Author's Note: Okay, so this one's short and it took me forever to get uploaded, but in my defense I had to pack for college, move out, and then start a job all within a week. Plus, the internet here sucks and my computer keeps blue screening because of the humidity in my room.
Anyway, enough complaining from me. Enjoy the new chapter!
"We should get rid of these bodies," Stefan growled, his eyes fixed on the blood pooling on the floor.
"I've got it," Damon responded. He and Stefan held very similar stances. Their hands were fisted at their sides, their jaws were clenched and their shoulders were squared.
"Damon…" Caroline whimpered behind him, tears stinging her eyes.
"I said I've got it!" Damon roared making her jump back in surprise. Stefan's face was beginning to show the first signs of change and Damon sprung into action, "Get him out of here."
"Stefan, we've got to go," Caroline cried, pulling on Stefan's arm as tears started rolling down her face. He didn't budge so she gave his arm a firm yank, "Stefan we have to go!"
His face was darting from body to body frantically until Caroline pulled him from his frenzy. "Now!" She screamed.
When she finally got him out of the house, Damon stood fuming, studying the carnage at his feet. Tears began to prickle his eyes as flashes of the way he found Elena went through his mind.
How could anyone do this? How could anyone touch Elena and cause her pain? She was the epitome of good. She fought so hard for everyone around her, without a second thought for herself.
He stared at the dead man on the ground. This was the man who hurt Elena, who dared laid a finger on her. He was almost disappointed he was dead. That way, he couldn't kill him.
Without anyone to kill or anything glass to throw, all Damon could do was double over in choking sobs. He pictured her hanging, helpless from the ceiling, fighting so hard to stay alive, to protect her family, waiting for him to save her. He could almost feel her faith in him. Once again, he failed her.
He remembered the dead look in her usually warm eyes. They weren't even fiery and cruel like Katherine's, all the fire had gone out, snuffed by the spineless cruelty of the man on the floor. He couldn't take it, that look of cold indifference pained him more than any rejection she could ever give him.
Elena, in all her goodness and love, was gone. She had been hallowed out by a world that was too cruel to a girl that did nothing but try. It was days like this that Damon remembered why he didn't believe in a God.
Damon collected the remnants of Elena's killing and dumped them into the river. An inferno of hate propelled him out of the woods and he sped, with fury, toward downtown.
He didn't know why he did it, there were no rational thoughts behind his actions. All he could see was Elena. Cars and trees and houses sped past him and he remembered the way she looked at him, with more understanding and love than anyone had ever looked at him before. He felt her hands on his face, around his shoulders, and on his arm. He heard her laugh, and saw the smile that took his breath away.
A tear rolled down his cheek as he recalled her words from the night he thought he was going to die. "I like you now. Just the way you are." And with that memory burned into his brain, Damon found himself at the Walters mansion, standing back as he watched it ignite in flames.
Stefan and Caroline arrived at the Boarding House and collapsed onto the living room floor in a heap. They both sat like that for a few moments in shock before Stefan started clutching his head while sobs rippled through him.
Caroline's tears started pouring out as well and she reached over to Stefan, pulling him into her arms. They held each other as they cried. This was never an outcome that anyone had anticipated. No one could even picture Elena without kindness and morality. Now that part of her was gone, what did that even mean?
Caroline knew, and so did Stefan, that the torture wasn't what did her in. Caroline had been shot repeatedly by wooden bullets and had pencils jabbed through her fingers. Stefan had been hung from the ceiling, much like Elena, and had hot pokers jabbed into his abdomen. Yet, both had been able to hold to their humanity. Something else happened in that basement. Something they couldn't see.
They were both startled when the door swung open to reveal Elena.
Stefan jumped up from his spot on the ground, "Elena."
She rolled her eyes, "Oh, don't get up on my account," she gestured with her index finger, "As you were." Her face was bloodstained and her eyes mocked them.
He started walking toward her, "Elena…" he repeated.
"I said," she rushed toward him and pushed him to the ground, "As. You. Were." She turned and disappeared up the stairs.
Caroline looked at Stefan, who had a devastated look on his face.
They sat in silence as they listened to water running upstairs. They heard drawers opening and shutting frantically as she whirred about only to return a few minutes later. She had a small suitcase slung over her shoulder, was wearing fresh clothes and her face was clean.
This time, it was Caroline's turn to speak. "What are you doing?" She got up and walked toward her friend.
Elena looked her dead in the face and recited, "I'm leaving."
"Like hell you are!" Caroline moved to grab her bag, but Elena ducked out of the way.
Elena opened her mouth to say something, but Stefan spoke first, "She's right, Elena. You're not going anywhere."
Instead of launching into a cruel dig at Caroline, Elena turned to her boyfriend and stared at him with empty eyes.
"You know, I don't even know what I saw in you," she sneered, "You can't even hold yourself together while your in-transition-supposed-love-of-your-life is sucking on a blood bag."
Stefan stood, stoic, as Elena walked toward him, "I wasn't going to break up with you, you know," she continued, "I was going to keep trying to make it work," she groaned, "Even though, night after night after night as I lied in your arms, all I wanted was to be far away, feeding on some girl's tender neck, or lying on a beach in Fiji drinking mojitos. Even sitting holed up in some dingy motel off I-75 would be better then the crushing guilt and obligation that comes with being your girlfriend." She growled out the final words. Then, not bothering to watch them soak in, turned on her heel and clomped toward the door.
"Wait, Elena," Stefan snapped out of his stupor, "Don't leave. I…we can fix this."
She turned to look at him a final time, "No, Stefan. You can't." She gave him a final warning, "Don't follow me. Don't come looking for me. I am leaving…and I'm not coming back."
She swung the door open and saw Jeremy standing, ready to open the door himself after his shift at the Grill. She nodded, "Jeremy," she acknowledged then swept past him. A few seconds later she was gone.
Damon was on his way back to the Boarding House when he got the call.
"Elena's gone. She left," Stefan's voice was vacant.
Damon dropped the phone from his ear while Stefan started explaining the whole story. He didn't need to hear it. He knew what happened. She was finally getting out, doing what she had always should have, only to be stopped by obligation and love for the people in town.
Now all of that was gone, so she was doing what she wanted.
He returned the phone to his ear, "I'll find her," he resolved.
"She doesn't want to be found, Damon," he reasoned, "That's not Elena anymore."
"I said I'll find her," Damon barked, "You just stay with Jeremy." Stefan started to protest, so Damon ordered, "And get that deed. We've been sitting ducks for long enough."
Bonnie stumbled home after a long day of being used by Klaus. After he got his body back, he drank from her and she was knocked unconscious. When she awoke, both Klaus and Tyler's body were gone.
"Do you have any idea what time it is?" Her father's voice boomed from the dark corners of the front hallway. He walked forward and his broad face was illuminated by the moonlight.
She rolled her eyes, "Dad, today has been hell. Can we talk about this tomorrow?"
"Where were you?" He demanded.
"You wouldn't believe me if I told you."
"Bonnie…" he warned.
"No, Dad, I don't want to hear it. I'm not out drinking, I don't do drugs, I'm not even having sex!" She calmed herself down and said, "Can you please just stay out of it?"
"I don't know Bon, ever since your Grandmother passed, I feel like you've changed," he crossed his arms over his chest and his forehead crinkled in concern.
"How would you know?" She gritted her teeth, "You haven't even been home long enough to notice."
She knew it was harsh, but she made the decision a long time ago that she would protect her father from reality. He was a hard worker, always out of town on business, and he did it to take care of her, she knew that. So, she was harsh, and it did the trick. He reverted to silence and she made her way across the house to her room.
Elena pulled off the highway at 4:00 in the morning to one of those dingy chain hotels. She figured between compulsion and the cash she horded before leaving the Salvatores', she could probably stay at The Ritz, but for now, she was sick of driving and just wanted a shower.
She compelled herself a one-bed room at the front desk, slung her bag over her shoulder and made her way up the stairs and down the generically carpeted hallway when she suddenly caught a very familiar scent.
She would have put her key in the room lock except that she found it already slightly ajar. Her body tensed, ready to defend or attack and she kicked the door open with a loud bang. She dropped her bag and sped straight into the room, immediately taking the offensive. She took the intruder, who was lounging on the bed, by the throat.
Damon looked up at Elena from his spot in her clutches. Her hair was cascading over their faces and she was looking at him menacingly. Well, that was an improvement over cold and detached.
Sure, her hands were in a death grip around his throat and he really couldn't breathe, but she was straddling him. So, pros and cons.
He smirked up at her. "I always thought you'd be a little kinky," he choked out.
Instead of releasing him once she recognized who he was, her grip only tightened. "What are you doing here, Damon?" She questioned without a hint of the usual tenderness in her voice, making him flinch inwardly.
He decided not to take it anymore, and exercised his dominance of strength by grunting and flipping her over onto her back, pinning her arms up above her head. He hovered over her, gripping her sides with his knees. "What do you think I'm doing here, Elena?" He murmured, his face was inches from hers, their breaths intermingled.
She rolled her eyes from underneath him, her hair was splayed out on the bed. "Always with the backward talking. Between that and the, you know, murder. Is it any wonder I didn't choose you?"
He had a second to process what she said, another second for the pain to settle in his chest, and a final second for her eyes to shift from communicative to murderous before she flipped him back over on his back. This time, she held him down with her hands pressing his chest.
"Of course this," she started rolling her hips around his, "this is something I always wanted from you."
Damon immediately felt himself harden. Elena was straddling him with her hot little body and her long fingers were caressing his neck. He had a pretty good idea where this was going, but he didn't know what to do. So, instead, his body froze. He felt her hot breath in his ear as she whispered, "This is what you've always wanted too. Me and you, alone in a hotel room," she nibbled his ear and his torso jerked in surprise, "after all," she mimicked his words from earlier, "now we have eternity."
He wanted this, oh man, did he want this. But not like this, not in a million years.
Still, though, he couldn't stop her. This was Elena, his entire being prevented him from denying her. He reached his hands up and settled them low on her hips and he stroked her bare skin. She moved her lips from his ears to his jaw where she sucked lightly. He moaned in approval, and closed his eyes. She smirked into his neck, where she left deep, tonguing kisses. After reaching the base of his throat she lifted her head and looked at Damon.
His eyes were squeezed shut and his fingers were digging into her sides. Ever since she turned, she had been plagued with the intense urge to jump him, but she was with Stefan, and she was so scared of what being with Damon meant. Now, she wasn't with Stefan, and as far as Damon was concerned, she really didn't care.
She looked at his lips. Everyone was always talking about Damon's eyes, how unnaturally electric blue they were, and it was true, sometimes she was unnerved by how they looked through her and sent little shocks down her spine to her toes. But, those lips. Those lips had been teasing Elena from the day she met him, and she only let ever let herself indulge three times, now.
Time to change that.
She placed his head in a lock between her hands and she attacked his mouth with hers. She pressed her lips and her torso into him with all of her new strength, breathing in deeply with her heightened senses.
Elena was free. She was no longer burdened with all the weight of indecision and guilt. Without a single inhibition in her way, every vice she had shamed away into the back of her mind could emerge.
The only problem was when she moved her lips, his didn't reciprocate.
"Elena," he finally spoke.
She took advantage of the opening and sucked hard on his bottom lip, grinding her hips into him again for good measure.
He let a moan escape, but wrenched his head to the side in rebellion. She pouted and made do with his neck.
"Elena," he repeated.
She ignored him and reached her hands up to wrap around his neck.
He growled and finally pushed her from him onto the bed in front of him and he quickly sat up. The absence of her warmth was uncomfortable. He hated the empty feeling she left behind. Even worse, though, was the dry lump that was stuck in his throat, and the ache in his chest when he looked into her unfeeling eyes.
She glared at him from where she was ungracefully set at the foot of the bed. He felt like it was the night Katherine rejected him all over again. She wanted to use his body, he wanted her heart. He hated how vulnerable he suddenly was and he fidgeted with the blanket.
Only this wasn't Katherine, this was Elena, and everything he felt for her was justified and real.
He looked up at her bashfully. She had recovered from her anger and instead was looking at him with indifference.
He cocked his eyebrow, waiting for her to speak and they locked eyes for a few moments.
Elena felt a twinge near her heart when she saw open sadness in Damon's expression, but it quickly went away and then she was just left with a welcoming bed with a sexually unwilling vampire taking up half.
She looked at Damon and shrugged, "Whatever. If it's not happening tonight, I'm going to sleep. I have a day of being tortured to sleep off."
Damon flinched at the reminder and watched as she crawled to the head of the bed and flopped down. She shimmied from her jeans and pealed off her sweater leaving her in just her panties and a white camisole. He watched as her skin was revealed, only to be concealed again when she snuggled under the covers.
She turned her back to him and closed her eyes. He looked at her, unsure what to do when she spoke up curtly, "If you're going to stay, you might as well take off your shoes."
He smirked to himself. He didn't know why, but something about what she said gave him hope. She might have switched off her humanity, but that didn't mean she was suddenly Katherine. It still hurt, watching the way her whole stature conveyed how completely she had checked out from the world, but that didn't mean she suddenly became manipulative and full of hate. No, Elena had her own demons.
He got up to shut the door. When he returned to the bed, she removed his shoes and shucked his jacket. He paused, then shrugged to himself. If she was going without pants, then so was he. After shedding them he lifted the covers to join her. He hesitated before giving in and scooting closer to her. She felt it and moved slightly toward him. He reached to her without knowing her reaction or desires, and lightly put his hand on her waist. She didn't object. So, he took the next step and moved his body to hers. She rolled her eyes inwardly and molded her body to his.
Damon raised his eyebrows in surprise, but he wasn't about to argue with this turn of events, so her wrapped his arm around her tiny waist and pulled her tightly against him. He buried her nose in her neck and inhaled deeply. Again, she didn't object. He couldn't figure out why, but he took advantage of it. He got to remind himself that she was still Elena. She still smelled as intoxicating as ever, when their skin touched his whole body responded the way it always did, and the way the world seemed to stop whenever she was around, did just that.
Damon didn't get any sleep that night, and he held onto her for dear life as her breathing evened out and she descended into slumber. For now, she was there, but he could feel her slipping through his fingers. His mind was screaming in panic in anticipation of what was to come, but for now, he just held her, hoping the storm would hold off for a while.
Author's Note: So, there it is, the end of Stelena and the beginning of Elena's life without emotions...with a tick of a Damon at her side, of course. :)