A/N: As usual I don't own Vampire Diaries or any canon characters.
Wow, you guys really don't like Bonnie either huh? Message received, thanks for all the great feedback! I did want to acknowledge that yes, more than likely Bonnie did have some of Stefan's blood in her when she died, so she is not out of the picture yet, but this chapter ended up being longer than I'd planned, so I haven't gotten to that part yet.
With a sudden growl, Stefan's mouth fastened above her wound, teeth piercing her skin with a savage ferocity. Bonnie screamed in response, the pain blotting out the normal rush of pleasure she felt when he fed from her. But she hung onto him, knowing that he needed this, needed her.
On and on he drank, until her vision started to dip and sway. "Stefan…" She called out, pressing her hands to his shoulders weakly. "Too much…"
And still he drank, in the grips of blood lust, her struggles causing him to pin her beneath him, rubbing against her as another kind of desire was fueled. Easily holding both of her wrists with one hand, his other delved deep below, tearing delicate cloth and working to free himself. In one powerful surge he took her, and Stefan rutted above her in a haze of blood and power, oblivious to her weakening sobs of protest. When at last he was sated, Stefan rolled off to his side, his breathing ragged as he came down from the high.
A roll of the shoulders proved the stabbing wound sore but not life threatening, and he had Bonnie to thank for that. Feeling pleasantly drowsy now, he pressed a kiss to Bonnie's shoulder. "Thank you." He said softly, brows drawing together as she didn't turn to face him. "Bonnie?" Gently, he reached for her chin, coming face to face with her sightless eyes. Oh god… what had he done?
This wasn't his normal thing, but Damon promised to be on his best behavior as the gathering took place to acquaint Jenna with the vampire facts of life. In particular he wanted to be there in case things spiraled out of control to fix the situation if necessary; Jeremy was just too green to pull off a complicated compulsion that would last as long as a true memory.
Jeremy lounged, one leg bobbing restlessly over the arm of the chair. Elena paced back and forth in the entryway, waiting for Alaric to bring Jenna back to the house after dinner.
"Okay sit down or I'm gonna handcuff you to the couch." Damon called out finally, her nerves getting on his.
Elena stopped pacing to give him an odd look. "Do you even have handcuffs?"
"I can show you later…" Damon's brows waggled at her suggestively, even though they both knew it was just a bluff. Though they had grown closer than he'd dared hoped in the past few days, their physical relationship was nowhere near where he wanted it to be.
"Please…" Jeremy made a gagging sound. "That is so not a picture I need in my head right now." He grumbled.
"Then run along and play in traffic while the big kids talk." Damon smirked with a fraction of his old condescension, but there was no real bitterness to his tone. Jeremy was starting to grow on him; filling that void for an annoying little brother since Stefan had taken his turn for the dark side.
"Screw you, she's my aunt, I have more of a right to be here than you do." Jeremy retorted.
"No thanks, I'm saving myself for your sister." Damon blew a kiss to Elena who looked less than amused but at least had stopped pacing to lean against the wall, her arms hugged tight to her body. "Elena come here." He patted the cushion beside him on the couch.
With a last look to the door, Elena did as he bid her, sinking onto the seat beside him.
Damon immediately pulled her into the shelter of his arm, tucking her head onto his shoulder. "You don't have to worry so much, Jenna's tougher than you think, she'll take it just fine." Kissing the top of her head, he could feel that she was a bundle of nerves, and shifted his hold on her to lightly massage where her shoulder met the neck. "Just relax…"
Elena made a soft sound at his touch, her tensed muscles starting to let go under the gentle pressure. "Mmm that feels good." She murmured, her eyes sliding shut.
Responding to the tone in her voice, Damon's other hand joined the first, tenderly kneading her tensed muscles. It occurred to him that this might very well be the way to kick their physical relationship to the next level. She didn't seem adverse to his touch, in fact… from the noises she was making, she quite enjoyed it.
Jeremy gave another grimace of distaste over the display. "Call me when the show's about to start." He rose from the chair, but just then the front door swung open, Jenna and Alaric stepping through, mid laugh over something.
"Hey guys, are you having a night in tonight?" Jenna asked with a smile, hanging her light wrap on the banister.
"Jenna." Elena tore herself from Damon's grasp, lurching to her feet. "You're here."
"Yeah, I live here." Jenna gave her a puzzled look, not quite sure how to interpret Elena's tone. "What's going on?"
"We wanted to talk to you…" Elena gave a helpless look to Jeremy and Damon, not sure how to begin now that they had Jenna's attention.
Alaric came to the rescue then, guiding Jenna into the living room by her elbow. "We all wanted to talk to you; about some things that have been happening lately, things you should know about." He said gently, looking to Elena to elaborate further.
"Right, some things you should know about." Elena gave Damon a quick glance for support.
Damon gave her a slight nod, remaining silent for now. If it was left to him, he would just blurt it out, flash her a bit of fang to seal the deal and save an hour of discussion, but if he knew his little cream puff she'd dance around the subject to death before she got to the point. Still, it was her show, he was just there for support and muscle if need be.
"Wait… this isn't about that courting thing is it? You're not running off to get married are you?" Jenna looked alarmed at the notion, looking between the young couple. "Because no way are you blowing off school for anything." A note of indignance crept into her voice.
"What? No, that's not…" Elena shook her head, "It's nothing like that."
Yet… Damon thought to himself, but remained silent.
"Okay then… spill." Jenna looked at them expectantly.
"You might have noticed that things around Mystic Falls are a little… off sometimes." Elena began, ignoring Jeremy's snort at her choice of words. "People go missing and there are a lot of deaths attributed to animal attacks." She made little air quotes with her fingers.
The subject clearly got Jenna's attention and she nodded slightly, indicating that she should go on.
"What you might not know is that there are vampires living in Mystic Falls." Elena paused to get her reaction to that statement.
"Elena I'm pretty sure that if there were vampires in Mystic Falls I'd know about it." Jenna scoffed, and Damon coughed into his hand to hide the smirk there.
"Well now that's the thing Jenna… you don't know about it because they're able to influence us, cover their tracks… they take their secrecy pretty seriously." Alaric interjected, the calm cool voice of reason, it sounded perfectly plausible from his cultured good looks.
"You believe in this stuff too?" Jenna turned to Alaric in surprise, his words carrying more weight with her given their growing relationship.
Alaric made an uncomfortable sound and cleared his throat to cover it up. "My first wife Isobel…"
"Yeah? What about her?" Jenna blinked.
"She disappeared years ago, but what I didn't know was that she was turned…" His eyes flicked to Damon's, the accusation not quite gone from them even though they'd come to an understanding over time. "and has been living as a vampire this entire time."
Conflicting emotions crossed over Jenna's face, running the gamut from disbelief to fear and then the beginnings of acceptance. "She's a vampire? But Ric… how do you know?"
"Because I've seen her, spoken to her and other vampires in town." Alaric answered patiently, but it was clear that the conversation with Isobel had disturbed him.
"Just how many vampires are there in Mystic Falls?" Jenna's voice rose a fraction.
"More than you might think." Damon muttered.
"And all of you know about this how exactly? Because of Alaric's ex-wife?" Jenna's brows drew together in confusion.
My mother… but Elena didn't choose to point that our just then. "Because I've been involved with vampires for a while now." She said softly. "I didn't say anything because I didn't want you to worry and I wanted to protect their safety."
"You wanted to protect their safety?" Jenna let out a short laugh. "I don't get it."
"Stefan is a vampire." Elena blurted out, her cheeks flushing.
Jenna's mouth formed a perfect "o" but no sound came out.
Quick to fill the silence, Elena forged on. "Not all vampires are evil or violent, and Stefan was different." She spoke of him almost as though he was dead and in a way he was to her now. "He didn't feed from humans and for a long time, things were good between us. Like I said, I didn't want you to worry, so I didn't tell you."
"Stefan…" Jenna blinked rapidly, trying to assimilate the idea. "And you knew about this?" She turned to Alaric.
"I did." He said gravely. "And I believed that he truly posed no threat to Elena, he loved her, or I would have done all I could to keep her safe, I promise you that."
"So what's changed then? If Stefan is such a good guy then why are we having this talk? And if he loves you so much then why are you… oh god…" Her eyes swung to Damon's face then. "You're a vampire too then aren't you?" Her eyes widened to the size of dinner plates.
"Uh oh, busted." Damon leaned forward and said in a stage whisper, but the look on Elena's face kept him from continuing in that vein. "Actually yes I am, but before you get your panties in a bunch you can just chillax, I'm not gonna eat Elena or you either for that matter. In fact… there's nothing I wouldn't do to protect her." He wrapped his arm around her waist, pulling her back down on the couch protectively, possessively, re-staking his claim.
Jenna couldn't help but recoil a little regardless and it was Alaric's comforting arm around her that kept her in her seat. "So… Stefan and Damon both… anyone else I should know about?" Her eyes went to Alaric, half afraid he'd sprout fangs and come out of the coffin as well.
"Well actually Aunt Jenna…" Jeremy had remained silent for the conversation, watching Jenna's reactions intently. Now he sat perched on the arm of the chair, his eyes dropping to study his shoelaces in apparent fascination. "I'm a vampire too."
"What?" The color drained from Jenna's face, clearly not expecting that revelation. It was one thing to know that an acquaintance was a vampire, but her own nephew? "How did that happen?" Her eyes flew to Damon's face in accusation.
Damon's hands came up in supplication. "Hey, I had nothing to do with it, junior chose this path all by his lonesome."
"Jeremy… you chose this?" Jenna's jaw dropped.
Jeremy rubbed at the back of his neck, uncomfortable at rehashing his reasons for doing what he'd done. "I was in a bad place. Vicki… she had been turned and died. Anna… she was a vampire and was murdered on Founder's day. Uncle John was dead, mom and dad… I just… wanted it all to go away. So I drank some of Anna's blood and took some pills…"
Jenna's face crumpled as she tried in vain to sort through her heavily altered memories of the past few months. Unfortunately her mind had been meddled with heavily in that time and she only remembered bits and pieces of what he was talking about. She no longer had any memory of John's disappearance or death, nothing about Jeremy's death and disappearance from the morgue.
"It's normal that you don't remember any of this." Alaric said gently, his hand rubbing her back comfortingly. "We were just trying to keep you safe."
"Normal? You mean ignorant." Jenna scowled. "Since when did burying my head in the sand without my consent constitute keeping me safe?" She demanded.
"Jenna we were just worried that you would get too involved and end up like Uncle John." Elena added.
"Or were you just worried that I'd forbid you from dating a vampire? Were you really worried about me or yourself Elena?" Jenna challenged her.
"Hey, we did what we thought was best, so sue us." Damon shrugged, not liking to hear Elena attacked for her efforts to keep her Aunt's sanity intact. "What's done is done, so on to the bigger fish to fry."
"There's more?" Jenna's eyebrows climbed.
"Isn't there always?" Damon smirked, deciding to move things along a little. "Okay so the short and the skinny of it is, Stefan blew a gasket when Elena dumped him and he's become a threat to her and probably anyone in this house. Jeremy's really stepped up to the plate but he's no match for Stefan so… I've decided to move in for the time being so I can make sure that Elena stays safe."
Elena blanched, a little shocked by the blunt method he'd employed in laying out the facts. Even Alaric looked stunned into silence, only Jeremy's expression showed signs of amusement over the delivery.
Jenna looked like steam was about to come out of her ears. "You can't just move in like this, this is my house." She objected.
"Well now technically it's Elena's and Jeremy's and you're just holding it for them in trust." Damon smirked.
"How could you possibly know that?" Jenna blinked in surprise.
A shrug of the shoulders was given. "I've been to law school a time or two before."
Elena looked up at him in surprise. "You have?"
"I have skills you haven't even glimpsed yet." Damon gave her a heated look.
Jenna's hand went to her forehead as though it was starting to pain her. "Ok wait… regardless, I'm her guardian and I'm not so sure I want this sort of thing going on under my… our roof."
"Well you don't have any choice now do you? I won't take chances with Elena's life and more importantly, I like sleeping with her." He smirked.
Alaric, ever the peacemaker gripped Jenna's hand, keeping her from launching herself at Damon at that last remark, shaking his head over Damon's audacity.
"Sleeping Jenna! Just sleeping." Elena interjected, her face flushing bright red. "That's all it's been so far."
"So far." Damon waggled his eyebrows at her
"Keep it up and you're gonna be sleeping on the floor like a dog." Elena growled at him, delivering a sharp elbow to his ribs.
God she was adorable. "Look I don't like to have to lay down the law…" Damon changed his mind, "actually who am I kidding? I love to." He smirked. "But I don't actually care if it ticks you off or not. Elena is mine in every way that counts and I will protect her how I see fit."
"Here we go…" Jeremy muttered, knowing what was coming next.
"Hey, in case you hadn't noticed, I've protected myself just fine!" Elena jumped up indignantly, none too happy with his highhanded behavior. "I took care of Stefan the last time he was here."
"Wait, what does that mean?" Jenna interjected, trying to keep up with the conversation.
Damon ignored Jenna, too intent on Elena. "But you didn't kill him did you? Which means he's out there, wounded and pissed off to all holy hell. If he came after you before when you were kind, what makes you think he won't try it again now?" His eyes blazed with emotion as he willed her to understand the gravity of the situation. "He's been invited in Elena… he won't lull you with pretty words of apology next time. If it's revenge he's after he'll take it, I've seen him like this before."
Elena blinked at the fervor in his voice. "What do you mean you've seen him like this before?"
"After Katherine died… the first time we thought she was dead." Damon replied, dropping his gaze; it still pained him to talk about that time of his life.
"Who's Katherine?" Jenna asked.
"I was… devastated at the time, reeling with the changes and trying to cope with losing her, or what I thought her to be… I didn't want to see anyone, talk to anyone, I didn't want to feed or sleep…" Damon sighed. "But Stefan… he lashed out blindly. He wanted to make them pay for what they'd done to all the town vamps, to Katherine, to us." He swallowed.
"I know I've done some awful things in my lifetime, I'm not exactly the poster child for tolerance." Damon wasn't apologizing for it, just acknowledging the fact. "But Stefan… once he loses control… it takes something very, very momentous for him to regain it. I don't want it to be you." He pulled Elena back down into his lap, pressing his forehead against hers. "If I lost you…"
"You won't lose me." Elena's eyes drifted shut as well, tears welling behind her eyelids.
"Will someone please tell me what's going on?" Jenna demanded, tired of people ignoring her.
Damon's jaw clenched and he pulled his head up to fix her with a stony stare. "Haven't I just been explaining it? Should I use smaller words?"
"Hey, not the best way to smooth over living here…" Elena poked him in the ribs. "I'm sorry Aunt Jenna, Damon's just… we've all been through a lot of stress lately with everything that's been going on."
"Stefan attacked her here last night, almost killed her too." Jeremy supplied. "Like Damon said, I tried to help her but he was too strong for me. I think we do need Damon here, at least until we can take care of Stefan. As much of a pain in the ass as he can be." He couldn't help but add as he rose to his feet, having given his two cents on the matter. "I'm gonna go out for a bit, I'll catch you guys later." Without waiting for a response, he was out the front door in a flash of speed.
"As much as I hate to say it, I think they're right, it's for the best if Damon stays here for the time being." Alaric added. "He's the only one who can stand up to Stefan at his worst."
This time Elena didn't argue, she remained on Damon's lap, her head resting against his.
"There's so much about this I don't understand…" Jenna muttered.
Alaric nodded, offering her his hand. "How about we go make a nice hot pot of coffee and I can fill you in on some of the bits and pieces that Damon left out of his… eloquent explanation?" Alaric gave Damon a look to let him know that he didn't appreciate the way he'd handled the situation so far.
Damon acknowledged the look with a slight tilt of the head but offered no apologies.
"Yeah okay…" Jenna's voice was slightly disgruntled as she allowed Ric to lead her from the room, one last look darted to Elena and Damon. "We're not done talking about this." She raised a finger in warning before she left.
"I thought they'd never leave." Damon slumped back into the couch, drawing Elena with him so that she laid against him.
"Well that could have gone better, no thanks to you." Elena pointed out, settling comfortably against him.
"What? You wanted to tell her the truth and we did. Problem solved." He gave a faint shrug.
"Did you ever think that it might not be the best course of action to piss her off if you're going to be living here? For someone who can be so charming when he wants to be, you sure didn't try very hard."
Damon was used to people being pissed off at him, it didn't faze him in the slightest, in fact, sometimes he liked it, depending on the person. But he realized with a small pang that it was distressing Elena. "It bothers you if we don't get along?"
"Does the word 'duh' mean anything to you?" Elena stared at him incredulously. "Do you seriously not get why?"
"I… guess I just didn't think much about it." Damon admitted, the beginnings of regret gathering in the pit of his stomach. So far he hadn't given much thought as to what it would mean to move into Elena's house other than the obvious of protecting her and that it would allow him to be near her. He hadn't given a single thought to how he would integrate into the household.
With a frown, he realized that he was going to have to figure out a way to play house with her family. "Alright…" He gave a long suffering sigh. "I will try and smooth things over with Jenna, I'll be my most charming self." Damon offered her a dazzling smile as an example.
Elena couldn't help but laugh at that, relaxing more against him. "Just try to get along, that's all I ask." She sighed happily, snuggling into his embrace.
Damon's arms tightened around her slightly in response, but he refrained from making any promises he had no intention of keeping. For the moment he would attempt to get along with these people for her sake, but inwardly he resolved to step up his timetable a bit. With any luck, it wouldn't be long before he could take things into his own hands and ensure that Elena would be safe and happy and hopefully… with him.
A/N: Something about the idea of Damon trying to play house and fit in with Elena's family just makes me smile, I could almost write an entire fic about that alone. Any guesses as to what Damon has in mind to keep Elena safe?
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