Thank you so much for all the reviews! I am very happy with the good reception Emma is getting, and for being able to build her relationship with Damon in a way that you can love. Thank you for all the love and kind words.

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Gimme Shelter

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Damon couldn't sleep well that night. Emma had, at one point in the morning, a restless sleep. The vampire knew she was having nightmares and pressed her tighter against his own body. He felt her heavy breathing against his neck and sank his nose into her hair as he stroked her back and whispered that she was safe, that he was there. He didn't know if that was enough, but he didn't want to have to wake her up, she was so tired. So he kept whispering for long seconds against her hair, keeping her safe in his embrace, until she relaxed again and went back to sleep.

He hated the fact that the reason for Emma's nightmares was the man he had seen when he entered her mind. He hated that a man, a mere mortal, had hurt her so badly that she could not sleep a peaceful night. And he hated, most of all, the fact that he could do nothing about it. Tom was dead, Emma had let the damn shit sink into a lake. He was dead, and that meant that Damon couldn't kill him. He was dead and she was still suffering. And there was nothing the vampire could do about it.

As Damon's fingers ran down Emma's back, he remembered how scared she was and how hard she had fought to get away from Tom. Damon wasn't stupid, he was able to connect some dots after seeing so much, and it all just made him angrier. He remembered vividly the night he showed Emma who he really was. He remembered finding her scared in the middle of the highway, with those two men surrounding her. Kitten. That was what one of the men had called her. And that was what Tom had called her.

Emma was brave, and perhaps that was the characteristic of her that was most evident. Yet whenever anything reminded her of Tom, she became terrified. She had been terrified when those two men had called her by the same nickname that her damn ex-husband had called her. She had been terrified when she thought no one had noticed that she was compelled. 'No one could see me, no one could see me'. Wasn't that the same thing she had said to Katherine just before the bitch broke her leg?

And she had been terrified when Damon had pushed her against the wall. Had he acted like Tom? She had seen him with his fangs out before, and she had never been afraid. But when the vampire had pushed her against the wall, right after telling her to go to hell, she had been afraid of him. Had she believed that he was going to hurt her? Damon pressed his lips to Emma's forehead and closed his eyes, breathing deeply of the vanilla scent emanating from her. He would never hurt her, God, he couldn't.

Damon knew he had a handful of problems, knew his personality wasn't easy, knew he wasn't all good, knew he had a dark side, a bad side. But he would never, ever, hurt Emma. He knew, deep down inside, that he could never hurt her. He wanted to keep her safe. He wanted her to feel safe with him. He wanted her to glue herself to his body and seek comfort whenever she felt afraid.

The vampire felt the girl move between his arms and lift her face. The tip of her nose brushed from his neck to the tip of his chin, and he opened his eyes. Icy eyes met her warm whiskey eyes, still puffy and sleepy. Emma didn't break away from his embrace, but only sniffled and brought her fingertips to her eyes, rubbing them together and wiping away the sleep. Damon hadn't even realized it was morning.

"Hi", she whispered, and Damon stroked the entire length of her back.

"Hi", he replied, and held her gaze. "How are you feeling?"

"Fine... I guess" she replied, shifting her gaze to where Damon's neck met his shoulder. The vampire adjusted himself on the bed, so that his face was at the same height as hers. Emma stared at him.

"And you?" she asked.

"I'm fine now", he confessed and took a deep breath. "You scared me like hell", Damon remained staring at her. Emma opened her mouth to answer, but he was quicker. "I'm sorry".

"For what?" she asked.

"For scaring you" he replied. "I shouldn't... I would never hurt you. Never".

"I know", Emma said and finally disentangled herself from Damon, turning on her stomach. He could see that she was being honest, that she knew he wouldn't hurt her, but he still missed the contact with her body. "You were just upset because of Elijah".

"That doesn't justify it", Damon replied quickly. Emma crawled out from under the covers and got out of bed. The vampire, before she could take another step away from the bed, stopped in front of her and held her by the arm. "I don't want you to be afraid of me ever again", he confessed, and Emma stared at him with warm eyes.

"Thank you", Emma whispered, and Damon frowned.

"For scaring you?" he asked, and the girl smiled. Emma brought the tip of her index finger to the middle of the vampire's eyebrows and massaged the spot. Damon relaxed his face and allowed himself to close his eyes for a few seconds.

"For saving me" she replied, and Damon opened his eyes. He took her by the wrist and brought her hand that had been on his face to his chest, where his dead heart was beating.

"I will always save you", Damon replied in a low tone, and was surprised at the truth of the words. Pulling himself together, he opened a smirk. "I'm no prince charming, but I can be your knight in shining armor". Emma laughed.

"That's fine by me. I'm not a princess either", she commented.

"No" Damon said, bringing his index finger to the tip of her nose. "You're a doll. My stubborn little dolly".

"Dolly's a sheep" Emma complained.

"A space sheep", Damon corrected her.

"A space sh..." Emma laughed. "How did I never...? A space sheep. A space ship. Oh my God!"

Damon smiled genuinely as he saw her laughing. He liked the sound of her laughter.

"And you consider yourself an English teacher" he sneered, and Emma rolled her eyes. The girl turned her back to him, but he held her by the wrist, spinning her back to him. "Hey, where are you going? You don't have to work, we can spend all day in bed eating and watching whatever awful movie you want".

"I was going to pee" she replied with a laugh. Damon let go of her wrist and arched his eyebrows, opening his mouth in an 'oh'. He looked, for the first time, a little embarrassed. Emma smiled and walked to the bathroom.

When she returned, she was showered and wearing a simple gym outfit, just a pair of leggings and a black blouse, but it was enough to get Damon's blood running hot through his veins. He headed to the bathroom to perform his own hygiene while the girl made coffee. The vampire listened as Emma put on some music, and as soon as he left the bathroom he saw the girl swaying her hips from side to side to the beat of the music, pouring the coffee from a pitcher into a thermos.

Damon silently approached her and braced himself against the kitchen counter, smirking.

"You shouldn't wiggle while wearing such tight pants around me", Damon teased, and Emma jumped. In her fright, the girl ended up spilling some hot coffee on her bare feet.

"Jesus, you scared me!" she complained. "I didn't hear you coming out of the bathroom".

His smirk widened and he approached her. Emma stood still. With one hand she held the coffee pot, and with the other she held the thermos. She watched with a raised eyebrow as Damon approached her, looking into her eyes, teasing her. Damon could hear her heartbeat, which betrayed the unimpressed posture she was trying to maintain.

With very subtle movements, Damon brought one of his hands to the kitchen counter, picking up some kind of dishcloth. He broke eye contact with the woman and slowly squatted down in front of her. He carefully pulled on one of Emma's legs, taking hold of her foot with the palm of his hand. With the other, he slid the hem of her tight pants up slightly, brushing his warm fingers against her skin. He proceeded to dry the coffee droplets that fell against the skin of her foot. He repeated the process with the other foot.

He smiled triumphantly internally when she twitched her toes involuntarily, and to tease her further, he moistened his lips and brought her foot carefully up to his lips, placing a single wet kiss on the tip of her big toe. He carefully stood up and put the tea towel back on the counter. He looked Emma in the eye and said, in a husky voice:

"Good morning".

"You're such a flirt!" she complained, but the hard nipples against the thin fabric of her T-shirt betrayed her.

"What can I say, you keep wearing those pants", he defended himself.

"It's the first time I wear them!" she replied, rolling her eyes and finishing the task of transferring the coffee. "I thought the blame was on the dresses".

"The blame is on you, doesn't matter what you wear", he teased, and she sent him a sharpened glance. He laughed. His phone ringed and he rolled his eyes before answering. He was only on the phone for a few seconds, but Emma noticed when he frowned.

"What is it?" she asked when he hung up the call.

"Tonight's the full moon", he simply said.

"Oh" she replied, feeling her shoulders stiffening. Damon picked up the jacket on her bed and slung the garment over his shoulders.

"C'mon" he called out to her, gesturing to the door. "I have a special Nigerian coffee at home, I can even make a cappuccino for you, just grab your purse and let's go".

Emma obeyed and dropped the thermos on the kitchen counter before running to the door and putting on a pair of sneakers anyway. She picked up her purse, which was hanging by the door, and left with Damon.

The two used Emma's car, but Damon insisted on driving. The girl suspected that he just wanted some reason to go on with the list of defects he had created for the vehicle. Emma opened her purse and took out a small makeup case, picked up some eyelash mascara, and lowered the car mirror to put on her makeup. Damon deliberately braked harshly and caused the girl to blur under her eyes. She stared at him with her eyebrows drawn together and he smirked.

"Ugh! It's not coming off!", Emma complained, rubbing the area where the eyelash mask had smudged. "It's your fault!"

"It's the fault of the lousy quality makeup you wear" Damon shrugged.

"Next time I'll use yours, since you seem quite familiar with high quality ones", she teased back, and he cracked an even bigger smile. Emma laughed in response to his smile and unbuckled her seat belt as she realized they were already entering the Salvatore property.

Damon parked the car very close to the front door and stepped forward to open the door while Emma struggled with the strap of her purse, which had hooked onto the lever under the driver's seat. The vampire didn't miss the opportunity to mock her, and finally stepped forward to the car and pulled the purse tight, snapping the strap.

"You ruined my purse!"

"Another lousy thing you use", he sneered.

"Actually, this one is legit", she complained, and he brought the small purse up to eye level, examined it, and cracked a mocking smile.

"I'll give you a new one".

"You better!" she replied, and he rolled his eyes as he opened the door to the house for her to enter.

"You're such a dramaqueen!" he retorted, and she stood with her arms crossed in the middle of the room, with a grin from ear to ear. He raised an eyebrow in questioning, and her smile only grew even wider. "What?"

"You opened the door for me" she said, still smiling "You are a gentleman, Damon Salvatore".

Damon approached Emma and lowered his face until he was about her height, practically touching his nose to hers, and frowned.

"You are very clever distracting me into opening the door for you" he was trying to maintain his threatening pose. "And for that alone you're going to run out of special coffee".

Emma brought the tip of her index finger to the middle of his eyebrows and massaged the area in order to undo his grimace.

"You look really cute when you try to look angry" she commented, and Damon rolled his eyes.

"I'm not cute" he complained. "Right now you don't get coffee...or a new bag".

"Cute" she teased, heading toward the kitchen, and Damon followed her as he rolled his eyes. He watched her deposit the bag with the broken handle on the counter and open the refrigerator, taking the milk out of it. It was obvious that she was already familiar with the house, she had been there numerous times before. "I know how to make cappuccino too... I think".

"You think?" he questioned, smiling mockingly and raising an eyebrow.

"How hard can it be?" she retorted, frowning as she looked for something in a cupboard. Damon approached her and pushed her aside with his hip, picked up a milkmaid from the cupboard and slapped her hand, which tried to reach for the milk. She smiled and sat down on a stool next to him, who stood preparing the coffee.

"Dolly's not a space sheep, it's a clone sheep", Emma suddenly said. Damon laughed. "Are you trying to make me a doppelganger? How would it be? A doppelsheep or a sheepoganger?"

"You are extremely annoying" he complained, but also laughed.

"Emma! Glad to see you here!", Jenna's voice was heard from the kitchen entrance. Emma turned to her aunt and cracked a smile. The redhead, in turn, closed her face as she laid eyes on Damon. "Can't say the same about you, unfortunetely".

"Love you too, Jenna" Damon sneered, and Emma held back her laughter.

"He's nice, Jen" Emma defended him, propping her elbows on the counter. Jenna approached her niece with a raised eyebrow. "It's just his moods, you know? He's like an old lady, gets all grumpy sometimes. But underneath he's really sweet".

"I'm not sweet!", Damon complained, and Jenna couldn't restrain her smile.

It wasn't long before Elijah, Alaric, Elena, and Stefan joined them in the kitchen. The Original showed them the elixir that promised to bring Elena back to life after the ritual, and repeated that Klaus should be killed right away during the transition, because that would be the time when he would be most vulnerable.

Emma and Damon were the most skeptical of the plan. Damon because he didn't trust the Original and Emma because, well, Emma didn't trust anyone but the ice-eyed, black-haired vampire sitting next to her. The atmosphere grew heavier and heavier as the minutes passed, and it seemed like years since that morning when Emma had woken up in a good mood and feeling safe.

Stefan proposed to Elena for an afternoon walk, and Emma suspected that the younger Salvatore also had his doubts about the elixir and wanted to enjoy a possible last day of Elena's life with her. Emma proposed accompanying them on the ritual, to guard Bonnie. Damon stared at her like she was crazy, but she assured him that she would stay away from the supernatural beings, that she would only provide cover for Bonnie. The Salvatore arched his eyebrows when Emma told him that she knew how to use a gun and could buy one for protection.

Damon left the kitchen like a tornado after arguing, again, with Stefan, and Emma stood up to go after him. The vampire slowed his pace, turned to the girl and assured her that he wasn't angry with her, but that he was going for a walk to cool off. Alaric announced that he was going after his friend, and Elijah said goodbye to everyone politely. Then only Jenna and Emma were left, and they decided to stay in the house until late afternoon, when the girl would go out to buy a gun and meet the others.

.

Alaric found Damon leaning against the counter of the Grill, a glass of bourbon in his hand. He knew he would find him there. The man walked over and sat down next to his friend, offering him an understanding smile. Damon snorted and sipped from his glass.

"Hello, gentlemen" a voice with a European accent echoed in Damon's ears and he turned toward the source of the sound. His eyes met a blonde, tall man, staring at him with a smirk. Damon clenched his jaw and dropped his glass of bourbon on the counter.

"Klaus, I presume" Salvatore replied.

"In the flesh" Klaus commented. Damon stood up from the stool and crossed what little space there was between the two of them.

"Any reason you stopped by to say hi to me?", Damon vociferated in a low voice, moving even closer to the Original. "That's a dumb move, even for you. Especially after what you've done".

Klaus grinned, and Damon hated it.

"I'm told you and your brother fancy my doppelganger. But I think I should update my sources", the Original replied, and nodded for the bartender to give him a glass of drink. "I hope Emma's doing fine, she's an interesting lady".

Damon felt his eyes go black and grabbed Klaus by the neck. The Original seemed unfazed and grabbed Damon's wrist, forcing him to let go. Salvatore hissed of pain.

"Did I touch a sore spot?", Klaus sneered, but then quickly closed his face. "I realize that you are the impulsive brother, so let me be clear about something. I have my vampire. I have my werewolf. I have the stone, and soon I'll be having my doppelganger. If you keep in my way, I'll make room for your girlfriend in the ritual".

The bartender arrived with the drinking glass and Klaus drank the contents in one gulp. The Original still held Damon's wrist tightly, and only released him after he had dropped his glass on the counter. Klaus took one last look at the Salvatore and then at Alaric. He turned his back and left the Grill.

Damon massaged his own wrist and sat back down next to Alaric, who was watching his friend with interest. The vampire stared long minutes at the counter, plotting thoughts that Alaric wasn't sure he wanted to know.

"I'm going to kill his werewolf" Damon finally said, and Alaric's eyes widened.

"Excuse me?" the man asked, incredulous. "Are you out of your mind?"

"He needs a vampire, a werewolf and a doppelganger" Damon replied.

"I got that part" Alaric looked confused, and Damon rolled his eyes and sighed.

"There's only one werewolf in town" Damon explained quickly. "If I kill him, he won't have his fucking ingredient. No werewolf, no ritual".

"He could find another" Alaric pontificated.

"Not in time" Damon replied. "He needs the werewolf tonight. He needs the full moon".

"You realize the only werewolf we know is my student, right? Emma's student" the man questioned, arching an eyebrow.

"So?", Damon shrugged.

"Emma will never forgive you if you kill Tyler, he's just a kid".

"She can be mad at me forever, I don't fucking care", Damon replied, snorting. "We'll have a full month to work on killing Klaus. So don't you dare to judge me, I'm sure you would do the same if Klaus had threatened to use Jenna".

Alaric thought about answering that he would definitely do the same if it were Jenna, but he preferred to keep quiet. Jenna was his girlfriend, the woman he loved. Damon probably hadn't noticed this little misstep, and Alaric wouldn't be the one to point it out. He knew that Damon was insufferably childlike, and if he pointed out the fact that he had compared his relationship with Emma to Alaric and Jenna's relationship, the vampire would probably do something extremely stupid that was sure to end up hurting the girl.

"What do you want me to do?", Alaric asked, deciding to embark on his friend's madness.

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Later that afternoon, Emma went to a gun store and tested a few options. She finally chose a revolver that felt comfortable in her hand and looked good enough for her to get a good aim if she needed to.

As soon as night fell, she drove to the place where Alaric said he would meet her and parked the car in a more hidden spot. It was quite difficult to drive at night with the headlights off, but she didn't want to draw any more attention than necessary. She turned off the engine and took a deep breath. That was it. It would finally all be over that night. She hoped with all her strength that Elijah was really on their side and that the elixir would work. She took off her seat belt and leaned to the side, sticking her hand inside her purse.

"Where the fuck is my phone?" she grumbled, groping around inside her purse and mentally cursing herself for always carrying so many things in there and never finding what she needed at the time she needed it. A knock on the car window startled her and she jumped in her seat.

"Didn't mean to scare you" Elijah commented, opening the car door. Emma sighed and got out of the car, slamming the door.

"You have to stop doing that. Unlike you, I can die from a heartattack" she complained, smoothing her jacket against her body. The Original laughed softly.

"You're not going to die from a heartattack, I can assure you" he replied, and Emma arched an eyebrow.

Elijah gestured for her to follow him, saying that Stefan and Alaric were waiting for them further ahead. The two walked side by side in silence among the trees of the dark, cold forest.

.

The advantage of spending a lot of time with Damon Salvatore was that, with a lot of effort, it became possible to cross a few barriers the vampire had erected. And it was only because of this that Alaric managed to convince Damon not to kill Tyler, but to hide him from Klaus in a safe place until the next morning. Salvatore wasn't too happy with the arrangement, but eventually agreed and gave his word that he would not kill the boy.

With Alaric's invitation, Damon was able to get into the man's apartment and extract from Katherine that, contrary to what the Salvatore imagined, she was not the vampire Klaus intended to use in the ritual. According to Katherine, Caroline and Tyler would be part of the ritual, and were trapped in the tomb, waiting for nightfall for the curse to be broken. Damon headed alone to the place, believing that he would be able to get around faster if he didn't have to keep up with Alaric's pace.

When Damon arrived at the tomb, he was not surprised to find one of Klaus' witches guarding the place and took the time to kill the man. He took out on him some of his anger from the Original, he took out his anger that they had gotten into Emma's mind and made her so vulnerable, he took out his anger that Elena had to trust her life with a centuries-old elixir, he took out his anger that Klaus had appeared in that town and made his life a living hell.

He was surprised, however, when Matt appeared carrying a shotgun, saying some nonsense about being there to save Caroline. Damon rolled his eyes before hitting the boy with the handle of the gun.

"You're lucky I promised not to kill students" Damon muttered more to himself than to an unconscious Matt as he rummaged into the tomb.

Everything would have worked out fine. Damon had released Caroline and Tyler, and Matt was alive with only a mild concussion. Everything would have worked out just fine, if Tyler had done his part and immediately run to the Lockwood barn. But no, Caroline had to insist on stopping to check on Matt, and Tyler had to wait the Barbie long enough for the full moon to appear, big round and white in the sky. And finally, Damon had to jump in front of Caroline and save her from an already shifting Tyler.

Everything would have worked out fine, if Damon hadn't been so arrogant as to provoke Klaus and say that he had killed his witch and his werewolf. It would have all worked out fine, if it hadn't all gone wrong.

"Hey, Damon" the vampire heard. He felt blood running down his throat and instinctively grabbed the bag of blood that was being pressed to his lips. He felt dizzy and weak, and the blood was not coming down easily as expected.

"Elena?" he asked, opening his eyes.

"The better version" Katherine replied, stepping aside and making room for the vampire to sit up, but Damon felt too weak for that.

"What the hell happened?" he asked. His throat hurt and his head felt ten times heavier than it should have.

"You shouldn't have made him angry" Katherine replied quickly. Damon could tell she was nervous only by the notes in her voice, and it made him frown. The vampire propped his weight on his elbows and propelled his body forward, managing to sit up. "He's gone to the ritual. I'm so sorry, Damon, I had to. He asked me and I had to. He couldn't know I'm on vervain".

"What are you talking about?", Damon asked. A growing nervousness build in his chest.

"Klaus made me call her" Katherine replied. "He needed another vampire. He made me call her number".

Damon's eyes widened and he forced himself forward, grabbed Katherine's elbow and shook her hard.

"Katherine..." Damon said in a threatening tone, but the older vampire knew him well enough to know he was desperate.

"I'm sorry, Damon" Katherine replied, shrugging her shoulders and hugging her own arms. In that millisecond when Katherine seemed to really feel sorry, she looked more like Elena than ever.

"You're lying" he accused in a growl. "You're fucking lying".

"I'm so sorry" she kept repeating and, in a quick gesture, handed him a black cell phone. He picked it up with one hand, while quickly checking his pocket with the other. Damon was terrified, and he couldn't even hide it from Katherine. He was afraid to unlock the cell phone screen and find out to whom the last call had been made. Swallowing hard, he opened the dial list and saw, at the top of the list, a call made to Emma.

"No, no, no, no, no..." Damon proceeded to repeat low, trying to get up. Katherine stepped forward and held him by the elbows, but the vampire angrily disengaged himself from her touch. "I have to go, I have to..."

"It's too late, Damon".

"It's not!" he vociferated. He needed to get out of there, he needed to get to the ritual site fast, he needed to stop Klaus from turning Emma only to kill her. If he got there in time, she might be alive. Why didn't Klaus use him? He was right there! He was a vampire! "He should have used me! Why didn't he use me?"

"He couldn't" Katherine replied, and seemed, in fact, sympathetic for his pain. "Damon, he said you were as good as dead".

Damon frowned, opening and closing his eyes several times tightly. Whatever Klaus had done to him to knock him out was still showing its effects. God, he was so dizzy! Katherine sighed and pulled on his arm, grabbed the sleeve bar of the leather jacket he was wearing and pulled it up, revealing a large unhealed wound, and Damon immediately recognized what it was about.

He believed that because Tyler was not completely transformed, the bite wound would simply heal, like any other wound. But, apparently, he was wrong.

"What is this?", Katherine asked, already suspicious of the answer.

"I have to go" Damon said, pulling away from her and stumbling to the door. The vampire held him by the wrist.

"You can't go! This is a werewolf bite, isn't it? You'll be dead in hours, and she's already dead by now. There's no point for you to go there".

Damon brought his face closer to Katherine's. The two were so close that Katherine could feel his breath against her skin. His eyes, however, were cold and wet with ice. He was angry, and he was hurt.

"I might be dead in hours, but I swear to God that if she's dead I'll come back and kill you before my final breath", he growled.

"Finally over Elena, huh?", Katherine sneered, but Damon didn't answer. He just turned his back and left the apartment.

The vampire drove into the woods, not having the strength to run. He would probably faint on the way if he tried. The vampire's heart almost stopped when he spotted Emma's car, that stupid, old car he hated. Damon jumped out of his Camaro and slammed the door hard, holding himself against the roof of the vehicle and swallowing hard. That was not the best time to vomit. He had an Original to kill and a...whatever Emma was to him...to save.

He walked with hurried steps through the trees and felt his breath fail him when he heard the first scream. It was Jules. She was probably turning into a wolf. Damon knew from Caroline that it was a painful process. He hastened even more, holding the necrotizing arm with his hand. The screams intensified, and Damon knew he was running out of time. One last, sharp, painful scream was heard. And then he ran. Fighting nausea and impending fainting, Damon ran towards the sound, and felt the ground being pulled out from under his feet as he reached the clearing and his eyes scanned the place.

There were three circles of fire in the middle of the clearing. Inside one of them lay the lifeless body of Jules. Damon could see, even from a distance, that the werewolf's chest was completely bloody, and he didn't need to squint his eyes to know what had been taken from her, since Klaus was not far away, holding her heart. Inside the second circle was Elena, crying, but steady. The girl looked terrified, but also confident. She trusted that the elixir would work and she would not die. In the third circle, however, was her.

She was kneeling, with her back turned to Damon, and a bag slung over her head. Only the almost golden tips of her hair were sticking out of the bag, and in the light of the huge stove around her, they seemed to be almost the color of fire itself. She had blood on her hands and was sobbing, and the vampire knew that she had already gone through the transition. So Damon kept walking, feeling dizzy, toward the ritual. He needed to get to her.

A witch was muttering words he didn't understand, and her hands were raised to the sky. A bite mark could be seen on her wrist, which indicated that she had been the first feeding of the newly transformed vampire.

"Stop!", Damon shouted, and his voice came out faltered and weak. Klaus turned toward the source of the sound and smirked. The Original then walked calmly over to Emma, as if to tease Damon, as if he knew he was too weak and wouldn't be able to get there in time to save her. Damon kept walking, panting, feeling thick drops of sweat dripping from his forehead, concentrating on the ends of Emma's hair. He was so close! Only twenty more meters and he could reach her.

Klaus pulled out a stake and held Emma by the neck. Smirking, he turned her to where Damon was weakly walking from and, for a second that looked like thousand years, he pulled the stake into her heart, from behind her back. Damon froze and felled on his knees, eyes wide and full of tears. She didn't scream. She just gasped. One last gasp muffed by the fabric of the bag on her head. With a single gasp, she was dead. Elena screamed when Klaus stuck his fangs in her neck, but Damon didn't hear it. A loud noise made the witch fall dead on the ground, but Damon didn't see it. Everything was mute, everything was dark, everything was empty.

Klaus completed the ritual, and all Damon could do was stand there, kneeling against the ground, staring at Emma's dead body. When Elijah, Bonnie and Stefan appeared, Damon lifted his head and looked straight ahead. His vision was blurred and only then did he realize that he was crying. He could see Bonnie through the flames, her hands stretched forward, shouting something he didn't understand. Elijah was standing over Klaus, about to kill him, while Stefan took Elena's inert body in his arms.

And then he saw her. On the other side of the clearing, running towards the fire. So Damon knew that he was about to die. Rose had also hallucinated before she died. Emma had tears in her eyes and dropped the gun she was holding to the ground. The young woman's eyes roamed the entire place, lingered for a while on Elena's body curled up against Stefan's arms, until finally those pools of whiskey met his eyes. Emma gasped and ran at his direction, kneeling in front of him and taking his face between her warm palms.

"I'm dead" Damon murmured, unable to take his eyes from hers. Emma shook her head negatively and smiled weakly.

"You're not" she replied, crying. "I thought he was going to use you, I thought you... God, Damon, I thought..."

Damon lovingly held her hands in place, feeling the warmth emanating from her palms against his cheeks, which felt so cold. She was there, he could feel it. He could feel her touch, he could smell her perfume, she was there. He released her hands only to take her face between his hands, running his thumbs along her wet cheeks.

"You're alive, you're here" he sighed, relieved and surprised. She nodded positively. Damon's heart was beating furiously against his chest. She was there, she was alive. "I thought... I..."

And then Damon slid his fingers to the base of Emma's neck and pulled her in, clamping his mouth to hers. He pressed his lips hard against hers, sipping the drops of her tears that were there. And then his instincts screamed out loud. He didn't even flick his tongue and deepen the kiss, because the sound of the blood rushing through her veins was too loud, her scent was too strong, and he knew he would lose control. He was weak, and he needed blood, and he didn't want to risk hurting her. And then he broke the kiss. Emma stared at him worriedly.

"Damon?" she whispered, and Damon felt his vision blur.

"I need... blood. I need blood", he replied, closing his eyes tightly as he felt the thick black veins dance beneath his eyes.

"Okay" she nodded positively and helped him to his feet.

Emma helped Damon walk over to Stefan, who was holding Elena in his arms. Sommers took a deep breath and fought back tears. Everyone was rooting for the elixir to work, for Elijah not to have lied about it too, after all, he had betrayed them. Elijah didn't keep his promise, didn't kill Klaus, didn't...

"Who's that?", Emma asked, staring at the third circle, which was already fading. There was a body there with a bag over its head. Damon frowned, and Stefan looked alarmed.

"Emma..." Stefan tried to call her, but the tone he used was enough to make the girl do the opposite of what he wanted her to do and run to the body.

When Emma took the bag off, she fell down crying. It was Jenna. The girl clung to her aunt's body and cried, and cried, and cried. Damon felt his heart break at the scene, and he made his way to her. He needed blood, he felt weak, but he simply could not see her suffering. Hesitantly, the vampire crouched down beside her and put a hand on her shoulder. He didn't know what to say. Emma continued to cry.

"We have to go" Damon whispered, and Emma sniffled.

"I-I ca-can't leave her here" she said between sobs.

"I'll take her" the vampire replied fondly, and Emma stared at him with red, watery eyes. "I'll take her".

The two walked toward the car. Emma hugging her own arms and crying, and Damon carrying Jenna's body in his.

When they arrived at the Boarding House, Emma stood in complete silence and watched Elena's body for hours. She didn't cry anymore, she didn't eat, she didn't sleep. When Damon, after drinking a dozen bags of blood and regaining his strength, tried to persuade her to rest, she said she needed to stay there. She said that she needed to stay strong for Elena, that she had to stay there until she woke up. Fortunately, the elixir worked, and Elena woke up. And it was only then that Emma allowed herself to take a bath and cry alone, sitting in the shower until there were no more tears.

Damon compelled Sheriff Forbes to spread the word that Jenna had died in a terrible accident on the college campus, and the whole town attended the funeral. Even though he was wearing his ring, the sunlight seemed to burn Damon's skin, and he knew that he was getting weaker and weaker because of the werewolf bite. He knew that his days, perhaps hours, were numbered. Still, he stood there, in the middle of the sun, watching Emma hugging Jeremy and Elena in front of Jenna Sommers' fresh grave.

He coughed against his arm and saw that a few drops of blood glistened against the black leather of his jacket. Damon wiped the blood away quickly and looked forward, meeting Emma's whiskey eyes as she approached him. The girl stopped in front of him, and he noticed that her eyes were dry. Only her cheeks were slightly flushed. She hadn't cried during the entire funeral.

"I'll have to go to the Gilbert's" she said. "I suppose I am now their guardian, since Elena's seventeen".

Damon nodded positively and stepped forward, taking her face between his palms. The vampire stroked her cheek with his thumb and stared at her intensely. His days were numbered and, God, all he wanted to do was spend this short time with her. Damon felt like he should cross a few items off his bucket list, because this would be his last chance. Maybe, just maybe, this was the time to tear down the wall he had built around himself. Maybe this was the moment to look inside and analyze everything he had purposely ignored for years.

There, in that moment, he would not have time to analyze his feelings too deeply, but he knew that, even on the surface, Emma was important to him. He didn't know exactly the extent of his feelings for her, but he knew he had feelings for her. Would she miss him? Would she suffer from his death? Would she suffer from missing him as much as he would suffer from missing her?

Damon took a deep breath and pulled Emma to himself, buried his head in her hair and wrapped his arms around her. He felt it when the girl promptly wrapped her arms around his waist and sank her face into his chest. He would miss this. Damon had never been very religious; he didn't know what to expect after dying. But wherever his soul - or whatever he had inside of him - went, he would miss her embrace.

"I'm going to miss you" Damon confessed in a whisper. Emma laughed low and sank her face further against his chest, rubbing her nose against the white t-shirt he was wearing.

"And you dare say you're not cute" she replied, and Damon smiled through his nose.

"Anything to make you smile, doll" the vampire replied.

Emma pulled away just enough to look at him, but still kept her hands on his waist. Damon tucked a lock of hair behind her ear and stared at her with fond, blue eyes.

"Will I see you later?" she asked, hesitantly.

"Of course" Damon replied, even though he wasn't sure he could keep his date. The vampire then kissed Emma's forehead in farewell, and watched the girl lead her cousins to the car.

Damon walked over to Stefan, who was leaning against a tree, staring at him with a mocking smile on his lips.

"What?", Damon asked, rolling his eyes.

"I'm glad you're together" Stefan replied, and Damon snorted.

"We're not together" the older man replied. "Nor will we ever be".

"Why do you say that? From what I've seen..."

"Other than the fact that I don't do girlfriends? I'm dying" Damon replied, and Stefan frowned. The older man then rolled up the sleeve of his jacket and exposed the wound, which now took over half his arm, to his brother, "Tyler bit me".

Stefan's eyes widened, and Damon simply crossed his arms. He stared at Emma's car on the way out, wondering if he should have told her. Wondering if he would have time to enjoy her whiskey eyes at least a few more times.