Fathom My Love

Chapter 2 Part I- Aftermath

Thank you for your interest in the first chapter! Although it wasn't my best work, I assure you, it will get better in time. Here's the first half of the second chapter you've all been so wonderfully patient about.

I was running a little behind so I thought I'd publish at least the first half by now, while I get the second half in either by tomorrow or the day after. Thank you again for being so patient!

Enjoy, and let me know what you think! Constructive criticism is always great 3

"Elena! where the hell were you last night? Jeremy and I were worried about you!" Bonnie screamed right into Elena's ear as they were walking to History together that morning.

"Geez Bonnie, I'm right here. Stop screaming so loud" Elena snapped back, annoyed. The last thing she needed right now was going over the details of last night, what she remembered of it anyway.

Elena woke up this morning with a perfect set of questions, questions she would love to get answers to. Questions that made her brain hurt so much she had to sit down to get her mind back in order. Questions that made no sense.

She almost didn't want to get out of bed that morning, but the strange text from Stefan reminded her that she had work to do.

She needed to grab him right after History for answers. Stefan. Elena struggled to keep a straight face as she said his name. A name that once took her breath away, now tasted strangely foreign on her tongue. She traced her fingertips on her lips with a frown.

"Earth to Elena!" The sound of Bonnie's shrill voice made her jump, and her best friend gasped when she saw her face. "Elena..." Bonnie began.

"What?" Elena asked, uninterested. Whatever was on Bonnie's mind can't possibly be worse than what she was going through right now.

"Your neck..." Bonnie suddenly looked very worried. Truth is, nothing could have surprised Elena today. Nothing, except this. Elena touched her bite marks, horrified to find blood there.

She could have sworn she had covered her bite marks up nicely, to avoid getting another lecture on Why Ripper Ex-Boyfriends Shouldn't Be Feeding On Their Exes, one that took Damon less than a minute to give; although he made his point very, very clear.

Elena still hadn't told her best friend the entire story. The fact that Stefan had to feed on Elena, not because Klaus compelled him to, but because he wanted to. And she couldn't gather the guts to tell her why.

But Stefan hadn't fed on Elena in a while now, so she had no idea what was causing her to bleed like this.

Damon paced back and forth around his spacious Victorian drawing room. Jeremy's text had caught him off guard, even though he knew what Jeremy didn't.

When Elena had approached him and told him about Stefan, Damon had lost it. He lashed out on her, because he knew how stupid Elena was being by letting Stefan mark her.

Damon was hoping his ripper brother hadn't gotten to that point yet, but from the details of Jeremy's text it seemed to him that he had.

Stefan had marked Elena, and not because he was in love with her- Damon knew his brother better than anyone- but because he was lusting for her blood.

But why, dammit? Why would Stefan do something like that?

The question bugged Damon to the point where his head hurt. A knock on the door made him snap out of his thoughts, and he dashed to the door like a strong wind.

Damon opened the door, and a dark figure rushed past him and made his way on the couch, sitting himself comfortably as if he owned the place.

"Stefan"

"Hello, brother."

Elena pressed the wet paper towel against her pale skin to wipe off any extra blood, and carefully tied the purple Pashmina scarf around her neck. She had to change out of her shirt since the blood had stained the neck pretty badly.

Standing in the empty bathroom, Elena stood staring at her reflection. This has been the craziest year, she thought to herself.

A tear trickled down her skin as she thought about her past, and how things had changed.

She was no longer Elena Gilbert, depressed girl with the diary who lost her parents. She was Elena Gilbert, ex-girlfriend of former good-guy vampire, best friends with a witch, and doppelganger of an evil vampire.

She remembered when she was so madly in love with Stefan and despised his brother Damon; now her and Damon were like long-lost siblings that had finally found each other. Throughout the year, they went through so much, and Damon was always there for her, saving her.

It's funny how people you think you could trust everything with end up disappointing you the most.

Suddenly the scar on her leg began to ache, which made her think of Damon. She really didn't want him to find out about what happened last night, or even this morning for that matter. He would probably erupt like a premature volcano if he did.

Elena checked her watch, 8.10 pm. She had been standing here for 20 minutes. Any longer and Bonnie will come rushing towards the bathroom with a bottle of vervain in her hand. Time to go back to class.

"Care to explain what the hell you were doing last night in the woods with Elena?" Damon looked up at his brother, who was now playing with a glass ball on the coffee table, spinning it until it finally fell on the carpeted floor.

"What makes you think I was with Elena last night? I had something else to take care of. I have a girlfriend now, didn't I tell you?"

Stefan smiled, revealing his perfect set of teeth, ones that go from pearly white to blood red before you can say fangs.

"Please don't tell me you're shagging Barbie Klaus."

"Oh God no. That fling is so 19th century. Her name is Felicia, and she is one of us." Stefan smiled, a spark of playfulness in his eyes.

Damon knew that look. It had trouble written all over it.

"What about Elena?" Damon asked, trying to speak calmly when he wanted to throw his brother across the other side of the room, brotherhood be damned.

Their "brotherhood" right now was the relationship of a cat and a bird. And he had promised Elena he would always protect her, so she always came first.

"What about her?" Stefan asked halfheartedly.

That did it. As soon as those words were out of Stefan's mouth, something inside Damon snapped so audibly that he combusted.

In less than three seconds, Damon's arms were around Stefan's neck and he had him against a wall, suffocating him.

"What the-" Stefan struggled to talk, but with Damon's arms wrapped tightly around his brother's neck, he couldn't even breathe, much less speak.

"Listen carefully, Stefan. You and I may be related but Elena is not a TOY for you to mess with. She is like a sister to me and I wouldn't hesitate to drive a stake through your heart if I have to in order to save her." Damon spat at Stefan, choking him until he finally stopped fighting back.

Damon let go.

"Is there a problem, boys?" came a voice from behind them, sweet as sugar with a hint of lemon.

Damon turned around to find a young woman dressed in a black strapless dress paired with silver sequined peep-toed heels and a Louis Vuitton clutch.

She smiled at them, flashing her perfect set of teeth.

Stefan straightened himself and cleared his throat. "Well, looks like my date is here. Felicia darling, why don't you come over here so I can introduce your sexy self to my brother?"

"Damon Salvatore, Felicia Preston. Felicia, Damon."

"Pleasure" Felicia spoke in a very sophisticated manner, much like the way she was dressed. She had a thick English accent, which reminded Damon of Klaus.

There was something about her that didn't seem right to Damon. But he couldn't put a finger on it.

"Yeah whatever. Save the wannabe English accent for later, Nicki Minaj."

Felicia looked mock-hurt. "Nicki Minaj? What the bloody hell is that? Sounds like an exotic food item"

"He's just kidding, darling. Let's go now. We have a lot planned for tonight" Stefan winked at Felicia suggestively, and pulled her tightly in her arms.

Felicia turned and winked at Damon right before she left, which set Damon on edge.

He still didn't know what the deal was with Elena, and wondered what it was that Jeremy had to tell him. I guess that will have to wait till later.

For now there's a new vampire in town, and from the looks of it, she's gonna be here for a while.

Tadaa! In Part 2 of Aftermath, Elena goes to Bonnie, and Damon goes to Jeremy...and something exciting happens :p COMING SOOOOON. (Maybe tomorrow)

Also, please note that I will be going on a religious pilgrimage with my family in 2 days (for 6 days) so the next chapter will take a while to be published since I won't be able to write AT ALL during the entire time I'll be away:(

It won't mean I ditched the story, it would just mean it will take a while for the next chapter to be up. Maybe 2 weeks.

It would mean a lot to me if you could stick around for that!

I know the plot seems to be moving slow right now but I have a lot of stuff planned I promise. Like I said it's my very first work of fiction so it's a bit iffy.. but hopefully will get better in time :)