a/n: Thanks so much for all the reviews I received on the last chapter. I'm really excited about this chapter too. I also included a diary entry in this chapter. I hope you enjoy it and please remember to review!
Chapter Seven Bumps in the Night
Hush little baby, don't say a word,
And never mind that noise you heard,
It's just the beast under your bed,
In your closet, in your head…
-Enter Sandman by Metallica
Dear Diary,
Today, my heart broke. It wasn't a gentle breaking, but instead, more like a hurricane racing over my soul. I was in a car wreck and that experience was one of the worse I've ever had. This wasn't like the first wreck I was in; it was far from it. In the icy water of the lake I had absolutely no power to save Matt. And if I would have died, I would have become a vampire. I've never really liked the idea of changing, it's actually one of the last things I want to do, and the idea of not dying when Matt could have consumed me. I've never felt so helplessly alone before.
But he saved me. That seems to be the chorus of my life right now. Every time something bad happens, he's there. He isn't the type of person who comes riding in on a white horse to save me. He's more of the type who claws his way through the shadows to make room for the light. And when I was at the bottom of the lake, light was all I wanted.
At the bottom of the lake lies Matt's car and Stefan's jacket. I had hoped Bonnie could use the jacket to find Stefan, but when Matt's life was in jeopardy, the jacket was an afterthought. Thankfully Bonnie used my vervain necklace, but the results were far from joyful. Bonnie didn't get any feedback from her spell. Although she stated that there were many reasons the spell didn't work, my heart fears the worst. I love Stefan and I'm not sure what I would do without him.
Stefan… He almost seems like an afterthought himself lately. It's been so hard to stay focused on him when the world around me is falling to pieces. And with Damon's blood humming through my veins, it's really hard to focus on anything. I just want things to go back to the way things were before Stefan went crazy on human blood. I want to helplessly love Stefan, hate Damon, and forget everything about Katherine. But I know I can't go back in time and change things. I'm force to bear these burdens and find somehow to live with them. And as much as I hate to admit it, I don't think I'll ever hate Damon again. And I'm not sure I want to...
Damon watched Elena as she wrote in her diary. She had obviously never been to bed. She still wore the jeans and t-shirt she had donned after the car wreck. Her brown eyes were scrunched in concentration, but that didn't hide how tired she looked. The weight of the past day was bearing down on her shoulders. She wore the weight well, but Damon could see the toil it took on her.
"Damon," Elena breathed as her brown eyes met Damon's blue ones.
"I was just getting ready to go get something to eat." Damon smiled his infamous rogue smile. "I didn't mean to disturb you."
"I'm glad I caught you" Elena replied as she closed her diary. She laid it gently on the coffee table beside her. "I didn't know you'd go out during the night."
"I have to feed Elena." He leaned against the wall.
"I know." Her eyes filled with an intense sadness. "I just don't want to take the chance of losing you too."
Damon tried not to let her words affect him, but he couldn't stop the wave of happiness her words brought. Although Damon felt a slight tinge of joy from the fact that she was worried about him, he shook off that feeling. She was his brother's, not his.
Slowly, she brushed her long brown hair to the side to reveal her pale neckline. "If you have to feed, take what you need from me."
"No," Damon shook his head quickly. He knew far too well the consequences that that act would bring about. "I'm not going to feed from you, and if you don't want me to go out, I'll want until morning."
"Thank you," Elena said softly. Her eyes almost looked sad and he tried not to read too much into it.
Ruffling his dark hair, Damon walked over to Elena and sat next to her on the couch. "You've been through a lot the past few days."
"Really?" Her voice was close to a laugh. "I learned that Katherine was back. I almost died and you gave me your blood to save me." She was counting the events on her fingers now. "Stefan and my family are missing. I learned that werewolves are real. Then I learned that Tyler could be one. I actually told Matt about vampires. Then I almost drowned. And now, Matt has a concussion and we don't have a hospital for him to go to." She frowned. "I think saying I've been through a lot is a vast understatement."
A smile crossed his lips. "At least you're alive."
"Barely." She narrowed her eyes and crossed her arms. "Do you really think Matt is going to be okay?"
"It's just a slight concussion, Elena. If we survive this, he probably needs to get it checked out. Until then, however, he'll be perfectly fine."
Seemingly satisfied, she relaxed against the back of the couch. "How do you do it?"
"How do I do what?" He flashed his dashing smile.
"How do you stand to get close to people who just end up dying?" she asked simply.
Millions of thoughts flashed through his mind then. He wasn't used to getting close to people. In fact, Elena was one of the first people he had truly opened himself up to. Maybe that had been a mistake.
"I'm not close to anyone," he lied.
Elena frowned. "Don't give me that Damon. I know you better than that." Then, she arched an eyebrow. "Can I ask you a question?"
"Are we going to go through this again?" he asked with a smile.
She rolled her eyes. "Please be serious."
"I'm as serious as a heart attack." He laughed as she winced at his cliché.
"When Katherine hurt me," Elena began hesitantly, "she obviously didn't want to kill me. If she wanted me dead, I would be."
"And your question is?"
"If it came down to me dying or you changing me, which one would you have done?"
A wave of shock enveloped Damon's being as he stared at Elena. He knew his surprise reflected in his eyes for a minute, but he quickly hid it. The truth was he'd thought about that exact situation thousands of times. Although he knew that he couldn't live without this frail human, he also had no desire to curse her to this lifestyle. And for some reason, he knew his love for her would outweigh any logical decision he would make on his own.
"What would you want me to do?" he finally asked.
"I want to be human," she said slowly. "But I also want to protect those I love. And as long as they're in danger, I want to become a vampire."
"You mean you're not willing to give up your mortality for Saint Stefan?" Damon gasped.
She playfully punched him as a sad smile crossed her lips. "Not yet."
And Damon knew he shouldn't have read too much into her answer, but he did. The disaster that occurred from him kissing Katherine had made him promise himself that he wouldn't touch Elena unless she came to him. He would also never touch her as long as she was Stefan's. He had absolutely no desire to feel the rejection he'd felt when he'd realized he'd kissed Katherine instead of Elena.
As he stood up, he offered Elena a weak smile. "Go to bed Elena. You're going to need all the strength you have in this upcoming war."
Tyler woke up with sweat pouring off his body. He had never felt this hot before and instantly checked his forehead for a temperature. As he yanked his hand away, he scrunched his eyebrows in frustration. He was definitely running a fever.
Slowly, he tossed his legs over the side of the bed and crossed the room. The only other person in the room looked peaceful in his sleep. To Tyler's horror, he could hear Matt's blood flowing through his body. When Tyler closed his eyes, he could hear Matt's heart beat in a strained fashion. And oddly, Tyler's brain was calculating the exact force it would take to kill Matt.
Get a grip, Tyler thought as he backed against the wall. As his fingers made contact with the painted drywall, his body was overwhelmed with sensations. He no longer simply felt smooth or hard, hot or cold, wet or dry. Instead, he felt varying degrees of all of them at once.
Then, a fierce anger swept through Tyler's veins. He glanced to Matt in utter fury as he thought about their past year together. Matt had been one of his best friends, but that friendship had been tested throughout the year. Right now, Tyler didn't care if his friend lived or died.
He was at Matt's side before he could stop himself. His fingers trailed the skin of Matt's neck as Tyler was devoured by the need to kill. Matt stirred in his sleep and that motion drove Tyler on. If Matt woke now, there would at least be a struggle before he was killed.
Matt's lazy blue eyes opened slowly and looked to Tyler in confusion.
"What are you doing man?"
"Um." Tyler snapped out of his bizarre trance. "You didn't look like you were breathing," he began. "I was just checking your pulse."
"Well I'm alive," Matt said harshly as he sat up. "You can get your hands off me now."
As Tyler backed away from Matt, thousands of emotions raced through his being. He had never been that consumed with rage before and he didn't like feeling that out of control.
Letting out a deep breath, he sat back on the edge of his bed. He ruffled his hair before he glanced back at Matt. Tyler knew that if he didn't get this under control soon, he'd do something he regretted.
He settled back into bed and tried to go to sleep. But when he finally fell into the realm of unconsciousness, all his dreams were filled with blood and pain.
a/n: Please review!
