Hey. Sorry it took so long for me to update. I was sick last week and I've been dealing with other stuff these last couple days, so I was just able to finish this chapter today. Because it took me so long, I made it a long chapter. I hope you all enjoy. Disclaimer: I do not own Vampire Diaries.

Chapter 5

"There's no way in hell I'm getting on that thing." Elena told Damon as she tuned to walk back to the suite.

"Oh come on. At least try it." Damon smirked as he caught up with her and dragged her back to the black and white painted horse. The horse was saddled up and ready to go.

"No way. That thing will kill me." Elena said. Damon just chuckled and led her towards the horse. She tried to push him away and run away from the creature, but Damon held her in place. He grabbed her hand and led it to the horse's snout. Again she shied away but he held her hand there.

"Just relax. Let her smell you." She slowly started to relax and after a few more moments Damon was able to let go of her without having to worry about her running off. Elena ran her hand along the horse's face and a small smile appeared on her face as the horse snorted. "Okay, now that that's over." He picked her up and placed her in the saddle.

"Oh my God! Damon!" she grabbed onto the saddle as tight as she could and squeezed her eyes shut.

"Just relax. Nothing is going to happen to you." His voice was gentle, calming. She listened to his voice and slowly calmed down more, getting used to the feel of sitting on a horse. Slowly she opened her eyes. She trailed her hand through the horse's mane.

"Good girl." Elena whispered to the horse as another smile appeared on her face. She put her feet into the stirrups and grabbed the reins. She looked over to see Damon on an all black horse.

"Ready to go?" Elena nodded to him, her nervousness slowly raising up in her again. "Relax." Damon said as he moved closer to her. "Horses feed off of your emotions. If you're nervous, she will be too. You need to be in control all the time. If you want to go left, you put back with your left hand. Same for the right. Don't jerk back, you don't want to hurt the horse. The reins should never be above your belly button. When you want to move, you give the horse a kick in the side and tell them to walk. When you want to stop, say 'whoa.' Always make the horse stop when you say that. Never freak out. If your horse isn't listening or is going out of control, do circles with them, like this."

Damon demonstrated turning his horse in circles. He then told Elena to do it as well. Once she had gotten it right he continued. "And lastly, just remember, I'll be with you the whole time. Nothing will happen to you." She smiled up at him and nodded her head. "Okay, now that I've wasted all that time explaining things to you," he said with a smirk, "We can go now." Elena just laughed and gave her horse a kick to get her to follow Damon.

VDVDVDVDVD

They had been walking down several trails just enjoying the silence while asking a few questions here and there. Elena had relaxed significantly since her first encounter with the horse.

"Where did you learn so much about horses?" she asked conversationally.

"Elena, I'm from the 1800's. We had to ride horses everywhere." Damon chuckled.

"Oh right." She laughed embarrassed.

"So I take it this is your first time on a horse?"

"What was your first clue?" she said sarcastically.

Damon chuckled once again. "Me and Katherine used to go on horse rides all the time. It was the only time we were able to be ourselves." A small smile appeared on his face.

Elena felt jealousy run through her veins. "What was so great about her anyways?" she nearly spat out. "What made her so special to you and Stefen? Is that why I'm out here? So you can pretend I'm her and have one more horse ride with her?! She was a bitch! She couldn't make up her mind between you two so she used both of you! She's hurt both of you! How can you love someone like that?!" she was screaming now. She didn't know where that all came from.

Damon looked at her first in shock, then in anger. "Don't ever say anything like that about her again." He growled out. "You didn't know her. You didn't know anything about her. So don't pretend that you did. I should kill you right now for even speaking one word against her." Instead he just turned straight once again, gave his horse a good kick and took off cantering down the trail. It wasn't long before he was out of sight. Elena just stared off to where he had disappeared for several moments before she kicked her horse. She had no clue where she was so she had no choice but to follow his path.

VDVDVDVDVD

Elena and her horse had been walking down the path for several hours with no sign of Damon or his horse. There had been several forks in the road and she had no clue where she was or how to get back to where she had been. She looked up to the sky through the tree tops to see that it was growing dark. She knew that soon she wouldn't be able to see anything and she was beginning to get scared.

She stopped her horse and looked around. "Please, Damon. Come back." She whispered to herself. It was then when she heard some noise coming from the trees. "Damon?" she said with a small smile on her face.

Her horse pulled back her ears and then circled them, listening to everything around them. Suddenly, the horse took off running. Elena barely had time to grab onto the reins and stay on the horse. "What's going on?" she asked allowed. "Calm down, girl. What's out there?" The horse refused to slow down. All of a sudden, the horse reared up, making Elena go flying. She felt her head make contact with a rock and reached her hand up to feel blood pouring out of the wound. She looked up with blurry vision to see her horse running away. "Wait." She tried to yell out but her voice sounded as if it was a million miles away. She tried to sit up but was unable to.

There was then another noise in the trees. Elena looked all around her but didn't see anything. It was hard to focus on anything. She saw her vision slowly fading to black. "It's okay Elena, You're safe now."

A small smile appeared on her face. "Damon." Was all she said as she blacked out.

VDVDVDVDVD

Damon had returned to where he had left Elena after running off. He didn't see her anywhere so he returned to the barn thinking that she had returned back to the suite. When he got there, he saw that her horse was still missing. He took off his horse's equipment and put him in his stall before running into the woods, looking for Elena again.

It had been hours since he started his search and he was getting worried. "Damn it, Elena. Where did you go?" he said to no one in particular. He looked up to the sky to see that stars were in place and it was going to be pitch black soon. "I swear to God, when I find you, you're dead." He said as he took off running again.

It was another hour before he saw Elena's horse standing by a tree grazing, Elena not on her. He heard his heart beating in his ears as he began searching faster. 'If Elena wasn't on her horse, then something's happened to her. Elena, please be okay.'

Damon followed the horse's scent back some distance. It wasn't long before he lost the horse's scent though. He cursed under his breath and stood looking around, trying to figure out where Elena was. Then it happened. He smelt her blood. He took off as fast as he could towards her scent.

He burst through the trees to see a vampire sucking on Elena's neck. Her skin color was ghostly white and she was unconscious. Dark lines appeared under his eyes and his fangs grew as he attacked the vampire. Said vampire dropped Elena onto the ground. Damon struck the vampire in the face. He continued to hit him over and over again. The vampire tried to fight back but couldn't land a single punch. Within seconds, Damon had grabbed a tree branch and stabbed the vampire through the heart, killing him.

Damon turned his back on the vampire and turned to Elena. He rushed over to her and tried to feel for a pulse. He sighed in partial relief when he located it, though it was going extremely slow. He quickly picked her up and ran back to the suite.

VDVDVDVDVD

Damon placed Elena on the bed and ran to get a bag of blood. He put a straw into the bag and connected it to a tube. He then cut a hole into Elena's arm and placed the tube into the hole. He held the bag up and watched as the blood travel through the tube into her system. He also put a towel behind her head, to stop the bleeding there. Slowly, color started returning to her skin and Damon finally relaxed slightly. "Come on, Elena. Wake up." He quietly begged.

A few more moments passed before Elena's hand started to twitch. "Elena?" Damon hovered over her as her eyes started to slowly open.

"uh….Damon?" she asked distantly.

"Yes it's me. You don't have to worry anymore."

Suddenly Elena sprang up in the bed and her eyes went wide. She pushed herself as far away from him as she could. "Get away from me!" She yelled as she pushed herself against the headboard.

"Elena?" Damon asked confused by her reaction. "What's wrong?" he tried to move closer to her.

"Get away from me! Don't get any closer!" she pushed herself flush against the headboard, ignoring her headache.

"Elena, what did I do?"

"How could you, Damon?!" tears stung her eyes. "I trusted you. But I guess that was my first mistake. The second was thinking that you cared about me at all. But no. I'm just a Katherine copy and a food source!"

Damon was even more confused. "You're not a Katherine copy. You are nothing like her. Sure you look like her but you couldn't be more different. You're gentle and you have spirit. Katherine did everything she could to get what she wanted and didn't feel any remorse for it. You are nothing like her. And what do you mean a food source?"

"Shut up! I know you're lying! You flipped out on me when I said that stuff about her so you must be lying now! And I know what you did! You fed on me. Without even asking me! If you were hungry I would have given you some blood. But you just took it!"

"Elena! I didn't drink your blood. That was someone else."

"Stop it! I know it was you! You told me I was safe and then I blacked out. But then I felt you drinking my blood! So don't sit here and lie to me!"
"That was someone else! It was another vampire. I killed him once I found you. I had been searching for you for hours. Then I smelt your blood…" he trailed off. A sad look came over his face. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry, Elena." He tilted his head down. "If I hadn't run off…you would have been safe...I broke my promise to you…I told you nothing would happen…but then I let this happen…I'm sorry…" his voice was cracking. He sounded as if he was crying.

Elena's anger diminished in that moment. She knew then that she believed him. She slowly moved closer to him and lifted up his face. There were no tears but his eyes told of his guilt and sadness. "It's okay." She held a finger to his lips when he tried to argue. "I'm fine now. You saved me." He was about to protest again but Elena cut him off by placing her lips on his. Damon's eyes grew wide before after a few moments he kissed her back.

There it is. I hope you liked it. If you have any ideas on anything please let me know. Please review and please no flames.

~Thanks~

~Ashley~