(Chapter eight)

The next morning Damon woke up first. He glanced over to the spot next to him on the bed to make sure that last night wasn't just a dream and to his joy, it wasn't. There was Elena with her body completely submerged under the covers, sleeping peacefully. He loved her more than he had ever loved anything in his entire life, more than he loved Katherine. Damon climbed out of bed quietly so he wouldn't wake Elena and went to make a pot of coffee because he knew Elena couldn't function properly without it. Such a human...

Elena laid tucked beneath the cover but as she turned to see the man she loved, no one was there. "Oh no, was it all a dream?" she thought. "Damon?" she called out.

"Good morning." he said as he appeared in the doorway smirking at her.

"Thank God.." she mumbled.

"And may I ask why we are thanking God?" he had now moved closer to her and was right next to her face.

"Damn it...I keep forgetting that you have super good hearing. And I was thanking God because when I woke up you weren't here...I thought it was all a dream." she whispered.

"Looks like dreams become reality huh? Don't deny it, what happened last night...you've had dreams about it before. It's okay, I'm hard to resist..I know." just then a huge grin flashed across his face as Elena punched his arm. "Um, ouch." he said even though it didn't hurt at all.

Elena got out of the bed with nothing covering her body and went to get a bath robe to put on.

"Damn, I sure wouldn't mind if that's what I get to wake up to every morning." he winked at her and she blushed. "Well come on, I've got some coffee ready for you and then we can head home."

"No we can't Damon." she said with a little bit of force.

"What? Why can't we?" he asked with confusion.

"Because we need to find Stefan." she said. She watched his face turn blank.

"No we don't. You made your choice, we don't need to waste our time with him any longer even though it would be nice to see him and get gas money from him for making me travel so far." Damon was angry but he couldn't show it after everything that had happened last night. He needed to add some kind of sarcastic remark.

"Yes we do Damon. You're right, I have chosen you but I still need to see him one last time so I can have closure and finally be able to let him go for good." she said.

"...Fine. Hurry up though, the sooner we get this over with...the better." he said as he walked away to go and get ready.

"So do you have any idea where he is?" Elena asked Damon. They were driving through the city now in search of Stefan.

"I have a general area as to where he could possibly be but listen to me, Stefan isn't living in the safest part of town and I really don't need anything to happen to you so whatever you do, stay close to me. Got it?" he asked her.

"Yeah, I will but where exactly in town is he staying..?" Elena was concerned.

"He's somewhere in the Bronx...South Bronx to be exact and I'm telling you there's an extremely high crime rate down there. I have nothing to worry about seeing as I'm a vampire and I could kill anything that tried to get in my way but you on the other hand...that's a completely different story." said Damon as he glanced over at Elena.

"I'm a big girl Damon. I can take care of myself." she said bitterly.

"And I'm the queen of England. Yeah maybe back in Mystic Falls you could handle yourself but not here so either do what I say or I'll take you back to the hotel. You're choice but I just can't have something happen to you. Okay? I'm only doing this because I love you." Damon reached over and took Elena's hand in his and squeezed it tightly.

"Alright, fine." she said as she pulled her hand away from his.

"Aw, come on Elena. Don't be mad at me." he whined.

"I'm not mad." she let out a huge annoyed sigh and then stared out of the window.

"Well I think we're getting close. There's a highly vampire populated area around here so I need to find the guy in charge and see if he can give me information about my darling little brother's whereabouts." said Damon in a sarcastic voice.

"Who's the guy in charge?" Elena was curious and a little nervous.

"His name is Darren. He's been running this area for quite some time now and he's an extremely old vampire so let me do all the talking." Damon demanded as the car came to a stop in front of an old apartment building. "Just follow me and stay quiet. I love you Elena."

"Okay and I love you too." she said as she reached out and clutched his hand.

"Well would you look at that. Damon Salvatore. And to what do we owe this pleasure?" asked a large and very tall man.

"Cornelius, long time no see. And I'm here to speak with Darren." replied Damon.

"What business do you have with Darren?" he asked and then turned towards Elena. "And who is this beauty?"

"I need to speak to him on a possible location of my brother. And this is Elena." he let out a small growl and pulled Elena farther behind him. "And she's mine." he hissed.

"Whoa buddy, easy! If she's yours that's fine, can't blame a guy for asking can you? She just smells so..delicious." he smirked as his eyes lit up.

"Cornelius!" roared Damon.

"Alright alright...come on. I'll take you to see Darren." said Cornelius as he lead the way up a flight of stairs and then down a dark hallway. At the end of the hall there was one door that had dim light shinning from it. Once they approached the door Cornelius knocked and waited for an answer.

"What do you want?" called a voice from inside.

"Sorry to bother you boss but I have someone here to see you by the name of Damon Salvatore." he smirked. "Ring a bell?"

The room was silent for a moment until the voice on the other side said. "Send him in."