Hello Again! I must say every time I get a story alert or a review, it sort of makes my day! I've never really put any of my writing out there for the public to see, and I'm overwhelmed with gratitude for you and all of your responses! Here's to hoping I don't let you down. Oh and since I've forgotten to do this on all of the other chapters, I do not own any part of the Vampire Diaries whatsoever. Damon Salvatore just stole my heart. So, without further ado, here's the next chapter!
Chapter 4: Fallen
"Elena? Come on, Elena. Wakey wakey. We're here." Elena had dozed off against the window of the car; the soothing sound of the rain had lulled her into a light sleep. She opened her eyes as Damon gently shook her shoulder. Looking around, she realized that there were most definitely not at the school. She gave Damon a questioning look and, as if he could read her mind, "He called me on the way down here with a change of plans. Apparently, he wants us to have our little pow wow here at his house instead of at the school; he wanted us to make it quick." She nodded and reached up to take Damon's hand as he hoisted her out of the car. He pointedly shut the door with care and turned on his heel to lead Elena towards Alaric's house. Under the shelter of the porch, he sharply knocked three times and shoved his hands into his front pockets, listening for footsteps on the other side of the door. After waiting for a minute or two, he walked around to peek into the garage; there was no car in it. Damon cursed under his breath and walked back to Elena's side, who was waiting for him with anxiety written plainly on her face.
"He's not home."
"Well isn't that just perfect. We have to get those darts! Can't you just…I don't know, climb through a window or something?"
"Well, you see, Elena, I haven't exactly been invited in yet. After all I did kill him a while back. Here, I'll just break down the door, and you go and get them. How's that sound?"
She sighed. "No, Damon, we're not just going to wreck his house like that. He is my history teacher, and he's gotten my brother back on track at school, and helped us rescue Stefan…no. I won't let you do that to him. Let's just try for an open window or something." She pushed past him and walked around the porch to the side of the house, stopping to push up on the bottom of the first window she came to. It resisted a little at first, but after a few tries she managed to yank it up a few inches. Damon saw what she was doing and rolled his eyes, crossing over to her in a few long strides.
"Here." With one hand, he effortlessly slid the window all the way up on the first try. Elena shook her head, no longer surprised by Damon's displays of super-human strength. "Impressive, aren't I?" Damon said cockily, tilting his head to the side and smirking. "Now go in, grab what we came for, and get out. I don't want Ric trying to stake me again if he catches us breaking and entering." Elena nodded and lifted her foot up on the windowsill. As she pushed herself up, she wobbled and grabbed wildly for the edge of the window, pressing her hand against it for support. Damon grabbed her other hand and held it firmly, supporting her as she fought to keep her balance while bringing her other foot up to the windowsill. Crouching in the open window, she lifted her head to survey her surroundings and knocked the back of her head into the bottom frame surrounding the plates of glass. She gasped and nearly fell backwards, but felt Damon's sturdy hand grip her waist and steady her. With his support she finally stepped onto the hardwood floor on the other side of the window. She released his hand to rub the lump on the back of her head, groaning. She turned to look back out and saw concern flashing through his eyes; his lips were turned down at the corners and he asked "Are you doing ok in there? How hard did you hit your head?"
"Its fine, Damon. I'm fine. It was just a little bump, that's all. Seriously, it's nothing."
Relief briefly crossed his features as he nodded. He looked up back up at her, faintly amused. "Clumsy little thing, aren't you? That would've taken me about two seconds. Then again, you are only human; and a rather uncoordinated one at that." She shot him a sour look, clearly not amused, before disappearing into the darkened house. It was not sixty seconds before she returned, two vervain-filled tranquilizers in hand. "They were sitting right there in plain sight on his kitchen table," she explained before handing one of the darts to Damon. She looked down at the windowsill and reached back to touch her throbbing head, wincing. "I think I'll just use the front door this time," she said wearily, and Damon let out a quick laugh.
"Good idea," he returned, and watched her walk away before easing the window back down with his fingertips.
"Damon? Have you seen my phone? I can't find it. You didn't take it again, did you?" Elena called out from the boarding house's kitchen, looking over the countertops in hope that she had just forgotten it there during breakfast.
"Relax, I didn't touch your precious phone! It's right here on the couch. And it won't stop beeping – it's starting to get on my oh-so-fragile vampire nerves, FYI. You might want to come stop that before I have to go hunting for a snack to calm me down." Damon shot her a devious grin before downing a glass of his ever-present scotch. Elena rolled her eyes and marched over to the couch, snatching up her phone before giving Damon a poisonous look; He shrugged and walked over to the fireplace, turning his back to her as she checked her phone. She held her breath as she saw the missed call screen flash up, part of her hoping it was Stefan calling to apologize, part of her fearing it was Stefan. She wasn't sure how much more she could take of his out-of-control, erratic behavior. She just wanted things to go back to normal. She sighed when she saw it was only Jeremy, calling to ask where she was. She quickly dialed his number, pressing the phone to her ear and pacing back and forth between Damon and the couch. He didn't pick up; she left him a hurried message, running her fingers through her hair as she explained that she was staying over at Stefan's for a few days. Snapping her phone shut, she walked across the carpet and stood next to Damon.
"So, how exactly are you planning on getting Stefan to come back?" She leaned into him, lightly knocking his shoulder against his. "When he left, he didn't exactly give the impression he planned on returning." Elena shivered despite the crackling fire, remembering the cold, black look Stefan had given her in the last few seconds when she had seen him.
"Oh, it won't take much. I'll just call him and threaten him to drink his entire stash of blood bank contraband in the cooler down there by myself. He's too bloodthirsty right now to let his hard work go to waste on me. Come to think of it, I believe I'll do that right now. No point in putting it off, is there? Can't have him gnawing on many other people in this town. We don't want to raise a fuss, now do we?" Elena raised her eyebrows, thinking of how that was exactly what Damon had wanted to do when he first showed up in Mystic Falls. She peeked at him out of the corners of her eyes, wondering exactly what had caused him to stop thinking that way. After all, what was this little town to him? She was drawn out of her musings by the sound of Damon's voice lazily drawling "Hello, Stefan." He paused, waiting for a reply. "What do I want? Nothing, nothing at all, brother. I was just letting you know that since you obviously don't want it, I hope you don't mind if I finish off the blood bank cooler for you." He paused again, smirking to himself. "Fine, fine, I won't touch it! Cool your guns, man! I guess you better come get it then. Sure, sure, whatever you say. It'll all be there when you show up. Mhm? You have a good day now." Damon pressed the END button on his phone, returning it to his back pocket. Elena looked up at him expectantly.
"What did he say? Is he coming? Did he still seem…off? Did he mention me? Where is he?" Elena bombarded him with her questions, unable to hold back the worry on her face.
"Whoa, whoa, slow down there! All he said was he'll be by in half an hour to get his stuff. He didn't mention anything else. When a vampire's bloodlust is as strong as his, they have a hard time focusing on anything else. He's probably got his humanity shut out right now. Locking him up is the only way to fix that, and that's what we're about to do. Don't worry; this thing just takes time. I promise he'll eventually be back to normal."
Elena turned back towards the fire. She tangled her fingers in her hair and slouched. "This is all my fault. I should never have fed him my blood, I should have tried something else-"
"Elena! Elena, look at me." Damon held her shoulders tightly, lowering his head down so that they were at the same eye level and his blazing blue eyes met her sorrowful gaze. "There is nothing else you could've done. You were brave, what you did! You saved his life. He's going to be fine he just has to get over this little…bump in the road. I promise you, if you hadn't fed him your blood, he would be in much worse shape right now than he currently is. Stop blaming yourself."
She tore her gaze away from his, shaking her head as she walked over to the couch and dropped onto it. She was slightly dumbfounded; it was a rare occurrence to see Damon so serious, and she thought is was slightly disconcerting. It wasn't that she didn't like it, she was usually taken by surprise when he demonstrated that maybe he did have somewhat of a heart. Last night was rather foggy to her, but Elena was sure she remembered Damon acting very tenderly towards her as he mended her wounds. She found herself drawn to this softer side of Damon, and she wasn't quite sure what to make of it. She looked up to see him solemnly hold out a vervain dart to her.
"You need to go down to the basement where he keeps the cooler. Stay out of sight at first; he doesn't need to think we're cornering him. When you start talking to him, be sure to hide the dart. When you're sure he's calm, stab him with it. I'll take care of the rest. If he tries to hurt you, or even looks like he might, just scream and I'll stab him myself. I'll be right outside the door the whole time."
She drew a deep, shaky breath, nodding. "Thank you, Damon. For helping me with this. I couldn't have done it alone."
"No need to thank me. I couldn't have him going around exposing us. Someone had to stop him."
Her mouth set in a grim line, Elena gave Damon one last look and turned to go, walking down the stairs with dart in hand. In that look, Damon once again saw that look of complete trust, one he couldn't quite understand. It made his insides clench, suddenly filled with dread for what was to come. Something inside of him burned with protectiveness for her; he wasn't going to let anything else hurt her now for the world. He couldn't let it. Seeing such innocence in the face of such a beauty he had always loved made him wonder how he ever could've loved Katherine, when her polar opposite was now right there with him. Such perfect and entire goodness he knew he didn't deserve, but he suddenly realized he loved her all the same, if not more, than he had used to love the woman who was so similar but couldn't be more different. No, Elena wasn't Katherine; she never would be. She didn't have it in her. And he loved her for it irrevocably. Resolutely, Damon clutched his fist tighter around the dart, vowing to do whatever he had to in order to make this wrong a right.
Elena heard heavy, fast-falling foot steps descend the stairs above her head. A second later she saw the back of her wayward boyfriend, muscles tensed and ready to pounce at anything that got in his way. She struggled not to gasp as he ripped open the cooler and snatched a blood bag, ripping the plastic with his teeth and quickly draining it with one gulp. He repeated the process with two more and then began shoving the rest of the supply into a backpack that he had brought with him. Elena shifted, accidentally grazing the back of her hand against a rusty nail, and winced. Ignoring it, she slowly and deliberately stepped out from her hiding place, holding her arms out toward Stefan and bracing herself inwardly as he turned to look at her.
"Elena," he muttered, his voice slightly ragged. "If you had a single ounce of common sense, you wouldn't have come down here."
"Stefan, I…I just wanted to see you. I know this has been rough, but…Stefan? What's the matter?"
Stefan's black eyes were riveted to her hand, which was suddenly feeling strangely moist. Elena looked down and momentarily froze with panic; the rusty nail had drawn blood.
"Stefan, Stefan, look at me. Snap out of it. You can do it, I know you can. Stefan, stop!" Stefan slowly advanced toward Elena, the veins around his eyes growing more and more pronounced. His breathing grew shallow, and he seemed to be drawn to her hand. Elena shoved it in her front pocket, desperately trying to keep him from coming any closer. She reached out, pushing her hand to his chest. The second her skin touched his, he could feel her blood pulsating frantically just below the surface of her flesh. Without warning, he lunged at her, clutching at her shoulders with force as he lowered his fangs to her neck. She let out a piercing scream that hung in the air, and just as she felt his pointed teeth graze her neck, he hesitated, wobbled, and fell backward. Trembling violently, she looked up to see Damon, his stance wide, his eyes hard and blazing from just shoving a needle full of vervain between his brother's shoulder blades. His eyebrows drew together as he turned his chin slightly to the side, his expression soft as he said "I promised you I'd be right there if he tried anything."
She quickly crossed over to him and threw her arms around his neck, sobbing into his chest as the initial shock of the past minute began to wear off. She hung on to him tightly as her limbs shook and wobbled. He wrapped his arm around her back to hold her up and lifted his other hand to lightly run it down the length of her hair, trying to soothe her as he whispered "Shh, shh, it's alright," into her ear. They stood like that for an indefinite amount of time, neither of them finding the will to move. Once her sobs had subsided into sniffles, he forced himself to pull away. He grabbed her wrists as he stepped back, catching her gaze and holding it.
"He won't be awake for a while, so you go back upstairs and take a break. I'll take care of it, ok?" She nodded, her eyes full of gratitude, an unspoken thanks for all that he'd done. Before he could think about what he was doing, Damon rested his hand on the curve of her waist and leaned in to place a kiss on her cheek. His warm lips brushed lightly against her smooth, tear soaked skin, and his mouth lingered against her as he leaned his forehead into her temple. Her ragged breathing hitched in her throat, and he squeezed her waist gently with his hand before slowly stepping back. Her sweet eyes rested on his face for a fleeting moment before she turned, their depths conveying that she cared. She wearily plodded up the narrow staircase, her heart beating sluggishly in her chest as she shut the door behind her.
Damon, anxious to go back up and check on Elena, grabbed his fallen brother by the ankles and dragged him into the cellar, laying him next to a wall before dropping his legs and leaving the room. With one final somber glance, Damon locked the door to the cellar and shoved the key into his front pocket. He used his vampire speed to ascend the stairs in less than a second, but slowly opened the door. He quietly stepped through the doorframe, looking into the den for Elena. He saw her sitting on the edge of the couch, her shoulders drooped and her eyes focusing on nothing. He walked over to her and sank down next to her on the couch, so close that their arms rubbed against each other with the slightest movement. She didn't pull away. They sat there in silence, neither of them feeling the need to fill it with words that had already been spoken. She leaned back further into the couch, her eyes drooping and eventually fluttering shut. She unconsciously turned her head to the left, and her body slumped toward Damon, her head falling to rest in that soft spot between his shoulder and his collarbone. He reached his arm around her, holding her into him as she slept. For the second time in twenty-four hours, Damon found himself holding his brother's girlfriend as she fell asleep. He inwardly cursed his brother for bringing all this upon her, but part of him was thankful for what had happened as she pressed herself closer to him, letting out a sigh against his chest in her worn out, dreamless sleep.
Ok you guys, sorry if Damon seemed a tad OOC just now, but I had to write it that way to make it work. I know I said after Miss Mystic Falls I would change it up, but I had to keep some things the same to let the story unfold how I imagined. So keep in mind, just because they locked Stefan up doesn't mean it's going to go back to like how it was before. I promise you this IS a Delena fic, I just don't want to take it way too fast. I need to give Elena a big reason to turn away from Stefan, even when he's sober. So thanks for reading and I hope you keep coming back! Please please leave a review to let me know your opinions. Reviews really do want me to keep writing even faster; they let me know that I'm writing for others and not just myself. Say anything you like about my writing style, is it too long, too short, too OOC, too emotional? Also let me know what you want to happen further on in the story. Predictions are welcome, Feedback is love! Delena forever.