"No Stefan," she said, looking dead into my eyes. "It makes me strong!"

On that last word I felt a stinging, ripping pain throughout my gut and I lost my breath as I went to my knees. I had looked up just in time to see her take off one of Ric's "stake bracelets" as I like to call them.

Elena had went outside and Ric had followed after one glance back at me.

Damon, however, just stared at me.

"Congratulations, Little Brother," he said. "You've managed to screw yourself oh-so-well that it has now become painful instead of pure pleasure.

My insides were too busy burning for me to comment on that statement. I could not believe that she had just done that. That was twice that she had surprised me tonight. I had clearly underestimated Elena. Oh, that little vixen was totally deserving of my attention.

She had become so fearless this past summer. She was strong, fierce, and quite the little actress. She told the truth without revealing her whole heart, which added to the mystery of this…new Elena, and to a vampire who's all about mystery, strength, and ferocity, she was being quite seductive.

I heard her car pull onto the road and drive off. Alaric's soon followed.

Oh my…

What was I thinking?

Snap out of it, Stefan, my mind said. Humans are nothing but "refrigerators for blood".

Yes, but she's special, the other part of my mind argued.

I was totally in for it. I was thinking of this all while pulling the double stake out of my midsection and rolling onto the floor in pain. Oh, she was good.

"Come on," Damon had said while attempting to pick me up. "Time for a little rehab. I put a bed in the dungeon. You should be comfortable."

"No," I groaned. The thought of being stuck in the dungeon and forced to be on bagged blood nearly made me sick and it somehow gave me this amazing super healing ability to where I got up from off the floor and threw Damon across the room. He landed into the wall beside his liquor table.

He got up and looked at the table, realizing that he only missed it by mere inches.

"Oh my, Brother," he said. "You're lucky. I would've had to kill you."

He surprised me by running across the room back at me and grabbing my by the throat, "I'd advise you not to do that again."

Oh, Damon¾always trying to be the badass. Sadly, he didn't realize my strength. He'd been on bagged blood for months now and my supply was fresh-from-the-maker. Thus, I was stronger.

"Big Brother," I said. "What you seem to have forgotten is that being the bad guy is much easier and better that trying to be the hero."

With that, I grabbed him by the throat and shoved the stakes into his gut just like Elena had done me.

Damon automatically lost his strength and I threw him down the hall, to the left, and into the dungeon room.

After him, I took the fridge his blood was in and threw it in there with him.

"You have a bed," I said through the bars after locking the door. "You should be comfortable." I had mimicked his words, and it felt oh-so-nice to throw them back in his face.

Protect Elena…Klaus's compulsive words popped up into my head again.

Finally, the urge to be away from her became too much to bear and I took off in a sprint to Elena's home.

When I finally got there, she was just getting out of her car.

"Elena…"

I grabbed her by the wrist. She could not get away from me. I wouldn't allow it. I then pulled her into me and hugged her, glad for my sake that she was safe. Klaus would've killed me.

My emotions didn't surface, but in the back of my head, I could feel another part of me screaming, no, clawing to try and surface, but it just wouldn't come. Elena was the key to this plot, and my emotions were forced down and unable to reach the conscious of my mind.

That didn't mean they didn't damn sure try.

Elena tried to pull away from me, but I wasn't releasing her anytime soon.

"You of all people should know by now that trying to get away from a vampire will never end successfully," I said. Was she really this stupid? No, because I didn't think of stupid people as seductive.

She was emotionally hurt.

"Let go of me, Stefan," she said in a tone that seemed full of fury and hatred but also hinted at something else.

"Why?" I goaded. "Are you going to stake me again?"

She didn't answer. Instead she took a deep breath, closed her eyes, and stood perfectly still. I'd give it to her, she was definitely handling stress well.

"Hey, maybe you'll play it up again and surprise me with a vervain bomb," I continued. It's a vampire's instinct to try and get a response from its prey.

She's not your prey!

It wasn't Klaus's words in my head that time. It was my own. Ugh, why did it always have to be a constant struggle with my subconscious feelings and my "no emotion" button whenever I was around her.

I knew why. I was compelled to turn them off. I didn't do it on my own free will, and thus they are fighting to find their way to the surface. They weren't truly off.

"Maybe you'd use some other new secret weapon. You know, since I'd be expecting the typical ones. You could try and beg me to let you go. It would add some sizzle to this situation-"

"I guess I've learned my first lesson tonight," she started. "Never leave just one person, supernatural or not, alone with an emotionless Stefan the Ripper."

So she became more educated on my past this former summer…interesting.

"True," he began. "Of course, since you only left Damon to handle me, all I had to do was throw him in the cellar with that freezer full of old, bagged blood. It's much better if it's fresh." This was just too much fun!

"You would know," she mumbled quietly. Didn't she know that I could hear her? Oh well.

"And now that you've become Little Miss Vampire Hunter in Training," I started again, "I have to keep a very close watch on you." I picked her up and started running towards the door, but stopped at the threshold. I couldn't go in.

"Of course," I mumbled. "Jenna's dead and ownership has rolled over to somebody else. Oh well, I guess we can't stay here." I started running again.

She tried to fight against me, but it didn't help. I took her to a foreclosed home somewhere across town¾one that was still completely furnished.

"We'll stay here tonight," I said as I locked the door behind us.

"Put me down, Stefan!" she yelled. She should know by now that I wasn't going to do that. She needed sleep. I didn't want her to talk anymore. It was giving me a headache.

No, she doesn't annoy you! You love her!

SHUT UP!

My feelings aren't usually easy to ignore, but Klaus definitely has some powerful compulsion.

"Now now, Elena," I said. "There's no need to throw a hissy fit from lethargy. I'm just putting you to bed." With that, I ran up the stairs and into a room with a bed twice her size. I liked it, at least. The expression on Elena's face said differently.

I dropped her on the bed and pulled up a chair beside it, "Go to sleep now. I'll watch over you."

She gave me the "glare of doom", but I didn't care. I just stared at her until she cooperated. I could always force her if she didn't listen.

Eventually she gave up and gave a careless, "whatever" and rolled on her side with her back to me.

I decided that I'd give her some time to calm down, but it seemed like ages before I spoke again.

"Is there anything I can do to make this short stay more comfortable?" I asked with a careless tone.

It seemed like she was about to say something but closed her mouth and tried again.

"It'd be nice if you at least acted like you still cared about something other than blood and fulfilling Klaus's needs."

It was obvious that she was trying to be sarcastic, but I was just in that sort of mood tonight and called her bluff by answering with an, "okay."

She rolled back over to face me, her face trying to hide surprise. "Really?"

"Whatever will make you more comfortable," I said.

She seemed to be having a personal war with herself in her head and at that moment, I thought she was the most beautiful thing in the world.

Stop it! My feelings busted through a little barricade in my mind and it gave me a literal headache in attempts to push them back down because I wasn't doing the pushing, but Klaus's compulsion was. I suddenly hoped that she denied her request.

She didn't.

"Fine," she said, challenging me with her eyes. "Then let's play pretend. Let's go back to when you loved me, and we knew nothing about an original named Klaus, or any sort of moonstone—back to when I knew nothing about your ex-love, Katerina Petrova, and Damon was still a heartless demon that didn't much bother us except when bored and needing to see torment."

My feelings busted down another mental barricade in my head and I suddenly remembered how good it felt back then when I was with her. I restrained from jumping into bed with her and asked her a question.

"Won't it hurt when you wake up and find that I'm back to my original self?"

It was true, once I was away from her for a bit, my feelings would be suffocated by compulsion again, and I would see her as nothing but delectable food.

Then she said something that made my heart jump in my chest.

"I'm living by your morals tonight." she said. "You live for the moment and don't seem to care about the future consequences. Time to pretend, Stefan. Starting now."

As soon as the last syllable escaped her lips, I flew into bed with her, scooped her up into my arms, and began kissing her forehead while stroking her cheek.

What the hell?

All of my feelings were out in the open. I could faintly feel the compulsion trying to regain control, but I just wasn't going to let it. Elena was mine and I'd been so stupid to see her as food. The compulsion became slightly irritating, but I could handle it. My emotions were in control now and that slight irritation was the only thing stopping me from ripping her clothes off and violating her right here in this bed.

I could still see pain in Elena's eyes, and I wanted to kiss it away, but before I could kiss her, she grabbed my face and kissed me first.

Her lips, oh, they were so soft and luscious. I wanted to melt into them, but that damn irritation again stopped me from doing so.

I was so glad it wasn't a short kiss, though. It would last as long as she wanted it to last. I guaranteed it!

Eventually, after touching her and indulging on her sweet scent and wonderful lips, she began to grow tired, and I let her sleep. I didn't want it to end, because as soon as it stopped, the compulsion began to take over again and I suddenly wondered why I liked her so much.

When the sun began to rise, Elena awoke slightly and began to play with my hair like she used to, and that slight touch and interaction began to kill the compulsion again and I had to tell her something before it came back.

"I love you," I whispered into her ear and then I kissed her hair.

All too soon, I heard her phone ring that must've fallen out of her pocket and she got up to answer it. It felt like she was ripped from my arms and I immediately felt the compulsion strengthen and I no longer cared what she did as long as she wasn't hurt. I would be killed if she loses even the slightest ounce of blood unnaturally.

I got up to stand behind her and guide her out the door. I knew this house was going to be occupied by developers soon and we needed to be on our way, but my emotions that were now suffocated by my compulsion needed one question answered before they would quiet altogether.

"Did that make your night more comfortable?" I asked with my emotionless voice.

"Whatever," she replied.

I NEED TO KNOW!

She began making her way down the stairs and I couldn't help but chuckle as I passed her.

"I guess I'm not the only one who can turn my emotions off," I mumbled, just long enough for her to hear.

I was smiling by the time I opened the door for her to exit.

I was never going to forget this night.

Elena took off in a sprint and I decided that it would be best to put some space in between us to give us time to think, but not too much space. I couldn't risk my neck if she got hurt.

However, since my question wasn't answered, that little sensation of feeling still screamed at me and tried fighting at the compulsion.

Most of me wanted to continue running like this, but that little feeling kept screaming at me to take her back to the house and desperately make love to her, as if life depended on it. In a way, it kind of did. My feelings depended on it…

…but we continued running.

I felt a tear run down my face from where my emotions got the best of me, and I let it run down my cheek.

I silently cried as I ran.