Chapter 4

Bzz Bzz Bzz

"What is that annoying buzzing noise?" Damon asked, rolling over onto his side, covering his head with a pillow.

Bzz Bzz Bzz Bzz

"Jesus Christ, Elena! What is that?" He asked again, this time while shaking her to wake her up too.

Elena groaned and rolled over to look at the time, "It's 2am Damon. What could possibly be the issue right now?"

"I don't know Elena. That annoying buzzing coming from your side of the bed woke me up. So, you tell me."

Elenas eyes shot open and she jumped up, "Oh my God. My phone! It's probably Stefan!" She quickly jumped out of bed and grabbed her phone to see that she had not 1, not 2, but 17 missed calls, all from Stefan and one text sent 2 mins ago I'm on my way over, I'm worried. This isn't like you. And Damons not answering either.

"Damon! Get up right now and get dressed. He's on his way over here, he said he's been calling you too and he's worried."

Damon let out a low growl and jumped up, vamped over to her window to lock it and shut the curtains and quickly got dressed.

"Maybe you should uh-you know-throw on some clothes too" He looked her up and down and licked his lips, wiggling his eyebrows.

Elena half smiled and threw a pillow at him "This isn't the time for jokes. Go downstairs and pretend you've been sleeping on the couch or something, I have to wash you out of my hair. Go please."

Damon rolled his eyes and gave her a quick kiss before vamping down stairs. Elena jumped in the shower and as fast as she could, she used every good smelling thing she had to erase the smell of Damon from her body. She shut the water off and ran into her room to make the bed, threw on a pair of pajamas and towel dried her hair. She laid down, shut the lights off, and pretended to be sleeping and about 2 mins later she heard a knock at her window. Elenas heart was racing as she jumped up and scanned the room one last time to make sure everything looked normal before walking over to the window to let him in.

"Elena! I was so worried about you. I called a bunch of times. What happened? Where's Damon?" Stefan climbed in the window and grabbed Elena into a tight hug before leaning down to kiss her. His lips were trembling, she felt so guilty. She couldn't help but kiss him back. His tongue ran along her bottom lip and she opened her mouth and accepted his tongue into hers. The kiss was passionate and warm, she really did love him. But the spark that her and Damon had was different, and she couldn't help but picture him while she was tangled up in Stefan. She leaned away from his kiss and softly smiled, running her fingers thru his hair, "I'm so sorry Stefan. We drove for so many hours and we were attacked by Kohl and everything was just so chaotic that I asked Damon to stay to make sure me and Jeremy were safe and passed out after I showered off the blood from the gash in my head. I should have called you, I'm sorry."

Stefan smiled sympathetically and ran his fingers over the scar on her head before pressing his lips to it, "Are you okay?" he asked while stroking her hair. She leaned into his hand and tears formed in her eyes, "I-I yes, I'm okay. I'm just tired. Damon should be downstairs on the couch. He protected me and Jeremy the whole time Stefan. Kohl almost killed him."

Stefan nodded his head and dropped his hand from Elenas hair, looking towards the ground, "And? That scared you, didn't it? Almost losing him? Because I'm right, you do have feelings for him. I can see it in your eyes while you talk about him and I can smell him everywhere in this room so don't try and tell me he stayed downstairs all night."

Elena let out an annoyed sigh and rolled her eyes and right before she could defend Damon, he came walking thru the door, slamming it open. "No Stefan. I didn't stay downstairs all night. I slept right there in that chair, facing the bed, watching over your girl, making sure nothing happened to her. I will always protect her, even if that means making you a little annoyed. She didn't even know I was in here so before you get all huffy, calm yourself down. I did what I was supposed to do. I made sure she stayed alive."

Elena watched as Damons eyes filled with anger, she tried to get his attention but he wouldn't take his eyes off Stefan who she didn't even realize was watching her staring at him.

"Mhm. Alight. And neither one of you heard your phones going off? I mean when did you even get back here? I called each one of you for at least an hour straight before I came here to check on you."

Elena huffed and grabbed him around the neck to pull his attention towards her, "Stefan, I told you, it was a chaotic couple of days. We were both exhausted and healing. Please. It's okay." She said softly before leaning up and pressing a light kiss to his lips, completely forgetting that Damon was standing right there. She quickly dropped her hands from his neck and glanced over at Damon who at this point just looked defeated and broken all over again.

"I-uh-I guess I'm going to get going now since your knight in shining amour is here." He said with an arrogant tone before looking deep into Elenas eyes so she could feel his pain too.

Damon nodded at Stefan and went to turn around but Elena quickly ran over to him and grabbed his hand to stop him, her heart beating thru her chest.

"Wait. Damon, please stay." Her eyes boring into his soul as her fingers tightened around his hand.

Stefan laughed and rolled his eyes, "You have got to be kidding me?! I knew it Elena, Damon. I – Elena." He sighed as he watched Elena pull Damon into the room, still holding his hand. "Stefan, shhh, please. Listen." She started walking towards him and grabbed his hand too, making Demon let out a low growl.

"Listen to me. Both of you. I Love you both for different reasons and in different ways. I know that sounds selfish and I'm in no way trying to be like Katherine, I hate her. But I do love both of you, I'm just not going to string you both along the way she did." Damon tried to let go of her hand, assuming she would be choosing Stefan, because he's always been the better man. But when he tried wiggling his fingers free, she held on tighter and pulled him closer to her. "Stefan, I'll always love you but when you were gone, me and Damon really bonded." Stefan looked at Damon and back down at Elena, trying to understand. "He loves me Stefan, and he loves me at my worst and my best. He's not selfish about it, he was willing to help me get you back even though he was in love with me. Damon just makes me feel safe and protected, all the time, always. I'm sorry Stefan, I just, I am in love with him and I have to let you go."

Damon had tears running down his cheeks while he listened to Elena explain her love for him. It was finally real and now he knew it. He smiled and squeezed her hand, but he couldn't help feel a bit of sympathy for Stefan. Stefan nodded his head, grabbed Elenas face and pressed his lips against hers in a passionate kiss, tears forming in his eyes. She leaned away from his kiss and smiled, running her hand across his cheek, "I really am sorry Stefan, I never wanted to hurt you. You were there for me when no one else was and I'll never forget that."

He leaned into her hand for a second before disappearing out the window. She stood there confused, feeling guilty. But then she realized Damon was still standing there, holding her hand. She turned to face him and looked deep into his beautiful blue eyes filled with admiration and grabbed both sides of his face, stood up on her tiptoes and pressed her lips against his.

"Damon, I love you so much. Why would you ever think I would let you leave me? I wanted this for so long.I know Stefan is hurt, but at least we told him the right way. And now, I'm all yours." She smiled, tears falling down her face.

He ran his fingers thru her hair and pulled her closer to him, "I'm just so used to being second to Stefan. I just didn't want to believe it. I love you so much, you're my world. No matter what happens."

As he was just about to kiss her again, his phone started to ring, it was a number he didn't recognize. "Salvatore speaking."

"Damon, just as arrogant as ever. You would think by now you would have learned. Too bad you were to concerned with if Elena would pick you or your brother. Have you checked on Jeremy lately? Or did you happen to see where Stefan went?" He laughed eviliy "Happy hunting my friend. Hope you can explain to your lover what happened to her brother when you eventually find him. And Stefan, you wont be seeing him for a while. Goodbye friend."

Damon threw his phone across the room and ran out the door to check on Jeremy, who luckily was still sleeping in his bed. What the hell was that about? He ran downstairs and checked the doors, made sure everything was locked before returning back upstairs to Elena.

"Elena, we have to grab Jeremy and go somewhere safe. I don't know what's going on, but that phone call I just got isn't sitting well with me." He walked into the room and noticed the window was wide open, the curtains were blowing, and Elena was gone.

"Elena! Oh fuck. It was a distraction." He ran around the room, checked inside the bathroom and ran back into Jeremys room to wake him up but when he got there he was gone too, "Fuck! Stefan!" He quickly grabbed his phone up off the ground and dialed his number, "Please pick up Stefan."

"Hello? What do you want Damon?" Stefan answered, sounding defeated.

"Stefan! Elena, Jeremy, they're both gone. I think it was Kohl. I got a phone call and Elena was standing right in front of me and whoever it was threated that Jeremy was already gone and that they had you so I went to check on Jeremy and while I was gone whoever it was got Elena and came back for Jeremy too. Stefan, I don't know what to do!"

There was no answer on the other line, complete silence, "Stefan?!" Damon yelled into the phone and threw it against the wall. His head was spinning, how could this be happening. He was supposed to keep her safe and now she was gone. He sat on the edge of her bed and cradled his head in his hands, trying to gather any thoughts of what or who that was and how to get them back. And then Stefan came jumping through the window, "Damon! I'm here."

Damon jumped up and immediately hugged Stefan, which threw him off but he hugged him back, "It's okay Damon. We'll find them. I already called Bonnie; we're going to try to do a locater spell. She's on her way here now.

Damon let go of Stefan, shook his head, and started pacing back and forth "Why didn't I think to do that? Of course, Bonnie can help. Fuck I can't even think straight right now!" He growled, punching a hole right thru the wall in Elenas bedroom. Blood was trickling down his arm as he removed his hand from the wall and vamped out of the room into the kitchen. He couldn't be around Stefan right now, his emotions were clouding his ability to think straight and it was embarresing him. Usually he was the rational one while Stefan was broody and emotional. I need to pull myself together. I need to find her. The bell rang and startled him out of his thoughts, he quickly ran to the door and let Bonnie in, "Hey. I-Bonnie, thank you. I need her Bon I can't-" Bonnie lightly squeezed his arm and nodded her head, staring at him in an understanding way, "Damon. We'll get her back. I know."

Damon forced a smile and nodded, "Okay. Let's do this."

Stefan came walking down the stairs and they all went into the kitchen to begin the spell. Bonnie was holding something of Jeremys and Damon handed her one of Elenas sweaters. She set everything up on the table and began the spell. Damon was nervously pacing back and forth and Stefan was sitting at the table across from Bonnie and then literally everything on the table stared shaking and the lights flickered on and off. Bonnie jumped up from the table and stepped back, blood dripping from her nose.

"Guys, the map. Look where it's showing us."

Damon ran over to the table and then stared up at Stefan, "Well that's just great."

Stefan banged his fist down on the table and flipped the chair back that he was sitting on, "Why? What could he possibly want with her I don't understand."

" He said he would attack again when we fought him off at Marys and he doesn't think like a rational person Stefan, he's crazier than Klaus. We need to get there, now."

Stefan laughed and rolled his eyes, "Yes, Damon. Lets go there just the 2 of us and walk right into his trap. I mean really, what is actually wrong with you? We need a plan. And how are you so sure this has anything to do with Kohl? The map is showing Klaus' mansion, and if I had to guess, I'd say he needs her blood. So either way, we need a plan before we go running in there."

Damon grabbed Stefan by the throat and threw him across the room, " I. Am. Not. Waiting! You don't want to come? Then don't. Sit here and plan out your little attack. I'm going there now."

Before Stefan could even respond, Damon vamped out of the house and into his car. He sat there for a minute, banged his head against the steering wheel and then took off. Elena, I promise, I'm coming for you.