"No," Damon rasped harshly, holding her hand with such reverence that for a moment or two they were frozen. It was just her and him, everything and everyone else a distant memory. He ran a thumb over her pale skin as if in apology for his abruptness. He held her hand to his sculpted cheek.

Elena was confused. True everything about that day was a blur, but the desperation in just that single word sent a terrible thrill through her. If he had kept silent, would she feel as sickened as she did now? "Stefan I..." she whispered at last, her voice cracked and her Lapis Lazuli eyes shimmering with the tears she had yet to cry, "Stefan, I can explain..."

He held up a dismissive hand, his eyes laying heavy on his brother, but said nothing. He ought to have known this would happen if the past truly was to repeat itself. Hadn't Katherine loved Damon also? Hadn't she lied to him, too? Would this sorry episode end with her death on his hands as well? He grimaced at the thought that this would also just be a replay of the past.

"I won't fight Stefan," yet. He was mentally adding the yet because he knew it would happen sooner or later. His brows drew together in sympathy, but also in confusion at the startled expression on her face. It was as if she had no idea what he was talking about, which was ludicrous. Had he only imagined her speaking the words? He stole a glance at his brother and frowned.

Stefan's attention was turned inwards, and it was as if he had forgotten he wasn't alone. It was likely he would lie to her, anyway, since that was what he was used to doing. She needed truth, and Damon was the only one who would give it to her. Bloody typical, Damon thought irritably.

Elena touched the bandage at her neck for a second, too suddenly to be stopped, and then dropped it immediately. Darkness flooded her eyes and her lips parted. Her eyes slid to Damon, but otherwise she was as still as a marble statue – her thoughts and feelings as impenetrable as stone. Did she remember anything at all?

"I bit you," Damon announced, as casually as he might have said I love you.

"I know that," she whispered, though it made no difference to how well Stefan would hear it, "I meant, why does it feel like there's a hole in my neck!" She probably didn't mean it, that her neck was actually ripped out, but in fact it nearly was.

"Stefan forced me off of you before I could retract my fangs," he put a hand over her wounded neck so gently it might have been a feather's touch, "so I tore out your throat."

"Really?" Elena asked, her brow furrowing now. "Forced, as in how? You're a hell of a lot stronger than him – you should have been able to fight him off!"

A nurse from the corridor outside popped her head in the little room at the sound of Elena's raised voice. She frowned at the two vampires sitting on the edge of the hospital bed. "Are these two young men causing you any trouble, miss Gilbert?" Her voice was high and light, but her eyes spoke volumes of what she really thought. Apparently, she did not approve of this one girl being visited by the two boys.

Damon locked eyes with her and said slowly, making sure to glamour her completely, "Miss Gilbert is fine – in fact, you've already signed her out. You will tell your supervisors that Dr. Edward-Green gave her the all clear." And he did not look away until she looked as if she would pass out.

"Elena, I'm not totally infallible. How was I meant to fight him with my fangs deep in your neck?"

"You could have taken them out." Stefan said bluntly, anger simmering beneath the surface like lava in a volcano ready to erupt.

"You could have given me the chance." Damon snapped, the gruffness like the growl from a wolf.

After she had coaxed the two vampires to leave the room Elena began to get dressed in clothes she found hanging off the back of the vinyl armchair beside the bed. She half expected someone to barge into the room, but no one did. The clothes were her's, which meant that Aunt Judith had to know where she was. Why hadn't she come to the hospital too? Surely she would be concerned. She hadn't thought that they would steal them from her bedroom.

Behind her the door opened and closed. She was putting in earrings, she couldn't move to turn but she had thought it wouldn't matter and that it would just be Damon or Stefan. She hoped it would be Stefan –she needed to explain and apologise. She waited, but there was no sound, and no movement until a cold hand covered her mouth.

"Stefan! Damon!" she tried to shout, but the sound was muffled and wouldn't carry outside the room. Her heart was racing, and the blood which tore through her veins was warm and sweet.

"Oh, Elena," said a silken voice, his accent English and archaic, "don't you see? There is nothing they can do to help you..."

"Klaus."

"Well done, Elena." came another voice from behind her, this voice more mocking than the first. She thought about screaming, but with the hands on her neck she didn't dare try it.

"Elijah." She felt her heart grow cold. How could they have know about this, about what Damon had done to her, or that she would be here?

"Who do you think told Stefan where to find you?" Klaus took her hair and tucked it behind her ear. He was patient in the way he did this, as if they were old friends and he wasn't being threatening at all. Before she could sense his movement, he ran three long nails across the skin of her throat. The wounds throbbed with the thumping beat of her pulse. "Do you know how easy it would be to tear out your throat?"

Damon stopped walking and looked back. He and Stefan were about a mile from the hospital now, but still he heard it. He heard something. Something like his name. Was it Elena's voice he heard? He couldn't be sure. Stefan shifted his weight – had he heard it too? He turned back to find Stefan gone – brilliant.

He raced back to the hospital at top speed, any speed cameras around be damned. He tore through the streets and dodged people who stood in his way like he would trees. Even if he did collide with any of them it did not matter – not really, anyway. All they would see would be a slight shimmer in the air and not anything they could identify later to the human authorities. Because of the glut of blood he had taken from Elena earlier, his speed would be compared to nothing before.

Elijah swapped his weight to his left foot impatiently. They had both taken there own share of blood from Elena, and now it was time to leave. He put a hand on Klaus's shoulder to rouse him from his drunken stupor. "We need to go, brother."

Klaus turned back to his brother briefly before returning to Elena.

She was as pale as a sheet of white paper, her usually golden hair dull and flat. They had both fed on her and now she was almost as drained as a carton of apple juice. Her blood still ran from the wound at her throat but none of the vampires took it. They were as full as ticks with blood, and the power it gave them made them slow to act on anything.

"Delicious," Klaus sighed, licking his lips for emphasis, his fingers tracing patterns over her skin. The hair on her arms rose and prickled with the sweep of his powerful fingers. He smiled when she shivered, "Do you like that, Elena?" he asked.