MYSTIC FALLS 9 MAY 2006

Dear Diary,

I'm so angry. I'm so angry with Damon. How dare he said I was acting like a child? He had ignored me for a few weeks and he said I was acting like a child!

Maybe he doesn't care about me. He comes into my life any time he feels like he wants to have some fun and then walk out again when he has enough. Maybe he is really treating me like some sort of a toy. His toy.

Elena used her chemistry textbook to shield her gaze as she watched Damon walk towards her. He looked calm and confident as usual. This morning events had obviously had no effect on him. He acted as if nothing at all out of the ordinary had occurred. She must be the biggest fool in history, Elena thought. Damon had never taken their relationship seriously.

"Hi," Damon said as he reached the table.

Elena ignored that and continued reading her book.

He sat down on the long bench across her. "Caroline said you don't have any class until two."

She said nothing.

"How are things going?"

She looked up and blanked at the question. She seriously doubted that he was inquiring about how she had survived this morning in school without thinking about what had happened between them earlier.

"What things?" Elena asked cautiously.

"Your studies. Your exams…" He was stuttering. Damn it, what was going on? Damon Salvatore hardly stuttered in front of a woman. "Everything, I mean."

She felt her temper rising. "You know something, Damon? My studies, my exams and my life are nothing of your concern." She got to her feet. "Excuse me, I'm going to the library to do some reading."

He got to his feet and came to a halt in front of her. "Wait, Elena. We have to talk."

"I'm busy," she said bluntly as she put her book back inside her bag.

"I want to talk about us."

Elena froze. "Us?"

"Yes. Us." He stabbed a hand through his hair. "Yes. I want to talk about us. Our relationship."

She was staring at him, but now the look on her face spoke more of surprise than anger. "Our relationship?"

"I care about you, Elena," he admitted. "So much that I can't think about anything else. I can't stand the thought of Stefan kissing you…" His voice broke, and he exhaled slowly. "But you are right."

"About what?"

"You deserve someone who you can count on, somebody who can help you with your homework and exams…"

She narrowed her eyes. "What are you trying to imply?"

"I think it is for the best." God, that hurt. The ache in his gut intensified. Walking away from her was so hard, the hardest thing he had ever done. "It's for the best. I'm sure you will understand."

"Do I?"

"My job is very demanding. I can't expect to be sticking around here all the time."

Understanding hit her. He was trying to tell her he didn't want anything to do with her anymore.

She caught her breath. "I understand now. You are trying to tell me that we should go our separate ways, aren't you?"

He had hurt her. He could see the pain in her eyes. "Elena, I…" He tried to put his arm around her and draw her close, but she pulled away.

"Don't touch me," she said. "I feel like enough of a fool already."

"Elena, you are no fool. I…"

"You what?" she demanded, her scrambled emotions giving a rare edge to her anger. "You didn't treat me as a toy?"

"I have never treated you as a toy," he said grimly. "I know you are hurt…"

"No, you are wrong," she scowled. "I'm not hurt. We have nothing. There is nothing going on between us." The words, even as she spoke them, sliced through Elena. But she knew it was better to end their relationship quickly and move on. "Goodbye, Damon."

x x x

MYSTIC FALLS 14 JULY 2016

"Dr Gilbert?"

A man dressed in a nursing uniform hailed Elena along the corridor.

"Yes?"

"I have a message for you."

"Yes?"

A second man stepped out of the storage room. Short and pudgy, he wore a nursing uniform but there was an air of ruthless determination.

Elena froze when the second man reached into his pocket and withdrew a gun topped with a long, deadly silencer. Before she could so much as gasp, let alone turn and flee, he grabbed her. With one hand wrapped viciously around her arm, he jammed the barrel into her side.

"You make one sound, one single sound, and you are dead."

With her throat closed and her heart slamming against her ribs, she couldn't have squeaked out a word if she wanted to.

"Don't make me hurt you," her abductor snarled. "We need you breathing for a while. Now keep walking."

Her jaw clamed shut. Heart thundering, she was half dragged, half shoved toward a car idling at the back of the hospital. The sedan's motor hummed softly. Its dark tinted windows revealed nothing of its interior.

Elena's abductor jerked her to a halt.

His accomplice performed a swift reconnaissance of the open parking lot, and then dashed to the car and yanked open the back door.

Second later, Elena was showed into the back seat.

She fell into the seat, her terror-filled mind screamed as the car peeled away from the curb, the consequences might just prove fatal. She scrambled upright and eyed the door handle only inches away. If she could knock aside the gun aimed at her middle with her right hand and yank the door open with her left, she could tumble into the street and…..

"Don't try it, babe."

The man beside her smiled a warning.

"Me or my friend here would put a bullet through your kneecap before you ran two steps."

He said it with such casual menace that ice formed in Elena's veins.

"But just to make sure…" In a swift move, he caught her wrist in a brutal grip and twisted it behind her. "Derek, toss me that tape."

Bent almost double, Elena fought futilely as he laid his gun on the seat and snagged her other arm. She heard a tearing sound, and then felt the slap of tape as he wrapped it around and around her wrists. Panting, she lurched back in her seat.

"You can't do this!"

"The man in front seat snickered. "Looks to me like we just did."

"Shut up and drive, Derek."

Shaking her hair out of her eyes, Elena bit back the terror that rose like a living thing in her throat. She had to rein in her thundering feat. Had to focus. Breathing hard and fast, she tried to identify landmarks she could relate to Damon when she got the chance. She would get the chance. When they arrived wherever they were going, she would find some way to contact him or send a message.

He was a hunter. He would track these thugs down and come after her. She had to believe that, had to keep shouting it over and over in her mind to keep from choking on the panic pounding through her chest.

With every turn, she searched for street signs. All too soon, the familiar landmarks blurred. After a confusing number of turns, they wheeled into a neighbourhood of towering palms, profusely flowering shrubs and high walls.

The streets grew wilder, the residences separated into estates. Finally, the driver slowed at a gated driveway. A "For Sale" sign beside the entrance offered the property for viewing to a discriminating clientele.

Evidently her abductors had arranged a private viewing. With a click of a remote switch, the gates slid open. Crushed shell crunched under the tires as the car swept up a curving drive to a sprawling stucco mansion. The ornate curlicues above the windows and massive front doors dated it somewhere in the thirties or forties. Elena couldn't image who owned it.

It soon became obvious that the owners had departed the premises. The front doors opened to cavernous rooms emptied of all furnishings. The place was in show condition, however. The black-and-white marble floors gleamed. The massive crystal chandelier in the entryway sparkled. Not a speck of dust danced in the sunbeams slanting through the curtained front windows.

With a hand wrapped around her arm like a vice, Elena was guided down a long, central hall to the high-ceilinged sunroom that ran the length of the back of the house. Its tall windows looked out on a marble pool surrounded by larger-than-life white statuary and acres of green lawn. The estate's high stucco wall enclosed it all, like the walls of an impregnable fortress.

Sliding open the glass doors, her kidnapper took her into the bright sunshine. Like the interior, the exterior was meticulously maintained. No weeds poked put of the lush green carpet. No algae had dared form on the sides of the pool. A well-mannered hum rose from the pool's motor, neatly concealed behind a latticework screen. Chlorine mingled with the scent of bougainvillea and honeysuckle.

"Over there."

Following the curt instruction, she made her way to a grotto formed by a half circle of Greek columns. Climbing vines shaded the grotto's interior, which held a grouping of marble benches and tables.

"Damned place ain't got no place to sit but out here," the one called Derek muttered. "Next time, we tell the boss to pick a joint with chairs and a TV in it, for God's sake."

Disgusted, he whipped a cigarette pack out of his pocket and lit up.

"You might as well sit down," he grumbled to Elena. "We got some time to kill yet."

Elena sank onto a marble bench, her wrists still taped and her shoulders already aching from the strain. She swallowed, trying desperately to work some moisture in her throat.

"Some time until what?"

"Until the boss is here."

"Shut the hell up, Derek."

"Hey, I was only answering her question."

"Where is Marko?" Elena wet her lips. "What isn't he here?"

"So you know me."

Elena turned around.

Marko, thin and wiry, with short-cropped hair so dark it was nearly black walked towards her.

She swallowed hard. "Marko."

"We finally meet, Dr Gilbert," he said as he reached the table.

"What do you want?"

"You know what I want," Marko said. "Where's the money?"

"I don't know."

"Don't play games with me, doc," he demanded. "Where did Stefan keep the money?"

"I don't know!" she repeated.

He hauled her up from the bench. "Where's the money? Tell me!"

"I said I don't know!"

"Very well, doc. If you aren't willing to cooperate, then don't blame me." He sneered at her. "We will wait for your boyfriend to bring us the money."

Oh God, Damon! She couldn't let Marko use her to bait Damon. She had to get away. Had to warn Damon,

"Stay with her until her lover boy brings us the money," Marko said to the two men before walking away. "Derek, you call her lover boy."

"Yes, boss."

Desperation pounded in Elena's ears. The sound of her own frustration and fear drowned out everything else. Not until she had dragged in long, steadying gulps of the chlorine-and-nicotine scented air did her thundering panic subside. She had to think! Had to stop wallowing in fear and helplessness and do something!

Forcing herself to look with a less-panicked eye, she searched the grotto for a sharp projection or ragged edge or even a rough spot on the marble columns, anything that might cut through the tape on her wrists. The pristine surroundings defeated her. She couldn't find so much as a promising rock.

Heart hammering, she stared out through the blinding sunlight to the glass doors of the sunroom. She could tell Derek she had to go to the bathroom. Maybe there was something inside the empty house she could use to cut the tape. Or…

Her gaze caught on the white latticework screen a few yards away. She could hear the hum of a motor behind it. Her stomach jumped.

The motor behind that screen was an engine. Maybe, just maybe it got hot, too. If she could distract Derek, even for a few minutes, and crawl over…

That desperate scheme fizzled even as it formed. Pool pump makers wouldn't manufacture products that might burn their wealthy clients.

But…

Her gaze dropped to the cigarette butt lying on the marble just inches from her foot. Its tip still glowed a faint coral.

She eyed the man slouched on the bench opposite hers through the screen of her lashes. He looked almost bored, his fingers tapping the marble table while he waited.

Swallowing her rage and fear, Elena lifted her head.

"Can I have a cigarette?"

"Yeah, why not? But I thought you doctors don't smoke."

"It's not true."

"Ah, I see."

He lit a fresh one from his own and placed it between her lips. She hadn't smoked since those few she had experimented with in high school, but she drew the tar and nicotine into her lungs like a half-drowned man would air.

x x x

MYSTIC FALLS 18 JUNE 2006

Dear Diary,

For the past one month, I have been mulling Damon's words over. He said I deserve someone who I can count on. Is he trying to tell me that he doesn't deserve me? He said he cares about me but why did he want us to go on separate ways?

I'm so confused. I'm attracted to Damon Salvatore in a way I have never known with any other man. It's scary. I'm really afraid because it is hard trying to guess his true feelings for me.

Caroline told me Stefan is a much better choice because I can count on him. Stefan will always be there to support me. He will not walk out on me. But nobody would know what Damon would do. There is always a worrisome note reminding myself that I really have nothing in common with him. The only thing Damon could possibly want from me was a sexual relationship.

A faint tapping on the window made Elena spin around. She barely stifled a scream when she saw the dark figure on the opposite side of the glass. Then his eyes met hers.

"Damon!" She saw the way he was clutching one shoulder and a frantic sense of panic set in. He was hurt.

Elena didn't hesitate. She rushed towards the window and opened it. His eyes were shimmering with an emotion that might have been pain or lust. Elena assumed it was pain.

"Sorry, didn't mean to scare you," he muttered as he climbed through the window to get inside her room. He was still clutching his shoulder and swaying slightly on his feet. He looked somewhat the way he had the night he'd been drunk. "I'm going to need a little help and I didn't want to startle Stefan or uncle Zach."

"You are bleeding. There's blood all over you."

"Not all of it is mine."

Elena carefully took his uninjured arm and started towards her bed. "I will get aunt Jenna to call a doctor."

"No." Damon drew a deep breath. "I've already been to one. He closed the shoulder and put something on the wound for the pain before I could stop him."

"Why would you want to stop him from giving you a painkiller?" Elena demanded.

"I'm a cop."

Elena was incensed. "What difference does that make? Do cops have to go around proving their bravery by refusing painkillers when they have been hurt?"

"Has anyone ever told you that you have all the makings of a scold?" Damon retorted. "With very little effort you could turn into a complete nag."

"With you for inspiration, I'm willing to make the effort," she snapped. "Now tell me what's going on here. Why didn't you want a painkiller?"

"Some painkillers make you drowsy. I want to stay awake." His words sounded increasingly slurred. "I need to see you."

"Why?"

"Because it's my birthday. I want to see your face." He reached out to touch her cheek gently. "I miss you."

"Damon, tell me what happened."

"I got hurt."

"I can see that! How?"

"Sheer stupidity. Stupidity will do it every time."

"Does this have anything to do with your undercover job?" Elena demanded with sudden intuition.

He hesitated "It does."

"I was afraid of that! I had no idea your undercover job was going to become dangerous."

"It's my job. I know what I'm doing." The words were carefully and deliberately spaced, each one an immovable block of stone.

"I'm worried about you!" Elena declared. "I don't want to see you get hurt."

"You are worried about me?" He looked pleased.

"Yes, I worry about you. Why do you want to hear me say it?"

He smiled. "Let's talk later. Right now, I just want some sleep. Please."

She gave up and did exactly that.

Two hours later when Damon awoke from a restless sleep he was immediately aware of three things. The first was that his shoulder ached. The second was that the room seemed much too warm.

The third was that he was not alone in the darkened room. Elena was curled up in the depths of an armchair beside the bed, sound asleep. It was the first time he had ever seen her in repose. There was a gentle vulnerability about her that made him want to reach out and gather her into the protection of his arms.

An overwhelming wave of desire and longing swept through Damon. He was in no condition tonight to control it.

Elena's lashes stirred and lifted as she sensed his awakening. Her eyes met his and Damon's body sang an ancient song as he saw the shy, tremulous, sleepy desire in her gaze. She wanted him.

Without a word, he held out his hand. If she came to him now she would be his. He knew that with a triumphant certainty.

Elena's gaze drifted down to the hand he had extended and then lifted again to his face. He saw the questions and the uncertainty and the feminine caution in her. All his instincts urged him not to hesitate. He should reach out and take hold of her before she lost her nerve and turned to flee.

But another part of him said that all he had to do was wait.

Elena uncurled herself slowly and it was easy to see that she was poised between the urge to flee and the need to stay and learn the secrets of the attraction she was experiencing. Then she got to her feet and walked slowly over to the bed. She reached down and touched Damon's fingers wonderingly.

He closed his hand around hers and tugged her down onto the bed.

Elena had made her decision as she sat watching him sleep. Damon was sprawled on top of the quilt, his smoothly muscled body bare from the waist up. Earlier, when she had helped him into bed, Elena had tried to persuade him to slide beneath the covers but he had refused. He had stripped off his jacket and shirt and dropped, clearly exhausted, on top of the bed.

She had sat watching him until she, too, had fallen asleep. She wasn't sure what had awakened her a moment ago, but she had been vibrantly aware that she had reached her decision.

Now Elena allowed herself to be pulled down onto the bed without a murmur of protest. This was what she wanted. She was excited and shocked at her own recklessness, but the reaction only served to heighten her awareness.

Damon's eyes were holding hers with unrelenting intensity as he pulled her down to lie beside him. The gleam of moonlight was reflected in his blue gaze, creating a thousand tiny shards of light between his black lashes. There was a compelling promise in that gaze, one Elena could no longer ignore.

This was the man with whom she would explore the boundaries of her own sexuality. She wanted to learn what it would be like to please him and to be pleased in return. She had waited long enough. It was time.

Her senses were filled with wonder and excitement and delight as he settled her beside him on top of the quilt. She was lightheaded with the thrill of it all. Only one thing worried her now.

"Damon, your shoulder. I don't want you to hurt yourself."

"Forget my shoulder. I can barely feel it. All I want to feel now is you. Elena, I have waited too long for this night. Too long for you."

"Damon." Her fingers drifted curiously across his chest, stirring the crisp hair that angled down to a point that disappeared beneath the waistband of his trousers. He shuddered and she was enthralled. There was a heady sense of purely female power in knowing she could make him respond like this. She touched him again, this time gently grazing his flat nipple with the tip of her nail.

Damon drew in his breath and his hand tightened on her wrist.

"I didn't mean to upset you the other day," he said roughly. "I'm sorry, Elena. I need you. Come closer, please."

She obeyed with a shy eagerness as she nestled against his side and put her head tentatively on his uninjured shoulder. His hand touched her almond-coloured long hair.

"So warm and soft." Damon lifted a handful of her hair and inhaled deeply. "I want to know all your secrets, Elena."

Elena felt his hard, muscled tension, felt the heat of his body reaching out to envelop her. "You are the one who is mysterious, Damon. I don't know you are thinking and I'm not at all certain I understand you."

"But you want me," he stated.

"I… I think this is what I want. Damon, this is all so new to me." She felt a faint twinge of uncertainty that momentarily interfered with the wonderful sense of discovery and excitement. "And I'm not sure what you want."

"All I need is you. I will show you."

He lowered his head and took her mouth with devastating force. Elena responded even as she tried to tell herself she should get out of the bed. But when he pressed himself beside her, letting her feel his hard strength, she felt her resolve slipping.

He did want her. She was amazed that such demanding desire could exist, but she was forced to accept it. The truth was, her own body was growing warm with passion. Tentatively she put her arms around him and stroked his hard, muscled shoulders. Her knee flexed inward, touching his leg intimately.

"Elena," he said in aching relief. His mouth moved across hers and down her throat. He buried his lips in the curve of her shoulder and breathed deeply of her fragrance. "That's what I want from you. Touch me. Give yourself to me."

His hand went to his belt and he tore off the remainder of his clothing. In the pale light Elena saw the full, hard length of his manhood and she shivered. He was taut and heavy with need and her own body responded to it even as she watched him with an awed, questioning gaze.

Damon saw the expression in her eyes as she lay looking up at him. He lowered himself quickly back down beside her.

"I need you, Elena."

With skilled hands, he removed her pyjamas and bra. His rough hand slid over her breasts. Her already aroused nipples became firm, tight, incredibly sensitive.

Growling with pleasure, Damon took time only to sheathe himself before kissing her again. She was wet and near to weeping with pleasure when he raised himself above her and found the treasure he sought. She gasped as he started to slide in. She was tight and Damon thought he was going to die if he didn't get to get all the way in the next second.

She whispered his name across his neck and arched her back. Her nails dug into his shoulders as he lifted her up a little bit and tried to push all the way in. When he met the unexpected veil of resistance, he paused and looked down at her with a bewildered expression.

"What the hell Elena?"

She tightened her hold on Damon, preparing to let herself explore this new, more pleasant feeling. Her legs wrapped around his waist in an unconscious need to get closer to him.

Her sensual movements had a totally unexpected effect on him. Damon lost his control.

"Elena."

He arched forward, surging deeply into her as his whole body went taut. Damon stifled a shout of triumphant release and then he shuddered and collapsed on top of Elena.

Minutes passed and Damon did not move. Elena stroked his warm back slowly, not certain what to do next. He seemed to be in a deep sleep. Her emotions were in utter, mystifying chaos. She wanted to laugh and was amazed when she felt tears in her eyes. The only thing that mattered was the man in her arms.