A friendly "Welcome" with arrows (Damon)

Gosh, I was so happy when I was able to get out of this car! During the last hour the silence had become really overwhelming and I had literally felt Elena's hateful eyes in my back.

When we had entered the university we found ourselves back in a huge entrance hall. A young woman was standing in front of a cupboard in a corner, searching through documents.

"Excuse me. Hi, I'm Alaric Saltzman. I called earlier."

"Yes, of course. I'm Vanessa Monroe, research assistant comparative folklore."

"Nice to meet you. These are my friends Elena and Damon."

"Nice to meet you, too. Let me just grab Isobel's keys. Her office is right through there."

We entered a dark room with shelters full of antiques. Vases, skeletons, mysterious boxes everywhere. She was really interested in this old stuff.

"Feel free to look around", Vanessa provided.

I was just looking at an old skull when I recognized that Vanessa was gone.

"Where did she go?" I asked but went on looking though the creepy skulls and bones on the table in front of me.

Suddenly I heard Elena gasping and turned around immediately. Vanessa was standing in the door a bow in her arms with the arrow pointing towards the frightened Elena.

I didn't even think a single moment. Within seconds I rushed over to her, to protect her with my own body.

In the same moment Vanessa shot the wooden arrow. I felt the arrow piercing through my back, missing my heart only by inches. I looked into Elena's astonished eyes, gripping hold on the cupboard behind her. Then I felt how the pain in my back forced me to collapse and I slowly slid down to the ground. Everything around me became blurry and the room was reeling. I closed my eyes.

I vaguely heard Elena's voice shouting my name and her hands gripping my shirt and shaking me. "Damon? Damon! Are you alright? Damon, please, wake up!"

I opened my eyes. Her face only inches away from mine. Only with a huge amount of effort I could hold myself back from taking her face into my hands and kissing her immediately. She just looked totally sweet. So desperate and worried about me. It let me nearly forget what happened yesterday evening.

"Elena, hunnie, could you please stop shaking me? Otherwise my head will never stop reeling."

I gripped the hands that were still firmly holding my shirt.

"You idiot! You were awake the whole time!"

Furiously she drew her hands from mine and crossed her arms in front of her chest.

"Don't think that I was worried about you for only a single moment!"

"Your face showed me something different." I laughed.

She glared at me furiously which made me laugh even more.

"Would you please do me the favor to help me up and pull this thing out off my back?"

"Why should I?"

"Because this damn arrow - which was actually meant for your back - hurts and I can't reach it."

She moaned and rolled her eyes but my innocent look must have convinced her and after a few minutes I was arrow-free.

"Okay, where did that bitch go? She's dead!"

"You won't touch her, Damon!"

"And why not? Are you so eager to let yourself save from me a second time?"

"You touch her and I swear I will never speak a word to you again."

"Hunnie, listen, two things. A) You said that already, remember? Yesterday you said you don't wanna hear, see nor talk to me and nevertheless you didn't stick to a single one of them. B) What makes you think that has any power over me? Because I took an arrow in the back for you? I just didn't want to come back to Mystic Falls with your dead body in my arms and Stefan chasing after me with a stake in his hand."

"Right. I forgot that I was speaking to a self-serving psychopath with no redeeming qualities who snaps and kills people impulsively. Fine, go ahead. Do what you want."

"Are you trying to manipulate me?"

"If you define "manipulate" as "Telling the truth", ok. Guilty. And now let's go! We have more important things to do!" she said while leaving.

Head-shaking I followed her.