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.
"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.
"Elena? Damon?"
Caroline's arrival made them jump apart almost comically, Damon adjusting himself whilst Elena swiped at her neck to check for blood. He hadn't actually bitten her. Thank god.
"What are you guy's doing?"
Elena, struggling for a viable explanation, looked to Damon. He smirked and winked before turning to walk slowly towards Caroline.
She couldn't hear what was being said but she could hear his faint murmurings as Caroline started to nod and then mumbled something back to him. He dropped an arm around her shoulder and stood next to her, both of them now looking at Elena expectantly.
"Well?" Caroline spoke loudly. "When were you going to tell me?"
Elena could feel a bead of sweat trickle down the back of her neck. "Tell you what, Car?"
"That Damon wants us to go on a double date with him and Stefan?" She looked at Elena like she had grown a second head. "That is like super-important information."
"Sorry, Car." Elena mumbled and wrapped her arms around herself, suddenly chilly.
"Silly, Elena." Damon mock chided and nuzzled his head into Caroline's hair.
"Hey guys, the party's outside you know." Lexi and Stefan appeared carrying a crate of beer and a crate of bottles filled with various shot concoctions.
Caroline turned to Damon and grinned, taking his hand to lead him back out to the pool. She was more animated than Elena had seen in her days and though on one level she was happy that her friend was happy, she couldn't account for the knot in her gut that felt an awful lot like jealousy.
Elena hadn't been able to bring herself to go back to the party. Instead she had feigned a headache and gone to bed early, spending a restless half hour tossing and turning under Stefan's sheets. This way, she didn't have to witness Damon fawning over her friend either. She would need some time to prepare for that; for their 'double date'.
By the time Stefan had come up to check on her with some painkillers and a glass of water, she had worked herself up into quite the state. She had to get out of this double date and she had to do it fast.
"Stefan, your brother compelled my friend." Elena was visibly agitated.
"Into going on a date with him. Something I'm sure she would have done without the aid of any compulsion." He was doing his best to appease her but it wasn't working.
"A date with us, Stefan. Us. As in me and you." She hopped out of bed and began pacing the room.
"I know you and Damon really don't get along and trust me, I understand why but don't you think that this gives us a way to keep an eye on him? It's when he's off being all secretive and smirky that we really need to worry."
Elena sighed with annoyance. "Yes, I understand all of that. But besides the fact that I don't want to be around him, Caroline is not meant to know he is a vampire. And the more he is around her and uses his vampire influence on her the more likely it is that his secret will come out. And then so will yours and then…"
"Elena. Stop. Please." He grabbed her arm and stopped her mid-pace. "Damon is a lot of things and stupid isn't one of them. He knows exactly what he is doing and it isn't in his interests to out either of us to Caroline or anyone else in Mystic Falls for that matter. Whilst he is with us, then we can be sure that everyone else is safe."
Elena visibly sagged, realising she had no option to admit defeat. Everything Stefan had said made sense. "You're right." She stepped into his embrace and rested her head on his shoulder.
He encircled her in his arms and rubbed slow circles on the bottom of her back. "I'll protect you, Elena. You don't need to worry about my brother."
She blinked hard, trying to shake the feeling that Stefan had just made a promise to her that she knew he could never keep. And she wasn't sure she wanted him to.
Elena crossed and uncrossed her legs anxiously as she sipped at her soda in an attempt to distract herself from the situation she was now in and had no hope of getting out of. Friday night at the Boarding House, date night. Correction, double date night.
"What's with you?" Caroline whispered, totally unaware that whispering was futile in a house with two hundred-plus-year old vampires.
"Nothing, why?" She raised her eyebrows in her best attempt at deflection.
"You're as skittish as Bambi on ice." Caroline frowned, clearly not falling for Elena's tactic.
"I guess I'm still feeling a bit under the weather but other than that, I'm all good." At Caroline's sceptical head tilt, she nodded furiously. "Really, I am."
"Well, good evening ladies." Damon swept into the room holding three full, tall and expensive looking glasses and presented one each to Elena and Caroline. Elena tried not to stare at him but it was impossible – his midnight blue shirt, black jeans and biker boots were just so him but for some reason all she could think about was what they hid underneath.
"I don't think drinking is such a good idea…" Elena said, fully aware of how ridiculous she sounded.
"Nonsense – this isn't burger and fries at the Grill, this is a five star meal which deserves a five star aperitif." He scolded.
Caroline squealed as she sipped at the frothy bubbles. "Champagne!"
"Only the best for my girl." Damon leaned and kissed the top of Caroline's head whilst looking sideways at Elena with a smirk.
She gasped at the intensity of his gaze and the implication of his words.
"I can't believe you're cooking for us." Caroline gushed, as she guzzled down half of her drink.
"Neither can I." Stefan walked in swigging from a bottle of beer and smiling lopsidedly at Damon.
"Well, when the two best looking girls in Mystic Falls agreed to grace us with their presence for the evening, what else was a gentleman to do?"
Stefan shook his head at his brother's theatrical response and sat on the couch next to Elena. Elena could feel the calmness radiating from him and immediately she felt better. She felt Stefan's hand interlink with hers and she clasped it tightly. He quirked an eyebrow in reassurance and she managed a tight smile.
Across the room, Caroline was giggling on the other couch, now wound around Damon who had sat down beside her. He was whispering into her ear and she was blushing wildly.
Elena's mind raced back to the moment before Caroline had interrupted to them in the hallway, when his lips were pressed to the heated flesh of her neck and her vein had been pulsing against his tongue. She recrossed her legs and gulped loudly, raising the glass of champagne to her lips for a distraction.
"Taste's good doesn't it? Like velvet on the tongue and honey in the throat." Damon had extricated himself from Caroline without Elena even noticing, sat with his elbows resting on his knees and his own glass dangling provocatively in the open space between his legs.
"I thought Bourbon was your favourite drink?" Caroline piped up, desperate to regain his attention.
Without removing his eyes from Elena, he shook his head. "My regular drink, yes. But not my favourite. My favourite drink is something much more delectable and decadent."
Stefan stood abruptly, aware that his brother was sailing close to the wind with his ambiguous innuendo. "Dinner should be about ready, right?" The last word was laced with an intonation that Damon couldn't misconstrue.
"Of course. Ladies?" He stood and made a sweeping gesture towards the kitchen. "The dining area is this way."
Unsure if she was able to stand at that precise moment, Elena switched her glass to her other hand so she could use the arm rest to securely lift herself from her seat. Caroline was way ahead of her, Stefan directing her to the nearest bathroom whilst Damon hung back. If she hadn't known better she would have thought he was being gentlemanly.
A door chime echoed throughout the room, causing her to visibly jump. Elena watched Damon and Stefan exchange questioning looks before Stefan disappeared into the hallway.
Damon turned to her, faster than a flash. "I haven't had a chance before now to tell you this but you are looking delectable this evening. Good enough to eat, in fact."
"I won't let you bite me." Elena wished her voice was steady as her resolve.
He leaned into her and rubbed the smooth line of his cheek against hers. "I didn't mean bite."
"You want someone else." She whispered into his neck, the smell of him – champagne and the sea – totally paralysing her.
"So do you." He leaned back slightly so he could rest his forehead against hers. "But you need me."
The champagne glass shattered in her hand as she fought against the swell of desire buckling her at the knees.
"Damon, we have company." Stefan yelled from the hallway, sounding as distant as if he were stood on the other side of the world.
Struggling to piece herself back together, Elena stumbled backwards, panting at the sight of rivulets of blood dripping from her fingers.
"We'll continue this later." Damon groaned, his eyes fading to black at the scent of her blood.
Before he could turn to exit the room, a figure appeared in the archway.
"Hello, Damon. Long time, no see."
A/N - Thank you all once again for your great reviews and follows/alerts. The muse is incredibly grateful :) I hope this chapter doesn't disappoint!