My cheek grew warm as the sunlight filtered in through a nearby window. A small smile lingered on my lips as I allowed myself to simply enjoy the feeling. Lately, everything I knew had grown cold and depressing. Just this bit of warmth was enough to take me into a peaceful place.

Slowly, I lifted my arms above my head and tensed all over in a deep stretch. I yawned and rolled over to my other side, snuggling into the plush feather-pillow under my head.

My heart sank into my stomach and my eyes sprang open as the words "feather-pillow" echoed in my mind. I did not have a feather-pillow, but I knew one person who did. I sat upright and looked around, only to have my suspicions confirmed: I was in Stefan's room. I was in Stefan's bed.

Quickly, I thought back to the previous day, trying my hardest to remember how I ended up here. The thoughts that came up simply made me sick to my stomach. I had lost my jobs and my apartment was in tattered pieces. Vague images of my yelling at Damon, hitting Damon, came to mind, then I remembered him coming in to hold me after I found my living room in ruins. Then he had told me vampires could compel humans and…

My jaw went slack and my breathing picked up. I had thought he raped me, but he said I had wanted it.

I believed him.

Then everything went black.

I bent my body forward in half so that my head touched my legs. I was beginning to feel nauseous. In two days flat, my entire life had been demolished. I lost my boyfriend. I lost my jobs. I lost my belongings. I lost the pride about myself I had once held so dearly. I should go write a country song, I surmised.

I shook my head and lifted up again. None of that explained how I ended up here in Stefan's bed. I lifted the sheets and looked at my body; I was still wearing my work clothes. The only time I had ever came to Stefan's place in my work clothes was when I went straight from work to here. Otherwise I would always change before coming; I often felt more inadequate than usual when I was in work clothes and he was not. But I distinctly remembered going to my apartment, not straight here, so why hadn't I changed? My forehead creased as my brow furrowed while I searched for an answer. Suddenly it dawned on me; someone had brought me here.

Although Damon had been there yesterday to comfort me, somewhat, about what was going on with Katherine, I was still infuriated with both him and Stefan. My life was fucked up enough before them. Now all the problems had been amplified and my life was becoming hell-on-earth. The last thing I wanted was to be anywhere near either of them, much less sleeping in his bed. I truly wanted to forget everything about all of them. I would pick up and move away if I needed to.

Throwing the covers from my body, I went to climb out of bed. Just then, the bedroom door swung open and I watched Stefan step inside. His face was cautious as he looked over to me. My eyes simply narrowed.

"Hi, Elena," he started slowly.

"What the hell am I doing here, Stefan?" I snapped.

His eyes fell to the floor and I watched as sadness replaced the caution. "Elena, I'm sorry for everything," he said softly. I stood up and folded my arms across my chest. The last thing I wanted was to start feeling bad for him. I remained silent and he returned his eyes to mine. "I don't want to be this, Elena," he whispered, his eyes taking on a whole new level of tortured. "I want to be human for you. I want to take you away from all of this hurt. I hate myself, Elena, because I can't be what you deserve."

I shifted foot to foot and looked to the floor. His eyes were making it way too hard to remain angry with him. "Stefan, I just don't want to talk about this," I replied quietly. I didn't want him to be sorry. I didn't want to forgive him. I just wanted to forget it all. "Why am I here, Stefan?" I asked again.

He sighed and sat down in a wooden chair. "Damon brought you here after you fainted." Well, that explains why everything went black and how I got here.

I nodded absently for a few seconds as I thought that statement through. "Okay, well…" I looked around for anything that might've been mine – a purse, a jacket – then realizing there was nothing, started forward.

In a flash, Stefan was standing before me. "What are you doing?" he asked.

I looked up at him. "Going home, Stefan. I have a lot of things to start taking care of."

The sadness crept into his eyes again. He was sad I was leaving. I shook away the feeling of guilt I was so used to bringing upon myself. "You can't," he whispered.

"Stefan, I'm sorry, but I don't want to be around you. I want to forget this all happened and just start over," I admitted, starting to step around him.

He matched my step and remained in my way. "No, Elena, I meant you literally can't leave."

"What?" I nearly barked, his comment taking me aback. "Why not?" Thoughts of doors being barricaded from the outside came to mind, yet the thoughts didn't spark any sort of surprise or shock; I wouldn't put anything past Katherine.

"Damon and I decided that it would be safer for you, Elena."

My brow furrowed and I stared into his eyes as I tried to understand his words. "Wait, what?"

"Staying here is safer for you," he repeated the words a bit more slowly.

I stepped back a bit. "Well, I'm sorry that I disagree, Stefan," I responded dryly. I shook my head at the audacity he and Damon would have to try to decide what was safest for me. I started to walk around him again, but like earlier, he moved in my way. "What the hell, Stefan?" I shouted. "Let me by."

"Elena, please understand how sorry I am," he whispered, dropping his head down in a shameful manner. With that, he turned around quickly, closed the door, and I heard the undeniable click of a lock being turned.

My eyes grew wide and I rushed to the door, pulling and shaking the handle. It would budge. "Stefan!" I yelled. "Let me out!" I beat my fists against the door until they started to throb in pain. "Stefan!" I screeched as tears started to form along my waterline. With one last kick of the door, I cried out in frustrated and turned around, sliding down the door until I was sitting with my back against it.

I lifted my head to look up at the ceiling to stop the tears from falling. I had learned that trick when my parents died. Anytime I felt tears forming, I would look up to the heavens until they withdrew. I took several deep breaths to calm myself. How could they? They had no right to force me to stay in this house.

These days kept getting better and better.

Once I knew the tears were gone, I looked around the room. I knew there was no phone in Stefan's room. I didn't think he had one in his entire house, actually. I only ever saw him with a cell phone. My eyes landed on the white cotton sheets strewn about on the bed. Quickly, I stood and rushed over to them.

Picking them up and taking note of the friction between my hands and the fabric, I sighed to myself. I couldn't believe I was actually considering this plan. How cliché.

I grabbed all of the sheets from the bed then several more from the closet, finding seven total, and started tying the ends together. It didn't matter how overused this tactic seemed to be, my only option seemed to be climbing out of the window and I didn't have rope. It took nearly twenty minutes for me to tie the sheets together and once I was sure the knots were secured, I tied one end of the sheets to a post on the bed. I then walked the remaining bundle of sheets in my arms to the windowsill.

Looking back at the first few sheets already stretched halfway across the room, I knew in the back of my mind this plan was doomed to fail. As soon as I started climbing out, either my weight would pull the bed across the room toward the window and the men below would hear the dragging of it or the length of the sheets wouldn't be long enough to get me all the way to the ground and I could possibly fall to my death.

I pushed the thoughts away with a deep inhale and lengthening of my spine. I was going to do this. It was my only option.

I slid the window up roughly and looked out, wondering if I should even take time to look down or not. I decided I at least needed to see how far down I was exactly dealing with.

When my eyes lowered, my mouth fell agape. Clinging to wall from the ground to the window was a metal lattice. I nearly shouted in joy. I bit down on my lower lip to keep from doing so and threw the sheets in my arms to the floor. I wasted no time in swinging a leg over the windowsill and I hooking the tip of my foot into one of the metal loops of the lattice, beginning my decent.

The trip down took less amount of time than it did for me to tie those sheets together, even with me moving slow and focusing on not making any noise. I sighed in relief once I felt the soft grass beneath my tennis shoes. I looked down at them. When I was a child, we realized I was far more prone to tripping while running with shoes on. This was definitely not the time for me to trip. Quietly, I lifted each leg up to my hands and jerked the shoe off, not even taking time to untie them. I then pulled off each sock and placed them all behind a bush. I looked ahead. Stefan's room was at the back of the house so instead of me facing the driveway and main road like the last time I ran from this house, I was facing a densely forested area. I walked over to the corner of the house and looked around. Bright lights spilled out from the windows over the grass all the way to the driveway. There was no way I could get by unnoticed. I turned back to the woods and sighed. Nothing in life ever came easy. With a one last deep inhale, I took off.

I did my best to ignore the splintered branches and pine cones that were stabbing the bottom of my feet as I ran. The only time I slowed down was when it took me a bit to climb over fallen trees or figure out ways to get across deep ditches. In just a few minutes my whole body shook as the winter air chilled it. I thought back longingly to my coat that was still sitting in my car in front of my apartment. My heart pounded in my chest as I moved and I thought dryly about how if I kept all this up, I could start running track for my university.

As I ran, I thought about everything that was happening around me and tried to break it all down for my overexerted mind. Stefan and Damon were vampires. They had an evil ex-girlfriend. She wanted to hurt me, at least mentally so far, for some reason. My jobs were gone and my apartment was ruined. And last, but most certainly not least, I was basically kidnapped. Perfect. I hated these people. People? Monsters. They weren't even human. Vampires. I hated these vampires. If I never saw them again it would be too soon.

I decided that as soon as I made it back to my apartment, I would hop in my car and drive. To where I didn't know, but I was going to get the hell out of town.

Just as these thoughts were whirling in my mind and I started to climb over another fallen tree, my body was pressed stomach down into the tree and something hard was resting on my back. I tried to scream but the air had been knocked out of me.

"Elena, what the hell are you doing?" I heard from above me and I closed my eyes tightly. Breathing was starting to get harder and harder. The pressure on my back was suddenly gone and two strong arms yanked me up and slammed me roughly into another tree.

I gasped for air and looked into Damon's eyes. I could instantly tell he was furious. "Do you not understand that everything I do is to protect you?" he growled. It didn't go unnoticed how he said "I" instead of "we." He slammed his fist into the large tree behind me and I watched as splintered bark fell in front of me.

"I just want to go home," I whispered.

"You can't!" he yelled, bringing his face closer to mine. "You can not go home, Elena! I don't know what Katherine is planning and she will kill you if she decides to!"

"Maybe I want to die!" I shouted back. "Maybe I'm so sick of all of you and all of this that I would prefer death!"

His eyes were soft for a split second. "You wouldn't want that, Elena. Trust me."

I narrowed my eyes and placed my hands on his chest and pushed, just like I had done when we were at my apartment. "Just let me go, Damon."

Quickly, Damon grabbed both of my wrists in one of his hands and he lifted them above my head. He stepped forward so that his body was pressed against mine and a new fire took over his eyes. "How many times do I have to say no before you realize I'm not going anywhere," he asked with a sensual throaty tone to his voice. My breath escaped me jaggedly as I realized my body was starting to shake for an entirely different reason than just the winter air. Suddenly, Damon lowered his head and pressed his lips hard against mine.

I leaned as far back into the tree as I could to try to get away from him. His free hand came up to grasp my jaw and he held me in place. Soon, I found myself melting against his lips and I began to kiss back angrily. My mouth opened and his silky tongue slipped in to taste mine. He let out a small groan before pressing his hips into me roughly. I whimpered quietly as my body started to ache from the pressure of the tree against my back and him against my front. He must've understood because he pulled back a little, giving me more room to breath.

Our mouths moved together for several more minutes, my mind becoming more and more cluttered with confusing thoughts of what I was doing, when he suddenly pulled away. He was breathing just as hard as I was and his eyes were still closed.

"Why do you do this to me, Elena?" he asked with a frustrated edge to his voice.

I shook my head. "I don't understand."

He opened his eyes and the ice blue pools behind the lids instantly drew me in. I swam in them. I drowned in them. "I can't stop thinking about you." He exhaled forcefully then quickly lowered his head to my neck. I leaned my head back and closed my eyes as his lips nicked at my skin. "You should mean nothing to me," he groaned between kisses on my throat. "I should just let you go, but I can't."

My brow furrowed but I didn't move. How did this go from me escaping my kidnappers to Damon confessing his…obsession with me while attached to my neck? I lowered my head and pushed against his chest again. "Damon, I'm sorry," I said quietly, trying to shake away the feeling of arousal sprouting in my body. He pulled away and looked down at me. "But it's like I told Stefan, I just want to forget all of this."

He kissed me forcefully, nearly breaking down my entire resolve. He leaned away again. "I don't believe you," he said sinisterly with narrowed eyes. He shoved his pelvis into mine again and my eyelids fluttered briefly with the sensation. He smirked at the reaction.

Abruptly, Damon spun me around and laid me on my back on the fallen tree. "What are you doi–" I started to say, but out of nowhere Damon grabbed a fistful of my black slacks and ripped them from my body. I gasped and tried to get up. "Damon!"

He shook his head and swung a leg over my body so that he was still standing, his legs straddling me and the tree, and I was lying on my back beneath him. He reached down and with a flick of his wrist, started working the buttons out of their holes on my button-down shirt. "Elena," he said slowly, his eyes briefly glancing up to mine and once again drawing me short of breath. "I'm going to show you why you don't want to forget about me." I watched him undo the last button and push the sides of the shirt off my shoulders. Slowly, he placed a finger at the base of my throat and ran it down along my chest, between my breasts, and across my stomach, stopping at the hem of my panties. He then began to draw the line back up. I shuttered and goosebumps decorated my skin. He cocked his head to the side and looked down at me. "Why is your heart beating so fast, Elena?" he asked almost mockingly.

"I-I'm scared," I stuttered softly.

His smirk returned and he tilted his head to the other side. "I highly doubt that's the reason, Elena." I closed my eyes and inhaled deeply, trying to calm myself. He was wrong, I was scared, but not of him hurting me. I was scared about what I knew was about to happen between us. I was scared that…I wanted this to happen between us. I felt his finger start down again and I gasped when suddenly his entire palm was covering my right breast on the outside of my bra. My eyes flew open. He grinned down at me as he began to massage, kneading the soft mound with his hand.

I bit down hard on my lower lip to stifle a groan and closed my eyes. He lifted his free hand to my face, placed one finger on my upper chin, and began to drag my skin down until the lip popped free from my teeth. "It's okay," he said softly, sexuality dripping off his tongue. He squeezed the breast roughly, then ripped the bra from my chest, and I unintentionally threw my head back and moaned. I heard him chuckle. He placed a finger of his free hand on my chest and moved it down to circle around my left nipple, successfully bringing it to a hard peak, then he continued down and hooked the top hem of my panties.

I shook my head. "Damon, this isn't right," I said in a breathy voice, trying to sit back up.

His hands stopped moving. "Why not, Elena?"

I opened my eyes to look up at him. I didn't know what to do anymore. I wanted to forget about vampires and the Salvatore brothers, but they were making that task extremely difficult to accomplish.

"You're not with Stefan anymore, right?" he asked me.

My brow furrowed. "No. I'm not."

"So, then you're not breaking your moral code. You're not cheating on anyone."

I moved my eyes away from his. "But…you're a vampire," I whispered. "And I don't want that."

He bent down toward me, a wicked glint in his eyes. "Elena," he began, his sweet breath blowing coolly across my face. "I promise that you won't want anything other than a vampire after this." He placed a hand flat against my chest and gently, yet forcefully, pushed me back down against the tree.

I felt slight excitement course through me at his words and my mind screamed at me to struggle, to run away. My body, however, kept me in place.

He slid the hand on my chest down again and rested it for a moment on top of my panties. I gasped when I felt his thumb start to make circles on my pelvic bone, then slide down in between my legs. My body reacted on it's own and my back arched as he pressed into the soft bundle of nerves. His other hand went back to roll my nipple between his thumb and index finger. I bit down on my lip again and squeezed my eyes tight as the motion of his thumb rubbing against my clit made my body grow warm.

Suddenly, I felt my panties pulled from my body and the night air wrapped around me like a blanket. It was an odd, yet pleasant sensation. Every nerve in my body was nearly on fire, but the air that touched my skin was as cold as snow. My teeth began to chatter. I clenched my jaw tight.

I opened my eyes when I felt Damon's lips press softly against my abs. He looked up at me from underneath his dark lashes and I was suddenly thankful I wasn't standing for my knees would have certainly given out. His hand continued rotating around my breast above him, but his other hand slid out from between my legs to caress my thigh. He began to pepper the kisses lightly across my stomach, then slowly down. My heart was beating loud enough for me to hear in my ears as his lips traveled near the junction of my legs. I moaned and threw my head back when his soft tongue exited his lips and dipped in between the lips of my vagina. I fought back the urge to writhe against the tree when his lips began to suck on my skin below, his tongue moving in and out, up and down. I felt sweat bead along my hairline as his tongue circled around my clit. "Damon," I moaned, closing my eyes tight and basking in the feeling of him sucking on me. I groaned again when a finger entered inside of me, then a second. Damon curved his fingers and began to move cautiously in and out, perfectly hitting the spot inside of me. All of his movements were slow and sensual and nearly enough to drive me insane. My body ached for him to be rough, to bring me to the edge, but what he was doing was just enough to build me up, then let the feeling subside slowly.

"Damon, please," I whispered hungrily.

His lips moved away from me. "What was that, Elena?"

I bit on my lower lip hard when his fingers exited me all the way. "Please," I begged again.

"I thought you didn't want a vampire, Elena," he mocked. I tilted my hips up in response and whimpered. I was pathetic. "You're sure?" he asked. I couldn't help but moan. "So be it," he replied casually, but I could hear the excitement in his voice as well.

Abruptly, his fingers plunged into me again and his lips wrapped around my clit. His movements now were quick and hard. His tongue massaged the bundle of nerves while he sucked and I nearly screamed, my hands balling up into tight fists by my side. His fingers pushed in and out faster and I felt a knot growing in my lower abdomen. My back began to ache as tree bark pressed through my shirt into my back and dug in as his fingers rocked me back and forth. Suddenly, he moaned loudly and vibrated my very center. This time, I did scream as the knot exploded and waves of heat coursed through my body. Sparks of white light filtered behind my lids and I moaned his name over and over again as I felt the orgasm lap over me, settling in to each of my nerves.

My exhales came out in near pants as Damon pulled away from my body and stood up. As the last bit of the orgasm began to subside, my body rested limply against the tree, my arms hanging at my sides. I looked up when I heard the clinking of Damon's belt being undone. I groaned quietly as I watched him hook his fingers into his pants, then pull them and the boxers down. He then stood, his eyes locked on me the entire time, and pulled his shirt over his head. When we had been together before, I never got a really good look at the man I was with. This time, there he was in all his glory and…god did he look unbelievable. Every muscle in his body was sculpted to perfection. His pale skin was almost glowing against the black backdrop. And his penis…well, I was not normally one to get visually stimulated by the sight of a penis, but his had saliva pooling my mouth and my center growing wet again. He stepped forward so that he was standing over me again. Slowly, he reached down and placed his hands on my sides. As he began to lift me, my eyes remained locked with his. I was completely captivated by the man.

He picked me up and I wrapped my legs around his waist to keep myself up. His erect penis grazed against my aching clit and I sucked in a sharp breath of air. Damon turned us around until my back was against the same tree as earlier. He brought his face in to kiss me softly. "Elena…I think I love you," he whispered and my heartbeat faltered momentarily. He kissed my cheek, then moved his lips down to my throat. His breath roaming up and down my skin made me shiver. He paused his lips where my throat met my neck and groaned.

"What is it?" I asked quietly, trying my best to not focus on his obviously willing member just inches from my opening.

"I want to bite you," he answered honestly. I tried to hide my gasp.

Damon wanted to bite me. A vampire wanted to drink from me. The thoughts sent the flames licking up my body again and confused me. That was not the proper reaction. I swallowed hard and nodded. "Okay."

He looked up at me with apparent surprise on his face. "Really?" I nodded again. A small crooked grin lit up his lips and his eyes took on the devilish glint. Suddenly, his hands on my hips propelled me down and he was buried inside of me. My back arched and I moaned his name. "Damon."

The next few minutes all went very quickly. His thrusts into me were hungry and hard, causing me to groan with each downward pull. His teeth sank into my neck and I screamed loudly, though the pain only added to my pleasure. He angled his body so that my clit rubbed forcefully against his pelvic bone with each movement. When he pulled back from my neck, I watched the red liquid drip off his lips. Without thinking, I moved forward and caught his lips with mine. The blood was sour and sweet and tasted like rust. Our tongues danced together as his bucking hips became fitful and rushed. My hands flew into his hair and I gripped tightly. With one last bounce, the same sparks as earlier crashed into me. "Unnghhhh!" I shouted, throwing my head back against the tree. At the same time, I felt him start to pump under my skin and he moaned my name, sending even more chills through me. His hands left my hips and he gripped the tree behind me. I could hear the crunching of bark accompanying our sounds of sexual delight.

When the waves began to fall away, Damon pulled me against his chest and lowered us to the dirty forest floor. He kissed my neck where he had bit me and whispered words of "thank you's" and "I love you's" against my skin.

In that moment, I decided I would never want anything more than a vampire.

Authors Note: My smut chapters are always so much longer. ;)

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