AN: I am SO SORRY that it took me so long to update! Life's been really crazy; see AN at after this chapter for more information. Again, so sorry!

AN2: Thank you so much to everyone who took the time to review. ;) Enjoy!

PS: If anyone sees any grammar issues, feel free to tell me. I hate errors but I'm rushing to get this chapter up, so I can't promise that it'll be perfect. :)

Disclaimer: I do not own the Vampire Diaries.

Chapter Six

"Damon! What have you done?"

There was a crash followed by a loud and evil-sounding cackle, and then some pathetic whimpering. Sleep was obviously, once again, evading me, so I hopped up off of the comfy bed in search of a shirt. The one I was wearing was still too tight and it was getting dirty, which probably meant that I smelled bad. Oh, God… Damon always smelled immaculate….

Maybe he should make a perfume called, "Sexy Vampire Damon".

"Elena!" I reminded myself aloud. "Don't get attached. It would never last, anyway."

I told myself that I wasn't in too deep yet, and that the spell could be broken; I could just go back to my normal, everyday life and that would be that. No more drama and no more vampire issues. Even at that point, though, I wasn't that delusional. It was too late.

I groaned as I realized that my right leg had fallen asleep as I listened intently, trying to figure out what was going on. I, with much difficulty, limped over to the other side of his room, determined to find the best smelling shirt that he had. His chest of drawers was a deep brown, obviously an antique and matching the room brilliantly. I heard a very strange and loud crashing sound from downstairs as I rifled through Damon's top drawer, marveling over all of the shirts that he had.

I jumped when someone started to yell out of the blue. "Hey! What's going on?"

Why did that voice sound so familiar? I searched the back of my brain until I came up with the answer, which you'd think would've been a little bit more obvious to me.

"Matt Honeycutt? What the hell?" Why the fuck would he be here, of all places? I was shocked that anything surprised me anymore.

Matt Honeycutt had been my boyfriend freshman year, and he had been the captain of the football team for our entire high school career. I didn't really go out with him because he was hot; he was kind of ugly, actually. I went out with him to spite Caroline Forbes.

Surprise.

He was average height, with muscle-builder muscles and short blonde hair. He had light blue eyes that were kind of dull and his facial features weren't very defined, making his face look somewhat babyish. He always wore this bitter smile as he walked through the hall, like he had been to Hell and was back again.

I knew why, of course: his mother had left him when he was a child, at only fourteen. She said that she was going to move onto bigger and better things, plastered as hell, and walked out the door with no intentions of ever returning. Every once in a while she would pop up and wreak havoc on Matt, making his already difficult life fifty times harder.

The only time I had ever seen Matt Honeycutt cry was the day his mother had left him for the fifth time; it was back in freshman year, and we had become good friends. I knew that Caroline was after him (I couldn't fathom why), so I took advantage of his vulnerability and snatched him up.

We went out for almost an entire year. Matt may not have been the most handsome guy in the entire world, but he had a kind heart, and he made me feel special when he talked to me. For the first time, I felt like a guy wanted me for my personality and not just my ass; it was a strange feeling, to say in the least.

For some reason, when I looked at him, I thought of my parents. I guess that was what made me change my mind.

"No good relationship can last forever." Those were the words that I used when I broke up with him. I couldn't let someone so good become a permanent part of my life, because, like I said…. nothing, nothing good can last forever. Why not just speed up the process?

Anyway, Matt ended up going out with Caroline—oh, the irony—and we don't speak anymore. If we passed each other in the hallway, we would nod curtly and move on. We might have moved on, but we didn't forget…

I felt a pang of guilt as I thought over everything I had done and felt a single tear run down my cheek. I wiped it away angrily, telling myself that what was done was done and there was no changing it.

"You broke up with him, you idiot. He should be the one that's crying."

I had to stop talking to myself before someone called a shrink on me and made and appointment. I snapped back to the present, my angst momentarily forgotten as I heard weird things.

There were lots of noises; a door was opened and slammed shut, an out-of-control Bonnie was rattling the cage downstairs, and Stefan and Damon were yelling at each other.

I heard a low scream and then quiet, muffled sounds, and then the house was eerily silent. All of the sudden, that horrible shrieking from Bonnie again and I could hear her all the way from the two floors between us.

Last night, I had had nightmares about her episode. Sometime, Damon must have gotten tired of it because he comforted me for a little while by stroking the back of my hand. Cheesy or not, I was back asleep in no time and Damon was, too… as far as I know, anyway.

Shirt forgotten, I all but ran down the stairs in my favorite lacy bra, and I didn't even notice that my boobs were bouncing up and down and slapping me in the face… how embarrassing.

"Damon? What's going on?" My stomach growled at a most inappropriate time and I groaned in frustration, coming to a halt when I reached them.

Damon smiled cheekily at me and Stefan squealed before covering his eyes, and I looked down to see that my chest was staring right back at me, all but falling out of my bra in a very un-sexy way. I stared them down, mortified and waiting for one of them to say something, until I looked over and noticed that the closet door was bulging weirdly.

"Um… what's in the closet?"

"What's in that bra of yours?" Damon retorted, smiling like I had just given him a million dollars.

I scowled at him before Stefan gathered the courage to uncover his eyes and take a long look at me. "Damon, you've taken basic biology courses. You know that she has breasts, and there's no need to embarrass her about it."

I raised an eyebrow. What he had said was sweet, but I wasn't very impressed, because I was supposed to be the one to tell him off.

"I think I can tell him whether I'm embarrassed or not, thank you very much."

"Sorry." He started stuttering some stupid apology before I cut him off and made my way for the closet, only to be picked up by Damon. I had to admit it: it wasn't so bad, being trapped in his arms and being forced to stare at his delicious abs and chest.

Not so bad at all.

"Put me down, please."

He laughed cruelly and hoisted me over his shoulder, intent on not releasing me. I cringed as Bonnie's screaming continued, but neither one of them either batted one of their insanely long eyelashes. I'm not going to lie; I was so jealous of them.

"Isn't anyone else disturbed by Bonnie's… noises that she's making, down there?"

Stefan shrugged and turned to walk away. "No. I'll just go check on Matt and make sure he hasn't escaped—

"STEFAN!"

He winced and mouthed, 'sorry', before opening the door. Out came tumbling an overly large Matt, looking like he was wearing a hell of a lot of padding underneath his shirt and too-short shorts.

"Damn, Matt. I can see that you haven't laid off of those extra-large hotdogs that you used to buy…"

I clamped a hand over my mouth, shocked at myself, while Damon let out a loud and boisterous laugh and the two other guys rolled their eyes simultaneously. Great. On top of breaking his heart and sabotaging any chances he might have had with our relationship, I was calling him fat.

"Matt, I am so sorry…"

He rose up a hand to cut me off. "Yeah. Whatever."

I blinked. "So…."

He shrugged. "How have you been?"

He shrugged. "You know."

No, I don't, you idiot. That's what I asked.

I nodded politely. "How's Caroline?"

The insufferable word-vomit I had just spit out sounded like I was choking on one of Matt's hotdogs.

He laughed. "Right. Because you like her so much."

I guess neither Caroline nor I had tried to keep our distaste for each other a secret, which made things even more awkward.

My head was still pounding from being upside down, and it wasn't helping that I could feel Damon's eyes on my ass as he lifted me up slightly higher.

"Damon, stop that."

He winked at me. "Stop what, dearest?"

"Don't call me 'dearest'. You wouldn't be holding me upside down if I was your 'dearest'."

"Sure, I would."

"Oh, yeah?"

It seemed that I was being even more defiant than ever, because I was putting an awful lot of trust into an unpredictable and seemingly evil vampire that was holding me upside down like I weighed two pounds.

"Elena?"

I rolled my eyes before turning my head back to Matt. "What?"

"I am still here, you know."

"Unfortunately, yes," I muttered under my breath. I didn't care that the vampires could hear it, as long as I didn't insult poor Mattie again.

"Yes, Matt. What can I do for you?"

He shifted awkwardly, obviously not thinking through his words before he said them. "… I don't know. Maybe… we could play checkers?"

I groaned; I was never good at that insipid and useless game that was designed for toddlers and old men. "Hell no."

"I see that you still swear, too."

Damon snorted. "An Elena without swearing? That would be an animal at the zoo that I would pay money to see."

"Damon!" Stefan cut in sharply. "Don't call Elena an animal."

I grinned. "Yeah, Damon; don't call me an animal. And put me the hell down, if you please."

"But I don't please."

I kicked at his head and heard him laugh again. His hair rustled as my foot came in tact with it, but the rest of him remained unscathed; as always.

"Don't laugh; it isn't funny. I want to be let down."

"And I want to play checkers!"

I was quickly losing what was left of my patience. "We're not playing checkers."

Damon's eyes started twinkling. "If you play checkers, I'll put you down."

I growled savagely at him from my meek position and tried to wiggle myself free; it was no use, because there was no escaping his iron grasp. I was losing my breath and my ribcage hurt from all of the rubbing that it was doing against things.

I couldn't take it any more. "Okay, okay. Fine!"

Matt smiled and ran into the living room, expecting me to follow him.

Immediately, I was back on the ground softly, and I didn't even feel my feet hit the ground. It was the oddest sensation; it was like I was flying to the ground, but I wasn't afraid at all, like I was a little fairy. I realized that this was the first time –but not the last -I had ever experienced the power of super speed.

"What just happened?" Obviously, my sluggish, human brain didn't move nearly as fast as my body had.

Damon nonchalantly crossed his arms across his chest and shrugged, wearing his Hallmark bored expression that you could recognize anywhere. "I put you down, just like you asked."

"But…. But…. one second I was in the air, and the next, I was on the ground!"

He rolled his eyes like he was explaining something to a five-year-old. "That's how super speed works, isn't it?"

I felt my defensiveness flair up right away. "Well, Damon, I wouldn't; I'm not a vampire, believe it or not."

He mockingly gasped and walked past me, into the living room, to do God knows what.

"Where are you going? You have to play, too!"

He merely shook his head. "It's funny; I don't remember that being part of the deal…"

I stomped my foot without even thinking about it, which actually really hurt; it wasn't like what you saw on TV, where the little bratty teenager stomps her foot and the whole world comes to a screeching halt.

I wasn't that fat.

"Damon, please?"

He pretended to consider for a minute. "Well… no. Have fun with hot dog boy."

Matt looked offended as he watched him go away, coming back into the main room and drag me to my doom…

THREE HOURS LATER

"No, Matt! No more."

We'd been at it for the last three hours and I was literally going to drop dead if I had to move another checker.

He pouted. Gross. "Please? Just one more game?"

I shook my head. "No. No. NO!"

His nostrils flared and I crinkled my nose. "Did your nostrils just flair?"

"They do that when I get angry."

As we'd been playing, Matt had slowly loosened up until he was almost like his old self. Basically, we talked about how amazing his relationship was with Caroline, which was boring me to tears. It hurt to feel like I had felt so many times… it was weird, knowing that he still cared about me, even after everything that had happened. I almost cried when he gave me his sweatshirt to wear.

I braced myself on my knees as I stood up and he started playing against himself (however it is that you go about doing that), and I strode to the kitchen in search of something edible.

The only thing I found was Stefan, and he was definitely not edible.

"Hey, Stephanie. I'm hungry."

He growled and smashed a mug into the counter top, looking like he wanted to murder me. I calmly stood there, patiently waiting for his fit to end.

"I think you should see a counselor about your… err…. anger, if you will."

"No, I will not! My name is Stefan."

"And you killed my father, prepare to die?"

He stared at me, confused, until I sighed. "Well, you've obviously never seen the Princess Bride."

"What do you want to eat?"

I turned around to see Damon looking at me inquisitively.

I scoffed. "You're going to get me something to eat?"

"Duh. That's why I asked."

I shrugged. No point in judging his non-existent ethics. "Fine. I'll have a cheeseburger, with nothing but meat and cheese."

"No bun?"

I gritted my teeth. "No."

He smiled and left, enjoying getting on my nerves. I, however, was not enjoying it.

"Anyway, the Princess Bride is a classic. It's about this girl that falls in love with a boy, but then the boy is abducted by pirates, and then she falls in love with the pirate king, and this guy keeps repeating his name over and over again and says, 'prepare to die'… it's awesome."

His eyes were cold and disinterested as I babbled my heart away, obviously not caring about my motive behind my clever comeback.

"Awesome."

He walked away, quite bitchily, leaving me to scowl after him and impatiently wait for my cheeseburger.

I found myself in Damon's room again, rifling around his shirts and sniffing them carefully. As I put each one up to my nose, I said the first description that came to mind aloud:

"Floral. Cinnamon. Ewe… blood. Febreeze. Fresh rainfall. Pineapple."

"What the hell?"

I whipped around, the Pineapple shirt still attached to my sniffer, to find a very much bewildered Damon.

This. Is. Not. Good. "Um, I can totally explain this strange-looking mishap."

He raised an eyebrow.

"Well, my shirt was getting too tight and Matt gave me his, but he's huge now and his thing is too baggy on me, so I figured your sexy and trim body would be more appropriate for my petite body shape."

I slapped a hand over my mouth painfully while he grinned like the Cheshire cat as he watched my cheeks burn up.

"Shut up!"

He looked even smugger. "I didn't say anything. However, you gave me quite the interesting tidbit of information to nibble on."

What an un-Damon-like thing to say.

"Can we please just forget that I ever said anything?"

"No."

I groaned and closed my eyes, willing myself to materialize over to the other side of the planet. Nope. Didn't work.

"By all means; try on one of my shirts that fit my sexy and trim body so well."

"Who said anything about them fitting well?"

"Oh, so they don't?"

I smiled. "No. It bulges out your arm fat in all the wrong ways."

He chuckled. "I don't have any arm fat."

"Oh, really?"

He nodded like it was the most obvious thing in the world. "Well, then shake your arm and let's see if it jiggles."

I knew that his arm wasn't going to jiggle, but I still hoped in vain, nonetheless. His gloriously toned arm went up and down in the air, and nothing moved. At all.

Time for my poker face. "Oh, my God. Gross! Look at all of that flab, just hanging there, with no place to go besides your fatty ass."

I didn't know it was possible to glare arrogantly until he did so, but he made it happen, and it worked on him.

Stupid Elena, I chided myself. EVERYTHING works on him.

"Just pick out a shirt so we can go."

"Where are we going?" Maybe I was being released from this prison and I was being taken home. Of course, I didn't actually want to go home…

"Oh, I think you know."

I stared at him strangely. "Um, why would I ask you if I already knew?"

He shrugged. "Karma's a bitch."

"That sentence didn't apply."

"Sure, it did."

"No, it didn't, you stupid fucking fortune cookie!"

He stormed out of the room, presumably so I could put on a shirt, and I decided to go with the Pineapple one.

I looked at myself in the mirror and noticed that my waist was getting just a little bit too small, which meant eating more for me. That was never a bad thing. My stomach was looking a little flat, so more sit-ups would be in order, and my arms were in dyer need of weights.

Figuring there was no time like the present, I started my exercises and worked vigorously, and by the time I was done I was ready for whatever Damon had planned.

Or so I thought.

I jogged down the steps and found Damon lounging against the doorframe, looking more bored than I had ever seen him.

"Ready."

"What took you so long? Did you decide to fly to England and then come back? We're going to be late!"

"You still haven't told me where we're going."

He opened his mouth to say something before I cut him off.

"No. Telling me that I already know in a cryptic voice doesn't mean that you've given me any vital information as to where we're going."

He rolled his eyes and dragged me out the door, evading my question, despite my pestering.

"Damon! I don't like surprises!"

He smirked. "Fear not, my princess of darkness; I can guarantee that you'll hate this one."

I struggled not to roll my eyes as he shared these words of comfort with me, pulling me faster, until he sighed in annoyance.

"Why do humans have to be so damned slow all the time?"

I shrugged, becoming used to his derogatory comments regarding my species. After all, what could I do?

"We can't all be speed racers."

He stopped and grinned maniacally into the night. Knowing that this was never a good thing, I turned to go to the other direction only to feel myself being hoisted into the air.

"Put me down!" I was getting tired of saying this to him… this was…. what? The tenth time today?

"No can do."

The next thing I knew, my legs were locked around his waist securely, my entire weight was resting on his back, and we were running faster than cars went in video games. I cringed as the wind whipped at my hair and irritated my eyes, burying my face into his shoulder and willing myself not to scream. In an odd way, it was kind of…. fun. Exhilarating, if you will.

I don't know how long it took us to get there; it couldn't have been more than ten minutes. I cautiously looked up with blurry eyes to see that we were in the middle of the woods, an unfamiliar territory to me. My knees were surprisingly sturdy as I slid off of him, expecting myself to fall, only to land on the ground uncharacteristically gracefully.

"Where are we?"

He smiled grimly. "We're here to visit an old friend."

"Wait… wasn't Matt the one at the door?" I had assumed that he would've been.

He chuckled. "Assumptions aren't going to get you anywhere with vampires. Just keep that in mind."

Well, I guess that sort of answered my question.

I someone's unnerving presence behind me as I turned around to see a small girl with dark hair and dark eyes, wearing all black and glaring.

"Damon."

"Anna."

"Who's she?" I asked stupidly.

She rolled her eyes. "I'm your brother's girlfriend."

I raised an eyebrow. She'd have to be a pretty hardcore bitch to go out with Jeremy the Stoner. "Are you, like… his druggy buddy?"

She looked offended. "I'm a vampire, you idiot. Drugs don't affect me. Hasn't Damon taught you anything?"

His eyes hardened. "This is all new to her; give her a break."

"Why's she even here?"

Figuring I wasn't exactly welcome, I decided to step out of the picture. "Maybe I should just go."

Damon shook his head and wrapped his hand around my wrist. "You're not going anywhere."

Anna looked really pissed, now. "Why not? She's just a useless human."

I scoffed at her and glared with all my might, but hers put mine to shame.

"I always thought you had more common sense than the others. How, exactly, is she supposed to find her way out of this place?"

"Ugh. I hate human disabilities."

What was it with these people? It wasn't like I asked them to carry me around all day long and answer all my questions about life.

"Well, I'm so sorry that I can't be a perfect little vampire. It's not like I have a choice…"

"Sure you do." I shrieked as these ugly fang things came out of her mouth and she was in front of me in a flash, going for my throat. It was like something that you would see in a cheesy horror movie, except for that it was real.

"Anna!" Damon barked at her and tugged me behind him. "Not the fangs."

She rolled her eyes dramatically. "Do you have the book or not?"

"What book?" I liked reading; maybe I had a copy.

"No. I don't have it yet."

"Then why am I here?"

"Hey! I might have it. I love to read."

Anna looked at me like I was the stupidest idiot on the planet while Damon sighed impatiently.

"Elena, you don't have this book."

"How do you know? I like the classics."

Anna snorted. "Yeah, this book is a real classic. Just mind your own business, would you?"

"Your sneer is most unattractive."

I was almost surprised that she didn't kill me, the way her eyes flared. Evil.

I wasn't done yet. "What's the book called?"

He paused hesitantly. "Well… it doesn't exactly have a name, actually."

"What. Is. It?"

"It's a book of spells, alright?"

I guess they were offended because laughter wasn't appropriate at that particular time, but I did it anyway.

"Spells?" I stuttered out between deep breaths. "How fucking stupid do you think I am?"

"Don't answer that." To this day, I don't want to know what Anna's answer would have been.

"You know what? I'm leaving. Call me if I get the book."

She was gone in a blink before I could ask her any more questions, which was just as well.

"What the hell is going on?"

He sighed. "It's a long story, and it's not really mien to tell."

"Well, whose is it?" Patience wasn't my strongest suit.

"Your friend, Bonnie's."

He ignored my questions for the rest of the night as we went home, and I was determined to find out what was going on.

AN: I'm sorry that this chapter is a couple thousand words shorter than usual. Life has been kicking me in the ass because I'm moving, which I'm incredibly excited about. Packing and stuff has been taking up all of my time, and, again, I'm so sorry that this is a week late. I know how it feels when my favorite stories don't get updated when they're supposed to… it's not awesome. I'm really hoping that I can have an update up by next Monday, but I can't be sure, so I'm sorry if I don't. I love you guys and thank you so much to everyone that's supported my story so far. Please take the time to review and I hope to hear from you guys soon!

Love,

Evie