"Jeremy, hold up!" Elena called out after her brother who was racing towards the house. He mumbled something inaudibly as he pulled out his keys. They both stopped simultaneously as they heard a crackling sound behind them. They turned around squinting through the dark to scan their surroundings. Something felt extremely wrong to her. She felt the hairs on her arms stand up and her heart race increased as a shot of adrenaline fired through her body. She swallowed hard as she slowly raised her cross bow. She turned to look at Jeremy and found that he had disappeared.

"Jeremy!" she yelled, panicking as a feeling of horror and dread washed over her. Elena who was usually a quick thinker found herself in a state of helplessness. She turned swiftly as she heard a soft movement behind her. Jeremy stood before her again, his eyes wide for a moment as a loud shot fired through the air. Her ears rang and suddenly everything seemed to be happening in slow motion. Her brother looked at his chest in surprise as blood oozed through where the bullet had pierced his chest. He dropped to the ground, his body going limp. Elena's scream seemed to ring through the dark night as she dropped beside her brother, pulling him to her lap and sobbed uncontrollably.

...

...

Elena sat up abruptly; she looked around her and sighed in relief placing a hand on the left side of her chest where her heart lay in an attempt to steady it. She took a deep breath in and wiped the tears from her face. It had just been a dream she told herself jumping out of bed. She walked across the hall to her brothers' room and opened the door to reveal him sleeping soundly in his bed. She smiled to herself momentarily watching him, she had gotten used to seeing him so angry and uptight all the time but now, he looked young and peaceful when he was asleep.

"I think I'm going insane," Elena told her friends dropping beside them on the grass. It was one of the warmest days of summer so they had all planned to meet in the park that afternoon.

"It was a bad dream babe," Matt said pulling her towards him and rubbing her back.

"I know. It's just that it felt so real. I don't know what I would have done If—"

"But it wasn't real. That's all that matters," Caroline interrupted giving her a sympathetic smile; Elena nodded and attempted to smile back. The fact had been that the dream had shaken her up more than she'd expected. Something just didn't feel right to her but she couldn't identify what it was. She managed to relax for the rest of the afternoon as she laughed and caught up with Matt and Caroline. She looked at Matt as he talked a faint smile playing on her lips. She had known him her entire life; she knew every line and aspect of his face. He had these big sincere eyes that were so full of love and admiration when he looked at her, that she couldn't imagine why she had ever even doubted what she had with him.

"What?" he asked stopping in mid-sentence

"Nothing."

"You were staring at me, that wasn't nothing."

"I was just thinking about how much I love you," she admitted leaning towards him and planting a soft kiss on his lips. He froze momentarily, surprised, before kissing her back.

"Oh I'm going to barf. Seriously? Get a room," Caroline mocked her voice filled with amusement. Elena waved at her friend distractedly as she continued to kiss Matt.

"I need to go find the rest room," she breathed after a moment, pulling away from him. "I'll be back." She added grabbing her bag smiling to herself as she headed towards where she knew the Girls bathroom was situated. She had panicked she concluded to herself. She still loved Matt but had let the words of Damon get into her head. She heard soft movement behind her and before she could turn, a hand snaked its way to her mouth covering it as she was grabbed from behind. She elbowed the opponent and when she heard a satisfying yelp of surprise, she kicked back with extreme force and bit down on the hand as hard as she could.

"Slow down, it's me!" the hand left her mouth. She whirled around her eyes wild to find Damon standing there, staring at her with an expression she couldn't quite read in his eyes.

"Are you out of your mind?!" she yelled taking a threatening step towards him; she slammed her hands against his chest, hard, before letting out a breath of relief and leaning against the wall. "Do you just go around grabbing people?" she snapped at him, her anger evident.

"That depends," he smirked. "Do you go around beating and biting anybody who so much as comes near you?"

"That was self-defence. You grabbed me!"

"That was abuse."

"Shut up," she sighed placing her hands on her hips. She had no intention of indulging him in any kind of banter. In fact, wasn't she supposed to be staying as far away from him as humanly possible? "What do you want, Damon."

"Well that depends, Elena. You see, I want lots of things," he said raising his eyebrows at her suggestively.

"Do you just go around flirting with girls you don't even know?" she snapped irritably, he placed his index finger and thumb on his chin in an attempt to appear deep in thought.

"Well that also depends Elena, on whether or not the girls look like you." He concluded finally. To her dismay, she found herself smiling against her will.

"That's it. I'm going," she told him rolling her eyes and turning from him; he swiftly grabbed her arm stopping her abruptly.

"Wait, jokes aside I'm here for a reason," he said all humor draining from his expression; Elena stopped in her tracks sensing his seriousness.

"Elena?" she heard Caroline's voice calling out nearby. She froze on the spot knowing how her friend would react if she saw her mingling with a vampire.

"I have to go," she whispered to Damon desperately.

"Meet me tonight at midnight."

"I don't think so."

"I'm serious, it's important." He narrowed his blue eyes at her waiting for her response. Caroline's footsteps were much closer now, she looked at Damon conflict clear in her eyes.

"Okay. I'll meet you but I'll have to sneak out so it better be good," she hissed turning to check if Caroline was anywhere nearby. "Where?" she asked whirling back around to face him and found herself standing alone.

"There you are," Caroline declared brightly walking towards Elena. "Who were you talking to?" she asked her face creased in confusion.

"Oh, I was just on the phone," Elena lied, her chest tightening. She never thought she would keep things from her best friend, but clearly things had changed.

"Okay, but you will never guess who walked by Matt and I," Caroline said babbling excitedly, linking her arm with Elena's. Elena found her mind drifting back to the conversation she'd had with Damon, what had she let herself in for by agreeing to meet up with a vampire alone?

Authors note: I hope you guys enjoy this. Thank you for the reviews guys I really appreciate it as it motivates me to write more. So tell me what you think, if you think I need to improve on some areas. All comments are welcome. Thanks