AGH I'M SORRY THIS IS SO LATE AND I JUST HOPE YOU LIKE IT TBH AND I WON'T STAY FOR TOO LONG BECAUSE IT'S 1AM AND I'M SO FREAKING TIRED BUT I HAVE TYPED MORE AT THE END AND I LOVE YOU ALL SO MUCH THAT IT HURTS AND JUST ENJOY.
I woke up to feel his fingertips dancing up and down my arm lightly. I didn't open my eyes for a moment, content to just lie there with him beside me but then he bent down to whisper in my ear.
"Good morning."
I grinned to myself, opening my eyes to see his devastating ones gazing down at me. My first thought was how beautiful he was. My second was what a mess I probably looked - I wasn't a pretty sight in the mornings. I began to think of ways to shimmy out of his grip and sprint to the bathroom to make myself look more normal but he seemed to read my mind, laughing as he kissed the tip of my nose and causing my heart to go into overdrive.
"You look beautiful. And I kept my promise – I stayed."
I nodded breathlessly, and he lightly cupped my cheek with his hand for just a moment before disappearing from my side completely. I blinked for a second, disoriented before rolling over to see him smirking at me from the other side of the room.
"I kept my promise but now Ms. Gilbert, I have to go and get my plan for today ready." He began to look through my wardrobe, his gaze lingering on each new outfit.
I propped myself up on one shoulder, raising an eyebrow. "Plan? Damon, you're not going to do anything –"
He cut me off by tossing me a dress. "Put that on. Come down when you're dressed – we'll set off then." With a final grin, he left, leaving me completely confused.
With a weary sigh, I reluctantly crawled out of the bed, examining the dress. It was very pretty – a deep blue tea dress, with a nipped in waistline and three quarter length sleeves. I pulled off my pyjamas and slipped into it quickly over a little blue slip – it fit perfectly and reminded me of my original dress that I had worn for years. That was comforting at least. I yanked on a pair of grey tights and slipped on a pair of flat pumps before dragging a brush through my hair (still silky from the night before) and scraping it up into a bun. I gave myself a dubious glance in the mirror – I looked so girly. I was used to having to look as tough as possible in the Pail, so nobody picked on me. But I suppose I had Damon to protect me now. I had taken ten minutes to get ready but I didn't want to delay any longer – I was genuinely worried about what he was planning.
I hurried out of the room, nearly crashing into Stefan as I did so. "Sorry, sorry!" I babbled. He smiled warmly, steadying me gently.
"It's not a problem. Damon said something about going somewhere with you?"
I nodded, and clearly the unease was evident on my face because he laughed. "Don't be too worried. I think you'll enjoy it – Damon certainly doesn't hold back when it comes to surprises. Have a nice time – we'll see you when you get back."
He smiled again, before ambling past me and back into their bedroom. I smiled after him, again feeling all warm because Stefan had that influence on people. Then I heard Damon calling me and I trotted down the stairs quickly.
I turned into the kitchen and found him standing in the middle of the room, an eyebrow raised. "Ready to go?" He asked and I nodded, all prepared to begin a whole speech about how I didn't want to be dragged anywhere I didn't want to be but before I could, he was roughly pressing his lips to mine, making me lose my train of thought. He pulled away and I let him pull me out of the kitchen to the front door in a daze.
"Where are you taking me?" I questioned, not really caring anymore as long as I got to kiss him again. He grinned at me, throwing open the door and gesturing to his car. "We, my little firecracker, are going on a trip. I'm going to show you how beautiful Mystic Falls is beyond the Pail and the Shire."
I stared at him. Beyond the Pail and the Shire? I was pretty sure that was all Mystic Falls consisted of. But he was opening the car door for me, raising an eyebrow expectantly, and I sighed resignedly, sliding into the car.
"You look lovely, by the way. Whoever chose that dress clearly has a good eye for style." He smirked at me as he sat gracefully into the driver's seat. I rolled my eyes but couldn't keep the tiny smile off my face as we speeded out of his driveway. He reached into the backseat and pulled something forward, handing it to me. I realised with a start that it was the incredible book I had never finished – The Purple Haven.
"I'd go ahead and read that if I were you. It'll be a while before we get there."
My fingers trailed over the faded cover and I could practically feel the world of literature beckoning me. I glanced up at him to see him smiling warmly at me. I hesitated as I opened the page of the book where I had left off.
"Are you sure? I asked. "I don't want to be antisocial."
He laughed, turning sharply down a road I had never seen before. "Of course. Go ahead. I want to know what you think of it."
I watched him for a few moments before giving in and curling up my feet beneath me, remerging myself in the book. And we drove on and on in companionable silence, protected from the cold outside in the warmth of the car and it struck me – for the second time in the past few days – that I was probably the happiest I had ever been. It was hard not to be with this god beside me.
"We're here."
I looked up sharply, startled out of my little bubble. Damon was unbuckling his seatbelt and getting out of the car, and I was left on my own for a few seconds until he reappeared to open my door. I climbed out slowly and gazed around in awe.
We were in a meadow or field or something, I wasn't sure. All I knew was that it was absolutely beautiful. The grass was a bright merry green, slightly frosty from the cold weather, and there was a crystal blue waterfall cascading down into a circular lake. Snow drops were clustered around the edge of the water, and a huge tree draped its branches in a huge canopy above a rug on the grass. On the rug there were various colourful cushions, and…picnic baskets?
"I thought we could have a taste testing of all of the delicacies of the Shire you are yet to try." He purred in my ear from behind me and I jumped, making him chuckle.
"I didn't know you had a romantic side Damon Salvatore." I teased lightly. "Be careful – you don't want to get too soft."
He chuckled, brushing the hair off my neck to kiss it lightly before pushing me gently to the rug. I curled up on it, leaning against the trunk of the tree. Damon tossed me a blanket and I wrapped it around myself, grinning as he dramatically began to pull items out of the picnic basket.
"To start with, we have delicious ciabatta bread topped with tomatoes." He handed me a small plate of the little dish and I inhaled the warmth, the herby smell tickling my nose. I looked up and I could see the poorly disguised excitement in his eyes as he watched me, so hopeful that I would enjoy this little date and I knew at that moment that how I felt about Damon Salvatore, I had never felt before. But I couldn't tell him that obviously, not yet. So instead I mock rolled my eyes, holding up the little plate.
"So how do I go about eating this?"
About ten plates later, I was absolutely stuffed – and a little bit drunk from the wine Damon kept refilling my glass with. I had stopped protesting after the third glass and was now giggling at pretty much everything. Damon was laughing with me, shooting me question after question. He wanted to know everything, from my favourite flower to my earliest memory. I let my gaze drift from his beautiful eyes to the whole scene behind us. As soon as it had got dark, little fairy lights that were arranged around the entire park had turned on, lighting up the place like a fairy grotto, and lanterns of various colours hung from the tree branches, emitting a cheery glow.
"Wait, wait wait." I laughed, holding up my hands in defeat. "At least let me ask one question."
He smiled slightly, sitting back. "Fire ahead then."
I grinned triumphantly before trying extremely hard to think of a good question. Damon didn't open up too often so I knew I had to take advantage of the opportunity but the wine was making my mind feel fuzzy.
"Why do you care what I think about that book so much?"
Ok, it had kind of slipped out without me really meaning to let it but I was curious. His eyes lit up whenever he saw I was reading it and it had piqued my interest as to why. When I saw his weird look, I hastened to explain.
"The first time you gave me the book, you asked what I thought about it and when I told you it was only ok, you looked so disappointed and I was just wondering why."
He smirked, glancing down at the tattered copy on the rug. (I had insisted on bringing it with us from the car.)
"Before I answer that, let me ask you one more question."
I made a face at his complete inability to do exactly as I wanted and he rolled his eyes before continuing.
"What did you think of the book?"
I wasn't expecting that. I hesitated, wondering whether I should play it cool.
"It's the best thing I've ever read. I feel like it expanded my mind to ten times the size and I wanted to cry and laugh at the same time and the characters were so beautiful and whenever I read it, it was like being plunged into another universe and I really don't want it to end."
So I had decided against the playing it cool thing then. I blurted this whole speech out in a single sentence in one breath and he looked slightly alarmed throughout. When I eventually finished, I took a deep gasp of air, before trying to look as nonchalant as possible.
He was laughing though, and there was…relief on his face?
Along with a smug smirk of course.
"Thank you." He said simply and this time it was me rolling my eyes at his obvious pandering for me to question him further.
"Go on then Mr. Mysterious." I teased, nudging him with my foot. "Explain yourself."
He hesitated a moment to add to the suspense before shrugging. "I wrote the book."
I hadn't heard him right, I couldn't have. But he was handing me the book, indicating two tiny initials on the cover where the author's name should be.
D.S.
Oh my God, he was telling the truth.
"You wrote this?" I shrieked, jumping up. "Why didn't you tell me?" Warmth was spreading across my cheeks from embarrassment at the gushing I had done. He stood up, raising an eyebrow as he stepped towards me.
"I thought you liked it."
"I mean…well yeah, I did but I didn't know you wrote it –"
He cut me off by kissing me, something that had become his latest tactic. Not that I was complaining.
"I promise I won't do something like that to you again, ok?" He murmured and I nodded breathlessly, his intense eyes overwhelming. Usually at this point, he pulled away but this time he didn't. He just stood, my back pressed against the tree, smiling slightly at the feel of my pounding heart against his chest.
"You're so beautiful." He said suddenly and I snorted, causing him to frown. "You are. It's like I'm under your spell and I'm quite sure that I would do nearly anything you asked."
A thought popped into my mind and I had to bite back the smile tugging at my lips. "Anything?" I asked innocently and a smirk appeared on his face.
"My mean-ness has been rubbing off on you Ms. Gilbert, but I suppose I asked for that. What do you want me to do?"
I tipped my head over his shoulder to the lake. "I want you to jump into that. As punishment for not telling me."
He snorted before a mischievous smile spread across his beautiful face. "I will if you come with me."
I bit my lip but couldn't hold back my smile. He grinned at me before beginning to unbutton his shirt.
"Come on then. You're not getting that new dress wrecked; I only bought it for you yesterday."
I rolled my eyes, reaching down to pull off the silky fabric with more confidence than I felt. He was now only in his black jeans, having kicked off his socks and shoes. Since he was Damon, he saw my hesitation and cupped my cheek lightly. "You're beautiful." He said softly and I grinned at him, feeling a sudden burst of confidence. I yanked the dress off quickly, and kicked off the grey tights so I was just in my underwear and the slip before giving him a little push on his bare shoulder.
"Let's go then."
He chuckled, grabbing my hand and leading me to the edge of the lake. It was crystal clear, and even in the darkness, I could see to the bottom of it.
"This is going to be freezing, isn't it?" I complained, wrapping my arms around myself as the cold air blew gently against me. Damon smiled to himself, crouching down to dip a hand into the water.
"It's fine actually. I wouldn't stress about it –" He had to stop because I had caught him off guard and pushed him into the water. He disappeared under for a few seconds before reappearing, bobbing on top of the lake dripping wet. He was laughing though, running his hands through his wet hair to push it off his face and I caught sight of a very nicely muscular arm for a moment as I curled over laughing.
"You shouldn't have let your guard down, you idiot." I told him through my hysterics. He grinned, swimming up to the edge and holding out a hand. "Help me up?"
I rolled my eyes, scrambling away from him. "I'm not falling for that trick Salvatore. You're not getting me anywhere near that freezing water – DAMON!"
He had sprung out of the water momentarily to grab me, his soaking body pressing against mine before he all but dropped me into the lake. I braced myself for the total chill of the icy water but instead I was pleasantly surprised to find it was actually warm – I was guessing that Damon had installed something in the place to make it this temperature. I kicked my way up to the top, gasping as I broke the surface.
"Not fair!" I called to Damon, who was laughing at the side of the lake. He grinned before diving elegantly back in and swimming up to me.
"I don't play fair, Ms. Gilbert. I play by my own rules." He told me and I splashed him before looking around. Herein the water, everything looked even more beautiful.
"This is lovely." I said honestly, and he laughed.
"You haven't even seen all of the angles of the waterfall yet."
I suddenly felt fingers entwine with mine and I looked around to find Damon tugging me gently towards the waterfall. I let him pull me and he led me around the edge of the cascading water to what turned out to be a little cave type thing behind it. I padded onto the rocky ledge carefully, grinning at him as he followed me. He was right, the waterfall was even nicer from this view. The water shimmered and I could see the fair lights through it. The water dripping from my slip was beginning to irritate me and without really overthinking it, I pulled it off and threw it to a sopping heap on the ground before turning around to face Damon. I expected to see him smirking at me, all prepared with some smart ass comment but instead his eyes were burning into mine, more intense than usual as he seemingly took me in. I opened my mouth to speak but no words had come out. The atmosphere had changed and I simultaneously dive back into the water or splash him or something to lighten the mood and throw myself at him and kiss him until I was dizzy. Since I was still feeling confident from the wine, I decided to just let whatever was going to happen, happen.
"You're gorgeous." He murmured, closing the distance between us and smoothing down my wet hair. This time, it was me who kissed him, wrapping my arms around his neck and pulling him as close as possible. His fingers were dancing up and down my skin, settling at my waist.
"Thank you so much for bringing me here." I whispered, leaning my forehead against his. He shrugged, glancing around.
"I thought you might like it and you know me Ms. Gilbert – always the romantic."
I grinned, rolling my eyes until he kissed me again. "You're the most amazing woman I've ever met." He purred, trailing his lips from my mouth to my jaw to my neck. I let out a tiny mewl as he lightly nibbled on a part of my neck that was making me melt. He groaned, turning and pushing me against the wall of the cave and beginning to kiss pretty much everywhere on my chest up. I ran my hands through his damp hair, revelling in the glorious fact that he was Damon, a terrifying vampire and the governor of Mystic Falls and I was Elena, human but he was still kissing me. As his kisses got more heated and passionate, I felt a weird overwhelming urge to let him drink from me. I pulled his head back up to my neck and immediately he understood. His teeth sharpened and his eyes darkened and he wasted very little time in choosing a spot to bite – the exact spot that had made me melt a few minutes ago. I would have protested because I didn't want to lose total control but I didn't have time – his fangs sank into my neck, with only a moment of stinging pain before total ecstasy washed over me.
I wouldn't have been surprised if he was doing something to contribute to the bliss but I didn't even care – I didn't care about anything but him and me and the fact that I was able to give something to him that he needed. He was making tiny groaning noises – of pleasure I hoped – and I felt one of his cool hands caress the other side of my neck lightly.
After a few minutes, he ran his silky tongue lightly over the two small holes and pulled away, leaving me slightly dizzy but feeling rather pleased with myself for not fainting. He cupped my cheek with his hand, rubbing his thumb back and forth slowly.
"Thank you." He murmured and I before looking around.
"Do you want to…go back to the house?" I asked shyly, blushing. "I mean this place is stunning but it's not exactly…" He smirked, his eyes crinkling in the corners.
"It's not comfortable?" He finished and I nodded, my cheeks flaming red. "Come on then, let's get out of here." He chuckled, offering me his hand to which I snorted and shoved him back into the water. Before he could remerge, I grabbed my slip from the ground and dived in, swimming as quickly as I could away from him so he wouldn't catch me. I was an idiot, of course, and he was a vampire with insane strength and speed. I made it to just in front of the waterfall before he appeared in front of me.
"Normally Ms. Gilbert, I would be extremely irritated at such antics but it's hard to be angry at you when you're not wearing any clothes."
This caused me to blush again but I just smirked at him, kissing him quickly before swimming past him to the side of the lake, clambering out inelegantly. He followed, (a lot more gracefully obviously) and laughed when he saw me shivering with the sudden cold a few metres away.
"Come on -there's blankets in the car."
When we pulled into the Salvatore driveway, I began to feel intensely shy and awkward. All of the lights in the house were off, indicating that Caroline and Stefan had gone to bed – this was probably for the best, if we didn't want to be questioned about every part of the night that was to come by the blonde haired girl. Damon stopped the car and cleared his throat to fill the silence.
"Are you sure-"
"Yes."
My answer left no room for gentle suggestions. I wanted what I wanted and I was going to get what I wanted, dammit. I would just feel extremely awkward getting it. We sat in silence for another few moments before Damon got out of the car and opened my door. I got out slowly, clutching the warm blanket around myself tightly.
"Well, you'd best have a shower to warm up. I'll make you some hot cocoa or something. Use the shower in my room though – you don't want to wake up Stefan or Caroline." He said this last part with a wink and I had to smile in spite of myself. He opened the front door and waited for me to go in first – ever the gentleman – before gesturing in the direction of the stairs.
"My room is on the third floor, third door on your right. Use the shower for as long as you like."
I smiled slightly at him before making my way up the stairs, slightly distracted from my nerves by my curiosity to see Damon's room. I padded softly past Stefan and Caroline's room and up the stairs to the fourth floor. Third door on the right, third door on the right…here it was. I hesitated for a moment before throwing open the door.
I don't really know what I expected – maybe a completely black room or something? But no, it was actually very tasteful. There was wood panelling on the walls, and wooden floors covered by a luxurious rug half the size of the room. There was a massive window, and stacks of leather bound books around the…massive bed, oh my god. It was the biggest thing I had ever seen, with a thick bed frame and crisp white sheets. I took it in for a moment, my heart thumping in my chest before I spun around to see the bathroom. It was pretty much the same size as the room, with a free standing bath tub, shower and a huge mirror above two sinks side by side. There was a stack of fluffy white towels, one of which I gratefully grabbed and threw over the side of the shower before peeling off my remaining clothes, scraping my hair into a bun so it wouldn't get wet and stepping into the steaming hot water.
Instantly I felt better, standing still in the warm spray. It soothed my tired muscles and was gradually making the feeling come back to my fingers and toes. The two little bite marks on my neck were hurting slightly, and I let my fingers drift up to them, lightly touching them. They stung, sure, but I didn't even care. I had been able to help Damon and that was all that mattered and…Oh God, I had turned into a mess, hadn't I?
At some stage during my musings, Damon must have come into the bedroom because I heard him call my name.
"You ok in there?"
I turned off the shower quickly, not wanting to leave him standing out there for ages on his own. "Be out in a second!" I called back, grabbing the towel and wrapping it tightly around myself before internally panicking when I realised that I didn't really have anything to properly cover myself with. I could hardly put on my wet underwear again, could I? I basically began yelling at myself in my head for being such an idiot until eventually I heard a quiet knock on the door.
"Is everything alright Elena?"
No no no NO.
"Yeah of course!" I called cheerily. "I just don't…really…have…clothes?"
He snorted. "Do you have a towel?"
I nodded before realising that he couldn't see it. "Yes!"
"Well, just come out in that. I'm not going to faint with shock, I promise." He sounded so calm. Clearly he wasn't as terrified by the thought as I was. But I knew I could only hide in here for so long so I took a deep breath and shakily made my way to the door, opening it slowly.
He had only slipped an open shirt on over his bare chest, and he was still wearing his damp jeans.
Oh my, he looked nice.
"See? I told you it wouldn't be a problem." He murmured and my heart fluttered in a way that probably wasn't healthy. And for once, I decided to act on it. I decided to throw myself into his arms, and pull his head down so my lips were pressed against his and I decided to tell him what we were going to do tonight. Involving his bed.
Damon Salvatore was a bad influence on me.
But of course, he had no objection my plans. So it was him who gently tugged me onto the bed. And we stayed there for the rest of the night.
I woke up with a desperate urge to pee. My only problem however, is that I was entangled in Damon's arms, in a rather vice like grip. I had to murmur to him to stop strangling me before he released me, allowing me to clamber out of the luxurious bed to hurry to the bathroom. I caught a glimpse of myself in the mirror as I passed – my hair was a tangled, crazy mess and I was wearing one of Damon's shirts. I had to admit, I kind of liked it as a look. I grinned, allowing myself one little happy dance before sprinting to the toilet.
I spent a few extra minutes in there, sprucing and brushing my teeth and washing my face. I hadn't got a chance to do it all last night as I had been a bit…preoccupied. Just as I was beginning to look like myself, I heard a weird noise from the bedroom. I smiled to myself, assuming that Damon had properly woken up and was now wondering where I was.
I opened the bathroom door with a beam on my face as I sang "Good morning sunshine!"
But my chirpy tone changed instantly to a scream. A long, continuous scream that I wasn't sure was ever going to end. Standing in front of me was Alaric Saltzman and my dad, and behind them…Damon lay motionless in the bed, blood pooling around him and…a dagger in his back?
"Hello Elena." Father said calmly. "Fancy seeing you here."
AGH. I really hoped you liked it and again, sorry for the delay. I've been so busy blah blah. But I am extremely dedicated – I stayed up until 1am typing this on Christmas night! I think that makes up for everything, right?
But yes, thank you for all of the gorgeous reviews and the following and the favouriting and following and you're all just so lovely that it warms my heart.
Thank you so much for reading and I hope you liked Delena. I can't write sex scenes, so I saved you the misery of it. Plus, this is a T rated story, come on people ;)
Merry (late) Christmas if you celebrate it and if you don't, I hope you had a lovely Tuesday 25th.
Talk to you soon my darlings,
X
(If you think about it – if every person who read this, left a review – we would be the most reviewed in the Delena category. Just something to mull over ;D)
