It was around that time that I had my handbag snatched from outside the flat one evening, I ran after the boy and even caught up with him. Unfortunately his mates were waiting round the corner and although I put up a good fight it was three against one and I got a black eye, some scratches and more than a few bruises.
I walked home feeling pretty numb as I approached the entrance to the flats, then I heard a voice beside me say "no wonder your nickname at University was Trouble, Elizabeth."
My heart leapt into my throat and a smile involuntarily spread across my face, "isn't that the pot calling the kettle black?"
He laughed and stepped out of the shadows, he was holding my bag.
"I believe this is yours," then as he gave it to me he put his hand under my chin and tilted my head up as he studied my face.
"Well you'll live and those boys won't be bothering you anymore."
Then when he saw the look on my face his voice changed from amused to cold, "they'll live as well. No need to worry about that."
"Good, they'll have my DNA all over them, which makes me prime suspect if they were killed." I found myself thinking a little too clearly and then as I started to shiver realised that I must be in shock.
Damon put his jacket around my shoulders and we went upstairs to my flat. I didn't speak to him, but I took his jacket off and put a nice thick hoodie on instead, I went into the kitchen to make myself a cup of tea but he followed me in.
"Stop that and come here will you. Lee will not be happy when he sees your face and no doubt my brother will voice his opinion as well."
I didn't understand but I walked towards him, then I noticed his wrist was bleeding and then suddenly my back was against him and his wrist was being held to my mouth.
"Drink," he commanded in a voice that wasn't to be argued with.
"I'm sure you don't want to go around with your pretty face all bruised and battered, do you?" I shook my head and started to suck on his wrist, his blood tasted hot and salty but there was another taste as well- a sweet spicy flavour.
He took his wrist away and we went into the living room and sat on the sofa, I thanked him as he sat there staring at me, then there was an awkward silence as I didn't know what else to say.
"I didn't go to Italy in the end, I went to America and managed to get on the set of the TV show."
He grinned as my eyes widened in shock and panic, "what have you done?" I asked him and his grin turned into a laugh.
"Did you know they're all living as one big happy family? Some of them have even moved in together. It made me think of when we were all in Grove House and of the Orange incident as you call it."
He winked at me and if I wasn't still in a little bit of shock I would have blushed, so I laughed instead.
"Poor Bonnie, she can never resist your charms," Damon raised an eyebrow and looked thoughtful for a second.
"I've decided that perhaps it might be fun to move back in. Don't look at me like that Elizabeth, you're moving in as well." I stood up and stared at him in utter disbelief, "what?"
"It'll be fun, think about it. We can - what's the phrase? "hang out" together and watch television, lots of fun." He grinned as I stood there with my mouth open.
"You've either gone soft or else you're up to something. In light of your little trip to Georgia, I'd say you're up to something, come on Damon. Spill, what are you planning?" He grinned at me and was suddenly standing in front of me.
"I'll leave you to tell Lee the good news when he comes in, I must take my leave of you unfortunately. I need to let my brother and his humans know that you'll be moving back in."
"What about this place? Lee and I are tied to a years contract unless I can find someone to take it over." He paused at the door and then threw a grin over his shoulder that could have blinded me if I had been in my right mind.
"Leave that to me, it's nothing to worry about," then he was out the door and I slumped back onto the sofa with a groan and slipped into a deep sleep. Lee woke me up at the third attempt when he came in, there was a bit of bruising around my eye and cheek and I had to tell him what happened, he was understandably furious that I had chased after them and gotten myself into a fight. He was also suspicious about Damon's offer, but as we were struggling financially he agreed to give it another go providing Stefan agreed.
Sure enough Stefan was waiting for me the next night when I got in from work, the look on his face told me that Lee had told him everything.
"How are you, let me see," before I knew it he was examining my face, twisting my head this way and that.
"I'm fine Stefan, honestly. Ouch! That hurts!" I pulled away as he poked an area of my face with no visible bruising, "no broken bones, you'll live. You might want to put some Arnica cream on your cheek though, it might take a while for the bruise to come out."
Men, sometimes they take this whole male protection role too far, I thought as Lee got up to make me a cup of tea and get some ibuprofen.
"So have you spoken to Damon?" I asked Stefan, he narrowed his eyes at me. "Yes, I have. I think he's up to something, either that or he had a mental breakdown while he was in Florence."
I nearly spat my drink out when he said that. "That's where you said he went wasn't it?" I relaxed a little, no need to panic then, "that's where he told me he was going, but he went to America instead apparently."
Stefan narrowed his eyes in thought, "what's he up to Lizzie?" I shrugged.
"I don't have a clue Stefan. I wish I did."
He sighed, but then a smile spread across his face, "well life is never dull when Damon's around, is it?" Lee and rolled his eyes and I laughed.
Our landlord rang me the next day to say that he wanted to sell the flat rather than rent it, he was very apologetic and said that estate agents would be round to take pictures in a couple of days.
I told Stefan about the odd "coincidence" and he came round that night along with Bonnie and Elena to help me pack as it was decided that we move out that weekend.
Damon was nowhere to be seen until Lee and I turned up at the door, then he helpfully assisted in carrying some of the boxes up to our old room. It was an exhausting weekend for everyone, but it was easy settling back into the house with Bonnie and Elena.
Pretty soon I was fixing myself spread cheese and tomato sauce sandwiches in the kitchen which made Stefan's stomach turn at the sight and Damon just laugh, although Damon was furious when Stefan called me a freak but I just laughed. It became a common term for me in the house, especially when they tried to pull rank over me for a laugh- peasant vs. the aristocracy sort of thing.
"I know my status is peasant thank you very much. You never had to toast bread with mould on it or cut it off the bread when you were at University, because you couldn't afford to buy another loaf Damon.
Or have one meal a day which was a chicken breast as there was nothing else to eat until you went home at the end of the week."
Damon pulled a face but Stefan was horrified at the thought which made me laugh and I told him that it was quite common and was all part of the fun.
"The more you suffer, the higher your social status gets" explained Damon patiently, but Stefan went off with a horrified look on his face shaking his head.
There was the time when I had Bonnie in hysterics as she had put on Interview With The Vampire for a laugh and I was quoting it word perfect. She was impressed with that, but what got her into hysterics was when Damon came into the room and saw me, he gave me a look called me a freak and walked off, neatly dodging the cushion that came flying after him.
Unfortunately I wasn't so good at dodging cushions and Bonnie set off into more hysterics when it landed on my face.
Soon it was the beginning of August, a month before the tv show was due to air in the U.S. I was in the kitchen making myself some lunch on my day off when Stefan stormed up to me and started ranting and raving about Damon, he was so angry he kept slipping back into Italian, so I had to calm him down to find out what he was so upset about.
"My brother wants us to reveal ourselves in America to promote the TV show and to get more people reading the books," he snarled.
I dropped the knife I was holding onto the floor and felt my face turn white.
"You're kidding, right?" I said, Stefan shook his head.
"I thought you knew," I shook my head, picked up my knife and went in search of the culprit, who was in his room playing some sort of classical music.
"Can I have a word please?" I asked when he opened the door, he stepped back and motioned for me to come in. He sat on the bed and I sat next to him, took a deep breath and asked him about his idea.
"Come to shoot me down in flames have you?" He asked coldly.
"Only because I'm worried about what's going to happen when people find out that vampires are real and living among them.
What'll happen if they've read the books and see the TV show? They'll jump to conclusions about you in particular and you'll get into some serious trouble."
He looked at me and grinned "that's very touching Elizabeth, but it's too late. It's all been arranged and they're expecting everyone next week. It'll only be in America and people will think it's just a publicity stunt." I shook my head.
"You're mad. I knew you were up to something, I just didn't know what. Please Damon, don't do it. It's been so great living with you and Stefan and the girls, if you do this then I'm scared that everyone will have to split up and Stefan's going to be as miserable as hell."
"Trust me Elizabeth," was all he said; so I got up and left his room. The girls were pretty angry with Damon and refused to have any part of it, until I saw something on a website.
The author, Miss L.J. Smith had revealed that the books were based on true events and that the people in the book did exist, although from what she'd heard Damon had changed considerably since she wrote the books. "Hmpf. Not that much," I muttered.
She also mentioned that she would be at a special screening with the cast in New Orleans and she was hoping that the real Vampire Diaries gang would be joining her.
"Lizzie?" Asked Stefan poking his head around my open door.
"You'd better come look at this Stefan." He came into my room and read the webpage with great interest, the comments to the post were from excited fans who all wanted to meet their idols, although most expressed their disappointment that Damon had changed.
"What do you think?" I asked him as he put his head in hands.
"I think we don't have a choice, he's got us over a barrel," he said as he stormed out of the room.
The rest of the day was spent hiding in my room as the boys fought over what to do, towards the end of the day as I was cooking dinner for Lee and I, the phone rang.
An American woman was on the other end of the phone and asked if she was speaking to Lizzie, then after I confirmed my name she introduced herself as Lisa Jane Smith and told me that Damon had given her the number when he came to visit her last month.
She said that she'd heard a lot about me from Damon and said that she was impressed that he cared enough to go to her to express opinions on Nightfall.
In the background I could hear raised voices and angry words spoken in Italian, "is that Damon and Stefan arguing?" she asked excitedly.
"Yup" I sighed.
"Damon didn't exactly ask anyone if they were willing to come forward and reveal themselves. He's just set everything up then told Stefan what he's got planned this morning, so cue the fireworks."
"Oh dear. I thought he'd changed," she said. I couldn't help it but I laughed.
"He has, he's like a big brother to me- they both are. Never let me have a minute's peace, always trying to educate me in what I should be listening to and reading.
But he's always going to be an arse in some form or another, he wouldn't be the Damon we know and love if he wasn't." We laughed and I heard some more shouting and the sound of a body hitting a wall.
"Excuse me a minute. I need to go and kill the pair of them before they wreck the house."
"Wait! Lizzie, I was so looking forward to meeting you, Elena and Stefan. Would you put Stefan on the phone? Perhaps I can explain things to him." I reluctantly agreed and followed the sound of their voices to the Moorish style reception room where Damon had Stefan pinned to the floor and his teeth bared.
"Damon stop! Please, don't do this," I grabbed his arm and tried to pull him off Stefan but he flung me off and I fell over.
"Go away Elizabeth. This is between Stefan and I."
"Damon, L.J. Smith is on the phone. She could hear everything that was going on and she asked to speak to Stefan, do you want me to go back on the phone and tell her that you're just about to kill him so he can't come to the phone? Because if you so much as scratch him, I will never talk to you again."
Damon snarled at his brother and let him up, Stefan glared at his brother and walked away. I let out a sigh of relief, threw my arms round his neck and hugged him, "thank you Damon."
He stood there for a moment in shock, then prised me off him, called me a stupid human and stormed off.