SPOV
If my heart beat, it would have stopped at Damon's words. Elena was with Damon. And she was…naked? Had they been together?
My brow furrowed in disgust as I realized his tone told me they had.
Had she chosen this? Did she not want to be with me?...Did she want to be with both of us?
No. Elena was not Katherine. Whatever happened had to have been caused by Damon.
Compulsion.
I groaned. I had not even considered the thought that Damon might compel her to do things. I don't know why I thought better of him.
Part of me was not shocked that this situation was happening, however. I saw the way Damon looked at Elena this past morning. He began plotting the second they met. I knew he would go to her. I had even partially expressed my fears to Elena.
I had mentally promised myself to protect her.
I had failed.
Her timid voice came through the receiver. "Stefan?"
Instantly, relief filled me as I realized that she was not physically hurt. "Where are you, Elena? I'll come get you." It no longer mattered to me what happened between them. I just wanted to have her in my arms, have her away from Damon.
I heard a few sniffles and understood she was crying. Something bad had definitely happened.
I was going to kill Damon.
"Elena, shhh," I cooed softly. "Don't cry. Just come and let me get you. Where are you?"
"Stefan, I'm so sorry," she cried in broken sobs. "I don't know what happened. I mean, I don't know how it happened." She began to cry harder.
My earlier assumption had just been proven correct – Damon had compelled her.
"It's not your fault, love." As I tried to comfort her, it began to dawn on me that I would soon have to tell her my secret.
DPOV
I handed Elena the phone, gathered my clothes, and began to get dressed. I watched her out of the corner of my eye.
I was not a religious man – given my current circumstances I didn't believe I could afford to seek religion – but I prayed that Stefan was about to have his heart broken by this human girl. He deserved it. He honestly deserved worse, but for now, this would do.
I could see the muscles tense in Elena's naked body as she brought the phone to her ear. "Stefan?"
I buttoned my jeans and began to pull my shirt over my head.
"Where are you, Elena? I'll come get you," Stefan told her softly. I let out a short, humorless chuckle. Stefan had always been the type to try and be a woman's knight and shining armor – save her from the evils of the world…i.e. me.
I let the shirt fall around my torso and as I turned back toward her, I froze.
She was…crying? My brow pulled together in confusion. I hadn't hurt her. Actually, I had done quite the opposite. So why was she crying? Should I go and comfort her?
Shit. I shook my head and turned away. Who was I to give a fuck about this human? I didn't.
Stefan tried consoling her over the phone. "Stefan, I'm so sorry. I don't know what happened. I mean, I don't know how it happened," she answered him, then folded herself onto the ground, her torso bent forward with her head hidden in the crook of her crossed legs. Her back lifted and fell with her heaving sobs.
I watched her and felt like a fucking machine – the whole "That emotion does not compute" shit. That was one of the good things about being a vampire. I didn't have to feel what she felt. I didn't have to feel anything at all. It just took the flipping of a switch and it all would go away. That's how I learned to cope with the loss of Katherine.
But something about the small girl curled in on herself tugged at my dead heart. Maybe because she looked so damn much like Katherine.
When I first ran into Elena at Stefan's house, I thought it was Katherine and my mind went blank. I didn't know how to respond. Then her increasing pulse met my ears and I realized she was human. Had she been some other human girl that was sleeping with my brother, I probably would have killed her to get even with Stefan. But her big brown eyes surprised me and I couldn't bring myself to physically harm her. Instead I introduced myself.
When Stefan came out of his room after, his first words to me were, "Leave her alone." I honestly hadn't been planning to do anything to her…with her at the time, but I always love to defy the commands given to me. Always the rebel.
It hadn't been difficult to find Elena's workplace and follow her after she had gotten off. What had been difficult, however, was convincing her to come to my nightclub. It surprised me. Most girls, vampire and human alike, found me erotic and jumped at the chance to…well, jump me. I was quickly learning that Elena wasn't like Katherine. She apparently had morals and wanted to stick to those. Too bad for her I was a vampire with no morals and the ability to compel people. Eh, life sucks sometimes.
So, I compelled her to leave with me.
When we arrived at the nightclub, I had wanted to go ahead and be alone with her, but my assistant informed me that a vampire had arrived earlier looking for me. The lackluster description he gave me reminded me a lot of Katherine, but I could've gone to that image simply because Elena was sitting just beyond the wall. We went and watched the surveillance footage and I was annoyed to find that the mystery vampire avoided each and every camera. Clever. I told him to keep an eye out and if she came back to call my cell phone.
Thinking of Katherine had brought on a few uncomfortable emotions so when I went back to Elena, the mere sight of her evoked feelings I had lost long ago. I told myself it was simply because she resembled her and I flipped the switch.
When I was finally able to kiss Elena, however, the switch faltered and I felt it all again. It confused me because Elena was just some human girl. She meant nothing to me…yet I wanted…something to happen between us and I could sense that she did, too. The only things holding her back were those damned morals.
Again, with my lack of morals, I compelled her to just go with what her body wanted. It then didn't take long for us to end up on the couch, her soft, petite body straddling my lap.
I had enjoyed the whole thing much more than I probably should have. I chalked it up to just a really good fuck. Looking at her now, however, I was starting to think maybe I had enjoyed it because of who it was with.
I groaned. What was fucking wrong with me?
Slowly, I walked over to her huddled form and knelt by her side. Stefan's voice was still pouring from the receiver end of the phone that way lying in her lap.
"Elena," I started softly. Stefan went silent as I spoke to her.
Her head jerked up and the sight of her red, tear-stained eyes saddened me.
"Come on," I leaned over and grabbed her shirt. "I'll take you home."
She picked up the phone and told Stefan she'd be there shortly, then stood and dressed. I turned away to give her privacy although we were far past that at this point.
As I was about to open the door and leave, she looked up at me with a frown. "What?" I asked her, not sure I really wanted to know.
"I'm not this type of girl," she said softly and I could see the glistening of tears that were starting to form.
She was going to cry again. I sighed and wrapped my arms around her. "It's okay. I know you're not," I assured her, then kissed the top of her hair. I froze as I suddenly realized what I was doing. I was showing her sympathy. I was…comforting her. What was fucking happening to me?
I moved away from her and opened the door. I stepped out and Tyler, my assistant, ran up to me. "Leaving, Mr. Salvatore?"
"Yes. Any signs of…" I glanced back at Elena and trailed off. "…the intruder?"
"No, sir. But I'll keep an eye out," he responded. Just then Elena stepped out of the room and I saw shock appear on Tyler's face.
"What?" I asked him, looking between him and Elena.
Tyler took a small step forward and tried whispering, his eyes still large and fixated on Elena. "That's…That's her, Mr. Salvatore."
Authors Note: This was a short chapter, but I tried something new with the POV's. I've never done that before. I like how it turned out.
So, tell me what you guys think! I'm pretty anxious to know!
If you'd like updates on this story, follow me on Twitter: APhobiac.
A special thanks to my awesome and lovely beta, tsukikomew. :)
See you guys next chapter!