Chapter 10

Previously

She shook her head slowly, her hands trembling, "No" her voice quivered, "Please Damon" she begged crawling over to him, as he welcomed her willing into his arms, her body trembled as she sat on his lap.

"Please what?" he asked worriedly, rocking her gently back and forth.

"Don't let him hurt me" she whimpered into his chest, clinging to his shirt.

…

"Don't let who hurt you?" Damon asked, more confused than ever.

"Stefan" she said, her eyes brimming with tears, it occurred to him then, she must have been scared of Stefan ever since he bared his teeth at her, a uncharacteristic turn of events that would have made her question if she knew the real Stefan but still Damon knew he had done far worse things but she was still here, crying in his arms.

"Stefan was running low on blood when you last seen him, you don't have to worry about that anymore. It's hard for him to control his animal instincts and I know that isn't an excuse but you shouldn't be scared of him, I wouldn't let him hurt you" he assured her, kissing her forehead lightly.

She wanted to tell him that wasn't what she meant, that for some reason unknown to herself a burst of fear would explode inside of her every time she thought of him. She was trying to tell him she didn't ever want to see Stefan again, because of the downright fear she felt at the mere mention of his name. Instead though she sighed deeply, leaning further into his embrace, forcing a small smile in place, "I know, I'm sorry I'm just tired, not thinking clearly." she was relieved that he nodded, accepting her, not exactly true, explanation.

Damon's phone rang again, her eyes shut tightly on reflex, feeling him lean forward slightly to pick it up, still one arm held firmly around her waist.

"How'd you get this number?" he answered, Elena looked up at him with a raised eyebrow, and he smirked handing her the phone, "Bonnie" he mouthed.

Elena felt her body relax again, accepting the phone, "Bonnie?" she asked.

"Elena! Thank God, I must have phoned your cell like a billion times" Bonnie's familiar voice answered, "I couldn't get through to Stefan, so this was my absolute last resort" she laughed.

"I heard that" Damon said loudly, with a mock hurt expression on his face.

"Good" Bonnie replied, though more to herself, still wary around Damon, "What are you doing with Damon anyway? We haven't seen you since the test and we couldn't even talk to you since you left so early, me and Meredith were starting to assume the worst"

Elena listened carefully as Bonnie talked quickly, but she couldn't concentrate, as Damon was playfully nibbling at her neck, "I'm staying with Damon for a while because Stefan's away" she took a deep breath, not liking the way her breath hitched as she said his name.

"Why don't you come over to my house for a while, I suppose Damon could come to, if he's on his best behaviour" she added.

A burst of giggles escaped Elena's lips as Damon's fingers trailed down her waist, tickling her sides, "Elena?" Bonnie asked, sounding confused.

She bit down on her lips, struggling to get free, finally his hands moved back to her back, kissing his way up her neck to her jaw line, "Yeah, Bonnie sounds great, we'll be there soon" she said hanging up just before Damon's lips captured hers.

"We'll be there soon?" he asked laughing between kisses, both of them falling back onto the bed at the same time.

"Mmm" she murmured to confirm it, her lips tingling from his warm kisses.

The passionate feeling that flowed through her, warming her insides, was enough to distract her for another half an hour. Damon was, even if he would deny it, a true gentleman, he didn't force her to do anything, even though she was more than tempted. A beeping sound coming from Damon's phone interrupted them, Elena reached to get it, but Damon tugged her wrist back, his lips connecting with hers, preventing her protests. After less than a minute, his phone beeped again, with a growl from deep inside his chest he picked it up, rolling his eyes at the screen. Elena leaned over to see the screen; it was from Bonnie, of course,

"991 COME ASAP"

Elena was on her feet before Damon, pulling him up, "It could be important she urged" Damon groaned, pulling on a black shirt, watching Elena bemused that she was taking her clothes into the bathroom, somehow still shy about undressing in front of him.

She reappeared in less than two minutes, leading the way down the stairs, retrieving her phone, with 14 missed calls, from her bag then getting into Damon's car. He was already in the car; somehow he had gotten ahead of her without her noticing.

"If this is even the slightest bit less than life threatening, she's dead" he muttered turning on the engine, and pulling out onto the road.

Elena didn't know what to make of Bonnie's message, maybe her friend was just being over dramatic. They pulled up outside of her house and she rushed to the door, Damon overtook her, "Wait here" he said opening the door and disappearing inside, Elena knew he just wanted to make sure she was safe, but she couldn't just stand outside and wait. She pushed the door open slightly, looking inside; there was a commotion in Bonnie's living room, so she followed the sound.

On the other side of the door Bonnie was on her hands and knees, leaning over Meredith who was lying unconscious on the floor all the while Bonnie and Damon where screaming at each other.

"What did you do to her?" he asked, pushing her aside, to check Meredith's pulse.

"You think I did this on purpose?" she snapped, propping a cushion under Meredith's head.

"To be honest I don't really care why you did it, just tell me what happened" he snapped back just as fiercely even though his voice was level it still scared Bonnie to her core.

"I was showing her this new spell, you see my aunt sent me an email telling me about this gravitation spell and it…" she trailed off when Damon give her an exasperated look, "Anyway, just when I was finishing she passed out" she summed it up quickly.

"Phone your Aunt, tell her what happened, she might know how to fix it" he ordered, Bonnie hurried to her room in search of her cell phone while Damon picked up Meredith effortlessly and placed her on the sofa, her dark hair falling over her face.

"Is she going to be ok?" Elena asked softly, sitting on the edge of the sofa, gently pushing the hair away from her friend's face.

"I can't be sure" he said honestly, "If Bonnie's Aunt knows what went wrong she may know a reverse to the spell"

Elena nodded weakly, the only thing that stopped her from having a panic attack was the steady rise and fall of Meredith's chest, she looked like she was sleeping, yes, Elena decided that she was only sleeping; everything was going to be ok. She kept telling herself that, though she didn't really believe it.

They sat in silence for a while; Damon rubbed comforting circles into Elena's back as they stared at the sleeping girl. The silence was disturbed though as Bonnie came running down the stairs, cell phone in one hand, looking frantic and breathless.

"Well, what did she say?" Damon asked, hoping his sharpness would stop her from babbling and make her get straight to the point.

"She didn't have a clue what I was talking about, she said she never sent me any spells" Damon and Elena exchanged confused looks as Bonnie continued, "So I sent the spell to her, she thinks it's some kind of curse" Bonnie was close to tears but she held them back and added, "She's trying to find another spell to reverse it, but it could take a while, she'll phone if she does" the last part was cut off my a sob, as she fell to her knees on the floor, leaning in towards Meredith, "I didn't know it won't happen, I should have been more careful, I should have-"

Elena stopped her, placing her hand on her shoulder, "This isn't your fault you had no way of knowing what would have happened"

"So if it wasn't your Aunt who sent you the e-mail, who did?" Damon asked.

Bonnie shook her head, her strawberry blonde curls bouncing wildly, "I have no idea, I just assumed it was my Aunt, it just said something about having to practise it with a friend"

Damon stood up suddenly, his fists clenched, "Earlier when you called Elena, is that why you wanted her over, to practise the spell?"

Bonnie's face went pale, her eyes widening slightly, "Yes, I thought it would work better with Elena, you know because she accepts magic more than Meredith, why do you think someone wanted this to happen to Elena?" she asked motioning with a hand down to Meredith's body.

Damon nodded stiffly, as Elena looked blankly to the floor, she felt like she should know who did this was but her mind felt numb when she thought about it.

"Someone wants Elena out of the way" Damon concluded his voice sounding more like a deep growl, "And whoever that someone is, is going to regret it"

Sorry for the wait, please let me know what you think of it so far :]