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Human.

The word had been echoing in Damon's head for days now, but none of it seemed to make sense. He knew that the only creatures that existed were vampires, werewolves and witches. Other species had been extinct for centuries now, he was sure of that.

But then there was Elena-This beautiful, brown eyed creature that was driving him insane, almost literally. He had never felt such powerful emotions before. At time, he wanted to hold her, to get to know her, to help her. But then at other times, he wanted to drink her blood until he was satisfied, he wanted to show her that he was in control.

She was having something akin to a breakdown-She wasn't eating anything, and she refused to look at him. She was always crying or lying on the bed, and he knew that it was because of her fear for him and the fact that she missed her home.

To be completely honest with himself, Damon had thought about sending her away. She was dangerous to him, clearly her blood was making him feel things he had never felt before. Keeping a strange creature in the house could also lead to him being seen as a suspect, as a traitor.

But then on the other hand, he couldn't bear the thought of seeing her locked up in the dungeons, being touched and examined by plenty of different men, experimented on as if she was nothing. Because to him, Elena wasn't just a creature, she was a girl, a girl who was real, who had feelings and emotions. And in a weird way-He didn't know if it was because of her blood-He felt connected to her. He felt the need to keep her with him.

He continued to drink his scotch, walking slowly towards her-She was laying on the bed again, her hair spread out on her pillow as if she was a goddess. When she saw him, she turned her face to the other side, offering him her neck. It had become routine now, for him to take her blood.

But this time, Damon didn't.
Instead, he sat down next to her and held her hand.

No words were spoken, no movements-Only silence. They listened to each other's breathing, his hand holding hers, neither of them daring to speak or move, because they both had questions that couldn't be answered. At least not yet.

She felt him stroke her knuckles ever so gently-not like other times. This time, his touch was soothing, gentle, almost in apology. She tried not to look at him even though she felt him look at her, his face turned towards her.

And then, without warning, he scooted closer to her, and wrapped an arm around her, pushing her towards him. She remained still, fearing that he'll hurt her if she moved, but there was no pain. He just held her and kissed her hair, playing with it. He stroked her cheek, holding her against him, and smiled.
And Elena just had to smile back. As weird as the situation was…she just had to.

His lips were by her ear now. "I won't hurt you again," He told her, determined. "I'm sorry for the pain I put you through, Elena."

He kept his promise-Even though it was torture. He didn't feed on her again. In fact, Damon tried to be as gentle as possible with her. He had asked her about her lifestyle, and he had been cooking for her now as well. He had always liked cooking-It reduced his cravings.

But as time flew by, he soon started to realize that the risks of her being there were increasing. There were frequent searches, and to make matters worse, he was out of blood supply and he needed to order it, something which he had to do himself and have it delivered to his home. Since the hatch he had brought her in was a secret, he had to return home to get his blood supply, and he was afraid that Elena would end up discovered-It was bad enough leaving her on her own for a few hours, yet alone days.

Ever since he tasted her blood, his thirst was heightened, and since he had very little bloodbags left he found himself faced with a hard decision. He couldn't feed on Elena, not when he knew it hurt her. On the other hand, the hallucinations started again, and he was tormented by images of torture, pain, and mostly Elena.

He couldn't give her away, not when he felt how warm she was in his arms, not when he had kissed and touched her silky hair-Not when he had seen those beautiful brown eyes water.

At that moment, something inside him clicked. He had to keep her safe.
He went to her room, and took her hands gently in his. "We're moving."

Elena's eyes widened. "W-What? W-Where are you taking m-me?" She stammered, obvious fear in her eyes.

"It's okay," Damon said, trying to calm her down. "I'm not going to hurt you, Elena. I am going to take you somewhere safe."

He looked into her brown orbs, seeing the fear. "Trust me."

Trust him? How could she trust a man-no-a vampire who was holding her against her will? He hadn't told her anything about him yet, yet he expected her to trust him. But she nodded-Because it wasn't like she had a choice in any of this.

"Put this on," Damon instructed her, handing her a scarf, but he decided to tie it around her neck himself.

Then, he took out a device from his pocket. "This will take us to a small village,
Elena. Take my hand."

"Like teleport?" Elena asked, wide eyed.

"Yeah. It's one of the many methods of how to travel." He forgot she was from the past, it would've irritated him having to explain it to anybody else. But for Elena, he surprisingly didn't mind doing so.

He kept a firm grip on hers, and Elena's eyes widened as she felt everything spin. A slight push and she found herself on the ground, however Damon's arms were supporting her and keeping her up.

"You okay?" He asked her.

"Yeah," She nodded.

He sighed. "My mother lives here. It is a very abandoned village. Let's say here vampires live in clans," He continued, "We protect each other here. We're like family."

"Clans?" A shiver ran down Elena's spine.

"No one's going to hurt you," Damon said, "But here's the only place I can bring you. I need blood, Elena, and I couldn't get the supply from where we were staying. I promised K…I promised that I'll keep that hatch a secret. Here's very abandoned-the authorities hardly ever come here. You'll be safe."

"No, Damon," Elena said, "You'll be safe. You're not doing this to protect me. You're doing this to protect yourself. You don't care about me, and you can stop pretending. I know that you see me as a threat."

He couldn't stomach to answer her, so instead he took her by the arm and pulled her along. Elena bit back a gasp of pain as he tugged her along, and she couldn't keep up with him.

And then, he stopped in front of a lovely, yet small house, and knocked patiently.

A woman in her fifties, at least that what she appeared to be-opened the door.
"Damon?"

"Hi, mother," He said, smiling at her. Elizabeth smiled, embracing her son.

"I missed your visits," She sighed. "How's everything with you?" But then her smile disappeared as soon as her gaze landed on Elena.

"What the hell is she doing here?" She demanded, "I told you to get rid of her!"

"I know," Damon said, as if Elena wasn't there, "But I can't. Please, mother, I need your help."

"No," The woman nodded. "I won't help you, Damon. I won't help you put all of us at risk. You know the consequences…"

"I don't care!" Damon said, "I'm not doing anything wrong. She's not a threat. Please, mother. I need a place to stay. I can't take her back to town, not with all these searches."

"I'm not willing to take the risk."

"I…I don't want her dead, mother. She's special…I want to get to know her. Please."

Elizabeth scanned Elena, and the latter shivered in fear.

"The basement," Elizabeth finally said. "I'll help you if you give me your word that you'll keep her in the basement. Tied up," She added.

Mother…."

"That's my condition," Elizabeth said, watching as tears leaked out of Elena's eyes, "I don't trust her. What if she runs back to her people? What if she is a threat? You're foolish, Damon. She's not even supposed to be here-not when our race is hanging, on the edge of becoming extinct!"

Damon pinched the bridge of his nose. "I know, mother…"

"Yet you still want her here…" She said. "This is twisted, Damon. We could all end up in prison, or worse…May I remind you of what happened to Stefan? Or did you forget?" A bloody tear ran out of his mother's eye.

"I know," Damon said. "I shouldn't have come here."

He turned to leave, watching Elena's eyes widen in fear and confusion. She obviously was shocked-She didn't think that this mother loved her son the way humans do.

"Wait," Elizabeth called out, taking a deep breath. "Don't go. I'll accept you both. Just…on that condition. At least for now, Damon. I can't lose you too."

Elena's breath caught in her throat, but she didn't dare to speak.

"Fine," Damon said. "You're right."

She stepped aside so that they could enter. Elena was tempted to run, to hide, to escape. But she couldn't move, first because her legs seemed to be frozen and second because Damon's grip on her arm was almost bruising.

The house seemed lovely enough, and there was everything, from a kitchen, to a living area and multiple bedrooms and bathrooms. It was very clean and well decorated.

"There's a bed in the basement," Elizabeth said. "I'll make sure that her scent won't attract anyone."

Damon nodded and looked at Elena with an almost apologetic glance, but she didn't even notice. Instead, she surrendered, letting him lead her to ten steps before she found herself facing a black, iron door with about five bars for a little bit of air. Damon typed a number code and the door immediately opened, and Damon pushed her inside-but it was a gentle push, and he made sure that she didn't stumble or fall.

"Please don't leave me here alone," Elena begged. "It's cold…"

"I'm sorry, Elena. But I can't…She's right. I can't put my family in danger."

He gently pushed her on the bed, setting her upright. Then, he took her hands gently and chained them together in front of her, not too tight; and he made sure that they weren't a major discomfort-and then he hooked them to the bedpost.

He shot an apologetic look at her. "I'll come back later to bring you water."

"Is it done?" Elizabeth asked her son when Damon finally stood in front of her.

"Yeah," He replied, still looking slightly uncomfortable with the situation.

"You care about her, do you?" Elizabeth sighed. "I know that look in your eyes, Damon. You care about her."

"No, I don't," Damon said, shaking his head. "I don't care about her. I just want to see if keeping her alive would win us any points with Elijah. All I care about is getting Stefan back, mom. Elena…she's nothing to me."

"I know you're lying, my son," Elizabeth said. "I'm your mother. I know you more than you know yourself. But you know that this…this can't happen, Damon. You can't care about her. We'll end up doomed…again. And this time, you'll be the one to pay the price. I have already lost enough, my son…Your father and Stefan…I can't lose you too."

"You won't lose me," Damon said, embracing her. "We'll be okay." But he couldn't shake the feeling that his mother was right-that he actually truly cared for Elena, or at least; he was starting to. If that happened, it's safe to say he'll be screwed.

A big thank you to my beta reader Cdaye8184! Thank you for your amazing work on this chapter (:

So, we now know that Damon's mother doesn't approve of Elena, and Damon is realizing that he does care for her in his own twisted way.

Please review and stay tuned for more!

More details about Damon's hallucinations will be revealed in future chapters (:

Thanks for reading.