So while it is raining outside, I shall write some more! He-yah, onward.
I was a heavy heart to carry . . . My feet dragged across ground . . . And he took me to the river . . . Where he slowly let me drown . . .
That night, Damon and I arrived in a small town in North Carolina called Cashiers. It was a kitschy town, mostly for tourists, I supposed. Damon found a small motel. They were all booked up except for one, small room, with only one bed.
My stomach did a flip.
I'd have to share a bed with Damon. This was not helping whatever feelings I was trying to suppress.
I sat in the car as Damon moved the luggage, curled up in a ball. I was tired: my emotions had plagued me on this day, and I was too tired to even think about what Damon would try to pull if we were in the same bed, just to piss off his younger brother.
I breathed in and ran my fingers through my hair. In a flash, Damon was at the rolled-down window. I jumped slightly, scared of his sudden appearance beside me.
We didn't say anything. I eyed him as he searched my face. Finally, he said softly, "Elena, please go up to the room?" I still didn't move. When he opened the car door after a few moments, I hesitated before stepping out into the night's cold wind.
I shivered as the wind hit me, and folded my arms around myself, trying to conserve heat. Damon eyed me, and I could see the fret as he watched me shake like a leave in the wind. He took off his leather jacket and wrapped it around my shoulders. I looked at him, skeptical. He looked back, stony, as if the gesture meant nothing.
I grasped the jacket, trying to enclose it around my body. I wasn't dressed to be prepared for this cold mountain air.
Damon showed me to the room. It wasn't very nice. There was one bed, fit for two people, with a threadbare carpet beneath it, a dirty mirror across from it, and a bathroom door on the opposite wall. My brow crinkled as I first beheld the motel room. It wasn't like I was expecting very much, but still – this room was very cramped.
Damon acted almost bashful. "It was the only room they had," he explained without even a hint of mocking in his voice.
"Oh," was all I could think to say.
"I won't look while you change," he replied, sounding human, not at all like his usual self. I liked it when he acted this way. But I couldn't let that change anything.
He sat on the edge of the bed and looked out of the motel window that overlooked the parking lot and distant mountains. I unzipped my suitcase, keeping an eye on Damon, expecting him to try to sneak a peek suddenly at any moment. But he didn't. As I lifted my red shirt over my head and replaced it with a black tank top. I felt my cheeks flush when I realized how exposed I must have been in only a white bra. After that, I felt more trusting of Damon. I took my jeans off, only making sure Damon wasn't watching twice. I put on a pair of sweatpants, threw my leftover clothes in the bag, and zipped it up again. When Damon heard the zipper, he turned around again and smiled politely. I smiled back. Slightly. Only slightly.
"So," I said. I put my back to the mirror and looked at the lone bed. "Only one bed?"
"It's the only room they had," Damon repeated. Again, there wasn't even a hint of mocking in his voice. I nodded and crossed my arms over my chest. "You know, I'm going to just stay in the car?"
I looked at him. "Really?"
"Well, I was thinking of hunting. Go up, find some people camping. So I'm not too hungry tomorrow."
"But you and Stefan sleep, don't you?"
He nodded. "Yes, my body operates like a human's as long as I drink enough blood. But we don't depend on blood like humans do. It's not nearly as much as a necessity for vampires."
I looked at him with disbelief. Damon was being . . . selfless? "So you're going to sleep in your car?"
He shrugged. "Sure. I don't mind."
I chuckled under my breath, though it was without mirth completely. I couldn't believe I was actually witnessing Damon give up a bed for me. It must've been a ploy to piss of Stefan, I figured. But if he really wanted to damage Stefan, he'd sleep in the bed with me. It didn't quite make sense. I couldn't think of anything except for, "Oh. Thank you then, Damon." I smiled, very pleasantly surprised. Maybe Damon wasn't just a monster after all. Maybe there was something below the surface . . .
I shook my head, trying to shake the notion. He was still cruel. Just because he was being selfless toward me did not mean he would stop being a monster, stop hurt other people. He still only cared for himself. But he singled me out, I couldn't comprehend.
"You seem very surprised," he said, back to sounding as coy as ever. He smiled, and I felt my heart skip a beat, though I pretended it didn't.
"I am. Thanks, Damon," I replied, smiling slightly. I sounded very distracted. And I was.
He rose from the bed and opened the door. "I'll be here in the morning to get you. We're going to start early."
I nodded, and Damon left.
I hated that girl. I hated Elena.
But at the same time, I felt the very opposite of hate. I felt a strong sense rise in me. And it caused me to do the very thing I hated Elena for: she made me wish I were a better man.
But I couldn't be a better man. I could only trust myself. I couldn't be dependent on others. I had a shell for a reason. I couldn't even trust Elena – I knew what she did to me. She teamed up with Stefan behind my back in an attempt to stop me from opening the tomb. I remember that night clearly. I felt like my heart had been ripped out of my chest. I'd let my guard down for Elena because I thought she was trustworthy. It didn't turn out the way I'd hoped for though. She was just as untrustworthy as the rest of them, and I had felt so stupid for allowing her my trust.
I ran into the woods. I perked my ears, searching for human voices, someone camping out. I continued on, listening closely.
I'd sacrificed something for Elena just now. I hadn't even watched her change, something I'd do to make Stefan angry. But I couldn't bring myself to it. And I let her have the room to herself. I was been so generous, it wasn't like me. It wasn't like Stefan even mattered anymore either. All I thought about was Elena, instead of ways I could anger Stefan using Elena. I wasn't quite sure who this changing man was, but I couldn't allow myself to continue on with it. But, maybe, if I did change as Elena was making me, she would learn to love me, and maybe, just maybe . . .
No. I brushed the thought away.
I continued further into the woods. Suddenly a burst of laughter erupted from the left of me, maybe five miles that way. I ran in that direction as the voices became more clearly. There was a man and a women. They were camping, talking about a recent trip to visit the woman's family. I rolled my eyes and continued forward.
I came upon there little campsite. There was a crackling campfire and a little tent. The man and woman were huddled together by the fire, trying to keep warm in the cold mountain night air. They seemed very happy together. I even felt twinge of guilt for killing them. What had Elena done to me? I stuffed it down, ignoring it completely. I didn't even want to make the hunt interesting. Instead, I wanted to kill them and be done. It wasn't very like me, but I tried to ignore it the best I could.
"John, I'm glad we're doing this. It's very intimate," the girl said in a soft voice.
John smiled and replied, "That's why I took you here, Marisa. Let me get something from the tent. Hold on." A condom, no doubt.
Marisa smiled and John rose, and walked several feet toward the tent. I shot out of the forest, grabbing him. There was a rustle as I plunged back into the forest on the other side of the campground. My mouth was clamped down tightly on John's mouth. His eyes stared at me, transfixed with fear. He tried to break free from my iron clasp around him, but he couldn't get out. I smiled to taunt him, and yanked his head back. He tried to scream behind my hand. I plunged my teeth into his neck, tearing into his skin. I drank to blood that streamed out of the punctures steadily.
When I was sure he was completely drained, I dropped him. Then I heard leaves rustle and a voice behind me, saying, "John? Is that you? What are you doing back –" I lunged at her. She screamed, but I quickly silenced her with my hand. I sunk my teeth into her skin, and sucked her dry. Her eyes were as frightened as John's.
When I was done feeding, I wiped my mouth on my sleeve and looked at the two bodies, and then at the fire's orange glow as it penetrated the woods. I dragged the two bodies back to the campsite and roasted their bodies individually, watching them burn and then turn to ash. The smell was horrible, but bearable still.
I was done with my snack, and felt full and satisfied. Of course, hunger would strike me again later, but it was nice to enjoy to contentment of a full stomach for once.
I sat down where John and Marisa had sat right before I killed them. I watched the orange embers of the fire, watching the rise up into the sky before they were shaken by the frigidity of night. The smoke curled into the air like ashen ribbons. I decided to douse the fire out. I searched through John and Marisa's tent and found too canteens filled with water. I used them both to put them fire out.
After I was done, I ran out of the forest and back to the motel. I retired to the car, bitterly regretting not being in a room. After an hour of tossing and turning in the leathery seats of the car, I decided there was no use. I got out and stretched my back. In a moment of chance, I glanced up at the door that held Elena inside. I wasn't sure why it was so beckoning, so inviting. Maybe it was because I was freezing outside. Or I wanted to slip into that bed. Whatever the reason, I decided to go with the current that was pulling me inside the room.
It was dark inside. I saw the silhouette of Elena's sleeping body in the darkness. I remembered a night like this before: I had slipped into Elena's room back in Mystic Falls, desperate to see the face of Katherine at the time. Now, it was desperate to see Elena's face. I remembered running a finger along her cheek, stroking her smooth skin.
Elena's back was to the door, to me. I didn't close the door, but instead kept it open as I silently glided to the other side of the bed. At first, her face was hard to make out. But as my eyes adjusted, I could better see her sleeping face, sweet and peaceful.
I remember falling asleep quickly. I didn't have very much of a dream – I was with Damon and he was taking me into the woods. I never asked him where we were going, but it appeared that he didn't know either. Suddenly, a gust of wind smacked us, and I found myself shivering in and out of sleep, vaguely wondering in my sleepy mind if the AC had broken or something. My eyes groggily opened and closed, and I could feel myself burrowing deeper into the sheets. Once, when I was my most conscious, I thought I saw someone sitting there, watching. I wanted to say something, but I wasn't sure if I could. My hooded eyes slapped shut again, and I nestled deeper into comforter.
I was watching Elena, as quiet as I could be. I didn't even move, and I tried my best not to breathe. But it must have been the coldness of the night as it entered the motel room through the open door because Elena began to stir often. She would groan and pull the comforter over her bare shoulders. After some time, she even began to open and close her eyes. I was quite she wasn't seeing anything when she did, until she nearly sat up in bed, stared at me for a good while and said, "Damon?"
This scared me. How could she know it was me? I wasn't manipulating her dreams, as I had once before. But she soon dropped down and hid under the quilt again.
Had she been dreaming of me? Was she thinking of me? It wasn't like her sleeping conscious was aware I'd been with her all day – it was asleep! Things were different when you slept. How could she know that it was me? And it wasn't like I had been inside her head. It was too dark to see . . . the only explanation was that she'd been dreaming of me. Elena, dreaming of Damon? It seemed out of place. Surely she would dream of Stefan, her only love. But no, she was . . . dreaming of me. The brother she wasn't suppose to dream of.
I left after she had said my name. The need to say goodbye in some way was too great, so I stroked her hair and then left quickly, before she could awake and see me there.
I returned the car. I willed myself to sleep, and found myself going in and out of slumber. One minute, it would be dark and then the sun was coming up over the mountains in the distant. I checked the clock on the car dashboard, and it declared in was 6:54. I had been shooting for seven o'clock. I dressed in a black shirt and blue jeans before I went up to Elena's room again.
She was buried deep in the quilt when I found her. She looked as peaceful as I'd left her. I was nervous to wake her. But I knew how.
"Alright, time to wake up, Elena!" I yelled. Elena jumped and shot up in bed. She looked up at me as I adjusted my leather jacket. "Come on, we have to get on the road!"
She nodded. "I'll be out in ten minutes."
I glanced skeptically and stepped out. Ten minutes later, Elena stepped out too. I leaned against the hood of my car, watching her as she came toward me. She was talking on the phone. From what I could understand, she was talking to Stefan.
"Yeah. Has she showed up yet?" she asked as she tried to open the trunk of the car. I did it for her, and lifted her suitcase in.
On the other end of the phone, Stefan answered, "Yes. I saw her at the Mystic Grill, yesterday. She wasn't inside, but she was behind it. I don't know what she was doing there. She might have been looking for you. I didn't show myself to her, and she left a little after I got there."
"What are you going to do when she comes to see you?"
"I don't know. Act normal, I suppose. But she knows about you. I can only imagine that Isobel has told her."
"I wish you were here, Stefan." I rolled my eyes. There was stab of jealousy, but I didn't regard it.
"I know. Damon will take care of you. I'll see as soon as possible."
"Love you."
"I love you too."
Elena hung up. "Let's go," she said to me, stuffing her phone into her jean pocket.
I gauged her expression. She seemed a bit upset about Stefan, but not toward me. She must not have known about me in her room last night, as I had suspected. I shrugged and got into the car.
Elena got in the passenger street, and we drove away.
I like this chapter. I got to get into Damon's head. I got to see him hunt and see him change because of Elena. It was good. Did y'all like it? If you did, please leave a review and tell me(:
