CHAPTER 7

Damon strode toward the school expertly hiding the turmoil of his emotions. He hadn't been able to stay away from Elena even though it had been less than forty-eight hours since he'd seen her. Stefan was right; Damon had it bad. He stopped under a tree near the parking lot as he spied Elena coming out the front door with Tyler Lockwood.

Damon tensed as he watched Tyler pick Elena up and swing her around while she squealed. When the teenager planted a loud smacking kiss on Elena's lips, Damon took a step forward about to teach the punk a lesson.

"She won't thank you for it," Caroline said quietly stepping up next to Damon.

The vampire looked down at Elena's friend. He had dismissed her as a flighty cheerleader type but as he met her eyes, he saw a shrewd intelligence and an unyielding devotion to her friends.

"So I'm supposed to let him manhandle her?" Damon ground out.

Caroline smiled slightly and said, "Short answer: yes. Long answer: Elena, Matt, and Tyler have been inseparable since birth. That's not going to change just because you showed up. In fact, I'd bet that Elena's loyalty to her friends is one of the reasons you and Stefan can't stay away from her."

Damon glared at her but she merely smiled at him. The vampire focused on the conversation that the two teenagers were now having as they grabbed a table and sat down.

"So Matt asked Caroline to the dance and I heard Jeremy asked Bonnie," Tyler said. "Since they seem to have ditched the idea of going as a guy group and a girl group, do you want to go with me?"

"Actually, Damon is taking me," Elena said biting into an apple.

"Stefan's brother?" Tyler asked. "I figured Stefan would ask you."

"Stefan and Damon are my friends just like you," Elena pointed out. "Why wouldn't one of them ask me when they realized my friends ditched me for icky boys? You did."

"All granted except the icky boys part," Tyler said. "Because if Matt and Jeremy are icky boys then so are the Salvatore brothers."

"Mmm," Elena made a noncommittal sound at that.

Matt, Jeremy, and Bonnie walked up and sat down at that moment cutting off the conversation. When Damon saw Stefan approaching, he moved forward so that they arrived at the table at the same time.

Damon kissed the top of Elena's head and slid in next to her. Elena glanced up and smiled at him as she continued to eat and listen to Jeremy.

"New history teacher," her brother said. "Alaric Saltzman. Seems okay, I guess."

"What happened to Mr. Banner?" Caroline asked.

Jeremy shrugged. "Family emergency," he said. "Which can mean anything from an actual relative in the hospital to a stint in drug rehab."

"But he seems okay?" Elena asked.

"Yeah, he seemed decent," Jeremy said. "Told me I could do some extra credit if I wanted to boost my grade."

"You do well in history," Elena said with a frown.

"I do but I'm right on the line between an A and a B so he said I could do some extra credit to make sure I had a solid A," Jeremy said.

"I wonder if he'll let me do some extra credit," Tyler said. "I need to or my grade is going to keep me off the field."

"Ask him," Jeremy said. "He seemed cool enough."

Damon let the conversation flow around him and concentrated on Elena. He breathed in her scent and tuned in to the rhythm of her heartbeat. He knew he'd be able to find her anywhere by scent or her heartbeat, even in a crowd of thousands. He exhaled and Stefan looked at him sharply, clearly worried that Damon was hungry. Damon shook his head very slightly, the gesture lost on everyone except Stefan.

In that moment, Elena looked up and smiled at him. The smile was brilliant and he felt his heart fall. He was hers and would be forever. He returned her smile as she began to look worried at his lack of response.

"Are you okay?" Elena murmured low enough so that only someone with vampire hearing would be able to understand.

Damon leaned in and put his mouth right against her ear. "I'm fine," he breathed and felt her shiver. "Will you be over after school?"

Elena nodded in response to the question but answered a query from Caroline out loud.

"Anything you want to tell me?" Stefan breathed out so low and fast no one but Damon could possibly hear.

Damon shook his head, his eyes never leaving Elena. He didn't know what to do with this feeling. Damon loved his brother. He even loved Zach in a way. But neither of those had prepared him for the depth and intensity of what he felt in that moment for Elena. He had no idea how to handle this or how to move forward.

When the bell signaled, Damon stood and helped Elena up. She smiled and kissed him on the cheek in thanks. He burned to pull her into his arms and kiss her with all the emotion raging through him but he knew it would scare her and he didn't want that. He needed to be alone and work through these new feelings. Once Stefan had escorted Elena safely into the school, Damon raced to his car. He drove away letting the rushing wind and speed clear his head.

Stefan threw open the front door and strode in determined to find his brother. He didn't have to go far as Damon was sitting on the sofa staring into the fire, a glass of whiskey in his hand.

"Do you want to tell me what the hell was up with you at lunch?" Stefan asked pouring his own glass of whiskey.

"I love her," Damon said quietly. "And I have absolutely no idea how to deal with that."

Stefan sank onto the couch next to his brother and stared in shock.

"I know I've teased you about her," Stefan said hesitantly. "But I didn't realize…I just thought you were lusting after her or infatuated. I…"

Damon just shook his head. "I didn't even realize it until lunch today," he said. "It suddenly hit me. I don't know how to do this, Stefan. She's human and I'm…not."

"I don't know that it matters," Stefan murmured. "You don't see the way she looks at you."

"She looks at me the same way she looks at everyone else," Damon said his voice slightly bitter.

"No, she doesn't," Stefan sighed. "She looks at you and…I don't know, it's possessive or proprietary in a way it isn't when she looks at me or Tyler or Matt. You know she dated Matt?" Damon nodded and Stefan continued. "She doesn't look at Matt with the same…intensity she has when she's looking at you."

Damon tilted his head to the side for a second and then straightened.

"She's here," he said his eyes unerringly going to the door as she opened it and walked in.

"Hey," Elena said brightly walking into the room. "Isn't it a little early for drinking?"

"It's never too early when you've seen a century and a half," Stefan said with a smile.

"Since Elena is here, we should question Zach about the prophecy," Damon said standing suddenly. "I'll get him."

Elena's eyes followed Damon as he blurred up the stairs and she sighed.

"Sometimes I wish you would look at me the way you look at him," Stefan said quietly, knowing Damon could hear regardless.

Elena turned bright red. "Oh God," she breathed out. "I didn't realize I was being so obvious."

"Why are you embarrassed?" Stefan asked. "Any male in his right mind would give up a limb to have you look at him that way."

"He thinks of me as a kid," Elena said her embarrassment growing. "He's lived so long and I'm so young. He looks at me like a little sister."

Stefan snorted at that. "He definitely does not look at you like a sister," Stefan said firmly. "Trust me on that."

Elena just shook her head and avoided looking at Damon as he and Zach entered the room. Damon gave Stefan a nod that managed to convey gratitude as he seated himself next to Elena on the couch. Zach sank into a club chair.

"Damon said there is something you want to talk to me about," Zach said focusing on Elena.

Elena nodded and leaned forward. She tensed when she felt Damon's hand rest on her back but then relaxed.

"Zach, do you know anything about a prophecy involving an ancient evil?" Elena said. "One involving Mystic Falls?"

Zach nodded and relaxed. "Yes, of course," he said. "There is a prophecy that a witch would help end an ancient evil in Mystic Falls." He paused and looked at Damon and Stefan. "It happened in 1864 when the town, with the help of a Bennett witch, killed all the vampires in town."

There was an uneasy silence before Elena asked, "Do you know exactly what the prophecy said?"

"No," Zach said. "I know there was an ancient evil that would be defeated, a powerful Bennett witch, and two vampires. I assume the two vampires refer to Damon and Stefan as they were the only ones not destroyed that night. Of course, they weren't technically vampires yet."

"Explain," Damon commanded.

"Well, the Founding Families believed the prophecy's time had come and that the ancient evil referred to was the infestation of vampires in town," Zach said. "When Damon and Stefan tried to save Katherine, they were shot. Only Katherine had fed them both her blood so later that night, they woke up in transition. By then all the other vampires had been sealed in the old church and it was burned to the ground – with them inside. The next day Damon and Stefan turned."

Damon and Stefan sat stiffly. Elena blinked rapidly at the influx of news and then turned to look at Damon.

"Does any of that sound familiar?" Elena asked quietly.

Damon and Stefan both shook their heads. Elena turned her attention back to Zach.

"Did the vampires deserve to die? Were they killing people?" Elena asked quietly.

"No, they were mostly trying to blend in," Zach said. "To start over and have a life free of persecution."

Elena let out a sigh that had the Salvatore brothers looking at her in concern.

"So the Gilberts were murderers," she murmured.

"Elena, this happened nearly a century and a half ago," Stefan said. "You can't blame yourself for that."

"They were my ancestors," Elena said. "And they are still teaching this same prejudice. My dad tried to teach Jeremy and I all about it. I can only imagine that as we got older it would have become more pointed and more violent, encouraging us to kill."

"You don't know that," Damon said quietly. "Your father never had a chance to finish teaching you so you don't know that he would have taught you to kill. Don't let this bit of history taint his memory for you."

"You should hate him," Elena whispered.

"I never met him," Damon said with a shake of his head. "And how could I hate the man who brought you into this world?"

Elena blushed at that and looked away. Zach shifted in embarrassment and Stefan fought a grin.

"So there was no mention of a werewolf in this prophecy?" Elena asked Zach, deliberately moving the conversation back to safer territory. "Or a doppelganger?"

Zach frowned. "Now that you say that, I think there was something about a werewolf," he said. "But the Founders Council declared that werewolves were a myth and so it was ignored. As to the doppelganger, well, that was Katherine, of course."

"What do you mean?" Elena asked.

"Katherine Pierce came from a long line of doppelgangers," Zach said. "She was the last of the line which was why she was the doppelganger in the prophecy. Or so everyone believed."

"Clearly, that was not true since I'm sitting right here," Elena said.

"Yes, that occurred to me when I realized your resemblance to her was more than superficial," Zach said.

"Also, werewolves are not a myth," Elena said. "They are as real as vampires. Just less populous."

Zach's mouth fell open and his eyes popped wide. "How…where…why doesn't anyone on the Founders Council know?" he managed to get out.

"Oh, at least one of them does," Elena said. "And the knowledge hasn't been shared for the same reason know one else on the council knows that two of the Salvatore's are vampires."

Zach nodded but looked dazed by this new supernatural knowledge. After several long moments of silence, Zach looked up and met Elena's eyes.

"The prophecy wasn't about 1864, was it?" he said quietly.

"No, that was apparently just mass murder," Elena said. "The prophecy is now. I'm the doppelganger, the two vampires are clearly Damon and Stefan, and Bonnie is the Bennett witch."

"And the werewolf?" Zach asked looking between the three facing him.

Damon and Stefan both shrugged and Elena smiled.

"It's up to him if you guys find out," Elena said. "It's his secret and I won't take that choice from him."

"Well, this is…" Zach began. "I don't know what to say about this."

"Will you help us?" Elena asked. "We need information. We know something is going to happen and I'd really prefer if everyone on our end came out of it alive."

"I'll start research immediately," Zach said jumping up. "I…I had no idea. This is…not something I expected in my lifetime."

"Welcome to my world," Elena said with a wan smile.

Zach rushed up the stairs to his study and Stefan stood.

"I need to hunt," he said. "I'll see you guys later."

Elena and Damon sat in silence for several moments before Elena finally met the vampire's eyes.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Elena asked.

Damon sighed and got up to pour another drink. When he returned he sat at the other end of the couch and faced her.

"I love you," Damon said quietly. "I know that's probably the wrong thing to say but I thought it only fair to tell you. I don't know how to do this."

Elena blinked at the confession and then smiled brilliantly.

"Love isn't a test, Damon," she said. "There's no right way to do it."

Damon shook his head. "I love Stefan and even Zach," he explained. "But this – what I feel for you, it's different. It's…more. And I don't remember or never knew how to handle this intensity of feeling."

"So we'll learn together," Elena said. "I'm not ready to declare my feelings. But I've been falling for you from that first day in the cemetery."

"Because I didn't talk to you when you wanted quiet," Damon said.

Elena shook her head. "That wasn't the first day and we both know it," she said meeting his surprised eyes. "I believe you were calling Stefan an idiot in your crow's call the first time."

Damon blinked rapidly and said, "How did you know?"

"The crow didn't fly away when I got too close," Elena said. "And frankly, only you could look at your brother that way."

Damon chuckled slightly but asked, "So where does that leave us?"

"Well, we do have a date this Friday," Elena reminded him of the fifties dance. "Why don't we start with that? Pretend we're normal for a minute."

Damon chuckled again and said, "I suppose we could try."