FOUR

Elena's eyes opened while the rest of her body remained still. She blinked a few times as her eyes adjusted to the light streaming in from the windows and moved her head to look at the ceiling. For the first time in a week, she felt completely rested. She had gotten a full night's sleep and she couldn't remember her dreams. Assuming she had had any in the first place. A smile crept onto her face and she pushed herself up to stretch. She brought her knees up to her chest and wrapped her arms around them so she could put her head on top of them.

It was then that she noticed the eerie silence of the house. She lifted her head and looked out the windows. That was too much light for... Her thought trailed off as she scrambled to grab her cell phone from the table to her right. Elena groaned, sure enough, it was well past time to get ready for school. She had slept through her alarm and it was almost eleven-thirty. She sighed, there was nothing she could do about it now. With that thought in mind, she returned the phone to the nightstand and got up to take a shower. It would be the perfect way to relax even more after a good night's rest. Both were something that had eluded her this past week; relaxation and sleep.

While the water heated up, she stood in front of the mirror. The bags under her eyes were beginning to fade, her skin was back to looking healthy and radiant. She never imagined that a simple promise from Damon would solve her insomnia. Assuming, of course, that he kept his word and left her alone. Elena shook her head to push the thought away and straightened up, squaring her shoulders. She was determined not to think of Damon at all. Today would be a much needed Damon-free day. Thinking of him was part of her problem in the first place. With that, she stepped away from the sink and undressed.

The hot water stung her skin at first, making her hiss, but her body adjusted rather quickly. Elena stood under the spray, letting the heat take away the tension in her shoulders and calm her frazzled nerves. Sure, she had felt refreshed waking up this morning, but that didn't mean she wasn't still a little on edge. If only Stefan here to kiss her fears away.

Elena's eyes snapped open at that thought. Stefan. She should have called him before getting into the shower. She felt a little surprised that he wasn't here; obviously she wasn't at school. Maybe Jeremy had told him she'd been sleeping. Even her little brother had picked up on the fact that she hadn't been getting any sleep this past week. Yeah, she told herself, forcing her body to relax, eyes closing slowly. Jeremy told him I was sleeping and Stefan didn't want to risk waking me up.

Her tranquil state didn't last long as she felt hands on her hips. Her eyes opened to see Stefan, his green eyes shining with love. A faint smile touched her lips as she looked up at him. "When did you get here?" she asked lightly.

Instead of replying with words, he leaned down and kissed her lips. Her body stilled, not quite sure what was going on, but the moment his tongue skimmed her lips, her thoughts dissolved and she melted into his arms. The steam enveloped the pair, swirling throughout the entire bathroom. He pulled her closer, her arms reached up to rest on his shoulders. The water playfully bounced off of her back adding to the sensuality Stefan was making her feel. She felt him smile into her lips as his left hand slid up her side until it was cupping her right breast. His thumb moved to circle the taut nipple that hardened in response to his touch. She groaned into the kiss and her eyes fluttered; her nails digging into his shoulders ever so slightly.

It was then that she felt another hand on her right hip where Stefan's had just been. She stilled completely as a second set of lips touched her shoulder. She tore her lips away from Stefan's the moment another hand cupped her left breast, the arm brushing against her side. She turned as much as she could to see Damon's hooded blue eyes and dripping wet hair. Her heart raced, an involuntary moan escaping her lips as the hand on her hip, the one belonging to Damon, began to travel down her body. Stefan bent to kiss her again and her eyes closed, knowing she was powerless against both of them. She gasped into the kiss as Damon's lips brushed the side of her neck, his chest pushing up against her back.

The moment Damon's fingers touched her core, she shuddered. Why isn't Stefan freaking out about this? she thought. Why am I not freaking out about this? Even though her body was enjoying what both men were doing to her, her mind was trying to get her to think clearly. As one long, skillful finger slipped inside of her, all thoughts evaporated and she moaned again, this time voluntarily. The sound was swallowed by Stefan's lips still moving in perfect harmony with hers. Stefan's lips trailed down to the other side of her throat, placing love bites on her skin as he went.

Elena dropped one hand to rest on Damon's arm, the one that was teasing her relentlessly while the other remained clutching Stefan's shoulder. Her head tipped back resting against Damon's shoulder as a shudder of pleasure shook her entire body. At the same time, completely in sync with each other, both pairs of lips on her throat parted, dragging elongated canines across her flesh before two sets of fangs slid into her on either side. Her release was earth shattering, making her entire world spin before her despite the fact that her eyes were closed.

When the last tremors of sure bliss had run their course, she opened her eyes and jumped at the nothingness in front of her. "Stefan?" she called before whirling around to find the space behind her empty too. "Damon?" her voice was barely above a whisper.

As the realization of what happened hit her, she felt sick. She pulled the shower curtain back in a frenzy and barely had time to pull the toilet seat up before she lost control of her stomach. Her nerves were frazzled beyond belief and her body wouldn't stop trembling. Whatever had just occurred couldn't be blamed on Damon. He was a little sick, but no one was that twisted.

Elena choked at that thought, leaning forward on her knees, eyes squeezed shut tightly. No one was that twisted except for her, apparently. She shuddered and sat there until she was sure she could move without her legs buckling under her. She flushed the toilet and wearily climbed back into the shower. She turned the dial to ice cold and took a very fast shower, scrubbing her skin as hard as she could to get the feeling of fingers off of her. Not to mention the evidence between her thighs that something had happened a few moments ago. When she entered her room again, she saw that snowy white owl flying away from the tree outside her window.


Stefan felt his phone vibrate in his pocket a few minutes before fourth hour was over with. His hands curled around the edges of the desk to keep him from using his speed to answer the phone in the hallway. If it was Elena, she would leave a voicemail; she knew he was in class. The vibration stopped and his hands let go of the desk. He glanced at the clock, five more minutes. He had no idea why he was still in class. He should have gone to her house the moment he saw her empty desk in second hour.

The second the bell rang, he leapt from his seat and bolted down the hallway. It was lunchtime and even though he knew Elena wasn't here, he couldn't keep his hope of seeing her at their usual spot outside. Instead, he saw Bonnie with a worried expression on her face. When she saw Stefan approach, she straightened up and tried to smile at him. "Have you seen Elena? She wasn't in fourth hour."

He shook his head, "She wasn't in second either." He pulled out his phone and showed her the missed call he had just received. "She left a message."

He pressed the phone to his ear and the moment her voice could be heard, he put it on speaker. "Hey, um, I'm sorry I didn't call earlier. I'm sure you've noticed I'm not at school. I was sleeping; woke up not too long ago." She paused and it worried him. Elena never hesitated on messages. "I have some errands to run, I'll call you later," she finished in a rush and the message ended.

Her words worried him, but Bonnie didn't seem all that concerned. "What kind of errands does she have to run?" he asked her.

"It's code for she went to see her parents," the witch answered lightly. "She does that when something's bugging her."

The tension in his body dissolved a little. At least she was okay. "Has she said anything to you about why she can't sleep?"

Bonnie's shook her head. "She hasn't really talked to me at all. Look, I'll head over to the graveyard after school and see if she'll talk to me."

"That's three hours from now," Stefan stated.

"She'll still be there," she assured him. "If she doesn't have anything else planned, she'll spend the entire day with them."

"Will you let me know how she is?"

Bonnie nodded. "Of course." She put her hand on his arm and smiled lightly at him. "She'll be okay. Whatever is going on, she'll get through it."

"I hope so," he muttered, lips pressing into a hard line. "I'll talk to you later then," he said and headed towards the parking lot before she could say another word.


Damon sat in front of the empty fireplace. His glass was empty, a reminder that he had been sulking in the boarding house for far too long. I am not sulking, he berated himself, lips pressing into a grim line. His eyes flickered to the large, ornate grandfather clock in the corner of the room. His jaw hardened. Ten hours he had been moping around the boarding house trying to answer Elena's question. Why did I kiss her?... The answer always eluded him.

He had started inserting himself into Elena's dreams not that long ago. It was more out of curiosity to see how she would react to him. At first he had been content with watching her sleep, but soon that wasn't enough. He wanted to see what she was dreaming of which gave him the idea that he could twist what he saw to suit his purpose. It wasn't until this last dream that she gave him a reaction. Albeit it wasn't exactly the one he had been hoping for. Sure, he was doing this as some sort of revenge plot for Stefan taking Katherine's attention, but he honestly hadn't meant to freak her out. He simply wanted to show her what she was missing by being with his baby brother. The idea was to make her crave him to the point where she came running to him to see if he was as good in reality as he was in the dream world.

He snorted at that. In hindsight, it sounded stupid. A horrible plan that had backfired. All because he got caught up in his own fantasies and kissed her. It went against everything he stood for. His number one rule was to never take anything from a girl that she wasn't already planning to give to him. Yet, he had done it. The startled look on her face wasn't even worth that brief contact of their lips.

His eyes narrowed, hand clenching around the glass until it shattered to pieces. The pain coursed through him for only a moment. Come on Salvatore, get your mind off of the Gilbert girl. Damon stood to clean up his mess, pausing at the shift in the air behind him. "Shouldn't you be at school?" he asked, bending down to pick up the glass shards, blood dripping onto the hardwood.

"Did you do something to Elena?" Stefan asked bluntly.

Anticipating this, Damon was able to keep his body from giving himself away. "I'm not following," he said, turning to face his brother.

"I swear Damon, if you've hurt her-"

Damon rolled his eyes. "Stefan, if you're going to accuse me of something, I want to know what I've done."

He saw Stefan's shoulders bristle with irritation. "Last week Elena didn't sleep at all, saying it was because of some movie on TV. She asked me if vampires could influence her dreams."

Damon's brow rose at that. He hadn't expected her to ask Stefan about this. "And?" he asked, trying to see what else she had told him.

Judging from his stony expression, that was the extent of it. "I just want a simple yes or no; have you been messing with her?"

A smirk slowly made its way onto the eldest Salvatore's lips. "Of course I messed with her. It's my favorite pass time." Little did Stefan know...

"Damon..." Stefan warned, shifting his weight.

"Calm down," Damon demanded, taking a deep, unnecessary breath. "I know she's been having trouble sleeping."

"How?"

"I went to see her last night," he admitted, trying to sound as casual as he possibly could.

Stefan's eyes darkened at that, his hand clenching into fists. "Why?"

"To see if I could help her sleep."

Damon grinned as his brother blinked, trying to make sense of his words. His head shook rapidly in disbelief. "Why?" he repeated. "How?"

This was where it got tricky. He couldn't say he was worried because that would be an admittance of feelings, but he couldn't really think of another explanation. Instead, he shrugged. "I compelled her to sleep and she did," he said lamely.

"She has the locket."

"Funny thing about necklaces is that there's always a clasp on the chain," Damon retorted dryly. "They come off."

Damon watched as Stefan's eyes returned to normal, staring at him with complete disbelief now. "You didn't compel her," he said quietly, as if trying to reassure himself.

"Believe what you want," Damon said, walking towards the kitchen to dispose of the glass that was still in his hands. When he returned, Stefan was still staring at the place he had vacated. "Earth to Stefan," he sang, snapping his fingers.

His eyes lifted to Damon's and he pulled himself out of his trance. "Well, whatever you did, it worked. She just woke up a little bit ago."

He nodded, "That's good."

"Listen to this," he said and pulled out his phone to play Elena's message to Damon. "Tell me what you think."

After hearing the message, Damon's brow furrowed in concern. She had been peacefully sleeping when he left. He had purposefully stayed behind a little to make sure of it. Something had to have happened between waking up and leaving that message. Part of him was relieved, whatever was making her so upset wasn't his fault after all. The downside to that was the fact that something was still upsetting her and he had no idea what it could be. Either way, he had a bad feeling about this.

"Well?" Stefan asked, shoving the phone back into his pocket.

"She didn't sound well rested," Damon replied.

He sighed. "Did she say anything to you?" he asked, not liking the idea that Elena would talk to Damon over him, but he had to ask.

"If she had, I wouldn't tell you anyway," he said, smirking at Stefan. "However, I can assure you that she said nothing on the subject." He walked to the liquor cart and poured himself a shot of whiskey, grabbing a fresh glass. "If you're worried about her, why are you here pestering me? This is supposed to be my retreat from you," he pointed out, downing the shot. He smacked his lips, the liquor burning its way down his throat.

"Bonnie said she was at the graveyard and that she would check on her after school. She said she was going to call me later," he informed his older brother.

"And you trust the witch?"

"She only has a problem with you," Stefan returned. "Look, I'm not going to tell Elena that you compelled her to sleep, but you need to leave her alone. She isn't another one of your human toys."

"Right, she's one of yours," Damon said with a weary grin. He was getting tired of promising things to people. He smiled at the tick in Stefan's jaw. "If anything happens to Elena, I can assure you it wasn't my doing. Now get back to school before I report you to the truancy department."

Reluctantly Stefan left.

Damon returned to the chair, staring at the empty fireplace. His thoughts picked up right where they left off before Stefan's intrusion. Now, he thought, taking a long drink from the bottle he had brought to the chair with him. Why did I kiss her...