Chapter Seven

With tears in her eyes, Elena gazed down at Damon's unconscious face as sadness ran through her heart. He was lying on the sofa in the living room, his wounds far from being healed while his face was serene in a way she had never seen before. Reaching down, she came to gently strike the side of his face but immediately pulled her hand back when Alaric walked into the room.

"He's locked in the cell, properly this time," he assured her. "I gave him enough vervain that he'll be out until the morning."

"And Amber?" she asked quietly.

"She still has a pulse, but it's weak," he replied. "I already put her in my car and I'm going to take her to the hospital. Will you be okay here for a bit?"

Turning back towards Damon, her gaze softened. "I'll be fine."

"Alright, I'll be back as soon as I can, but Elena?" he said as she faced him again. "Stefan won't get out of there again but if by some chance he does, promise me that you'll run."

Her eyes automatically moved back to Damon and Alaric sighed.

"No, Elena," he said firmly. "Promise me that you'll leave Damon and run."

Nodding softly, she looked down as Alaric rushed out of the house, shutting the door behind him. Sitting on the edge of the sofa next to Damon, Elena leaned her forehead against her palm and let out an exhausted sigh.

"I thought he'd never leave," Damon's voice cut through the silence.

Snapping her head up in surprise, a smile covered her lips as she gazed down at him.

"How are you feeling?" she asked worriedly, glancing down at the soiled towels covering his torso.

"Like I've been staked," he said with a groan. "What the hell happened?"

"I don't really know," she replied, still visibly shaken from before. "When I got here, Stefan…he had such a crazy look in his eyes. It's like he didn't even recognize me anymore. He attacked me."

Seeing the sudden alarm on his face, she shook her head.

"No, I'm fine," she assured him. "You saved my life, actually…again."

Tilting his head to the side, he tried his best to remember what had happened.

"You appeared so suddenly and pushed Stefan over the railing and went down with him," she explained, pointing behind her to the staircase. "Alaric injected him with vervain and locked him up again."

Damon moved his hand to his torso but the shooting pain he felt made him jerk it back and look at her in confusion.

"Stefan staked you three times before we got here," she said and looked down.

"And here I thought I was the violent one in the family," he said with a laugh before scrunching his face from the pain. "I didn't know little brother had it in him."

Sensing her hesitation, he looked up at her quizzically.

"What?"

"You almost died, Damon," she exclaimed, her voice beginning to crack.

"Sounds like you're saying I'd be missed," he said with a weak smirk as she shook her head in disbelief and looked away, trying her hardest to hold back her tears. "If Stefan wanted me dead, he would have aimed any one of those stakes a little higher. He missed on purpose, Elena. He wanted me to feel pain."

"Why?" she asked sadly.

"I'm the evil brother, remember? Or I use to be anyway," he said with a slight shrug, the move sending another wave of pain through his body. "I'm sure I've done something to tick him off over the years."

"Damon!" she exclaimed, having no patience for jokes.

Holding her gaze, the smirk on his face disappeared and his eyes darkened.

"Let's just say the last time Stefan went crazy was right around the time he was turned into a vampire," he explained.

"What do you mean by that?" she asked with a frown.

Ignoring her question, he struggled to sit up and she automatically moved to help him.

"He's worse off than I thought," he said and slowly rose to his feet.

"Where are you going?" she demanded, jumping up and grabbing onto his arm to steady him.

"I need to make a phone call," he said before pulling his arm out of her grasp and forcing himself forward towards the telephone on the end table a few feet away.

"Who are you going to call?" she asked as he gripped the edge of the table to steady himself.

"An old friend, Victor," he said, the sharp ache in his torso causing his voice to sound uneven.

"Damon, you're in pain," she exclaimed and came to rush towards him but he held his hand up to keep her away.

"He and his wife are the closest thing we have to family," he explained, looking up to meet her eyes. "They're vampires but they were turned a few years before us. I can't help Stefan like this, not here with the town on alert all the time. They have a remote cabin fifty miles north of here by the river and they're Stefan's best chance at…becoming Stefan again."

Grabbing the receiver, he dialed a number as Elena watched him in silence. When the other end finally answered, Damon began speaking in Italian. All Elena could do was stand frozen in the same spot and watch his mouth move as he spoke softly into the phone. After hanging up the receiver, he turned towards her slowly.

"They'll be here soon," he said and clutched the side of his waist. "Why the hell aren't I healing yet?"

"He pierced you really deep," Elena replied as Damon nodded, remembering.

Steadying himself as best as he could, he began walking towards the staircase as she watched him go. Once he reached the first step, he gripped the railing with one hand. Realizing how difficult it was going to be to climb the stairs, he reluctantly extended his other hand to Elena. She instantly closed the distance between them and draped his arm over her shoulders. Holding his waist from the side, she took on half of his weight before slowly helping him up the stairs. Once they had reached the second floor, he led them down the hall towards his room. Walking inside, they crawled towards the bed before Elena carefully lowered him onto the mattress. Sitting down on his left, she gazed down at him worriedly as the pain on his face grew worse.

"Damon, you need blood to help you heal," she reminded him.

"Stefan already finished his stash and he raided mine," he replied, shutting his eyes tightly. "Unless you plan on driving to the hospital and stealing some contraband for me, I'll have to deal with this the hard way."

"No you don't," she said as he opened his eyes and gazed up at her.

Reading her mind easily, he shook his head. "If you're thinking of offering yourself to me as a snack, you can forget it. Besides, wasn't it your blood that started the whole 'crazy Stefan' phase?"

"You're not him," she said softly.

Sensing the seriousness in her voice, he shook his head again. "No."

"Please Damon?" she pleaded with him. "Do this for me."

"You're absolutely crazy, do you know that?" he said with a short laugh. "One minute you're telling me what an 'evil, self-serving psychopath' I am and the next you're offering me your blood."

"You saved my life," she said simply. "Now let me save yours."

They stared at one another in silence before he shook his head in disbelief and raised her wrist towards his mouth.

"No," she said.

Rising to her feet, she felt the heat of his dark gaze on her body as she walked towards the other side of the bed and lied down beside him. Facing him quietly, she flexed her neck towards him.

"No, I won't do that," he said, realizing what she meant.

Reaching forward bravely, Elena took his hand in hers and squeezed his fingers.

"For me," she whispered and released his hand.

He stared at her in awe before crawling towards her. Leaning up on his elbow, he gazed down at her with softness in his eyes she had only seen once before, when they had danced earlier in the day.

"Are you sure?" he whispered, running a finger down the side of her throat.

His touch sent a shiver through her body but she hid her anxiety and nodded. Tilting his head to the side, he lowered his face to her neck as she lied paralyzed beneath him. Bracing herself for whatever pain she was about to endure, she was surprised when all she felt was a small prickle as he bit into her carotid artery.

The sensation of him taking her blood felt almost euphoric and completely different from when Stefan had bitten her wrist. Slowly shutting her eyes and slightly arching her back, Elena subconsciously moved her head to the side to give him better access. Almost as soon as he had bitten her, Damon removed his lips from her neck and leaned up on his elbow to gaze down at her. As her exhausted eyes fluttered shut and she drifted off to sleep, she could have sworn she felt a gentle kiss over the bite marks on her throat.