When Damon came back, she was still lying on her bed, tears streaming down her face in cascades. She tensed when he entered again. Elena felt herself being lifted and before she could do anything, she was sitting between Damon´s legs, her back leaning against his strong chest. "No, let me…" she tried to struggle but she still was far too weak to really make a difference. After a minute of exhausting herself, she finally stopped in defeat. She could almost feel Damon´s satisfied smile against her hair.

"That´s better", he said, and she thought that she really would like to smash his head with something.

"I hate you," she mumbled, which made Damon laugh. "Do I look like I care?" he said, before grabbing for something on her nightstand and giving her the glass filled with water. "You need to drink," he told her. "You will feel better afterwards."

Elena looked at the glass with doubt in her eyes. She didn´t want anything he was giving her, but her throat felt dry. Sighing silently, she finally took it and gulped a bit of the water. She couldn´t deny that she felt a bit better afterwards, just a little bit clearer. Her force was slowly returning to her and she was finally able to force her tears to stop. She hated that he had seen her in such a vulnerable state.

"See", Damon said, who had obviously sensed the change in her. "All better."

Elena couldn´t help but turn around and glare at him. "I´m never going to forgive you for this, you know this, right?"

Damon raised his eyebrows and smiled cockily at her. "Never, Elena, is an awfully long time." He took hold of one strain of her hair and began toying with it. "Besides, what did you expect? I am a vampire. We drink blood. I really don´t know why you are so surprised."

Elena felt her eyes widen. "What have I expected? Well for once that you wouldn´t do something like that against my will! I trusted you, Damon! That was why I took off my necklace. Because I thought that there was more to you than the others saw. I thought that our friendship meant something to you!"

She laughed sarcastically. "But obviously I was a fool." Tears were still stinging in her eyes and she had a hard time holding them back. She would never admit it… but him, of all people, doing this to her … it kind of really hurt.

Damon´s eyes had narrowed while hearing her words and he barked out a cold, humorless laugh. "You thought our friendship mattered to me?" he pronounced the word as if it were the most offending word he had ever heard. "You cannot imagine how fucking tired I am of this, Elena. For weeks, I´ve played the fool and I´m not even sure why!", he growled and the anger she saw in his eyes really surprised her. "I was good enough for this, right? Being your friend. All this time, I was good enough for you to run to whenever you had a problem. I was good enough to protect you from whatever shit you have stumbled into!" he sounded angrier with every word he said. "But that´s it, isn´t it? You swing me along, keep me around to protect you, but the moment you want something more, you run to Stefan and beg him to fuck you, isn´t this right, Elena?"

Elena felt his fingers grabbing her chin, forcing her to turn around and look at him. She whimpered because of the force he was using. Her neck was hurting with every movement. His electrifying eyes were shooting daggers at her and she was almost sure that she would have bruises where he was touching her. "You´re hurting me," she whimpered but Damon didn´t seem to care. His eyes were cold as ice, nothing but hate shining there. "Good," he said coldly.

Elena shivered. She wasn´t sure why he was that angry. But what she was sure of was that she didn´t deserve it. She hadn´t done anything to him. She had tried to help him free Katherine. She had forgiven him most of the bad things he had done, and she had offered him her friendship. It wasn´t fair that she was in this situation. It wasn´t fair at all. "Are you sure, Damon," she said very slowly, "that you are still speaking about me and not about Katherine?"

Maybe it had been the wrong thing to say. Maybe it was silly to provoke him further, when he was holding her face in such a tight grip, when he could break her neck in only a second. What Elena knew was, that his grip tightened even more now. A sharp pain was shooting through her. She whimpered lowly but again Damon didn´t seem to care at all. He was looking at her with an unreadable expression, his features set in stone.

"Maybe," he said very slowly. "maybe you are right, and I am speaking about Katherine. But even though Stefan never grows tired of underlining that the two of you are totally different in character, I do think that in a way you two are just the same. You can say whatever you want, Elena, but I see it clearly. You would use me for protection, carry me along but in the end it would still "always be Stefan"."

Elena shook her head no, wanted to protest but before she had uttered a word, Damon laid his finger on her lips, silencing her. He looked deeply into her eyes. "Do you want to know what the difference between Katherine and you is, though?" He obviously didn´t expect her to answer because he continued talking before she had the chance to say something. "The difference is that Katherine could do all these things. She always got what she wanted because, to be honest, who was there to stop her? She was powerful, unstoppable. But you Elena…" he smirked down at her. "You are none of these things and trying to play me like Katherine did was a mistake. Maybe, as a human, I have been so pathetic and played along. But a lot has changed in the last 160 years and you will see that now it is me who is setting the rules. Instead of you using me, I am going to get what I want. And the only reason why I will do it is because I fucking can!"

Elena tried to shake her head no. But her chin was still caught in his grip. "You´re wrong, Damon," she told him desperately. She had no clue why everything had gone so wrong. She had no clue why she hadn´t seen this coming. Nothing he said made sense to her because, if she was honest, she had never seen it like this. She had never thought he could get her intentions that wrong. Hadn´t she told him that she loved Stefan? What did he expect? "It was never my intention to use you. You have to believe me at least this."

Damon laughed sarcastically. "And how would you call what you have been doing the last months, dare tell?"

Elena bit on her bottom lip. It was all somehow too much for her. "I thought we were becoming friends…", she began slowly. Anyway, this was obviously the wrong thing to say, because the moment the words had left Elena´s mouth, she could see the anger returning full force. He looked deadly while he glared at her. "Never," he said very slowly, highlighting every soluble, "Say this word to me again. Got it?" When she wasn´t responding, he seemed to get even angrier. She could feel his grip around her chin tightening and felt herself being shaken rather forcefully. She felt like a puppet being tossed around. Her teeth were clapping on each other and tears were stinging in her eye. "Do. You. Understand. Elena?" she heard Damon ask her again and gasp. "Yes! Yes, ok, I do."

The moment she gave in he stopped shaking her, looking rather smug. The anger had gone from his eyes just as fast as it appeared. His mood changes really gave Elena a headache.

"Good," he said, before suddenly giving her a small push. Having vampire force, anyway, Elena felt herself being propelled backwards and shrieked. She tried to stop it, but the force of his push had been so strong that she rolled over the edge of the bed and landed hard on her ass. She groaned, while she sat up again, rubbing over her hurting backside.

Damon chuckled; anger being replaced by amusement. "Gracile", Damon commented, and Elena had to bite on her bottom lip to not say something nasty. "You are such a jerk."

Damon rolled his eyes. "Come on, Elena, is this supposed to hurt me?" he laughed. Elena decided he didn´t deserve an answer at all. With as much grace as she could muster, she pushed herself up, feeling much better when she was standing again and was looking down on Damon sitting on her bed. She felt kind of more in control in this position, even though she knew it was nothing but an illusion. The wound on her neck puckered and Elena carefully touched the sore flesh, trying to gauge the damage. She grimaced the moment her fingertips brushed against the wound.

"You know," she heard Damon´s voice from her bed. "I could help you with this, if you´d ask me nicely."

She glared in his direction and he held up his hands innocently. "Just a please is all it would take, Elena. Come on, this is not that much to ask."

"If you think I will ask you for anything, Damon, you are dead wrong. And I will certainly not drink your blood. Period." She looked around for something to treat her wound with. But as always, Damon seemed to be faster. Before she could react, he had already stood up from the bed and stopped just centimeters before her body. Elena´s breath hitched. "Shame," Damon replied, his fingers gripping her chin again and bending her head to the side so that he could examine her wound. He looked at it for a moment before disappearing again. Elena stared at the place he had just been, thinking that it might be a good idea to get away from here as fast as possible, but before the thought had even reached her legs, he was already back again, holding a wet washcloth in his hand. He watched Elena´s body tense with dark amusement. "You don´t need to look so afraid," he told her, but the smile on his face didn´t look even a bit reassuring to Elena. His hand cupped her cheek and his thumb slowly stroked her soft skin. "You know the last thing I would do is killing you." He did sound sincere but this wasn´t helping to calm Elena´s fear as well. She looked into his eyes and asked herself how someone who was so beautiful could be such a monster. "But you would hurt me," she whispered, and she was sure he could hear how betrayed she felt by this. "…you have just proven it."

Damon didn´t seem to be affected by her words. His smile was even kind of warm, while he looked deep into her eyes. Maybe that was the reason why the evilness of his next words surprised her even more. "Only if you are bad."

Elena felt her mouth plop open. She wanted to protest, but before she had the chance Damon had already leant forwards, silencing her protest with a kiss. Faster than she could think, he pushed his tongue into her mouth, kissing her for just a second in earnest before pulling away again. Elena could do nothing but stare at him in shock. She had wanted to protest, to fight against the kiss, but he had just been so fast. He was already finished before she even had the change to struggle. Damon chuckled. "Close your mouth, you look like a fish," he told her which made Elena flush furiously in anger and embarrassment. Damon didn´t seem to care. "Come on now," he told her as if he hadn´t just threatened her again. Or kissed her again, for the matter. "Let me see the wound, we need to clean it up to prevent infection."

When Elena didn´t react immediately, he again took hold of her chin and exposed the wound. Elena closed her eyes actually expecting him to be kinda rough but was surprised when he let the washcloth just carefully glide over the wound, cleaning the skin of her neck from the blood. He methodically worked closer and closer to the actual wound, before slightly rubbing over it. Elena winced a bit but it didn´t hurt too much. Finally, Damon seemed to be content.

"As good as new," he exclaimed cheerfully, which made Elena huff in disbelieve. She managed to wrench her face out of his grip and quickly took a few steps away from him. "Well, it doesn´t feel as good as new," she replied angrily, still not able to believe that he had done this to her. She just felt so used.

Damon shrugged. "When I remember correctly, it has been you, who was too proud to ask for my blood. Not that I could really complain, though. To be honest, I absolutely do like my mark on you."

Elena´s eyes widened. "What?", she asked shocked before shaking her head. "No, no. Absolutely no!", she whispered. She suddenly felt as if taking his blood would have been the better idea. It was as if Damon could read her thoughts. He chuckled. "Too late princess, the chance is over."

"You expect me to go to school like this?"

Damon rolled his eyes at her. "Well, obviously not. But it´s cold outside. No one will question it much if you wear a scarf. But even though no one will see my mark, you and I, we will still know that it is there. And…" he grinned evilly at her. "We will also know what it means. That you belong to me now."

Elena shook her head no in denial. "I don´t belong to anyone."

"Tell this to yourself if it makes you feel better," Damon replied with a shrug before walking over to her cupboard and going through it. It didn´t took him long to find what he was looking for. A smile appeared on his face. "Perfect", he said, before walking in her direction again. Elena mimicked his steps out of reflex but it wasn´t long before her back hit the wall and she had nowhere else to go. Damon was before her within seconds and his eyes pierced into hers. Even before he had said a word Elena knew he was going to compel her, and she also knew that there was not a thing she could do about it. She could only hope it wasn´t something really bad. I just need to get through this day, she reminded herself for the tenth time, while she waited for Damon to take away just another part of her freedom. Just today, and when everything is going according to plan, he can never do this to me again.

"You will not take of the scarf before I tell you that you can," she heard Damon compel her from far away. "And you will not show or talk about the bitemarks with anyone."

Elena repeated the words as if in trance before she was finally able to control her own body again. She glared at him, hating the power he had over her. "this wasn´t even necessary," she complained before grabbing the scarf out of his hand. "You compelled me yesterday to not expose you, so I wouldn´t have been able to show the bitemarks to anyone anyway."

Damon shrugged. "Yeah, I guess you are right, but right now I´m not willing to take a risk."

Elena glared at him. "Whatever", she mumbled. She wanted to walk over to the mirror in her bedroom, but before she had the chance, she felt his hands grab for her and turned around to him, glaring. "What is it now, Damon?" she gritted out, asking herself if he couldn´t let her be for a moment at least. Damon smiled, before grabbing something from the pocket of his jeans and letting it dangle in front of her eyes. "I just thought you would want this back."

Elena´s eyes focused on her necklace and she felt a certain desire to get it back. Logically, she was aware that it wasn´t going to protect her from Damon…but she was sure she would still feel better with it around her neck. Elena made a move to grab for it, but Damon was faster, bringing it out of her reach. "Come on, turn around." He told her and with a sigh Elena gave in, knowing that this probably was the fastest way to get it back. She slowly turned around and lifted her hair a bit so that Damon could put it around her. Again, he was so close to her that she could feel his body heat. Very carefully Damon clasped the necklace around her neck, before finally backing away.

Elena sighed in relief. She had no clue how to take Damon being this close to her. Without giving him another look, Elena walked over to the mirror where she carefully tugged the scarf around her neck, making sure that the bitemark was fully covered. When she turned around again, Damon was lying on her bed, holding her teddy in his hands and playing with it. "Cute," he commented. Angrily Elena stormed over to him and ribbed her teddy out of his hands. "Don´t touch my things."

Damon rolled his eyes. "Sure, sure." For a moment he was quiet before his eyes fell on the clock on her nightstand. He sighed. "I guess I really do need to bring you to school now, don´t I?" he said obviously not pleased that he needed to let her go. Elena tried to hide her relief. "There is no need to bring me," she told him. "I can drive myself."

Damon stood up and smiled at her. "I know that you can drive, Elena," he said before walking over to her and grabbing her hand. "You are just not going to." And with this he pulled her out of her room and to his car.

Elena was staring at the street ahead of her while her thoughts were spinning. She had had no chance but to let Damon drive her to school, but she had decided that she at least wouldn´t give him the satisfaction of talking. She had kept quiet the whole ride but Damon didn´t seem to care too much. He was humming slowly; contently even, to the beat of the music, his fingers tapping on the wheel while a small smile was tugged on his lips. It was as if he was in the best mood she had ever seen him and somehow that aggravated Elena even more. It was simply not fair that he seemed to be so happy while he made her suffer like this.

In the fifteen minutes they had been driving, Elena had gone through her plan twice; trying to make sure she was playing her cards as best as possible. She was aware that there wouldn´t be another chance. If Damon should find out what she was doing before she had managed it, he would simply compel her to never try something like this again. She had one shot… and she could just hope that for once luck would be on her side. But even if you manage to pull this off…some treacherous part of her mind whispered; Damon will still have an advantage. It might make the situation better, but it will not solve everything. Of course, Elena was aware of this fact. Even if everything went according to plan, she would still be in deep shit. Don´t think about it, she told herself. You can start worrying after you have pulled this off. Just focus on what you need to do today.

"What are you thinking?" Damon´s voice pulled her out of her thoughts. Elena quickly decided that it was best not to outright lie. She looked at him.

"How to best make you suffer for this."

Damon chuckled. "Any ideas yet?"

"Yeah, varying between staking you and burning you alive. But I tend to burning. It´s more painful."

It was really aggravating her that he still seemed to think that she was joking. She wasn´t. If she would have the possibility to actually burn him, Elena was almost sure she would do it.

"You know when you talk like this, it kinda makes me hot?" He wiggled his eyebrows at her in a suggestive manner.

Elena stiffened in her seat but tried to not give him the reaction he was waiting for. "Well, then you obviously have a sick understanding of this word."

Damon shrugged but let it slide. Elena watched him turn right; driving around a corner and in the next second she could see the building of her school. Finally, she thought. That is probably the first time I am truly happy to see my school.

Damon seemed to have sensed how she relaxed beside him. He was looking at her for a moment but didn´t comment on it.

20 seconds later they were driving on the parking lane and Damon stopped the engine. Happy that they were finally there Elena gripped for her bag, intent on leaving Damon behind as fast as possible. But before she could open the door his hand had shot out, pulling it close and making it impossible for her to leave the car. Exaggerated, Elena turned around to him and faced him with a scowl on her face. "What now, Damon?"

"Don´t you think it would be polite to thank me for driving you?"

"I didn´t even want it in the first place."

Damon sighed. "I know it´s hard for you to accept, Elena, but you are stuck with me now. And I do recall having told you what would happen if you´d disobey. You seem to have forgotten it rather quickly, though."

She hadn´t. She could remember his threat clearly and even thinking about it was still making her heart beat faster in panic. It was, maybe, the worst think she could imagine. To be forced to love someone. Would she even know that she was compelled? Would she scream on the inside while she acted all lovey-dovey, while she gave Damon everything he ever desired? While she hurt Stefan in the worst way possible? When Elena was sure about one thing than that she would do everything to avoid a fate like this.

Just give in, she told herself. Just this last time.

But even though she knew that after today she wouldn´t have to worry about him compelling her anymore, at least if everything went according to her plan… it still was so damn difficult to gulp down her pride like this. The last thing she wanted to do was to make him feel as if he was winning. But what choice did she have?

For a moment, Elena bit on her bottom lip before she forced the words out. "No, I haven´t forgotten."

Damon looked at her and when she wasn´t saying more his eyebrows rose. "So…" he probed cockily.

Elena sighed. "Thank you for driving me."

Damon smiled. She had thought it would be over now, that he would finally let her go but when she saw the evil glint in his eyes, she realized that she had been mistaken.

"Unfortunately, Elena," he said, while leaning closer to her. Their bodies were almost touching now. "This was not quite what I had in mind."

She looked at him. "What did you have in mind?"

Elena gasped when his hand touched her face. He caressed her for a second before his fingers tangled in her hair, pulling her closer. There were only inches left between their mouths. "Something a bit more…intimidate."

Elena´s breath was labored while she looked into Damon´s electrifying blue eyes. She felt like a deer caught in the spotlight. She couldn´t move and when she was honest it wasn´t even his hand in her hair that was making it impossible for her to back away. No, it was something else. Something in the way he was looking at her with so much heat. His eyes were promising her something she couldn´t even figure out. And at the same time, they weren´t giving her an option. He wasn´t hesitant. Not one second. He didn´t even seem to consider the possibility that she would refuse him. In this moment, Elena felt as if he was more powerful than they had ever given him credit for. And for a second she wondered, feared, that she would never be able to get away from him.

Damon was still looking at her and somehow it was too much. Elena felt her will crumble, being caught in the spell of his eyes and before she knew what she was doing she was already leaning in his direction, kissing him gently. When he was surprised that she had given in, he didn´t show it. For a moment, Damon allowed her to set the pace. His lips were soft and it even felt kind of nice. Then, without a warning, he was taking back control. Elena gasped when she felt him leaning in even more. His lips became more dominating, more urgent. Elena had no choice but to let it happen. And he took. He took everything she could give. Her head felt light while she felt him everywhere. His hands were in her hair pulling her closer. All Elena could see was him and all she could feel was him. He possessed her, was everywhere. She couldn´t even think when she felt his tongue invading her mouth. And then it ended just as abruptly as it had begun. And in a way it left Elena speechless.

She could more feel than see that Damon was leaning away from her. Her eyes were still half closed, her heart beating quickly, and her thoughts were foggy. She had no clue what had just happened. It had been so fast, so violent…

She shook her head and tried to clear the fog. Very slowly, she came back to herself and understood what had happened. Panic was starting to settle in. God, she had kissed him, she thought with growing horror. And what was even worse, at some primal level she had even felt something similar to pleasure. What the hell was wrong with her?

She could see Damon smirking at her and could have sworn that he knew exactly what was on her mind in this moment. She almost expected him to call her out on it but all he did was to slowly lean over her again and opening the door. "You can go now," he said, or ordered was more like it.

Elena stared at him for a second; shocked that he was just dismissing her like this. When she didn´t react immediately, Damon´s eyes narrowed. "Elena…" he growled warningly and this time she got the message. As fast as she possibly could, Elena stumbled out of the car, driven by this intense desire to be as far away from him as humanly possible. When she stood outside, Damon smiled at her again this dark and sinister smile. "Well, see you. Elena." He said, before closing the door and driving away without looking at her again.

Elena could do nothing but stare after him. Her stomach churned as if she was about to vomit. Damn, she thought while her heart was still beating frantically. I can be happy if I come out of this alive.

Or without losing everything she believed in. Including herself.

Elena´s thoughts were spinning while she made her way over to the school building. Very slowly a puckering headache started to appear right behind her skull. Even now, she couldn´t quite believe what had happened in the last 24 hours. Everything she knew, everything she believed in… had been destroyed in a matter of seconds. She could have sworn Damon was on her side. She could have sworn he would never actually hurt her. But she had been wrong. Fundamentally wrong.

Should she have seen it earlier? Could she have done something to prevent it? And what had triggered this violence in Damon from one moment to the other? Was it just the realization that Katherine didn´t love him? Or was it something more?

Elena was so lost in her thoughts that she almost didn´t see him. It was only when Stefan called her name that she realized he was there. Her eyes focused on her boyfriend, who was making his way over to her, smiling brightly and almost immediately she felt some of the pressure falling away from her. It was so good to see him, she thought. Especially now, that he looked like himself again and not like this blood-crazed person she had dealt with in the last days.

"Stefan!", she smiled and couldn´t help but throw herself in his arms. She felt them tightening around her and a feeling of safety washed over her. It was just now that she realized how much she had missed him. Stefan was everything Damon was not. Good, safe, predictable. She wanted him to never let her go.

Stefan laughed and she could feel his chest vibrate against her body. "I´m not sure when was the last time I´ve been greeted so enthusiastically," he chuckled.

Elena leaned away a bit and grinned, her cheeks reddening with slight embarrassment. "I´m just happy that you are back to normal," she admitted. "I´ve missed you. The real you."

Almost immediately Stefan´s smile fell. "About that, Elena… I´m so sorry. I never meant to lose control like this. I thought I had it under control… I really did… but then it just slipped away, and I don´t know. I can´t apologize enough."

Elena knew him well enough to recognize the pain hidden right behind his eyes. She knew he was feeling as if he had failed her. And at every other moment Elena would have comforted him. She would have talked to him. For hours if that was what was needed. She would have tried to figure out how to proceed from here. She would have tried to figure out how the events affected their relationship and what they could do to make sure that something like this would never happen again. Yes, in any other situation she would have done all those things. But right now, she couldn´t even bring up the strength to think about Stefan´s blood lust. No…what she really wanted to do was to tell Stefan everything that had happened with Damon. She wanted her boyfriend to assure her that he would take care of the situation, that she didn´t need to worry, that everything was going to be ok. But no matter how hard she tried, no matter how much she wanted it, she just couldn´t bring herself to open her mouth and tell him. It was the craziest feeling she had ever had. As if her body was rebelling against her brain.

She hated Damon and his fucking compulsion.

She hated that he had such a power over her. Because in the end, everything she was able to say, was: "Don´t worry about it, Stefan. Honestly, I´m just happy that it is over now."

Stefan seemed surprised by her words. "I could understand if you would be angry, Elena. I´ve not been myself in the last days… and I´ve done things… I guess, what I want to say is, that I could understand if you wouldn´t want to be close to me anymore."

He looked vulnerable. Elena felt so tired. She took Stefan´s hands and looked into his green eyes. "Stefan, I want nothing else than to be close to you. This is what I wanted since I first met you." She gave him a small smile. "We are going to figure this out. I promise." She shrugged. "But let´s not talk about this here, Stefan, ok? Not in school. We´ll have time."

She could literally watch Stefan relax. It was this moment that Elena understood that he had been worried she´d leave him. "Ok," he said. "I´m just sorry, that I ever hurt you."

Elena felt the wound on her neck pucker. It´s not you who is hurting me, she thought sadly. "I love you," she said, maybe couldn´t hold it in.

If Stefan sensed that something was off, he didn´t comment on it. All he did was to lean forwards and press his lips against hers in a feathery kiss. "I love you, too." He said, before kissing her again. His kiss felt different than Damon´s, like a summer breathe. For just a second she enjoyed the feeling of him before her thoughts went to Damon again and the way he had kissed her just a few minutes ago. From one moment to the other, she felt very ill. She hadn´t wanted it, not really, and still it felt as if she had betrayed Stefan. For a second she wondered if Stefan would realize that something was different. Wouldn´t he sense it? Couldn´t he taste Damon on her? But when he leaned away from her, his eyes held no suspicion at all.

How could he not know? Elena asked herself. For her, it felt as if Damon´s kiss was still lingering on her lips. She took a deep breath. Keep it together, Elena.

When Stefan took her hand, she let it happen and smiled. She still smiled when they made their way inside the school building. Even when Caroline caught them and started talking about how much she hated this twist between them and Bonnie, Elena still smiled tightly. On the inside, anyway, she had never felt colder.