THe Monster Within

Elena woke up feeling strange. SHe tried to take in a breath but there was no air to fill her lungs with. All around her was darkness, and dirt fell into her eyes when she opened them. She began to freak out, wondering why she was in a grave. Names, faces flashed through her head: Katherine, Klaus, and of the Salvatore's rivals. She should be dead, but she wasn't. She started to try to claw her way through the mounds of dirt. Elena finally saw a faint ray of light coming through a ever so tiny hole. THis encouraged her to dig even faster. It seeemed like everything was happening very slowly but if she concentrated and watched her hands then they were moving a lot faster than she thought possible. Her throat was aching, she felt like she hadn't had a drink of water in a week. Elena drug herself out of the hole in which someone had placed her body and looked around. She was in a forest, not far from the tomb. Her bodily stiffly started walking towards where she thought the highway to be. As long as she made it to Damon, she would be safe. No one would die, he wouldn't let her hurt any of the people she loved.

A sweet, pungent smell wafted to her nose, she could feel the stabbing pain as her fangs ripped out of her gums for the first time. She yelped in pain. The burning in her throat intensified greatly. Instinct just took over, and she raced, faster than any car or plane could have ever gone, towards the smell. Two park rangers were walking up the steps toward their offices. She pounced on one of htem, ripping her teeth into his flesh, letting the sweet liquid pour down her throat, relieving her thirst. She drained him in seconds before tackling the second man, draining him as well. As she came to the realization of what she had done, her eyes filled with tears, and she started sobbing uncontrollably. Her emotions were all over the place.

She didn't know what to think, she just ran towards the boarding house. Elena tried to walk through the front door, but was stopped by an invisible barrier. She oculdn't cross it, so she tried ringing the doorbell. Nobody answered. If Damon was here, he would have already sensed her and come running towards her by now. Now that she thought about it, what would be his reaction to her? Would he mistake her for Katherine? Elena hoped that he knew her better than that, to think she would be her doppelganger. But she could only wait and see. She looked herself over, and she was a mess. Dirt and blood was all over her. She HAD to take a shower. Elena couldn't present herself to anyone looking like this. Next thing she knew she was standing outside her front door, she couldn't get in there either though. She rang the doorbell.
"Elena? Why didn't you just come in?" Jeremy asked.
"I forgot my key, sorry Jer." She replied.
THe smell of his blood pulsing through his veins wafted to her nostrils, and she held her breath, trembling, trying to keep control.
"Well what are you waiting for? Don't just stand out there, come in!" Jeremy said.
Elena stepped in, and disappeared up the stairs into her bathroom. She quickly took a shower. While she was washing up, she thought to herself, why hadn't Jermey recognized the state I was in? Didn't he know I had been missing? Has he been compelled?
She got dressed and grabbed Jermey's phone off the counter, finding Damon's number and quickly dialing it.
"What do you want?"
"Uhm. Damon...this is Elena..."
"Where've you been for the past two days?! Why aren't you using your phone, Elena?"
"Well...I don't really know...and I don't know where my phone is..."
"Hmm well you had best find it. I'll be over by your house in a bit." "Yes well...can I just meet you at the Boarding house? It's kind of hard to explain...But just so you know, you might think I'm Katherine...I...well...you see...ARGH I'll just let you see for yourself."
"Are you saying...Ok. I'll meet you there in a half hour, I just got a call about what looks like a vampire attack on some park rangers...was...nevermind, just be careful."
Elena hesitated. "Uhm okay. See you there."
She didn't know what to do. How to get herself out of this situation. Her emotions were everywhere, but the main emotion was scared. She didn't remember anything after she had drained the men, what if she got caught? Well Damon could compell the council for her but...she was always trying to get Damon to be the better person, and now look at what she had just done?

With tears pouring down her face she ran to the boarding house, and sat on behind a bush by the front door. If anyone drove by they wouldn't be able to see her, unless they were a vampire that is. She thought about how her future might play out now. This all was too much, she couldn't take it. Would it be better to just do what Damon had done back before he had met her? Turn her emotions off, flip the switch? While she was contemplating all this, Damon's car pulled in half an hour later, and she pulled her wild thoughts to a halt.
"Why are you sitting out here?" Damon asked.
"Because...I haven't been invited in." Elena replied grimly.
Damon rushed up to her then, looking her deep in the eyes, and moved his head to where it would rest just by where her heart should have been thumping. Had it been beating it would have flown out of her chest. She felt that she didn't need to breathe, but it felt more comfortable to do it, so she inhaled an unsteady breath.

"How? And do you know where you were for that whole day and a half you were missing? Do you remember anything at alll?
"Nothing. I just woke up in a cramped, dark place. I couldn't breathe, couldn't open my eyes without having dirt falling in them..." Elena paused, took a deep breath, and continued. " I clawed my way through the ground...and was planning on walking until I found the road. But then I...smelled...something..."
Elena could feel her fangs threatening to burst out of her mouth as she remembered the smell, the taste of the sweet liquid.

Damon's POV

As Elena was talking, I felt myself sadden at the fact that I hadn't kept her safe. I didn't fufill my duty. The duty to my heart, that was. I knew if my brother was here he would have been freaking out this entire time, causing this new vampire's emotions to go even more haywire than they already were. So Damon kept calm, and tried to hide his emotions that were threatening to break down his walls around his facial expressions.
When Elena got to talking about the smell, I noticed her eyes darken, veins start to poke out around the top part of her face. Her mouth parted and I could see two white, gleaming daggers start to protrude. She had to have been thinking of blood. There was no other thing on this planet that would have made her start to lose control as much as that luscious fluid. He firmly put his hands on her shoulders, pressing her down to the ground, not allowing any movement from her.
"Elena,"
She didn't come back to her surroundings, just stood there, all vamped out. He shook her by her shoulders a couple times, and she finally came around. He knew she wasn't Katherine, because if she was then she would've been able to get in the house. Also, Elena had a freckle on her knee that Katherine didn't have.

Elena was looking all around her, not wanting to look Damon in the eye. He already knew who had killed those rangers at the park. Didn't even need to ask. Compelling the whole council would be a hassel, but Elena was worth it. She was what kept him going, from not being the badder brother. Damon swore she could make his heart beat, he was sure he'd heard it a few times in these past months. Especially now, that Elena was finally with him. His brother, Stefan, wasn't in the way now. Damon would be the one she always turned to. He had always wanted her to be his (as he used to put it) princess of darkness. But as he had gotten to know her, he slowly felt feeling for her. He had to have her, yet he wanted her to be happy. So if she was happy with his brohter, as a human, not wanting to be changed, then he would let it be.

Those times were over, in fact they felt like an era ago now.

Now that she was calmed down, he didn't feel like hearing the rest of her story. He felt like he already knew the ending.

Elena's POV

Damon just held her as she stared off into the forest, fighting her predatoristic instincts. She was fighting the urge not to cry, and succeded. He led her into the house, after inviting her in.

"How long ago was it that you fed?"

"I...I...I think it was about an hour and a half, two hours ago..." she stuttered.

Damon walked into the kitchen, opened the fridge and grabbed a blood bag. Pouring it in a glass, he asked her "Would you rather me mix it with alcohol or something, or--"

He didn't have time to finish his sentence. She had just suddenly appeared to the left of him, grabbing the glass and pouring the contents down her throat. Elena hadn't even realized what she was doing. After she came back to her senses, staring at him, shocked, he took the glass from her calmly. She'd have to learn more self control. Just have to. If she ever wanted to see any of her family again...

Damon's POV

After seeing her rush towards the glass after I had poured it a minute before, I knew she was capable of more than an ordinary vampire. Capable of more than that had just been turned hours before, anyway. She had clearly been back to her house, or somewhere, and taken a shower. She wouldn't have done that anywhere but her house. That meant she had been by Jeremy, in order to have been invited in. She had more restraint than he thought.