Chapter XIII

What is ready? Elena thought frantically?

"Come, Elena." Damon said, extending his hand to her.

Silently, she took her his hand and the vampires – and Alaric and Jeremy – led her into the dining room. It looks different than it did just a couple hours ago. Scary even.

The dark mahogany covered drapes were pulled back, revelaing the black night sky and the large seemingly glowing moon. Alaric and Jeremy had set two galsses of wine in the middle of the table, two black candles beside them. Nobody's full face was show, just half. The other half was shadows. The candles were unlit but seemed to have an eerie glo aobut them, despite the dark color. Out the window, she heard the soft rumble of thunder, but it seemed as though it was just echoing in this room, not everywhere else.

What is going on? She thought, heart pounding.

"This is supposed to be held in a graveyard to draw energy from the 'spirits.' That's how other vampires do this." Rose whispered in her ear. "Damon just needs to be so damn modern." She laughed softly.

Elena looked up in fear at Damon. Would he hurt Rose for saying such a thing? To her surprise, he smirked over at them.

"Give me your hand, Elena." Alaric commanded.

Reluctantly, she raised her hand to his and he gripped it tightly. "Damon?" He said stonily.

Elena looked over at Damon and then realized why Alaric had such a tight hold on her. She would have jumped and ran from Damon's face otherwise. It looked like a demon's. The whites of his eyes were blood red and dark veins protruded through the skin underneath. His canine teether were elonjgated and sharpene.

Of course Elena had seen glimpses of a vampire's demon face beore, but never up close, and never after seeing such a beautiful face such as his.

Suddenly, Anna leaned down and whispered, "Relax. Struggling makes it hurt."

She gasped when Damon put his lips on the sensitive skin of her inner wrist, then bit down. Elena bit her lips to muffle the scream, accidently drawing blood there. She watched in horrow as Damon removed his fangs from her skin, stood straight and let his face go back to normal. Normal except for the fact her blood was still on his lips.

She shuddered in fear as the dull throbbing pain in her wrist increased, the longer she stared at it. Tears stnug her eyes from fear and pain. Alaric turned her hand over and bent it up, letting drops of her blood run into one of the wine glasses on the table. Very quickly and precisely, he wrapped her wounded wrist and Elena cradled it to her chest, trying not to sob like a child.

Damon stared at her incredulously. He suddenly appeared in front of her and wiped her tears away. "Your blood tastes pure," he said dazedly. He then stared closely at his thumb, stained with her tears of pain. He slid it in his mouth, then smiled wickedly.

She looked up at him in confusion. Why was he smiliing about the fact that she was in pain?

He then turned to the other four in the room, grinning. "She's a maiden."

There was some sort of amusement the crossed over all of them and Elena looked back at Damon, but for once, his attention wasn't on her. Licking the remains of her blood and tears from his lips, he winked at her before letting his face become monstrous again. He bit into his own wrist and Elena gasped, eyes widening in fear and confusion.

Does this not cause harm to him?

He mimicked Elena's action of letting his blood run into the other glass. Alaric handed the glass with her blood to Damon, and the glass with Damon's blood to Elena. They must have noticed the look or horror (and slight disgust), because Damon spoke to her.

"Drink, Elena," he said rather dangerously. "I promise you'll enjoy it."

Her eyes widened.

"Drink," he repeated sternly.

Slowly, she raised the glass to her lips. The wine tasted different than when she had drank it at dinner. It tasted sweeter, yet still salty and her tastebuds felt like they were in a frenzy. The blood and wine ran down her throat smoothly and she nearly moaned at this new taste, the new sensation of lightness. It felt as though her insides were cleaned and were filled with a pure, refreshing liquid.

When she snapped out of it, she realized that her lass was empty and Damon, Rose, Anna, Alaric and Jeremy were now watcing with amused expressions. She blushed and lowered her head. Damon's laugh rang out and Elena looked up.

"I like you," he said, smirking.

She cleared her throat akwardly. "I am glad, Mr. Salvatore. I am quite fond of you, too."

Damon grinned. "Such manners from one raised with asylum prisoners. And call me Damon." He tipped his head back and finished his blood/wine in one swallow.

Alaric cleared his throat. "Greta, Lucy?"

Elena then realized there were 3 other people in the room with them. They were both beautiful african american women, one with black curly hair, the other with long brown hair. They were both dressed in beautiful red corsets with white skirts.

"Elena, these are witches." Rose told her.

"Like Bonnie!" She blurted.

"Who?" Anna asked, brows pulled together in confusion.

"Bonnie Bennett." Damon answered, amused. He looked over at Alaric and Rose "Emily's granddaughter."

"You know Bonnie?" Elena asked him, fascinated.

"Yes. In 1864, she did me a little… favor." Damon's expression darkened slightly, but in the blink of an eye, composed himself.

There was a moment of tense silence before Damon gestured to Alaric. "Proceed."

The witches began chanting a foreign language that Elena couldn't understand. Suddenly, the candles were lit, the huge flame blazing forward toward the moon outside. The two glasses that held Damon and Elena's blood were knocked over by a gust of wind, the blood running down the wood table, towards the candles. Then, magically the blood began to run up the two candles until it reached the flame, but strangely the fire didn't go out. The two flamed turned crimson and connected together, swirling until all at once, the wind stopped, the blood stopped moving and the candles went out.

The two witches looked at Damon and Elena. "It is done." Lucy said. "We will be back to collect later."

With that, they walked out.

Damon and Elena were bound for eternity.

That night, Damon and Rose were discussing something in the parlor and Elena decided to wonder around the mansion some more. As she walked down the hallways, she suddnely heard a noise from one of the bedrooms.

A sense of déjà vu washed over her and her heart began to pound. She slowly opened the door and screamed. Jeremy was on top of Anna – naked.

No! He can't do this to her!

"ROSE!" Elena screamed again and both Damon and Rose sped up to her.

Anna and Jeremy covered themselves with a sheet and ran to her.

Elena was shaking and crying. She suddenly tried to lurch herself towards Jeemy to hurt him in some way for hurting Anna, but Damon caught her by the waist.

"No, no, Elena, listen!" Anna said softly."He wasn't hurting me."

"I saw him!" She cried and threw her arms around Rose as Damon let go of her.

"There, there, child." Rose whispered.

Anna turned to Damon. "What's wrong with her?"

"The-"

"Jeremy hurt you!" Elena cried.

Damon sighed irately and spun her around to face him. "Listen to me," He said gently, trying to figure out how to explain this to her. "It is wrong for a man to force himself on a lady," Elena nodded furiously. "But I don't think Jeremy did such a thing. Men and women do that." He started to say something more but Elena started crying.

"No!"

"Elena, dear," Rose said. "Even you and Damon will be doing this soon."

That made her freeze. "What?" She turned to Damon.

"You and I will lie together tonight. You will lose your maiden name to me."

She walked over, looked him square in the eyes and said, "No."

Damon's cocky smirk fell immediately.

A/N: Oooh… *dun dun dun duuuunnn* What do you think will happen?