Author's note : God, I truly can't believe that I managed to finish this chapter in just two days... I'm sorry for not updating earlier, I've been so busy with preparing for college, that I simply haven't had the time to work on my story anymore. And now I'm so excited that I managed to update right before Season 3 of the Vampire Diaries starts tonight... I just can't wait to see what the first episode will be like, and I'm sure that all of you agree with me. I've decided to follow the plot of the show, at least for the time being. But I particularly wanted to update before Ep 1 is broadcasted so as to do the entire thing my own way. Anyway, this chapter's title is inspired from the gorgeous song 'Here without you', performed by 3 Doors Down. And also, towards the end of the chapter, I have also used some lyrics from the song 'Nothing's gonna change my love for you', performed by Glenn Medeiros, so as to create the scene better. Enjoy chapter 7!
Disclaimer: I do not own the Vampire Diaries. My story centres around the characters of the TV show that belong to their rightful owners (TV script by Kevin Williamson and Julie Plec) and of Vampire Diaries series written by L.J. Smith. Also, I do not intend any infringement upon any music that might inspire chapter titles or parts of my story.
7. HERE WITHOUT YOU
Damon was sitting on the top branch of the bushiest and tallest tree present on the Mystic Falls High-school grounds. He had been hiding there for three straight hours now, and was preparing to go have some lunch. He laughed at the thought of the word 'lunch' – it sounded so human to his ears. But then again, he wasn't actually going to have a snack for himself. No – he was about to accompany Elena to the cafeteria, where she, Bonnie and Caroline would eat, gossip and laugh every day at the same hour. The vampire was bored by now of the principles that Elena's Physics teacher had been explaining to them in the past 50 minutes and couldn't wait for it to be over – he simply couldn't stand Physics, and never could have. And now that he'd been taking part in all the classes that his angel attended, Damon had started experiencing the true meaning of the word 'torture'. The first class – Mathematics – had been the worst, of course. The teacher had pinned Elena to the wall, 'cause no matter how fast Damon drove, he only got Elena to school the moment everybody had already entered the classrooms. The moment Damon heard her teacher scolding the girl like that, he swore that he was going to cut the jackass's car tires. That would be the perfect punishment for making Elena yet again sad.
Anyway, Damon was relieved when he heard Ric's voice enter Elena's second class, since he knew that the guy had class, and was intelligent enough to understand what teenagers expected from a teacher. As the vampire followed Alaric's lecture about the Second World War, Damon couldn't help but admire his best friend even more than before. 'Hell, if I had had Ric in my history class 150 years ago, I would have loved going to school…' Instead, Damon had had a grumpy, old teacher who had made him hate history more than he hated his father back then – which had still been a surprising performance for that man. Damon's thoughts came back to the present as he heard the noisy school bell ring. In an instant, there were hundreds of teens that couldn't wait to get out of their classrooms, screaming at one another, dragging their backpacks and completely ignoring their teachers. Damon carefully concentrated on Elena and Elena only as she lost herself in the crowd of crazy teenagers who were heading out to the cafeteria.
The vampire regretted that he couldn't actually spend that time with the girl; since he hadn't registered as a student or a teacher (which would have been a more likely story), Damon had to stay outside the building day after day, since he wanted to literally keep Elena safe each and every waken moment. Damon giggled as he thought about the girl's face if she by any chance found out that he was keeping an eye on her like this. From what he knew about Elena, she would have turned red with anger in an instant. But Damon couldn't help but feel that it was the best thing for her, since she couldn't even stay safe in a public place, where she was accompanied by her two best and powerful friends – a witch and a vampire. Of course, Caroline was in the whole plan, since she had easily seen Damon sitting in the tree during their history classes. And there had been no use in denying it, especially since Damon needed all the help he could get in taking care of Elena. But, of course, bringing Barbie into this had its downfalls as well. For example, a day after she had discovered him, Alaric, Bonnie and Jeremy already knew about Damon babysitting as well. In earnest, he was grateful that they hadn't had anything against this extra precaution measure. In fact, they all seemed to look at Damon with somewhat different eyes, every time that he waited for Elena when school was over. In a way, he felt good since they could clearly understand why he did all of this.
As he heard Elena return to her table with the entire gang, Damon already knew what she would be eating – hamburger and French fries, with strawberry milkshake on the side; she had the same food at lunch day after day. But, of course, after she ate half a hamburger, she would give the rest to Jeremy - who was more than happy to help his sister- and would then proceed to the French fries, dipping the first three fries in her milkshake. The vampire couldn't help but grin as he realized how deep he had fallen for Elena – if he already knew what her eating habits were, then he was surely losing it. After that, Damon calmly listened to the girls talking about the Founder's day ball that would be taking place four weeks later. Just as Damon was about to hear Elena's answer to Caroline's insistent question 'Are you coming to the ball or not? 'Cause I have to place the orders already', a girl's soprano voice interrupted them.
'Hey, guys… I'm sorry to interrupt you. It's just that, all of the other tables are full, and I see that you have two spare seats here… Would it be okay if my brother and I joined you just this once?'
'Well, we were actually discussing about the Founder's Day ball, since we're the organizers…' The next thing Damon heard was Caroline quietly squeal as someone had probably given her a pretty powerful kick under the table. And of course, the next thing the vampire could hear was Elena's warm voice.
'But that's alright, we can talk about that later. You can sit with us – of course.' Damon could practically see Elena's polite smile through the brick wall.
'Thanks a lot for that… We're actually new to Mystics Falls, we've just moved here together with our parents from New York and this is our first day of school.' The girl actually seemed pretty nice.
'Oh, cool! We actually had History together, right?' Bonnie happily asked.
'Yeah… And Maths… and Physics…' Damon could only assume that it was the girl's brother that had spoken. His voice was calm and bass-like; and also a bit snobby, from what the vampire could collect. But it seemed that nobody else at the table minded, since they all started laughing.
'Then I don't think that we've met. I'm Jeremy. It's nice to meet you. And the girls are Bonnie, Caroline and my sister Elena.'
'Oh, really? What a coincidence then! My brother's name is Phillip and I'm Arianna, but everybody back in NY called me Ari. You can decide…'
'Oh, right… and lose the fun in calling you this old-fashioned name, while others turn their heads to laugh at it? No way that you're getting off the hook that easily!' Jeremy happily said. While the others started laughing, Damon could hear Phillip turn towards Elena and start talking to her in what the vampire could only classify as a 'seductive' tone.
'So, Elena… What exactly is this Founder's Ball, anyway?'
'Well, it's a charitable event which commemorates the five founding families of Mystic Fall – the Lockwoods, the Fells, Forbes, Gilberts and… the Salvatore family' Damon couldn't help but grin as he heard Elena stumble upon the last founding family. 'The ball is hosted every year by the mayor at the Lockwood mansion and there are all kind of historical artefacts exposed for everyone to see. It's a costume and tie event and you usually have to bring a plus one. '
'So I gather that it's trés elegant…'
' Óui, monsieur… Tres elegant… indeed.' Damon giggled while hearing Elena babble as she failed at saying more than three words in French. 'So, you speak French…'
'Of course we do – my sister and I actually have French origins, so it wouldn't be normal for us not to speak the language.'
'I see… Anyway, if you like to dance and are interested in history, you should definitely go – you'll most certainly have fun.'
'Are you coming to the Founder's Ball?' 'Ok, and now we've settled the reason for Phillipé's sudden interest in the Founder's Party.' Damon grimly noted.
'Umm, I don't think so…'
'A-ha… Because you have no 'plus-one'…?'
'No, that's not it.'
'So I gather you're boyfriend doesn't want to go at this dance…' Damon couldn't believe how pushy this guy could be.
'Not really, that's not the problem…' Elena clearly seemed uncomfortable and Damon started to clench his fists at this guy's nerve. He tried to calm himself down – this dude wasn't physically hurting Elena, so he couldn't actually do something about it.
'Okay. I get it now – you don't have a boyfriend, do you?'
'No offence, Phillip, but I really don't wanna talk about it…' The girl's icy tone made Damon grin. 'Good girl, give him a piece of the real Elena.'
'Oh, my bad... I'm really sorry, Helene, I didn't want to hurt your feelings.' Phillip said in a honey-like voice; that seemed to warm up Elena a bit …and to make Damon nauseous in turn.
'It's okay… You didn't know.' 'God, Elena, sometimes you can be so naïve…' Damon said to himself while shaking his head in disapproval.
'Look, don't get upset, 'cause I'm just saying… Whatever that guy did, it's not worth crying over it. He probably doesn't even deserve you. I mean, one look at you is enough for me to know.' At those words, Damon felt the need to go into the cafeteria and punch that French dude in the face. How dare he speak about his brother like that? And how dare he hit on his Elena like that? Trying to calm himself down, the vampire took hold of the nearest branch, tightly squeezing it to relieve the pressure that was rapidly growing inside of him.
'You talk as if you know him – and that isn't the case.' Elena now seemed as pissed as Damon was. But Phillip didn't seem to notice – or didn't want to notice.
'You're right, I don't know him. It's just that… I've recently broken up with my girlfriend. Well, she was actually the one who left me for somebody else; what I'm trying to say is that I understand what it's like, no matter why or how you guys broke up.' There was a short moment of silence, before Elena responded.
'I doubt that you do.' The pain in the girl's voice was clearly there, although Elena was forcefully trying to hide it, from what Damon could gather.
'Anyway, if you consider coming to the Founder's Ball next month, I could be your partner. We don't have to go as a couple, we could go as friends.' 'Yeah, right, tell that to someone who believes you…'
'And plus, you could show me the mansion, since I'm new in town and haven't seen it yet…' Damon thought that he would puke as he heard that schmuck ask Elena out to the party.
'I told you, Phillip, I don't think that I'm coming.' 'Take a hint, jackass!'
'But if you do come… ' Was this guy for real? There was no way in hell that Elena would ever accept this.
'… I'll think about it. Thanks for the invitation, Phillip.' 'Wait…what?'
'Avec plaisir, Helene… Mon plaisir…'
Damon couldn't help but wince as he heard Elena practically accepting this French guy's invitation. It wasn't because the vampire was particularly concerned about Elena's love for his brother, because he already knew that it was still there, burning inside of her more than ever. It was just that, ever since the Founder's Ball when Stefan had invited Katherine, Damon had wanted to have the opportunity to share such an event with the woman that he loved. And he thought that he would now have the chance to make that dream come true. Of course, the vampire realized that Elena wouldn't actually come with him to this event as his girlfriend, but she would most certainly be his date, his partner, his plus-one for the evening. Somehow, the thought of Damon having Elena as more than just 'a friend' for one night made him hopeful that one day she would realize what his feelings for her really were. In earnest, Damon hadn't even spoken with Elena about the Founder's Ball; it wasn't that he was scared that he would be rejected, but he knew how bad Elena still was and feared that pushing this on her would only make the situation worse.
As the tension continued to grow within him, Damon felt his hand squeeze the branch tighter and tighter by the second. Now he wished that he had asked Elena about the ball earlier – for she couldn't go with him anymore, as she had promised this Phillip guy. But then again, Damon knew that all was fair in love and war. He could easily persuade Elena to agree for him to be her company. But Damon was sure that Elena wouldn't go to the ball – not in her current state. But doubt started slowly eating the inside of Damon's heart and he winced as he pictured his beautiful Elena hand in hand with somebody else apart from his brother. The image was simply unnerving for him to even imagine, let alone see it with his own eyes. Eventually there was a loud crack and it took Damon a few seconds to concentrate and realize that he had managed to smash the branch that he was holding on to.
Elena had to admit - the girl in the mirror was truly beautiful. She wore a short white, baby-doll like dress and high heels of course. Her long silky hair was let loose, with only a few curls at the ends. She had no particular piece of jewelery on – just a pair of simple small earrings and a silver bracelet on her right hand. Elena simply couldn't believe that the girl watching her back from the mirror was actually her – she looked like a true star; well, that had been Caroline's doing, of course. Her face was, however, pained. No, it wasn't actually pained. It seemed more as if she was thinking hard about something, about something that had made her entire existence more complicated than ever – the two Salvatore brothers. Elena bitterly smiled as a thought ran through her head – the thought that she was the only one to blame for the way that she had acted. And now she was paying for her previous actions and mistakes. The girl turned around as she suddenly heard the door of Stefan's bedroom open and saw Caroline come in. Elena tried to smile as she saw her friend's warm expression, but failed to achieve the desired effect.
'So… aren't you ready yet?' the vampire happily asked. Elena thought that her friend was a little too anxious, even for Caroline's sake, but she decided to let it go – after all, she had been paranoid all week long since she had heard the news about her birthday party.
'Almost ready, I'm still waiting for Damon to bring me my necklace.' Elena winced as she remembered what had happened just that morning during P.E. class. While they were playing basketball, Arianna had accidentally ripped the necklace from her throat while she was trying to take the ball from Elena's hand. The vervain from inside the necklace had of course spilled all over the floor of the gym. But, since no one seemed to notice, Elena didn't want to draw attention upon the matter, so she left all the vervain there and took the broken necklace with her. When school ended and Elena was heading towards the parking lot, where Damon was waiting for her as always, she felt empty inside the moment she realized that the necklace held a significant meaning – it had been the first gift that Stefan had given her. It seemed stupid enough, but it was as if the universe was telling her through the shattered necklace that their relationship was over as well. Although she was weeping because of something else, Damon thought that the girl was upset over the necklace. And, as always, he had stepped in to save the day and offered to fix the broken piece of jewelry until tonight.
'You know, we could've bought you a new necklace, since it is your birthday…' Caroline said, suddenly bringing Elena into the present.
'I like my old necklace – it has sentimental value… You know that.' Elena's eyebrows furrowed as she saw Caroline's expression suddenly change.
'What is it, Caroline?'
'Elena, I really don't want to ruin your evening, but I have to ask you something.' Caroline shortly paused before staring into her friend's eyes. 'Just please try to have fun tonight – we all want this for you. That's why we're doing this – we most certainly don't want to see you like this anymore…'As Elena's brows furrowed, Caroline knew what was going to come next.
'Like what, Car'?'
'You're still suffering – and I get it, Elena, believe me. You love Stefan and you're still waiting for him to come back, but what if… what if that won't happen?' Elena's eyes suddenly became upset.
'What are you actually trying to say, Caroline?' the vampire heavily sighed before continuing.
'I'm saying that… no matter how hard it is to lose somebody, you have to eventually get over it. I know you can't see that now, but… You have to admit that you're letting your life pass you by.'
'Is that what you all want me to do? Go on with my life?'
'No, Elena… We simply want you to be happy again. And we're trying to tell you that you should find happiness, no matter if you find it with Stefan or… with somebody else…' The last words made Elena freeze in her place. For a second she thought that Caroline was referring to… Damon. But, no – that simply couldn't be! Her voice, however, came out a tad more bitter than she had intended.
'I already found my happiness, Car' and it's with Stefan – It will always be with Stefan… And if you guys have a problem with that, then I'm sorry to disappoint you, but that's just how things are. And that's the way they're going to stay…' After Caroline nodded in response, she silently headed towards the door, appearing to be defeated. Elena felt guilty for the way that she had handled her friend, so she quickly turned around one more time to her friend and warmly said.
'I'm sorry, Caroline – I promise you that I'll enjoy myself tonight. And thank you for throwing this party for me, Car'… I know you probably put a lot of effort into it.' Those words made the vampire widely grin and she seemed to have forgotten all about the icy discussion from earlier.
'You can thank me after the party…' With a wink, Caroline quickly walked out the door, letting Elena once again alone in her boyfriend's empty bedroom.
As Damon found himself standing right in front of Stefan's bedroom door, he came to a halt, hesitating before actually going inside. He was tightly holding on to Elena's necklace, which had a fresh set of vervain inside, as if he was holding on to the last piece of salvation that he had. The truth was that Damon was anxious about this moment – he hadn't been allowed to see Elena all afternoon, although she had arrived at the boarding house a good three hours earlier to get ready for the party. The girl had been, of course, accompanied by Caroline, who was making sure that Elena wouldn't peek downstairs, where the vampire was decorating everything for the big night. Of course, Elena had no idea that her birthday party wouldn't take place only between her close friends – if that were the case, she would have probably called the whole thing off. Damon smiled at the thought – he could only imagine Elena's reaction, the moment she would eventually go downstairs in the living-room. He could easily remember Elena's defeated face as she agreed to please anyone else but herself remaining in Stefan's bedroom this entire time.
So Damon hadn't actually had any contact with the girl since he had picked her up from school earlier that day. He would have never believed that he could be so linked to a human being, that it would actually hurt to be apart from her for only a few hours. The feeling was indeed spreading inside his heart, making it hard for Damon not to burst into the room and simply spill out his feelings to Elena. But, of course, he couldn't do that. Firstly because it was the girl's birthday and it was clearly not the best timing. And secondly, well… there was always his brother. The moment Stefan's face appeared in front of his eyes, Damon forcefully shook his head and clenched his fists. 'Just gather yourself, man!' When he eventually entered the room, Damon found Elena standing in front of the mirror, with her back towards the door.
Damon felt his entire body go on fire at the sight of Elena – he just couldn't find words to describe what she looked like, for she was as beautiful as only an angel could be. In earnest, he had expected to see Elena happy at the sight of him holding her necklace, but she seemed to have completely forgotten about the whole thing. Damon was also disappointed to see a pained expression on the girl's face the moment she saw his reflection in the mirror. Strangely enough, Elena didn't even try to hide it from him. That made Damon even more uncomfortable, since he didn't even know what to say to her. Elena was the one who eventually broke the silence.
'Hey…' Her voice sounded all wrong, although Damon couldn't put his finger on it. And then it was Damon's turn to return the greeting.
'Hey to you too, birthday girl…' As Elena saw Damon's playful smile, her expression warmed up the slightest bit, fact which didn't pass unnoticed by the vampire.
'I don't even feel like it's my own birthday. It all seems so strange.' Elena said while shaking her head in disbelief.
'Yeah, I think I know what you mean – you're officially old now. No more wild parties, no more drinking, no more sexy guys – hey, you might as well be 40, huh?' At that phrase, Elena actually cracked a wide grin while shaking her head. Happy to have made her happy, Damon continued.
'However, I think that this is a very good occasion for us to finally have some fun and forget about everything that's been going on.'
'I guess you're right…'
'Now will the birthday girl tell me why she isn't enjoying this day?' Elena's eyes suddenly went wide open and flickered towards Damon as she realized how upset she really looked. She hadn't wanted to let anyone see – especially Damon, but it seemed that she couldn't act as well as she thought. Not knowing what to tell Damon, she simply shook her head, as if saying 'I don't wanna talk about it now.' The girl flinched as she heard Damon speak in a dramatic voice.
'Oh, noooo! Don't tell me that you've been looking at photos from the 80's with Stefan's band…' The next thing Elena saw was Damon taking a look at Stefan's album. The girl heard her voice come out confused.
'They were a… band?'
'Oh, of course… a rock band. Stefan was very popular back then. But I don't know too many details, since we still weren't talking back then. But from what I saw the first and only time when I met my brother's band, they were all dressed like Bon Jovi, had weird long curly hair, and pretended that they were cool and breaking a leg. God, did I hate the 80's… the 90's were indeed worse, but still…' Elena couldn't help but smile as she saw Damon throw Stefan's album back on the bed and shaking his head in disgust.
'Now… the reason why I came here in the first place…' Damon said in a mystery-like voice, while slowly coming towards the girl with her necklace hidden in the palm of his hands. When the vampire saw that Elena still couldn't remember, he closed the distance between them and told her to close her eyes and turn around towards the mirror. Although Elena thought it to be a very bad idea, she complied, since she didn't want to spoil the evening. As she closed her eyes, the girl felt Damon's hands gently bringing her hair to her back and then a piece of cold metal being placed at the base of her neck. Of course! Her necklace! The moment she fluttered her eyes open, Elena sincerely wondered how she had forgetten about her necklace. She met Damon's excited eyes and she couldn't help but feel the electricity between them powerfully coming to life. The girl felt her breathing accelerating and prayed that Damon wouldn't notice it. But the vampire didn't say a word about it. Instead, as he finished locking her necklace, Damon couldn't help but let his eyes roam all over Elena's body, from her toes, then all the way up to her beautiful big brown eyes. Although it hadn't taken him more than two seconds to do that, Damon felt Elena's pulse accelerating as she had caught him admiring her. But the last thing she wanted was for Damon to say something about that, so she quickly started in a grateful voice.
'Thank you for mending my necklace, Damon…' In response, the vampire shot her such an adoring look that Elena felt like she was staring into her boyfriend's eyes. They remained like this for a few seconds, before Elena saw Damon slowly leaning towards her. The moment his mouth arrived close to her right ear, Elena shuddered as she heard Damon's velvet voice gently whispering.
'I'm sorry I haven't told you this earlier… You're so beautiful tonight, Elena…' The girl thought that her heart was going to explode as Damon's words sank in. She couldn't remember if she had ever heard those words coming out of his mouth when he had spoken to her. But it didn't matter, 'cause Elena found herself wanting to hear Damon say those words over and over again, until she forgot who she was. But, before she could realize that this wasn't a dream, the vampire retreated, throwing Elena another smile before he silently turned around and went towards the door. The moment Elena remained alone in the room, she involuntarily looked at her reflection in the mirror; she wasn't surprised at all to see that her cheeks were flushed and her chest was involuntarily going up and down in short, heavy breaths...
A few moments after Damon had left Stefan's bedroom, Elena followed him and, so, she and the vampire were both standing in his personal study, preparing to go down the stairs, so that Elena could see all the effort that Caroline had put up for this occasion. Everything was peachy and fine, until Elena asked Damon for the millionth time in that day whether he had heard any news from Bonnie and Jeremy i.e. if they had found Lucy already – the only witch that could help Bonnie find Stefan's whereabouts. Damon had grown tired of the same question over and over again in the last couple of days since they had left, and he also had other unsolved and urgent problems to think about, so he simply snapped at her – but not in his usual way. The vampire simply turned around to his desk so as not to look Elena in the eyes. While he was fervently looking for some papers he started in a harsh voice.
'No, Elena, for the thousandth time today – no, they haven't found Lucy yet.' His words had brought Elena to silence mode. As she started speaking, her voice sounded frail and hesitant.
'You're upset…' For an unknown reason, that had made Damon even more annoyed and his tone was clearly ironic when he responded.
'No, I'm not upset. Not at all... Why should I be?'
'Damon… Come on, what's wrong?'
'I'm simply disappointed in you…' That seemed to catch Elena off guard, and she found herself stuttering in a shocked voice.
'Disappointed?' The girl felt as if she had received a slap on the face.
'Yes, disappointed – because you know the truth even better than I do.' At the sight of Elena's questioning eyes, Damon simply turned around again to the desk before he responded.
'The truth about my brother… Stefan's feeding again – and this time he really is out of control, Elena.' There was a short pause, before the vampire heard the girl answer.
'I don't understand… Why are you telling me this now, Damon?'
'Because you need to hear it from somebody…' Damon had hesitated since he knew that his words would hurt the girl, but he simply knew that he had no choice, if he was going to protect her.
'Stefan's gone, Elena, and he's not going to come back.' Taken aback by Damon's convinced tone, the girl felt in turn disappointed to hear her best friend speak like that. She needed a few seconds before she could recollect herself and started talking in a confident tone.
'I'm not going to give up on finding Stefan…' the girl shortly paused while taking a deep breath '…no matter how much you all want me to.'
Damon felt the need to turn around and apologize for his harsh words. But the moment the thought formed in his mind, he heard Elena already storm out of the room, without saying another word. Damon also thought of running after her and stopping the girl in her tracks, but he finally decided to let it go. The moment he heard Elena's heels loudly go down the stairs, he realized how furious he had really made her. His heart winced at the thought, and at the same instant he felt his legs hastily run towards the stairs. But he was too late – the moment Damon arrived at the top of the stairs, he only saw a piece of Elena's dress go round the corner as the crowd of hidden guests suddenly jumped and shouted 'SURPRISE!'.
After she finished greeting everybody that had come to the party and had received all of her gifts, Elena felt truly exhausted. In fact, exhausted didn't even begin to cover the state that she was in. The talk that she had had with Damon a few minutes before had completely demoralized her. She simply couldn't understand what had all of a sudden happened to Damon. The girl not only felt that he had been completely unfair to her, especially since today was her birthday, but she also found it strange that he had said all of those things to her as if he had wanted her to believe that Stefan wouldn't be coming back after all. And she couldn't comprehend why – as much as she wanted to figure this one out, Elena simply didn't have a logical answer. But then again, Damon would always do irrational things, so she shouldn't start worrying about it now. In the end, he didn't deserve for her to be thinking about his actions, given the way that he had acted.
Elena felt herself come back to reality the moment she saw the door of the boarding house open and Arianna and Phillip come in holding a bouquet of flowers and a gift. Elena couldn't believe that Caroline had invited a couple of strangers. In earnest, the twins (for Arianna and Phillip were both green-eyed, brown haired twins) and their group had bonded these few days at school during lunch, Elena simply couldn't imagine why Caroline would tell them to come as well. Sure, Arianna was a pleasant and kind girl to be around and Phillip, although snoby, was a funny guy, but Elena felt like she had almost nothing in common with them. It was official – if she had doubted it before, now she was sure of her feelings towards the whole idea of the birthday party – it was a complete and utter disaster. She had been of course surprised and upset the moment she saw about fifty people jump from behind every single piece of furniture in the boarding house and shout 'Surprise!' – 'cause she had specifically asked Caroline that this party be only between close friends. But now she was completely disappointed to see that her party was everything that she hadn't wanted: there were more than ten people invited, the living-room was full of gifts and flowers, crazy, loud music was playing and of course – there was also a big cake which had her picture on it. 'Great… I'm going to kill Caroline after the party…' Elena, however, tried to compose herself and put on the best smile on her face the moment Arianna tightly hugged her. After the usual 'Happy birthday!', Elena received the red roses from Phillip, who leaned down to give her a long and inappropriate kiss on the cheek. After Arianna and her brother went inside the living-room, where the party had already begun, Elena took one look at the room full of people and sighed from the bottom of her heart. This was going to be a very long night…
Damon was suddenly pulled out of his reverie as he received a light punch from Alaric in his left arm. They had been sitting on the balustrade of the living-room's balcony, with their usual glasses of scotch in their hands, watching the party from outside. Damon directed his eyes towards Alaric's face and mumbled in an airy tone.
'What?'
'You're doing it again, Damon…' the vampire's brows furrowed in confusion.
'Doing what?' Alaric cracked a smile since he couldn't believe that Damon hadn't understood what he was talking about.
'Elena…' he simply stated.
'Yes, Elena… what about her?' Ric actually felt his lips turn into a wide grin as he was watching his friend be so above-ground tonight.
'You're staring at her again…' At these words, Alaric saw Damon's expression change and his mask suddenly appeared on his face. He quickly composed himself and pretended to be amused.
'You should get your eyes examined, Ric… They're starting to get old, buddy.'
'And they're not the only thing that's starting to grow old around here.' Damon turned to Alaric, having a distressed look on his face.
'What are you even talking about?'
'Come on, Damon… I thought that we were passed all the hiding and lying.'
'I honestly don't know what you're talking about.' Damon nonchalantly said as he took a sip of his scotch.
'That's crap and you know it… Everybody around you knows, Damon.' The vampire remained still as he heard Alaric continue. 'We can all see the way the both of you are looking at each other all the time. And, quite frankly, it's starting to be unnerving to watch – why don't you simply tell her how you feel and get it over with?' Alaric saw Damon angrily sip a bit of scotch before he turned to face Ric; his eyes were cracked.
'Because, the last time I checked, Elena and Stefan were still together and in love; and I also had a brother who was enslaved because he sacrificed himself to save my ass. And, guess what, Ric? Stefan is my brother. And I know that you're a History teacher, but you can easily understand how 2 plus 2 equals 4, so… I'll let you do the math… So if you have a God-damned solution for all of this mess, then I'm open to suggestions, 'cause I have no idea how I should deal with all this... Get it now, Ric?' The pitiful look that Alaric shot Damon made him turn his head in the opposite direction and take another sip of his drink. After a few moments of silence, Damon heard the sweetest voice on Earth and when he turned his head, his beautiful Elena was there, alright, in front of him and Ric. Damon made a mental note to stop thinking about the girl as 'his'. Strangely enough, she looked quite alright considering what had happened earlier between them. But Damon couldn't help but observe that Elena wasn't even looking at him, and she addressed Alaric instead.
'Hey, Elena! I guess that I'm allowed to tell you 'Happy birthday' again, right?' Damon grinned as he saw Elena make a face and then quickly trying to hide it.
'Yeah, I don't see why you shouldn't do that. I mean, I already heard that line a hundred times tonight… But, that's the point of the whole party, isn't it?' Damon heard Ric answer in a sympathetic tone.
'I think it's safe to say that you're not enjoying the party, are you?' the girl was fidgeting, clearly trying to keep back the words, but completely failed at doing so.
'Oh, no… What is there that I shouldn't enjoy? It's all I ever wanted…' As Elena couldn't help but roll her eyes, Alaric started laughing.
'But still… It's nice of you to pretend for Caroline's sake…' Damon saw from the corner of his eye as Elena sighed before she went on in the sad voice that always broke his heart.
'Yeah… I guess that, as long as everyone thinks that I'm having a good time, that's enough for me… Well, anyway, I'm going to spend some time with the other guests as well. I hope you have fun, Ric!'
'Yeah, you have fun as well, Elena… See you later!' At those words, Elena turned around to head for the living-room after throwing a single glance towards Damon. The vampire felt something inside of him break as he took a glimpse of the cold expression plastered on Elena's face. He hated himself for what he had said to her… But he knew that she would thank him for this later.
'What was that?' Ric asked in a shocked voice.
'What was what?' Damon nonchalantly asked.
'Okay... I don't know what's going on between the two of you, but I still think that you should talk to her…' Alaric saw the vampire put his glass down on the balustrade and angrily replied.
'What part of 'my brother is Elena's boyfriend' didn't you get, Ric?' the History teacher looked Damon in the face for a brief second, before his expression hardened.
'Chicken…'
'Excuse me?' Damon's eyes seemed like they were about to pop out of their orbits.
'You heard what I just said. You're scared, aren't you? You're scared that she doesn't feel the same…' From the look on Damon's face, Ric knew that he had hit a sore spot.
'You're being absurd...' the vampire sniffed at Ric's words.
'Maybe I am… but I still think that you should talk to her… Keeping things hidden never helps anyone.' Damon had to admit that he had a point, but, somehow, he knew that it didn't apply to his situation as well.
'Look, Ric, I appreciate your concern, man, but …. You honestly have no idea what it's like…' Alaric seemed to ponder upon his words, before he friendly told him.
'You're right, Damon – I don't. But you'll never find out what she really feels if you don't confront her about it. And you'll most probably regret it your entire life if you don't…' After saying those words, Alaric patted Damon on the back and entered the living-room, taking his glass as well. Right in that moment, an old song from the 80's started loudly playing – a song which probably meant nothing to all the people inside. But that was a song that made Damon drop his glass to the floor in surprise that it remembered him of Elena…
'If I had to live my life without you near me / The days would all be empty / The nights would seem so long…'
In earnest, Damon had never been a romantic. He had never been the kind of person who gazed into the sky at night, counting the stars and wondering whether she loved him or she loved him not… But on this particular evening, the moment he directed his eyes to the night's sky, all he could see was Elena's angelic face, warmly smiling back at him. As he turned around to the living-room, Damon could easily lay his eyes on his angel in spite of all the agitation that was around her.
'With you I see forever oh so clearly / I might have been in love before / But it never felt this strong'
It suddenly dawned upon Damon that every verse in this song was completely and utterly true – he may not have known a lot of things. He definitely had no idea how he could stay faithful to Stefan, since he loved his girlfriend. He didn't know if Elena had the exact same feelings as him. And Damon also didn't know if what he was about to do was the right thing. But he simply couldn't take it any longer – he felt his blood rushing in his veins, making it impossible for him to stop. And before he knew it, he jumped off the balustrade and headed towards the living-room in a confident and impatient pace.
'Our dreams are young and we both know/ They'll take us where we want to go'
As he made his way through the crowd of people, he knew – he finally understood what he had always known deep down.
'Hold me now, touch me now /I don't want to live without you'
He couldn't see Elena anymore, but he finally felt the need to hold her, to touch her, to show her and tell her how much he really loved her. Ric had been right – he was scared, hell – he was petrified. But now he wasn't scared anymore...
'Nothing's gonna change my love for you / You ought to know by now how much I love you'
His lips involuntarily went upwards in a wide grin as he felt that he was getting closer to his angel by the second. Damon's heart almost started beating the moment he saw his dear Elena. And a fraction of a second later it almost broke into thousand of tiny pieces.
'One thing you can be sure of / I'll never ask for more than your love'
A wave of disappointment came crushing down upon him as he saw his beautiful Elena in Phillip's arms, the both of them closely dancing and smiling to one another. Damon felt his entire body refusing to react to his strong desire of hiding his emotions. The entire world suddenly went silent the moment Elena's chocolate eyes met his…
A second later, Damon was already long gone...
All of the nerves in his body were convulsively trembling, screaming at him to go back and finish what he had intended to do. But he couldn't... Damon had felt that he could have easily yanked that jackass off of Elena and crush his skull so hard that the only thing left of it would be a pile of ashes. He nervously ran faster and faster, not even caring whether someone saw him anymore. He simply needed to be alone, and as far away from Elena as possible – the last thing he needed was to snap. No, that wasn't going to happen - for he had something else more important to do tonight and it couldn't wait any longer.
A few moments later, Damon found himself at the old barrack that was situated at the very edge of the Boarding House's grounds. He hastily, but silently went inside and took out a dozen of fresh blood bags out of the fridge. Before he threw them all over the room, the vampire opened a couple of them and especially left them that way on the ground. He then quickly went out of the room, making sure that he wouldn't completely close the door on his way out. Afterwards, Damon silently found a good place to hide i.e. the highest tree a few meters away from the barrack and started to wait. Involuntarily, his thoughts flew back to Elena's face the moment she had made eye-contact with her. It had lasted only a second, and he was sure that she hadn't probably even noticed him, but Damon had seen every emotion on her face and realized that she was happy. He couldn't understand though why. That Phillip guy was a first-class prick. No matter how hard Damon tried to beat his brains about the matter, he couldn't find any logical answer. But, then again... not every thing that Elena did was rational.
After a few minutes or maybe a few hours, the vampire heard somebody loudly barging in the barrack and slamming the door to the inside wall and then there was a sucking noise coming from inside. That was when Damon grinned mischievously as he thought to himself 'Gotcha…' He rushed to the inside of the barrack and there he was – his brother, Stefan, who was sitting on his knees on the floor and hungrily drinking the content of a blood-bag. Damon had been imagining this moment for months now. But, although he had expected this, he still couldn't believe how much of a vampire did Stefan look like in that moment. It felt as if he wasn't even his brother anymore. But it hadn't been the first time that Damon had seen Stefan in this state. It was, however, the first time that he couldn't hide his disappointment and disgust. He saw his brother jump as he started in an ironic voice.
'Long time no see, brother…' In less than a second, Stefan threw the blood-bag, jumped to his feet and felt the need to wipe his chin, that was full of blood, as if he was ashamed of himself. He seemed completely caught off-guard and his eyes were filled with confusions and questions.
'Aren't you happy to see me?' Stefan's eyes turned fierce.
'Oh, of course I am…brother.' But Damon observed that his tone didn't match his eyes. He was furious for being caught like this.
'It doesn't seem so… Well, I know that we've never been the closest brothers in the world, but still… a letter would've been enough to ease the pain of missing you.'
'I didn't have time for letters…' Stefan said in a snobby voice.
'A-ha… and what exactly did you have time for in the last four months?'
'That's none of your business.'
'I see – you've been a busy man; busy even to find the necessary time to at least call Elena and tell her that you were still alive.' Stefan suddenly turned around to face Damon with the most pained eyes that the vampire had seen his brother have. When he answered, he clearly seemed to have lost the control that he had been faking.
'The reason I am in this mess is because of you!'
'I never asked you to do this for me – it was your choice and your choice only. But, nevertheless, you saved my life, Stefan… And, in turn, I beg you to please let me help you come back to your normal self.' Damon's voice was now hopeful and pleading.
'This is my normal self…' Stefan stubbornly replied, holding a smirk on his face.
'Is it really? 'Cause the normal 'you' wouldn't have left Elena stranded for four whole months, crying day and night and having nightmares because she had no idea whether you were even breathing, let alone if you were ever going to come back.' By the look on Stefan's face, Damon knew that he was rubbing the knife even deeper in the wound.
'And why does that even concern you?' Damon couldn't believe his ears.
'Can you hear yourself right now? This is Elena we're talking about – the sweet, caring girl that loves you and wants you back in spite of the state that you are now in. Does that ring a bell? If not, then I'll tell you who she now is – a broken human being, who has suffered more than she ever deserved to in this life…. And part of that is because of you. If you had only seen her in these last months….'
'Oh, I'm sure that you took very good care of her all of this time…' Stefan replied in a resentful tone.
'Contrary to your beliefs, brother, I didn't lay one single hand on her… And not because I couldn't have, but because I know that she still loves you.'
'She loves me; she loves me… You keep saying that – why?'
' 'Cause she wants you back, Stefan… And she deserves to have you back. And you deserve to have the chance to get your old life back… Just please let me help you.' Although Damon would have never admited, he had started begging.
'I don't want my old life back… And I don't need your help.' Stefan angrily told Damon.
'You definitely seem as if you need it…'
'Screw… you…' As Stefan spat those words to Damon, he headed towards the door, but was stopped by Damon's warning.
'I wouldn't do that if I were you; I give you my word that you won't live to see the sun rise again.' A few seconds passed, and Damon realized that Stefan had smelled the vervain that he had placed above the barrack earlier that day. The trick was that anyone who opened the door would trigger a mechanism that would in turn make the vervain fall from the attic upstairs. As Damon saw Stefan's fists nervously clench, he happily said.
'And, by the way… you're trapped in here with me. I knew you couldn't wait, so I thought that we could spend some quality time together… like brothers do.' The next thing Damon knew was that Stefan had pinned him to a wooden pier, having his fist clenched around his neck. His eyes turned a bit black as he spat to Damon.
'Let…me…go…' With an effort, Damon responded.
'You're a little over the edge, brother…' The next thing he knew was that Stefan had punched him so hard that the pillar had almost broken down underneath his strength. In earnest, Damon had expected Stefan to be powerful, but not this strong. Before he could bring himself up from the floor, Damon felt himself being picked up by Stefan and brutally thrown to the other side of the room.
'Now who's the one trapped, Damon?' Stefan said while approaching his brother with a few wooden stakes in his right hand…
'How's it like to be the weaker brother?' Before Damon could even respond or move, he felt his left leg in pain as Stefan had driven the first stake into it. Damon involuntarily winced, but tried to compose himself as he didn't want to give Stefan the satisfaction of seeing him hurt.
'I'm sorry, what did you say, brother? That you're sorry for talking to me like that?'
'Stefan… what the hell… is wrong with you?' At those words, Damon received another stake in his other leg instead. He gritted his teeth so as not to scream.
'I'm just giving you a lesson, Damon… Let's just hope you live to learn something from it…' With that, Stefan inserted another stake, but this time in his brother's left arm. This time Damon couldn't help but scream. He was now grateful that he hadn't chosen a place closer to the Boarding house for all of this. He prayed that no one would hear and come here looking for him, for they surely wouldn't survive. It was enough that he was going to… But, no – Stefan wasn't so diabolical that he would actually kill him; but seeing his brother like this made Damon think twice about the matter and the word 'Ripper' involuntarily came to his mind.
'Stefan… stop it now – you've had you're fun…' His voice sounded fragile and pained, even to his own ears.
'Oh, no, not yet… I'll be happy to sit here and watch you bleed to death…' Another stake in his stomach and Damon truly couldn't feel his body anymore – every piece of his skin hurt like hell. He couldn't even scream anywhere – he felt numb.
'I can only imagine what that feels like… Ouch – it stings, doesn't it?' Stefan's voice sounded truly devilish to Damon's ears.
'Brother, please…' an injured Damon managed to mumble.
'Fine… I will let you go if you correctly answer this one small question.' Stefan bent on his knees, trying to come closer to Damon's face as he asked him. 'Who do you prefer to die – you… or… Elena?' As Damon's eyes fluttered open, Stefan widely grinned, already seeing the answer in his eyes. But at the same time, he started shaking his head and staring intently into Damon's eyes.
'Wrong answer, Damon… But, alas, since you're still in love with my girlfriend, you give me no other choice. Goodbye, brother… I hope we don't see each other too soon.' With those words, Damon felt yet another horrible pain go through his weak body as the flesh in the middle of his chest was ripped apart by the last wooden stake. He realized that Stefan hadn't inserted the stake in his heart, but it didn't matter anymore, ' cause he wasn't going to live too much. Everything then started to move in slow motion, as if he was watching a bad movie. He could see his brother pick up all the blood bags from the floor and nonchalantly drink them one by one. And then, after a few - minutes? - he couldn't see Stefan anymore and assumed that he had simply left. In earnest, Damon couldn't believe that this was happening to him - that he would die because of... his brother! The only thing that Damon could still think about was his dear Elena. He wanted to tell her how sorry he was for hurting her earlier, to let her know how much he truly loved her and to help her remember the very first time that he had told her those three words... The thing that hurt him most was that he didn't have her near him this time as well - he would have truly liked it for somebody to hold his hand while he died. He had cheated death once and it seemed that he wouldn't be given a second chance after all. His heart winced at the thought that Elena would remain all alone; she did have her brother and their friends, but Damon felt guilty that he wouldn't be there for her anymore, that he wouldn't be able to protect her anymore. He felt a lonely tear fall down his cheek as Elena's face appeared in front of his eyes. But he didn't get his hopes up - although he feared it, he knew what would soon happen to him.
The moment Damon heard Elena's sweet angelic voice, he knew for sure that he had died and arrived in heaven...
I hope that I don't disappoint anyone with this chapter, since I wrote it in high speed, and didn't really have the time to trim it properly... Please excuse the spelling mistakes, if they are there... Anyways, I can't wait to see what you guys think about it ! Until next time... :-)
