The next morning, Damon was pouring himself a glass of blood for breakfast when Stefan came plodding down the stairs. Damon raised the full glass to his lips, and just as he was about to take a sip, Stefan walked past him, grabbing the glass out of his hand, tossing the blood back in his mouth. Damon stood stock still, looking at Stefan, shocked at the audacity of his action. "Starting early with the binge drinking I see."
Stefan spread his arms out in front of him, one hand still holding the glass, and the other palm facing upwards as he shrugged his response. "What? Just grabbing some breakfast. Aren't you the one always saying animal blood makes me weak? I'm just following your advice in being all I can be. I mean you are the expert on feeding aren't you?"
Damon narrowed his eyes and raised his lip in a snarl at Stefan's snide comment. "Yeah, well, under the circumstances, given your fragile emotional state, I don't think now is the best time to try moderation."
Stefan approached Damon, putting him on guard when he stopped suddenly just mere inches from him. Smirking wickedly at him, Stefan said, "Don't worry about it brother. I told you I've got it under control. Besides don't you have a new vampire to worry about? I wouldn't want you spreading yourself too thin." He set the glass down firmly then clapped Damon hard on the shoulder before he walked out the door.
Damon was paranoid about what Stefan might do in his unstable state. He'd seen him go over the edge many times over the years. Sometimes he had a front row seat, and other times he'd witnessed it from a distance. But regardless of Damon's vantage point, the result was the same, Stefan left a trail of bodies in his wake. He'd promised Stefan, when he was recovering from his recent Ripper stint at Klaus' hands, that he'd help him learn moderation and pull him back from the edge every time he saw him getting too close to snapping, and Stefan had accepted his offer. However, that was before the recent events with Elena. Now they were back to square one in their relationship, and it was seriously doubtful Stefan would listen to a word Damon had to say in the matter. That left him with few alternatives. He needed to let Stefan calm down, so in the meantime, he would have to keep tabs on his actions from a distance. He pulled his cell phone out of his pocket and pushed the speed dial. "Liz, I have a favor to ask. Can you let me know if you start seeing an increase in missing person's or mutilated bodies."
Liz was taken aback by his somewhat strange request. Usually she came to Damon anyway when she had a body that turned up under questionable circumstances. It had become standard practice to try and keep things from the prying eyes of the council and the public. She was concerned why Damon would make a point to ask such a thing. What did he know that she didn't? "Why are you asking me this? What's going on?"
He stammered not wanting to alarm her too much but knowing he needed her help. "Um...let's just say I'm having some family problems, and I think Stefan might start indulging himself in the locals."
The sheriff didn't know the full extent of Stefan's bloodlust issues, but she knew anytime a vampire 'indulged', it meant the residents of Mystic Falls were in danger of becoming someone's dinner. "Is this something I need to be seriously worried about? Can't you keep Stefan in line?"
Damon sighed heavily. "I wish I could, but right now I'm not someone he's going to want to listen to and neither is Elena. For reasons I'd rather not discuss, he's not too happy with us at the moment. That's why I need you to let me know the minute you find something suspicious. We need to keep this from getting out of control. We don't need to give the council any more reasons to exterminate us."
"I'm all for preventing that war. I'll let you know if I see anything. I appreciate the heads up."
"Thanks." Damon hung up his phone and put it in his pocket. Since Stefan drank the blood Damon had poured for himself, he was still in need of breakfast. He went downstairs to the freezer to grab another bag. He looked over the supply, taking a mental note of how many bags remained. If he could keep an approximate count, it might give him a clue into just how 'in control' Stefan was with the blood. It hadn't been that long since his last Ripper stint under Klaus' orders, where he'd spent the summer ripping people apart across the east coast, and his recovery had been far too quick for Damon's liking. At first, Stefan tried his usual cold turkey method, which left him restless and irritable. Damon had tried to teach him moderation, but before he gave it a fair chance, he was back to his old bunny eating ways and letting Elena call the shots, which of course got her killed. It was all or nothing with his brother when it came to blood. It was that Jekyl-Hyde thing that made him so dangerous. This fall off the wagon was partly Damon's fault, and he needed to know how to help Stefan, before Stefan did something he'd spend the next 100 years regretting.
Damon took his drink upstairs with him to Stefan's room, to see if he could find some clue as to his state of mind. If there was one thing that was a constant in his brother's life, whether he was in saint mode or ripper mode, it was his loyalty to his journal. Damon walked around Stefan's room, examining random things he had strewn about. His brother was definitely a pack rat, but usually a neat pack rat. Based on how the room appeared to have been tossed, he'd guessed Stefan had taken some of his rage out on inanimate objects, which was at least better than the alternative. On the dresser, there was a picture frame positioned face down with a large shard of glass next to it. Picking it up, he saw the glass of the frame had been shattered away. It once contained a photo of Stefan and Elena smiling with arms wrapped around each other. Still in the frame was the picture of Stefan that appeared to have been methodically sliced in half down the middle, separating him from Elena. The severed portion, containing Elena's picture, had been sliced into tiny pieces and left in a pile on the desk. It was only a photo, but the implications were what Damon found disturbing. Stefan, blinded by bloodlust, was capable of anything. Now that Elena was a vampire, she could protect herself, and Damon would make sure he was there to back her up. There was little chance Stefan could harm her. No, Stefan would take his rage out on the weak, on humans.
Just as he set the frame back down, he turned around quickly on guard at the sudden noise from behind him. "Elena. What are you doing here?"
"After our conversation last night, I couldn't sleep. I was worried about Stefan..." She approached Damon slowly, unsure if her presence was welcome. "And I was worried about you."
He shrugged his shoulders and shook his head slightly, trying to blow off the need for concern. "I'm fine. I'm stronger than he is remember? Besides it's not like I haven't dealt with Ripper boy before."
She smiled slightly at him, less than convinced by his self assured attitude. She knew he wouldn't let her know the truth, at least not where they were in their relationship now. He'd put up some of his guard again with her since their night together, as a way to protect himself from getting hurt. "Yeah, I know. It's just...it's just I thought I'd come by to see if there was anything I could do to help."
Sounding a little harsher than he intended, he said, "I don't think Stefan seeing the two of us together especially in his bedroom is going to really help. I'd say he's not exactly in the mood to see you." He moved the frame over, pointing at her shredded photo.
Elena frowned at the pile, but she didn't let that deter her. "Maybe not, but I'm here, and I'm not leaving you to deal with this by yourself. We're in this together." Her resolve slightly slipping, she pleaded, "Please Damon, I need to do this."
His demeanor softened. He knew there was no stopping her, given her stubbornness, even if he had wanted to. The truth was, he didn't want to stop her. He missed being around her. "Ok." He sighed, heavily scanning the room, turning all business like. "See if you can help me find his journal. It might give us some clues about what he's up to." Damon walked over to the book shelf where Stefan kept all his past journals. "Check the desk over there. I'm going to look over here."
Elena walked over to the desk, opening and closing drawers, but not finding anything. "It's not here." She made her way over to one of the dressers and searched through the drawers. Still not finding anything, she moved on to the next one, the one the shredded photo was lying on.
Damon continued to scan the bookshelf, making sure he didn't overlook it. "I don't see it here either." He looked around, trying to think of other possibilities. He checked under the bed and between the mattresses, but turned up empty handed.
Elena moved on to an old cedar chest located in the corner of the room. She tossed through some very old clothes and stumbled upon what they were searching for. "I think I found it." She was about to stand up and unwrapp the leather bound book, but Damon pulled it out of her hands before she could finish. She scowled at him in disbelief. "Hey, I was just about to open that."
He gave her a wry smile before walking over to the bed to sit down. "I'm just sparing you from the disparaging comments inside." He flipped open the book looking intently at the pages and stopped when he reached the current date.
Elena rolled her eyes shaking her head. He was always protecting her in one form or another. When they'd been on their road trip to Chicago to track down Stefan and Klaus, Damon made her read an excerpt from one of Stefan's journals, to prepare her for the Ripper version of Stefan she knew very little about. Elena moved closer to Damon, trying to read over the arm that blocked her view.
Damon flipped back a few pages to when Elena made her confession to Stefan. He assumed Stefan would rant about the betrayal of his girlfriend and brother. He wasn't sure how bad it would be, so he skimmed thru it first before reading to Elena. He knew she felt awful about what happened as it was, she didn't need to relive it. Besides, it wouldn't change the situation. Their goal was simply to do damage control and reign Stefan in before it was too late.
Elena walked over and sat down next to him on the bed, close enough to look over his shoulder. A chill ran up his spine at the warmth of her breath on his neck. He shook it off and read to her. '…the rage is welling inside me. I feel like I'm losing control. I find myself fantasizing about ripping into a pulsating artery to taste the sweet nectar of human blood. I try to shake the thoughts but I wonder what's the point in fighting it?' He stopped reading and looked at Elena with worry, and saw the same concern and guilt on her face. Damon closed the journal grimacing and thoughtlessly bemoaned his failed promise. "I shouldn't have let him stop me from leaving."
"Leaving? What are you talking about?" She felt her dead heart race with anxiety at the thought of Damon going away.
He turned his head quickly with the realization that he had mentioned leaving out loud. He explained, "The night Stefan and I were driving Klaus' body to be dumped in the ocean, we made a deal that whomever you didn't choose would leave town so the other could be happy. I should've left right away, but I wanted to be here for you through the transition."
"You couldn't have left Damon. I wouldn't have made it without you."
He rolled his upper lip down, slightly biting it, and shook his head in regret. "Sure you would've. My help just caused more problems between you and Stefan. After the fallout from me feeding you, I decided I should leave."
"Damon I was starving. You were just trying to help me survive. I can't believe you were just going to take off. You promised you would never leave me."
His heart ached at the reminder of his promise, and how he nearly broke it. It was a rare occasion that he reneged on a promise, but there were extenuating circumstances that pushed him down that path. Gently, he said, "I know I did, but things are different now. You had Stefan to look out for you, and I wouldn't have left until I knew Connor wasn't a threat anymore. It was for the best."
Elena's anxiety turned to angry frustration. "There you go with again 'for the best.' Best for who? Certainly not me because I needed you here."
"Well it doesn't matter anyway because Stefan wouldn't let me leave." He let out a derisive huff and lowered his head. "I'm sure he's regretting that right about now."
She placed her fingers under his chin and raised his head, so she could stare into those pale blue eyes she so frequently got lost in. "I'm not. You realize I would've hunted you down, right?"
He gave her a weak smirk. He couldn't help but tease her. "Knowing how hardheaded you are, I don't doubt that you would've." He brushed a piece of hair away from her face, wrapping it around her ear, before gently caressing her chin with his thumb. There was something special about her that made it hard for Damon to resist.
Elena licked her lips as her eyes focused on his. She raised her hand to the side of his chiseled face. Her eyes came up to meet his, hoping to see her declaration sink in. "That's because I can't be without you."
Their lips were mere inches apart, and their breathing increased with wanton lust for each other. Finally, Damon closed the distance and kissed her delicately. The kiss quickly escalated into a frenzy of passionate, tongue filled kisses with hands roaming through each other's hair. Within seconds, Elena was straddling Damon's lap while his hands slid up and down her back, underneath her shirt. She ground her aching pelvis down on his firm bulge, rubbing it back and forth with excitement. She started to push him back to lie on the bed, but Damon resisted. He reluctantly pulled her away from his lips. They were both panting heavily when he said, "We shouldn't be doing this." He saw the disappointment and confusion in her eyes at his seeming rejection. "Stefan could walk in any minute. It wouldn't exactly help things seeing us having sex on his bed."
Now she understood what he meant by 'we shouldn't be doing this.' He wasn't talking about what they were doing, but where they were doing it. He was merely thinking of the hurt it would cause and the resulting consequences. Neither of them wanted to hurt Stefan any more than they already had no matter how much they wanted each other. "Uh, yeah, I don't suppose that would be good." Not willing to give up she suggested, "We could move to your room?" She smiled at him hopefully.
Damon cast Elena a sullen glance, shaking his head no. "If he came home, he could still hear us. And I don't want to do anything that's going to push him over the edge." He held her steady, as she slid off of his lap to stand up, feeling her disappointment. He wanted her as much as she wanted him, but truthfully, he was still unsure that her feelings for him were stable. He needed a little time before he could completely throw himself in.
As much as she hated it, she knew he was right. She may not be in love with Stefan anymore, but she still cared about him. The last thing she wanted to do was put her love for Damon in his face. "I know you're right. It's just…I want to be with you."
He was silent for a moment, as he searched her eyes, seeing only the love she had for him there. He thought, I want more than anything for this to be real. "I need to make sure this is what you really want." She was about to profess her love again, but he stopped her, placing his index finger over her lips to stop the words from coming. "Remember we have eternity," he said with a slight smile, recalling what she'd said to him in his dream.
Later that evening, just outside of town, Stefan was stumbling out of a dive bar with his arm wrapped around a drunken woman's neck. Both were laughing at her attempt to steady a seemingly drunken man, as they walked to her car. When they reached the passenger side, he lost his balance and fell backwards against the door, pulling her with him. The woman giggled as she landed against his chest. She swayed side to side in his arms from the intoxication, completely enamored with the green eyed man. With slurred speech, she coyly teased, "I don't know what's gotten into me tonight. I've never taken a stranger home before. I'm usually so shy, but you just make me feel so at ease."
He gave her his best devilish smile as he flirted with her. "You look so tasty."
Bashfully, she glanced down at his chest then walked her fingers playfully up the center. "Mmm…you look tasty too."
"Then you won't mind if I indulge myself." He chuckled at his private joke, as he looked into her eyes, brushing her hair away from her neck to expose her jugular. In her drunken state, she would've been ease to compel even if he were still drinking animal blood. "You're not going to scream for help or try to run. You'll let me take as much as I like."
Her eyes were vacant from the compulsion, and her body stood perfectly still. Stefan repositioned his hand behind her neck, pulling it back, before sinking his fangs in. The blood was so warm and sweet as it flowed into his mouth. A euphoric feeling washed over him, completely erasing all the troubles in his mind. The high made everything around him seem surreal. He found himself biting deeper into her flesh, unable to pull away, until he heard the snap of her neck. He raised his head up with blood dripping down his mouth, still basking in the exquisite taste. A few moments later, he heard some men talking as they exited the bar, and it snapped him back to reality. He pulled the woman close to him, pretending to be making out, until he saw them get in their cars and drive away. It wasn't like him to care about covering his tracks when he was on a binge, but this time he decided it would be wise to keep his activities hidden. Picking up the keys that had fallen from her hand, he unlocked the car doors and stuffed her in the passenger side. Stefan climbed in the driver's side, secured his seatbelt, and sped off down the darkened road. When the car reached a high enough speed, he slammed it directly into a tree. Fortunately, the car was an older model that didn't contain airbags, so the force of the impact catapulted the woman's body through the windshield, out the front of the car. Stefan's head slammed against roof of the car causing a gash. However, the cut healed within seconds, as he crawled out of the car, and jogged back to the bar to collect his car and drive home.