Elena tried to make small talk with her friends but faking a smile seemed too difficult these days. She settled on getting drunk instead. In reflection, Elena would recognize this as mistake number one of the evening; but she wouldn't take it back even if she could.

Mistake number two occurred when Elena went outside to the balcony for a breather which turned into a stroll though the garden. She felt that her surroundings mirrored her forlorn disposition. The moon cast an empty, frigid glow on the forgotten garden and Elena noticed the somber roses and the few icy dew drops that remained on their wilting petals. The dew drops had been abandoned by the sun, forced to hold on through another frozen night. Maybe tomorrow it's light would break through the clouds and lift them from this dead world. That was unlikely. 'The sun won't shine for weeks this time of year," Elena thought to herself as she ripped the flower from it's stem and bent down to tuck the rose beneath the frostbitten earth. That was Mistake number three.

Before Elena had stood up she was suddenly pummeled with force and wind and energy and then it all just stopped and she was somewhere else. "What the hell just happe.." A very tipsy Elena began to wonder when just as suddenly she was thrown to the ground. A dark cloaked figure appeared above her and held her shoulders down with such force that Elena thought he might literally crush her to death. When she was sure her collar bone would break the figure suddenly let off but went for her neck instead. Panic constricted her body and images of Jeremy, Bonnie, Jenna, Stephen, and her parents rushed through her mind. Elena was painfully aware of her neck. She could feel the pull of every invisible hair so when the sensation of two icy fangs pierced her skin she felt as if bolts of electricity were sent through her body and she let out a desperate yelp that seemed to carry for miles. The vampire pulled away abruptly and covered her mouth with his dead hand. Elena began to struggle fiercely as she cried at the realization of her reality. This was really happening. And just as she thought things couldn't get worst Elena caught the empty eyes of her attacker which held something different from hunger or anger. Lust?

His lips curled into a sneer as he scanned her body and quickly yanked up her dress. "No!" Elena screamed and bucked wildly. Fear overwhelmed her as her mind screamed over and over again,

'he's going to rape me, he's going to rape me, he's going to..' Elena let out another desperate shriek and began to fight once more as she felt her tights ripped down. His frozen hand sent electric chills up her spine as he roughly parted her thighs. She wouldn't give up, she couldn't, she would die fighting. After experiencing the immense force a vampire was capable of, Elena knew she wouldn't survive this ordeal.

Excruciating pain ripped through her inner thigh. Acidic poison, raw, agonizing, white-hot, searing torture. She couldn't think or breath, she only existed in a state of paralyzed enslavement to the absolute misery that coursed through her entire body. Elena's skin seared like the scorching blood that ripped her veins raw. Her mind screamed at a nauseating frequency from the white, skull-splintering pain and her inner thigh was under such intense trauma the pressure was inexplicable and unbearable. Elena was grateful as her consciousness began to slip but just as suddenly her balloon of horror was popped and the torture released its hold on her. She tried to comprehend what had just occurred but caught sight of a figure quickly approaching. Elena let out a defeated scream as she attempted to move her aching body. A hand grasped her shoulder and the silence was broken,"Elena" her name was uttered ever so gently that the image of a rose in the fresh morning sunlight came to mind. 'So this is how I will die. Finally.'

"It's ok, it's Damon, I'm not going to hurt you" Elena opened her eyes and turned her face to his. It was Damon, not her killer. Relief, sadness, confusion all washed over her. She caught sight of Damon's eternal eyes and whimpered, curling herself into a ball to hide from the bitter pain of reality. Damon's hands however stopped her from doing so and surprisingly, brought Elena a much needed sense of comfort, "Shh Elena, you're ok, can you tell me where you're hurt?" Damon whispered so tenderly it shocked Elena. She thought over his question,'where am I hurt?' She was hurt everywhere, she felt broken from the inside out; But then she remembered the epicenter of it all and let out a horrified sob upon realizing the sticky warmth of what must be blood on her inner thigh. "H..He.. He b-b-bit me!? Down th-there." Elena stuttered, still not entirely sure, as she glanced down towards her groin. "Ok, Elena I'm going to help you" Damon told her with honesty and concern,

"Is it ok If I look at the bite?" Her gut told her she could trust Damon but her body's logic and instinct for survival told her otherwise. Elena tried to pull herself away from him but her arms were exhausted and she whimpered as she realized her vulnerable position. "N-no! Please dont. Don't t-touch me." Tears began to fall from her horrified eyes and she trembled against her control. She couldn't trust anyone to see her like this but especially not Damon, a vicious vampire, and she, a bleeding human- it was suicide.

But Damon's hand reached out to her with such a gentle nature it seemed to contradict everything he was.

"Elena, please." Damon's plead was so heartfelt that Elena met his eyes, "I need to stop the bleeding. I will be gentle and I will stop if you ask me too. And when I've stopped the bleeding I will take you somewhere safe, I promise, I will protect you Elena." His dew drop eyes were glassy and clear, pained, abandoned, and she trusted them. Maybe she didn't have a choice because her eyelids were growing heavier. But Elena did have a choice, and she chose to hold on at least for another frozen night.

She nodded her head wearily