So my version of Elena in New York is a little more...daring. You'll know what I mean when you read this ;)
Watching Elena take in New York City for the first time, even without her humanity, was something Damon would remember forever.
He had lived a long time and lost a lot of innocence in that duration. Seeing Elena's eyes light up and her wide smile illuminate her features felt like a little bit of that child-like wonder was coming back to him. She looked like a kid at Disney world, an all-you-can-eat candy shop, and the world's biggest playground all at once.
The first time he had been to New York he had a similar experience. Mystic Falls had nothing on the Concrete Jungle. From the skyscrapers that seemed to touch the heavens to the millions of people as diverse as it gets, it was almost an otherworldly experience, especially to a vampire whose senses can pick up every little detail at lightning speed. Keeping one eye on the small-town girl sitting in the passenger seat, he watched her fall in love with the city he called his home for the better part of the past century and a half as he navigated through the streets.
He made a lot of friends in the time he spent there, bouncing between vampire friendly bars and clubs and meeting others just like him that had nothing better to do with their time. If they were going to exist forever, then they were going to do whatever the hell they liked.
But during that time, he wasn't just existing. He had been waiting for the comet to release Katherine. He wasn't like them then, and only his closest friends got to know that he had been waiting for his girl.
He wondered if any of them were still alive and kicking. They'd sure get a kick out of finding out Katherine had never been in the tomb.
After driving through the night with Elena, it was now midday so the traffic wasn't god-awful yet. It was a good thing too, because his patience was running thin. Between the never-ending Spanish Inquisition Elena bombarded him with about his intentions and her shitty taste in music, he was at his wit's end.
So maybe he had other plans than simply letting Elena run free in a new city, but she didn't need to know that. And his plans weren't entirely focused on getting Elena's humanity back. He had another reason for coming to New York as opposed to any other big city where vampires thrive off of the population.
However, when he chased down his leads, Elena was the last person he needed by his side. He couldn't trust her now when she'd do whatever she wanted without caring who got hurt. She could ruin everything.
He needed to do this alone, and lucky for him, ditching her for a few hours was going to be a piece of cake.
Damon drove them into the heart of the city, parking a few blocks away from Times Square. Elena was still watching the city thrive all around her with the innocent eyes of a young girl, and he had to remind himself that she still was a young girl, despite the hand of cards life dealt her. There was still so much she didn't know; so much she had yet to experience…he wanted to be the one to show her it all.
Starting with New York.
Stepping out of the car, Damon walked around to join Elena on the sidewalk and said, "Here we are. NYC at its finest." He gestured around them, glancing at all of the buildings that towered above them and the steady stream of people moving down the sidewalks, despite the cold weather.
"It's…amazing." She said softly, barely able to meet his gaze for longer than half a second before her attention was caught by something else.
He gave her a lopsided smile, "Why don't you go check it out? I got you here like I promised, and I doubt you want me tagging along. Go ahead, explore the city, do whatever you want. The only rule is that you can't let anyone know you're a vampire."
She rolled her eyes, "That's a given, Damon."
He shrugged, "Just be careful when you're feeding from someone in a place like an alley where anyone can walk by. Other than that, have fun. Meet me back here say, around seven?"
Raising a brow, she skeptically said, "That gives me six hours to do whatever I want in a city that could swallow me whole. You're not going to follow me around?"
He chuckled, "I'm not your babysitter."
"But aren't you going to make sure I don't do anything stupid?" She asked through narrowed eyes.
"Like what, kill someone?" He laughed. "Sorry kitten, but we're way past that, don't you think?"
"But—"
Finding her distrust comical, Damon cut in, "You're not worried about being alone, are you? Or maybe you're nervous that I'll be mad at you for something you do. Oh, I know, could it be that you don't actually want to hurt someone, and you're scared that you'll hurt people without me there to stop you?"
She scoffed a little too quickly, "No!"
He smirked widely, "Careful Elena, your emotions are showing."
Without another word, he turned on his heel and walked away. If that didn't get her to leave him, then he didn't know what would.
He walked through the city taking random streets and stopping in random stores and buildings until he was satisfied that she really had left. Only then did he begin walking with purpose towards his first lead.
Back in the seventies, he had spent what was probably the entire decade here in New York with his emotions off. He was having a blast too, until Lexi decided to drop by and take it upon herself to try to get him to turn his humanity back on. With nothing better to do, he decided to play a little game with her. See just how good he was and get a little revenge too for her relentless pestering. After a couple months of her feeding, drinking, and dancing with him, waiting until he was drunk to try to coax some emotions out of him, he put his plan into action.
The next year was spent slowly seducing her, getting her to fall in love with him. He'd never tried anything like it before, but it had worked flawlessly. Then one night, all it took was a few smooth words about his love for her bringing his humanity back, and they were making out against the wall. He took her to the roof that night and they had sex until they passed out from exhaustion, and when the first rays of sun broke the day, he wasn't around to see if she lived or died.
No-humanity-Damon was about as shitty as they get.
Unfortunately, the vampire he had been looking for that was most likely to be able to help him now turned up dead. He talked to one of his neighbors in the building and they told him his body was found beheaded a couple years back.
The guy wasn't really a friend, so Damon couldn't have cared less. It was just a minor inconvenience in his master plan.
He spent the rest of his time following his other leads, but he couldn't find a single one of them. He had forgotten just how much time had passed since the seventies and now. Everyone he knew who wasn't dead had probably moved to a new city for a change in scenery.
Though there was one person left that he knew would never leave New York. The guy owned a vampire club and lived and breathed NYC. And the best part? Even if he was dead, all Damon needed were his files that he kept in the back room.
Checking his phone, Damon cursed when he realized it was six thirty. He didn't have nearly enough time to get what he needed before meeting back up with Elena. Assuming the place was still up and running, he could just bring Elena there tonight and it would be easy enough to distract her while he slipped away for a few moments. Especially on a Friday night when it would be busy.
It took him fifteen minutes to get back to the car, giving him another fifteen to spare before Elena was due to meet him. Just as he reached the car, his phone began ringing and he saw that Stefan was calling.
"What?" He snapped into the receiver, not in the mood to deal with whatever disaster he was about to spring on him.
"Just a heads up, Rebekah might be on her way to New York to join you."
Perfect.
Damon pinched the bridge of his nose, "And how does she know where we are?"
Stefan hesitated, "I, uh—I might have accidentally let it slip without thinking. But on the bright side I also found out that Klaus got that wolf girl pregnant and he's moving to New Orleans for the child."
Out of all the things, Damon thought in surprise. Brushing it off, he responded, "The most powerful Original is finally out of our hair? Can't complain about that."
"Also, if Rebekah does show up, I have a feeling that Elena isn't going to hold anything back this time. Make sure she's safe."
Damon frowned slightly at the trust his brother seemed to placing on him and said, "Always, baby bro."
There was a long pause before Stefan asked, "So how is she doing? Any closer to flipping the switch back on?"
"Wouldn't know. I let her explore the city on her own some six hours ago and haven't seen her since." Damon told him casually, already smirking at the outraged reaction he was about to get. His brother was so much fun to rile up.
"Are you crazy!? She has no humanity Damon, she's probably out there killing every person she finds!"
He rolled his eyes, "Give her a little more credit than that, Stef, she's not you. She has the ability to feed, compel, and release."
"How do you know she's not—"
Damon tuned him out the second his eyes found Elena sauntering towards him. It felt like one of those moments from cartoons where a character couldn't believe what they were seeing, so they plucked their eyeballs out and shined them on their shirt to clean off the dust before shoving them back in and looking again. If he wasn't sure it would hurt like hell, he'd probably do it too, because there was no way that he was really looking at the sinful woman stalking towards him and seeing Elena. He hung up the phone without bothering to say anything else and slipped it back in his pocket.
The first thing he noticed was her hair. It was shorter, falling to her breasts, and it was curled in loose, easy spirals that intertwined with each other. Red streaks shined in the sunlight, swirling through the ends in a disarray of fiery curls. She now had bangs, and they were swept behind her left ear where a small diamond piercing glittered at the top where she'd never had one before.
Then her outfit registered, and damn it all if his pants didn't seem tighter than they were before. She wore skintight jeans that fit her like a second skin, squeezing her in all the right places and hanging low beneath her hip bones. The thighs and knees were ripped, showing off some skin, and she was wearing a pair of sexy black heels that made her legs look miles long. Her shirt was white and cropped, fitting around her just as tight as her jeans and showing off a good two inches of skin above the waistband. She wore a leather jacket on top of it all, the black contrasting sharply to her red hair and lips that he desperately wanted to kiss.
But believe it or not, that wasn't what shocked him the most. No, what had his eyes completely fixated on her shirt were the twin metal piercings showing through the taut fabric of her shirt.
Yeah, he was rock hard in his pants now.
He couldn't believe she did it. He let her loose for a few hours and she comes back with pierced nipples? If he wasn't so turned on he'd probably throttle her.
She stopped walking a few feet in front of him and gave him a big grin, twirling around to show him her outfit before flashing him that heart stopping smile again.
"What do you think?" She asked.
"I…" He breathed, literally speechless. A smile tugged at the corner of his mouth, seeing her look so carefree for the first time probably since they went to Georgia. "I…god, you look amazing."
If it was possible, she beamed at him even brighter as she closed to distance between them, looping her arms around his neck, "I thought the nipple piercings might be a bit much, but I figured hey, what the hell is holding me back, right?"
He laughed, placing his hands on her hips and shaking his head, "Maybe later I can check them out a little more closely…"
She smirked at the sexual tone in his voice, his hard-on not exactly a secret between them. Sliding a hand down his chest, grazing his abs through the thin t-shirt he wore under his leather jacket, she cupped his erection through his jeans and huskily said, "You won't find me objecting…what do you say we find a hotel to continue in right now?"
As tempting as that offer was—and believe him, it was damn hard to tell Elena no when she was rubbing his dick—he knew that he had to follow that lead tonight while he still had the chance. A low growl rumbled out from deep in his chest, and he tugged her body closer to his. Her hands flew to his shoulders as he said, "As good of a time as I'm sure that would be, there's one more place I want to show you before the night is over. A place filled with the wrong kind of trouble for the right kind of reasons."
Her excitement for the night dropped almost instantly, and it was clearly displayed on her bored features as she pushed away from him. "This better be worth it." She grumbled, climbing into the car.
Damon took a deep breath, attempting to get his body back under control before hopping in the car right along with her. It was going to be a hell of a long night, and with Elena throwing herself at him, he wasn't sure how much longer he'd be able to resist. He desperately wanted to see those nipple piercings up close and personal.
Would it really be that bad if he did sleep with her? It wasn't like it would be their first time, or he was taking advantage of her. She had real feelings for him that were just buried deep inside of her. The worst that could happen was she started feeling something and turned her emotions back on, which wasn't actually bad at all.
And when her emotions were back on, would she regret sleeping with him now? He couldn't see how, seeing as they were already having regular sex before all of this happened.
Okay, those kind of thoughts weren't going to make him more presentable for a public setting. Shaking away the mental images, he drove them over to the all too familiar club where he spent most of his time with Lexi.
It was still pretty dead outside, so he got a close parking spot on the street. A place like this only got fun once the sun set and the creatures of the night could come out to play. The only people that were around now were human.
They walked inside, Elena looking a lot less impressed than Damon at the sight of a few chairs still on top of the tables and a lone bartender cleaning glasses to prepare for the night. The brick walls were covered in graffiti and the cement floors were just as grungy as they were four decades ago, and probably hadn't been cleaned in longer. He smiled when his gaze found the stage, a band that nobody knew setting up their equipment. Neon signs hung on the walls indicating which types of alcohol were served there, and the minimal lighting made everything seem sketchier than it was.
"Welcome to Billy's." He smiled to himself at the nostalgia.
Elena huffed, "I was promised hedonism."
He smirked over his shoulder, "Hedonism isn't a fan of the sun."
She eyed the place with an air of disgust, "Or soap."
"Easy judgy. Not everybody got a hot new makeover today." She smiled shyly and he turned back to the bar as they kept walking inside, noting that there were a few humans sitting at high top tables with beers, but other than that, the place was dead. "In a few hours, this place will be crawling with every kind of punked-out blood source you can imagine."
"How do you know?" She asked skeptically, her arms crossed in front of her chest as she continued inspecting the place.
"Because I spent the seventies right here, drinking my fill until the early morning only to start it all again the next day. That's the thing about New York. There's so much life, that a little death goes unnoticed."
She narrowed her eyes, "So we're really here just to feed and have fun?"
He nodded, "You wanted out, so I got you out. That's all there is to it. What better way to enjoy being a vampire than a place where there are no rules?"
The music from the garage metal bland playing blared through the building, shaking the walls down to the studs. Beer bottles were thrown against any solid surface every couple minutes, the sound of glass shattering as the patrons got hyped up on the music reverberating through the place. The band wasn't even that good; they were pretty much just noise, but nobody seemed to notice or even care as they banged their heads to the beat, their long hair flipping around their shoulders. People cheered and hollered, clapping and whistling to encourage them to keep performing and the lead singer didn't disappoint.
It brought back so many memories of Billy and everything they did together. Damon hoped to catch him at some point just to say hi, if he was even still alive. Back then, Damon had helped him out with his business.
Making fake identities for vampires.
AKA, his ticket to Katherine.
Billy used to let him feed in his club, and in exchange Damon would kill people and steal their ID's for him. Then just about any vampire could be whoever they wanted. As far as he knew, they were still in business today.
He smirked to himself as he watched a couple of guys get into a fight, fists flying while nobody around cared in the slightest. He and Elena were sitting back in a quieter corner, waiting for the real party to start. Business had picked up, and a few vampires could be spotted, but it wasn't at its peak yet, and Damon was still telling her a little about his time there back in the seventies.
Of course, leaving out the parts about Billy's business. That would tip her off that something was up.
Elena raised a brow, "You got Lexi-ed?"
Before Damon could respond, his face was pressed against the table as the most annoying voice in the world said, "Having fun without me? Poor form, Damon. Have to say, I'm a little hurt."
She released his neck and he groaned, straightening himself and glaring at her. She just smiled sweetly, looking between him and Elena. Surprisingly, the only look on Elena's face was surprise. No anger, no annoyance, no frustration…nothing.
As refreshing as it was not to see her so distraught by the Original, it was also…disturbing. So, very, disturbing.
"Hell of a greeting," Damon muttered, rubbing the back of his neck. "Does it come with an explanation?"
She shrugged, "I heard Elena's humanity was off, and I rather find you attractive, Damon. Watching her spiral out of control while rolling around in bed with you was a much better option than staying Mystic Falls with the lot of those fools."
"How did you find us?" Elena asked, speaking up for the first time. There was some kind of unsettled emotion in her tone, but not enough to constitute a true reaction.
She laughed, "Oh, it was far too easy. All I had to do was spend the afternoon in bed with Stefan and he was spilling his guts all about his hurt feelings regarding you two."
"Figures." Elena blew out. "Stefan's too trusting for his own good."
"Right." She smirked, something about this new Elena striking her fancy.
Damon cut in, "I'm going to get a drink. Or ten. I'm not nearly drunk enough for this…" He let the sentence hang in the air as he walked towards the bar, feeling a headache already coming on.
Rebekah turned to Elena, interested to see her new and improved personality in action. "So what's the real reason you two are here?"
She smirked, "According to who, me or Damon?"
The blonde's mouth curled into a smile, "You."
Speaking quietly so he wouldn't hear, Elena said, "He's after something, probably my humanity given the whole Lexi story about how she spent a year trying to get his humanity back."
"But you don't want it back." She stated, rather than asked. Elena's lack of argument was the confirmation she needed. "Can't say I blame you. Not caring is so much more fun."
"Exactly." Elena agreed. "Had my humanity been on for this conversation, I probably would have already driven the leg of a chair into your body, or at least tried, but now, I just don't care."
A part of Rebekah was disappointed that none of her jibes would work anymore, but another, bigger, part was excited to see just how this Elena would behave
Damon returned with their drinks, three bottles of beer, ending their conversation. The crowd had thickened in the short time since Rebekah arrived, a well-blended mix of humans and vampires dancing to the music. It was a place where Damon wanted to be with Elena plastered to his body, preferably without Rebekah lurking nearby. She really put a damper on his plans, but he'd have to make do.
After finishing their drinks, Damon led Elena onto the dance floor by her hand while telling Rebekah to entertain herself if she insisted on butting in.
Elena went with little protest, all too eager to feel every inch of Damon's body against hers while feeding from a bunch of humans. They placed themselves in the middle of all the action, Damon grabbing the hand of some random girl with a pixie cut and compelling her not to move a muscle. He tipped her head to the side, exposing her neck to Elena while motioning with his eyes for her to go for it. He waited until her teeth were in her neck to feed from her himself.
When her heart faltered, they both pulled away and that was that. Damon was impressed with her control. The girl disappeared back into the crowd as Damon let her go, and Elena gravitated right back to him, leaning in to lick the dripping blood from his chin.
He spun her around, pulling her ass against his groin by her hips and dropping his lips to her neck, licking and nipping at her pulse point until her arousal perfumed the air for his vampires senses. Their lower bodies bumped and grinded to the beat, the most delicious kind of sweat building between them. He extended his fangs and gently sank them into her delicate throat, the small gasp that escaped her lips going straight to his crotch.
She brought a hand up to his hair, urging him to continue feeding from her while they danced. Damon's hands slid up her curves and moved to her front, grazing the underside of her breasts. When she showed no sign of stopping him, he cupped her breasts in his hands and squeezed, immensely enjoying the fact that she wasn't wearing a bra. That, and the piercings right beneath his fingertips.
He flicked his fingers over her nipples, a throaty moan falling from her lips as she tipped her head back against his shoulder and her eyes slid shut. He released her throat, pressing a kiss to the bite as it healed and smirking at the way her body responded to his touch.
Humanity or not, she was still his.
And god damn did he love those piercings.
They spent hours doing the same thing, finding that it never seemed to get old. They'd find some unsuspecting human, compel them, feed until they were on the verge of passing out, then send them on their way. They'd dance the dirtiest of dances, leaving no area safe from groping. They occasionally even fed from each other.
Rebekah had joined them eventually when she got bored of whatever she'd been doing before, and Damon saw it as the perfect opportunity to slip away. Elena already had her fangs deep in a girl's neck, and Rebekah was lurking right behind him. Pulling away, he motioned for her to take a turn, and without hesitation she did.
When they were both distracted, he slipped into the crowd and disappeared through an employees only door. He closed it securely behind him, the noise dying down considerably. He walked down the hall until he reached the storage room where Billy kept all of the records of his business deals.
He closed the door behind him, keeping his ears open for anyone coming as he sifted through the many boxes until he found the P's.
Pierce/Petrova. Bingo.
He folded up the piece of paper he needed and stuffed it in his back pocket, quickly putting everything else back where he found it. He opened the door and shut it behind him just as Elena appeared in down the hall where the entrance was. She narrowed her eyes at him, "What are you doing?"
"Wanted to see if Billy was in his office." He lied easily. "He wasn't."
She seemed to accept his excuse, him having told her how close he and Billy had gotten during the time they worked together. Billy may have been a vampire, but he didn't like killing and feeding from humans like Damon did. He preferred the bagged blood, and stuck to partying with alcohol instead of dead bodies.
"You about done here or do you want to stick around for another hour or two?" He asked, walking towards her.
She furrowed her brows, "You're not gonna get me even more drunk and force me to spill all kinds of emotions I'm not having like Lexi did to you?"
Damon smirked, "You didn't let me finish that story, kitten." He nodded his head towards the door, "Come on."
She followed him wordlessly back into the club and he led her into a stairwell where they climbed a couple stories to the roof, snagging some beers beforehand. Damon swung open the door, his eyes immediately landing on the last spot he saw Lexi, naked and wrapped in a blanket. He really was a dick.
The city lights cast a soft glow through the chilly night as Damon walked over to the edge to look at the city.
Elena sipped her beer, then asked, "So are you going to tell me what happened?"
She leaned against the ledge next to him, glancing out into the city. She was a bit more interested in hearing him talk about Lexi though.
He smirked, "What do you think happened? Lots of late night drunken thoughts before I finally had my breakthrough and turned it back on?"
"Judging by your tone I'd guess not."
He blew out a short laugh then said, "I made her fall in love with me over the course of a year, then pretended I loved her back and that that emotion was what got me to turn my humanity back on. I brought her right up here on top of this roof, fucked her for a good four hours, then ditched her, leaving her outside for the sun to fry when it rose in another hour. I hadn't seen her since she appeared in Mystic Falls not that long ago. I honestly thought she was dead."
Well, Elena hadn't been expecting that. Damon was ruthless, and it was…sexy. She bit her lower lip, not bothering to dissect why the sudden jolt of lust coursing through her appeared at the thought of him acting like a monster.
"Barbecued vampire. Definitely your style." She mused, a slight smirk on her lips.
He raised a brow, "Now do you believe my goal of bringing you here wasn't to flip your switch? I know what it's like, what someone pestering you to flip it can be like, and what it can drive you to do. That's not what I want. What I want is for you to be happy, and if that means leaving your humanity off, so be it." Her face was unreadable after he finished, void of any thought going on in her head. He sighed, taking a swig of his beer, "So are you? Happy, that is?"
The first flicker of uncertainly flashed through her eyes and he noted it with interest. He was going to need all the ammunition he could get for her to turn it back on.
She dropped her gaze to the ground before raising it again, saying, "I'm nothing, Damon. I just don't care. I'm satisfied with my life, if that's what you're asking me, a little turned on too, but that's a given—"
"More like a lot…" Damon said under his breath.
She smiled a little, "But if you want to hear me say that I'm happy, then I guess I can do that. I don't have any problems, or worries, and I'm kind of liking being a vampire right now, getting to feel that rush that the blood gives you. But if you think that I want this to change, that I could be happier with my humanity, you're dead wrong. If what you just said is really true, then you won't try to get me to turn it on. Are we clear?"
He's always been a bit of a liar anyways.
"If it gets those panties of yours out of their twist, yes, we're clear."