AN: Only four chapters left in the story/series. Cannot believe how far this series has come and how well it has gone over with you guys. I can't say thank you enough for reading and giving it a chance. Usually in the past I have grown bored with a fandom and stop writing my related fanfics, but not this one. It just seems to keep going and I keep writing. As I wrote this chapter, it was difficult because I wanted to make sure all the right things were said. It's emotion filled between DE. Not to mention, so many new ideas for future chapters sprungspan style="line-height: 1.428571em;" into my head while writing despite already outlining all of them. I want to get Damon back to portraying a more Christian Grey role, but stay true to his character as well. Lots of development coming and intensity between DE and Rebekah. Thank you as always for reading and reviewing. Make sure to leave me some love on this chapter : )
CHAPTER 11. LEAD US NOT INTO TEMPTATION
Thump...thump...thud.
The rhythmic beat she had been seeking out finally ended. Her lungs filled with a scent so welcoming and delicious her body raced toward where her senses directed. At her feet she saw a young male lying on his side not moving, but bleeding from his neck. His throat appeared to be ripped apart and it was fresh. She searched the area knowing his attacker was not far and probably somewhere admiring the mess and her. Elena cringed at the thought.
Since her weak moment in the cellar, she had been driven by madness. It was pure madness persuading her every thought and action. She was losing touch with her sanity and humanity. It was a dangerous road she was heading down, but a road she could not get off. The blood was all she could see. It was all she could crave. The blood fascinated her. The blood controlled her.
Elena curled her fingers into her palms creating fists. She was aware of her deadly addiction. She was frustrated how hard it was to keep herself from sinking her teeth into any human that she passed along the way living or dead as she tracked Rebekah. The blame wanted to be shifted off on to her current enemy as she had pushed her into the downward spiral she found herself in, but in all honesty she was the only to blame. She had the ability to stop. She knew she could do it. In the end, she was just weak.
As if gravity pulled her down, she fell to her knees and trembled at the sight and scent of the blood.
"I don't need it." Elena mumbled to herself pressing her eyes shut.
Six days had passed since her last encounter with Rebekah. The insanity behind her decision to up and leave the grill with Damon injured made her bring on so much guilt. No matter how many days it had been since she had joined the vampire lifestyle, every day still seemed new. By running off after a vampire much younger than her, but much stronger was beyond risky. However, she knew it had to be done. Rebekah had to die. And so every day she followed her trail finding bodies still breathing and sometimes not breathing at all indicating she was closer. It was obviously Rebekah was playing with her and knew she was being followed. The bodies were deliberate and the more she found, the harder it became to resist. She was addicted. She was a ripper.
Elena wiped her hand across her face trying to hold her breath and look past the mangled body left for her to feed on.
"No, no." She whispered shaking her head.
For every body she found resulted in the same reaction. First, she tried to fight it. Then came the overwhelming need for blood like she was starving. And lastly, she snapped.
Entering her second stage, she was no stranger to this feeling anymore. The denial part was fading and the aroma filling her nostrils began her skewed perception of why she needed to overindulge. Elena began to breathe heavily. Her eyes locked on the blood and she licked her lips. Her vampire transformation was happening without even thinking. A small part of her tried to fight the temptation, but she could not walk away. How was she supposed to when the opportunity presented itself?
Her hands shot out tugging the body of the poor soul and she examined the bloody wound. Maybe she could just take a little this time? She had just devoured five other helpless victims thanks to Rebekah. She was full or that's what she told herself. No matter how much she consumed she could never have enough. This addiction was her first taste of letting every thing go and embracing her true identity. This was who she was now, a monster.
Not contemplating the moment any longer, she bent down and let the warm blood soak her lips. An instant tingle of satisfaction emerged upon contact. Each drink got better and better.
As her fangs punctured the hot skin, she heard a branch crack in two only a few yards away. She did not startle and she did not react. Listening carefully, she retracted her fangs and focused in on her surroundings. The ugly truth of her undying need for blood came with a positive. Her senses had never been so keen. Sharp and sensitive, Elena could hear a bunny rabbit a mile away, but this was no bunny rabbit. This was the same shadow that had been following her as she continued to track. A shadow she had sensed after day one. A shadow she knew almost as well as her own.
"Go home, Damon." Elena called out.
No longer was the shadow far, but near. He hovered a foot away and she could feel the intensity of his presence. She straightened up and rose to her feet. Elena wiped the blood from her mouth and looked over her shoulder at him.
His brows furrowed and the blue orbs of his eyes shined bright under the sunlight. He looked like hell and she knew why. He was weak. Since his run in with Rebekah at the grill, she sensed his feeds were minimal. For as long as she traveled on Rebekah's trail, he followed her. She knew better than to think she was on her own. Damon remained in the background watching her, following her. Nearly a week they went not speaking a word to one another knowing each other was so close, yet so far. That was changing now.
"Not unless you come with me." Damon replied with certainty.
"As long as Rebekah is still out there, I'm not going home." She assured him.
"Then I'm staying with you." He nodded his head. "Whether you want me to or not."
With him in the distance the past few days, it was a sense of security, but it was also a sense of worry. No mercy and no boundaries came with Rebekah's plan. She had already hurt too many people in her life in a matter of days. Elena wasn't about to let her go any further. As long as she was occupied with keeping her well fed and chasing her, she couldn't stray.
"Elena..." Damon's soft voice emerged. His next words were predicted and she stopped him before he could lecture.
"Stop! I know. I know I'm a mess. I don't need to hear it, especially not from you." Elena barked. "I'm sorry."
"Let me help you." He asked of her.
Elena raised her hand to her forehead and bit her lower lip. "You can't help me. I don't know if I want help." She admitted with shame. "I know I need it, but I can't stop and I don't want to."
"That's the blood. It's driving you insane. Trust me, I know." Damon replied taking a step toward her.
Damon's history was no secret. His younger years were spent much like this, devouring body after body and not caring how many deaths were on his conscious. Being a vampire was animalistic. You fed on your prey and moved on to the next. It was simple and it was dangerous, but it was in a vampire's nature. Those who went against their instincts struggled and were a rare breed.
"Look I promise I'll stop. Just let me find Rebekah and kill her." Elena pleaded. "Let me do this."
"Absolutely not." He exclaimed and huffed out a laugh. "If you think for one second that I'm going to let you go off ripping people's throats open on a murder mission, you're wrong. You're not doing this, not alone."
"When have I ever done anything alone?" She snapped. Damon was completely stubborn and she was equally the same way. No matter how strong their love was for each other, they were always bound to butt heads. "I've got this."
"No you don't." He argued.
"Damon, please. Just go help Stefan or Alaric find Caroline..." Elena rambled.
"They already found her." Damon interrupted.
"What?" She gasped.
Damon closed the large gap between them. Dark circles were under his eyes. He hadn't had an ounce of rest knowing he was concerned with watching over her. His shirt was still stained from where Rebekah had stabbed him. Any frustration or anger she had toward him was fading. It still lingered, but she hated seeing him this way. She could only imagine how she appeared to him. Cracked out on human blood, she reflected pure insanity.
"She's fine. Stefan found her in some abandoned farm house just outside of town right after you took off." Damon informed her of her friend's status. "She lost a lot of blood, so Stefan had to give him some of his."
"Please don't tell me..." Elena feared the worse.
"She's one hundred percent human. Don't worry." He assured her. "They are staying at our house where Rebekah can't get to them."
"Thank god." She sighed.
His hands were on her shoulders and he bent down to be at eye level with her. "You are my priority." He spoke firmly. "No one else. I will always choose you." Damon bowed his head. "Look, I know you want revenge, but so does she. If you go at this alone, you could end up dead and I'm not about to let that happen."
"I can handle myself." Elena responded.
"No, you can't." He squeezed her shoulders and released them from his grip. "Look at you. You're letting her win by feeding on every body she leaves you. She's setting you up for disaster."
"She's making me stronger." She corrected him.
"Yes, you're stronger because of all the blood, but what happens when she cuts open another body and you lose focus? What happens when you turn your back on her?" Damon suggested and he had a point.
Elena shook her head. "I won't. All I think about is killing her and if that means that I play her little game then so be it." She said tensing her body. "I've never felt this strong. I've never felt this determined before in my life."
"You're not listening to me, Elena." Damon grunted and punched the air with his fist. "It doesn't matter how much you want to kill her. All it takes is seeing or smelling human blood and you're done. You're a ripper. You're instinct will be to attack the innocent not the enemy if it presents itself."
"God Damon!" She shouted. "You always assume I can't handle things. I can do this. I won't let my urges get in the way."
"But you don't know that." He replied.
Honestly, she didn't know if she could resist her urges if they did present themselves in a battle against Rebekah. Damon's theory was well thought out. With each soul she consumed, she lost a part of herself little by little. Her humanity was fading, while the monster within was permanently taking charge. She could function, but as each minute passed the thought of sinking her teeth into the flesh of someone new grew stronger.
"Just trust me!" Elena expressed with desperation. Her eyes fell on the dead body below. A low rumble in the pit of her stomach encouraged her to move on to the next. She knew someone would be waiting for her not far from here. This was insane why was she even letting herself think like this.
"I want to, but look you can't even keep it together for more than a few minutes. You're itching for more." Damon pointed at her and his blue eyes pierced her. He was wild with frustration. An unthinkable idea popped into her head. Before she could push the thought away, her mouth was open and she instantly knew it was regrettable.
"Then join me." She whispered stepping toward him and grabbing his arms. Her eyes searched the exhaustion mixed with deep concern on his face. What she was about to say was crazy. "Come with me and we can do this together. We can kill Rebekah and end all of this." Stepping away from him for a second, she towered over the dead body and smirked. "Feed with me."
It looked like someone had slapped him. "What?" He asked confused.
"If we both get strong then there is no doubt we can kill her." Elena explained. "I'm already strong, but you need the blood, Damon. You look like you haven't fed in days. You need it."
"I need it, but not like that." Damon answered. "Not like this."
"But you do. Come on, please." She begged. "Feed with me. There has to be a body down the road waiting. Feed and we both can do this. Rebekah will never see it coming. She would never suspect you to lose a little control."
"A little?" He laughed, but not in an amused way. Turning away from her, he uttered, "I don't lose a little control, Elena! I lost all of it."
Something sparked inside of him. Something mad.
"I can't believe you would even think of such a thing. You've completely let the blood get to your head. Do you even hear what you're asking of me? Do you see what you're doing to yourself?" Damon shouted spinning back around to face her. "I can't be that person again. I don't want to be that person again. Not now, not never."
"Damon, I..." Elena began.
"I spent a long time being the monster that I'm suppose to be. And I spent a long time putting that monster away." He lowered his voice, but the intensity only magnified. "It wasn't until I met you that all those urges came back to the surface and you know that. And I'm not blaming you, but I am."
Blood wasn't on her mind anymore. It was Damon's rage that had her attention. She never should have crossed the line with her train of thought thanks to her high.
"You are all sorts wrong for me and I'm all sorts of wrong for you, but that doesn't change how I feel about you." Damon paused composing himself. "Our relationship is dark and messy. It has been from the start and I know things moved fast, but I wouldn't change it. I love you and I will do anything for you, but not that. I ask you to never ask of me to do such a thing again. You don't want to see that side of me. You don't want to deal with that."
Elena remained silent soaking in his lecture. He was filled with them and she was always on the other end receiving them. His need to do so was a bit annoying, but it was always heart felt and necessary in the long run. In fact, the more he confessed, the more humanity came resurfacing to her demented mind.
"I don't need to lose control to kill my enemy." Damon added. "And you don't either."
The strength was an added bonus, but Damon was right. She didn't need to stray from whom she was in order to take out the threat. Once again, he had made a point.
"What's wrong with me?" Elena whimpered. "Oh my God, what's wrong with me?"
Her feet stumbled backwards and she tripped over the body she had just fed on. She crawled away from the limp figure with disgust and fear. Reality was setting in and realization of her situation was sinking deeper. Somehow he had brought her back. He had cleared her clouded head. She was still messed up, but a path had been cleared and she could see again.
"I don't want to be like this." She shook her head. "I don't want to kill anyone else, Damon."
Tears flooded from her eyes.
At her side, Damon crouched down. "Then let me help you." He touched her hand.
"I don't know if you can." Elena pressed. "I feel too far gone."
"You are not a loss cause." He replied.
"But what if I am? What if I can't come back from this?" She sniffled and overflowed with worry and doubt. "I deserve to go to hell."
Damon let his knees touch the soil of the ground. He grabbed her hand and cupped her chin. "We all do." He agreed with her statement. "We all deserve to go to hell for what we've done. And God forbid you're ripped out of my arms and move on from this life, all I hope is that I can join you wherever you go. Heaven. Hell. Wherever you are, I want to be with you."
The tears from the horror of the truth were no longer the only tears flowing from her watery eyes. New streams were falling. His love and devotion for her were radiating off of him. She could feel it, see it, and capture it. This deeply disturbed man was beyond anything she could ever imagine. Like every girl, she had dreamt of her perfect man. Never did she think it was come in the immortal form. He was flawed and destructive. He was mean and cruel, but he was also sensitive, loving, and unselfish. As she stared up at him, she knew every reason of why she loved him and took his hand in marriage. Damon was the one. Forever he would be.
"What do we do?" Elena asked wiping the tears from her cheeks. "How do we stop this?"
A sly smirk rose upon his face. "Mrs. Salvatore, you seem to underestimate me." He almost sang. Her heart fluttered at this witty side of him especially considering everything they were enduring. "I have a plan."
"A plan?" She questioned.
"Do you trust me?" Damon asked.
Without hesitation, she answered, "Yes."