A\N Omg guys, thank you so much-Twelve reviews and I got like 30 emails in my gmail telling me people alerted and favorited. Thank you so much, so here's a new chapter for you. Please review!

Note: I'm trying to keep this as similar to the show as possible when it comes to Delena. We all know that Elena will struggle to admit that she wants Damon…So as much as my Delena imagination runs wild, in this story I'm keeping it close to the show.

Elena's POV

"Damon, I'm fine, I assure you!" I sighed deeply as Damon kept applying some ice on the bruises I had.

"Just wanted to make sure," Damon smiled briefly as he ran his hand through my hair. "You have to eat."

He handed me a packet of soup, and awkwardly he asked, "Is this good?"

I smiled softly and nodded.

Right then, I heard the door open and Stefan appeared in the kitchen, his lips crimson and traces of blood in the corners of his mouth. I nearly dropped my cup of coffee at the sight, and he was obviously drunk.

"And how is our precious Elena today?"

I didn't even realize I was trembling until I felt his hand on my head, patting my hair back. Damon flashed to me, staring daggers at Stefan, and he rose his hands up in surrender.

"Oh, don't worry, I'm just going to bed. In the meantime, you two have fun."

With that he disappeared.

"Are you okay?" Damon asked worriedly, obviously seeing my expression.

"This can't be him, Damon…It simply can't."

Damon inched closer to me, taking my hands in his. "It's the blood. The blood and Klaus's compulsion… The Stefan you remember isn't like this. But when the emotions are turned off, Elena, we don't feel anything anymore."

"Meaning he doesn't even love me anymore."

"Not because he doesn't love you," He squeezed my hands. "Because he turned everything off. Love, happiness, hate, anger… he can't feel any of that anymore."

"I can't believe this," I said, breaking down.

"We'll find a way, Elena, I promise."

As I ate some of the soup Damon sat next to me. "Elena, last night I told you how I want you to be protected. I know you're a strong woman, but when I carried you out of the hospital yesterday… the thought that I could've lost you…" He gulped, and I reached out for him.

"It was just hard seeing you in that hospital bed like that, taking your blood just to create hybrid babies for that bastard. I want you to be stronger-I mean physically." He paused for a while, and I stopped eating to see what he was going to say next. "I want you to learn how to defend yourself, not just against vampires but also against everyone that comes in your way…Alaric's a vampire hunter. He can tell you something."

"Why don't you teach me something yourself?"

"Elena, if I'm not careful I can end up hurting you. Alaric knows what he's doing…"

"I have a lesson with him at eleven," I said, looking at the clock.

"No," Damon said immediately, "I want you to stay here and rest. You lost too much blood, Elena-You can't just wander around like nothing happened. Besides, you can even blackout."

"You're right," I said, pushing the plate away. I barely had eaten half of the ready made soup.

"Just stay here, relax for a bit."

"Okay," I agreed, moving to the sink, but Damon stopped me. "I got this."

.

.

I spent the entire day just relaxing and talking to Damon, he refused to let me do anything. Damon had suggested watching a DVD and we had watched a horror movie on his big screen in his room, just distracting ourselves from reality.

At about six, I received a text from Bonnie.

Elena, haven't spoken to Jeremy all day. Is he with you?

"It's Bonnie," I said, answering Damon without giving him to the chance to ask the question first. "About Jeremy."

He seemed startled. "What about him?" He urged.

"She hasn't seen him all day…" Then I looked at Damon worriedly. "What's going on, Damon? I know you-"

"I'm not going to lie," He sighed. "Yesterday, Katherine and I went to see if we can find Michael…"

"Who's Micheal?"

"That's what I would like to know…."

"What?"

"Apparently the only person Klaus is afraid of is this one guy, Michael. Katherine said that he is a vampire who hunts vampires."

"Why would Klaus be afraid of a vampire hunter?"

"Katherine kinda kidnapped Jeremy last night… She said he would be able to contact Anna."

"What? What do you mean, contact Anna? What the hell's going on?"

Damon's POV

Realization hit me that Elena didn't even know about Jeremy. I instructed for her to sit down, and told her everything that I knew about Jeremy and his dead girlfriends. Looking at her, she looked like the sky had fallen down on her.

"I'm sorry."

"W-Where is he now? H-how is he handling it? He must've been so lonely…" She wept, "I should've noticed. I shouldn't have left him alone."

"What? You are blaming this on yourself? For God's sake, Elena, if there is someone who should take the blame is me… Jeremy got shot because of me."

"You were hallucinating…"

"It doesn't change the facts."

I leaned back against the chair, pinching the bridge of my nose in frustration.

"How did he end up with you yesterday?"

"Katherine believed that Jeremy might be able to contact Anna. Pearl, Anna's mother was really close with Katherine. Appearantly, Pearl was the only one who knew the one person that could kill Klaus. Since it was valuable information, she didn't tell Katherine as it was her levearage. Of course, she would've told Anna…"

"So Jeremy contacted Anna."

"Yes. Michael is a vampire who hunts vampires; I believe he might know how to kill Klaus. Not dagger dead, dead as in dead."

"But where is he?"

"Anna said not to wake him, so that means he's dead. However, she gave Jeremy the place where Michael's buried."

"So Jeremy's with Katherine right now?"

"Yes."

"Damon, we can't wake Michael…"

"What?" I gasped in surprise.

"We don't know if this guy only wants to hurt everyone more. Too many people are dead…"

"Elena, if Michael is alive, he can save your life!"

"I know… but this puts us back to square one. I want everyone I love safe, Damon."

"I can't understand you, Elena," I said, raising my voice. "Do you really want to die again? Spend months trying to figure out how to save your life? Or better yet, do you really want Klaus to come back for you whenever he pleases?"

"No, of course not, but I don't want to, Damon…"

I flashed in front of her, grabbing her wrists.

"But that is what he'll do. I used Michael as leverage, so he won't be here in a few. But he will come back for you-and do you know what he'll do? He'll either kill you or take you away from here, and then whenever he pleases he just takes your blood to create his hybrid children. And I can't have you taken away, Elena…" I realized I was shouting now, not sure if I was shouting at her or shouting at the situation. She flinched, and I realized that my face was going to transform soon with the anger I had inside of me. I felt bad after I realized that I was being a jerk and I quickly let go of her arms, I had obviously scared her. I backed away to show her that I wasn't going to hurt her and that I was in complete control, and she looked at her feet.

"You don't get it, don't you?"

"What?" I asked quietly.

"How much you all mean to me. How much you mean to me… I can't have you all at risk just to save me."

"And you don't seem to realize how much I love you, Elena," I said, downing a glass of Bourbon.

She bit her lip.

"So Jeremy is with Katherine right now?"

"He's not a child anymore, Elena. I ddn't like the idea, but Katherine has no reason to hurt him."

She didn't seem convinced.

"Look, everything will turn out fine, I promise."

The Next Day

Elena's POV

I woke up early to go to school. It sounded weird even saying that, but I had to do something normal, otherwise I was going to go crazy. I haven't seen Stefan and I thanked God for that, I was still afraid.

I planned to ask Alaric for help.

Damon's POV

As I put fresh clothes on, I made my way downstairs. Elena was already on her way to school and I wanted to drive her myself, but she insisted that she should be normal for once so I let her. As I took the last step I saw Stefan on an armchair, reading a book.

Kneeling in front of him on the floor were women wearing short dresses, they were clearly compelled and dancing. Each one of them had blood pouring out, and Stefan stood up, gestured for one of them to come near him and drained her dry in a mere second.

"Care to join me, brother?" He asked with blood on his lips.

"Is that what Klaus had in mind when he asked you to protect Elena?"

"Elena's safe for now… She's at school. And I'm going there in a few, too."

He stood up and instantly drained the other two dry, gave me a cold smile and made his way to his room. I stared at him in disbelief.

Elena's POV

"You think I'd be stupid if I think I'll be able to protect myself from a vampire," I told Rick later on. "But I want to be protected, Alaric. I want to be able to defeat myself."

"So you are basically suggesting that I teach you?" He cocked an eyebrow. "You are not practicing Kung-Fu, for God's sake! This is too dangerous for you…"

"Alaric, I don't get why everyone keeps making decisions for me. I'm eighteen years old, and I want this. So please…"

He sighed. "Okay. I'll meet you after school."

.

.

"You need to hit there," Alaric explained, "Focus."

Alaric was explaining something about kicking, but I wasn't focusing enough.

"Elena, you realize that if this happened in real life you'll be screwed, right?"

"I'm trying…" I groaned.

"Well, try harder."

"Dammit," I growled after thirty minutes of trying to do what Alaric was instructing me to do. "I'm tired of trying…I just I can't do this."

"Giving up already?"

"Thank you for trying, Rick. But I'm not good at this."

When I returned home, Damon instantly knew I took his advice.

"How did it go?"

"I'm not good," I said. "I just suck."

I was about to turn away when Damon suddenly grabbed my hand and my back hit his chest. He raised his arm from my waist, and I was suddenly surprised by this gesture. He then bends me over and pinned me to the ground, still very softly.

"Ready to try again?" He asked with a smile.

"When a vampire grabs you from the waist, he is most likely going to bite," He explained, grabbing me from the waist and pressing my back against his chest once again, while with his other hand he held my elbow up. "Bite and seduce…"

My face turned crimson, and he smiled softly at my expression.

"So when you are being grabbed from the waist, the first thing you need to do is actually hitting or kicking…"

"But…"

"It won't hurt them, but it will certainly give you time to go to step two: Staking."

"Oh."

"Vampires have fast reflexes. So when you are planning to stake, you need to be very careful to aim right at the heart. And you need to be very quick-This only happens if you practice. Keep movements to the minimum, vampires sense that you have something, a weapon, against them if you move too much."

"Come on, let's try it."

He gave me an iron stake-like thing.

"I'm not going to hit you with that…"

"You're not. You're going to try."

He grabbed me from my waist and like he had explained, I kicked him. When I turned, I saw that Damon really was on the floor and I ran to him and shook him.

"Damon!"

Suddenly I felt myself pinned down again, his hands on my neck, but not pressing. He was smiling. "Second rule: Never turn to check on your enemy."

"You bastard," I smiled, and he helped me up.

"I hope being a warrior princess isn't exactly your plan, though," Damon added.

"I want to lock Stefan up, Damon."

"Then I will help."

What do you think? Please leave a review… I had to write this so we can see Delena develop. The self defense thing was inspired by the promo.