The Woman I Love
DG32173

Sarah: here's chapter 3 of The Woman I Love. I hope you enjoy. As I said in the companion chapter in Setting Things Right, I don't own Six Flags Over Georgia. Nor have I ever been there. I only know what the site tells me about it.


Chapter 3
The Road Home

I run my fingers gently through Elena's hair as she slowly wakes up from the dreams I gave her. I feel her smile against my bare chest and decide to let her know that I know she's awake. "I know you're awake," I tell her with a chuckle. "I can hear the change in your breathing and heartbeat, remember? We should get up and get moving."

"Don't wanna get up," she growls, snuggling closer to me. A warmth touches the cold place where my undead heart is. "Comfortable."

I chuckle again. "So am I, but I'm sure that everyone in Mystic Falls is wondering where the hell you are. Your car has to have been found by now."

"Jenna knows I'm with you," she grumbles.

Pleasure runs through me at that sign of approval from her aunt. "You didn't tell her where?" I ask, knowing she hears the pleasure in my voice.

"So she wouldn't have to lie about not knowing if Stefan asked again," she replies. Then she groans, obviously feeling the effects of going two days without a shower. "I need a shower," she complains, opening her eyes and looking up at me.

"You don't have a change of clothes," I point out, knowing she can see my amusement in my eyes.

"That's why I had what I was wearing airing out overnight," she tells me. We glance over at where her shirt and jeans are hanging over a chair. She grimaces at the sight of the blood stains on the left shoulder of her shirt. "My shirt's ruined. I'll never get all that blood out."

I raise an eyebrow, considering my options. Then I smirk at her. "I've got a few changes in the car. You could always borrow one of my shirts," I tell her.

"Please?" she begs.

"Well, I'd have to get up to get it," I point out. She opens her mouth to say something, but I put my hand over it and listen to the sounds of the motel. The only sounds of activity come from the office at the other end of the building and one floor down. "No one's awake yet. But given that it's barely dawn, I'm not surprised. I can get it and be back in a flash."

"How big is that shower?" she asks, her voice full of speculation.

"Seriously?" I demand, astonished at the sudden direction her thoughts had turned.

She smirks at me. "Well, I've always wondered what doing it in the shower is like," she says cheekily.

I groan, instantly getting hard at that. "You are going to be the death of me," I growl.

"Impossible. You're already dead, remember?" she reminds me teasingly, reaching down to rub the pad of her thumb over the tip of my dick

I growl as my resistance breaks. She yelps as I scoop her up in my arms and vamp us into the bathroom. I quickly turn the water on to heat up before pressing her up against the door, my mouth moving hungrily against hers. God, I can't get enough of this girl. She returns the kiss full force and with just as much hunger. Finally, the small bathroom fills with steam and I practically drag her into the shower with me. She winces slightly at the heat of the water. It's almost scalding, but not quite. And it's nowhere near as hot as the white-hot flames of desire raging within me.

I shove her roughly against the shower wall, my rock-hard erection pressed against her hip. I growl when she grinds her hips against mine, placing my hands on her hips to hold her still. I don't want to rush any second I'm with Elena. I still don't know what she's going to do about Stefan when I take her home. It would kill me to watch her walk right back into his arms, but I have no claim on her. As I told her, I want Katherine out of that tomb so I can be with her. But the more I'm with Elena, the harder it is to think about what I should want. I've spent a hundred and forty-five years seeking a way to get into that tomb, to get to Katherine. But it's only taken a few short months for me to start having doubts as her doppelganger worms her way into my undead heart. There's no comparison between them. Even the similarity in their looks is marred by Elena's cute birthmark.

Once Elena is back in control of herself, I dip one hand down between her legs to run the pad of my thumb over her clit. She gasps as I gently stroke that sensitive bundle of nerves. Then I slip one finger in and start slowly pumping while still rubbing her clit. She shakes violently as I trail kisses up and down her throat, and definitely not from fear. She wraps her arms around my neck and buries her hands in my hair. Then I add a second finger, causing her to gasp as I scissor them while pumping. She moans and writhes against me, driving me wild with lust. But I force myself to stay in control. I add a third finger, stretching her even further in preparation for my dick. My other hand is braced on the shower wall next to her head, the hot water pounding my back.

Finally, I remove my hand and suck my fingers clean one at a time, pleased by the rise in the intensity of Elena's arousal over the move. Then I wrap Elena's legs around my hips, positioning myself at her entrance. In one swift move, I bury myself to the hilt inside her warmth. Yet again, I get the strange sensation of coming home as soon as I'm fully sheathed within her. It's so strange. Not even Katherine had given me such a sensation when I made love to her. I hold perfectly still, letting Elena get used to my girth. It doesn't take as long as it had last night.

I scrape my fangs against her neck as she relaxes beneath me, asking permission to drink her blood again. In response, she tilts her neck to both give me better access and place her own teeth on my neck. As one, we sink our teeth in and begin drinking from each other. I haven't told Elena what happens when a vampire feeds on a human and why Stefan loses his sanity when he's on the human stuff. Not that she needs to know the fact that he does lose his sanity when he's on human blood. But then I remember that she's somehow gotten her hands on knowledge that she just should not know. Perhaps she knows about Stefan's thing with human blood as well.

I focus my attention back to what's at hand. As Elena and I feed on each other, I pick up a rhythm that soon has her hips flying forward to meet mine. Then I find her sweet spot. Pride fills me as her teeth sink deeper into my neck and she lets out an altogether feminine purr. I let out an answering growl and adjust my position slightly before plunging in again, this time hitting that sweet spot with each thrust. We spiral higher together on the wings of passion and pleasure until Elena plunges over the edge first. I'm just one slow thrust behind her.

I collapse against her as stars fill my eyes at the force of my orgasm. God, what this woman does to me! I morph my face back to human, retracting my fangs from her neck. I slowly run my tongue over the bite, both lapping up the excess blood and sealing it shut until my blood can heal it completely. She reluctantly pulls her teeth out of my neck and places a tender kiss on it as the bite heals beneath her lips.

I bury my face in the crook of her shoulder and chuckle. This girl is a damned succubus, I swear it! "What's so funny?" she asks

"You are one helluva succubus," I tell her, pulling back to let her see my amusement in my eyes. "As hard as I try to resist, you make it impossible."

She smirks. "Then stop resisting," she tells me. I open my mouth to protest, but she cuts in. "No matter what happens between us, I promise you that I will help you get that tomb open. Nothing is stopping us from being friends-with-benefits. As I said, Stefan lost his chance with me when he lied to me about what Katherine looked like. I hate being lied to and I hate lying. And I know that if Stefan thinks lying about Katherine's looks is okay, then nothing will stop him from further lies. I already hate that I am lying to everyone I know about what is going on in my life. I don't need people lying to me about things on top of that."

I gently cup her cheek with my hand. "I will never lie to you, and that's a promise," I vow. "No matter how harsh the truth is, I will always give it to you."

"Thank you," she says softly.

"Now, let's finish this shower before the water turns to ice," I tell her with a grin, pulling away.

She chuckles. "I hate how even hotels don't have a decent supply of hot water," she tells me.

"Oh, the really good ones have an impressive amount of hot water, but this town doesn't have four- or five-star hotels," I say, turning her around. I grab the little shampoo bottle that the motel provides and proceed to start slowly washing her hair, taking my time with it to make sure it's clean. Once her hair is literally squeaky clean, I turn my focus to the rest of her beautiful body. Then I let her rinse off and get the shampoo out of her hair. Then she surprises me by insisting on returning the favor. And she isn't even shy about it, washing my balls and dick just as thoroughly as she washes the rest o f me. It is a struggle to fight off another hard-on, but I manage it … barely.

Too soon, the water starts getting too cold for comfort and we have to get out. But we proceed to dry each other off. Then I vamp into my clothes, grab the room key, my keys, and the ruined clothing, and leave the hotel room. I glance in either direction then look down at the parking lot. Not seeing anyone, I vault the balcony railing and land in a crouch in the parking lot. First thing I do is vamp to the dumpster to toss my clothes from yesterday and her shirt in it. All of them are ruined beyond recovery. Then I walk over to my car. I smile to myself as I unlock the trunk of my car. I could get used to being with Elena. I lick my lips as I carefully pick out a shirt to let her borrow. To the untrained eye, they all merely look like black button-up shirts. But to the knowledgeable, each one can be seen as the work of art the different designers had created them to be. Finally, I decide she has to have the best and grab the John Varvatos before closing the trunk again.

I glance around again; to make sure the coast is still clear. Then I leap up to the balcony right outside our motel room. I slide the card key in the slot then open the door when the green light shows. Only to have my breath knocked from my chest at the sight of Elena sitting on the bed in just jeans and a lacy black bra while she's running my comb through her hair. Dear God, she's delicious. In more ways than one, too. I finally find my breath, even though barely a second has passed from when I opened the door. I let out an admiring whistle. "Looking at you now, I almost wish we could delay heading back," I tell her truthfully, walking in and letting the door shut behind me.

She chuckles as she works the last of her tangles out. I immediately decide that that's my favorite comb. Then she turns to me with a grin. "Well, we could, but we both know that we have to head back eventually. Stefan will be on a rampage as is. Bonnie might think that you kidnapped me with absolutely no intent of ever returning. Jenna is already going to have enough trouble thinking of a good excuse to give the school for my absence. And you said you'd take me to the decade dance this week," she replies. "So toss me that shirt and we can head out."

I'm unable to find fault in her logic so I toss her the shirt. She catches it with one hand. 'Good reflexes,' I think. Not many humans would have been able to catch that throw with just one hand. "What are you going to tell my brother?" I ask curiously. And that is the big question.

"I'm going to tell him that I will not tolerate being lied to about anything, much less something as important as the fact that I look exactly like Katherine," she starts, sliding into the shirt and buttoning it up.

"Except for your birthmark," I interrupt.

"Except for my birthmark," she repeats dutifully. But I get the feeling she'll leave that tidbit out when she confronts Stefan. If she follows through with what she says she'll do, that is. "I will tell Stefan that if he is willing to lie to me about something as major as Katherine's looks, then I can't trust him to tell me the truth about anything else. I will tell him that I cannot be with someone who thinks they can just lie to me, no matter what reasons they might have for the lie. I will officially break things off with him. I will tell him that he can either suck it up and be happy that I'm willing to let him still be my friend or I will cut him out of my life completely and interact with him only when I have no choice in the matter."

"Harsh," I say appreciatively. It's about damn time that fire in her was no longer snuffed out by Stefan. Now if only she goes through with it.

"He better listen or I will follow through with that threat. I'll even go so far as to have Bonnie or her Grams use some spell or another to keep him out of my house. I'm quite certain such a thing can be done. If a spell can keep someone in a place, then certainly a spell can just as easily keep someone out of a place."

"I've seen such barrier spells in action. Most witches need to tie the spell in with some natural event, but a really powerful witch, like Sheila for example, can make one permanent," I tell her. "Of course, I've been told by numerous witches that every spell has a loophole or two. If you were to know the loophole, you can bypass the spell."

"I figured that even the most powerful of witches can't cast a spell that doesn't have some way of being worked around. They are tools of nature and balance after all, and a spell that can't be worked around is not balanced," she says.

"Very true," I say with a nod. A thought hits me and I have to voice it. "Though I have heard of dark witches. They don't need 'the spirits' to use their magic."

"The spirits?" she asks, obviously confused.

I quickly think over how to phrase what I was told but barely understood. I give up. "Something to do with Nature and witches and warlocks who have died. I never really understood it, since I've never been that close to witches. Anyways, dark witches draw on something else to use their magic. I've been told such witches are no longer tools of balance. Rather, they use their magic for their own purposes instead of Nature's. You'll really have to talk to an experienced witch about all that. I just know dark witches should be avoided at all costs."

She grabs my comb and pushes herself off the bed. "Well, we should get going," she says. "It's a long drive back to Mystic Falls."

"Very true," I reply. Elena slips into her shoes and grabs her jacket, and then she follows me out of the motel room.

I'm already wearing the clothes for today, shoes and jacket included. Heightened senses extends to touch, you know. If there was some nasty residue left on the ground I walk on, I'd feel it. I don't even like going barefoot in a motel room, not even if it's a five-star penthouse suite or the equivalent. Elena's house? No problem. The boarding house? Definitely no problem. Anywhere else? Ew, gross. Don't even want to think about what could be on those surfaces.

I lead her down the stairs to my car, unlocking the Camaro from the passenger side, holding the door for her. She smiles at me gratefully as she climbs in. While she's buckling up, I shut the door. I glance around to check for any possible witnesses. Finding no one, I vamp around the front of the car to climb in driver's seat. I don't bother buckling up as I maneuver the car up to the office. I hop out, head inside, and proceed to turn in the key and check us out. The desk attendant raises an eyebrow at how early Elena and I are leaving but doesn't question it. As soon as I'm done in the office, I head back out to my car and climb in the driver's seat. This time I do buckle up, though it's actually a pointless gesture other than the fact that I don't want to get pulled over for not wearing a seatbelt. Then I drive straight for the interstate.

"I hope you don't mind waiting until the next big town for breakfast," I say once we're on the interstate. "Bree's is really the only good eating place in that town. And I'd really rather not go back to her bar any time soon. I might be tempted to go back on my word and try to kill her. So, unless you want fast food, we'll have to wait."

"Fast food this early in the morning? No thanks," she says, obviously disgusted by the notion. "It's only six in the morning. Much too early for greasy food."

"Thought you'd say that," I reply with a chuckle. "It will probably be an hour or so before we hit the next town with actual restaurants."

"I can wait," she assures me. "So, tell me about the dances from the fifties," she continues. "I want to know a bit about what I'll be dancing to at the decade dance."

"You said they have these dances every year," I point out.

"And I never go to them," she informs me. "I was only with Matt for a few months before my parents died. The only parties he took me to were the ones where everyone gathered in the woods to drink, roast marshmallows, and make-out. I enjoyed those parties, but there wasn't much dancing to speak of. I love dancing, but Matt kept claiming he has two left feet. I don't believe that, though. Before that, I was single and there weren't really a lot of single guys at the decade dances. Well, not the kind I'd dance with, that is. I was not about to chance being slipped a roofie."

I chuckle and relent. "Let's see, fifties dances," I muse. "I personally liked the cha-cha and the swing," I tell her.

"Oh?" she asks, already intrigued. "Tell me about them."

"The cha-cha was a blending of two Latin American dances," I inform her. "But you didn't have to have Latin music playing to dance it. It was fun, fast, and passionate. Later it grew into the cha-cha-cha. But I really loved the swing. Mainly because I got to show off with a beautiful woman in my arms."

She chuckles. "You do enjoy showing off," she tells me.

"The swing was originally the jitterbug and swing in the forties, but by the fifties it was split into two dance styles. The swing was the much wilder version. The moves for both dances are somewhat complex. I could teach them to you," I offer.

"Lessons would be most appreciated, since I don't want to embarrass either of us on the dance floor," she says dryly.

"I doubt you'd do that," I tease her as I switch lanes. "But I'll teach you the moves. Maybe I'll throw in a few other dance lessons as well."

I glance at her in time to catch her grin. "Sounds fun," she agrees. Then she sighs, obviously about to broach a subject she's not sure she should. "What would you do if Katherine isn't in the tomb?" she asks.

I freeze for a split-second, but not long enough for her to catch it. "She has to be," I say softly, not liking the notion. "The alternative is too unbearable to think about."

My right hand is on the seat between us and she gently covers it with her left. I flip my hand over and lace our fingers together. We spend the next hour and a half in a comfortable silence while keeping our hands laced together. Finally, we start coming across billboards advertising the different businesses of a decently sized town.

Elena spots one a split second before I register what it's advertising. "Let's go to IHOP," she says, turning to grin at me. "I'm in the mood for pancakes."

"Okay," I say, freeing my hand from hers long enough to switch lanes so I can take the next exit. Then I lace our hands together again. "Pancakes it is."

As I pull into the parking lot of IHOP and find a spot, I have to release her hand a final time so we can get out. I lock my car and lead her inside, holding the door for her before following her in. "Table for two?" the redheaded waitress asks.

"Yes. A corner booth, if you have one free," I request. I want to be able to keep an eye on the room for any hint of danger coming for Elena. After a wreck caused by a vampire that wanted to feed on her and being used as bait to lure me out by another in less than twenty-four hours, I'm not taking any chances with her safety.

"Okay, right this way," she says, picking up two menus and leading us through the morning crowd.

She manages to fulfill my request due to less than half the tables being used at this early hour. She places a menu on either side of the table and tells us our waitress will be right with us. I take the booth with its back to the window while Elena takes the booth with her back to the crowd. We look over our menus, trying to decide what we want for breakfast. Elena makes her decision in less than a minute while I try to decide between the bacon cheeseburger and a breakfast platter of eggs, bacon, and pancakes. I finally decide to go with the burger and coffee. I set my menu on top of hers to the side. Within seconds of that, a bleach blonde waitress with way too much makeup shows up to take our orders and tries to flirt with me. I don't look away from Elena as I order my meal. Elena orders a stack of four chocolate chocolate-chip pancakes and coffee.

After a few more attempts to get my eyes off Elena, Bleach Blonde huffs and walks off to take our orders to the kitchen. Her thoughts about Elena are far less than complimentary. I have to consciously shut her out with how loud she's thinking.

"I'm surprised you didn't flirt back at her," Elena comments idly, cocking her head at me.

I shrug and lean back. "Well, I'm obviously here with you, which should have been her first clue that she shouldn't have even tried to flirt with me. Besides, I prefer to be the one doing the flirting first," I reply, grinning wickedly at her. 'Not to mention I have standards she doesn't come anywhere close to meeting,' I think. I keep that thought to myself, though.

Elena rolls her eyes and opens her mouth to speak when Bleach Blonde returns with our coffee, a pot of coffee, and a bowl of creamer tubs. At least she doesn't do more than think about spilling the hot contents of Elena's cup on my girl's lap. If she had gone through with that thought, I would have ripped her throat out with my fangs out back after I made sure Elena was okay. So she's fortunate that she decides against it. She gives Elena a once over, her thoughts completely derogatory, before turning to me and sliding a napkin with her number towards me. I glance at it long enough for the waitress to take note of but don't bother reading it. Then I set my mug of coffee on the napkin, making sure to spill enough coffee to make the numbers illegible.

I glance at Bleach Blonde's face, deciding that since she won't take a hint, it's time to be downright cruel. "You're still here?" I ask coolly. 'Forgive me for this, Elena, but I need to get rid of her before I rip her throat out,' I think before continuing. "My fiancée and I would like to talk privately, if you don't mind."

The waitress's expression turns from anger to horror and utter embarrassment. Elena chuckles as Bleach Blonde quickly retreats. "That was cruel," she tells me with a grin as we fix our coffee with our preferred amount of sugar and creamer. "Effective, but cruel."

"If I had been interested in her, I would have flirted back when she was taking our orders. She obviously can't take a hint. If she insists on embarrassing herself, it's her own fault. Sorry for pulling the fiancée card without consulting you first, but she was annoying me," I reply, taking a sip of my coffee. Perfect.

"Use it if you must. Just don't overdo it," she remarks, blowing on her coffee to cool it before taking a sip.

"Are you serious about leaving Stefan?" I ask softly.

She nods and I don't detect a trace of a lie in her eyes. "I told you, he's going to continue to hide things from me and lie to me no matter how many times I ask him not to. I can't handle that. I hate lying and liars. I'm already lying to everyone I know. I need people to tell me the truth so that people I care about are not put in further danger because I believed someone when they lied to me," she remarks. "Stefan thinks lying to me protects me. It doesn't. It just puts me and everyone I care about in greater danger. You seem to understand that."

"What I understand is that the truth always comes out in the end and liars are always caught. If you spend enough time around them, even vampires eventually get caught in their lies, no matter how good they are," I say. I see Bleach Blonde zeroing in on us with our food. "Head's up, waitress incoming."

Seconds later, she arrives. She places the burger in front of me and the pancakes in front of Elena. "Can I get you anything else?" she asks me, stroking my arm slightly. "Anything at all?"

I fight the urge to cringe away. Can't the girl take a hint? To her knowledge, I'm engaged to Elena and yet she still flirts with me. Thankfully, Elena saves me from having to compel everyone in the restaurant after I rip the slut's throat out with my fangs. My girl simply raises an eyebrow at Bleach Blonde. "I really wish you'd stop flirting with my fiancé, Sandra," she says, obviously remembering Bleach Blonde's real name. The slut jumps and turns towards Elena. "He made it perfectly clear that he didn't want you when you showed up to take our order. When you came back with our coffee, you tried to slip him your number and he purposely spilt that coffee on it to make it unreadable. And now you're here again trying to flirt with him, when he told you he's engaged to me. We are both getting very annoyed with this behavior. I am quite willing to register a complaint with the manager that you are harassing my fiancé in front of me. In fact, I plan on doing so before we leave so that you won't humiliate the people you work for like this again. You are thoroughly disgracing this restaurant with how you're acting. I truly hope your manager will take swift action on this."

Bleach Blonde's brown eyes widen in fear and she quickly backs off. I chuckle. "Well, kitten, your claws are showing yet again," I tease Elena.

She tucks a strand of hair behind her ear and smirks at me. "I plan on following through with that threat," she tells me. "You outright told her we're engaged and she still comes back to flirt with you. I'm not about to let someone like that slide." She then reaches over to the syrups and selects the strawberry flavored one to pour quite liberally over each of her four pancakes.

I shake my head in amusement before turning my attention to my own food. We talk and joke while we eat. By the time we're done, nearly an hour has passed. We finish our coffee and then proceed to the front desk so I can pay for our meal and we can have someone fetch the manager so we can register our complaint against Bleach Blonde Sandra's complete lack of decorum. The manager sighs and says he should have known the last time wasn't a one-time thing. He promises to take swift action over the outrageous behavior she displayed. He then thanks us for letting him know what happened and sincerely apologizes for her behavior. Elena assures him that we will not let her rude actions make us think poorly of everyone on staff. A few more pleasantries are exchanged before the manager excuses himself to go find Bleach Blonde and take care of the matter personally and before she can cause the establishment any further embarrassment.

Then I escort Elena outside. I catch glimpse of Bleach Blonde watching us. I decide to prove to her that Elena and I are together. I glance at Elena and chuckle. "What?" she asks.

"You got a little syrup right about," I say, leaning closer to her, "here." I kiss the corner of her mouth and lick the strawberry-flavored stickiness away with my tongue.

She laughs as I pull away with a grin. "You just couldn't resist, could you?" she asks as I unlock my car.

"Well, for one, that Sandra girl was watching so I wanted to show her that we are, in fact, together. More importantly, I happen to enjoy kissing you," I reply, sliding into the drivers' seat. She slides into the passenger seat and buckles up. I follow her example. "Ready to go home?" I ask, starting the car so I can pull out of the parking lot. I turn the car in the direction of the interstate.

"Well, I have one request before heading home," she says.

"Oh?" I ask, glancing at her with a raised eyebrow. I note that whatever her request is, it's making her smirk.

"I want to go to an amusement park," she says with a cheeky grin. "Yesterday, you got to choose where we went. Today, I want you to take me to an amusement park. Then we can go home."

I laugh at that. "Sure thing," I say, already having the perfect destination in mind. I take the ramp up to the southbound lanes of the highway. "And I know just where to go."

"Oh?" she asks, raising an eyebrow.

"You'll see when we get there," I tell her, grinning mischievously. She's going to love this surprise. "Besides, even if we went straight back to Mystic Falls, we won't get back until sometime tomorrow anyways."

"Why's that? It only took one night for you to drive down here," she reminds me.

I decide that if I'm going to keep my word about not lying to her, I better start here. "That's mostly because I rarely dropped below 100 miles an hour," I inform her. "I only slowed down when you started waking up."

"Are you crazy?" she demands. "I had just gotten in one crash from driving too fast!"

"Relax," I tell her. "Don't forget, I have much better reflexes than you do. I figured I'd go for speed so that I could cover as much distance as possible before you woke up and freaked out. Besides, I thought your crash was because of that vampire that tried to turn you into a buffet?"

"A combination of driving too fast and slamming into someone who was standing in the middle of the road," she admits. "I just wanted to get away from the boarding house as fast as possible and I wasn't really paying as much attention to the road as I should have been."

"Even if you were paying attention, they still would have tried something," I assure her. "There are many ways for a hungry vampire to get a car to stop. But …," I start, but trail off as the thought that's been bugging me since that night becomes clear.

"But you don't think my crash was caused just because they were hungry," she finishes softly, echoing my thoughts. "I agree with you on that. If they were hungry, they wouldn't have run off without putting up a fight, would they?"

"No, they wouldn't. And their broken bones would not have healed as fast as they did," I agree. "No, you were targeted specifically. Now we only have to figure out why."

"I know why," she says softly. "It's because I look like Katherine."

"Is this part of the thing I promised not to ask about?" I ask, though I already know that answer.

"Yes."

"Damn," I curse at the confirmation of what I already knew. "Well, can I ask how that vampire even knows about Katherine?"

"I don't know how he knows about her. But I can tell you that you're going to have to kill him at the dance," she says softly.

I grimace at that news. "Is that the only reason you want me to go?" I ask.

"No! I want to be able to dance a few dances with you while we're there before things get crazy. If I don't get that chance, the night will be a complete waste of time, even if we do kill him," she says with such vehemence that I have to believe she's speaking the truth. I relax at that. It would have sucked if she had asked me to be her date to the Decade Dance only for my ability to kill another vampire. Elena also relaxes, repositioning herself in her seat so that she's comfortable. "Can we put the top down?" she asks suddenly, obviously very excited about the notion.

I glance at her and laugh at the excitement shining in her eyes. "Sure," I say, pressing the button to lower the roof. Once such a feature became commercially available, I had to have one in my car and I wasn't about to exchange my Camaro for a more modern car. Once the roof is all the way down, I release the button.

I glance over in time to see Elena grin and turn her face to the sun to bask as her long hair is whipped wildly by the wind. "This is awesome," she says over the wind, apparently forgetting how good my hearing is. I roll my eyes and capture her left hind with my right, lacing our fingers together.

Three hours later

Elena turns to me in surprise as I take our exit. She had obviously seen the huge billboard a quarter-mile back. "Six Flags?" she demands in shock.

"Yep," I say, popping the 'p'.

"If you weren't driving right now, I'd kiss you. I've always wanted to go to Six Flags," she tells me.

"You can always kiss me when we get out," I suggest, winking at her.

"Maybe I will," she retorts with a smirk, gently squeezing my hand.

About twenty minutes later, I pull into a parking spot in one of the parking lots of Six Flags Over Georgia. I put the roof back up before I turn off the car. "Just in case," I tell Elena when she looks at me in surprise.

We have to release each other's hands so that we can get out. I lock the Camaro before meeting Elena at the front of the car. I immediately take her hand, lacing our fingers together again, before leading her to the line at the entrance to the park. When we finally reach the front of the line, I give the guy in the admittance booth a death glare for ogling my girl. I quickly pay for two all-day Flash Passes and drag her into the park before the idiot gets a chance to flirt with her.

"For someone who wants to wait until I've officially broken up with Stefan, you're sure acting like a jealous boyfriend," she teases, squeezing my hand.

I roll my eyes at her. "I'm here with you. I won't tolerate other guys eyeing you like that," I tell her. I raise an eyebrow and hand over the map I had grabbed. "You're the one who wanted to come here; you decide where we go and what we do," I tell her.

She grins at me as if she were a kid and I had just given her the golden ticket to Willy Wonka's Chocolate Factory. Yes, I know that's a very old kids' movie, but I found it hilarious. Then she studies the map. She frees her hand from mine and I immediately miss the physical contact. She uses her finger to point out the path she wants to take through the park. "We'll start here, in the Georgia section," she tells me. "And we'll start with The Georgia Scorcher."

"And what is The Georgia Scorcher?" I ask, raising an eyebrow at her.

She smirks. "Ever been on a standup rollercoaster before?" she asks.

I have to think about that a moment. I've been on a lot of rollercoasters since they were invented. I find them to be quite fun, actually. But I realize that in my long résumé of rollercoasters I've ridden, I have yet to be on a standup rollercoaster. "Nope," I tell her.

"Well, you're going to ride one today. The Georgia Scorcher is a standup rollercoaster," she informs me.

"This should be interesting," I remark, motioning for her to lead the way.

She checks the map and then follows the path that leads to the ride while I follow her. She grabs my hand and leads me into the Flash Pass line. I think it's safe to say we're both grateful about not having to wait in what appears to be a two hours long line of humans.

Three hours and numerous rides later, Elena spots something that immediately catches her eye. "Damon!" she cries, pointing straight at a cotton candy booth.

I groan, both from the volume of her voice so close to my ear and at the thought of getting a sticky, gooey mess all over my shirt. "Aren't you hyper enough already?" I ask plaintively, trying to reason with her. "Besides, you'll get all sticky!"

She smirks. "It'll give you a good excuse to kiss me some more," she points out. I smirk at the thought. Over the past three hours, I've used every little excuse I could think of to shower her with kisses. The only reason I haven't dragged her out of this amusement park and found us a hotel to show her what else I want to do with her is because I want to make sure she enjoys this treat I'm giving her to the fullest. "Haven't you ever had cotton candy?" she asks.

"No. It is way too sticky," I retort. Isn't that obvious?

Apparently not. "Come on!" she says, dragging me toward the line to the booth. The only reason I let her get any ground at all is because I need to act human with all these real humans around. I put up as much of a fight as a normal human man with my build would put up against her. "We'll share a cone"

"Elena!" I protest, despite the grin on my face at her enthusiasm. She glances over her shoulder at me. "I'm wearing designer clothes! This is a John Varvatos shirt, just so you know! I don't want it getting all sticky!"

"Relax, Damon, I'm sure that the drycleaners can get it clean again," she teases. "Please share a cone of cotton candy with me, Damon," she begs, giving me puppy eyes.

It is very difficult for a guy to resist a girl's puppy eyes. My lips twitch as I try to resist giving in or even grinning. I just hope she doesn't… oh no, she's going to… she pokes her lower lip out and, like that, my resistance evaporates. "Fine! One cone," I growl, though my lips curl themselves into a wry grin. "Just don't ever make that face at me again, woman," I add, taking her hand and leading her to the line at the cotton candy booth.

She just laughs and I know I'm doomed to see that face again whenever I try to put up a fight against giving in to her requests. Five minutes later, we're seated on a park bench sharing a large cone of bright blue cotton candy. It had to be a cone and it had to be large and of course it had to be bright blue. But I have to admit, it tastes so good that I can't keep my pleasure from showing on my face as I take a large chunk of the stuff and stick it into my mouth.

"Aren't you glad I talked you into this?" she teases.

"Fine, I'll admit it: this is pretty good," I say, rolling my eyes. I stuff a chunk into her mouth and she smiles as she chews it.

After we finish our cotton candy and throw the cone away, we spend another five hours in the park. We go on rides, enjoy ourselves, and even have corn dogs for lunch. Finally, we leave the park hand-in-hand as the sun starts to set. I have to admit, other than Bleach Blonde being a nuisance during breakfast; it's been one of the most amazing days of my very long life. And if I admit that, I also have to admit that it was only that amazing because of the girl whose hand I'm holding as I guide her through the parking lot back to my car. Her enthusiasm for everything made me almost feel human again. Almost. The only times I remembered that I wasn't just another human enjoying the park with his girlfriend was when I'd find myself staring at her throat and feel the Craving rise up. But I know that even with my blood running through her system, I can't feed on her for a few days. She needs to recover the blood I had already drained from her in three feedings that were so close together.

Then she brings me back to the present by speaking. "Thanks, Damon," she says, giving me a warm smile. "I had a great time."

I smirk. "Good," I say, pulling her closer so that I can wrap an arm around her shoulders.

She lets out a happy sigh and leans into my embrace. The sense of finally coming home returns. I have never felt truly at home before, not even in the manor my siblings and I had been born in or even in the boarding house. And the boarding house was the closest I've come to feeling right at home until these past couple of days with Elena. The comfortable silence remains unbroken until we're in the Camaro and back on the interstate. "Did you feed me your blood the other night?" Elena asks.

I don't brother pretending not to understand. I was actually wondering when she'd bring the subject up because she had to have noticed the radical difference between the pain she was in when she fainted in my arms after her crash to the mild stiffness she woke up with in my car yesterday morning. "Couldn't have you bleeding on the upholstery," I remark dryly.

I can practically hear her eyes rolling in her head even though I don't take my eyes off the road. "Why didn't you let the vampire get me?" she asks. "Why didn't you call Stefan to take me home?"

"I told you, Elena," I reply. I'm not really up for this conversation, but I know her well enough by now to know that she's not going to drop it until she has answers. "I'll reiterate it. Your final words before you fainted in my arms were 'I look like her'. That clued me in a little on the mishap in Stefan's bedroom. I don't really want to know all the details, but I pretty much summed up that Stefan had some picture of Katherine lying around in the open and you discovered it after he popped your cherry." She turns towards me, shock radiating off of her. "Vampire, remember?" I remind her. "We can smell the difference between a virgin and a lady who has had a man between her legs at least once. His scent was all over you, so it was a no-brainer at what had you in such a rush to leave him that your tires were squealing as you tried to stop before you hit that vampire. You're lucky I was near enough to hear those squealing tires. I'll admit, my first thought when I heard the accident play out while I was on the way to investigate was that I had gotten lucky with a free meal. Then I recognized your SUV and that vampire fixing his limbs. All thoughts of hunger went right out the window" I glance at her through the fading daylight. "I'm not going to let you become someone's lunch. Not unless I'm that someone." I smell her arousal forming from the possessiveness in my voice. I glance at her in time to see that too-old look enter her eyes, causing the scent of her arousal to lessen somewhat. I can sense something eating at her thoughts, though I take care not to read them. I sigh. "What are you thinking of?" I ask softly. She stays silent. "Elena, I know something's eating at you. I can sense it. Not to mention you have that strange look in your eyes again."

That startles her into speaking. "What look?" she blurts out, turning to look at me.

I glance at her. "The look of someone who's lived through something that's too damned much for them to handle but they can't bring themselves to end their own suffering," I say softly, truthfully. I return my eyes to the highway as she closes hers.

"You could say that describes me perfectly. If it weren't for this chance I have been given to set things right, I probably wouldn't have lasted much longer," she barely breathes, though I can hear each word clearly.

"And your words imply that you're thinking about what I promised not to ask about," I mutter. "And I stick to my promises, no matter what." I sigh, taking a hand off the wheel to rake it through my hair.

"I promised you I would explain everything when the time is right. And I will," she tells me softly.

The silence following that is no longer comfortable. I've been trying my damnedest to put together the puzzle pieces she gives me but it's like I've only got a fraction of the puzzle to work with. Working with only some of the pieces to the puzzle is worse in a way than working with none. And I don't have a nifty box or cheat sheet to get an idea of the picture I'm trying to make. Something tells me that I won't be able to work out this puzzle on my own, not unless I get my hands on all the pieces. And I respect Elena enough not to delve into her mind to get my answers.

Neither of us can think of something to say to break the silence and return to our easy companionship of just a few minutes ago. The time and miles pass by in uneasy silence. It's going on two in the morning when I pull up into a parking spot right outside the room I booked for the night in a small town in South Carolina about an hour south of the North Carolina border, if you were going at highway speed limit. I glance at Elena and see that she's fallen into a light doze. Not yet asleep enough to be dreaming, but certainly not in any state of awareness. I decide to get a change of clothes for tomorrow and my comb in first before I take her in. Once that's done, I return to the car and gently shake her awake and she blinks owlishly at me in confusion.

"We're stopping for the night, sleepyhead," I tell her, unbuckling her and lifting her from the car into one arm. I lock my car and shut the door as she snuggles against my chest. That warmth she brings to life in the spot of my chest where my heart is flares up again. As I carry her into our room, she wakes up with every step and becomes thoroughly aroused. I chuckle. "I thought you were tired," I tease once we're in our room and the door is shut behind us.

"Sleep later," she says, grabbing my hair in her fists and yanking my head forward so she can kiss me with a passion and intensity I've never experienced the likes of.

I hum my agreement to the change of plans. I use my extreme speed, vampire reflexes, and inhuman maneuverability to quickly strip us both and have her pressed into the bed beneath me before her mind can catch up. I lower one hand between our bodies to part her folds and begin preparing her core for my dick. She purrs her pleasure at that. I have only rarely succeeded in making a woman purr in pleasure. Making Elena let out that feminine sound of sexual approval is pretty much the icing on the cake of this whole trip.

She hisses her contentment when I finally slide into her. I decide that the relative gentleness of our past two sexual encounters is not gonna happen tonight. I've been doing a damned good job of resisting this all day and I'm going to show her the wilder side of sex. "Harder. Faster," she gasps as I slam into her.

'As the lady wishes,' I think and happily oblige her by taking the pace and force all the way up to that only achieved by a vampire. But even in the throws of wild passion, I make sure to take care so that the bed receives the majority of the force I'm putting behind each thrust. Wouldn't want to shatter her pelvic bone, after all. She rakes her nails across my back, drawing blood. It only succeeds in drawing me closer to the brink. But I'm determined that I'm either going to jump over with her or after her, not before. We spiral closer and closer to the edge as her nails leave bloody trenches all over my back, which heal within seconds of being made.

Then we leap over the edge of passion and pleasure together. I groan and she screams. But what she screams leaves me feeling like I just got dunked in ice water: "I love you, Damon." I freeze as only a vampire can, becoming perfectly still as I hover over her and stare at her in shock. A look of confusion crosses her face and I realize with a sickening pull at my gut that she had screamed those four words from her heart rather than her brain. And for the first time in my life, I feel like the dick I make everyone think I am. Not the greatest way to feel after having a mindboggling orgasm, I assure you. Then comprehension lights up her eyes as she realizes what she had screamed. Uncertainty and fear rage within me. Does she expect me to return the sentiment? Because I honestly don't think I can. A part of me adds 'not yet' to that thought. But seriously, I want to open that tomb and set Katherine free. The only thought making its way through my head would only shove her away. I don't want to do that. The sense of being safe and at home that I get when I'm around her is unlike anything I've ever felt, even as a human. It's a sense of belonging that I've only dreamed of being able to feel. And spewing the first thought that hit me would be a surefire way of having that feeling taken away.

But I can see in her eyes that she is not going to take those words back. And the elephant in the room lets out a mighty roar. 'Seriously, babe, don't go screaming that sort of thing when you know damn well I'm going to break your heart once you fulfill your promise to help me get into that tomb.' That's the thought that ran through my head as soon as she screamed. Definitely can't say that. It's just too damned cruel. I may be a dick, but I'm not that much of a dick. Particularly not when it's Elena that thought is directed towards.

Then her eyes soften and she raises her hand to gently cup my cheek. "I know," she says softly, reminding me that she knows things she shouldn't know. Things that could likely spell all the difference in the world to her. Her eyes get that too-old look again even as I collapse against her in relief. She's not expecting me to return her heartfelt declaration of love. She's not taking it back, true, but she's not expecting me to return it. She holds me against her. "I know," she whispers.

I further relax against her. "I'm sorry," I whisper regretfully. And I am. I'm sorry that I can't return such a bright, beautiful young woman's love. If there was ever the perfect woman for me, I hate to say it's Elena. But I've been searching for a way to get into that tomb and set Katherine free for too damned long to give up now that I've found one. Maybe if something happens when we open the tomb, something that changes the whole ball park around, maybe then I could explore this bond I have somehow developed with Elena. But I'm too damned stubborn to give up the dream I've been chasing after for nearly a century and a half even if paradise comes and plops itself in my lap like it just did with Elena's confession. I'm too damned stubborn for my own good, I'll admit it. But even as I choose to go after a dream rather than accept paradise, I find that all I can remember from that dream is the negativity. Where there used to be roses, rainbows, and sunshine – cliché, yes, but deal with it - all I remember now is thorns, empty cauldrons, and storm clouds. And yet I still chase it because I know there was good there too, even if I can't remember it right now.

Elena runs a hand through my hair as I rest my head on her chest. "Damon, I entered this relationship knowing that you only want Katherine. I knew exactly what I was getting into when I chose to do this," she assures me. "I know that you can't return my love right now. I can only hope for one day."

"Elena," I start, agitated by her words for really no reason, considering I was just thinking the same thing.

She tilts my head up and captures my lips with hers, telling me so many things through such a chaste kiss. Some I understand, but most I don't. I return the kiss, matching her pace. Too soon, she has to pull away so she can get air in her oxygen-deprived lungs. That's the trouble with kissing a human: they need to breath at some point which interrupts the kiss. "Just trust me, Damon," she breathes, closing her eyes against the confusion I know damn well is in mine. "I know what I'm doing in this much. It's everything else that I'm trying to get a handle on."

I sigh before carefully rearranging our bodies so that she's sprawled on top of me with her head on my chest. I stay buried deep inside her core, so it's a little more difficult to accomplish than it could have been. I'm not about to pull out of that tight, moist warmth. "I wish I understood what you're trying to say without coming right out and saying it," I murmur into her hair as I pull a blanket over us. "I'm starting to understand that there's something going on that you can't confide in people until it's completely played out. Doesn't mean I have to like that you're being forced to keep such a big secret from me."

She relaxes against me so thoroughly that she practically melts into me. I soon lose track of where my cool skin ends and her warm skin begins. "You didn't feed from me," she realizes softly.

"I fed from you this morning and last night. And both times I drank a good deal of your blood. I don't dare risk doing so again for a few days. Even with my blood in your system, you're still human, Elena. You only have so much blood in your body and you can't exactly replace it as easily as I could replace mine. If you want, you could drink my blood again." I smirk. "I can't even begin to tell you how good it feels."

She chuckles weakly. "Some other time, Casanova," she replies. "I need sleep. Restful sleep."

I take the hint and begin humming the Italian lullaby my mother sang to me when I was a child and couldn't sleep. She quickly relaxes even further against me as sleep takes her in its embrace. I quickly enter her mind to make sure that embrace is a gentle one by shoving her nightmare away and replacing it with dreams of the two of us. If I'm going to give her dreams, I'm damn well going to include myself in them. None of them will be naughty. I'll save that sort of thing for when she's awake. I continue singing even as I shape pleasant dreams for her to have.