I hope you enjoy the chapter. Thanks for reading!

Monday, October 16, 7:45 a.m.

I woke up to a splitting fucking headache. I wasn't sure where I was or how long I'd been here, but I was lying on a very hard concrete floor, my back stiff and aching. I felt disoriented, nauseated, and was trying to focus on where the hell I was. My head was spinning a mile a minute and my mouth was dry as fuck. I managed to pull myself up off the ground and focus on my surroundings.

I was in a cramped closed-in space with nothing but a makeshift bed that looked eerily familiar. The room couldn't have been more than 10x10. The door to the right of me was solid steel except for a small squared barred window that was near the top of it. I knew rather quickly where I was. I was locked in the Salvatore cellar.

Think Damon. What's the last thing I remember? I went over to Elena's; I left; I got in my car and….STEFAN! That son of a bitch! He sucker punched me and vervained me, that little shit.

I didn't know all of the circumstances yet, but I knew one thing: Stefan had found out about me and Elena and now he's pissed and overreacting badly, something he had learned from me, obviously.

I reached in my pocket to retrieve my cell to call Elena and, surprisingly, by brother had thought wisely and took it from me. That's a first. Stefan talks a big game but he sucks at planning and he's even worse at executing, just like he will be with this fucking half-baked ill-advised plan he's got going on.

I wondered where Elena fit into this. She should be at school about now oblivious to Stefan's idiocy; at least she had better be safe and not involved in this. All I know is he better keep this between me and him and not mention Elena to me in a threatening manner. Just thinking about it makes my blood boil.

I realized it was time to have a little chat with my baby brother. I pushed myself up from the hard ground and sat on the edge of the bed. I then called out for Stefan.

"STEFAN! STEFAN! We need to talk now! Get down here, Stefan!"

I sat there for five minutes yelling for my brother and got nothing. In my mood, it probably wasn't the smartest thing for him to make me wait. The inconvenience of my being confined in this pint-sized box of a room was wearing thin fast and I was going to be taking out my anger on something or someone soon.

"Hello, Damon. Comfortable?"

Oh, so he's going to start by being a wise-ass.

"Stefan, what the fuck do you think you're doing?"

"What does it look like?"

"Let me out of here now."

"Sorry, no can do, Damon."

"Don't be an asshole. Whatever is on your mind, we can talk about it."

"It's a little late for that."

I don't know what it is you think you know about me and Elena –"

"I don't think anything; I know."

"And what is it you think you know?"

"Come on, Damon, don't play stupid; it's not a good look for you."

"And don't play games with me; I'm not in the fucking mood."

"Why don't you just admit it, Damon, or are you actually ashamed to?"

"There's more involved here than you know. You are jumping to conclusions as usual."

"I saw you with your tongue down her throat last night on her porch. I don't think I'm jumping to any conclusions, do you?"

"Listen, Stefan –"

"I mean, there you were kissing her and feeling her up right out in the open for anyone to see."

"What, were you watching us, you pervert?"

"Don't try to turn this around on me."

"I'm not trying to do anything, but you are the one who is, in fact, keeping me prisoner. What were you doing at Elena's house anyway?"

"What was I doing there? I could ask you the same question. I came by to apologize for showing up at the lake house unannounced and I found you there on her porch with your filthy hands all over her."

"Look, I'm sorry, but the fact is Elena broke up with you. She doesn't have to explain her actions, but she wanted to and was going to today. It's not like we planned this, Stefan."

"You were with her at the lake house, too, weren't you?"

"It's complicated."

"It's complicated? You are fucking my girlfriend. It can't get more complicated than that."

"She's NOT your girlfriend, Stefan, and you had better fucking watch your tongue when talking about her with me or I'll cut if off."

"And you think after a mere few days that somehow you and Elena share something so special, more so than her and I have? That's laughable."

"This is beyond dumb, even for you. Now let me out of here and I'll forget all about this - after I kick your ass."

"You're not going anywhere."

"You can't just keep me down here. People will notice I'm gone."

"People? What people? Nobody gives a shit about you, and soon neither will Elena."

"Don't you dare threaten me with Elena. Do you fucking hear me?"

"You are such a fool if you think lust equals love. Elena doesn't love you."

"Oh, and you think she loves you?"

"Well, once she realizes what a loser you are, and she will, she'll realize I'm the one she wants."

"She doesn't want you, Stefan. And she isn't yours to own."

She was mine a few days ago until you stole her from me."

"I didn't steal her from you. You lost her; face that fucking fact."

"We were fine until you showed up. You dazzled her with your bad boy antics and she lost her way. You're just a distraction for her and you're taking full advantage of that like the selfish prick you are."

"I am not a fucking distraction. Believe what you want. Now, I'm trying to be civil with you but you're starting to piss me the fuck off."

"Ooh, I'm scared."

"You're such a little pussy, Stefan. Open the door and let me show you just how much of a little pussy you are."

"So did you fuck her the first night you got in town when you got her drunk?"

"You're trying my patience. Seriously, you need to back the fuck off."

"Answer the question. I deserve to know."

I didn't get her drunk, and, no, I did not sleep with Elena that night. She had other things on her mind that you obviously failed to recognize."

"Like what?"

"It's a long story, one that Elena was coming over to tell you after school today. She was going to explain everything, but for some insane, mindless, idiotic reason you decided abducting me was the better way to go."

"So if you didn't have sex with her 'that night,' when did you sleep with her, before or after she broke it off with me?"

"You know, due to the circumstances presently before me, I'm going to have to say that's NONE OF YOUR FUCKING BUSINESS! Now let me out of here now so we can talk about this rationally."

(Cell phone beeping.)

"Oh, look, my girlfriend is sending you a text message."

"Ex-girlfriend! And give me my fucking phone back. I mean it."

"No, but I'll read it to you since I'm sure you're dying to know.

"Hey, just made it to school. Can't stop thinking about you or last night. I'll call you later."

"Stefan, give me my phone. I need to text her back."

"That's not going to happen."

"Damn it, this isn't going to work. You don't think she'll get suspicious if I just ignore her?"

"That's what you do to women after you've used them; you throw them out and move on to the next one."

"It's different with her. She makes things different. I'm sorry it didn't work out for you two but it wasn't meant to be. You have to move on."

"Move on? You're not even going to pretend to be sorry, are you, Damon? You knew Elena was my girlfriend and you didn't give a damn. You just took her for yourself like you do everything else, just like you did Katherine. You couldn't just let me be happy, you selfish bastard."

"First of all, Katherine's a bitch; you can have her. As for Elena, I wouldn't have been able to 'take' Elena from you if she was in love with you in the first place, and, second, Elena made her decision about breaking up with you without my knowledge or input into the matter. It was her decision. She wasn't happy long before I came to town."

"I'd think I'd know if my girlfriend wasn't happy."

"If she was happy, she wouldn't have broken things off. Come on, Stefan, you're not that asinine, are you? Things don't always work out, even if you're used to things going your way."

"Well, they're not going to go your way either, because you're never going to see her again. I'll make sure of that."

"Did you just fucking threaten Elena to my face?"

I jumped up and was over to the door before Stefan could react. I grabbed him by the neck through the opening and slammed his head against the bars.

"I will kill you if you even think about touching her; do you understand me?"

I didn't have a hold of him long enough to do the damage I was prepared to do, because within seconds I felt a needle go straight into the side of my neck. I was out again.

(Monday, 3:15 p.m.)

I woke up again dazed and hoping this had all been a nightmare, hoping I was next to Elena back at the lake house. I missed her intoxicating scent and her sweet, sweet smile. I missed how she looked at me and how she touched me and how she let me touch her. I missed her so fucking much I was losing my mind. She should be getting out of school soon and she's probably wondering why I haven't returned her text from this morning. I was weak and delirious and I could hardly move but I still had focused all of my thoughts on her.

I was starving. I needed blood and I needed it now and I hadn't had any since yesterday afternoon. I felt the hunger eating at me like a disease from within. My starvation and the vervain still in my system were playing tricks on my mind.

"Oh, my fucking head," I yelled out. "Stefan, you cocksucker, get in here."

I heard the entry door from the cellar open and close. I heard footsteps and then I saw Stefan's face at the door glaring in at me. He then held up a blood bag and was swinging it back and forth just leering at me.

My thirst was at an all-time high. I needed that blood and I needed it now, mostly to fulfill my deep dark hunger but also to build up enough strength to get the hell out of this shit hole and kick Stefan's scrawny ass.

"What are you up to? Why the blood now? I thought you wanted me weak and defenseless like you."

Stefan tossed the blood in through the opening in the bars but didn't answer me. I didn't press the issue right then because I wanted – no, I needed that blood. I ripped it open and devoured the blood in a matter of seconds.

I felt my strength returning but the vervain was still affecting me. Without provocation, he threw in another bag through the bars and it landed a few feet from the door. I didn't hesitate. I grabbed it immediately and I swallowed every thick, tasty inch of it.

I suddenly got a clever thought, which turned into an idea, a very good idea, like most of my ideas - unlike Stefan, who had never really been one to come up with good ideas. Case in point, what he was doing now would most likely – most definitely - come back to bite him in the ass. But me, on the other hand, I always had a plan, a backup plan, and a backup to my backup plan.

After that second blood bag, I felt my body responding and my blood was flowing normally again. Stefan was still standing there observing my actions. It was now or never.

I started convulsing and choking and wincing in pain. My body was jerking violently and I cried out.

"What the fuck did you give me?" I yelled in agony.

Stefan stood there at first and didn't move. Was he buying my act? He didn't know how to react or maybe he just didn't give a shit and was happy to see me die. Maybe that was his plan all along. I threw in more dramatic acting and spit up the blood I had drank and continued to spasm and shake violently. Finally, I heard the key in the lock and the door open.

"What the hell is going on, Damon?"

"You poisoned me, you asshole; that's what's going on!"

"I didn't poison you. You must be having an adverse reaction to the blood for some reason."

He grabbed my arm to try and turn me over and the fight was on. I still didn't have my full strength but I had my anger and my adrenaline to help me pummel Stefan with. I swung hard and knocked the shit out of him and he fell backward onto the hard ground. I got up and jumped on top of him and began to strike him repeatedly.

I was in complete control, as I knew I would be, but then out of nowhere I suddenly felt weak and in pain and felt something sticking in my leg. I rolled off of Stefan and saw that he had vervained me again.

Can he not fight like a man? Motherfucker.

I fell backwards onto the floor. Stefan walked over to the bed, pulled a piece of wood from the frame and stabbed me straight through my abdomen for good measure and then walked out the door and locked it behind him.

"You piece of shit. Get back here." I yelled angrily.

"That was real stupid, Damon. I'll be back and we'll try this again."

"What's your angle? You didn't want me to die of blood poisoning, but you have no fucking problem stabbing me and vervaining me again? What the hell are you doing and why are you keeping me alive if you despise me this much? Isn't it easier to just starve me to death and get it over with?"

"I'm not done with you yet."

"You should have killed me when you had the chance, Stefan."

(SOUND OF DOORBELL RINGS OUT THROUGH THE HOUSE)

Stefan stuck his face in front of the barred window and looked at me with that stupid grin of his.

"Oh, it's 3:30. She's right on time."

"Don't you dare go near her."

"Don't worry, now is not the time for me to have that talk with Elena. I have other plans."

"What are you planning?"

"That's really not your concern right now."

"Elena is my concern," I growled at him.

"Not anymore she's not. She's mine."

"Stefan, so help me, let me the hell out of here!"

"Sorry, I can't do that. I have a guest I need to deal with. We'll finish this up later."

"Stay the fuck away from her. I'm warning you."

"You're not in any position to warn me about anything. You're my prisoner, remember? I can always vervain you again."

(SOUND OF DOORBELL RINGS OUT THROUGH THE HOUSE)

"Stefan, you can shove that vervain up your ass. I'm sure you'll enjoy it."

"She's going to learn very quickly that it was a mistake to trust you."

"Feed her with lies. Yeah, that will win her over. You're a fucking coward."

"Good-bye, Damon."

"Don't walk away from me, you motherfucker. I'm going to enjoy beating your ass when I get out of here."

I was livid.

(Stefan's front door, 3:30 p.m.)

"Stefan, what happened to you? Are you all right?"

"Yes, I'm fine.

"What happened?"

"Nothing, Elena. I'm fine. He's handled - I mean, it's handled."

"Who's handled, Stefan?"

"I mean, I had a situation but it's handled. What – what are you doing here anyway, Elena?"

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

( 4:08 p.m.)

"Damon, time to get up. Drink this. You're going to need your strength for what you have to do."

I rolled over and saw Stefan holding a bag of blood through the bars. My senses heightened and my thirst was apparent. I needed that blood, I wanted that blood, but I didn't trust Stefan's motives. He was up to something.

"Come on, Damon, you know you want it."

"What the hell are you doing, Stefan? Where's Elena?"

"She's gone."

"If you hurt her in any way…"

"Calm down. I couldn't very well let her in the house today when you're in such a bad mood. She might hear you down here. I sent her away. Now drink the blood; then we will talk."

"Oh, so now you want to talk, Stefan?"

It was either die of blood starvation and vervain poisoning or drink the blood he was offering with his condition attached. I chose the latter due to my state of semi-consciousness. I drank every pint of that blood Stefan gave me and I finally started to feel like myself again.

"We have a little issue we have to get taken care of, Damon."

"Yeah, I know - me kicking your ass. I'm ready to get started."

"You, Damon, are going to write a letter to Elena telling her you never want to see her again."

"Like hell I am, Stefan."

"Oh, you will do it."

"And why would I do something like that?"

"Because if you don't, I'm going to turn her, Damon."

My anger turned to rage. My rage turned to Stefan. Stefan became my enemy in that instant. I knew at that moment I could kill my brother for real. He had crossed the line.

"If you harm her in anyway, so help me God, Stefan…"

"You'll what, Damon, kill your own brother?"

"Without hesitation."

"That's very touching you want to protect her, but you can't."

"If you think I would let you lay a hand on her, you are dead wrong," I scowled.

"I won't let you have her, Damon."

"She's not yours anymore. Get that through your fucking head, Stefan."

"I will get her back, Damon. I just need you out of the picture for a while. Now, whether she's human or a vampire is completely up to you."

"So that's your grand plan? Get rid of me and then force her to love you?"

"Yes, or you can refuse me and I'll change her and you won't be able to stop it."

"She'd never forgive you if you turned her against her will, Stefan."

"And you think she'd forgive you knowing that you could have saved her from death, from becoming one of us, but instead you were too selfish to give her up yourself."

I'd already given her up once. There was no way in hell I was going to fucking do it again because Stefan told me to.

"Don't play those kind of mind games with me, Stefan. You will lose. Your idle threats and your reverse psychology bullshit isn't going to work on me. I won't give Elena up so you can have her for yourself. You're completely delusional."

"Oh, I think you will, because if you don't, you won't have her anyway, at least not the human Elena you so desire."

"I'll want her no matter who or what she is, Stefan, because I'm in love with who she is not what she is. But unlike you, I would give her the choice. That's the difference between you and me."

"Damon, stop wasting my time. I WILL turn her if you don't do as I say. And maybe it will even be tomorrow night. I will invite her over so we can have that talk she's been dying to have with me. I'll cook her some dinner, pour her some red wine spiked with my blood and a strong sedative. She won't even know the inherent danger she's in that you could have prevented. I'll send her a text from your cell saying you need her to come home immediately. She'll run out to see you and unexpectedly somewhere on that long drive home the sedatives will kick in and she'll have an unexplained, tragic accident that will befall her and she will die with my blood in her bloodstream. She'll be one of us, Damon, but I will be the one by her side, to help her transition, and you, my brother, will be nowhere around. She'll think you abandoned her or don't want her because she isn't human anymore. Either way, she'll hate you."

I wanted him to hurt. I wanted to hurt him. I couldn't move. My breathing was labored. Stefan was crazed but I now believed he was completely serious. I knew one thing, I could not let him turn her. To think of her dying like that, alone, ripped my heart to shreads from the inside out. She just told me she never wanted or considered being a vampire. I can't let that happen to her. But how the hell do I agree to what Stefan is forcing me to do? I promised her I'd never leave her again. Walking away from her after everything that's happened between us wasn't an option five minutes ago, but now it seemed like the only one to save her life. How could I not save her life if I had the chance? She'll be devastated thinking I left her purposely - devastated but human.

I growled at Stefan and showed my teeth. I wanted to sink them into his neck and tear his fucking head off. He was standing there all proud of himself, thinking he'd won something, when all he had done was threaten to destroy a life, her life, her beautiful human life, the life of someone he claimed to love. Either way this goes, Elena loses. But of the choices I have, I have to choose her life over my life with her.

That sorry son of a bitch. I have no choice. Oh, Elena, I'm so fucking sorry.

"Okay, Stefan, I'll write your fucking letter."

"So you choose to keep human Elena around, huh?"

"I choose her, Stefan. I'll always choose her."

"Well, too bad you won't be in her life to enjoy her. That will be my job."

"Stefan, you may think you've won Elena, but you'll never fucking have her, not in the way you want. She'll never truly be yours. She is mine, body and soul. Just remember that, Brother. She chose to be with me, not you. She longs for me to touch her, not you."

Stefan's face grew angry.

"I'll have her in every way, Damon. It's only a matter of time. When she finds out you used her and left her, she'll turn to me like she always does."

"Believe what you want, Stefan. I'll know the truth."

(Cell phone beeping)

Stefan looks at the text on my cell phone.

Txt Message

From: Elena

Monday, October 16

Hey, what's up? Where have you been all day? Can you come over to my house? I need to talk to you.

Sent: 4:15 p.m.

"Oh, another text from Elena. She's been a busy girl. She's wondering where you've been all day, Damon, and she wants to talk to you. Well, you had better start writing that letter before she comes looking for you."

Stefan passed me a piece of paper and a pen and I couldn't think of the words to write down on the paper. I sat there staring at it 45 minutes.

How do I tell Elena I never want to see her again, that I don't want her, when it's all a fucking lie? I love you, Elena. This is all a lie. It's not true. Forgive me.

Elena,

You were right about me. I am a coward. I'm selfish and incapable of loving anyone. I'm leaving, Elena, and not coming back. Please don't look for me. I don't want you to. You should work things out with Stefan.

I'm sorry,

Damon

"You made the right choice, Damon."

"Get away from me, Stefan! It's in your best interest, trust me."

I heard the sound of another text message. Stefan looked at my phone.

Txt Message

From: Elena

Monday, October 16

Hey, I need to talk to u. Call me when u get this. It's important. I love you, you know.

Sent: 5:00 p.m.

I knew it was from Elena by his facial expression, but this time he didn't tell me what it said. He seemed angry, almost hurt by her words. I wondered what she had written, if I would ever get the chance to know what she was thinking before she had to see that fucking letter that would soon arrive at her door. But whatever she texted bothered him to no end, which gave me some satisfaction, although slight, considering my present circumstances. He shut off the phone and put it back in his pocket and turned to me trying to act unaffected by what he read.

"Well, it's just after 5:00. I'll have this letter hand-delivered to her and so she'll get it within the next hour or so and Elena will be yours no more, Damon."

I turned away from him. His smart-ass grin and his undeserved self-confidence was making me choke. I mumbled profanities under my breath.

"Did you say something, Damon?"

"Just get the fuck out of here, Stefan."

"Come on, in a few months she'll have forgotten all about your brief time together and so will you."

"If that's what helps you sleep at night, asshole."

"She bedded you in a week. What y'all have is purely physical and she'll realize that."

"And how many times did she sleep with you, Stefan?"

Stefan just stood there in silence pissed off and with no comeback.

"Yeah, that's what I thought. Sex isn't just sex to Elena. It means something to her. She doesn't take it lightly. You ought to know that very well by now."

"We were taking it slow. Our relationship wasn't about sex."

"Well, that's pretty obvious, Stefan."

"What you think you have with Elena isn't real, Damon. It's only physical."

"You don't know what you're talking about, and you don't know shit about what me and Elena share."

"Oh, but I do. You've always slept with a wide variety of random women and then got bored with them. You would have done the same with Elena."

"Stefan, I slept with all those women while you were, you know, practicing safe virginity all these years, because I'm, in fact, a man and a vampire and I like sex. I had it randomly and I had it often because I could and it didn't matter who it was. But Elena is not random. She is, in fact, everything to me, so being with her makes it all matter. So get that through your fucking thick skull."

"You're so full of shit. You're incapable of loving anyone. We both know that, Damon."

"That may have been true once and I would have gladly admitted it, but that was before Elena."

"Just shut the fuck up. It doesn't matter now. She's going to fall back in love with me and forget she ever met you."

"For Christ's sake, she was never in love with you, you fucking idiot," I yelled loudly.

"We'll see, Damon. Now rot in hell down here while I'm gone."

He turns to leave and then turns back around.

"And don't bother making a bunch of noise down here. I'm installing heavier sound proof doors this evening so no one will hear your relentless, repetitive yelling."

"How long are you planning on leaving me down here?"

"That's up to you, really. After a few months and you realize Elena is in love with me, and you agree to leave town and never come back, then we'll see."

"What the fuck happened to you, Stefan. I thought I was the bad seed, but now look at you. You're fucking insane."

"You betrayed me."

"So this is somehow my fault now; you going off the deep end and threatening to end Elena's life?"

"Actions have consequences, Damon."

"You are so fucking lucky that there is a door between you and me."

"Enjoy your solitude, Damon. I know I will."

. . . . . . . . . .