Damon POV:

I was such an idiot. No, idiot was not near harsh enough to compare my stupidity to. I made an idiot seem like a rocket scientist. The way that Elena played me-dancing with her, drawing me in and then slicing me into pieces with her fair-weather heart. Fuck, there was nothing worse than being kicked around like the deflated and unwanted soccer ball in a kid's backyard by the one you loved. To her, I would never be enough. I would never be Stefan. At least I wasn't a fucking liar like her. I knew what was happening, but she wouldn't allow herself to come clean. She felt the pull that I always felt when we were together. She felt the primordial terror that comes with falling in love. She knew me, and it scared her. Well, it scared me too, but I wasn't a coward about it.

After her suggested 10 minutes, I exited the bathroom and headed straight for the bar. I ordered a clean bourbon and decided to take some time outside to clear my head. I knew I should be looking for Stefan, but I knew he wouldn't attack Elena in a crowd full of people, so that bought me some time. Just as I was exhaling the bitter, chilled air, I heard a woman's voice nearby, saying,

"I don't know! She never showed up for the dance, and her dress is still there. I know Amber, and I know she wouldn't just walk off like this. Maybe something happened to her. I saw her walking outside-."

Instantly, my nostrils flared in recognition. Oh, shit. This was not good. And at a party full of counsel members, too! Nice time and location to lose your shit, Stefan. Very convenient. I strode past the worried whispers of Amber's mother and headed towards the wooded area near the exposed patio of the Lockwood's estate. Like the hunter that I was, I relied on my senses to let me know everything that was happening in a twelve mile radius. Closing my eyes, I breathed out and listened for something, anything. That's when I heard it-a snap of a branch directly in back of me. With my vampire face in place, I twirled around and scared the living daylights out of...Elena?

"Damon! You scared me!" She exclaimed with a pout after recovering her stolen breath.

"Well, you scared me!" I retorted back sassily and turned forward to continue searching.

Unfortunately, she decided to follow me but was stumbling every few feet because she did not have my senses to guide her.

"Hey, wait!" She called and hastened her pace to catch up with me.

Right then, a branch snapped, and her foot caught the air. Before I knew what I was doing, I was zooming back and catching Elena seconds before she would have eaten dirt. I gently lifted her up and set her on her little, quaint feet. Placing my hands on her cold, shaking shoulders, I looked into her fierce and worried eyes.

"Thanks," Elena exhaled in wonder.

"Go. Back," I commanded, turning her around and patting her butt gently in the right direction.

"Hey!"

I sighed deeply when I continued on my way and heard her following me again. Without warning, I twirled around, and Elena stumbled again but caught herself at the last minute. She looked disheveled and was very out of breath from trying to keep up with me. I had to give her props for a human, though. Not many would have been able to follow me for as long as she did.

"Did I not just tell you to get lost? This is vampire territory, and I'm a little too busy looking for your boyfriend to babysit you right now, Elena," I explained sharply, drawing out her last name in an effort to annoy her.

Instead of arguing with me, much to my surprise, she simply crossed her arms and asked,

"Are you mad about the bathroom?"

In reply, I huffed in annoyance and began to walk away. If she got bitten, then that was her problem for wandering around like an idiot.

"Damon! Please! I'm...sorry, okay? That was mean, and I-,"

"Elena! I don't care, so please go back to the party and continue to put feminism back one hundred years!" I replied haughtily.

Secretly, I didn't want her to really know that I was upset about what happened in the bathroom. How she had dismissed me like I was just something you scraped off your shoe.

"I know you're upset. I know because-," She panted from behind me.

I turned, hating myself, and waited for her to catch up. A part of me wanted to hear what she had to say, and the other part of me wanted to continue to taunt her...because that's just what I did.

"Then, Swami Elena, enlighten me on what I am thinking because you obviously know me better than I know myself."

"You're hurt. I know you are. And I'm sorry, but I'm trying to make this less messy. This shouldn't keep happening between us," Elena attempted to apologize with a weak smile and some shameful expressions.

Still, I wasn't buying it. Also, I was concerned as hell about how cold she was getting since we were out here in the middle of the night, and she was only wearing her silky, thin pageant dress. Despite myself, I shrugged off my jacket and tossed it to her none-too-gently. She stared at my jacket for a long time before looking back at me with watery eyes.

"This is hard for me, too, Damon," She whispered.

I stepped closer and basked in her exuding warmth.

"What is hard for you, Elena?" I asked, but I already knew.

I just wanted her to say it. I needed her to say it.

"You and me. What we have-what we're making. It's...it's...," She struggled internally as she edged closer to me and tilted her head up to share my yearning gaze.

"It's...?" I nearly begged her to finish her sentence when a pained cry sounded from not too far away.

"Stay here," I ordered her with wild eyes before racing off into the direction that was projecting fear, raw emotion, and red sustenance.

I don't know what I was expecting, but it wasn't this. Stefan, holding a wilting girl in his arms with blood streaming down her body and blood smeared on his face. When he sensed my presence, he lifted his head in surprise and opened his mouth to explain just as Elena stumbled upon the scene.

"Oh, God," She exhaled in agony, covering her mouth with her trembling hands.

Putting his hands up in surrender, Stefan let Amber slide to the ground like a heavy doll and said,

"Lock me up. Please."