I didn't plan on getting this updated so quickly, but I somehow was able to do it. I'm so tired right now so this won't be a particularly descriptive A/N, and I'm sorry in advance if this is a sucky chapter as a result of my tiredness. Enjoy the chapter, everyone. I'm glad so many of you liked the last one.

Disclaimer: Chapter 1 please :)

Rescue Me

I don't know how long, exactly, that I had been awake, staring outside Damon's open bedroom windows, listening to the sound of birds chirping outside. Despite what it may look like, I hadn't woken up because of the birds.

I had been blissfully happy when I woke, feeling sore when it came to every single body part of mine. Damon…God, how did I describe Damon? Was it possible for someone to make a girl's first time be both hot and powerful yet still sweet and sensual at the same time? Every single touch he had given me from the night before was still burning on my skin, and the memories still raced in my mind. I was glad that we'd waited this long, but I was also disappointed, too.

My blissful happiness was short-lived by the thought dawning on me: we agreed to stop this.

I knew it was wrong of me to do this. It was wrong for both of us to do something we had never tried before the second we broke up. It was quite ironic, really. A couple, when typically together, tend to release all passionate parts and just give into each other. It wasn't common for a couple to break up and then sleep together, was it? Well, sleep together for the first time, I mean. Like I said, I knew it was wrong of me to have done this, but I didn't really…regret it. It was a mistake, sure, but one that I didn't regret.

But it was also one that we could never have again.

My phone buzzed beside me, pulling me out of my thoughts, and I hesitantly grabbed my phone that vibrated against the table. I tried not to dwell on the fact that Damon might've heard the buzz and woke, but I was still worried. My body ached as I stretched, and when I finally grabbed the phone, it silenced in my hand.

It was a text from Elena, of course, reading: do you mind going to Jeremy's parent/teacher conference today? I won't be able to make it until the second half.

Elena, I thought. I hadn't even given much thought to how I felt about her. Did I resent her for sleeping with my boyfriend or did I understand it and wanted to move past it? Was I angry with her? Was I at peace? All of my memories gave me the tools I needed to make these decisions, but I didn't want to make them. I was finally back in my old life, but…I didn't want to be.

I typed a short response quickly.

Sure.

Her reply came even faster.

Thanks.

I didn't respond to it this time, because I knew that I needed to get over to the school as soon as possible. It would start in a half hour, and I desperately needed to shower and change…without the distraction of Damon's naked body lying beside me. I closed my eyes and hoped badly that he didn't hear me get up but, after all, he was a vampire. I should've known better.

"Morning, beautiful," Damon murmured to me, but he didn't turn. I mouthed a "shit" to myself, realizing that I had been caught in my attempt to flee this awkward morning after. How does one say, "Did I make your first time good?"

"Damon," I said, trying to make sure my breath didn't quiver. "I-I didn't know you were up."

I leaned down, despite the ache, and grabbed my bra, which I had found on the floor next to my side of the bed. "Yeah, I've been up for three hours."

This surprised me. "Three hours? You didn't say anything." He'd probably been awake longer than I did but, again, I didn't know the exact time I woke.

"Neither did you," Damon returned pointedly, and the bed shuddered which made me realize that he had turned towards me now. I bent down again, cautious of my half-naked body, and grabbed my underwear, which I was grateful had not been torn. Imagine the predicament I would be in if they were.

I cleared my throat. "I…uh…I didn't really know what to say," I admitted, pulling my shirt on this time, which I found to be completely destroyed. As I stood up, I looked down at the condition of my shirt with sadness, but knew that there was nothing I could do about it. I probably did the same thing to his. "Last night was…" I trailed off, unable to find the words. Though, to be fair, at that moment, I was focused on nothing else but finding my pants, which seemed to have run away from me.

Damon shifted on the bed, and all of a sudden, I heard his constant tsking. I reached to grab my pants, but instead, Damon grabbed my hand, his soft fingers grazing my skin and igniting a fire that I thought I had put to bed. "Was it everything you wanted?" he asked me, his voice low.

My heart pounded in my ears at his words and at the sight of him. I didn't know what was better—Damon Salvatore in a leather jacket or Damon Salvatore with disheveled, ruined hair that I was aware was a result of me. "Y-Yes," I responded, breathless. His eyes captured mine and sucked me in like it usually did.

Damon brought my hand to his lips, and they lightly brushed against my hand, sending chills and other things of that nature down my spine. I closed my eyes and tried not to think about it, but it was hard. He merely brushed them against me, making it seem like it was the most intimate touch when, really, it was only a tease. "I'm glad. Maybe we should try it more often, huh?"

The thought enticed me, I'll admit, but then I thought to myself over and over again—Madeline Gilbert? Human. Damon Salvatore? Vampire. Their relationship? Doomed.

I gently pulled my hand away from him and he looked up at me with his signature smirk. "You should…uh, change the sheets," I said quickly, and Damon, who was tangled up in the web of the top sheet, peered down onto the bottom one as I hurriedly made my exit from his room.

Did I expect him to let me leave without a fight? Oh, hell no.

Damon flashed up to me at the threshold of his door, and I gasped when I saw him in all his naked glory, taking a step back to refrain from touching him. A nervous laugh escaped my lips, and I felt like I was going to completely combust. I mean, there he was…just…standing there, in front of me. His eyes roamed my body with a certain hunger that I knew he had kept bottled in him from the very first moment we shared together.

"Damon could you…" I let out yet another laugh. "Put some clothes on or…something?" I sighed, exasperated. Damon just stared at me, a smile curling on his lips. "Okay…how about taking a step just a little to your left?"

Damon gave me a teasing glance. "My left or your left?" I glared at him. "All right, all right. It's your loss. I make one hell of a naked breakfast." His words caused something to ripple through me that I had never felt before—need. I thought, just for a moment, that it would be okay to kiss him and throw him back in that disheveled bed, but then, I caught myself before I could actually act on it.

"I-I have to go," I stuttered, and Damon turned as a result, but he didn't move. Damn him for having a small doorway. I slipped past him, barely scraping by, but eventually, I was out of his range and out of the house, going through an internal conflict of whether or not I should go back into his bedroom.

I decided against it.

Damon downed a shot glass that he had ordered with the bottle at the Mystic Grill, Tyler and Matt observing him from the sides as he completely drained the alcohol so early in the morning. "Breakfast of champions," Tyler mused.

"Let me guess," Matt sighed. "This is about Mads."

"You know, that's incredibly insightful, Donovan," Damon began in a sarcastic tone. Matt smiled, but Damon was nowhere near done with him yet. "You are really street smart for working behind that bar for—what is it? Three years now?"

"At least he's not looking for answers at the bottom of a glass," Tyler defended his friend.

"Tyler Lockwood's now a life coach despite running his own life into the ground. Perfect."

"If you wanted advice, why didn't you just talk to Stefan?" Matt challenged, seeing as neither the hybrid nor the human wanted the vampire at the bar.

"Because it's difficult to explain to your brother that you just broke up with his best friend…and then broke the bed," he said slowly, smirking at the end of his sentence.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa," Matt said, blinking as he held up his hands. "You and Madeline…"

Damon nodded. "Yep."

"Now how the hell did you manage to get that to happen?" Tyler asked, turning to Damon. "What, did you compel her?"

Damon raised his eyebrows, confused. "Why would I need to compel my girlfriend to sleep with me?"

"Ex," Matt corrected pointedly. "Ex-girlfriend." Damon shrugged carelessly and poured himself another shot.

"Madeline Gilbert is as pure as they come," Tyler said, shaking his head in disbelief. "You had to have done…something to get her to sleep with you. She never once let Matt go anywhere near…" Tyler trailed off when Matt widened his eyes at the hybrid, and Damon just smirked.

"I just kissed her," he said, shrugging again as he turned to Matt, who sighed. "I guess that's just another thing I'm better at than you, Donovan. Anyway, Stefan's not an option. He's off doing some research project with Caroline." When Tyler turned his head, Damon did, too. "Don't worry, wolf boy. I'm sure they're just friends."

Their conversation was interrupted when Liv, the newbie witch, approached the bar. "Bottle of gin. And let me see you break the seal." She turned to Damon. "What can I say? I've got issues."

"Well, pull up a chair, girl! Tell the professionals your problems," Damon raved teasingly. "Just talk slow and use small words."

"Thanks, but never…ever," Liv said before turning to Matt, who handed her the bottle of gin. "Thanks."

She walked away without so much as a goodbye, and they all stared after her until Damon's phone buzzed. "Well, boys..." He slapped money on the counter for his alcohol. "I hate to cut this session short, but I have other places to be today." He inhaled sharply. "But don't worry! I will be back. Because I have some deep, dark childhood trauma that I'm just itching to talk about."

Without anything else, Damon poured himself another shot, slammed it down, and knocked the glass over on the counter before turning. He caught sight of Liv sitting at a table near the door, and surprisingly, Jeremy Gilbert sat down across from her, which earned Damon's very interested, drunk attention.

"As the guidance counselor, you'll first meet with me individually, and then you'll have an open house with your child's teachers," the school's counselor said to all of us parents in the line to check in. I was on the phone with Audrey when she said this, but as soon as the line began to move, and my old counselor stopped talking, I resumed my conversation with her.

"Hello?"

Audrey was silent for a moment, but then she inhaled. "Yeah…uh...I'm here…I just…" She breathed in sharply. "Wow."

I shut my eyes. "I know. I know. Does this make me the most screwed up person in the whole world?"

"Losing your virginity to your ex-boyfriend who happens to be a vampire just seconds after you two break up? No…not the most screwed up person in the world…"

I sighed. "But screwed up."

"Yeah, definitely screwed up." She sighed, and then moved on, "Didn't you even think about what this would do to you? I mean, after all, you're a Pure Blood and…well, there's this little issue about the fact that you have to be…I don't know, pure to be one."

"Well, Audrey, I wasn't really thinking about my magical qualities when he was kissing me!" I probably said it louder than I should have. Oops. "Do you know what will happen to me?"

"No. It's not like I read every single word in the entire book, Madeline! I gave it to you for a reason. Where did you put it, anyway?"

I thought back to when Audrey gave me the book and, seeing as Katherine's compulsion wore off, I gasped. "Shit. Katherine took it."

"She did what?"

I nodded. "Yeah. She compelled me to think that I'd lost it. God, this isn't good." But I was next in line to check in with my old counselor, so I had to end the call quickly. "Look, I have to go. I'll call you later, okay?"

I didn't wait for her response but merely hung up the phone and sat down at the table that Mrs. Douglass was sitting at. "Hey, Mrs. Douglass."

"Madeline," she cooed happily. "It's wonderful to see you. Although…you're not on the list as Jeremy's primary contact."

I thought for a moment, then realized. "Oh! That's right. My sister's probably the primary contact. I sort of took a…detour this summer and she probably thought it was best to sign herself up," I said, shrugging. "She asked me to come for the first half, though, she couldn't make it. Is that okay?"

Mrs. Douglass looked down at the paper she had on a clipboard. "Uh, it's fine, it's just…Elena's not listed as the primary contact, either."

This, however, was news to me. "Well, then who is?"

"Damon Salvatore."

Oh, no…

It wasn't Mrs. Douglass's voice that spoke the two dreaded words; it was him—Damon, I mean. He gave a teasing glance. "Present," he said to Mrs. Douglass before sitting down next to me at the table. I shifted to the side to make room for him, but I couldn't believe this. "Pardon me," he whispered, and I just gave him a glare. He smelled like strong alcohol, and I knew that this was going to be a problem. Why, oh why, did Damon Salvatore just have to be so damn irresistible?

We were placed in a classroom to wait for Mrs. Douglass, who was talking to each family individually. Damon and I sat in silence, until he broke it with another round of his tsking. "Clocks' busted. What am I paying my PTA dues for?" He turned to me. "I am going to file a complaint."

"Great. If that's all you're here for, you're free to go now."

"Hey, Elena left me in charge of Jeremy when she went off to Whitmore with you. I have had this on my calendar for months."

I turned to face him. "Really? Wow. Did you plan to be drunk when you showed up, too?"

"No, that was merely just a plus."

I sighed as his signature smile and turned, crossing my arms. "So you're going to sit here and tell me that you came here for Jeremy, right?"

Damon shrugged. "Yeah. Why else would I be here?" He raised his eyebrows in a prompting tease. "Unless there's something you want to talk about." I just stared at him, and after a moment passed, Damon sighed. "Oh, come on. Don't pretend like you're not all tingly from last night."

"I'm not tingly, I'm sore," I complained, but I complained the truth.

Damon leaned forward. "And I can fix that problem," he said huskily, capturing my gaze in his. I was lost again, like I always was, until I inhaled sharply and crossed my legs to refrain from any unnecessary attraction.

"Well, if you're really here for Jeremy, then why don't we just focus on him?" I challenged.

Damon nodded seriously. "Right, okay. Well, speaking of hypotheticals—if Jeremy was running around with another girl, would you want to know about it?"

I snapped my head towards him. "What? What girl?"

"Bonnie's little witch trainee, Liv. I saw her and Jeremy sharing a bottle of inhibition killer at the Grill this morning."

I shot him a bitter smile. "While you were drowning yourself in your own inhibition killer?"

Damon rolled his eyes at my attempt to change the subject. "Need I remind you that Jeremy once had an affair with a ghost. All that's missing is a sappy love song and a pottery wheel."

"Yeah, well, not everyone is a cheater, Damon." I looked over at him to see him staring at me. It was his fault—he poked the bear. I began to feel bad about it, but before I could apologize or anything, Mrs. Douglass interrupted us.

"Sorry to keep you waiting," she apologized, sitting against the desk at the front of the classroom. "Bad news first," she said, putting down a pile of files on the desk. "Jeremy's missed eleven days of school. He's started three fights and he's been caught cheating in math class—twice."

"Cheating?" Damon said in an astounded tone as he looked at me. I avoided his gaze, biting down on my lip to keep from shouting at him. "That is so not like him!" He looked back at Mrs. Douglass. "Go on, please."

"I'm sorry," she said, puzzled. "You're Madeline's—"

"Ex-boyfriend—it's ex, right?"

I gave a muffled laugh. "Mm…yep. Ex-boyfriend. But it really doesn't matter anyway—"

Mrs. Douglass cut me off, "Actually, it's relevant. Most problems in school are rooted in problems at home," she informed me.

I turned to her. "Yeah. Yeah, I know. Trivia addict over here. But Damon and I don't live together," I pointed out.

Mrs. Douglass sighed. "Well, Jeremy's in desperate need of a stable living situation. People who care about giving him that more than their own needs—"

"Sounds like he's in desperate need of a less judgy counselor."

"Damon!" I hissed at him, widening my eyes before turning back to Mrs. Douglass. "Sorry about him…uh…we'll try harder, promise. Or, I will, anyway. Elena and I will handle this."

Mrs. Douglass tried to give me a smile. "I hope so. For Jeremy's sake."

When the meeting was over with, I stormed out of there faster than I thought I was capable of. I thought Damon and I made ourselves clear when we broke up. To be honest, I thought it was good that we slept together. It had been so long that we'd waited…I always thought about letting him do what he wanted with me, but I'd never acted on it until last night. Now, he's just being a plain old dick who's getting on my nerves.

"So Jeremy's a bad student," I said, shrugging to Damon even though I walked briskly through the hallway and he desperately managed to keep up with me, despite the crowd. "That doesn't mean he's cheating on Bonnie, Damon."

Damon shook his head. "Stop making excuses for him, Madeline. He made a mistake! He can still fix it."

"Why did he even have to make the mistake in the first place, Damon?"

"Are you so desperate to have your brother turn out to be the complete opposite of who I am that you're willing to deny the facts?"

"Can you just stop making everything about us?" I growled.

"Can you just stop making it about anything else?" Damon retorted, and he pushed open the door for me to a deserted hallway just outside the crowded one. We rounded a corner just as I shrugged.

"All right, fine," I said, giving in. "Fine. You came here to talk, so let's talk. Just do me a favor and stop pretending you even care about my brother and his extra curricular activities." The harsh words stung on my tongue, and I didn't like it, but it had to be said. Damon stared at me with hard eyes, but I spoke again. "Come on, Damon! You've been annoying the crap out of me for the last hour! Let's do this, let's talk."

"Here's the thing, Madeline," Damon said with a certain edge to my name. "I don't know what to say."

I rolled my eyes. "That's a shocker."

"Or do," Damon continued, and at this, I straightened. "Or think."

"Y-You're not making sense—"

"All I know"—Damon began to walk forward, and I stepped back as a result, a puzzled look on my face. He kept his eyes peeled on mine, even though they drifted from time to time—"is that right now…"

Suddenly, there was a banging noise, and a sting of pain shot through my back as I was pinned against the lockers by Damon's arm, which trapped me so that I had no way out. I felt wrong doing this, especially with all of the people standing just on the other side of that door. He kept me so close that I could feel his hot breath on my neck.

"…I wanna rip your clothes off right now in the middle of this hall and throw you into one of these classrooms and kiss every inch of your body, remove all of your soreness, while a bunch of people that drive minivans listen, wishing they were us."

I was at a loss of words now, a string of emotions conflicting me in every direction. I was like a goddamn vampire with all of these different emotions, and one of them kicked strong—desire. His eyes were focused on my lips, but I tried not to focus on his, but…for the love of God. He said the words with a tanginess that dripped off of his sweet voice, and I nearly lost it when he licked his lips at me. My hand desperately clutched the cool metal of one of the lockers I was pushed against, and I tried not to think about how easy it would be to kiss him.

I quivered, "We…we shouldn't," I swallowed, but it was all eating me up alive. He kept enough space between our bodies so that we didn't touch, a subtle, yet raging gesture.

"Right," Damon agreed, and then he raised his other hand—the one that wasn't trapping me against the lockers—and slowly dragged his hand up the side of my body, careful to avoid every intimate place he could touch, and then it rested on my hair, where his fingers carefully wrapped the golden locks around them.

"You know, this hair…" he trailed off, shifting so that the side of his leg brushed against mine. I bit down to prevent myself from giving him the satisfaction of my insanity. "I've grown on it. You know what it reminds me of?" I waited for him as he let his eyes get magnetically pulled up to mine, and we stared at each other for what felt like forever. "Buffy. Makes me think of all the things I could do with it."

I swallowed hard now, trying to gulp down the cry that wanted to escape. But no, I wouldn't give him the satisfaction of knowing his effect on me. "If I'm Buffy, who would that make you?" I said quietly, and Damon let his lips part in just the slightest at my retaliation. "Spike or Angel?"

Damon seemed almost intent on not showing his need as much as I was. "How about you decide that?" he whispered, and that nearly made me scream. But before we could continue this back and forth game, the bell sounded, telling the parents that it was time for open house. "I'll see you in class."

He didn't give me a smile, or one of those heartbreaking smirks—he merely said the comment snidely and turned away, his hand lingering for the slightest moment before I was left in the middle of the hallway, wondering what the hell just happened to me.

I opened the door to the science classroom that was first on my open house list after getting a text from Elena that she would be here soon. With a sigh, I pushed open the door, only to find Damon standing inside of the deserted classroom, his arms across his chest and his image a vision against the bright sunlight that shone in the background. "Lucky us," he said with a smile. "First ones here."

I looked him over for a second, and then thought to myself about what he did in the hallway. I didn't know if it made me mad or turned me on, but I found myself setting my phone down on the front desk that the teacher kept for paperwork at the front of the classroom. I shut the door so it shut with a slam, and Damon straightened at the gesture just as I clicked the lock. "Remind me, again, what you wanted to do?"

Damon smiled. "What, play Buffy the Vampire Slayer with you?" I didn't miss the obvious innuendo in that sentence, but I wasn't so childish as to roll my eyes. Instead, I muffled a laugh and walked forward to meet Damon, who was just standing in his position. My body neared him and he stared down at me with sparkling, playful eyes.

"No. The part about throwing me into a classroom," I reiterated, and Damon laughed.

"Oh. Yeah, that part."

"Is that still up for discussion?"

Damon's hand moved to my hair again, and this time, he swept it behind my shoulder and his soft fingers clutched the back of my neck. "It's always up for discussion, beautiful."

I nodded. "Good."

Without warning, I shot forward and kissed him, this time managing to consume him in my kiss like he did the other night. His lips twisted to meet my desperate kissing, and it turned out to be more of a hunger than anything. My mouth opened and I sighed into it as Damon began to conquer me, like he normally does, his arm wrapping around my back and pulling me up so that I was wrapped around his waist. He broke the kiss for just a moment, our quickened breathing echoing through the classroom, and he pulled me on top of the lab table that I was quite positive I'd been stationed at for sophomore year. Out of the haze of it all, I accidentally pushed something off of the desk and it landed with a loud smash resulting from the glass breaking.

Neither Damon nor I pulled away at the sound—in fact, he continued to kiss me more roughly than anything else. He dominated every part of me, feeling and kissing my body with no filter. I desperately pulled him against me, dragging his shirt up in the process. He did the same, pulling my leg up to hold a tighter grasp on his waist so his hips could grind into mine the way he wanted it to. I groaned loudly, and he smirked against my skin at the gesture as he began to kiss down my mouth and over my jaw, just as I set to work on trying to unbuckle his belt.

"Hey," Damon whispered against my skin while pulling away from me and watching as I stripped the leather belt. "Madeline. Madeline!"

I jolted up in my seat next to Damon as I felt his hand hit mine to take me out of my daydream. "Earth to Miss Madeline," he teased, a smile spreading over his face.

I looked at him, completely frazzled by the sex dream I'd generated. Never once in my life had I had such a…detailed dream. Never…ever…

I gasped, the realization hitting me. "You did not."

Damon shrugged. "It's not my fault you're not taking vervain," he whispered to me, and I shifted uncomfortably. "You know, you should really put your necklace back on. You're missing an incredibly boring presentation."

I looked around the classroom, finding Elena, who was sitting at a table with Sheriff Forbes, who was here for Audrey. She was staring at the teacher, actually listening to his conversation. Damon's eyes were completely focused on me, and at the intimate staring, I began to feel light-headed. "I…I need some air."

I walked calmly out of the classroom, then briskly tried to make my way towards any sort of solitude. I made my way to woodshop, which was the closest I could find. I ran the faucet and wet my hands before pressing them to my forehead and through my hair so I would cool down. It was when I saw someone's reflection—other than mine, of course—in the mirror when I gasped and turned around, clutching the sink for support.

I breathed out normally when I saw it was just Liv. "Oh," I said, giving the witch a nervous laugh. "Ha. Liv. Liv, it's just…it's just Liv," I mumbled, trying to recover from my fright.

Liv smiled. "Madeline Gilbert." She grinned. "Just the girl I wanted to see."

"…Okay?" I said, confused as I walked forward. "Why do you need to see me? Is it something about Jeremy? Bonnie, maybe…?"

Liv sighed. "No." I raised an eyebrow, and then Liv spoke again, "This is about you."

I was suddenly flung against the wall, my arms pinned up and my body unable to go anywhere. A ripple of pain cascaded down my spine, and I couldn't move temporarily. Liv sauntered towards me, and I desperately struggled against my invisible restraint.

"Sorry about this," she apologized, and I desperately moved to get out of whatever spell was binding me to the wall. "My coven did everything in its power to protect you."

"What the hell do you mean protect me?" I shouted, widening my eyes. "Does this look like protecting to you?"

"I'm sorry," she said again, and braced to kill me—with a wooden stake, might I add. Oh, the poetics. Even though I wasn't a vampire, I had the blood of a vampire, and wooden stakes through the heart would kill any run-of-the-mill human. I struggled harder this time, but then, Liv was knocked out of my way, and before me, I saw Damon.

"Little tip," he said to Liv, who was on the floor, unconscious. "If you're going to kill someone, don't waste time feeling bad about it."

I was released from the wall, my body stumbling into Damon's on accident. He caught me, held me upright, and tried to get me to stay sturdy. It was when he was brushing my hair out of my eyes that there was another voice.

"What the hell happened in here?" Elena asked.

Elena paced behind Liv as Damon furthered the injury he kept on Liv, and the witch bit down on the red rag in her mouth as a result. I cringed at the sight, but Elena was more pissed than anything. "Enough," she growled to Damon.

"Hardly," Damon snapped. "She was two seconds away from killing Madeline and I want to know why."

"I can tell you why," I said, shrugging. Damon turned around at me, but I kept my eyes peeled on Liv. "Bitch was protecting me," I snapped snidely.

"So," Damon clapped his hands together and turned back to Liv. "I am going to rip this nasty rag out of your mouth, and if I hear so much as one syllable of hocus pocus, one of us will snap your neck. Spoiler alert! It's gonna be me." On cue, Damon ripped the rag out of her mouth and spoke, "Talk."

Silence passed. Liv said absolutely nothing, and Damon sighed.

"All right…"

"Damon!" Elena shouted. "Stop!" Damon ignored her, and so Elena looked at me. "Madeline, tell him to stop!"

"Hey, don't look at her," Damon said, knotting his eyebrows at Elena. "We broke up last night," he gestured between me and him, and I took in a deep breath. "So she doesn't get to tell me what to do anymore."

I mumbled, "When did I ever tell you what to do before?"

"Damon, just stop hurting her!" Elena whined, and Liv groaned.

"Oh, my God, just kill me already."

"Tempting," Damon agreed. "But not until you talk." Again, he hurt Liv, and she hissed in pain before looking up at Damon and finally giving in. Liv looked at me while she spoke.

"She's a Pure Blood," Liv said desperately, her eyes cold. I straightened and listened as she continued. "Her blood is the only thing that can activate the Traveler's spell to link the doppelgängers together. After tonight, there might only be one male doppelgänger and one female doppelgänger left. If that happens, the Travelers will come for you, Madeline. Both you and Elena." She looked up at Damon. "The witches can't let that happen. Pure Bloods are extremely rare to find. The Travelers won't be able to find another one for a substantial amount of time."

Silence crashed over us until Damon finally turned around at me. "If it's between you and this psychopath, Madeline, you know what I have to do."

I sighed, but I knew he was right. "I just…I just don't want to see it, okay?" Elena stared at me incredulously. "Don't give me that look, Elena! We both know he's right. If what she says is true, she really, really wants to kill me." I rolled my eyes. "Or protect me. Whatever."

Before Elena got the chance to respond Jeremy's voice sounded behind me. "Are you freaking kidding me?"

Damon rolled his eyes, and I watched as my brother stepped between Damon and Liv. "You wanna kill Liv, you're going to have to kill me, too."

This silenced all of us, and Damon just let out an exasperated breath, realizing that it was wrong. I tried to intervene by saying my brother's name, "Jeremy…"

"What are you waiting for, Damon?" Jeremy shouted. "Go on! Wouldn't be the first time you killed me!"

"Jeremy," Elena tried as well, but nothing could stop this brawl from continuing.

"She tried to kill your sister, you idiot," Damon almost sing-songed. "She's gonna do it again."

"No, she won't," persisted my brother. "She's going to help keep both Madeline and Elena safe, I will make sure of that."

"How?" questioned Damon incredulously. "You can't even get a passing grade in penmanship!"

Jeremy turned to me, but I had made it a point to stay out of Damon and Jeremy's fight. Damon turned around at me as well to see my response as Jeremy spoke, "Trust me, Mads. I won't let anyone hurt you."

I opened my mouth to respond, but on the inside, I was panicking. To side with Damon or Jeremy and Elena…this was the problem I had feared for the last two years. "Jeremy, it's not about trust, it's…it's just, he's right." I hated to admit it—to completely disregard standard morals and put my true feelings above the common nature of mankind. Though Damon's approach was less than ideal, he had the right idea. If my blood was so special to have a teenage witch come after me, I was less than willing to take my chances of it happening again.

"Madeline, I know what I'm doing," he pleaded to me, his eyes big and wide. "Please. Liv knows more about the Travelers than she's letting on."

"Jer…" I trailed off in my best trying voice, but looks from both Elena and Jeremy made me realize that they needed me to trust them more than Damon at that very moment. If Jeremy wasn't so sure that he could stop Liv and help us, he wouldn't have brought it up in the first place. Damon looked at me, as if hoping that I wouldn't say yes. "Come on, Damon," I said softly, sighing.

"Madeline," Damon groaned. "You can't be serious. She'll kill you the first chance she gets!"

I ran a hand through my hair and shrugged. "I-I don't know what to think, okay? But I trust my brother, and right now…" I trailed off taking out a deep breath that I had been holding in. "I just, I need you to trust me."

I wasn't trying to guilt him into anything—really. I merely needed him to back down so that Jeremy could do what he needed to do. Yes, I was still angry with him for following me here and trying to get me to sleep with him again. Yes, I was still confused. But there was one thing and one thing for sure that I knew without even having to think about it: Damon still trusted me, just like I trusted him. I had been more than willing to let him execute his plans, but upon the plea of my brother, I just couldn't.

Damon sighed, but per my request, he walked right by me, leaving Jeremy, Elena, and me all on our own. Jeremy gave me a slight nod of thanks, and I returned it before walking off in the direction that Damon had gone.

Damon and I stood in the foyer with Elena, who had just been filled in on everything happening with our brother regarding his school. Needless to say, she was angry and confused and desperate to fix him, but Damon and I merely stood by the alcohol tray. As Elena paced, Damon tilted a glass of bourbon to me. "Penny for your thoughts?"

The gesture made my breath catch in the slightest, but eventually, I relaxed and shook my head. "No, thank you." He nodded and drained the glass intended for me, like he'd done last night. Eventually, I spoke again, "Thank you, Damon," I said slowly, earning his attention again. "For…listening to me back there."

Damon sighed, but his gaze never left mine. "Against my better judgment, might I add," he tagged on. I just gave him a fraction of a smile before Elena spoke against us.

"What are we going to do?" she asked, frantic. "How are we going to fix this?"

Damon shrugged. "Nothing to fix. I mean, unless you want to put him on a plane again," he suggested. Before the conversation could evolve, out came Jeremy with his suitcase, which he set in the foyer by the door. "Where you going, little Gilbert?"

"Matt and Tyler said I could stay at their place for a while," Jeremy said simply. Elena and I both straightened at the words.

"What?" Elena mused, puzzled. "No, Jer. You don't have to do that—"

Damon sighed. "Put the bags down. We'll talk about this in the morning."

"No, we won't," insisted my brother. "I should've moved out a long time ago."

"Wait a second," I said, standing and moving over to where Elena and Jeremy were both placed, by the threshold of the foyer and the parlor. "What is this about, Jer? I said that I trusted you—"

"Yeah, Madeline, but you trust him more," Jeremy said, his eyes flickering up to Damon. I sunk back in my stance and crossed my arms. "And, that's okay, really. I just…it's not about that. It's about me not wanting to be here anymore."

"Jeremy," Elena started, "I know things have been really crazy lately—"

"You know that there's always going to be crazy," Jeremy retorted, walking forward to meet us at the bottom of the stairs. "I need to figure out how to deal with crazy on my own. Right now, this is what's best for me. For all of us." He was silent. "I'm not asking for permission, Elena."

Elena shifted in her stance, trying not to cry. I, on the other hand, was astounded at Jeremy's actions. I just got my memories back and he wanted to…leave? Was I really that terrible of a sister? "Okay," she said quietly. "I'll—I'll call every day. And I'll…make sure to stay more involved."

Jeremy gave Elena a smile, walked forward, and hugged her. After about a moment, Jeremy turned to me, and I hadn't said anything after he'd spoken to me directly, earlier. He walked over to me now, his eyes searching for any kind of disappointment in my eyes. "Come on, Jer. Don't…don't leave," I said, but it wasn't a command, it was a plea. His mouth gave a slight twitch of a smile before he pulled forward and embraced me in a hug, which I tried to embrace without crying. Everything hurt ten times more with my memories still intact, and I think this hurt the most. All I could do was watch and stand by as he walked away.

Stefan lay against the back of the junkyard van the Travelers put him in and stared at the plain ceiling. Caroline was to show up at any minute with news of what happened to Stefan's human doppelgänger, because so far, he and Audrey hadn't heard good or bad news from the Travelers yet. Thinking of Audrey, Stefan found it ironic when there was a knock on the door of the van and he looked up to see the red-haired Forbes at the door with a shy smile. "Hey," she said, climbing into the van.

"Hey," Stefan returned with an equal smile. "Caroline show up yet?"

"No, not yet. She's almost here, though. Ten minutes, maybe?" she speculated, moving into the van and sitting up with her legs crossed underneath her. "I just heard from Madeline, though. Apparently, Liv tried to kill her."

Stefan raised an eyebrow. "What? Why?"

Audrey shrugged. "She said she would tell me later. She was pretty torn up. Jeremy kind of…moved out of the house."

Stefan let his head drop. "You're kidding me." Audrey shook her head. "Wow. That's…terrible. Did she say what made him move out?" Audrey gave Stefan a look, and immediately, the Salvatore realized with a sigh. "Of course. My brother."

"Actually," Audrey said, taking in a deep breath. "I mean—you're right, yes, but…mixed up in a bunch of Traveler business today, I actually forgot to tell you." Stefan waited as Audrey let out her breath and ruffled a hand through her hair. "Damon and Madeline sort of…"

Stefan thought it over, taking Audrey's hint with confusion. Eventually—after a few slow moments—he straightened. "What?"

"Yeah."

"They…"

"Yep."

Stefan let out a strained breath of air. "Wow…that's…that's—"

"Not good," Audrey finished, earning Stefan's attention. "She called me today and asked if something would go wrong since she lost her virginity, and I told her to look in the Pure Blood book. She said that Katherine took it and compelled her to think she lost it," she explained.

Stefan sighed. "Well, at least the compulsion's broken, right?"

Audrey shook her head. "Well, I mean, it would be good if she had seen where Katherine had taken the book, but she didn't. And, well…"

Stefan raised his eyebrow, seeing Audrey's hesitation, "What didn't you tell her?"

"It could be nothing," Audrey said quickly. "Or…it could be everything, really. I don't remember it well, but I do remember reading a passage about what happens when a Pure Blood turns dark. I mean, let's be honest here. No one stays pure forever."

Stefan scoffed, as if agreeing with the statement, but then he looked back at his girlfriend. "Do you remember what the passage said?" he asked.

Audrey bit down hard on her lip. "I'd rather not say."

"Audrey, you have to tell me."

She frowned. "Don't give me that condescending tone, Stefan Salvatore! I don't want to say it because I'm not sure if I read it wrong or something. I could be totally pulling this out of my ass!"

"Audrey, what did it say would happen to her?" Stefan pushed, straightening so he could further interrogate her if needed.

But, eventually, the girl before him extended a sigh. "Don't take my word for it," she said briskly, and Stefan nodded. "But I think it said…I think it said that, the more impure she gets…"

Stefan waited until he realized that she'd grown afraid to say the next half of her sentence. "Go on," he insisted.

Audrey thought about not telling him, but instead, she just sighed and complied with his insistence.

"The more impure she gets," she began again, this time finishing her sentence, "…the crazier she becomes."

I was in Damon's bathroom—don't ask me why—when the owner of his bedroom walked into the connected restroom to see me pacing, biting my thumb. I barely caught him at first, but when I saw him, I instantly stopped.

Damon leaned against the threshold and spoke, "Was there something bad about pacing in the bedroom?"

I wanted to laugh—maybe it was right to laugh—but instead, I couldn't find myself thinking anything but clouded thoughts. How did everything just get so screwed up? First Damon, then Elena, then Jeremy…now, what? When would it end? I wanted to use the excuse that this was no world for a human, but I had to face reality now: I was not human. As much as I didn't want to admit it, I was a supernatural being now. I was a Pure Blood, and my blood was as special as it came.

Damon sighed. "Just tell me you're okay," he said, exasperated. "That's all I need to hear and I'll leave you alone, if that's what you want."

This was the time I laughed, which was probably more stupid than anything. "Do you think that's what I want?" I accused him, stopping completely in my tracks and turning to him, my arms crossed and my eyes fixated on his. He straightened. "Do you think any of this is what I wanted? Any of it?"

"Madeline—"

"I didn't sign up for this, Damon! I didn't sign up for a free trip to an alternate dimension! I didn't sign up for my own brother to leave his family when they needed him most," I snapped, unable to control any of the emotions I was ever able to keep a handle on. "I didn't sign up to fall in love with a vampire! I didn't sign up to have this stupid blood running in my veins, I—"

"Shh," Damon said, shaking his head from far. He walked forward, but I stepped back, and he took the hint. "Look, just pack your things. Elena already left for Whitmore, but I can drive you back—"

I shook my head. "I don't want to go back."

Damon stopped and stared in a way that made me feel like I had bugs crawling all over my body. "Then tell me what you want," he said softly.

I debated my real answer for a moment, but then I just turned so that I faced away from him and faced the mirror instead. "I want you to stop looking at me like that," I said quietly, but I knew that he could hear.

I could hear the movements from him—he was walking to me now. I braced myself to move, to walk away from him, but I couldn't find the willpower when I saw him enter the mirror, blocking my view. His tall, muscular frame almost towered me, but it was in a good way—the way it always had been. I tried to protest, but he hushed me again. All of a sudden, I could feel a cold metal slide across my neck, and I hesitantly looked down to see Damon remove his hands and my locket was revealed.

"Someone's got to protect you from me," he whispered, the corners of his mouth twitching up in a smile for just a moment. The words, the familiar words, echoed through my mind and brought me back to the day he gave it to me—after the trip we'd taken to Georgia. Horrible memories haunted that night, but the necklace was result of it all.

I was frozen. I was lost. I was confused. I was overwhelmed. My head began to spin, and I was well aware that I was losing control. Then, out of the blue, I could feel my own emotions start to get a handle on themselves. Hiding behind those emotions, I saw the most clarity that I have had in the past few months since my return.

Damon looked like he was about to walk away, but I couldn't let that happen. This may seem like I was recreating our problem that we began with, but I knew the truth. Last night was a night of weakness for me. The clouding of my judgment had overwhelmed me and I had made the most rash decision of my life. This is what propelled me forward so that, this time, I was the one who told him that this wasn't over.

He kissed me back, with caution, might I add, and I could feel the certain restraint in his lips. I knew exactly how to time Damon, so when I realized it was about time he'd pull away, I did it first.

A whisper escaped my lips, "I don't want to break up," I said softly, positive that it was the most sure thing I'd felt since I came back this summer—even with my memory loss. "I don't want to break up."

My eyes opened slightly to find his staring into mine, and we stayed that way for what seemed like an eternity—a long one. Damon took my words at heart, and I could feel him shake his head against mine. "Neither do I."

He kissed me again, this time letting it last more passionately than before, and there was one thing and one thing only on my mind from that point forward regarding who and what I wanted—him.

Now, I'm not a complete bitch. Next chapter won't be the same thing over again, I promise. But I'm not going to lie when I say that there's going to be bumps in the road between Damon and Madeline, especially because of the fact that the Travelers need her blood and she's now become impure...which will come into play in the next chapter. Again, I can promise you that they won't "break up" like Elena and Damon, but I can't promise you that everything is going to be smooth sailing from now on.

All right, guys. Like I said, super duper tired so...I'll try and update as soon as I can. Hope you enjoyed this chapter and if you could review at the end, that would be amazing :) Thanks.

Love,

BellaSalvatore1918

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