Hey guys! I know its been over a week and for that I'm sorry, but I hope this slightly more dramatic however bordering-on-M-rated chapter might make up for it. I did consider upping this chapter to an M but I'm still deciding whether I want my story to do that. If you have any input, let me know.

Also, I realise that last chapter went a little funny. I double checked the file and that wasn't in all italics and I don't think the version of the computer was so I think it was just the mobile version of the chapter. Regardless, I'm hoping this chapter wont do that.

Enjoy :)

A/N: A big thanks Physco17, who beta-ed this chapter.


Chapter 3


"Damon! How could you do that?" Elena cried as she paced the room of Damon's hotel room.

Damon resisted the urge to growl in frustration. "Well if Stefan had actually told me there was a hunter in town and that you idiots wanted him alive, then none of this would've happened!" He pointed out.

"Stop blaming your mistakes on other people!"

"I'm not!"

"You are", Elena growled. Her eyes narrowed as she glared at her boyfriend. Damon stood frozen in shock as he watched Elena pace back and forth aggressively. She abruptly turned and stalked towards him, her fists clenched.

Just before he reached him, she stopped and met his gaze. Damon stood completely still as they both shared a look; Elena's eyes were lit with passion while Damon's were calm.

Clenching her fists in frustration, Elena let out an animalistic, and annoyed, growl. "Oh my God!" She snarled once more, as though it was uncontrollable at this point. "I hate you sometimes." She said after several moments of angry stuttering.

Damon's lips curled into a smile. As though she felt it, Elena turned to him and he instantly sobered his expression.

After a moment, he sighed. "Look, Elena. Killing him? It's protecting us, all of us; me, you, Stefan, Caroline, Jeremy!"

Elena seemed tense, but she nodded never the less. "I know Damon. I just- It's just that- You can't-" she paused to take a deep breath, "You can't just go around killing people. That could have gotten you or any of us killed." And she could not go through that again.

The elder nodded seriously, "Oh I'm aware", he chuckled humorlessly. "Trust me, Elena. I know that it could have gotten me killed but I was doing it to protect you."

"You really need to stop risking your life for me Damon." Elena chided lightly, ignoring how her heart soared slightly at the thought. Every day it hit her like a brick wall just how much he truly loved her.

Damon grinned softly. "Uh-huh, sure."

Elena giggled and slowly took his hand, swinging it between the absentmindedly. Suddenly, a tense atmosphere settled back over them and Elena froze.

"What did you do with the body?"

Damon's face instantly settled into a grimace. "About that…"

[…]

The second the lid was raised, Elena stumbled backwards in disgust, her hand to her mouth. Caroline let out a gasp of shock before doing much the same. Damon stood, slightly leant on one leg, and looked down at the body with an unreadable expression.

"Ladies, meet vampire hunter." Damon said, slight amusement was in his voice, "Vampire hunter, meet- well, you're dead so don't bother."

Caroline glared at his poor attempt at humor. "Not the time, Damon", she chided tersely. Elena shook her head dismissively and turned to the body.

Tripp was a mess; his skin was a sickly white, his veins bleeding through like paint. Elena could even see the veins of his neck were bulging from his neck, almost see through with blood loss. His hair was matted with dirt and no doubt blood, and his neck had large handprints around its diameter, clearly Damon's. His eyes were open and hollow like the dead; all the light had gone out giving them a pale look.

What was left of his clothes had obviously been through the shredder; his shirt was in tears, dried blood stuck to the hair of his chest, and his jeans were stained with grass, dirt and gravel. Elena resisted the urge to throw up.

"What the hell happened to him?" Caroline demanded. Elena was still silent.

Damon shrugged. "He was lurking around campus, bumped into me and asked me if I knew a Caroline Forbes. So, I put an end to him before anything bad happened. You're welcome."

Elena sent Damon a look of raging disapproval. "How do you even know he was a vampire hunter?"

"Well I took a guess when he tried to stab me with a vervain dart." Damon rolled his eyes.

Elena frowned at his sarcasm.

She took a deep breath before closing the lid on the wooden box and taking a step back. After a moment of silence, both Caroline and Damon watching her throughout, she turned to her boyfriend. "Clean this up, i'll go tell Matt."

And with that, she left.

[…]

Caroline didn't manage to catch Elena for another three hours. The girl was nothing short of a professional when it came to hiding, but eventually Caroline managed to track her down.

She found her sitting on a brick wall outside the dorms and chatting animatedly to a dark haired boy. The young man, who undoubtedly resembled a certain Salvatore, was grinning ear to ear and very clearly flirting with her. Elena didn't seem to mind though. In fact, she was relishing in the attention.

Caroline quickly caught up with Elena and when she reached her best friend, she recognized the boy.

"Oh hey Liam." She greeted with a smile. Both Liam and Elena seemed to tense slightly at her arrival.

"Caroline, right?" At the blonde's nod, he smiled uncomfortably. "Nice to meet you."

Elena bit her lip, refraining from shouting at her best friend to leave. Instead, she turned to Liam and plastered on her most bitter-sweet smile. "Liam," she called, batting her eyelashes slightly for emphasis. "Would you mind leaving me and my friend alone for a minute to talk?"

Liam seemed to shift uncomfortably at her request before he realized what she meant. Quickly, he jumped up from the wall and hurriedly threw his bag over his shoulder. "See you around, Elena." He sent her a somewhat flirtatious smile before turning towards the dorm and heading, no doubt, towards his room.

Elena instantly spun to face her friend. "Um, hi?" She growled sarcastically.

Caroline rolled her eyes, however she seemed annoyed. "Oh you know what, Elena!" She shouted passionately, "Will you just stop being so damn hostile! What's gotten into you?"

Elena tensed visibly. "I don't know Care. Maybe it's finally dawned on me how insane my life is!" She threw up her hands. She went to stand up, bag already securely on her back, when Caroline grabbed her hand and tugged her back into her seat.

"Seriously. Spill." The blond poked her.

The brunette groaned but sat down comfortably. She turned to her friend with a sad sigh. "It's about Damon."

"Good or bad?" Caroline asked him.

"I don't know." Elena answered honestly.

Caroline nodded hesitantly, listening intently; this was the first time since Damon's 'death' that they had sat down for a proper conversation about "feelings".

When Elena was still silent, two minutes later, Caroline grinned. "Wanna elaborate there Elena?"

Elena huffed. "It's just that, ever since he's come back I'm just feeling really weird about this entire situation." She told her blond friend, "I mean, Damon died. I was a train wreck; I put people in danger including myself and now that he's back and I know how it feels to lose him. It's like I spend every waking moment making sure I never have to relive that again. I feel like I'm going crazy here, Care."

Caroline smiled softly at her friend. "Ah." She sighed dreamily. "You're so sickeningly in love Elena. It's totally normal to be a bit over-cautious for people after they have near death – or in this case actual death – experiences." Caroline may not have exactly approved of her best friends relationship with Damon, but she liked her best friend happy. And the crazy, impulsive Salvatore made her happy.

Elena nodded. "I know. I just… don't know how to act around him at the moment. I mean, do we talk about it? Do we just move on and live in the moment?"

"Definitely the first one." Caroline told her, "You need to talk to him about everything that went down… everything, Elena."

[…]

"Drugs?" Damon asked in disbelief, blinking once to make sure he heard right.

The gentle nod he received in return only caused his face to twist into even more shock. He took a moment to collect his racing thoughts.

He'd always looked at Elena as an incredibly brave and strong person. She had to be after all, she had lost so much. Although it made his heart race, the thought that she loved him too much was absolutely heart breaking for him. To think that all this time, his love for her – and her love for him – was actually a danger to her?

"But… Why?" He found himself asking.

Elena looked torn between telling him the absolute truth or the censored version. Damon just prayed that what she said next was the former.

"Because it hurt." She looked at the floors for a second, "So much, Damon. I just couldn't do it, knowing that I'd never see you again. So… I took the… less conventional escape." Even Elena looked shocked at the stupidity of her words.

"Less conventional?" Damon scoffed in disbelief. "Are you kidding me, Lena? You put yourself in danger because you love me!" At each word, Damon seemed to get both more passionate and more angry. "You love me too much!"

Elena's eyes flared. "Too much?!" She screeched in near disbelief. "Have you met you?"

"No Elena, I haven't." He rolled his eyes, "But if you honestly thought that I loved you too much and that it put me in far too much danger… Tell me you wouldn't be upset!"

"Of course I would, but I wouldn't get angry at you!" Elena wouldn't be angry at him, she would feel sad, but not angry.

"I'm not angry at you." Damon cried, Elena scrunched up her face confused. "I'm angry at myself! I didn't notice that since the second I laid eyes on you I was dooming you, Elena. Since you fell in love with me, you've been losing yourself more and more every damn day!"

Elena jumped to her feet, kicking the chair she'd been sitting on behind her. It clattered across the floor and hit the wall with a resonating thud!

"That's crap and you know it." She seethed, she could not believe what she was hearing. "I do love you, a lot, Damon, but not too much, never too much." She said, "And yeah, I've changed. So what? You've changed since we met, haven't you?"

"Yeah, because you're actually good for me Elena." Damon's eyes were starting to well with angry tears at this point, but he refused to let them fall. His hands were repeatedly clenching and unclenching as he and Elena circled each other in the room.

Elena walked past Damon, ignoring him when he attempted to take a hold of her hand, and slumped down on the bed. His hotel room wasn't particularly big but it put enough space between them. She sighed, putting her face in her hands. She took several deep breaths, disregarding it when she felt the dip of the mattress as he sat beside her.

When she next looked up, her face was calm but her eyes were wet. "What was it I said to you earlier Damon?"

Damon looked confused and shrugged, Elena nodded solemnly.

"I told you that you had to stop risking your life for me. And why do you do that? Because you love me." Damon seemed torn as she continued. "You put yourself in danger because you love me. And, yet, when I do the same thing, you freak out."

"Because it's my job, baby." Elena turned to her boyfriend, confused. The smile he sent her was endearing and devastating at the same time.

Damon's eyes shone with something Elena was incredibly familiar with. "I love you, Elena." Damon said, "So it's my job to look out for you, to protect you when I can. To save you, to be an asshole and to do the exact things you beg me not to."

Elena chuckled breathily, and the two of them smiled smally. "So does that mean I just got a new job?"

Damon scoffed. "Sure." He beamed. Elena grinned and let out – what Damon thought was – an adorable laugh.

It happened purely because he couldn't resist. His lips were on hers in seconds, pressing firmly and his arms were wound around her waist, twisting her upper body to face him so he could deepen the kiss further. Elena let out a gasp as he scoured her mouth with his own, her hands tangling in his hair. She tugged on the soft locks as she swung her leg over his waist and settled into his lap, her arms winding around him tightly.

If either of them were human they would have died from suffocation right now.

Damon sighed contently when she pulled her mouth away and began peppering kissing across his neck. As though he was the finest wine, she kissed and licked every inch of his neck and across his collarbone. Damon chuckled at her enthusiasm but decided that he needed to see her.

He quickly grabbed her face and tore her lips from his neck. She looked somewhat disappointed when he pulled her face up to his. Damon stared at her for a good few seconds and although no words were exchanged, she understood his message. Nodding, Elena smiled. She was so hopelessly in love with this man.

When his eyes shone and his lips reclaimed hers, she knew that he felt the exact same. His lips were frantic against hers.

Five minutes later, with his shirt already discarded and Elena now sprawled on her back on the bed, Damon pulled away.

"Wait-wait!" He let out a rare stutter, breathless. "What was it you wanted to talk about when you first – ah, Elena stop – came in?" Elena frowned and went back to kissing his bare shoulders. Damon called her name again and pushed her away, she stared up at him in disbelief.

"You're really going to stop me just so we can have this conversation? Really?" She asked in disbelief.

Damon shook his head as he willed his blood to stop pumping so fast. Elena seemed content to just lie back and watch him frown. "Elena", he chided. "What did you want to talk about?"

Elena shook her head. "It was nothing." She said softly, "We've already been over it when we mentioned you be over-protective."

Damon looked confused but Elena ignored it and reached up to pull him flush against her. Instantly her lips were back on his and her hands were fumbling with his belt buckle. Damon gasped in surprise when she rolled them over and straddled him.

He looked up at her with a completely sincere look. "Promise it's nothing?"

Elena's face flashed with an inch of doubt for a moment before she composed herself and nodded. Damon caught it of course but said something to her, "I promise." She said before descending on his lips once more.

And with that Damon had no further arguments.


As I said, there were moments in this that I contemplated upping the rating but I think I've decided that I wont do that. I've never written anything M rated so I think that I'll hold back. Haha

I really hope you enjoyed! Let me know what you thought!

i-am-castiel xox