The Boarding House

By: Darkest Ember

Chapter 10: Dining With Death

Summary:

Elena and Jeremy Gilbert are orphaned once again and have nowhere else to go except the mysterious Salvatore boarding house…

Disclaimer:

I do not own any of the Vampire Diaries characters. This is written purely for entertainment purposes

Previously:

"I'm sure I don't have to remind you to not act or say something suspiciously. If you go against me, Elena, I'll kill you and what's left of your family."

Stefan could hear them walking down the hallway overhead – Damon whispering constant threats in Elena's ear while her heartbeat pounded against her chest. His mouth began salivating slightly as the latter sound echoed against the walls of his mind. If only he could just have one taste…

"Now, now, Stefan, don't you think you're being a little smug, drooling at the taste of your own cooking?" Damon taunted, escorting Elena to the table.

Elena practically leaped away from him the moment he unlinked his arm out of hers. She scrambled to the other side of the table and sat down next to Jenna. Unfortunately, the only other open seat was directly across from her and next to Stefan.

Stefan humored his brother with a chuckle to avoid the stares of his guests. He gulped down an entire glass of water, hoping to relieve his mind of this tension. It did nothing.

Jenna greeted her niece with a warm hug, so glad to finally see her. Even though Elena and Jeremy moved out not too long ago, it still stung somewhere deep inside her heart. She needed them, and they needed her. "Elena, are you feeling alright? You're shaking!" she noted, pulling from the embrace with a concerned expression.

Elena swallowed harshly before her quivering lips were able to form a deceptive smile. Elena wanted to say that she was anything but fine…that everything about the world around her seemed like a lie…that she just wanted to go home, to her own bed and wake up, realizing this was all a dream. But she couldn't say that.

"I…uh…well, the reason I took so long coming down was that I had received an email from Mr. Tanner saying that the due date for our history paper was changed to a sooner date and I kind of had a brief mental breakdown," she said timidly, sealing the deal with a nervous sigh.

"It's a good thing I came and got her. She was stressing out so much that it was hard to get her downstairs," Damon added, sending a secret, knowing smirk toward Elena. It sent shivers down her spine.

Stefan noted the strangeness between his brother and girlfriend and glanced back and forth between them, but couldn't quite figure out what went on between them. He was sure that he heard Elena scream, but there was no blood or bite marks.

"Oh you'll be fine, Elena. Just don't let yourself worry too much," Jenna smiled. "See, Jeremy, you should use your sister as an example."

Jeremy rolled his eyes and resumed his not-so-secret texting conversation with Vicki from under the table.

"I don't believe we've met," Damon said, staring Jenna down. "I'm Damon Salvatore."

Jenna blushed under his intense stare and extended her hand. He took it into his and brought it to his lips. "Aren't you a charmer? I'm sure you know, I'm Jeremy and Elena's aunt – Jenna."

Elena tried her best to tune out the conversations taking place around her. She cut her lasagna into neat squares before taking a bite, occasionally alternating the pasta for a forkful of seasoned green beans or a piece of toasted garlic bread.

She glanced up for only the briefest second and met Stefan's burning stare. It was killing him to figure out what was bothering her, and she could see it in his creased brow. She tried her very best to smile, to make him believe that everything was okay, but she was sure that based upon his saddened eyes that she failed miserably.

At first, she completely forgot that he too was a vampire. How could that be? It makes sense with Damon…but Stefan just seems too intelligent, caring, human. She couldn't bear to look at him right now.

So, instead she focused her attention back on her half-eaten plate, occasionally answering to some of Jenna's questions, although still unable to stabilize her voice.

Damon couldn't be happier with the sights before him at this dinner party. Jenna continued to shamelessly oogle at him, even while speaking to Elena. Stefan squirmed in his chair, presumably trying to figure out what his big, bad brother had done. Elena could hardly speak, choking on her fear. So, he leaned back and enjoyed what it felt like to live his life.

In his false sense of content, he never would have expected something to go wrong. He never would've expected Elena to pull what she was about to do.

Matt and Tyler exchanged a firm nod as Tyler was making his way out of Vicki's bedroom. Matt thought it was slightly odd and unfair that he was put in this awkward position. He didn't really enjoy seeing – and listening – to his best friend go out with his sister.

Matt leaned against the doorframe to his sister's room, about to ask what she wanted for dinner. She bit her lip and grinned at him as she held her cell phone up to her ear. "Who are you calling?" he whispered.

"Jeremy," she replied.

Matt laughed and rolled his eyes. "C'mon, Vic, Tyler just left. Are you seriously playing both of them?"

"Maybe," she shrugged.

Jeremy answered shortly after. Matt threw his hands up in the air and returned to the kitchen. Guess the menu was all up to him tonight, since Vicki had already made dinner plans of her own.

"What took you so long to answer?" Vicki teased.

Jeremy had a hard time escaping the table without drawing too much attention to himself. "Sorry, Jenna kept interrogating me before I could get up out of my chair."

"Gotcha. So, you've made it away from the table…any chance you can make it out of the house?"

Jeremy felt a smile quickly develop on his face. "Y-yeah, it's not a problem. Where do you want to meet?"

"The usual spot – the graveyard!"

Jeremy never was a huge fan of getting high and/or drinking in that particular location, especially because he felt like his parents were watching him in disapproval. But, if it meant he could be with Vicki, then nothing else really mattered.

Plus, he didn't really care to go back into that oversized dinning room anyway. All the attention was on Elena, so surely he wouldn't be missed.

This was a disaster. Seeing her aunt was supposed to be the highlight of the evening – but now all Elena could think about was how everything about her life seemed like a lie. How could vampires exist, and blend so easily into society? It was disturbing...

She reached for another piece of garlic bread, just as the man across from her happened to be doing the same. His cool flesh met hers sending a wave of discomfort crawling up her arm. Her eyes darted up to his, drowning under the intensity of those crystal blue glaciers staring at her. She just couldn't take this anymore.

She was a fighter…or at least she used to be before her parents died. She can't just sit back and let Damon control her life like this. Besides, she honestly doubted that he would leap across the table and kill her in front of all these witnesses, risking the secrecy of his existence. She smirked as she bit into the toasty bread, preparing to regain her former self – and the upper hand.

"Um, Aunt Jenna…I have something to tell you," Elena said, turning in her chair to face Jenna.

Jenna took one more gulp of wine enthusiastically, glad to see that her niece had apparently calmed down since arriving at the table. "Sure, what is it?"

Elena glanced sideways at Damon and watched as his seemingly fixed confident smirk began crumbling. "I lied about the whole Mr. Tanner assignment. I was too scared to say what really happened…but I don't have that fear anymore," she began.

Stefan leaned forward anxiously, just dying to find out what happened, though honestly caught off guard by her sudden confidence. Zach had noticed the tension as the dinner progressed and figured that Damon must've said or done something to Elena upstairs, so he too was intrigued to see where she was going to take this.

Damon sent Elena a warning glare that was so fierce it almost caused her to back down, but she swallowed her doubt and persevered. "Damon tried to kill me," she said, though more quietly than she intended.

Stefan and Zach exchanged concerned expressions, wondering if she meant this literally. Damon slammed a knife into the table, cutting through the expensive tablecloth and indenting the cherry wood beneath. Jenna, who had been consistently sipping the wine, was feeling a bit tipsy and laughed at Elena's confession, believing it to be a joke.

"What is she talking about, Damon?" Zach sternly demanded.

Damon's eyes shifted from each of the faces before him as a growl rumbled against his chest. She is so undead, Damon thought maliciously.

He composed himself briefly as he faced Zach. "Nothing that concerns you. Elena knew the terms of our discussion so anything that happens now is out of my hands."

With that he lunged forward, tackling Jenna and several pieces of china and glass onto the ground. She cried out as her back hit the hardwood floor with a thud. "What are you – ?"

"You can think your lovely niece for this."

His fangs descended from his gums and veins crept out beneath his eyes before he ripped a chunk of skin from Jenna's throat, hungrily sucking the blood right out of her.

"STOP!" Elena cried, leaping out of her chair and watching her aunt struggle and scream beneath this monster.

Stefan sped around the side of the table and was about to approach his brother. Damon tore his teeth away from her flesh and licked his lips. "If you take another step toward me, Stefan, I'll give you a reason to need to start drinking human blood again…," he taunted.

Stefan didn't exactly understand his brother's threat, so he approached him anyway, planting a firm hand on his shoulder. Damon smirked to himself as he shrugged Stefan's hand off and spun around suddenly, using his inhuman speed to throw Jenna's body into an unsuspecting Stefan's arms.

Her blood splattered across his chin and down onto his chest. Some of it landed on his lips. Stefan couldn't stop himself. His fangs grew out and the blackened veins shadowed his eye sockets.

Elena caught a glimpse of his new appearance and stepped back out of fear. It didn't even look like Stefan…

Damon watched with satisfaction as she stumbled backwards, eventually tripping over the rug and falling to the ground. Stefan licked the blood off his lips and glanced down at his blood soaked hand. With a quivering arm and closed eyes he brought his hand to his mouth and slowly tasted the forbidden.

"Stefan," Elena whispered in a strained voice. But the monster inside had already consumed his emotions, thoughts, and being.

Damon took the opportunity to speed over to her side and forced her up to her feet before slamming her into the nearby wall. "I suggest you start apologizing now before things get any uglier," Damon sneered.

His body was pinned right up against her, giving her absolutely no way of escape. His mouth seemed so unnecessarily close to her neck. He could kill her in any given second, but really, what did she have to live for?

Jenna was just attacked by two vampires.

Her brother was slowly becoming a lost cause.

Her new boyfriend turned out to be a supernatural freak.

And his brother was a sadistic murder – regardless of how attractive he may be.

Although her heart was thunderously beating up against her chest, she couldn't find any motivation to say what she knew Damon wanted to hear. "No," she said defiantly.

And just with that simple, two letter word, a world of opportunities opened up for Damon. He smirked, completely catching Elena off guard. Slowly he backed away from her and watched his brother gently place Jenna's body down on the ground with a terrified expression. He didn't kill her, but he came damn close to doing so. Damon turned and made his way toward Zach.

"Call up your buddies at Social Service and arrange for a meeting. I'll tell them to allow Jeremy to return home, but Elena will have to stay here," he said, turning to look at her over his shoulder, "for unruly conduct."

"No, you have to let me go home with him! I don't want to…I don't want to live here," she replied.

He laughed mirthlessly. "Oh my dear, Elena, I'm sorry but my hands are tied. There's no way I could let you go home now…my plans for you are far too great to pass up."

THANK YOU: Dez2sweet, KB22, iamnotavampire2, Bella44, katherine1864, Alottalove, Le Taliesin, TomMaryFoolery, lovinMYlife, SweetRinny, Vampgirl144, DelenaFTW, ayna93 for your comments! I was blown away by the great reactions and they really meant a lot to me.

I apologize for the month long delay...it's been a rough time because my family moved 600 miles out of state and it's a terrible adjustment to have them so far away .

anyway I have a question: what do you guys think of evil damon? personally I wanted to keep him mostly in that mindset until later on in the story just to spice things up a little. there is potential for romance aside from the angst between damon and elena, but i'm curious to see what your opinions are on that.

as always, thank you so much to everyone who reads, reviews, and adds as a favorite. it makes my day! please continue to review and i'll try my best to get the next chapter up asap