Chapter 21

"Yes, true love, I am sure Bonnie explained to Elena about the soulmate?" Shelia motioned to Bonnie.

"Yeah, okay I guess, but I guess I didn't actually believe it." Damon mumbled.

"Well, Mister Salvatore you better start believing it because its destiny." Shelia said grabbing a few items from a cupboard. "Now, we must wake Elena, it is almost time to start the spell. This is our only shot at keeping her safe when Klaus comes for her." She said as Damon and Bonnie went and awoke Elena.

Damon's mind was spinning, he had heard the words soulmate thrown around a lot this past few days, but he had not actually let it sink in. For once someone was choosing him, and for the first time in forever he was worried about someone other than himself. He took a deep breath into his dead lungs, fear was not a usual part of Damon's vocabulary, but at this moment it was all he felt.

"'Lena wake up." Bonnie said comforting, as she gently shook her best friend.

"Mmm, what happened?" Elena said her eyes fluttering.

"You passed out kitten," Damon said helping her up from the couch.

"Oh, I am sorry." Elena muttered, embarrassed.

"No, need to apologize dear." Shelia said as she walked into the room.

"Grams, hi." Elena said, she had known Bonnie's Grams since they were little kids in kindergarten, they were practically family. If Elena trusted anyone with her life it was Shelia Bennett.

"Elena, dear, we have to begin the protection spell, I know you haven't had time to be filled in yet, but we must act quickly. The meteor shower is in two days time. If this spell backfires we need enough time to prepare for war." The eldest Bennett witch said as she brought Damon and Elena close together.

"Now, you must both take this knife and slice opposite hands," the witch said handing them the knife. "We must act quickly as Damon will start healing much too fast." She explained.

Elena took the knife, her hands were shaking, "It's okay kitten, be strong." Damon reassured her, Elena took the knife and pressed firmly against the hand that wasn't bandaged, the knife was sharp it took little pressure and her hand was bleeding, "Good now Damon you must act quickly," Shelia said as she began to draw a circle around them in coarse salt. Damon took the knife slicing his hand opposite of Elena's, he gritted his teeth as the blade made easy work of his flesh. "Now you must hurry press, your hands together quickly!" Shelia instructed as her and Bonnie began to chant.

Damon and Elena's hands were pressed firmly together, their blood mixing, the chanting got louder, as if there were more voices than just Bonnie and Shelia. The lights in the room began to flicker, Damon and Elena just stared deep within each other's eyes. It felt as if a million little pieces of her heart were being put together, as Elena got flashes of memories, memories that were not hers. She saw a young boy running threw a field of wild flowers 'Mother come and catch me' the boy yelled, the boy had raven hair, and bright blue eyes, the woman behind him a mirror copy, 'Slow down my boy, Damon, slow down!' the woman called out, another flash.

Damon sat in a study like room, mauling over a book, 'Stefan!' he yelled to his brother across the room, 'Have you completed your studies for the day? You know how father gets upset when you slack off?' Damon said to his brother, 'Yes brother I have, come we should go play ball.' Stefan smiled at his brother, yet again another flash.

'Sweet Damon, how you are always so eager to please me.' Kathrine pursed her lips, as she grazed her hand across Damon's face. 'Of course, my love,' he purred into Kathrine's hand. 'If only I loved you as I loved Stefan, for you will never be the one.' Kathrine belittled him, there was only pain in Damon's eyes.

Elena gasped; there was many more memories that flashed before her eyes, ones where Damon's father was beating him, times of the Civil war, his time locked away at the Augustine's, and a memory that made Elena get tears in her eyes. It was the night her parents died, he saved her, he had jumped into the water, her father had motioned to save her. Elena screamed but nobody could hear her it was after all a memory. Elena knew everything.

In Damon's mind he began to see things, a small girl was sitting eating ice-cream 'Mommy, can we go play at the park?' the girl asked her mother who was tending to a small baby, 'Oh El, not tonight sweetie, Jeremy needs to get to bed soon.' Elena's mother replied sadly.

There was a flash, 'Hey 'Lena, are you going to the Lockwood party." A boy with blonde hair asked her. 'Yeah, I think so Matty.' Elena replied to the boy giving him a kiss on the cheek. Damon grimaced at the memory, he already knew what the next memory would be as he had lived it himself. He felt cold, there was water lots of water in this memory and screams, he saw Elena struggling to breathe, he saw himself reaching in the car and bringing her to the surface. He remembered that night, how he laid her on the bank of the river and pushed on her chest blowing air into her lungs begging God to save her.

Damon felt himself loosing consciousness.

Suddenly there was a loud crack, when Elena opened her eyes the whole room was pitch black.

"Bonnie? Grams?" Elena screamed.

"We are hear child, don't be afraid, it appears all the magic energy caused a power outage." Shelia said as she lit a few candles.

"Damon! Oh my god Bonnie, Shelia help!" Elena said as Damon slumped onto her.

Bonnie and Grams helped Elena lay Damon down on the couch. He looked so peaceful.

"What is wrong with him?" Elena asked concerned.

"Well, I am not sure, we knew there was risks doing this spell with soulmates," Grams pondered.

"If there were risks we shouldn't have done it," Elena cried, she couldn't lose him, 'I love him,' Elena thought to herself, tears falling from her face. She leant down and placed a kiss on Damon's lips. A sudden rush came upon them, like a bright light bursting from within. Suddenly Damon gasped. He felt like a million needles were piercing his heart, his lungs were burning, everything felt fuzzy, he felt deaf.

He struggled to talk "What the fuck did you do to me?" he asked his voice was harsh. He took in breaths, they felt like sandpaper, he felt like his insides were being torn apart. "AHHHH." He yelled out, he felt as if all the energy was being expelled from his body. Elena looked at him with fear in her eyes, she grabbed his hand, she got a jolt of energy pass thru her.

The pain was suddenly gone, Damon sighed, "Okay, apparently I am okay now." He breathed in deep, for once it felt like he needed to breathe. He felt strange, his eyes got wide, he pushed his hand to his chest, there it was, thump, thump. His heart was beating, for the first time in 150 years he had a heart beat.

"What the hell?" He cried out.

"What is wrong Damon?" Bonnie asked concerned.

"I… I have a heart beat. I need to breathe…" Damon was bewildered, he got up from the couch and tried to run at vamp speed, he could still run it was still fast but it wasn't full vamp speed. He could still see in the dark, and his hearing was still heightened. But then why did he have a heartbeat, why were his lungs working.

"Well, this is very interesting indeed." Shelia mused. "Elena, can you hear anything unusual?" Shelia asked Elena, Elena was confused, everything did seem louder. "Um well things sound louder I suppose." Elena answered, that and things smelt stronger, and everything seemed brighter. "Everything seems brighter and smells stronger." She blurted out.

"This is a very remarkable discovery." Shelia was amazed.

"What does this mean?" Damon piped up.

"Well, Mister Salvatore, this means that you are practically human, and Elena has taken on vampire abilities, we have essentially merged you together." Shelia said writing things down in a little book.

"I'm… human…" Damon stammered, feeling his legs getting weak.