The Turning Point

It was a vampire. Of that there was no doubt. She could feel the terror consume her, the piercing scream leaving her throat as those legs reached the car. Then a strong hand clamped itself over her mouth.

"It's me!" a voice yells as the owner kneels down towards her, and she's suddenly caught up in his familiar eyes, familiar face, familiar because it's Damon. Only Damon. Just Damon. Justdamonjustdamonjustdamon andher heart is flying in her chest and it hurts to breath and she never thought she would ever be so happy to see Damon Salvatore, but she is. So happy she could cry with relief.

"You could have at least looked where you were going," he snarls at her. He had sustained enough injuries tonight to last him for the rest of eternity. Healing himself has left him thirsty and in a bad mood. He carefully lifts her from the confines of her car which isn't exactly easy. Once she's out he continues to carry her, unsure if she can walk, or if she sustained any injuries in hitting him.

Other than her pale face and her racing heart, she seems okay. He smells blood, but he thinks it's more likely his own that had soaked into his shirt. He can also detect the scent of his brother, hanging over her like a second skin. He wonders why she was driving away from the Salvatore hostel at such speed until he noticed that she's not wearing her pendant. This revelation makes him blink and cock his head in surprise. "Did you fight with Stefan?"

When she looks pointedly away from him and doesn't reply, he heaves a sigh and rolls his eyes. What did perfect Stefan do now? "You're not wearing the pendant, Elena," he says more seriously. He is not one to nag but this is important. "You should never take it off."

The venom in her response doesn't faze him even though she practically spits at him. "Stay away from me! I'm not your precious Katherine." She spits the name like a dirty word.

Huh. So she had seen the picture. Way to go, Stefan. He sighs again and pinches the bridge of his nose. He knows that Stefan wasn't dumb enough to show it to her. She must have found it while in his room. But he knows that now isn't the time for petty squabbles over dead ex-girlfriend lookalikes and he needs her to know it.

"Elena, I don't care how angry you are. You don't take it off – ever. I just got a call from the Sheriff. Somebody staked and killed Logan Fell."

"Good. I'll send them a card," she snarls, struggling in his arms to demand that he put her down. But he doesn't let go and she's too weak to fight him. He needs to make her see.

"Someone turned him, Elena," he says slowly, like he's talking to a child. "Someone turned him and staked him, and it wasn't Stefan and it sure as hell wasn't me."

Now it's her turn to blink. "You didn't turn Logan?" Her voice is higher, tinged with fear as he shakes his head. "Then who?"

"I don't know," he growls. Because he doesn't know and he doesn't like not knowing. He likes the idea of another vampire on his turf even less. The fact that Logan is dead is extremely inconvenient, and he feels his anger blaze within him when he remembers that he can no longer extract the necessary information on Logan's maker, leaving the closed tomb to remain a dead end without the witch's crystal.

Elena is silent before him. He can practically smell her fear. Her heart is pounding inside her chest and the sound of it twists his stomach in hunger. He has sustained injuries from her reckless driving and it seems almost too apt that she be the one to make it up to him. Just the thought alone makes his eyes darken, veins lifting to the surface of his skin as his fangs push their way through his gums. In the dark she can see the subtle changes in his face and she takes one shaky step backwards.

"No, Damon. Please," she begs, terror shaking her voice. She knows what is going to happen. His eyes are burning with hunger. Suddenly she wishes she were back at the Salvatore hostel with the other Salvatore brother, because even though that one lies to her, at least she was never in danger of being eaten. Memories of Caroline's bite marks make a grizzly reappearance in her mind. She is not unaware that he could make her compliant and she curses herself for taking off the pendant.

"Please," she mumbles again. She feels like crying but her body is sore and all she wants to do is to sleep and wake up from this nightmare in which she looks exactly like Katherine.

Looking at the scared human before him does nothing but tempt Damon's vampiric nature, however it occurs to him that taking blood from Elena might just be a bad idea and so he refrains, fighting to suppress his immense hunger until his eyes lighten and his fangs disappear. He better take her home he thinks, before he ends up feeding from her and so in a flash she is in his arms again, squirming in fear at the sudden contact.

"Let me go!" she protests against his arms, but she is no match for him and she can barely walk as it is.

"I'm taking you home," he clarifies. He is forcing himself to look at her face instead of the creamy expanse of her neck.

Later that evening Elena is lying on a large antique sofa in the Salvatore hostel. She sustained a cut on her forehead and another on her arm and Stefan is silently dressing her small wounds. Still she refuses to look at him and she huffs impatiently in annoyance at the vampire's constant attention. When Damon said he was taking her home, she had assumed that he had meant her house. She is angry that Damon had brought her back to the hostel instead and she wonders if she should call Aunt Jenna to pick her up.

As if he reads her mind, Stefan flashes away and is back again, this time his phone is in his hand and he places it in her own with a regretful sigh. He knows that she doesn't want to be here and so he is giving her the option to leave.

She stares at the phone in her hand for a moment, knowing that his eyes are upon her. She wonders why he is always so caring when it comes to her, but when she answer comes she remembers bitterly that it's probably due to the fact that she looks exactly like Katherine.

Knowing that his eyes are still upon her, she dials.

A/N: Okay so I skipped a few. I apologize and I will post the missing ones at some point, but right now I just want to catch up with the episodes. Omg I can't wait to find out who she runs over!! We know for certain that it isn't Alaric. It can't be Stefan, obviously. Logan is dead. It just could be Damon, although it's rather unlikely.