Disclaimer: I do not own anything related to The Vampire Diaries, TV show or books. However I decided to have a little play around with the characters (I would definitely like to play with Damon).
Elena arrived home exhausted just after six. The first thing she did was shower as she felt sticky from sweat caused by the symptoms of the werewolf venom. Seeing as she'd got time before Matt was due, Elena decided to call Jeremy. He eventually answered just as she thought she was going to go through to voicemail.
"Hey Jer." Where are you? Have you eaten yet?" Elena asked.
"Hi sis." Jeremy answered. "I...um...yeah I've eaten."
"Where are you?" she asked again.
"Just on my way over to the Grill." he told her. "I was hoping to run into Matt."
"He's coming here for me to feed from him." Elena winced at how that must have sounded to her brother. "I fed this morning but I went to Rebekah's party and was poisoned with werewolf venom."
"Werewolf venom?" Jeremy asked shocked. "Are you okay?"
"Yeah, I'm fine Jer." she reassured him. "Stefan managed to get hold of Klaus who fed me some of his blood."
"Um...why would Klaus do that?" Jeremy asked. "Klaus never does anything without expecting stuff back. Who did Stefan offer to kill?"
"Nobody." Elena told him. "Maybe he was trying to prove a point."
"And what would that be?" Jeremy asked.
"That we need him and not to try finding other ways to get rid of him, like desiccation." Elena suggested, although she remembered Klaus's words perfectly about her being useful again, she didn't want to worry Jeremy.
"Hmm. Still sounds too good to be true if you ask me." Jeremy mused. "If I'd have known you were going to that party I would have stopped you. I knew the Hunter had werewolf venom."
"And how did you know that?" Elena asked suspiciously.
"He venom-jacked Tyler whilst he was in hospital. Didn't you know?" Jeremy asked.
"Obviously not." Elena said sarcastically. "Otherwise I wouldn't have gone."
Elena heard a knock on the door, and noticed that it was almost seven. "I gotta go Jer." she told him. "Matt's here."
"Cool...no problem." Jeremy said. "Can you tell Matt to come over to the Grill after you're done?" he asked.
"Yeah, sure." Elena told him. "See you later Jer." she added.
"See you later." Jeremy replied as they both hung up.
Elena went to the door and opened it to a sheepish looking Matt. She beckoned him in and they headed to the kitchen.
"Elena, hey! If I had known you were gonna go to that party, I never would have told Connor about Rebekah." he apologized.
"I already had this conversation with Jeremy. There's no way you guys could have known that I would go, I mean, I was surprised that I went." Elena admitted shaking her head as Matt started to roll up his sleeve. "Stefan warned me that I would feel things more powerfully, but Matt, the hatred that I felt today? I almost...I almost killed her, in front of everyone, in the middle of a party. That's not me. At least, it didn't...it didn't used to be." she continued.
Matt smiled. "Honestly, Elena, Rebekah kind of deserves it."
"Yeah, but it's not just about Rebekah, it's about my mind." Elena carried on talking as Matt removed the bandage from his wrist to allow Elena to feed on him.
"I'm having these terrible thoughts... these violent images and I... it's all driven by one simple thing: this hunger." Elena growled feeling her canines elongate and the veins tickle around her eyes as she began to drink from Matt's wrist.
The combination of the werewolf venom and Elena's thoughts being consumed by the rage she felt for Rebekah meant that she needed more blood to satisfy her hunger. A hunger that was taking over every sense in her body, it felt good and she didn't want to stop and even if she did, she wasn't sure if she could stop.
"Hey, Elena. Matt said in a worried voice. "Are you sure you want to take that much?" Elena however ignored him and continued to drink."Elena. Elena, that hurts. Elena. Elena!" Matt cried, but Elena needed the blood and her prey's cries for help just fueled her need. Grabbing Matt by the throat, she vamp-sped him against a cabinet and began to feed even harder. "Elena! Elena!" she heard her prey's voice shout in panic.
Elena heard a whooshing noise and the scent alerted her to Damon being in the room and suddenly she was being pulled away from her food. Elena growled as she tried to rush back towards him, but Damon pushed her back.
"Stop! Stop." Damon shouted at her as suddenly Elena started to return to normal and looked at Matt. Matt looked at her terrified as Elena realized what she'd done. Shock began to take over, tears forming in her eyes as she began to cry in fear of her own actions.
"Oh my God. Matt, I'm sorry. I'm so-I'm so sorry. I didn't-I didn't mean to." Elena begged as Damon walked towards Matt and stared at him in the eyes.
"It's okay." Damon told Matt, clearly compelling him. "Forget what just happened. You came over, she fed a little bit, and you left. Now go home." Matt turned around and immediately left before Damon turned and looked at Elena.
"What have I done?" Elena asked, her voice shaking as Damon walks over towards her.
"Nothing you should be ashamed of." Damon said softly. "You are a vampire now. You just have to learn the right way to be one. And I'm gonna teach you." He comforted her as he pushed a strand of hair out of her face and tucked it behind her ear. Realizing that this is what Damon had meant about the blood lust, she knew she had to do something about her feeding issue.
Elena reluctantly nodded in agreement. She needed to learn how to gain control over her blood lust as she was starving herself, and she couldn't keep using Matt as a juice box. She needed to have the confidence to be able to go out and feed and know she could walk away without hurting anyone. On the plus side, it would give her chance to spend more time with Damon, who's company she was desperately missing. She just had to find a way to tell Stefan without hurting him or him getting jealous.
The next morning Stefan and Elena were out in the woods as he was helping Elena continue her training from where Ric had left off before he died. Elena knew that again Damon would have been the better option to train with as he had been part of her training program with Ric, but she knew Stefan wouldn't approve. It had occurred to her before she'd gone to bed last night that all of the things she was doing with Stefan, were things she was used to doing with Damon, except when she did them with Damon, she was sure they'd been more fun. She was also beginning to realize that her conversations with Stefan's were a little stilted since they'd gotten back together. There was also the issue of sex. Something just didn't feel right about being with him. Like everything else, he wanted to be in control of everything, which was why she hadn't been looking forward to telling him about her trip with Damon. Fortunately for Elena, Damon had already broken the news and all Elena had to do was justify her choice of going with Damon without making Stefan jealous.
"I know it's crazy but I almost killed Matt last night." Elena explained. "Damon had to rip me off of him and then compel him to forget. Call it 'Doppelgänger curse' or whatever, but I'm struggling with the blood lust, just even being near fresh blood sets me off. The animal blood is disgusting so instead I want to try to drink from a blood bag, but I need to control the blood lust first." She dodged an arrow that Stefan shot at her which ended up lodged in a tree behind her.
"A little slow. I almost got you." Stefan chuckled.
"That's why we're not using the wood ones for hunter defense class." Elena retorted as she took the arrow out of the tree and threw it back at him, which he also dodged, causing Elena to smile.
"What about Caroline? She's a genius at self-control." Stefan asked. Elena knew he'd do anything to stop her going with Damon, but Caroline rarely fed from the vein.
"She's too good. She doesn't understand how hard it is and you...well, I know what being around too much blood does to you, so...I can't put you through that." Elena lied as Stefan rushed towards her, grabbing her from behind before pointing an arrow at her heart.
"So I guess that leaves Damon, huh?" Stefan asked as Elena flipped him over her, landing him on the ground allowing her to sit on top of him and place the arrow against his neck as if to choke him.
"Don't be jealous. You know I wish it could be you." Elena lied again.
"Fine, you wish it could be me." He sat up sounding skeptical so Elena put her arms around his neck.
"We're crashing Bonnie's trip to Whitmore College. The professor that took over her Grams' classes, he invited her. Listen to me." Elena cupped his face. "You are the one who's getting me through this, no matter who teaches me how to feed." Elena reassured him.
"Okay." Stefan conceded as He vamp-sped them into a tree. "Just be careful, okay?" Stefan warned her. "The blood, the feed...It's easy to get caught up in it."
"I will. I promise." Elena told him as they place their foreheads together before heading back to the house for Elena to prepare for her trip.
The drive to Whitmore college took approximately two hours. When they finally arrived Damon pulled the Camaro outside the front of the school and he, Elena and Bonnie got out.
"Are you sure that you're okay with this?" Elena asked Bonnie.
"If I could spell you out of wanting blood, I would, but I can't, so better you learn this now than at freshmen orientation." Bonnie answered honestly.
"Something tells me that college isn't in my future anymore." Elena said sadly.
"Oh, stop with the pity party." Damon demanded. "If I can go to college, you can go to college."
"You went to college?" Bonnie laughed.
"Sure, plenty of times. I always had a thing for sorority girls." Damon smirked.
"You're disgusting." Bonnie put on the most judgy voice she could.
"I know." Damon whispered lecherously as Elena and Bonnie walked off leaving Damon to follow behind them as they headed towards Professor Shane's lecture.
By the time they arrived, his class was well underway and they had to sneak in quietly so as not to disturb the lecture. They picked a row close to the back so not to cause too much disruption.
"When I say the word "witch", what pops into your head?" Professor Shane asked, when nobody answered he continued. "Halloween costume? Villain of a fairy tale? Maybe an ex-girlfriend? Well, whatever image it is it's probably not Tanyell Soso of Montego, Cameroon."
Bonnie, Elena and Damon all sat down as Elena and Bonnie stared at Professor Shane. "Is that him?" Elena whispered to Bonnie.
"Yeah." Bonnie confirmed.
"He's kind of..." Elena searched for the right word to use to describe him.
"Hot." Bonnie replied causing Elena to smile and Damon to roll his eyes.
"Now, in reality, or in this reality at least, witches appear to cross every culture in history. They're the architects of the supernatural; responsible for everything that goes bump in the night from ghosts to vampires to doppelgängers." Professor Shane continued with his lecture about witches.
"What is this guy, Witch-apedia?" Damon quietly joked causing Elena to laugh.
"Shhh, shut up." Bonnie snapped.
"Now, if you're a skeptic, you'd call that a coincidence. But, if you're a true believer, you know that there's really no such thing. It scares the crap out of us." Professor Shane talked on in the background.
"What if I'm a Ripper?" Elena whispered to Damon.
"You're not a Ripper." Damon insisted.
"What if I am?" Elena asked.
"Well then, pick someone and we'll find out." Damon suggested. Elena looked at him and he raised his eyebrows in encouragement. Elena opted to just go with the flow and started to look at the other people in the classroom, starting with a boy in the front of the class who was playing with his pen, as Damon evaluated her options.
"Stoner guys are no good to grab." Damon explained. "They're too paranoid and you don't want the extra buzz." The fact that Damon was picky came as a surprise to Elena. As the guy was a no go, they looked further down the row so Damon could go through the types to look out for. "Now, she is a fun size, a tutor." Damon indicated at a dark haired girl in glasses. "Geeky girls are inherently suspicious of anyone who is nice to them. What you want..." Damon said as he place his arm around Elena's shoulder and pointed at a girl. "...is the little blonde, pretty girl. Self absorbed, easily flattered, you just have to separate her from the pack and make your move." Elena felt like she was listening to a wildlife documentary on some predator hunting it's prey, when she realized that it was exactly what they were doing.
"Am I interrupting you guys?" Professor Shane asked Damon and Elena who both quickly turned to look at him. "Or is it maybe the other way around?" he asked.
"Sorry." Elena mumbled.
"I was just saying how much I love witches." Damon smiled opting to use his charm on the Professor.
"Yeah, you and me both, brother." Professor Shane agreed. "Alright, listen, we should probably talk about the readings that none of you did." he continued talking to the rest of the class as Elena looked at Damon and smiled before they left.
Damon and Elena left Bonnie to talk to the Professor whilst they waited outside for the class to empty so that they could follow the young blonde girl Damon had pointed out as an ideal meal. Whilst they were waiting Damon had been explaining what Elena needed to do. Once the class emptied they began to follow the girl in question.
"She's young and healthy; she'll heal up like a charm." Damon tried to reassure Elena cheerfully. "Just keep your eye on the ball. Okay?"
"It's not a game, Damon." Elena told him in an exasperated tone.
"Fine, it's not a game." Damon sounded frustrated. "It's a high stakes dangerous maneuver. Now, just go, just like we practiced. That's all you have to do." He instructed as Elena walked up to the girl from behind.
"Hey!" Elena called, prompting the girl to turn around. "You're in my Anthro class, right?" Elena asked.
"Uh, yeah, I guess so." The girl replied, a little confused as she didn't appear to recognize Elena's face.
"I totally spaced and forgot to get the reading list. Do you have it?" Elena asked innocently.
"Sure." the girl replied. "Uh...let me check." She offered as she looked at her phone for the reading list. Elena grabbed the girl's wrist and started to compel her.
"This isn't going to hurt. Please don't scream." Elena instructed her before she looked down at the girl's phone and saw a picture of her with a younger girl. "Who's that?" she asked.
"It's my little sister." the girl replied.
"Get out of here. Go back to class." Elena told her hearing Damon sigh in frustration, as the girl walked away. Elena felt disappointed in herself, because she knew she couldn't do it.
Damon walked over to her. "What the hell are you doing?" he asked.
"I just...I saw the picture and I..." Elena stammered, not knowing how to explain her hesitancy as Damon would never understand.
"Everybody is someone's uncle or father or camp counselor or bible study teacher." Damon rolled his eyes. "Elena, you don't know these people, why do you care?" he asked.
"I care because I'm still me." Elena argued back. "I still have the same feelings, Damon. Sorry if that spoils your master plan to turn me into a super vampire." she finished as Bonnie walked up to them.
"What's going on?" Bonnie asked.
"Nothing." Damon shook his head in mock defeat. "Elena is educating me on the importance of feelings." Damon smiled sarcastically.
"Did you talk to the professor?" Elena asked Bonnie, trying to change the subject.
"For a second. He found some stuff of my Grams' in his office and he's gonna dig it up for me. Oh, uh, this." Bonnie told her, handing Elena a flier for a fraternity murder house party.
"Oh, nice." The answer to all of our problems. A frat party: douche central." Damon smiled as he rubbed his hands together. "Which is why, you will be eating very well tonight." He smirked as Bonnie threw a look of disgust in his direction. "So, what should we go as? Victims or killers?" he asked innocently.
Later that evening, Elena, Damon, and Bonnie headed to the murder party together. Damon was dressed as Jack the Ripper in a tall hat and black cape, Elena and Bonnie were his prostitute victims and had opted for Victorian style corsets, short skirts and fishnets. The plan was for Bonnie to meet up with Professor Shane whilst Damon would be teaching Elena how to feed without killing her prey. As they got to the door they were greeted by a college student with a drink in his hand.
"Hey. I'm Frankie, unassuming serial killer." he introduced himself to them, holding up his glass as a woman arrived with a tray of drinks, which they all took.
"I'm Jack." Damon introduced himself as they all took a drink "And these are the two lovely ladies I just...Rippered." Elena realized and knew that from the way he said it, Damon had also just comprehended the double irony of his statement, considering one of the purposes of attending the party was to ensure that she herself wasn't a ripper, the other part being that his brother was indeed a ripper.
"Welcome to the Murder House, Bloody Mary's are free until midnight. Enjoy yourselves." Frankie smiled as he walked away leaving them to look around.
"Well hats off to these idiots" Damon took his hat off and puts it back on as he spied Professor Shane. "Oh look, Professor Creepy." he pointed out Professor Shane standing on the stairs talking to a girl.
"His name is Professor Shane. And he's not creepy." Bonnie said defensively making eye contact with Professor Shane before handing Elena her drink. "I'm gonna go talk to him."
"You do that." Damon told her as Bonnie headed towards Professor Shane, leaving Damon and Elena alone as to join the party looking around measuring up their potential prey.
"Inebriated sleazeballs all covered in blood. Come on. Pick one." Damon told Elena as they watched Bonnie walk up the stairs to Professor Shane, practically giving them the all clear away from her disapproving eyes.
Feeling under less pressure after Bonnie had left, Elena began looking for her first victim. It didn't take long for her to notice a guy slipping something into a girl's drink. "I think I found one." Elena smiled, realizing that she was doing the girl a favor by feeding from him, he was a menace.
"Roofie guy?" Damon asked.
"Mhm." Elena replied.
"Nice choice." Damon said proudly. "Go get him." Taking Damon's advice Elena confidently walked over to the roofie guy and bumped into him.
"Oh.. I'm sorry...Drink?" She asked flirtatiously as she handed him Bonnie's drink.
"Sure." The guy answered as they smiled at each other and Elena walked away seductively leaving no doubt that she wanted him to follow her. "I'll be right back" The guy said to the girl he'd roofied, before following Elena into a quiet room where they were alone.
"Great party, right?" he asked, mouth agape as he eyed up Elena and moving over to kiss , clearly not believing his luck that such a hot girl wanted to make out with him.
"Yeah." Elena smiled before she threw him against a wall. "You're not gonna make a sound." she compelled him before she bit into him and began to drink. She picked up Damon's scent meaning he must be close by to watch over her.
"Now remember the idea is not to kill him." Damon instructed as Elena continued drinking. "Elena." he demanded as she still kept on drinking "Step away from the ledge" Elena!" Damon whispered before she finally stopped feeding, her mouth dripping with blood, but she didn't care. It was a murder party after all.
"Leave and forget about this." Elena compelled her victim, as he walked out Elena began to smile.
"Nice touch. How do you feel?" Damon asked.
"I feel good." Elena wiped her mouth laughing before she hugged Damon."I want more." she whispered seductively into his ear as he hugged her back even tighter.
Elena and Damon headed back to the dance floor and began dancing with two girls. Damon took one of the girls he was dancing with and seductively bit her neck as Elena watched before he started to drink from her. Elena continued to dance with her own girl and realized that nobody would think anything of it if she were to feed in the open like Damon was doing.
Elena turned to face her girl. "Don't scream." Elena compelled her. "This isn't gonna hurt." she said as she tilted the girl's head over, bit her neck and started to drink, but noticing Damon had finished with his girl, she stopped feeding from her own. Not caring about the blood dripping down her chin, she let go of the girl and began to dance again, this time heading towards Damon who has been watching her from across the room and had started to walk towards her.
Elena smiled, Feel So Close by Calvin Harris was pumping out of the speakers. As Damon approached her, she could see the blood dripping from Damon's face which for some strange reason she found it made Damon appear sexier than ever. Damon wrapped Elena's arms around his neck as she straddled his left leg, they then began to dance together like from the movie 'Dirty Dancing'. Damon put his right arm around her waist and stroked her hair with the other. Elena ran her hand across Damon's neck, wiping away the excess blood from his chin before licking it from her fingers.
For the first time since her parents had died Elena felt free. The only person there who she knew and who could judge her for letting go never would. For a tiny moment, they stared at each other intensely as they continued to dance and Elena felt a little something inside her shift, although she couldn't put her finger on it. The sexy dancing was increasingly turning Elena on and she wanted nothing more than to rip his clothes off and for him to take her right then and there. She didn't care if she were in a room full of people, as far as she was concerned there was only one other person in the room who mattered, and that was Damon.
That feeling however didn't last long as Elena noticed Bonnie on the other side of the room looking at her completely shocked. Bonnie's expression alone caused Elena to come down from her high and snap back to reality. She couldn't let Bonnie see her like this.
"Oh my God. Oh my God." Elena cried out and stopped dancing as Damon tried to stroke her cheek, but she backed off and walked away towards Bonnie leaving Damon dancing alone as he watched her leave.
"I've got to get out of here." Elena told Bonnie as she walked past her best friend.
Bonnie continued to stare and throw dirty looks at Damon who was still dancing. Elena stormed across the lawn outside the fraternity house, wiping the blood off her mouth, followed closely behind by Bonnie. Elena turned to face her, not knowing what to say and who or what to blame.
"Who am I? Why am I acting like this?" Elena asked
"Because you listened to Damon and Damon makes everything he wants sound like a good idea." Bonnie offered.
"I should be here with Stefan. I shouldn't be here with him. I should be going through all this with Stefan." Elena said trying to make excuses for her behavior, when suddenly she heard Damon clear his throat, announcing his presence, Elena looked up and noticed he was standing behind Bonnie.
"Guessing we should hit the road." Damon stated matter of factly as Bonnie stormed over to him.
"You were supposed to help her and you let her get completely out of control." Bonnie growled at Damon.
"She's not out of control. She was having fun." Damon replied calmly.
"This isn't fun. She's acting like a different person." Bonnie snapped.
"She is a different person. She's a vampire." Damon explained in a teacher like fashion. "We're a predatory species. We enjoy the hunt, the feed, and the kill. When the guilt gets too bad we switch off our humanity." Damon snapped his fingers to imitate flipping the switch. "And we revel in it." He looked at Elena and raised his eyebrows.
"Is that what you want? Her to be like you?" Bonnie shouted at him.
"She already is like me. And you know what makes me able to drink my fill and leave someone breathing and not rip their head off like my brother? It's that I can revel in it. I can make it fun." Damon sounded pissed off as he pushed past Bonnie, leaving both girls speechless. He took another look at a Elena as he walked right past her, which upset her as she knew that she should have defended him to Bonnie instead of letting him take the blame. Elena wondered if Damon had mistaken the look on her face for guilt at what they'd done instead of the guilt she was feeling from hurting him and letting him down. Elena didn't have much longer to think as Bonnie started to head back to Damon's car, quietly Elena followed.
When they finally got back, Damon and Elena walked onto the front porch of her house. They stopped and faced each other as they had done many times in the past. Elena wanted to talk about what had happened at the party, she had missed these moments that her and Damon used to share, especially when Stefan had been with Klaus, although right now this was probably the most awkward moment on the porch they'd ever spent together.
"Well then, goodnight." Damon said quietly before turning to leave.
"Damon, I'm sorry." Elena pleaded, hoping he'd understand. "Things got a little heated at the party and I shouldn't have let that happen. It's just that I... I feel like..."
Damon turned to face her. "What do you feel, Elena?" he asked.
"When you tell me what a vampire should be, deep down I believe you." Elena explained, although she wasn't entirely sure this was the question Damon was asking, but she felt it was the safest one to answer. "I think that you're right and I... I hate that feeling. Because I don't want to be..." Elena was now unsure of how to say what she wanted to say without offending him.
"You don't want to be like me." Damon simply stated. Elena didn't know how to respond to that statement. They'd always had a connection and now she was a vampire she understood him in a way that she'd fought for him to control when she was human. It wasn't that she didn't want to be like him, she just felt like a hypocrite admitting that she did. Fortunately, Elena was spared having to explain herself as her front door opened and there stood Stefan.
"Hey." Elena said to him, resorting to their current default of awkward greetings.
"Hey." Stefan said back.
"Wait, what are you doing here?" Elena asked confused by his presence.
"I was just hanging out with Jeremy." Stefan told her. "We had a couple of things to talk to talk about." This confused Elena even more, as Jeremy and Stefan never 'hung out' together. Out of the two Salvatore brothers, Jeremy was closer to Damon, which Elena always thought odd considering that Damon had once killed him.
"Any news on the hunter?" Damon asked Stefan, breaking Elena from her thoughts on Stefan and Jeremy.
"No. No, nothing new." Stefan told him.
"Well then, today was a bust." Damon complained, prompting Elena to throw a sideways glance at him. He knew him teaching her to feed was successful, her issue was what type of vampire she was becoming and how becoming a vampire was changing her.
"She's all yours." Damon offered and left, leaving Elena feeling all alone despite Stefan being there as he walked towards her.
"So, uh, what happened?" Stefan asked.
"I learned how to feed without hurting someone." Elena told him, before trying to make him feel better. "It was awful." she lied. "You were right. I got caught up in it." The fact that she'd admitted getting caught up in it helped ease her guilt, she just hoped Stefan wasn't going to ask her or Damon to go into any details, although she suspected that Damon was gentleman enough to not say too much.
"Ah, it'll get easier." Stefan tried to console her.
"But I don't want it to get easier." Elena complained. "I can't live like this. Stefan, I'm feeling things that I don't... I don't want to feel and I'm becoming someone that I don't... I don't want to be. I don't think I'm gonna survive this." Elena knew her confession was only half truthful. She knew she'd survive it, she just didn't know if she could survive it with Stefan.
"Hey, yes you will. I promise." Stefan said gently.
"No." Elena protested.
"Yes. Hey." Stefan whispered as Elena started to cry. Stefan took her in his arms and held her as he gently caressed her hair. "You just have to hold on." he encouraged her, Elena closed her eyes as they stood wrapped in each other's arms for a few moments before Stefan let her go. "I'm going to head on back to the boarding house. Unless you want me to stay." he offered.
Elena pulled away and started to head inside. "It's okay." she said. "I'm tired and I just want some sleep. I'll be fine." she reassured him before she kissed him goodnight.
Stefan wished her goodnight and she waited until he'd gone before she closed the door and went to chat to Jeremy who was in the living room playing on the PlayStation.
"Hi." she asked. "How was your day?"
Jeremy paused his game before he turned round and smiled. "It was good thanks. You?"
"Mine went great." she told him. "Damon taught me how to feed and resist the blood lust without hurting anyone. What was Stefan doing here?" she asked.
"We were playing computer games all afternoon." he replied blankly.
Elena felt her stomach fall. She recognized the tone of voice he was using, it was the same as when he'd been compelled in the past. "Who won?" she asked trying to find a loophole to test her theory.
Jeremy frowned in confusion. "I don't know. Why?" he asked confirming her suspicions.
Elena put on a fake smile. "No reason." she told him. "I'm going to bed. Goodnight Jer."
"Night sis." Jeremy replied as Elena vamp sped upstairs to her room. Once she got there, Elena pulled out her phone and immediately called Damon.
"Miss me already?" he joked.
Elena sat down on her bed. "Has Stefan said anything about Jeremy to you?" she asked.
"No." he replied. "Why?"
"When I asked Jeremy what he'd been doing today, he said he'd been playing computer games with Stefan." she told him.
"Since when did Stefan start playing computer games?" Damon whispered, realizing that this conversation needed to be kept between just them. Elena heard water starting to run and she knew that Damon was making sure that Stefan wouldn't overhear their phone call.
"That's what I thought." Elena said. "So I asked Jeremy who won and he said he didn't know. He was definitely compelled Damon."
"That's...concerning." Damon said thoughtfully. "Stefan's terrible at compulsion, you should easily be able to break through it as you're stronger than him now you've been feeding on human blood."
"I don't want to use compulsion on Jeremy." Elena protested.
"Let's leave that as a last resort then. Maybe they were out buying you a Christmas present." Damon suggested.
"Not funny Damon." Elena growled. "What would Stefan want with Jeremy?"
Damon sighed. "It's probably something to do with the hunter. I mentioned to Klaus that Jeremy can see his invisible tattoo. Klaus then said something about him being one of 'The Five' whatever that means. I thought that the hunter was dead, but Liz called this morning and said that no remains were found at the explosion site. I sent Stefan to investigate whilst I was out teaching you how to feed. You heard what Stefan said on the porch, but it sounds like he wasn't telling the truth. I'm guessing Klaus needed Jeremy's artistic skills to play tattoo Pictionary and tag teamed him into his evil plan."
"So what do we do now?" Elena asked.
"Well Jeremy wouldn't be at home if he hadn't finished the tattoo. That means that for the time being Klaus doesn't need him." Damon told her. "I say we keep an eye on Stefan, pretend we know nothing, and just hope he screws up so we can find out what's going on and why he's lying."
"You're probably right Damon, there's not much we can do other than keep an eye on them both." Elena agreed.
"I know I am." Damon agreed softly. "Look, don't worry about it for now, just get some sleep, it's been a long day."
"Okay, I will. Goodnight Damon...Oh, and thank you for today. It meant a lot to me." Elena said.
"No problem Elena. Goodnight. " Damon replied before hanging up.