"Disclaimer: 1) a renunciation of any claim to or connection with; 2) a disavowal; 3) a statement made to save one's own ass" ~Kevin Smith, Dogma
In other words, we all know we don't anything TVD, we all wish we did...down to every last snarky comment (insert eye-thing and sexy smirk here)
A/N; So, last chapter...you like? Hmm...what did you think of Elena's "choice"? Leather jacket, pale skin, full head of black tendrils... way to F with his head, huh? Can't wait for you to see what happens next :) More OOC, especially from Elena, so I'd love some feed back... Happy Reading!
Previously on Giving Into You... "Go ahead. Go talk to him." Elena bit her lip and slid next to her prey.
Damon watched them for a couple of minutes. The guy bought her a shot, she laughed, then leaned into him to whisper something. When the guy pulled back, he looked straight in Elena's eyes. Damon didn't need to see Elena to know that she was compelling him.
They got up to leave, and Damon couldn't keep his eyes off the back of the guys head. His emotions were just a bit twisted. He followed them out of the bar, all the while taking in her victim's messy, raven black locks.
/o/o/o/o/o/o/o/o/o/o/o/o/o/o/o/o/o/o/o/o/o/o/o/o/o/o/o/o/o/o/o/o/o/o/o/o/o/o/o/o/o/o/o/o/o/o/o/o/o/o/
Giving Into You
The way you pull me in, the way you chew me up, the way you spit me out
I keep coming back, I can't get enough
I can't go without you
~Break this Spell, Daughtry
Chapter Four: Blood, Tears, and Dark Alleys
When Damon got to the alley, Elena had her back against the wall. He cocked his head wondering what she was doing. It looked like she was still compelling the guy. He was standing in front of her, with one hand on her hip. Damon felt his own jaw clench a bit.
He moved quietly behind them. Damon watched as Elena brought a hand up to the guy's chest and slowly ran it up to his shoulder. She pulled him a little closer, and lowered her head to his neck. Elena's eyes peeked up and looked past her prey, and landed straight to Damon's bright blue eyes.
Damon watched her hover for a moment, then lift her head to breath next to the guy's ear. She brought a hand up and ran it through the hair on the nape of his neck. Damon was transfixed on what was going on in front of him. He was about to intervene when he saw her eyes go dark and her fangs extend.
Elena lowered her head back down to the guy's neck, her eyes never leaving Damon's. He heard her breath quicken. Then, without warning, her head shot back up to look at the prey in front of her. Damon clearly heard her say, "Go back inside. Forget all about this. We never met."
Damon gaped at her. "Elena, what the hell? Why did you..."
"I'm too hungry, Damon," she practically barked out. "I was afraid if I started, I wouldn't be able..."
He blinked a few times, then came up to her. Damon took a deep breath and managed a small smile. He made his voice gentle, and tucked a stray strand of hair behind her ear. "Hey, it's ok. That's good."
"How is that good?" she snapped, although upset was overtaking her frustration.
Damon remained calm and comforting. "Because, you can identify it."
Elena nodded, trying to smile. After a few deep breaths, she asked, "What now?"
"Do you want to try it together again?" She didn't answer.
"Maybe if we...maybe if I had some more of your blood in my system, then maybe..." She looked down shyly.
"Elena, do you really think that's..."
Damon was speaking slowly and carefully when Elena forcefully cut him off. "No, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have brought it up. It's stupid. I know."
"It's not...stupid." She looked up at him. "It actually makes sense, but..."
"But we can't, because it's personal." She seemed a littleannoyed. "What does that even mean? I don't get it, you fed me your blood the other night."
"Elena, calm down." She hadn't noticed but she had turned them both around and was pushing Damon's shoulders into the hard brick wall. Elena immediately released him and backed away. She was now standing in the middle of the alley.
"I'm sorry, I don't..." she trailed off.
He peeled himself off the wall to stand a little closer to her. "Elena, it's ok. You're just...hungry."
"I said I'm sorry," she snapped, turning away from him. That had to be it. She was just hungry, she thought to herself. Elena tried to ignore the instinct that was crawling over her entire being. It was the need to feel the sensation of Damon's intimate contact.
"Elena..." The sound of Damon's comforting voice made her turn back around to face him, before quickly cutting him off once more.
"Damon, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to snap at you." She ran both hands through her hair. "What is wrong with me?"
"Hey, hey...stop that." He pulled her into a tight embrace. Elena's body reacted as soon as she felt his strong arms envelope her. Her head was nuzzled right into Damon's neck. After a few moments, he could feel her lips start to part and her fangs slowly extend. "Elena..."
"I know!" Elena ferociously pulled out of his arms. Her body shook slightly. She was now on the verge on tears. "I'm sorry," she whispered in a lost voice.
Something in him snapped. Elena's want for him filled his head with conflicting emotions, and Damon couldn't hold back. All he wanted to do was give in to her. Damon's earlier advice about feeding was echoing around his head. He knew it was wrong, but tried to cover it up with horrible justification.
"Ok, new rule." He quickly invaded her personal space, and continued until she stumbled back a bit. "No more apologies. Not with me." Damon continued backing her up until she hit the alley wall. Elena thought she couldn't move back any further, until he pushed her harder into the wall.
She let out a breathy whisper. "Damon, what are you doing?"
"Giving you what you want," he told her roughly.
"What?" Her eyes went wide. Elena knew that look. It was the same one she gave him in her bedroom a few night's ago. She sucked in a shaky breath, and closed her eyes. She opened them when she heard the familiar sound of punctured flesh. Damon had bit his wrist and was holding it up to her.
Her hands shot up to grab his arm, but she was stopped. Damon roughly grabbed her wrists and held them above her head. Elena let out a gasp as he pushed them into the brick above her. He slowly brought his wrist in front of her and up to her mouth. Damon kept his eyes on her, and she stared as long as she could until letting darkness invade her eyes. After that, she had to close them.
Elena took a deep breath and let her tongue dart over the wound before piercing him with her fangs. She barely registered the shallow pant from Damon's lips. He gripped her wrists tighter. In return, she sunk her fangs deeper. The warm pull from his wrist was heavenly, and Damon desperately tried to remember why they were really doing this.
Finally, he loosened his grip and let her arms go. Elena let them drop by her sides and immediately stopped drinking. "Damon?" He stepped away. Her body instinctively wanted to follow his, but she stayed frozen with her back against the wall.
"You ready to try it again?" All Elena could do was give Damon a glazed over look. He took a couple of deep breaths before he held out his hand. "Let's go back inside."
She reluctantly took his hand and let him lead her out of the alley. They dropped hands before entering the bar. Once inside, Elena lingered by the door. Damon didn't. He went straight to the bar. Elena watched as he ordered one shot, then another.
He turned around to find Elena still hanging around the front of the bar. She looked lost. Damon gave her a tight smile, and she just gave him sad eyes. Finally, he tipped his head, motioning her to come join him. Elena slowly walked towards Damon.
Once she got to the bar, Damon ordered two shots. He slid one to her. Elena just held it in her hand, staring at it. "You're supposed to drink it." She placed the drink back on the bar in front of him. The look she was giving him was heated and intense. Damon sighed deeply. "What is it, Elena?"
Elena narrowed her eyebrows at him in shock. She sighed and closed her eyes. "Damon, we haven't talked about...anything...everything."
"And we're not going to." He gave her a firm glare, then another tight smile. "Now, why don't you try to pick again. Maybe this time..." Damon never finished his sentence.
She once again brought her eyebrows together, but this time it was in irritation. Damon went to grab the alcohol in front of him, but Elena beat him to it. She threw the shot back, and gave him a daggered look. Elena glanced out into the crowd. "Them."
Damon looked at her curiously. "Them?" He followed her line of sight and saw a couple sitting on bar stools behind a pool table. Damon looked back at Elena, who for some reason looked like she was pouting. "They look good. Let's go."
Elena pushed herself away from the bar, and started to saunter to the pool tables. As Damon watched her, he shook his head. The evening was turning into a train wreck. He was torn between calling it a night, and letting the night truly crash and burn. As soon as the guy left the table, Elena wasted no time making eye contact with the girl. Too late now, Damon thought.
"We're good friends, and haven't seen each other in a very long time. Your really excited to see me." Damon saw the girl's face light up. When her boyfriend returned, Damon watched Elena compel him as well. "I'm an old friend of your girlfriend. We should all get out of here, and go somewhere to catch up. We can take your car."
He watched as the couple gathered their things, and walked with Elena to the door. She wasn't looking him in the eye. "What do you think you're doing?" Damon quietly asked her when she walked past him.
"Does it matter?" She turned to finally look at him. "Are you coming?"
Damon and Elena stayed a few feet behind the couple as they left the bar. They were half way through the parking lot when Damon broke the silence. "You're good at this." Elena's eyes darted to Damon. She had a blank expression on her face. "A little to good." He frowned.
When they got to the car, Damon took a glance around them. Satisfied no one else was around, he picked up where Elena left off. He managed to catch the guy's gaze first. "Hold still, and don't speak. She'll be with you in a minute." His girlfriend had a confused look on her face, but it dropped as soon as Damon caught her eyes. "Don't scream. Don't speak. Don't run. Don't move."
Elena was standing a few feet away. "Damon, wait," she whispered timidly. He just ignored her.
She jumped back a bit when Damon roughly pushed the girl up against the car. Her stomach dropped as he brought a hand up and raked it through the back of her hair, seductively smiling at his prey. "Trust me, you're going to love this."
He slowly brought his mouth down to the girl's neck. Right before he bit her, he suddenly turned her around and pulled her back flush against his chest. Elena watched as Damon bit the girl's neck from behind. Her stomach further dropped as the girl's face blazed with ecstasy.
Without a second thought, Elena ran to the girl's boyfriend. She looked at his neck, then straight in the eyes. "Go back inside. You forgot your coat. Go find it."
Damon looked up long enough to share a daggered look with Elena, before he went back to feeding on his victim. Something started to stir in Elena. She wasn't sure what it was, but in that second she decided she didn't care. In a flash of fangs, she was feeding from the other side of the girl's neck.
One of Damon's hands was on the girl's shoulder. He felt Elena's body press up against his arm that was snaked around their victim's waist. Damon pulled his fangs out when he felt Elena touch his hand on the girl's shoulder. He pulled back to watch her feed.
"That's enough." He could hear the girl's heartbeat slowing. "Elena." Damon caressed her cheek, and she released the girl. Elena backed up. After healing her, Damon turned her around to Elena. "Would you mind?"
Elena looked into the girl's eyes. "Go back inside and find your boyfriend. Your friends left. Besides you don't remember what they looked like, and you don't know what happened after you came outside."
The girl started walking back to the bar, and Elena started looking around for Damon. She saw him slumped against his Camaro. As she started to walk towards him, a new emotion started to rise inside her. She didn't know what it was, because she had never felt it before. It felt like seeing a brand new color for the first time. All she did know, was that is was consuming.
"Well, that really didn't go as planned," Damon said without looking up. Elena felt frozen. When he finally did look up at her, an unreadable expression painted his face. "Are you mad at me?"
"What?"
"Nothing." He pushed himself off the car and started to walk around to the driver's side. "Forget it."
"I'm not mad at you. I'm just mad. You didn't do anything." Elena was still rooted to the spot she was standing. Damon looked at her with narrowed eyes. "I'm just mad," she repeated, shrugging.
"We should get going." Damon opened his car door, but her voice stopped him from getting in.
"Are you mad?" Elena finally was able to mover her feet. She ran over and Damon met her eyes across the hood of the car. "At me...are you mad at me?"
He gave her a warm smile. "No, of course not." They shared one more strained look before both climbing into the car.
It had been a long day, and it had turned into an even longer night. Elena was absolutely exhausted. She was mentally drained, physically tired, and more than anything her emotions were stretched too thin.
Damon and her hadn't talked since they had gotten in the car. She desperately wanted to talk to him, but was too tired. Plus, Elena didn't know what say. She prayed he did. Elena got her wish when Damon finally broke the silence.
"You did good."
"Only because you were there." Her tone was one of defeated honesty, but she managed to smile.
"Elena, we need to talk." Damon let out a deep long sigh. Elena was starting to suspect that he was just as weary as she was. There were several moments of silence before he spoke again. "I'm supposed to be teaching you how to feed. You're never going to learn if we keep doing it together. Your going to have to learn to feed by yourself."
Her voice was small and quiet. "I know."
"And..." It looked as if he was struggling to say what he wanted to say. "I shouldn't feed you my blood anymore."
"I know that too."
"Do you?" Elena didn't answer, she just turned her head to look out the window. "Ok. So, for our next little lesson...the training wheels are coming off. Deal?" Damon looked over to see the back of her head nod in agreement. "Alright, so where to?"
"Home."
"Yours or mine?" He smirked a bit.
She let out a sigh, and continued to look out the window. "Mine."
If Elena had turned around, she would have seen the pained expression on Damon's face. She wouldn't have been able to miss the tight line that crossed his lips, or the way his eyebrows were arched in upset. After a while, Damon turned up the radio to drown out the deafening silence between them.
They pulled up to her house, and both got out of the car. He was a step behind her the whole way up her sidewalk. Just before they reached the steps of her porch Damon grabbed her arm, and turned her to face him. "Elena, whatever happened tonight...I'm sorry."
"Damon, I told you, you didn't do anything."
"Well, I feel like I did. Look, I know you hate all this...being a vampire...and feeding." Damon realized he was still gripping her arm, so he let go. He let a small sigh escape his lips. "And I know my way was a bust."
Elena nearly interrupted him, "No, Damon it wasn't that."
"Just let me finish." He took her hands in his. Elena looked down at their intertwined finger, then back up into his beautiful blue eyes. "I promise I am going to help you get though this. Whatever it takes. Don't worry, I will come up with something brilliant. Just don't get down on yourself. I know it doesn't feel like it, but you are already doing better than Stefan or I ever did. Elena, you are clever, and bright, and fearless, and you are strong enough to get through this. Just don't give up on me, ok?"
"Damon." Elena wanted to cry, but refused.
He brought his hands up to caress her face, the way he had a million times before. "Just say ok."
"Ok." She bit her lip and nodded. "Of course, ok."
Damon smiled, still holding her face in his hands. When he pulled them away, he looked toward her house. "You think you're ok to stay here...unsupervised."
"I think so."
"I can send Stefan over if you want."
"No," she said quickly. "No. I just want go inside and take a very long, very hot shower, and get a good night's sleep in my own bed."
"Alright. Well, goodnight then." Damon reached up and gave her a kiss on the forehead. He smiled at her once more, before turning to leave.
"Goodnight, Damon."
Elena stood on there long enough to watch him get in his Camaro and drive away. As soon as his car was out of sight, she slowly backed up and dropped onto her porch steps. Elena was no longer able to hold the tears back. She poured everything she was feeling into her sobs.
When she was finally able to catch her breath, she stood up and went insider her house. Elena went straight to her room. She was about to start a fresh round of crying when she felt her phone buzz. She had just missed a call from Stefan. Elena took a deep breath and called him back .
Stefan answered the phone so unconcerned, and so...normal. Hey, where are you?
"At my house. Damon just dropped me off."
I thought you were staying here tonight.
Elena looked around her room, and sighed. "I kind of want to sleep in my own bed tonight."
Do you want me to come over there?
"No, it's ok. I'm really tired," she lied.
So? Elena was silent. How was it?
"Hmm?"
The teaching...the feeding.
"Oh," she sighed, flopping down on her bed. "I did better."
There was silence on the other end of the phone. You really do sound tired. Why don't you take the day off tomorrow, and train with me. I promise, no animal blood.
Elena laughed. He was being so upbeat with his optimistic attitude. "Ok. I'll come by in the morning."
Ok. Goodnight. Then she heard the click.
She looked down at her phone. "Goodnight," she said, annoyingly to no one because Stefan had already hung up.
Elena had taken her long, hot shower. She had cried some more, and still couldn't really figure out why. She had finally drifted off into a very un-peaceful sleep, tossing and turning all night. When Elena woke in the morning she didn't feel any more rested than the night before.
/o/o/o/o/o/o/o/o/o/o/o/o/o/o/o/o/o/o/o/o/o/o/o/o/o/o/o/o/o/o/o/o/o/o/o/o/o/o/o/o/o/o/o/o/o/o/o/o/o/o/
To Be Continued... Chapter Five: Evening the Playing Field (Beware... Stelena ahead)
As Elena trains with Stefan, she starts to realize how much their relationship is suffering. She comes up with a solution, but when it doesn't work Elena is forced to confess how she's really been feeling. Finally, Stefan comes up with a an unexpected plan to cheer her up.
Remember... Reviews are love!
