Chapter One: Wrong Time, Wrong Place

"Damn it Elena, you can't just pretend you don't feel anything for me! I know that every time you look at Stefan you want to see me; hugging you, holding you, comforting you. I know that every day you're not with me, you feel empty, like a part of you is missing. I know because that's how I feel; I love you Elena, and I know you love me too."

Elena took in a sharp breath when Damon appeared in front of her, the air still shaking behind him from his incredible speed.

"You don't have to pretend anymore, Elena. I know." Damon said softly, raising his hand slowly to lightly trace her jaw line. His eyes searched hers longingly, looking for a response.

He shifted his weight and attempted to lean in to kiss her, taking her silence as eager shyness.

"No, Damon, stop, you know I don't feel that way" she whispered firmly, reaching up to push against his leather jacket, hoping he'd just give up and walk away.

No such luck. Damon paused for a moment, and then leaned back in, grazing his lips against hers.

Elena lost it.

"I'm not Katherine, I'm never going to be Katherine. I know that when you look at me, you must see some sort of substitute, but I'm not. I happen to be very much Elena, and she doesn't mess around with both brothers. You're trying to convince yourself that I feel something towards you that is much more than it really is. You think that if you believe it, I will, except.. I won't. I love Stefan, Damon, not you. Don't you see? It's always going to be Stefan."

Elena looked down at the floor meekly; suddenly afraid about what Damon might do next. It had taken a lot of pushed down anger to get the adrenaline rush needed to give her enough courage to say what she just did. After all, when a vampire is acting calm that close to your neck, you're not exactly supposed to try and piss him off.

Not two seconds after the words had left her mouth, she heard a sharp crash and looked up hesitantly to see the parlor mirror shattered, and Damon nowhere to be found. Taking this opportunity to run, she grabbed her purse from the couch and fled from the room, running down the hallway of the boarding house and escaping through the front door. She didn't look back once as she put her keys in the ignition and speed out of the driveway.

"Stefan, I'm fine, he didn't even touch me, I'm okay, really," Elena reassured her boyfriend as he paced back and forth in front of her double bed, clearly angered.

The moment Elena had returned home from the boarding house, she had run up to her room, avoiding Jenna's attempts at parental questioning and called Stefan. It had taken him little under five minutes with his vampire speed to be at her house and get through her window,

Reaching the end of her bedroom, he stopped and placed one hand on her ivory painted wall, leaning against it for support before responding.

"I should've been there. It was selfish of me to go so far out to hunt without telling you, especially with everything that's happening right now. I keep thinking, what if he hurt you? I was towns away, I wouldn't have been able to do anything." Stefan murmured helplessly.

"Nooo, None of what happened has anything to do with you going out of town, its just how Damon is. It wouldn't have mattered if it had went down at the boarding house, here or anywhere else, he knows how I feel about you and he's just upset that he doesn't have anyone who cares about him that way. I don't think he would've hurt me" Elena coaxed Stefan as she reached up from her spot on her chaise lounge to rub his arm tenderly.

Stefan leaned down and met Elena's open arms for an embrace.

"I'm just so glad you're safe," he whispered into her ear, petting her long, chocolate colored locks. "I won't leave your side tonight, you'll be okay," He frowned slightly but his eyes lit back up when Elena hugged him closer to her.

That night, Stefan stayed over and guarded Elena, much to his displeasure at not being allowed to confront Damon, but Elena made him promise that he wouldn't pick a fight with him, because Damon, the stronger of the two vampire brothers, would most definitely win that fight.

Elena sighed as she withdrew all thoughts from the day and let her body relax against Stefan's protective chest, drifting off to sleep.

Dear Diary,

Yes! I'm going over to Caroline's house with Bonnie after school today, and I couldn't be more excited! It's been a long week, but I'm finally having hopes that the three of us have a chance at getting back to the way we used to be.

Of course, Bonnie's a witch, Caroline's a vampire, and I'm a doppelganger being hunted down for the use in a sacrifice, but I miss them, and I really miss the girl to girl bonding that has been majorly lacking lately. Maybe things changed for the better. Maybe it will bring us all even closer together.

Ughhh. I can't stop thinking about what happened with Damon last Friday, exactly one week now and there hasn't even been a trace of Damon. I wonder where he went; what he's doing. He had no right to try to intimidate me into kissing him, and who knows what else, and now he's just gone. Vanished. Left. Maybe it's a crazy way to see if it'll make everyone miss him? I don't know.. but Stefan tried looking for him, like I wrote earlier, he stopped on Tuesday because after awhile it became clear that Damon doesn't want to be found. I bet he left Virginia entirely. I'm not sure he's even coming back. I feels so strange without him. I know I should be mad after what he did, but, I sort of do feel that emptiness he was rambling about. I guess I just miss my friend. Well, my kind of friend. Ugh, i know, I know. But, I have to get to school, so I'll write later. :)

Love,

Elena Gilbert

"Ringggg," the familiar bell sounded as Elena Gilbert gave a sigh of relief. Finally, after all the history, science, math, and language she could take, Elena was a ten-minute drive home away from the beginning of the weekend with her two best friends.

However, just as she had retreated down her high school's front steps and located her car, she felt a light tap on her shoulder. Trying not to show annoyance, she plastered the most realistic smile on her face that she could muster and spun around to meet the imposer. It was just Brittany; a giddy but sometimes slightly annoying girl that Elena had cheered with before she had quit the team.

"Elena!" the girl smiled enthusiastically. "I'm like, soo sorry to ask you this when you were just meaning to leave, but I wasn't in science today and someone told me we got a really important study sheet for the test on Monday… I hope this isn't too much to ask, but is there any chance you have an extra sheet?" Brittany bit her lip hopefully, silently pleading with her eyes.

Elena tried to hide her frustration with the inconvenience before slapping on a fake smile and responding casually, "Um, yeah, of course, that's no problem at all; I have an extra copy in my locker." Elena did not want to turn around and re-enter the cement structure she had just spent eight hours in, but, she couldn't take her promising words back now, because Brittany was all but jumping up and down at the other girl's answer.

"Elena you are like, totally a life-saver! Thank youuu!" she squealed. She batted her eyelashes happily before turning to follow Elena back into the school.

As they approached her locker, Elena slid her bag off of her arm and set it gently on the floor before dialing in her combination. When she had the sheet, she turned around to hand it to Brittany, only to be rewarded with an empty hallway.

"Brittany? I have the science sheet.." Elena scanned the hallway for the blonde girl, but there were only a couple of people littered among the lockers, and none of them were Brittany.

Suddenly, her gaze landed on the door to the pool area by the gym, and she noticed Brittany's zebra print Betseyville bag leaning against it casually. Elena, starting to get upset with the sudden lack of enthusiasm directed towards the once in-demand science sheet, reluctantly pulled open the pool doors and spotted Brittany, propped up on her elbows with her back to Elena, sitting on the edge of the pool with her feet dangling in the water.

"Um, I have the science sheet, but I really do have to get going now, I have plans that I should probably be getting ready for, so I'll just give it to you now or…" Elena froze as Brittany's head fell limply to the side. She was now very aware of the blood dripping down Brittany's right arm, forming a tiny puddle on the pale pool tiles.

Elena ever so slowly retreated behind her, intent on backing up as far as the wall would allow her.

The blood was coming from Brittany's neck.

Elena knew she had to get a towel from the locker room to stop the bleeding. She had to get an ambulance. She had to call Stefan to make sure whoever had done this wasn't still nearby. She had to do something. But before she could react, a hand was clamped tightly over her mouth and her waist was pulled fiercely back by someone from behind.

She struggled and kicked until she was able to swing her head back slightly and look up at her attacker's chin. The person was wearing a thick black ski mask with holes only for the eyes, nose and mouth, making it quite clear for Elena to see the person's upside-down, menacing scowl. When she saw her assailant's hand reach towards her neck, she instantly knew that struggling would not cease the attack, and when she felt the familiar clasp that held her necklace being torn from her, her suspicions where confirmed. There is only one reason why Elena Gilbert's necklace would threaten the plans of a kidnapper. And there is only one kind of kidnapper that would want it taken off.

"Vampire," she breathed. And then her knees gave out, her head fell back, she collapsed, and everything went black.