Damon

As I stared at the unmoving corpse outside the old building I heard a scream. I froze and listened closely, but then heard someone yell, "Wait!" and suddenly I didn't care. It wasn't Elena's voice, and Elena was the only one I was interested in. I open the vans door and stick my head inside, whispering her name. When I got no response I punched the window, causing it to shatter into hundred of little pieces.

"DAMON!"

I ran to the door of the old building and grabbed onto the doorknobs. I yanked them back and felt the wood snap under my hands. I grabbed a splintered fragment of the door of the ground and rushed upstairs.

When I got to the room, a man was holding Elena, wearing only her bra and panties. She had blood running down both sides of her neck and on her arm. A woman is on the floor, and a man with his head a good ten feet away from his shoulders.

"Damon . . ." Elena's voice broke and she grabbed at the mans arm. When I took a step toward her, the crying woman on the floor grabbed my ankle. She had to be a vampire, because she made me stop. She muttered, "Don't." I kicked her hand off and glared at the man. "Let her go."

He sneered. "I'm comfortable."

Elena's body leaned forward with her cries and my heart lurched. I didn't care about that she didn't want me to, I rushed behind her captor and ran the splintering wood into him. He hit the ground, and Elena was shaking. I took my jacket off in a flash and wrapped it around her, holding her tiny body to me.

"It's okay," I whispered into her ear. "It's okay, I'm here. Nothing's going to happen to you."

She sobbed into my shirt, and the crying girl on the floor made a move to stand up.

"Don't. Even. Try!" I snarled.

She glares at me. "Salvatore, right?"

"As in Savior." I bare my teeth to her. "How do you know me?"

"Stefan?" She asks.

Elena's voice shakes slightly as she tries to say my name, and she gives up and buries her face in my neck. I pick her tiny frame up and let her sit on my forearm.

"Salvatore is good," I say.

She nods as if she could care less.

Elena's tears hit my skin, and I hold back the ones that burn at the back of mine. I kiss her forehead and murmur that she's okay. She's safe.

"Fine, I don't know your name." The girl stands up. "Salvatore, do you even know what you've just done? My friend died for nothing!"

"I don't care," I say to her gesture to the man at my feet. "You can't touch my girl like that, and expect to be on my good side."

She lifts her eyebrow. "You sure you're not Stefan? Lexi told me about him and you . . . you just seem like Stef–"

"Salvatore! Just call me Salvatore!" I yell at her. I can't stand to hear either of those names . . . I killed them both.

Elena pulls on my shirt, and I look down at her big brown eyes, filled with worry and concern for me. She purses her lips slightly, and I kiss her, just like she wanted me to.

"Rose," says the snarky girl. "And in case you didn't know, there is a higher power Elijah was working for."

I shrug. "Just be happy I don't kill you, 'kay?"

I walk past her and outside. Elena curls closer into me, and I don't want to set her down. I could call Stefan; he would give me a ride.

My heart sinks.

I set her down in the front seat and flash into the drivers' side. "I need to know what happened, baby."

She wipes her eyes and grabs my hand, kisses it. I hold hers and back the car up, listening.

"I got grabbed in your room, a-and I woke up in that mans trunk, and he gave me to Trevor, the dead guy on the floor, and Rose. And they wanted to give me to Elijah, the one you killed, and . . ." She cuts off.

Trying to ignore the pain in my chest of the fact I could've been protecting her, I squeeze her hand. "And?"

"He was going to kill me, Damon." She starts sobbing again and clutches my hand tightly.

I drive slower now, just letting her cry. My phone goes off, and off again. Bonnie or Caroline, I assume, but I'm not pulling my hand away from my girl to talk to some stupid cheerleader or her pet witch.

After about an hour, Elena sniffles and looks up at me. "Do you think I could try to . . . to sleep?"

I look at her, her eyes are pleading. "Why would you think you'd have to ask me that?"

She shakes her head. "I'm sorry."

I feel myself dying inside. "Don't be, just go to sleep."

She closes her eyes, cuddles into my hand. I feel her heart beat slow down against my knuckles, and hear her breathing deepen. While she is unconscious, I let my tears fall freely. Crying silently, I drive with my elbow and answer the phone.

"Damon?" Caroline says. I hear Bonnie in the background say something like, "He answered?"

"What?" I hiss.

"Oh, no." Caroline starts hiccupping when my voice cracks. "No, Damon. Oh, God, Elena."

Bonnie snatches the phone as Caroline starts screaming. "Damon?"

"Witch." I honk at someone in the opposite lane, who nearly runs into me. The sun begins the set, and Elena mumbles something. "Shh…"

"Damon!" Bonnie yells.

"Witch," I repeat.

"Is Elena okay?" Bonnie asks.

"She's with me." I squeeze Elena's hand and she hugs mine tighter. "She's safe."