I couldn't resist the urge to keep writing. Good for you. I have another chapter for you today and if I'll hurry yet another one tomorrow. Nothing much is happening in this chapter though... but in the end. Enjoy!

BTW: Thank you for more than 200 reviews! I never received so many! Thank you so much!

Chapter 25: It's Not Me, It's You

Let's get the story straight
You were a poison
You flooded through my veins
You left me broken

With the pain you put me through
And now I know that it's not me it's you

Always has been you
All the lies and stupid things you say and do
It's not me it's you
All the lies and pain you put me through
I know that it's not me it's you

The friendship between Elena and Damon seemed to be completely and irrevocably destroyed with no chance of reconciliation in the near future. Elena could be very resentful and Damon couldn't blame her. However he found it unfair not to be allowed to explain himself to her. She only knew half the story. Of course that stupid teacher had kept the most important part to himself. Maybe because he hadn't believed Damon's version. And Elena wouldn't either if more time passed. He needed to talk to her! Not only to rectify that matter but also because – as hard as it was for him to admit it himself – he was missing her. He had gotten so used to her company over the last months that he felt like a piece of him was missing.

Two weeks had passed since he had seen Elena and talked to her. She didn't answer his calls and text messages. So he decided to try to us different ways to communicate with her.

Tuesday morning he went to Mystic Falls Highschool, looking for Jeremy. He found him in front of the building, hooking up his bike. Damon seemed to have a lucky day. Usually Jeremy drove with Elena to school. Jeremy had already spotted him but chose to ignore him and walked up to the entrance when Damon approached him.

"Hey, Jeremy! What's up?"

Jeremy turned around and glared at him. "What do you want, Damon?"

"Can't I just say hello?" Damon replied innocently.

"You don't just want to say hello," Jeremy said. "So what do you want?"

"Well, I thought, you could talk to your sister–" Damon began but Jeremy cut him off.

"You don't get anything, do you? You hurt her! You made her cry!"

"It's just a misunderstanding."

"Right." Jeremy snorted. "Leave us alone or I might follow in my ancestor's footsteps."

"Wanna see you try," Damon mocked. Where had that come from? Why did his oversized ego had to interfere now of all times?

"Watch me," Jeremy said menacingly. "Get lost, man. I mean it."

Jeremy entered the building and Damon turned around to leave, almost bumping into Alaric Saltzman.

"You!" Damon growled.

"Me," Saltzman said calmly. "Would you get out of my way, please?"

"You incited Elena against me!"

"Elena deserved to know the truth," Saltzman stated simply. "Even if she isn't my daughter, she's still Isabol's and Isabol would have wanted me to protect her from guys like you."

"Cute, really," Damon mocked. "But you only told Elena half the story. What about the part I told you?"

"You mean your little story?" the teacher replied. "You didn't think I'd believed that, did you? I know what I saw. I don't know what you did to her body but be sure that I'll figure it out. And now get out of my way." When Damon didn't move he added "You probably don't know it but I'm a full-fledged vampire slayer. I have all kinds of cute little devices to knock out or even kill you on the spot."

Damon snorted. "You're bluffing."

"Am I?"

They glared at each other. Saltzman's gaze was determined and Damon realized that he wasn't bluffing. He decided to not take chances since Saltzman was already the second person threatening him within ten minutes. And that really couldn't be healthy. Reluctantly Damon stepped aside to let the teacher pass him by. Saltzman flashed a superior grin to him and walked into the building. Frustrated Damon returned home, calming down by getting drunk.

At the same time Stefan was trying to talk Elena into giving Damon a chance to tell his version of what had happened the night Isabol disappeared.

"It won't hurt to hear him out," Stefan reason.

"You sure?" Elena knew better.

"What if there's more to it?" Stefan considered. "More than Saltzman knows."

Elena slammed her locker shut with a loud bang and turned to him.

"Who's side are you on?" she demanded angrily.

"On no one's," Stefan said plainly. "It's your fight. I'm just saying that there might be a possibility–"

"Stop defending him!" Elena shouted and many heads turned to her. "He killed her! There's nothing more to it. He's a cold-blooded murderer. He's always been. I know he's your bother and you care about him. But I'm your girlfriend and a minute ago I thought you'd care about my feelings, too. Hurry up and choose a side or leave."

Elena grabbed her bag and stomped off. Stefan stared after her, not believing that it had been Elena he'd just talked to. She seemed like a whole different person to him, completely blinded by her anger.

What Stefan didn't know was that deep inside Elena was hurting. Her heart was aching because she was missing Damon. And she wanted to hear him out but she knew that it wouldn't change anything. No matter what he would tell her she would find herself unable to believe him. She couldn't trust him anymore and she didn't think she would be able to ever again.

When Stefan returned home he found Damon sitting in the parlor, drinking.

"You're early."

"I wasn't in the mood for school," Stefan told him and took a seat next to him. "I had a fight with Elena."

"Welcome to the club."

"I tried to talk to her but she wouldn't listen. She got angry because I'm defending you."

"You're not defending me," Damon said and took a sip. "You only tried to talk her into hearing me out because I asked you to."

"Were you more successful with Jeremy," Stefan asked.

"Depends on how you define success," Damon answered. "I made two new enemies and received two I'm-gonna-kill-you threats."

"Two?"

"I ran into Saltzman."

"Oh…"

"Yup." Damon emptied his glass and looked at Stefan. "Why are you doing this anyway? Helping me?"

"I honestly don't know," Stefan replied. "But you're trying so hard to tell your version of the story that it makes me believe that there's really more to it." Damon nodded in confirmation. "What happened back then, Damon?"

Damon was silent for a moment. "I don't want to tell it twice."

Stefan didn't keep asking after that. They sat silently beside each other, each of them lost in thoughts.

Then suddenly the doorbell rang and they snapped out of their trances.

"Elena?"

In an instant Damon was at the door to answer it. A wide smile was on his lips when he opened the door but it quickly faded away when he saw who was standing outside.

"You…"

"Hey, guys, what's up?" Anna said.

"I thought you'd run with your mom," Damon said, closing the door after Anna had entered.

"We did," Anna confirmed. "We found a little place to stay outside of Alabama."

"Alabama?" Damon repeated. "What dragged you there?"

"It's nice," Anna said, taking a seat on the couch. "We have our peace and quiet. Well, we had until yesterday morning," she corrected herself darkly.

"Why, what happened?" Stefan asked.

"Why don't you ask your brother?" Anna replied angrily and turned to Damon. "Katherine came to see us yesterday."

"Wait, what?"

Anna ignored Stefan's remark and glared at Damon. "How could you tell her that you opened the tomb?! My mom wasn't planning to see her ever again. She was the reason my mom got caught because she raised suspicions by playing with you guys!"

"Wait, bring me to up-to-date," Stefan interrupted, looking surprised at Damon. "You met Katherine?!"

"Yeah, I did. Nothing worth sharing, really," Damon said irritated. "Look, it just slipped out, okay? Although she mentioned back then that she was going to pay Pearl a visit."

"Well, now she has another objective," Anna told them. "That's why I came here. To warn you."

"What's she up to now?" Damon inquired.

"Actually you should know best," Anna said. "Don't you remember anything in particular you said to her?"

Damon looked at her, confused. He didn't have a clue what she was talking about at first but then he recalled the conversation he had had with Katherine.

FLASHBACK

"Katherine, wait."

"Katherine turned around to him, smiling. "Yes?"

"Can I ask you something?"

"Sure."

END OF FLASHBACK

Damon cursed. "What did you tell her?"

"I didn't but my mom babbled," Anna admitted. "She told her she'd seen a girl that looked her and some guys who escaped from the tomb confirmed it." Anna paused for a second, looking straight into Damon's eyes. "She's coming here. I don't know when but she's definitely coming."

Damon's eyes widened and his jaw dropped.

"What does that mean?" Stefan demanded. "Damon, is Elena in danger?"

"Big time," Damon said and slumped on the couch. He was shocked. Katherine was coming. It couldn't be happening. He looked at Stefan who was staring at him in confusion. "What are you waiting for?! Hurry up and call her!"

Whooo, Katherine's coming. Finally the story is getting somewhere. In the next chapter you'll learn why Elena is danger. I already have a rough draft and know how I'll end it but I don't know how much time it will take me to get there. I'll try to upload it tomorrow.