A/N: I don't own Vampire Diaries or any of the canon characters.
Good call guys, a kiss always leads to more…
A kiss? I frowned at that, things were moving towards shaky ground between the two of us. While I might have been able to rationalize the kiss we'd shared in the alleyway, consciously choosing to kiss him now? Was a step I wasn't sure I was prepared to make. "I don't think Stefan would like that very much." I used him like a shield.
"Stefan doesn't have to know about it then." He pointed out.
I shook my head, it just didn't seem right. "I don't like keeping secrets from him."
"Oh, so you were planning on telling him about our little hunting trip then? Or the taste test? Or the fact that you've tasted my blood before his?" Somehow that last seemed to be a significant factor, though I didn't understand why at the time.
I was silent at that, my lips pressed together in a mutinous line as I mulled that over. While it was true I had no intention of telling Stefan any of those things, this still seemed to be in an entirely different ballpark.
Shifting in my seat to face him more fully, I studied him for a moment. "Why would you possibly want to coerce me into kissing you? I mean doesn't it bother you to try and force something like that? It wouldn't mean anything."
Damon just smiled at that, and I could only guess at his motives.
But I needed that drug to get me through the day if I wanted to continue to play at being a human... And it was just a kiss, right? No harm in that. It wouldn't be a betrayal of Stefan because it wouldn't be a real kiss. "Alright, I'll do it."
"So… okay then." I waited, thinking he would just kiss me and be done with it.
"Okay then." Damon reclined back against the couch and it became clear to me that he wanted me to kiss him. With a disgusted sigh I scooted closer, realizing that I'd have to lean way over him or shift position to reach his lips. I chose the latter, climbing up on my hands and knees on the couch and bracing myself on the arm to lean in and briefly press my lips against his, sitting back as soon as it was over.
"You want enough to get you through the day, right?" He smirked. I let out along exhalation and he chuckled. "Come on Elena, what are you afraid of? You might even like it." He flashed his eyes at me and it did things to my insides, making them flutter.
That was exactly what I was afraid of… "Okay just… close your eyes, would you? This is hard enough without you looking at me." I grumbled, waiting for him to comply before I would make another attempt.
"Whatever floats your boat." His eyes slid shut, his face becoming oddly tranquil as he waited for me to make the next move.
I leaned in again, approaching him much slower this time, debating the angle of my attack so to speak. Damon was absolutely still as my lips brushed tentatively over his, making sure I was definitely the instigator of this kiss. For a moment I wondered if it would be awkward, like kissing a corpse if he remained unresponsive. But then his lips parted under mine, and my tongue swept out to taste him. It was different this time, not fueled by blood lust but something else and his kiss was almost tender as his tongue stroked against mine.
The kiss went on and on, neither of us touching each other except where our mouths were joined. Damon seemed content to kiss like this for as long as I would let it continue, he neither pressured me for more nor pulled away. I should have pulled back then. I had kissed him as he'd asked, but my body had ideas of its own. And in that continued kiss, I realized I was offering an invitation of my own. An invitation he was all too happy to accept. With great effort, I tore my lips from his, but did not pull away. "Damon…" My eyes opened to see if he'd been as affected as I was.
"Yes…?" He looked supremely amused by my discomfiture.
A little disappointed by that controlled response, I swallowed, "Was that enough?"
"You tell me." His blue eyes met mine, something indefinable behind them.
Was it? God, I didn't know anymore… I had just opened my mouth to reply when my cell phone rang, pulling my attention away from his hypnotic gaze and back to the present.
"Elena? I got your message, is something wrong?" Stefan's voice was like a bucket of cold water on whatever had started to build between Damon and I, and I immediately withdrew to my side of the couch, tucking my legs up under me.
"Stefan, hi. No, nothing's wrong." I replied, maybe just a little too quickly. "When are you coming back home?"
I looked up to see Damon rolling his eyes dramatically, reaching for the popcorn bowl again.
"I'm still not sure, but I hope to have some good news for us very soon. I miss you Elena."
"I miss you too." I said softly, tucking my hair behind my ear and looking away from Damon, wishing for a moment of privacy. Damon responded by lobbing a handful of popcorn at me. "What are you five?" I hissed.
"Who are you talking to?"
"Oh it's just Damon being a pain." I stuck my tongue out at Damon, who blew me a kiss.
"Damon is there with you? I thought you were at home, grounded?" I could practically hear the frown in his voice.
"Yeah, he's over here watching a movie."
Silence.
"It's vampire 101, we're watching Fright Night." I tried to put a smile in my voice, keep things light, but my own guilt was eating away at me and Stefan's prolonged silence wasn't exactly helping assuage that feeling. "Um… is everything okay?" I asked after a long pause went by.
"You tell me." He replied, and I instantly thought of Damon's earlier words.
My eyes flicked to Damon's. I knew he could hear everything Stefan was saying too, the smirk on his face was proof enough of that. "No it's fine, he's helping me out with Jenna. But I think he's lonely more than anything else, what with the boarding house all empty." I shot him a teasing glance.
Something flickered over Damon's features when I pegged him as lonely, but he quickly shuttered it away.
"More likely he just couldn't resist pushing in where he's not wanted. Just like he always did." Stefan bit out and I was a little surprised by the virulence in his voice. Even given their volatile relationship, it seemed a bit extreme unless he somehow knew how… inappropriate things between Damon and I had gotten.
"Um… I should probably let you go." I replied after another awkward silence.
"Yeah, okay." Stefan said, "I love you Elena."
I couldn't repeat the words back to him. Christ, what was I going to do? "Good night Stefan." I said softly, hanging up.
"So, where were we?" Damon smirked, setting aside the popcorn.
If he thought I was just gonna hop back into his arms again he was delusional. Just because I was coming to realize that things between Stefan and I were definitely more off than on didn't mean I was ready to just swap the brothers out. "You asked for a kiss and I gave you one, that's it, no more." I said resolutely.
Damon seemed to take that in stride. "So, you want to get out of here? Go for a drive? Maybe a hunt?" He suggested.
Maybe that was a good idea, get out of the house, a little fresh air? As long as I didn't have to think or wasn't in a position where I put myself any closer to Damon than I already was, it was as good a plan as any. "Where do you hunt around here? Or do you always go into the city?"
"Anywhere I want." He shrugged.
"And nobody notices?" That seemed a little risky to me.
Damon gave a careless shrug. "I'm sure I'm noticed slipping away with lovely ladies from time to time, but nobody notices me sprouting fangs, no."
"So you just… take women in alleyways like that?" I could feel my excitement growing again against my better judgment as I thought back on our hunt together.
"No, I don't do much that bold here in town, I save it for special occasions."
"Oh." I processed that for a moment.
"How about tonight you pick the victim? You lure him or her out and I'll just watch."
"You like to watch do you?" I couldn't help but smirk.
"Up until a certain point, then I'm more of a hands on type of guy." His eyes flashed.
Suddenly I wasn't so sure I wanted to go. Our "friendship" if that's what you could call it was already on dangerously thin ice, and that fact that I was starting not to care scared the hell out of me. "I should probably stick around here…" Regardless of whether or not things between Stefan and I were on the skids, Damon was dangerous.
Only maybe I was craving a little bit of danger?
"Okay, we can stay here if you'd prefer. Hell we can even order in, delivery boys can be very tasty."
"I don't remember inviting you." I pointed out, doing my best to give him a version of his own smirk.
"But I've already been invited into your home so good luck trying to keep me out now." He countered.
He had a point there, and he was much stronger than I was, there was not a lot I could do to make him leave; and I wasn't so sure I wanted him to. Still, I couldn't let him know that, it would give him far too much power over me. "So you're gonna just camp out on my sofa all night? Enjoy." I rose to my feet, leaving him to it.
All at once Damon pulled me into his lap as I passed by him. "I intend to."
"Okay very funny, now let me go." My balance was off, and I struggled to pull away but he kept me firmly within his grasp.
"First we have some unfinished business." He replied, his arms as unbreakable as iron bands around me.
"I already gave you what you wanted." I protested, swallowing nervously. This was the closest I'd been to him, our bodies pressed together intimately.
"You have no idea what I want." Damon growled, pulling me to him, his mouth captured mine before I could respond.
This kiss was demanding, and he took what he wanted without asking. To my utter shame I gave without protest, our lips never parting. Everything else forgotten, my whole world became the feel of his body, the rasp of his cheek against mine, the taste of him that was purely his own, his hands roaming freely over me.
His kiss was wild and primal and I could feel the hunger barely suppressed within him threatening to devour me should he unleash it. Overwhelmed, I pressed my hands to his chest, trying to create a little bit of space between us but he wouldn't allow it. Damon's talented mouth and hands soon eroded my initial hesitation and soon I was completely swept up in the kiss again, clinging to him every bit as much as he was holding tight to me, blood singing in my veins as my arousal spread like wildfire wherever our bodies touched.
I did however stop him when his hand started to edge my shirt up as if he intended to pull it off. "Whoa, slow down cowboy." I gasped, trying to gather my wits about me.
"Don't be a tease Elena, I know you want me." His hands stilled but he didn't let go of me, his lips nuzzling against my throat.
"Okay, maybe I did want a kiss sure, but that doesn't mean I'm offering an open invitation to just do me on the couch out here in the open." I insisted, my voice remaining firm.
"Shall we go somewhere more… private then?" His teeth caught my earlobe and gave it a not so gentle tug causing my breath to hiss between my teeth.
"I think you're missing the point."
"You're over thinking this Elena. You want me, I want you… why not be together?" He licked my earlobe.
"Because…" I pulled my head away to try and catch his eyes. "Because I am with your brother."
"Are you?" He smirked at that and I suspected he knew that I was wondering the same thing. "Come on Elena, you know we'd be good together." His tongue laved over the sensitive spot behind my ear and I shivered.
"Stop distracting me!" I snapped, pulling farther away. "And I don't know… that that's a thing… that I know…" I hated the note of uncertainty in my voice but that just proved that I shouldn't be making any life altering decisions at the moment.
"Sure you do, I can feel it when I touch you, are you saying you don't feel it too?" He stroked his fingers down the sensitive skin of my neck.
A shiver of delight coursed through me and it took a long moment to focus my thoughts again before I could reply. "Feeling a physical response for a person doesn't mean we're M.F.E.O."
"But it's a helluva lot of fun."
"Ugh, you are a bastard, you know that?"
"But you like it, don't you?" He grinned.
"What do you want?" I asked earnestly. All kidding aside I really wanted to know. Was this all just a game to him? Was I just the best way to get back at his brother or did he actually want me as more than a roll in the hay (or couch as the case may be)?
Several expressions flitted across his features, so fast I couldn't begin to interpret them. "You sure know how to kill a mood." Damon grumbled, tossing me off of his lap onto the couch beside him. He was already up on his feet and halfway to the door by the time I scrambled upright.
"Wait!" I called after him, following him to the door. "What about for tomorrow? I need that stuff to get me through the day at school."
"I'll be back with it, I don't have it on me."
"But you can get it, right? I mean you have some more?"
"Don't worry Elena, I always honor my bargains. And you already paid upfront. I'll be back with it before you leave for school, you can count on that." He smirked.
*** back from commercial ***
It was late, near dawn but I still hadn't gotten any more rest. After Damon left, I had sat watching TV with unseeing eyes, my thoughts too muddled about the events of the night to focus on anything else. Somehow I'd found myself getting sucked deeper and deeper into Damon's machinations. And I was sure that's all they were. If he'd felt anything real for me he wouldn't have left the way he had. Which meant that the feelings I was starting to have were… misplaced at best.
Things would be further complicated when Stefan returned, and I didn't just mean the fact that my feelings for him had cooled decidedly. I would have to give him back the ring, which meant no more sun and no more school. Unless he magically turned up another ring for me to wear, but what were the odds of that? And could I just accept the ring from him and then dump him? Cold much?
I started to wonder if I was just kidding myself. Could I really make a go of things in Mystic Falls? Or was I just delaying the inevitable? I wasn't human, how long would I be able to pass for one? Added to this was the fact that I'd turned down the opportunity to hunt with Damon that night. I wondered how long it would be before the needs of my new body would make themselves known? Could I really trust myself to be around people at school with this hunger building inside me?
"Penny for your thoughts?" Damon's voice came from the window, and I couldn't help but feel relieved.
"I should have gone hunting with you. Now I'm…"
"Hungry."
"Yeah, in a word." I nodded.
"You need a little something to tide you over?" He asked, lifting a single brow.
"What you just happen to have some Type A stashed in your back pocket?" I scoffed.
"No, but I can spare a little."
"Drink from you?" My mouth dropped open at the offer. "I thought… I mean don't vampires just drink from humans?"
"In general, yeah. But mostly because most vampires aren't the sharing type."
"And you are?" I replied, my voice tinged with doubt. Just what would he be getting out of it, I wondered?
"To some." A half shrug was given. "And I didn't say I'd let you drain me, but my blood is more powerful than your average schmo on the street, less should get you through the day."
"Look, don't take this the wrong way but… why are you offering?"
"What I can't make a selfless offer?" He pretended to look hurt, but couldn't manage it for more than a second or two before his mocking smile returned. "Having you drink some of my blood is not without its own… benefits."
Instantly I recalled the taste test, when I'd accidentally taken just a touch of his blood; the moan of pleasure such a little taste had given him. Suddenly I began to see the appeal for him. But what would it hurt? If it kept me from eating any of my teachers or friends it was probably worth it, right?
"Okay, just a taste." I nodded, tongue darting out to moisten my lips in anticipation.
A/N: Only one more sleep till the Vampire Diaries Season Premiere! Counting the hours!
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