Hopefully you all enjoyed the first chapter. I really appreciate all your reviews!
Thank you so much,
Rachel xx
"WHAT?" Damon hissed. Elena jumped, even though she had been expecting this sort of reaction.
"Stefan is dead." She calmly repeated, making every syllable as clear as she could. Damon scrutinized her face, checking for any traces that this could be a joke, but came up empty.
"Elena, what the hell happened? When I left you both everything was fine!" He said with a sudden urgency. This was the last news Damon was expecting to hear. He had prepared himself for the reality that Elena and Stefan were probably engaged, if not married. He had prepared himself for the fact that Elena may have been 'turned' by Stefan too. However, he was not prepared to hear that his younger brother had been murdered.
"When you left everything was fine. We had been dating for some time and we were nearly finished school. That's when you took off." Elena glared slightly at Damon. She wanted him to understand she still didn't approve of his decision. "For a while Stefan seemed to think you would come back, but after some time he realized you were gone for good."
Damon laughed a little to himself but stopped when he saw the confusion on Elena's face. He resettled himself as an indication that he was ready to listen again. Elena continued suspiciously.
"After we graduated Stefan and I became more serious. Neither of us had a real career in mind so we applied for part time jobs at the same places. Stefan didn't seem to mind getting a job, even though he didn't need it. And Jenna didn't mind that I didn't have any big plans, she seemed to just like having me close. Anyway, it only took a few months out of school for Stefan to propose and I said yes. We were going to wait until after my 18th birthday to get married, but I didn't mind. Being engaged to Stefan felt just as official as being married to him and I was happier than I had ever been. But that's when the town started to hunt vampires again…" Elena swallowed hard. Damon knew this must be hard for her, but he had to know what happened to his brother. He leaned in and held her hand, stroking it in a soothing way. She gave him a little smile and he nodded in encouragement.
"From what Stefan had told me, there were unknown vampires making their way through Mystic Falls. He said he didn't know where they had come from, but they weren't killing very many people so the police assumed the usual story of animal attacks. However, some of the descendants of the founding families recognized the signs and decided to hunt the vampires. Stefan had always been careful to avoid suspicion in the town, but one night he was so thirsty he couldn't resist feeding on the animals of the forest. I told him to take my blood; I didn't want him out there while this was all going on." Elena shifted uncomfortably, but didn't stop speaking. "But he refused to drink human blood. The founding families hunting the vampires just happened to be combing that same forest for bodies, and finally managed to catch up to Stefan. He was so engrossed in his kill that he didn't hear them coming. They staked him through the heart before he even had a chance to react." Elena sniffed slightly, but remained composed.
"Did they suspect you as a vampire too?" Damon asked. He couldn't help but think of what would have happened to Elena if they had decided she was one of them.
"They assumed that Stefan was compelling me to forget that he was a vampire. They thought that I believed he was just a human." She laughed slightly, though there was nothing really funny about the situation. "They thought he had compelled you too, actually. So you're free to return to Mystic Falls if you want to…"
But Damon's ability to go undetected in Mystic Falls was not his concern… Elena was.