Chapter 21

Elena froze as the doors locked, "Where's Damon?"

"He's not in town" Stefan said turning the car on, trying to occupy himself as he tried not to stare at her, but he couldn't help it she looked so much like her…

"I better go back to school; I have to do a test" Elena was starting to panic, she had only met Stefan once and Damon never talked about him.

"There's no point, I got rid of the test papers" Stefan said casually, reversing the car.

"You got rid of them? I was just in there, there sitting on the table" Elena said her voice was calm but inside she was panicking.

"I pulled the fire alarms and took the papers while everyone was screaming, now there burning in the bin at the back of your school"

"You burned the papers? People worked hard on them, you had no right to do that" Elena's anger grew, Damon where are you?

"I told you, Damon is out of town" Stefan said reading her thoughts, Elena moved as far away from him on the leather seats as she could, feeling exposed. Stefan pulled the car out of the parking lot, Elena glanced back and seen Matt running around the school frantically, probably looking for her.

Stefan sensed her tension and finally looked over at her "Damon phoned me, and said he knew you were nervous, he told me to get you out of there"

"Do you always do what your brother tells you do" Elena asked not like being locked in a car with a vampire she didn't trust.

"Only when he threatens to kill me if I don't" Stefan smiled humourlessly, shaking his head.

"I was only nervous because of a test, how did he know anyway?"

"He is familiarised with your mind and you would be connected by minds if…" he dragged out the last word as he reached his hand over and pulled down her scarf slightly revealing the two marks in her neck, Elena flinched at his touch. "He doesn't take his time, does he?" Stefan's eyes bored into the road ahead.

"I let him take it, actually"

Stefan laughed, not believing his brother would be capable of even asking for something.

"Why are you driving his car" Elena changed the subject not wanting to start an argument.

"You wouldn't have got in if you didn't think it was Damon"

"Where are we going?"

"Damon wants you to relax, he can feel what you feel and he needs to know your safe" Elena was reassured by these words it showed Damon thought she was safe with Stefan.

"Where is he?" Elena was suddenly panicked again, why did he need to be relaxed?

"He had to take care of something"

"'Take care of something?" Elena searched Stefan's face for some sort of humour, but it was revealing anything.

"He has friends, ones you wouldn't want to know, they asked for help, so he had to go"

Elena's breathing accelerated, is this what it feels like to have an asthma attack she thought worried about Damon.

"Damon's strong, apparently even stronger now," he said, trying to calm her, as he glanced over at Elena's neck.

"So who does he have to 'take care off' exactly?"

"There's been vampires killing his friends, he wants revenge"

This wasn't helping Elena to relax, "Can we go to him?"

"Why? Do you want to get killed?"

"No, but couldn't you help him?"

"Damon doesn't want my help, he wants to kill them himself, to avenge his friends death."

"He might need you, they might kill him first"

"I'll take you to the Boarding house; you can wait for him there."

Elena didn't waste anymore of her time trying to protest. She went to the Boarding house, trying to stay calm for Damon's sake. She sat on an oversized couch and checked her phone while Stefan went to get her water. 12 missed calls, 2 from Bonnie, three from Meredith and the rest, Matt.

Her phone began to vibrate, another call from Matt, she sighed and answered, she thought she owed him at least that much. "Hello?"

"Elena, where are you, and why are you not your answering your phone"

"Sorry, it was on silent" Stefan came back in and placed her drink on the glass table.

"Everyone was looking for you, someone burned the papers, and Tanner said he's going to call the police to find out who did it." Stefan tried to stifle a laugh as he listened to Matt's overly dramatic voice, there was no way the police would waste their time on finding out who burned test papers and Stefan didn't leave any evidence.

"Look Matt, I have to go, I'll talk to you later"

"Wait, where are you?"

"My house" Elena lied, Stefan sat on the armchair amused.

"I phoned your house; your Aunt Judith said you weren't in. You're with him, aren't you?"

"No, I'm not" Elena was getting sick of Matt's new protective behaviour.

"I'm coming to take you home" Matt's voice was determined, before she could shout at him not to, he hung up.

She looked up at Stefan, who was focusing on not laughing.

"Yeah, because it's so funny" Elena said sarcastically but she couldn't help but smile herself, there was no way Matt would find her, right?

Stefan's phone rang; "It's Damon" Elena went to stand beside Stefan's chair so she didn't to know Damon was fine. Stefan answered the phone and she could hear a deep, velvet voice, but couldn't comprehend his words because they were spoken so quietly. Stefan's expression was tensed he listened intently to Damon's words, and then said "I'm on my way" before hanging up.

"What? What's wrong?" Elena knew by his posture that something had happened.

"Damon asked for help, so something has to be wrong"…