As promised, here's the next chapter!
Elena's eyes fluttered open as the bright light of day penetrated her eyelids. Her throat felt dry, and she looked to her nightstand for a glass of water, but there was none. She frowned, wondering how she got in her bed.
Her memory of last night was foggy, but it only took a few more seconds for her to remember what had happened. She jolted up into a sitting position and clutched her chest while feeling an arm around her waist straining against her movement. She looked down to see Damon still asleep next to her, his strong arm now lying in her lap.
Looking between him and her unmarred chest, she wondered what the hell was going on. Had she dreamed that? She hadn't thought so, because if she had Damon wouldn't be lying next to her in bed right now.
But how did she get here…she had thought she died. Or maybe Damon had saved her by giving her his blood and she just couldn't remember it?
Relaxing slightly, she fell back down in bed and turned on her side to face Damon. He could answer her questions. Running a hand through his hair, she whispered his name until he woke up.
As soon as his eyes registered what he was seeing, he had his arms wrapped around Elena's now conscious form as he breathed, "Elena, thank god."
Her mouth turned down in a slight frown but she hugged him back. She couldn't understand the amount of relief Damon felt at the sight of her eyes open and alert, her body moving though still a little pale.
Still in his arms and unable to see his face, she asked, "Damon, what's going on?"
That made him pull back slightly only to look at her sadly. He sat up and brought her with him in his arms. She noticed that while they were both under the covers Damon was fully dressed in jeans and a black t-shirt.
Turning to face her, he took her hand in his and asked, "What do you remember about last night?"
With a slight crease between her brows, she ran through her memories until reaching the last thing she could recall. "We were at the storage warehouse, and you were fighting Alaric. He…he was going to kill you, and I—I couldn't let him do that. So I jumped in front of you, but it was too late…"
His face growing hard for a moment, he said, "It was incredibly stupid of you."
She rolled her eyes a little, "But if I hadn't done it, you wouldn't be here."
"But you would!" He snapped, then quickly clamped his mouth shut. He ran a hand through his hair, avoiding Elena's confused gaze. "You should have just let him stake me. I was a dead man."
"But…" Elena started, but cut herself off. "Wait, why aren't you dead?" Backtracking to correct her insensitive statement, she corrected, "I mean, Klaus…"
"Isn't as dead as we thought." Damon finished for her. "Bonnie spilled the beans at the hospital last night. He's in Tyler's body."
"What?" Elena gasped. "Wait, what the hell happened last night? Did you save me from dying and I just don't remember?"
A regretful look passed through Damon's handsome features that made Elena all the more jumpy.
"How are you feeling?" He asked instead of answering her.
"Don't avoid my question, Damon, tell me!" She demanded.
He sighed, closing his eyes and dropping his head. "No, I didn't save you. It was too late."
She furrowed her brows, "What—"
"I'll get you some water." He said, abruptly standing up to end her train of thought. Without waiting for a reply, he went into her bathroom to fill a glass. He returned to her and sat down on the edge of her bed, handing her the cup. She took a large gulp before setting it on her nightstand, but before either of them could say another word there was a knock on her door before it opened, revealing Stefan.
He looked surprised to see her awake, but quickly composed himself and asked, "Hey, how are you feeling?"
"Fine…" She answered hesitantly, looking between the brothers that both seemed to be avoiding eye contact. Stefan stood with his arms crossed, suddenly finding his shoes very interesting after he acknowledged her reply. She looked to Damon and took his hand in hers, "What aren't you telling me?"
Damon shared a look with Stefan before sighing, "You remember how you passed out yesterday and Jeremy took you to the hospital?" She nodded, not seeing how that was relevant but she listened anyway. "You didn't have a concussion. Your brain was bleeding, and you would have died had Meredith not done what she did. She gave you my blood to heal you. And when you stupidly jumped in front of me, Alaric staked you, and you…died. So did Ric."
"Wait," she started, panic already making it's way into her mind, "I'm dead?" Stefan and Damon both nodded sadly. Her eyes began filling with tears and she shook her head, "No, no, this wasn't supposed to happen! Alaric was just supposed to back off!"
Stefan quickly walked towards her and knelt down at her side while Damon explained, "It was too late. He hadn't reacted fast enough. You're…in transition."
She caught the tears with her hands as they streamed down her face, and Stefan told her, "You have time to let this sink in Elena. You don't have to make any decisions yet. I called Bonnie and she thinks she might be able to find a way for you to get out of this. She's stronger than ever and she has the power if she can figure it out."
Damon scoffed, "That's a load of bullshit Stefan and you know it. When in the history of vampirism has a vampire ever been able to get out of turning without dying?"
Though his words were harsh, Elena knew he was right. He wouldn't bullshit her and give her false hope like Stefan always did. She meant what she said last night, that Damon was her choice. Even now in death—no, especially now in death, she seemed to appreciate his honesty more than ever.
Stefan argued back, "You don't know that, Bonnie has a lot of power, there's still a chance she can—"
"I'm going to take a shower." Elena interrupted him, standing to her feet. She needed a minute alone with her thoughts to process this, and she couldn't do that with the two of them going at each other's throats. She understood that this was difficult for them too, but she wasn't exactly happy with it either.
She didn't wait for a reply. She just went into her bathroom and grabbed a towel from her closet on the way. When she had the bathroom door locked behind her, she braced her hands on the sink and looked into the mirror. She had dark circles under her eyes and her skin had an odd gray tint to it that she hoped would go away when she fed.
If she fed.
It was still hard to grasp that she had really died. She didn't feel dead…or any different, really. Maybe a little bit jumpy, but nothing out of the ordinary. She closed her eyes and took a few deep breaths, listening to the brothers' arguing through the door. Most of their words were muffled, but she caught the occasional sentence.
"Maybe if you hadn't been so selfish and asked her to come to you…" Stefan's hushed voice hissed.
She shook her head, knowing without a doubt that what happened wasn't Damon's fault. It was no one's fault but her own. And hey, at least it got Alaric out of the way. There was one bright side. And another would be that Damon was still alive, against all odds.
After some more arguing she couldn't understand, she heard Damon growl, "I didn't force her to do it! Don't get mad at me because she sacrificed her life for mine and chose me!"
And she'd do it again in a heartbeat, she thought instantly. If she hadn't jumped in front of that stake, then Damon would be dead. As it turned out, Klaus survived, in Tyler's body apparently, so while everyone would have lived Damon would still be dead. And she couldn't handle that.
So yes, she gave up her own life unaware that it was going to happen, but again looking at the bright side she got a second chance. Maybe it wasn't so lucky that it was as a vampire, but it still counted.
She never wanted to be a vampire. She was deathly afraid of who she would become, what she would become if she completed the transition. She couldn't stomach it if she became a ripper like Stefan, yet at the same time she wasn't ready to die. She had her brother, her friends, and Damon to live for. There was so much in life that she still wanted to do, even if it was as a vampire. Her decision seemed simple really, when the only opinions she listened to were her own.
Her thoughts drifted to Stefan as she heard his voice mutter something. A part of her wanted to go running back to him because she knew that he wasn't going to pressure her into turning. And if she did decide to feed, then she wanted him to teach her how to feed on animals.
Maybe he wasn't the best person to teach her control, but at least he wouldn't make her do anything she didn't want to do.
Damon would undoubtedly want her to turn. For him, there wouldn't even be another option. He would never let her die, and when she turned, he'd never let her feed on animals. He'd want her to feed on humans, but she didn't know if she'd emotionally be able to. If she hurt someone…
Shaking her head, Elena stripped off the pajamas that she idly wondered how were put on her and stepped under the hot spray of the shower. The noise sounded different, louder and more intense as it rang through her ears, but at least it kept her from hearing the argument right outside her door.
Damon, his brother having pushed him to beyond pissed off, gladly stormed out of the room when his phone started ringing. How dare he have the nerve to blame him for Elena's death? He didn't have to sit there and hold her as she died without being able to do a damn thing!
He got that his brother was pissed Elena chose to come to him instead, but that didn't give him the right to go playing the blame game. If Elena had chosen Stefan and something happened where she died, he wouldn't be blaming his brother when he knew without a doubt that Stefan would do whatever it took to save her.
It made him feel like shit knowing his brother didn't believe in his love for her. He didn't think that he loved her the way she deserved to be loved. His relationship with Stefan had definitely improved in the time they'd known Elena, but that? Stefan's refusal to believe Damon did everything he could to save her set them back quite a few steps.
Damon had plenty of time to berate himself for having a delayed reaction while he waited for Elena to wake up. What could he have done differently? If he hadn't been so shocked at first, he could have reacted faster and saved her.
But he learned long ago that the what-if game was only reserved for times of desperation when he wanted to feel pain. Right now, he had to be there for Elena. She was confused, upset, and the last thing he wanted her to feel was alone.
Looking at his phone and seeing Bonnie's name on the screen, he picked it up, "Hey there Bon-Bon, checking up on our undead girl?"
Bonnie scowled at the poorly timed joke but ignored it. It was common knowledge that Damon used jokes to hide his feelings. "Have you heard from Caroline?" She asked instead.
He frowned, leaning against the doorjamb that led into the kitchen, "Not since last night, why?"
"I've been trying to call her all morning to tell her that Tyler isn't really dead, but she's not answering. Nobody's heard from her, and I got a call from Liz saying she was on the phone with her then heard some scuffling and Caroline was cut off midsentence before the line went dead." Bonnie hastily explained.
"What else did Liz say?" Damon asked.
"Just that Pastor Young and the council removed her and Tyler's mom from their positions as sheriff and mayor. Liz had called Care to warn her, but then that happened."
Damon cursed to himself and sighed, "Alright, fine. I'm gonna go round up my brother and we'll see what we can find out."
He hung up after that, and just as he moved to head back upstairs he spotted his brother already halfway down the steps. Putting aside their argument for the moment, he said, "Bad news, Barbie's gone AWOL and we have to go look for her."
"Caroline's missing?" Stefan asked in confusion.
"Go find Jeremy and get him to stay here with Elena. See what you can find out from Liz, I'm going to pay a certain blonde bitch a visit and see what she knows." Damon answered.
"You're going to pick a fight with Rebekah right now? Seriously Damon? She's probably halfway across the world by now!" Stefan argued.
Damon shook his head, "Not without Klaus's body, which has conveniently gone missing. By now her and Elijah know something's up since we didn't die, and they won't leave without getting their answers."
Stefan shook his head, "Fine, go look for her. But we shouldn't leave Elena here alone with a human while in transition."
He sighed, knowing his brother was right. Elena was unstable right now, and she could do something that would hurt Jeremy if she caught even the slightest whiff of blood. "You stay, I'll go." Damon said as he walked towards the door.
"Damon, no." Stefan argued. "We both know you're the better option to teach her about vampirism. Just…don't do anything stupid until I get back."
While Damon had no argument there, he still wasn't convinced that Stefan should be the one to go out there and have a showdown with Barbie Klaus. "Be careful, brother." Damon said quietly just before he left.
Upstairs, Elena had just stepped out of the shower, feeling a little better now that she was cleaned up. She dressed in a pair of jeans and a sweater she'd brought into the bathroom with her before stepping out into her room. She found that Stefan was gone, but Damon was still there sitting on her window seat.
"Where's—" She began, wanting to ask where Stefan had gone, but he cut her off.
"Cute pj's."
She frowned, looking down at her outfit. She definitely wasn't wearing pajamas. She moved to toss her towel into her hamper while readying a response, but found that Damon's gaze was still fixed on her bathroom.
"I'm tired, Damon."
She snapped her head in the direction of her own voice, and watched in thick confusion as she walked out of the bathroom. She looked between herself and Damon as he stood up and walked towards her. Not her her, but the version of her that she was watching.
"Brought you this." He said, holding up her necklace.
"I thought that was gone." Her double said. "Thank you." She moved to take it, but Damon pulled it away.
She blinked and suddenly both Damon and herself were gone, and she was standing in her empty bedroom. Utterly confused, she inspected the entire room, even looking behind her, but she found nothing.
Then she heard Damon's voice, "I just have to say something."
She looked forward again and the scene was back. Her double asked nervously, "Why do you have to say it with my necklace?"
Damon replied, "Because what I'm about to say is probably the most selfish thing I've ever said in my life."
"Damon don't go there." She said softly.
Stepping closer, Damon insisted, "I just have to say it once. You just need to hear it." When had this happened? She wasn't going crazy and imagining things, right? She watched in shock and bewilderment as Damon said, "I love you, Elena. And it's because I love you, that…I can't be selfish with you. And why you can't know this. I don't deserve you."
Was this a memory? Surely if this had never happened Elena's heart wouldn't be hurting listening to his confession, right? As she recalled that night in her memory, it registered that she had no idea where she got her necklace from. It had just appeared and she'd accepted it, chalking it up to her forgetting.
"But my brother does." Damon continued.
He didn't think he deserved to have her? Yet he thought Stefan did? One wasn't better than the other, and she hadn't realized he really felt that way. If she had, then maybe she would have said something to him about it.
It broke her heart as she watched him step forward and press his lips against her forehead in an innocent kiss. Then he sadly said, "God, I wish you didn't have to forget this." His hand lingered on her jaw, his thumb stroking her cheek. "But you do." He whispered as a single tear slid down his cheek.
Elena blinked back her own tears, and when she opened her eyes the scene was gone. Damon had compelled her to forget that. The first time he told her he loved her, he made her forget because he believed she was happy with his brother. Instead of loading the truth behind his feelings onto her and muddling up her and Stefan's relationship, he kept the information to himself even though it had been killing him.
She absently reached to grab her necklace, only it was no longer there. It was surely lost by now, but it didn't really serve a purpose anymore. She didn't need vervain to protect herself, and she definitely didn't need it as a reminder of her and Stefan's relationship.
Sitting down on her bed as she suddenly felt lightheaded, she found that she was quickly getting angry that he had compelled her. He messed with her mind and betrayed her trust, taking away a memory she would have loved to have. Instead of thinking that Damon's love confession was with him dying from a wolf bite, she now knew that he told her much sooner than that. He had loved her long before he voiced his affections.
He had no right to take that away from her, even if he thought he was doing what was best. It wasn't his call to make, because it was her emotions that he was messing with.
She only hoped that with time, she'd be able to sort through all of her feelings. She promised herself in that moment that she wouldn't act on her desires until she got this whole vampire thing figured out. It wouldn't do anyone any good if she let her heightened emotions control her only to have them change a few minutes later.
Elena moved to the vanity in her room, looking at all of the pictures lining the frame. The many faces of her friends and family stared back, almost like they were judging her. She wondered if they'd still like her if she became a vampire, or if she'd lose some of them. Damon and Stefan would still be there, she surmised, Caroline too. The vampires would understand.
But what about Bonnie? It was no secret she didn't like vampires. In fact, that was an understatement. She loathed them. And what about her brother? Would he look at her like she was his sister or a monster?
She wondered what her parents would think of her. Would they be disappointed in the choices she made that led her up to his point?
A fly buzzing around her room suddenly sounded as loud as lawn mower as it zoomed past her, and she jumped at the loudness. She spotted Jeremy standing in the door, and she sighed in relief at seeing him. She hadn't seen him since before she…you know…died.
"Jer…"
She was already halfway across the room by the time the sound left her mouth. He met her halfway and brought her into his arms. She again wondered just when he started to fill out and get so big.
When they separated, he asked, "You okay? I watched Vicki go through this, she was a mess. Her emotions were all over the place, all these old memories came flooding back."
Elena felt on edge, listening to the hum of electricity from her lamp but she told him, "I'm fine. I'm not Vicki." He was right about the memories, she thought angrily at what Damon compelled her to forget. She wondered for the first time if there was anything else he compelled her to do. She supposed she'd find out soon enough.
Jeremy agreed, "No, you're not, you're you. You act like everything's okay so no one worries about you but you need help."
She refused to admit he was right. She had too many things going through her head that only she could figure out, from the memory she just got back of Damon to her decision regarding turning.
"I said I'm fine." She assured him. "Just on edge. Have you talked to Bonnie?"
If she could figure out a way to keep Elena human, then that would be one less problem she had to deal with.
Jeremy replied, "Yeah. She said when I was shot she made some plea to the witches. She was going there to see what they could do."
Elena immediately pointed out, "But there were horrible consequences, Jeremy!" She wouldn't make Bonnie do this if it meant she had to live with ghosts haunting her or something equally terrifying, not to mention what the spirits would do to Bonnie if she went down there asking for yet another favor.
He shot back, "What could be more horrible than you turning into a vampire?"
Elena visibly flinched at his words. That answered the question she had posed earlier about what his reaction to her turning would be. He'd hate her. She'd thought that he would be more understanding, preferring to have his sister as a vampire rather than not at all, but it seemed she was wrong. If she turned, she'd lose Jeremy.
"I need my sister. Not another one of them." He explained softly.
She had been clinging to the notion that if she turned, she'd still be the same person. Everything would just more intense. That's what it was like for all vampires, and she wouldn't be any different. But that wasn't how Jeremy saw it, and after all the shit he's been through with vampires, she knew she wouldn't be able to change his mind.
Trying to reassure him, she said, "We're gonna make it through this. Everything's gonna be okay."
Already backing away, Jeremy replied, "I hope so."
Elena felt herself beginning to crumble. Deep down, she knew Bonnie wasn't going to be able to find a way. It was impossible. Damon was right, like always, and he hadn't sugar coated anything. She had to feed, or she was going to die.
Now, the question was does she feed and let everyone hate her, or does she die and lose everything?
Her stomach twisted with hunger or anxiety or something and she decided that finding something to eat just to keep herself occupied wouldn't be such a bad idea. She was standing at the top of the steps when she came to a grinding halt at the sight of Damon standing halfway up the stairs. He no doubt heard everything Jeremy just said, judging by the sympathetic look on his face.
Pulling herself together, she began walking down to meet him but as soon as his scent hit her she felt everything burst. She threw herself into his awaiting arms and squeezed her eyes shut tightly to hold in any more tears that might try to leak out.
Damon just held her as she sought his comfort, and he gave her whatever she needed. A few moments later, he kissed the side of her head and nudged her face back so he could look at her.
She hated being so weak, constantly crying and breaking down.
She shook her head, "I don't want to die, Damon, but I don't want to be a vampire."
Her voice breaking and her face expressing her internal struggle as clear as day, Damon held her head against his shoulder and let her do whatever she needed. As much as he wanted to, he couldn't make this decision for her. He had that choice taken away from him, and it made him hate his brother for over a century. Maybe he could live with Elena hating him so long as she was alive, but he couldn't live knowing he put her through the same pain he had to live with his entire undead life.
Jeremy had some nerve to tell his sister he preferred her dead than a vampire when he damn well knew she was already in transition. He would get a serious talk from him once he got the chance, because he had no right to come at Elena like that when she had no control over the situation.
He sat down on the steps, bringing her with him and into his lap while telling her, "Being a vampire isn't that bad, Elena. I promise. It will take some getting used to at first, but you are not alone. I will personally teach you everything you need to know. You will get through this."
Her face still pressed against his neck, she mumbled, "But what if nobody likes me as a vampire? Jeremy already said that nothing could be worse than that, and I can't handle losing anyone."
Damon ground his teeth together, vowing that he was going to talk some sense into that punk for ever saying that to his sister, who has sacrificed so much for him. The ungrateful little shit, how dare he tell her that he'd rather her die than transition?
Damon pressed his lips to her hair and said, "Jeremy won't hate you. Nobody will. If anyone can handle being a vampire Elena, it's you. You are by far the strongest person I've ever met. You're not going to lose anyone, and if they have anything bad to say then they can come to me. If it weren't for you, then I'd be dead right now. I can't thank you enough for that, even if you shouldn't have done it."
She pulled back slightly to look at his face. "If I had to, I'd do it again." She told him. "I won't lose you. I can't."
He recalled saying words very similar to those to her before Klaus sacrificed her, and to think that now she was saying them to him made a smile pull at the corner of his mouth. He rested his forehead against hers, searching for the words he wanted to say, "I can't lose you either, Elena…which is why I need you to feed."
She nodded, whispering sadly, "I know. But I'm scared."
Damon brought his hand up to her cheek, gently pushing her hair behind her ear then rubbing him thumb against her soft skin, "I will be there for you. So will Stefan, and Caroline, Bonnie too. She's your best friend, and she accepted Caroline as a vampire. Your brother will come with time, trust me. You won't lose anyone for choosing to live. Nobody has the balls to blame you for that."
She smiled slightly and nodded, then asked, "Can you do something to distract me for a while? Apparently Bonnie is still seeing the witches, and I don't want to do anything until she tells us what the verdict is."
"You came to the right person." He smirked and wiggled his brows, "I happen to know the perfect distraction for you."
She blew out a laugh and lightly slapped his arm, "Not what I meant."
As she stood up from his lap and they walked down the stairs, Damon chuckled, "Get your head out of the gutter, Elena, I was talking about card games!"
Elena snorted and shook her head, "Can you just make me something to eat? I'm starved."
Damon didn't comment that what Elena was hungry for wasn't food, and she didn't stop to think about it either. Instead, he followed her into the kitchen, watching as she plopped down on a seat at the island. He debated on what to make her, knowing she loved his spaghetti and meatballs with homemade sauce, but he also knew that no matter what he made, it would taste awful to her. He opted to make her sandwich.
As he began pulling out all of the ingredients for her food, she asked, "So Caroline is missing?"
Not even questioning how she knew that, he pointed out, "I thought you wanted a distraction."
She sighed, "I know, but can I ever really be distracted from my life?" He shrugged, slathering some mayonnaise on a slice of bread since he knew she loved the stuff. "So what happened? My hearing kind of went in and out…"
"Nothing you need to worry your pretty little head about." He smirked. "Stefan's already on it. He was going to the blonde she-devil to find out what she was up to. Klaus's body mysteriously went missing, and my guess is that he wants to go from Tyler's body back to his own."
"What does that have to do with Caroline?" Elena asked.
Damon piled some turkey, lettuce, tomatoes, and onions onto the bread, then squirted some mustard onto the other half, "Nothing, really, unless she knows something about it. It looks like the council is out for vampire blood with Pastor Young leading the whole suicide squad. Liz Forbes and Carol Lockwood have both been deemed sympathizers and removed from their jobs."
"They can't possibly think that they can take on every vampire in town." She pointed out.
Squishing down the top piece of bread and cutting the sandwich into two triangles, Damon replied, "Odds are, they don't know how many vampires are in town. Pastor Young has no idea who to trust, and my bets would be he took Caroline because he knew she was a vampire and because she'd know who else in this town was a vampire."
"Where do you think he'd take her?" Elena asked as Damon slid the plate in front of her. He had to admit, he was kind of excited to see her dry heave at the taste of it.
"I don't know." Damon shrugged, but as Elena picked up one half of the sandwich a large smirk spread across his face. She bit into one of the corners and hesitantly chewed a few times before frowning and grimacing. Damon couldn't stop the laugh that escaped, and as Elena ran to the trash can to spit out the bite, he was laughing at her so hard his stomach hurt.
She rinsed out her mouth with water then began attacking him halfheartedly with her open hands, "You knew it was going to be gross, didn't you!?"
"Yes," Damon answered through a grin. "I knew it was going to be disgusting since the second you expressed your want for food." His expression growing a little more serious, he said, "Baby, it's not people food your body's craving, and you know that. Anyone that thinks there's a way out of transition is a fool. If you want to live, you need to feed."
She nodded and dropped her gaze to her hands, "I know. I just can't believe that this is really happening, that I'm really going to be a vampire…" He didn't comment, he just waited for her to think it through and say whatever she wanted to say. She inhaled sharply, "Damon…what if I kill somebody?"
He smiled sadly, "That's a part of being a vampire, Elena. You don't have to kill, and if you choose to turn then I'll teach you how to feed without killing. But if that's what you decide, then you also need to accept the fact that you're gonna kill someone at some point. No vampire in existence has clean hands."
Taking a deep breath, Elena considered his words. She appreciated that he wasn't painting everything perfect. Sometimes she needed to hear the cold hard truth, no matter what it was.
As Damon cleaned up her abandoned sandwich, Elena mentally made a list of pros and cons of each decision.
Turning would mean that she still got to live. She'd get to explore a relationship with Damon while mending broken friendships. She would be stronger than ever, and faster, not to mention all of the enhanced senses. But it would also mean never growing old, or having kids, but dying meant that as well.
In fact, the more she thought about it, the more she realized that dying was just a stupid choice. She would leave behind Jeremy to have no family left. Stefan and Damon would be devastated. She had more reasons to live as a vampire than to die as a human.
"I'm gonna feed." She said with conviction, raising her eyes to meet Damon's carefully guarded ones. "I didn't survive all the shit we've been through only to die now. I'm not done living yet, and I know that turning would mean never growing up or having children, but if I'm just going to die anyways who cares?"
"You're sure?" Damon asked flatly, feeling excited for her decision yet terrified that she'd change her mind. The demon inside of him was barely contained at the mental picture of Elena becoming just like him, especially since it was his blood that turned her. His demon wanted her, wanted to claim her, to teach her, to be with her.
She nodded confidently, "I'm sure. And anyone that has a problem with my decision clearly doesn't want me here as much as I thought."
A smirk played at the corner of his lips at the sight of that fire burning inside of her. Even in transition it scorched hot and bright.
"I have blood bags at the boarding house. Want to come with?"
"Should we wait for Stefan first?"
"For what?" Damon scoffed.
"I think he'd want to talk to me before I completed the transition…" Elena said unsurely.
Damon blew out a sarcastic laugh, "Why, so he can talk you out of it?"
Elena sighed, "Look, Damon…" She didn't know how to tell him that while she and Stefan were no more, she and him weren't anything right now either without hurting him. "Stefan and I are over, and that's not going to change, so please don't think that what I'm about to say has anything to do with him or my feelings for him." She swallowed thickly at the unreadable expression on his face. "I know what I said during that call yesterday, that my feelings for you were more than anything I've ever felt, but…I'm dead now. I know that you want this to work, that you want us to work, but that's just not going to happen right now. It doesn't have anything to do with you, so please don't take it personally. My feelings for you haven't changed either, and I don't see that happening anytime soon, but this…" She trailed off, unsure of what she even wanted to say.
"Is a big change." Damon finished for her. "Once you feed, everything will be heightened and you'll have to adjust to your new emotions that can spiral so easily." He closed the distance between them and took her face in his hands, "I'll give you as much time as you need, Elena, as long as you can promise me there is a chance. That I'm not standing here looking like a fool for ever wanting more with you."
Looking up into his piercing blue eyes, she was once again reminded of the memory he compelled away. She'd have to address it eventually, but it could wait. That was just one of the things she needed to sort out once she had made a stable transition.
"I promise you Damon, there is a chance. A pretty big chance, honestly. I just don't want to rush into things when everything is so confusing. I want to give us the best chance possible, and that means sorting out everything with my transition and Stefan first."
He felt relieved, and much more relaxed at the news. He didn't know if he'd be able to handle it if she went back to Stefan. At least not without doing something stupid.
Now all that was left to do was get Elena some human blood.