Chapter 2

EPOV.

It's been 6 months since Klaus died.

Caroline and I have been living in New York since that night. After we graduated from school, we could have stayed in Mystic Falls, but decided that we both needed a clean break. From everything and everyone we had known. We both wanted a fresh start in America's biggest city, "The Big Apple".

Caroline had been working towards party planning, but due to her being a vampire, she kept her business small, to avoid people realising that she never aged. I however, chose to become a writer. I felt that this was one of my biggest strengths, and it meant that I could do something that I loved, with minimal risk of people realising who I was. We worked hard during the week and partied even harder during the weekend. It always amazed people how we could spend a whole night out on the town drinking twice as much as adult men could handle, and still be able to function perfectly well the next day. We always said it's cause we'd had years of practice, but in truth, it was because it took us around five times as much alcohol to get us drunk enough for a hangover than it would take an average human. We loved our life. Caroline always seemed to have men running around after her, a new man every week. I on the other hand, didn't want anything to remind her of what she could have had before she'd left Mystic Falls for good. It was the single biggest mistake of my life. I always thought back to the day when everything in my life had been turned upside down.

I had been lying right next to Klaus when I had started to die. I could remember having a flash back of all my favourite memories and then a montage of all my biggest regrets, and for some reason, Damon was at the top of the list for each. I remembered thinking how much Damon had been there for me, sometimes even more than Stefan, always putting my needs before his. It wasn't that Stefan hadn't been doing the same; he just never seemed to put as much passion into what he did for me than Damon did. So when I awoke, I wasn't at all surprised to feel my head on Damon's lap and him stroking my long brown hair lovingly, and Stefan sitting a few feet away leaning on a tree. When I finally stirred, Damon was the first to react.

"Elena, you're alive!" Damon cried, as he hovered above me.

"Damon I know!" I cried right back, crushing him into an embrace. Stefan looked heartbroken that I had chosen to hug Damon first whilst Bonnie and Elijah looked at our exchange with bemused looks on their faces. I pulled away from Damon, for some reason embarrassed to be hugging him with Stefan watching. I looked up to see Damon pouting at our loss of contact but said nothing about it.

"Elena, are you sure you're feeling okay?" Stefan asked. For some reason this really pissed me off. For fuck's safe I'm not THAT fragile! As if hearing my thoughts Damon turned to Stefan and shot him a vicious one liner.

"Stefan, for fuck's sake, get your head out of the sand and realise that Elena isn't the poor girl you're acting like she is! She can fucking take care of herself" and then as if realising what he said, added "well apart from battling supernatural creatures such as ourselves".

Stefan actually had the nerve to look angry at his brother, when all he was doing was defending me. Just as it looked like he was about to say something rude I stepped in gleefully reminding them of our victory over Klaus and how it was stupid to have these petty arguments. Stefan looked at me and nodded, whilst Damon merely shrugged.

"Okay enough of this banter ladies" Elijah piped up, "Lets get you home Elena, it's been a long day and of course we need to complete your transformation". I had forgotten about that, but now that he mentioned it, my hand flew to my throat and I attempted to soothe the pain with slow strokes up and down my throat and jaw.

As soon as we got back to the boarding house, Caroline, Jeremy, Anna and Tyler were waiting anxiously for us. Jeremy was the first to embrace me. He had no idea what I was turning into and it took little effort for my fangs to start to slowly descend and the veins forming around my eyes. Luckily, Caroline had been watching our exchange and quickly pulled him away from me, whilst Damon grabbed onto my arms from behind. They all wanted me to be able to do this with some control, and they all knew how angry I'd be at them for allowing any harm coming to Jeremy.

"Elena! What the fuck?" was all Jeremy could say about my sudden outburst. Then after seeing my dishevelled appearance – chest heaving, breathing deeply, long brown hair messed up, dark black eyes, black veins all around them and long sharp fangs descending from my mouth, he finally realised. With what looked like a swift talking to himself, he turned to Stefan and told him than he wanted it to be his blood to help my transformation. I was only too happy to oblige to his request and went at him again. If it hadn't been for Damon holding my back, I may have lost my younger and only brother that night.

Stefan took hold of my shoulders, slyly pushing Damon away from me, and started walking me slowly towards Jeremy. I remember getting so anxious as I could almost feel his blood pumping through his veins. Anna, Jeremy's girlfriend of 4 months, took hold of Jeremy to prevent him from moving. Being a vampire of over 500 years, she had no problem controlling his movements and kept him perfectly still for me. I grabbed Jeremy's arm and slowly moved my mouth towards his neck. The first bite almost took my breath away. The blood was rich and sickly sweet against my dry and parched throat. The more I drank from him, the more if took away the dull ache, so I was not happy when Anna pulled Jeremy off me and swiftly took him up to one of the bedrooms to rest. If it hadn't been for Stefan holding my shoulders, Damon on my left and Caroline on my right, I would have fought tooth and nail to go up and finish him off.

Later that night, I had been sitting with Caroline in one of the spare bedrooms, just listening quietly, testing out my new skills at being a vampire. Even half a mile away from town, I could still hear the mindless chatter of people coming and going from work, the dogs barking and the birds singing, all the sounds flowing easily to my sensitive ears. It wasn't until Caroline had smacked my arm, had I realised that I had effectively tuned her out, something she had been teaching me to do for the past hour. She claimed it would help if I was ever stuck in a room full of people, such as the Grill, where after a while, the noise would become too much. I was surprised that it had been Caroline who offered to teach me this. She was a relatively new vampire, being turned by Katherine almost 6 months ago. As soon as Katherine had realised that Klaus was dead, she fled from Mystic Falls without so much as a goodbye. Stefan had been taking the news horribly, whilst Damon seemed to be gleeful about not having the bitch around, and I couldn't agree more. I hated her for what she did to Stefan and Damon, and I hated her even more for trying to take them away from me! Wait, I meant take Stefan away from me. I couldn't think of Damon like that. Sure I loved him, but not in the way that he wanted. I was well away for his feelings for me and it killed me that I couldn't reciprocate them, but I was with Stefan.

So when I heard the commotion downstairs, Caroline and I immediately flashed downstairs. In less than a second I had realised what had been happening. Damon had Katherine pinned to a wall whilst Stefan was trying desperately to rip him off of her, but was having no luck due to his "vegetarian diet".

I looked at Stefan angrily before shouting"Stefan get the fuck off Damon and help him stake the bitch!" Upon realising my arrival downstairs, Katherine turned her head to look at me. She swatted Damon away from her as if he was merely a fly and looked at me. She listened for a long time, before sneering at me.

"So, finally, you're one of the clan Elena! It's about time. I always knew that the Salvatore's would want to keep a little version of me around while I'm gone". Stefan gasped, and Damon growled at her. I was more than a little confused by Stefan's reaction to what she said. He didn't seem sorry for me, only upset with Katherine, like he knew she could be better. Before I knew what was happening, Damon stood protectively in front of me, whilst Stefan grabbed Katherine by the shoulders and pushed her against the wall.

"Take that back Katherine!" Stefan shouted into her face. Katherine merely smiled and placed her hang on his jaw. Almost reflexively, he leaned into her hand and smiled as she merely stroked his jaw lazily. I couldn't even react properly to what was going on in front of me. Stefan, MY BOYFRIEND, was being openly affectionate to his EX-GIRLFRIEND. It wasn't until Damon tried to move me away did I realise what Stefan was about to do. I had seen enough of the scene to see Stefan slowly lean towards Katherine, and for her to lick her lips and lean towards him. I was being pushed out of the room when I heard the unmistakeable moan from Stefan as he and Katherine started making out in the living room. I didn't know how to think or feel. I pushed past Damon and Caroline, and ran at Stefan. Because he was not expecting me, I managed to push him to the floor. I was blinded with rage and couldn't help the scream that came from my throat. Stefan looked horrified at my outburst.

"WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK STEFAN? DO YOU NOT FUCKING LOVE ME OF SOMETHING YOU BASTARD!" I screamed at him. He at least had the right to look sheepish. I interrupted him before he said anything.

"Ohh, I get it. Now that Katherine suddenly wants you, you want her. So our love never meant a thing? You were only with me to pass the time so you could get Katherine out of Klaus's grasp once he was dead?" When he didn't say anything I let one lone tear trail down my cheek. I looked over at Katherine who actually looked a little taken aback by my outburst. "You can have him. You two fucking deserve each other" and with that I sped out of the house and into the woods.

I didn't want to see anyone after what happened. I wanted to be left alone. I had known that would never happen, as after a few minutes of sitting in the clearing by myself, I had heard someone walk up behind me. Before they had even got to me I knew who it was. I could smell his oakey, minty scent as he sat down next to me. I looked at him and smiled, as he put his arm around me in a comforting way. I leant my head on his shoulder as we both stared at the stars above us and took in the forest around us.

"Damon, I don't know what to do." I finally said after what seemed like hours of silence. He looked at me, thoughtfully as though wanting to say something important. When it looked like he decided against it, I said something else.

"I remember you know, what you said to me". He stayed quiet so I continued, speaking softer than before – "why did you do it? You know, compel me to forget? I'd still not know if I hadn't have become a vampire. So why did you feel the need to keep the fact that you l-"

"Stop.. Just stop." He whispered quietly. I looked at him, my heart practically melting at the expression on his face. All that was shown on his face, his expressions usually completely shielded, was a look of hurt and regret. I took his hand in mine and asked again, "Damon, why did you compel me to forget?".

He sighed and moved himself so that his legs were either side of me and leant me back against his chest. He crossed his arms over my torso, and I held them in place with my own hands. He was quiet for a long moment before finally saying "It's because I don't deserve you Elena. I never have and I doubt I ever will. It was the most selfish thing I could have said to you, what with you being with Stefan and all." My heart actually tightened a little at the mention of his name. "I felt he deserved you more than I ever would. But after witnessing tonight's turn of events, I don't think either Salvatore brother could ever deserve you. Elena, you deserve to be with someone that hasn't killed more people than he could count, but would still die trying to protect you. I am capable of one of those things, but I'm not able to erase my past."

I sat there stunned, before finally turning my face up to his and kissing him softly on the lips. He responded tenderly, cupping my neck with his right hand and holding his left arm across my body. "You do deserve me" I whispered against his ear, my hot breath tickling him. After a few moments, Damon responded with such passion, that I can still feel tingly thinking about it. I didn't want to lead him on, so I stopped the kiss and got up. With a "I'm sorry" glance down at Damon, I sped back to the boarding house, leaving him sitting there with a confused expression on his face.

It took me a full 5 minutes to pack my bags. I realised that Stefan and Katherine had gone up to his room, and I didn't want to see that bastard ever again. I quickly scribbled a note to Damon, explaining how I couldn't start anything with him, how I needed time for my heart to heal. I sent a text to Caroline to meet me at the Grill with her bags packed. With all the drama that had been going on with her, Matt and Tyler, I knew she wanted to get away.

I managed to get as far as the hallway before I felt Damon's presence behind me. He was holding the letter I had left on his bed in one hand, and his other had taken hold of my own hand.

"Please, Elena, please don't leave me like this, I am begging you" Damon pleaded, tears gathering in his eyes. I could only manage a apologetic "I'm sorry" before I turned around, pulling my hand from his and walked out the door. To be honest, I had expected Damon to really fight for me, to never let me go, so I did feel even more broken in my heart when he just let me walk away.

That night, Caroline and I had decided we wanted to live in New York for a while, so we both bought one way tickets, and for a long while, we never looked back.

ahhh the second chapter is up on the same day as the first! Okay, hopefully the third chapter will be up tomorrow, but reviews may even get it up tonight!