A/N: Yea I've tried to write again and again, and then today, I found inspiration in some fantastic [SLASH]Dalaric fics made by duchessofdisaster. (If you would ever happen to read this; thank you. You sorted my writer's block right out!)

Also, as always a thanks to my trusted Beta. You know who you are :)

Damon was staring into the unlit fireplace in the library. Stefan was nowhere to be seen, probably meeting up with Caroline, the blonde cheerleader, who seemed to follow him wherever he went. Not that Damon was complaining. With Blondie around, it gave Stefan less time to annoy him, which meant more time to figure out how to open that damn tomb. Not that Damon had had much time to think about the tomb opening− or Katherine for that matter− in a while.

Trying to find different ways to get around Elena's parents was taking up most of his time. It was damn hard trying to cop a feel with Grayson Gilbert breathing down his neck. And that new ring Elena was sporting on her right hand was a tell-tale sign that there was no compelling her unless he forced the damn thing off her finger. But where was the fun in that?

Grayson had made it abundantly clear that if Damon so much as breathed Elena's name, he would 'out' him to everyone and since Mystic Falls was once a haven for supernaturals, there were many in this town who knew that strange beings like for example, vampires, might exist. Damon never took to threats easily. Ever. When Grayson had dared utter those few words, he had made an enemy in Damon. And the only reason Elena's father was still alive, was the fact that he was Elena's father. And Damon wanted to get in her pants, which meant, Daddy Dearest had to stay alive.

Damon never forgot, he never forgave. He just got even. So for the last month or so he'd started to prod into Grayson Gilbert's past. There was nothing out of the ordinary, the guy was squeaky clean, not even a ticket for speeding. And nothing on Elena's mother, Miranda, either.

He'd only started looking into Elena's past because he was bored. Damon never thought he'd find anything interesting in a 16-year-old's past, but boy did he get it once he'd looked hard enough.

So, as fun as sneaking around with Elena had been, it was time to move it up a notch. He'd been sitting here for the last hour contemplating how to go about it. It was just too easy; it all had to do with Elena. He'd hit Gilbert where it hurt the most− in the heart of his family.

He downed his drink and got up to grab his leather jacket that was flung over the back of one of the oversized armchairs, and headed for his car.

'I don't understand why I'm not allowed to see Damon. You haven't given me a valid reason.' Elena was tired and frustrated from having the same argument with her parents, but she wasn't going to give up that easily. She was standing in the middle of her parents' bedroom, hands on her hips and a grim expression on her face, watching her mother pinning her hair up.

Her mother sighed and met her eyes in the mirror.

'Elena, we've given you all sorts of reasons, but you just won't listen.'

'What, that he's older than me? Ugh. Damon's not a lot older than Dad was when he met you, and you were my age. That cancels that reason.'

'Times were different then, honey. Damon is...' Miranda's voice trailed away. 'He's just too mature for you, that's all we're saying. From what I've heard he's lived a hard life, and it wouldn't be fair to put all of that on you.'

Elena nearly stomped her foot in frustration.

'Are you even listening to yourself, Mom? Shouldn't the fact that he's lived a hard life make us a bit more humble towards him? His parents died when he was young, he doesn't get along with his brother, and by the looks of it, his uncle isn't too keen on having him around either. But I am.' Elena's voice turned pleading. 'He's a good person. He's just misunderstood, that's all. If you just take the time to get to know him...'

Miranda interrupted her.

'Your father wouldn't approve, and I'm sorry but I agree with him. If Damon would have been younger, or you older, then maybe we'd be ok with it. But, that's not the way things are and you're just going to have to accept our decision.'

'Your decision?' Elena shouted. 'What about my decision?'

She turned around and ran out of the room and slammed the door to her room behind her. Tears of frustration were threatening to spill over, but she angrily wiped them away and searched for her cell.

Need to get out of here. Wanna meet?

The phone in her hand beeped in reply in less than a minute.

Not a prob. Already on my way.

Elena's heart started racing, as it always did at the thought of Damon. She scurried over to the closet to change out of her saggy tracksuit bottoms and old tee, to a pair of skinny jeans and a purple tank top. She'd never be Caroline, with her high heels and short skirts, but even if she knew that Damon seemed to like her just as she was, old trackies might be taking it a step too far.

She had just started going through her hair with a straightener for a quick refresh as she heard the doorbell. She swore beneath her breath. That couldn't be Damon? He knew that she wasn't allowed to see him, and he must have seen her father's car in the driveway. As she hung the straightener over the door knob to the bathroom adjoining her room to Jeremy's she heard her father answering the door.

'Shit, shit, shit', she whispered as she tried to get her Converse back on while trying to find her purse. She accidentally knocked over a small flower pot that stood next to a photo of her, Caroline and Bonnie taken at cheer camp two years earlier. This meant she had to clean up quickly with the hand vacuum, stationed on the wall just outside her bedroom, before getting her jacket and smoothing down stray strands of hair. She could hear her father talking to Damon and her brain was working on overdrive. What was Damon doing?

'You see, I'm not so sure you wanna keep Elena from seeing me,' Damon said, his voice smooth as silk. He made Grayson take a step back as he walked over the threshold to the Gilbert house and looked around, feigning innocence.

'This is my daughter we're talking about.' Grayson's normally soft features were contorted into a scowl.

'But is she really?' Damon raised his eyebrow in a knowing look. Grayson Gilbert took another step back, and his head started shaking slightly.

'I don't know what you mean, of course she is.'

Damon smiled sympathetically.

'See, I used to know this girl, we go way back. And she looks a lot like your daughter.' Damon closed in on Grayson, Damon's breath on his ear sending shivers down Grayson's spine. 'In fact, she looks so much like Elena they could practically be twins.'

Damon took a quick step back and walked in a small circle around Grayson, who was standing perfectly still, afraid to move, even to breathe. He could feel the cool of the ring on the skin of his middle finger, handed down to him for generations. He could feel the trickle of sweat beading its way down from his neck under his shirt. He could hear his heart pounding relentlessly in his ears. But most of all, he could hear Elena's footsteps bounding down the stairs, and he knew, that he had to let her go once again to that beast. That devil.

He closed his eyes for a second and when he opened them again, there she was− the sweetest and purest he'd ever seen. His daughter. He tried to smile as her eyes shifted from Damon, who was coming to stand next to her, onto his face.

'What's going on?' she asked, tentatively. She looked at Damon again, as if he was the one with all of the answers. Grayson's mouth opened but closed again. When had that changed? Since when wasn't she looking to him for guidance anymore? And how could he tell her, his innocent and beautiful daughter, that she could see Damon when his whole being was screaming at him to take her away from that exact danger?

Damon looked over at Grayson, licking his lips slowly before turning to Elena.

'Your father just told me that he feels he's made a mistake in not letting us see each other. He called me over here to tell me that in person, so when you sent me your text,' he looked at Grayson again as if to say to him; look at your daughter, she's been defying you all along. 'I was already on my way over here.'

The relief on Elena's face was apparent as she flung herself into her father's arms.

'Dad, thank you.'

Grayson hugged his daughter tightly, refusing to meet Damon's gaze. Instead he closed his eyes and inhaled her sweet scent, bringing back memories of Sunday afternoons on the porch swing, eating ice cream and telling silly jokes. He could feel her pulling back, but he only let go when he heard Miranda coming in from the back.

'What's going on…' her voice trailed off as she saw Damon standing next to Elena. Elena gripped Damon's hand and squeezed it.

Miranda's eyes flickered from their intertwined hands to Damon and back to Grayson.

'I'll explain later, Miranda.' Grayson said, feeling tired all of a sudden. He turned to Elena.

'Be careful and remember that I'm always here if you need me.'

Elena smiled at her father's words.

'I will, and I know I've got a curfew, since it's a school night. I'll make sure Damon remembers.' She smiled up at the vampire standing still next to her, his icy blue stare burning its way into the very soul of Grayson.

'You take care of my girl, you hear?' He emphasized every word.

Damon smiled and inclined his head.

'Yes, sir.' He said reverently before ducking out, Elena in tow.

When the door closed shut, Grayson felt himself sag and he had to sit down on the stairs leading to the bedrooms upstairs.

Looking up at Miranda, desperation was written all over his features.

'He knows. The vampire knows.' He whispered.

They were sitting in his car just on the outskirts of town close to the boarding house. Elena was straddling him, planting wet kisses along his neck and her fingers were nestled in his hair. He closed his eyes and leaned his head back while lazily stroking her jean clad thighs, enjoying her hot mouth against his skin.

'I can't believe Dad just changed his mind like that.' Elena mumbled between kisses and Damon strangled a sigh. Way to kill the mood, talking about her old man. Damon lifted his hand to the back of Elena's neck and wound her hair around it, quite tight, just enough to make her whimper into his mouth as he forced his tongue between her already kiss swollen lips. Anything to keep her quiet and her mind on the task at hand−getting him off. His jeans were chafing his dick slightly because it was rock hard and aching, so he rubbed himself against her to relieve himself a bit from the mounting pressure of his hard-on trying to literally force its way out of the material of his trousers and deep inside of her core.

He bit down on her bottom lip a bit too hard, but he didn't really care. He was done with being careful. He was done with waiting and pining, just because she's Elena freaking Gilbert, founding family royalty and currently sporting a ring filled with vervain.

'Right,' he said and lifted her off him, ignoring her annoyed little pout, and started the car. 'We're going back to mine. As much as I love my car, it's not made for making out in.'

A small smile prided Elena's face again, and then a frown of concern appeared.

'Won't your uncle and Stefan be there?'

Damon felt his jaw clench at the sound of his brother's name leaving her lips, but he shook his head in response and kept quiet. Sometimes he just wanted to slap her across the face and tell her to shut up about Stefan this and Stefan that. It's like he was in a freaking time machine half the time, going back to Katherine and her twenty questions about Stefan. And Damon, being too stupid to realize, complied until he figured out that the only reason Katherine asked him about Stefan wasn't because she was interested in Damon's family for his sake, but because she was interested in how to best seduce his little brother.

Somehow Elena must have felt the change of atmosphere in the car, because she kept her head bowed down, picking up strands of hair, seemingly very interested in the butt end of every single one of those strands. Eventually Damon couldn't keep from asking.

'What are you doing?'

Elena looked up at him absentmindedly.

'Sorry? I'm not doing anything.'

Damon rolled his eyes at her.

'With the hair. What are you doing with your hair? Got lice or something?'

She looked at him puzzled for a moment, then realization hit.

'Oh, you mean this?' She held her hair up in front of her. Damon looked at her with the word 'duh' written all over his face. 'I'm just looking for split ends, is all. I do that when I'm nervous.'

Damon saw her whole body tense up at the last words. They were nearly home, so he let it lie for a while. Not that he cared or anything why she was nervous, more like curious in a clinical way. He shook his head as they got out of the car. Whatever.

'Wanna grab something to eat?' he asked as they walked through the massive hallway towards the library. He looked over at Elena when she didn't reply, and saw to his astonishment that she was half way up the stairs.

She looked so tiny and fragile when she turned around, her brown eyes huge with those long lashes casting shadows on her flustered cheeks.

She bit her lip and chewed on it for a little bit before speaking up.

'I just thought you brought me here to, you know…' Damon raised his eyebrow and cocked his head. This was interesting.

'Know what?' he purred and slowly, with the feline grace of a black panther, eased his way up the stairs until he was standing two steps below her, so he was facing her.

'You know…' Elena stalled, blushing all the way down to her neck.

Damon slid his hand along the outside of her thigh and hitched his thumb just inside the lining of her jeans and pulled her closer to him.

'No, Elena, I don't. I think you're going to have to spell it out for me.' This game he loved. This teasing game. He watched her lick her lips nervously and he enjoyed it. His hand continued to stroke the curve of her hip until it landed on her ass which he squeezed firmly, earning him Elena's elevated heart beats, like music to his ears.

'I thought you brought me here to', she hesitated, 'make love to me.'

He looked at her incredulously. Damon Salvatore didn't make love to anyone, he nearly laughed out loud. But the look on her face kept him quiet. Instead he took her hand and started leading her towards his bedroom. He felt weird, and strange thing was, he didn't even feel turned on any more. Even weirder, he had a ready and willing girl with him and he couldn't have cared less. He swallowed deeply as he sat her down on his bed. He could see her pulse racing and she licked her lips once, then twice. Like her mouth was dry or something. Come to think of it, so was his.

Then she smiled. That tiny smile that he only ever saw her use on him and just like that, he was back on track. He helped her out of her tank top and watched her as she started to shimmy out of her jeans. He reached out and pulled at them and they laughed since the jeans were so tight he could barely get them off her.

After discarding her jeans to the side of the bed Elena reached for his and started unbuttoning them. Before she'd managed to get to the last button he was rock hard again, and he thanked the gods for it because what had happened on the stairs earlier had sort of rocked his confidence a little. When he was finally naked he climbed on top of her and put an arm around her waist to lift her onto the middle of the bed.

He hovered above her, taking her in. Her honey colored skin, dark and supple against the white of her bra and knickers. He leaned down and smelled her neck. It was delicious and he couldn't help licking her blue colored vein and blowing lightly on the trail, raising goose bumps on her skin. He spread her thighs with his knees and settled in, rubbing himself against the sheer fabric of her underwear, hearing her catch her breath as his dick generated just the right pressure against her swollen clit. Damon kept kissing her jaw, trailing a pattern to her mouth where she met him with gusto. Elena's hands came up around his neck and into his hair, keeping him in place, her little tongue snaking around his mouth, thrusting it against his tongue, sucking on his lips. Biting him. He groaned and moved one of his hands to her breasts, where he played with her nipple until it was hard as a pebble. He continued his journey south, tracing the outline of her panties until she raised her hips to give him more access. He bit down lightly on her other nipple through the material of the bra, and she arched against him, letting out a tiny sound of pleasure. He slid one finger along her wet folds while circling her clit with his thumb.

'You're so wet for me, Elena', he whispered and kissed her again as one of his fingers entered her. She closed her eyes and started moving in unison against his hand, letting out small whimpers as he added an extra finger and then a third to stretch her out. She didn't know this, but he was watching her. Looking at her face so pure and beautiful and strong.

Damon couldn't wait to have her in his possession. He expertly managed to get her completely naked with her barely noticing. It was only as the tip of his dick was resting against her core, his knees helping to spread her thighs wider so she would open to him more easily, that he felt her body tense again, just like it had in the car. Her small hands pressed against his chest and he smirked in annoyance. He tried not to see flashes of him flipping her over while grabbing her hair, burying himself deep inside of her, thrusting hard to make her scream. And then release as he bit down on her silky smooth neck.

'What?' he drawled, trying to keep irritation out of his voice. He kept pressing the tip of his dick ever so lightly against her opening. Just an inch, if that, and he'd be inside of her wet heat. He was shaking from the strength it took not to push those extra inches, not to forget about decorum and the fact that she was on vervain. He hadn't dared re-enacting the suckn'fuck while going down on her again, in fear that she'd been ingesting it as well. With her parents aware of what he was, he wouldn't even hold it against them if they had both Elena and her brother ingesting it daily.

She kept pushing him away and it bothered him. That she, what, didn't trust him? She had every right not to trust him, especially right now. He was turned on beyond belief. The smell of her arousal. The thought of being her first. The feel of her− he'd fingered her enough times to know that she'd be able to squeeze his dick so hard his eyes might pop out.

'I just need to know that you won't just ditch me after this.' Her voice was so low, even with his heightened hearing he had trouble making the words out. Her face was pale and withdrawn and she wouldn't look him in the eye. 'I mean, what I'm asking is for you to tell me honestly, that you at least won't dump me as soon as you've… slept with me.'

All of a sudden she turned her head so her dark orbs were drowning him in an ocean of feelings long forgotten to him. He straightened out a bit, trying to say something, but he didn't know what that could be. Would he? Stay? She was just a plaything. Something, someone to do while waiting for the real deal. He'd already told her that this was all he would give her. Or could give her. He avoided the fact that she had no idea how true that statement really was, that he'd already given his life and his love away for all of eternity. He had nothing to give to her.

Her voice was a mere whisper.

'I promised myself that I would save myself until I found the right person. You know, who wouldn't just be an ass, like I've seen happen to so many of my friends at school. I wanted it to be special, with a special person− someone I could fall in love with. And I'm thinking… that that person might be you, Damon.'

Her breath hitched and she was looking at him with such honesty and he felt the betrayal through to his core. At first Damon thought it was the way Elena had said his name that gave way to a strange but not entirely unnerving feeling in the base of his stomach. But then he realized− it was what she'd said that made him feel as if he was floating. She thought of him as special. Of a special someone that she'd been saving herself for. Someone she could love. No one, not even Katherine had promised him as much.

He moved over and lay down next to her on the bed, one arm across his face. His mind was reeling. What the hell just happened? He felt her shifting, her warm and naked body pressing right up against him and her tiny hand trying to pry his arm away.

'Damon?'

He nodded as a reply.

'I didn't mean to make things uncomfortable. I remember what you said, that you're not boyfriend material, but I think that you are. I believe that you know that too. And I'm ready now. I just need to know that if you feel you will never love me back, then… ' She stopped herself for a second and cleared her throat. 'If you say to me that you'll love me one day, then it's ok, isn't it? We could just do it now, and get it over with. But the point is I trust you.'

She successfully lifted his arm so their eyes could meet. She smiled at him, that special smile. And he knew that he couldn't do what he'd been prepared to do just a minute ago. This had made him think back (again!) to Katherine, about the hopes he'd held, about the love he'd felt and how he'd given her everything, only to find out that it meant nothing in the end. What he'd thought was special to them, was also special to Stefan and probably to several young men living in and around Mystic Falls at that time. He shuddered involuntarily.

What had he been thinking? How in the hell did he think that he could get away with being with Elena and not think about Katherine? She was the spitting image of her. Softer and purer. But they were one and the same.

Elena started kissing him softly along his clavicle to the little dip at the base of his throat and all the way up to the scar on the left side of his chin and a soft moan escaped his lips. Her long hair, still hanging out from her pony tail, was tickling his shoulder. She stroked his scar very gently before bending down skimming her lips across his. She moved so she was straddling him. He'd gone soft as soon as she'd started talking about being with someone special, but he could feel himself harden as she moved on top of him with long languid movements. He grabbed her hips to hold her still.

'Elena, stop it. We're not gonna do this. Not now at least.' She stopped and looked at him with those innocent doe eyes.

'I thought you wanted me.' There were actual tears glittering from her eyelashes now. Fuck. Damon shook his head and held her head in his hands, so delicately he could barely remember ever having held anything or anyone this gently. A baby chick when he was five and his mother showed him what become of an egg if you don't eat it? A kitten when he was eight and his father had agreed to it just because his mother had just passed and he himself couldn't deal with having two young children crying after their 'mama'?

'I do', he whispered back. What could he possibly say to her? I'm a vampire so I will get what I want no matter how long I have to wait. Or I'll take it anyway because I don't want to wait?

Instead he pulled her down towards him and kissed her so carefully as if she was made of glass. He let himself get lost in that kiss, and in deepening it, he felt her relax against him for the first time that night. Completely relax. He pushed her away from him just enough so he could meet her gaze. Her lids were heavy and she looked absolutely perfect to him.

'I'll wait,' he said softly. 'I'll wait until you're ready for me.' And he really wanted to mean it, but he knew he wouldn't. At least this meant she'd keep her damned virginity.

As he dropped her off outside her house right on time to make her curfew and he said good night to her on the porch, he looked up at the full moon rising high above him and his thoughts wandered to an old church ruin and what lay beneath it. And for the first time, he wondered what he was really planning on doing. Katherine was trapped in a tomb because of him and Stefan, but their love for her was the reason they were still walking the earth. Damon might have known what he was doing this whole time, not that he'd ever let that one slip to young Stef, but was Katherine really going to choose him after all this time? Did she love him still the way he'd always loved her?

He'd been waiting 145 years for her return, but the plan had altered with Elena. He raised his chin up and headed towards his car.

Right.

This was how it was going to go down. He was going to get Katherine out and then she'd have to choose between him and Stefan. Damon had a backup plan. Damon had Elena. Not that the backup plan was really needed. Katherine knew he was the right choice for her. Stefan was just her bit on the side.

With that he got in his car with a new pep in his step, carefully folding away any thoughts of Elena and feelings and deep seated emotions that were slowly beginning to rise to the surface.

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Music to listen to; The Glitch Mob - Between Two Points