Title: One More Night

Summary: Elena isn't as frightened as she should be when she finds out that vampires really exist. If anything, she is curious and… dare she even say it, a little excited. Then there is Damon.

Rating: M, eventually

Disclaimer: I don't, in any way, profit from this story. All creative rights to the characters belong to their original creator(s) – no copyright infringement is intended.

He knew she was drawn to him. But she was fighting it. She may not have slept with Saint Stefan just yet but she was planning to. And by then it would be too late. Her conscience was already wrestling with itself now but if she and Stefan ever slept together, it would be even harder to get her to realise exactly what it was they had.

Undeniable, inescapable animal attraction.

As he tried not show his irritation at Amber's rather unsubtle attempts to seduce him by sliding her hands under the waistband of his shorts, he saw Elena step around him, explaining to her friends that she was going to find her sunscreen.

"Excuse me, Amber. I just remembered that I have somewhere else to be." He unceremoniously shoved her off the end of the lounger before following Elena inside.

"Are you trying to kill me?" Damon spoke to Elena's back as she rummaged through her backpack in the shadowed hallway. When she didn't respond, he couldn't contain his growl of annoyance. "Elena, look at me."

She turned then, slowly but purposefully, her breasts heaving against the smooth black material of her swimsuit as she fought to maintain her composure. "I have no idea what you're talking about." Breathe. Don't let him get to you.

He tilted his head as his hungry gaze drank in her body. "Quite the little tease aren't we?"

She snorted. "I think Amber has me beat hands down on that score."

"And jealous to." His lips curled into a smirk. "Very interesting."

"Asshole." She spat.

He chuckled. "You are so wrapped up in the idea of good and evil and right and wrong that you miss out on all the things that make you feel good."

"Stefan makes me feel good."

"But I make you feel better than good, don't I? And you're pretty little head can't figure out why that is – why does the bad, evil vampire make you feel things that the cuddly, de-fanged Care Bear can't?"

"You're not as smart as you think you are – why do you think it's ok to mess with my head like this?"

"Trust me; there are other parts of you that I'd rather be messing with…"

She felt a spark of fury unfurl in her gut. "How dare you? I'm dating your brother or have you forgotten? And you are meant to be pining for your long lost love! Instead you're trying to seduce anything within a ten mile radius that happens to have a pulse."

"My brother's feelings are of no concern to me, Elena. And the sooner you realise that the better."

"I don't believe you." She tipped her chin forward indignantly.

"I don't care." He spoke quietly as he stepped forward to tuck a lock of hair behind her ear.

"You only want me because I look like her." She swallowed hard as his finger trailed down her cheek and along her jawline.

"How is it that you can level that accusation at me and not at my brother?" Damon looked at her now, as though he were amused.

"Because it is you that has spent decades pursuing her." She gasped as he traced her bottom lip with the pad of his thumb.

"Maybe it is time for a change of pursuit." He said thoughtfully, enjoying her responsiveness to his touch.

"Not if it means you continue to do evil things and dress them up in the name of love." The words escaped Elena in a rush and almost as soon as she'd spoken them she regretted it. He dropped his arm back to his side, her body already screaming at the loss of his touch.

The indigo gaze that he had been caressing her with seconds ago cooled to ice and his lips, smiling and seductive, straightened into a thin tight line. "You really think you have me all figured out, don't you?"

"Don't I?" She crossed her arms across her chest as she attempted to suppress a shiver.

"I believed you when you said you weren't afraid of me but I don't think you comprehend how naïve that makes you."

"You wouldn't hurt me." Her voice wavered slightly, giving away her doubt. As did her taking a tentative step backwards against the staircase.

"Oh, I don't intend to hurt you. Well, not unless you beg me to." He stepped forward and rested his hands on her hips.

He couldn't contain his reaction to her physical proximity, the front of his swimming shorts becoming tighter as he growled and pulled her against him, their bodies pressed together from torso to thigh.

Elena's breathing became laboured as her vision swam with the assault on her senses, she was frozen – her mind short circuiting with indecision between running away or staying exactly where she was. She whimpered. "Please."

"Please what? Hurt you?" He murmured, his eyes darting across the features of her face, trying to decode the signals her body was sending out, even though she was clearly unaware of them herself.

"Don't." She inhaled deeply to steady her nerves, frightened of moving incase it triggered off a chain of events that she couldn't nor wouldn't want to escape from.

"What are you afraid of?" His hands slipped around to the small of her back and down the slope of her ass.

"You're dangerous, Damon."

"And you love it." He ground against her and she panted shamelessly at the bolts of sensation that shot through her body.

Before she could comprehend what was happening, he'd bent his head into the slope of her neck and instinctively, she moved to allow him better access. She felt the hot exhalation of his breath as he whispered against her skin. "Just a little taste…"

It was like she was suspended in time, poised at the edge of a cliff about to soar off into what she could only assume would be paradise.

"Elena?"

And then life crashed over her like a tidal wave.

A/N - I know, I know... a cliffhanger *hides* Those of you who have read After Dark know I'm fond of those! Thank you SO much for the overwhelming response to the last chapter and your lovely reviews. As always, they are inspiring. I hope you like this chaper just as much!