AN: Here we go with chapter 14. It's a pretty important one because this is where everything changes for Damon. From now on, he'll be confronted with the reality of the world, no more filters for him. Gone are the days in which he could rely on others telling him what's going on, he's the one that will have to choose for himself now. I hope you enjoy how things are moving on!

TVD SPOILER (read at your own risk) : I don't know if you know this (you probably do), BUT such a monumental thing happened that I simply need to talk about it. I recently found out that in episode 6x15 we'll finally get to meet Mama Salvatore, who we now know is called Lily! She is played by Annie Wersching and she looks so much like Damon that the head-canon we've all had (don't even try to deny it) of Damon looking just like his mother, is going to be canon! Damon Salvatore is going to canonicaly be a Mama's boy! Life is perfect!

Chapter 14 – Goodbye Halcyon Days

Run boy run! This world is not made for you
Run boy run! They're trying to catch you
Run boy run! Running is a victory
Run boy run! Beauty lays behind the hills

Elena walked slowly toward the tree-line, Damon not two steps behind her. The smell of smoke had become steadily stronger the closer they got to the Mansion. She was pretty sure she knew where that smell was coming from but, to keep Damon calm, she avoided mentioning her suspicions. Damon's heartbeat was already faster than normal, if she told him that his home had probably caught fire, he'd surely panic and do something stupid. No, for now it was better to stay calm and act with caution. Besides, she didn't have a clear picture of the situation. The fire could have been accidental or someone could have set it on purpose. One more reason to be careful.

Through the trees, Elena finally saw the white outline of the Mansion. In a couple of minutes, Damon would notice it too. She squinted, trying to detect anything unusual. There was no one in the garden, the place completely silent. The fire was nowhere to be seen so it probably originated from inside the Mansion or, she could not exclude that possibility, from the other side of it. She focused her hearing but heard nothing. She frowned, perplexed and disturbed by the total lack of sounds. Why wasn't anyone giving the alarm? Granted, only vampires and werewolves lived in that Mansion, but that didn't mean that they could simply ignore the fire. What if it spread? Something was definitely wrong.

"Elena," Damon's whispering voice reached her ears, breaking her concentration. "What is going on?"

She turned to look at him. He was looking at her with wide eyes. She could see a hint of panic in them but, for the moment, he was successfully reigning it in. He was doing the best he could to stay calm, trusting her to know what to do. She heaved a mental sigh of relief at his trust in her and at his determination to not let his emotions cloud his judgment. She threw him a steady smile, trying to reassure him that there was nothing to worry about.

"I don't know," she answered him honestly in a low voice. "There is no one out in the garden and I can't hear anything. We need to get a little bit closer. Do as I do."

She turned and moved silently, bending her knees to exploit the cover provided by the trees to the best of her abilities. Behind her Damon was trying to emulate her. He wasn't exactly silent but for someone who had never been trained, he wasn't that bad. After a minute, they finally reached the tree-line, crouching down behind the trunk of a tree. As they were, Damon was practically plastered against her back so that the tree could hide the both of them. She ignored his warm body, leaning a bit forward to peek behind the trunk.

Everything was as silent as before. She really didn't like this. As much as her eyesight was good, the darkness of the night was really the worst possible enemy in that moment. A skilled enemy knew how to exploit the cover of the night, fooling even the most experienced fighter. Not to mention Damon's heartbeat, a beacon of light that would reveal their position in no time if they were under attack and the enemies were looking for him. She scanned the area with attentive eyes. When she looked at the top of the Mansion, she stopped. The straight lines of the roof where surrounded by a dim red light, like a halo. She had been right, the fire was on the other side of the building and, judging by the light it produced, it was spreading rapidly.

She looked at Damon who was impatiently waiting for information. "There is a fire on the other side of the Mansion," she told him in a hushed voice.

"What?" he exclaimed.

"Be quiet!" Elena admonished him immediately, quickly checking their surroundings in case his exclamation had alerted anyone. Until she knew exactly what was going on, she would have to behave as if they were under attack. Damon's safety was her number one priority. Nothing seemed amiss.

"We don't know what's going on, Damon. You need to do as I say," she spoke without looking at him, her eyes fixed on the red light over the top of the roof. It was getting brighter and brighter.

Damon gritted his teeth, trying to reign in the onslaught of emotions that were cursing through him. He needed to listen to Elena, to trust her. He knew she was more than capable of handling herself in any situation, he just needed to remind himself of that. Just when he thought he was actually starting to get a grip of himself, a loud scream pierced the night.

"Attack! We're under atta-" the scream was cut short but it didn't matter, the message had been heard loud and clear.

So it was true, they were under attack. But who was attacking them? Who could be so powerful, or stupid, as to think that they could actually attack Klaus in his own home? She wondered if Alaric had interpreted the crow she'd sent him in the wrong way. She'd asked him to find a way to get her out of the Mansion, but setting the Mikaelson Mansion on fire seemed a bit overkill to her. She simply wanted him to come and get her so she could take Damon with her and figure out a way to fix things without having to kill him.

She was so lost in her thoughts that, when she saw a figure running toward the Mansion, she didn't immediately understand what her eyes were seeing. When she stood up, mouth agape and eyes wide, she finally recognize the figure. Damon was running as fast as he could toward his home, weaving through the low bushes of the garden. So much for not letting his emotions cloud his judgment. She mentally cursed against his reckless actions and her distraction, before vamp-speeding after him. He had almost reached the double doors that led inside the Mansion, not ten feet ahead of him, when she tackled him to the ground. She dragged him behind a rose bush, her hands gripping his black shirt tightly and eyes that seemed to be throwing lightnings his way.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" she growled at him, her teeth grinding so hard that she was sure they were going to break. "Are you trying to get yourself killed, you idiot?"

He regarded her with frightened eyes, he'd never seen her so angry before. At the same time, there was determination in his gaze. His family was in danger and he had to help them. Things were that simple for him, why couldn't she understand that?

"We're under attack, Elena," he told her, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. "I need to find Klaus and the others. I need to help them."

"And you think that running in, guns blazing and without the hint of a plan, is the right way to go at this?" She couldn't believe that someone as smart as him, could be so incredibly stupid in a moment like this. "They're Originals, Damon. They know how to take care of themselves. The one truly in danger here, are you."

"Elena, they're my family," he said in a disbelieving voice. "You think I can just stay here and hide, when I can go inside and help them? I don't care that they're Originals, I don't want them to get hurt."

Elena closed her eyes, unclenching one of her hands from his shirt to pinch the bridge of her nose. Why was he so damn stubborn? Couldn't he understand that she needed to protect him and couldn't do that if he ran around without listening to her? He was making things incredibly hard for her, as if she needed that on top of everything else.

"I'm going in," he continued, forcing her to open her eyes and look at him. "Now, you can come with me and give me a hand helping my family or, you can stay here. Your choice."

She regarded him with an amused stare, "I know seven different ways to make you lose consciousness with my bare hands. What makes you think that I won't simply toss you over my shoulder, carrying away your senseless body?"

Damon swallowed heavily, aware that she wasn't simply trying to scare him. If she said she could do something like that, then she definitely could. He had no doubts about it. But he had no intention of backing out. Every second that passed, was a second more in which his family was in danger. Yeah, they were immortal but that didn't mean that they couldn't get hurt. He needed to make sure that everyone was okay as much as he needed to breath. That was just the kind of man he was. He mustered all his courage to reply to her.

"You can certainly try," he told her, feeling more sure of himself than he actually was. "But you forget that I can use magic. I can stop you, if I want to," he wasn't completely sure he could. She was pretty close to him and her speed was superior to his. Even though he could conjure magic in no time, her superior skills could still prove to be his defeat.

She narrowed her eyes at him, judging his resolution. She'd met men like him before. They were stubborn and reckless, often springing into action without taking the time to think about what they were doing. Some of them were simply wired that way. Most of them, however, tended to be calm and quiet men that only acted that way when someone they cared about was in danger. It was clear to her that Damon fell into the second category. He wanted to protect his family, in any way possible, and she couldn't stop him. Or better yet, she could stop him, but he would never forgive her.

She heaved a sigh, "You won't give up, will you?" She wasn't surprised to see him shake his head. "Alright, but we do this my way," she stated, pointing a finger his way. If she could not avoid this situation, she could at least make sure that he stayed safe.

He reluctantly agreed, judging that her offer was the best deal he'd be able to get out of her. Elena raised her head to look over the rose bush and, when the coast seemed clear, she grabbed Damon's hand and lead him toward the entrance of the Mansion. They proceeded in a crouched position, their feet moving rapidly and silently. When they reached the doors, Elena made Damon sit down by the wall on the side while she take a look inside. She mentally thanked the Mikaelsons for their predilection for glass doors. The room seemed empty. She slowly lowered the door-handle, opening the door and stepping inside with Damon by her side.

Now that they were inside, she could hear clearly the sound of fighting in the distance. It appeared that the aggressors, whoever they were, were being held off on the other side of the house. Klaus's Guard Corp were probably making it hard for them to enter. However, since the Mansion was so incredibly huge, there was no telling if someone had already snuck in. With those thoughts in mind, she led Damon toward the door right ahead of them that opened into one of the many living rooms. Once there, she caught a movement to her right with the corner of her eye. When she turned, though, there was no one there.

"Did you see anyone?" she whispered to Damon.

He shook his head, looking around in search of any possible intruder. Elena let it go and moved toward the next room. She tried to keep them far from the fighting, all the while straining her ears hoping to detect were the Originals were. It soon became clear, though, that the Guard Corp could not continue to hold off their attackers any more, either because they were being overpowered or outnumbered. She could already hear frantic footsteps running around the ground floor. Together with the intruders, the fire was spreading all over the house. When she opened the doors to the library, she was hit by heat-wave.

When she look ahead of her, she saw that the library was completely enveloped by fire. The flames were licking away at the innumerable books that had been collected over the years. Damon yanked her arm, trying to get her to change course. Elena turned around with the intention of going back on their steps. In that same moment, however, she spotted six or seven men clad in black running toward them. Definitely not Jäger then.

"Damn it!" she cursed. She could not fight against all of them alone, all the while protecting Damon.

She tried to find a solution to their current problem. Their aggressors were now almost upon them, when Damon stepped forward. Elena reached out with her arm, wanting to yank him back, only to stop when the young man, with a sweeping motion of his right arm, sent their attackers flying. They crashed against the walls, the sickening sound of breaking bones reaching Elena's ears. She wondered if all of them were vampires, in which case they would have been on their feet in a matter of seconds. Damon had apparently thought about the same thing, because he stretched his hand in front of him, palm open. He closed it into a fist and, with a curt gesture, broke all their necks.

Elena looked at him wide eyed, stunned by the quickness of his actions. He had broken their necks without batting an eye, as if he'd done it countless of times before. Lately she was realizing that there were so many different sides to him. He wasn't simply innocent, there was a part of him ready to kill when necessary. He was a lot like her in that department. She didn't like to kill but accepted that, in this world of theirs, sometimes it was necessary. The only difference between the two of them was that, somehow, he had retained his innocence even after he'd dirtied his hands. She had no idea how he could do it, but the reality of things was that.

She heard the sound of running footsteps and sprang into action. They couldn't stay there like sitting ducks. No matter how strong Damon was, he couldn't just kill everyone coming their way. She grabbed his arm and dragged him inside the library, slamming the doors closed. She saw a couple of armchairs, the fire still hadn't reached them, and set them in front of the double doors. They wouldn't stop their aggressors, but they could hold them off those couple of seconds that she needed to find a safe place.

The heat from the fire was steadily rising, smoke rising with it. She eyed the fumes around them, conscious of the danger they posed to Damon. She could stop breathing, if necessary, but he had no such possibility. She needed to drag him out of this room, and soon. The door to the left on the other side of the library, surrounded by flames, led to a long corridor. If she remembered correctly, a small kitchenette was nearby. She cursed the fact that she had not spent a huge amount of time in this part of the Mansion. By her side, Damon started to cough. She grimaced, knowing that they had to move right then.

"Come on, Damon!" she screamed at him over the roaring fire.

She took his hand and moved in the direction of the door. The flames were completely surrounding it. She was already thinking of a way to avoid them, when Damon solved the problem for her. He concentrated briefly on the fire and, right before her eyes, the flames parted tracing a pathway for them. He had a look of deep concentration on his face, sweat dampening his brow. The glare of the flames was forcing him to narrow his eyes, the smoke making his chest rise and fall with the strength of his coughs. Elena led him forward, knowing that she had to take him as far from the smoke as she could.

Once in the corridor, she walked briskly throwing glances at the rooms on their left in search of the kitchenette. She found it on her third attempt, immediately entering and closing the door behind them. She had no idea how many intruders were now inside the Mansion, but it didn't matter, they couldn't stay there long. She made Damon sit down on the counter while she opened drawer after drawer in search of a rag. As soon as she found it, she opened the faucet nearby and soaked it completely. She turned toward Damon who, in the meantime, had started to regain control of his breathing though he still coughed every once in a while.

"Here," she told him, handing him the soaked rag. "Put this over your nose and mouth, it'll help with the smoke. We can't stay here, we're too close to them. We need to move." Her instructions were given quickly.

Damon nodded at her and pressed the rag against his mouth and nose. The two left the kitchenette and made their way through the various rooms of the Mansion. The fire was spreading quickly throughout the building, they had already passed by several rooms completely engulfed in flames. For the moment, she had succeeded in keeping them away from the fighting occurring around them, but their luck would run out soon, of that she was sure. They needed to find the Originals right now. If they couldn't find them in the next five minutes, she was going to knock Damon unconscious and drag him outside toward the oxygen he needed and to hell with what he wanted.

Five minutes later, she was on the verge of going through with her plan when they saw a flash of blonde hair in the distance. Damon and Elena moved in the direction of that faint trace of color. They were now not ten steps away from the ballroom near the entrance hall. And there, right in front of them, were the three Originals surrounded by figures in black. The odds seemed against the old vampires but Elena was pretty sure they could make it. After all, they couldn't be killed and their attackers surely could.

Damon surpassed her, running toward his family. Elena wanted to growl at his recklessness, he seemed intent on jumping into danger. He barely managed to take two steps, before being pushed against the wall by the side of the door. Elena hadn't even heard anyone approaching them, the newcomer had been so silent. She immediately recognized him. It was Enzo and he did not look happy with Damon.

"Enzo," she breathed out.

The aforementioned vampire looked at her over his shoulder, "Gilbert, fancy seeing you here."

She rolled her eyes at his casualness. Damon, in the meantime, was trying to wiggle his way out of Enzo's firm grip on him. The older vampire turned to look at him with serious eyes, for once. The young man immediately stopped his trashing around, throwing him an unsure glance. All around them, the sound of fighting could be heard. It was a miracle no one had noticed them yet.

"What do you think you're doing, Damon?" Enzo's voice was quiet, though Elena was sure that, depending on Damon's response, it could turn into steel.

"They need my help, Enzo. They're surrounded and I want to help them," Damon tried to reason with him like he'd done with Elena, earlier in the garden.

Enzo raised an eyebrow, looking at him with incredulity, "What they need, is to know that you're safe. They can take care of themselves, they've done so for a thousand years and they can do it now."

"But-"

"No, Damon. We have to get you out of here," Enzo didn't give him the time to say a word. "Don't you get it? They're here for you, which means that this is the last place where you should be," Enzo said, leaving him stunned.

Enzo released his grip on Damon's shirt, but kept his hand stretched out, his fingertips touching the raven-haired man's chest. The vampire turned toward Elena, looking at her with a hint of exasperation in his eyes. The boy had the uncanny ability to run toward danger instead of away from it, something that made being his guard an incredibly taxing job.

"We need to get out of here," he told her.

Elena nodded, completely agreeing with him. "The west wing is on fire, there's no way out there. I suggest we get out through one of the exits in the east wing." Enzo nodded, satisfied with her reasoning.

He turned toward Damon who, still a bit shaken, seemed to have lost the will to fight them on their decisions. Enzo grabbed the side of his neck in an affectionate way, making Damon look him in the eyes, "They're going to be fine. Trust me."

After those words, Enzo gestured to Elena to take the lead while he and Damon followed her. She shot a reassuring glance at the human man before taking off ahead of them. In silence, they made their way through the still untouched east wing. The plan was to put as much distance between them and the ongoing attack as possible, then get out in the open air and take refuge in the woods where the cover of the trees would make protecting Damon easier for everyone. Elena, always the first to step in a new room, scanned the parlor in which she was in. They hadn't encountered anyone along the way, the brunt of the attack tacking place on the other side of the Mansion, but one could never be too sure.

She turned to tell Enzo and Damon that it was safe to proceed but, while turning, she noticed something with the corner of her eye. There was a strange glow coming in from the windows on her left, the ones that faced the garden. She walked quickly to the window to look outside, a feeling of dread making its way inside of her. With her hands resting on the glass, she watched the terrifying scene in front of her: high flames devouring the trees, turning that once green paradise in a red hot hell. How had the fire reached the east side of the woods? She turned to call Enzo to her, needing his help in thinking of another plan.

"Enzo!" she shouted in a whisper.

Evidently he'd heard the distress in her voice because, not even two seconds later, he was already at her side, Damon being dragged behind him like a rag-doll. In any other situation she would have grimaced in sympathy for the way he was being dragged around, but now they really couldn't concern themselves with such petty things.

"Bloody hell!" cursed Enzo, observing the flames swallowing more and more of the green foliage.

"How did they do that?" Damon voiced the question they were all asking themselves.

"It doesn't matter how, they just did it," Enzo said after he'd finished cursing up a storm. "They want to cut off our ways out. They're not stupid, they know that the trees would offer the perfect cover."

"That leaves us without a place where to hide," commented Elena, already raking her brain for a solution.

Tense moments of silence followed her words, everyone trying to come up with an alternate plan. Going upstairs was simply stupid, they would only end up trapping themselves. They could try and go back to team up with the Originals. The problem was that they could encounter those men in black. As long as they were just two or three, they could take them, but the risk of being outnumbered was very much present. That was another problem: they had no idea how many enemies they were facing, something that put them at a disadvantage.

The cawing of a crow made them all turn toward the window. There, perched on the edge of the window, its claws digging into the little dents on the marble, was a crow. With its beak, it kept tapping against the glass in a request to be let in. Enzo looked at it with a confused expression, only Elena recognizing the animal for what it was: a possible escape plan. She opened the window, the heat from the fire reaching out to her, and let the crow in. It flew inside, perching on her shoulder, its little head jerking around taking turns watching her companions. When its black eyes fixed on Damon, it released a loud caw, making him jump in surprise. It then turned toward Elena, releasing another caw. This time, though, together with it there was another voice booming loudly in her mind.

"South!" screamed Alaric's voice.

Elena didn't stop to question the order given to her by the leader of Jäger, she just acted. She raised a leg, preparing to climb over the window, deciding that taking the garden doors a couple of room over, was just a waste of time. Her right leg was already dangling over the edge when Enzo stopped her, his hand gripping her upper arm.

"What are you doing?" He looked at her as if she had gone out of her mind.

"We have to go south," she informed him, trying to free her arm.

"The fire is spreading in the woods and you want to go there?" he asked her, disbelief clear in his voice. "Where is all this coming from? Did that crow talk to you or something?" It was clear that he was joking, not even taking into consideration the idea that a crow could have talked to her.

"As a matter of fact it did," she deadpanned, the crow cawing along with her. Elena rolled her eyes, she was pretty sure that Alaric was still sharing the crow's mind, judging by the level of cooperation the animal was showing. Crows were pretty smart and being so close to burning trees was not a display of intelligence, which meant that the crow couldn't control its body.

"Listen, Enzo," she continued before the older vampire could voice another of his witty remarks. "You're always saying that you feel like you can trust me. Well, this is me asking you to trust me when I tell you that we need to go south. Now, do you want to stay here, and probably die, or do you want to come with me?"

Enzo's eyes were fixed on hers. She could see that he was debating whether or not to trust her. In the end, he sighed heavily before turning to Damon and gesturing for him to move closer to him. He rested his hand between Damon's shoulder blades and gave him a gentle push toward the window, Elena having already stepped outside. Damon silently obeyed, trusting Enzo and, more importantly, Elena.

Run boy run! This ride is a journey to
Run boy run! The secret inside of you
Run boy run! This race is a prophecy
Run boy run! And disappear in the trees

Once the three of them were all out, they quickly moved toward their destination. They kept close to the Mansion, always staying in the shadows cast by the building. Once they had rounded the corner, now finding themselves on the south side of the Mansion, they sprang into a mad dash toward the trees for the moment still untouched by the fire. Elena first, the crow bobbing up and down on her shoulder, its claws ripping through her shirt and scratching her skin, Damon in the middle and Enzo right behind him.

Once in the woods, Elena kept running since Alaric did not give her any new instructions. She had no idea what Rick's plan was, there was only the wall in that direction, but she trusted him to get them out of there all in one piece. Behind her, far in the distance, she could hear three or four people running toward them. Evidently, someone had seen them escaping in the woods. She only hoped that, whatever Alaric had in mind, was close because, otherwise, they were trapped. She saw the white wall in the distance, as tall and imposing as always, and that's when the crow cawed in her ear together with Rick's voice.

"Get down!" he ordered her imperiously.

"Get down!" she shouted at Damon and Enzo, throwing herself to the ground, relief flooding her when she heard two accompanying thud close by. She had no time to wonder what was going to happen because, right that moment, a deafening explosion tore through the night. In front of her eyes, a section of the wall, about fifteen feet wide, collapsed to the ground. Dust rose all around it, depositing on the trees nearby and on the ground. A stunned silence followed the incredible scene they had just witnessed, quickly broken by Enzo's swearing, before Elena turned toward the crow on the ground beside her. She swore it looked unbelievably proud of itself.

"You went way overboard!" she screeched at it, knowing that Alaric would hear her.

It looked at her, the only response to her exclamation a somewhat offended ruffling of feathers. She knew of Alaric unhealthy fondness for explosions, but this was a whole new level of madness. He'd better have brought enough men with him, because now everyone would flood right where they were.

"Go," she heard in her mind, the crow flying away free from Alaric's control.

She stood up on shaky legs, moving towards Damon to help him get up. He looked at her with eyes so wide they reminded her of an owl.

"We have to go," she told him.

He shook his head slowly, "I can't leave them here," she knew who he was talking about, but they needed to go.

She cupped his cheek, "We have to go," she repeated. "They're going to be safe, Damon. I swear to you, you will see them again. Right now, you need to stay alive and you know that that would be their first priority too."

He seemed a bit unsure, even though he was starting to give in to the truth in her words, so she continued, "You need to trust me."

He minutely nodded at her. She smiled, pecked his lips quickly and turned, Enzo following them. With a bit of help from the two vampires, Damon climbed over the ruins of the wall that had kept him caged all his life. Once on top of it, he turned to look behind. In the dark of the night, his childhood home stood engulfed by the fire. Somehow, it seemed to him as if the flames were swallowing down not only his home, but his previous life too. He'd never thought that the day he'd finally climbed over the wall, would look like this.

I will never come back.

He didn't know where the sad thought came from but he knew, somewhere inside of him, that it was the truth. From that point onward, everything was going to change. He turned his back to his past and climbed down after Elena, following her toward what was to come.

Tomorrow is another day
And you won't have to hide away
You'll be a man, boy!
But for now it's time to run, it's time to run!

They had been running for about ten minutes when, suddenly, they were surrounded by men and women coming out from behind the trees. They didn't look like a menace, but Damon was so tired of this night that his nerves told him to keep his guard up. A tall man with sandy-brown air, emerged from the group of people and walked toward Elena. Damon was about to tell her escape, scared that the newcomer wanted to harm her, instead he watched as the two fondly embraced.

"What's going on, Gilbert?" Enzo asked what his muddled brain couldn't articulate.

The man with sandy-brown hair turned toward him, raising his hand in a gesture to his companions. In an instant, a man and a woman to Damon's right blocked his arms, immobilizing him. He heard a pained moan coming from Enzo and, when he turned, he saw that a man had stuck the vampire with a syringe. Enzo collapsed to the ground.

He distantly heard Elena shouting, "Don't hurt them!"

The next instant, someone was pushing a cloth over his mouth and nose. It was wet and immediately the word 'chloroform' came to his mind. Before the substance could sink him into oblivion, he focused on everyone around him and made their brains flare up in pain. He saw six or seven of them collapse to the ground, the two holding him still slackening in their grip. However, the man with sandy-brown hair, though in pain like the rest of them, managed to get close to him and push the cloth harder against his face.

Before his eyes rolled to the back of his head, Damon managed to throw one last glance at Elena. Her pained expression was the last thing he saw before fainting.

Tomorrow is another day
And when the night fades away
You'll be a man, boy!
But for now it's time to run, it's time to run!

This is it for now, stay tuned to know how it'll go on! I saw that some of you voted in the poll (thank you very much) and you're all pretty much agreeing on who Care's boyfriend should be. I'll leavethe poll open for another week so, if you haven't voted, go now!

Thank you as always for the wonderful reviews and Sherry: Damon won't remain innocent forever, I can promise you that. I've already planned how things will go with him and Elena, you just need a little bit of patience ; )

The song used for this chapter is 'Run Boy Run' by Woodkid.