made Damon think of his first days as a vampire, and he immediately felt repentant. He had adapted well after some time on his own, but threw his fair share of temper tantrums in the secluded forests. And that was without anyone goading him and ,also, prior acceptance to the life he knew he wanted to live. He figured it was good to feel repentant, he had caused all this after all.

Putting his arms around her he murmured, "Elena... c'mon it'll be fine. You'll like it."

She curled into him and latched onto his leather jacket, "Do you really think they were drunks?"

"You knew them better than I."

"I don't feel like I knew them at all after I found out about..."

Damon stroked her hair and nestled his face in her soft, silky hair. "That doesn't matter. And judging by how you turned out, I wouldn't put money on then being alcoholics."

Elena leaned into him, enjoying the closeness, "Why'd you say that stuff?"

"I don't know. I wanted to."

Deciding that was the best answer she was going to get, Elena asked a different question. "You know what you said when I woke up? About my life flashing before my eyes?"

"Mhm." Damon closed his eyes and inhaled her scent."

"How'd you know what I was dreaming?"

"I was watching them while I waited for you to wake up."

Elena's mood deflated. "So you can still read my mind?" she asked sourly.

Damon chuckled, "Yep, but maybe you'll be strong enough to keep me out after you feed." Damon wouldn't tell her about his surprise after she flung him off of her before. She hadn't fed yet and if she was that strong now... One thing was for sure, Stefan could not compare to Elena so far. "C'mon let's get going. We don't want anybody catching up to us and you need to feed." Damon stood up; pulling her from his lap.

"Who's following us?"

Damon glanced at her, surprised, as he started to leave the room, "What? You thought Stefan would just leave you to his big, bad, older brother? Sure he needs his time to brood and mope, but I'm a bad influence on you."

"Who's Stefan?"

"Just what I like to hear."

"Seriously," Elena racked through her mind for the information she just didn't seen to have, "Who's Stefan?"