Disclaimer: I do not own anything the vampire diaries related.

A/N: Hey guys! I´ve been rewatching TVD and I just love season 1! Which is why I wrote this...

Just a short warning: This story is going to be really dark. It will contain both physical and emotional abuse, dark themes, blackmail, a forced relationship and probably some other things. I will also always add an explicit warning at the beginning of each chapter. If you are triggered by such content I advise you to not read it. At last, I want to highlight that this work is purely fictional. I condemn any form of violence or abuse!

Finally, I want to mention that english is not my native language. There will porbably be some mistakes, which I hope you will be able to overlook ;) Happy Readings!

-Fool me twice-

Elena looked right into his eyes. Her hands trembled but she tried to control it. She knew what she had to do and still…still there was a little nagging voice in the back of her head that told her to stop. That told her that this wasn´t a good idea…at all. Anyway, she ignored that voice while she slowly lifted her hands and touched her necklace before taking it off. She could see Damon´s eyebrows rising.

"What are you doing?" he asked her.

"Ask me again if I lie to you without the necklace." Elena said and looked right into Damon´s eyes. She knew that this moment was essential. She was practically standing before him without protection. She was giving him the opportunity to compel her and she could just hope that he wouldn´t take advantage of her.

His eyes widened. "Elena," he whispered but she shook her head no.

"Damon, look, I understand why you wouldn´t trust me. I betrayed you. But it´s different this time. I really want to help you to get Katherine back. You deserve happiness as well, Damon."

He was still looking at her and she couldn´t gauge his reaction. Very slowly he started walking towards her, his eyes fixed on her exposed neck. Elena felt a sudden fear. Her heart was making loops, but she stood her ground. She needed Damon to trust her. There was no way around it.

He stopped just centimeters in front of her. Elena could feel his breath tingle on her face. He cocked his head to the side. "You want me to compel you?" he asked.

Elena gulped. "If this is what it takes", she said, her voice betraying the nervousness she felt deep inside of her. For a moment Damon was awfully quiet. There was no emotion on his face, no reaction at all. And then - all of a sudden - a big, scary smirk started to appear on his face. His eyes were twinkling with something predatory, something Elena had never seen before. And just like that the realization hit her, that she might just have made the greatest mistake of her life.

"Elena, Elena," he sung teasingly, while this smirk was still in place. "Don´t you think it´s a bit naive to offer yourself to me like this? To make yourself so…vulnerable?"

Elena gulped. "I trust you not to do anything to me," she whispered. She looked at him, her nervousness overtaking her. Without realizing it, she bit lightly on her bottom lip, sucked. God she hoped he really wouldn´t. Damon smiled while he lifted his hand. His thumb slowly stroked over her bottom lip, freeing it of her teeth. Some part of her mind screamed at Elena to back down, to run as fast as she could but she felt frozen. Captured in his gaze.

Damon´s eyes scrutinized her. "To be honest, I really do think that you tell the truth. You want to help me." He laughed as if this alone was hilarious. "But what about Stefan? Or the Bennet witch? You can´t truly tell me that they want to help me because newsflash…they want to see me dead."

"They won´t do anything, I promise." Elena said. "They promised to help you."

Damon sighed and shook his head no. "Their promises mean nothing to me."

"And my promise, Damon? What does that mean to you?" Elena looked at him and decided to play the last card she had. "I know there is something between the two of us…a connection." Damon wanted to say something but she didn´t give him the chance. "I know you felt it too, Damon. I know it! And now I am here, and I tell you, no I promise you, that we will do everything we can to bring Katherine back. No more lies, no more schemes. We will just get her out of this tomb."

A silence followed her words, which seemed to stretch and stretch. Damon was still just looking at her, contemplating what she had said. Then, suddenly, he seemed to have come to a decision. Slowly he grabbed for Elena´s necklace. He let the bracelet tangle between his fingers, contemplating it with a strange look in his eyes. In a way, Elena didn´t like his expression…at all.

"What are you doing?" she asked, her voice trembling. For a moment Damon continued looking at her necklace, then his eyes went up to her again and what she saw in them made her heart beat faster with sudden fear. He seemed to see her reaction and his smirk grew even wider. "You know Elena," he said slowly. "Even though I really do believe everything you have said, you can´t expect me to go along with it all without having kind of an … insurance."

"Yes, I understand but…", she was stopped by Damon who put a finger before her lips. "Hush," he murmured and when she looked at him she was almost sure to have seen a flash of red in his normally blue eyes. "And you certainly can´t expect me to not take advantage of this situation. Not after you offered yourself to me like you just did. Elena."

She shook her head no. "I didn´t…," she began but made the mistake of looking into his eyes. For a moment they seemed to contradict, and Elena felt herself unable to look away. "Be quiet," Damon murmured and in an instant Elena couldn´t bring herself to form a single word. Her heartbeat accelerated when she understood that he had just compelled her. She couldn´t believe it, wouldn´t… she had been so sure he wouldn´t harm her. She felt naïve now. Stupid.

Damon smiled, obviously content that his compulsion had worked. His hand touched her cheek and Elena jerked away. "Don´t look so afraid," Damon told her with a smirk and a roll of his eyes. "I am not going to kill you." Elena wanted to ask him what else he planned on doing, but the words simply wouldn´t form. It was frustrating! Damon seemed to understand anyway.

"As I have said, I need some kind of insurance and I guess you will do quite right." Elena´s eyes widened while she still wasn´t sure what it was he intended to do. In her head, Elena cursed herself again and again, asking why she had brought herself in this situation.

"What no accusations, no untenable threats? A well, yes, I forgot. You can´t." He grinned and Elena felt anger rise inside of her. How dare he make fun of the situation like that? A sudden, fierce anger shot through her and before she could think about what she was doing, she had already raised her hand to deliver a sharp slap. Damon was faster though. Before she knew what was happening, he had already grabbed her hand, stopping her movement effectively. Faster than she could react, he had tucked at her hand, pulling her to him. Elena felt her body collide with his and his arms tightening behind her back, making it impossible for her to back off. She looked up at him and glared, realizing her mistake just as she saw his eyes contradict again and was unable to look away. Damon smirked because he knew he had caught her off-guard. "I am going to return your necklace now", he told her and for the tiniest moment Elena felt hope rise inside of her, before he continued speaking and shattered it. "but…", he said. "When I tell you to take it off again and look in my eyes, you will do it immediately. In addition, you will not tell, or communicate in any way to anyone what had happened here today or that I compelled you." He smirked. "It will be our little secret."

Elena couldn´t believe what she was hearing. Couldn´t believe that Damon would really do this to her. She wanted to tell him off, wanted to scream at him but couldn´t. She hated him in this moment. Damon seemed to see her distress and laughed. "Ah yes," he said. "I almost forgot." He looked in her eyes again. "you may speak again."

The moment he said it, Elena felt a pressure falling off her. She tried to push against him, to get distance between them, but he didn´t allow it. "You…you asshole!" she screamed at him, which made Damon smirk even more. "Calm down", he told her but Elena wasn´t even thinking of it. She just doubled her struggle, trying desperately to get some well needed distance between them. Slowly, Damon's amusement seemed to fade while he realized that she wasn´t giving in and was replaced by annoyance. "Elena," he said again, his voice sounding sterner now. "Stop your struggling or I am going to make you." That somehow got through to her. She didn´t want him to compel her again. Slowly she stopped her struggling but still didn´t look at him. "Can´t you leave me alone now?"

"I will," she heard him say, "but first I am going to give you your necklace back. Will you please lift your hair." He sounded nicer again as if the last minutes hadn´t happened at all. Not that he could fool Elena now. Anyway, she wanted nothing more than to finally have her necklace around her neck again, so she did as he had asked and lifted her hair, still not looking at him. Damon sighed, before slowly fastening the necklace. The moment it touched her skin Elena felt a sense of security even though she knew it was just an illusion. One word from Damon would be enough to make her take it off again. She wasn´t fooled. She was in deep shit. When he had secured it, Elena started to push him away again and this time, to her great relief, he actually let her. She stumbled backwards while trying to bring as much distance between them as possible. Just then was she able to look at him again. "How could you do this?" she asked. "I trusted you!"

Damon laughed coldly. "Feels shitty, doesn´t it? To trust someone and be betrayed?" Elena´s eyes widened. "So that was payback? For what we did?"

But Damon shook his head no. "This was getting insurance," he said. "Now, if your friends should decide to betray me, I can make you pay dearly for it. And since we all know how much they love you, it will be the thing that hurts them the most." He smiled at her but the smile wasn´t masking his threat. Elena felt cold. Even worse, she knew she was at his mercy now. And it was all her fault.

"You wouldn´t hurt me."

"Are you sure about that?"

Elena gulped. Half an hour ago she had been sure. But she had also thought that Damon wouldn´t compel her… Damon chuckled. "I thought so."

For a moment Elena closed her eyes.

"So where do we need to go to free Katherine?", she heard him ask.

Elena opened her eyes again and looked at him incredulously. "That´s it? We are just going to continue as if nothing has happened?" she asked angrily. Damon smirked.

"Why Elena," he asked with a faked innocence in his voice. "I thought that was what you wanted. Wasn´t it why you came here? To convince me that you would help me?"

Elena nodded tightly. "Yes. But that was before you acted like the world´s biggest asshole."

Damon laughed while he made his way over to the door, just to stop in the doorway and look at her again. There was an evil glint in his eyes. "Well," he said. "Unfortunately, now you don´t really have a choice anymore, dear. Which is why I suggest that you come with me now… or of course…" his smirk grew even more evil. "I could always make you." He laughed before exciting the house, not even looking back once to see if she was following him. Elena felt her hand clench in anger. In this moment she really wanted to rip his heart out. But unfortunately, Damon had been right. She didn´t have a choice. He could simply compel her if she didn´t do what he wanted and then she wouldn´t have any control over what she did. She couldn´t risk it.

Seething with anger Elena followed him.