AN: Thank you for the reviews, it's always encouraging, I really hope you're not going to be disappointed :D

And I will never be sorry enough for all the grammatical errors! This chapter took a little more time to be written, because I have been completely overcharged by school! Hope you will enjoy! xx

Elena groaned angrily as a branch smashed in her face. Her mood did not improved when she tripped on rock and fell hard on the ground, covering herself with mud by trying to ease the fall. Her moves were too shaky, too precipated, but she could not resigned herself to calm down. She was angry. Angry at herself, and at this instant, pretty much at the world.

She stood up quickly, trying to ignore Damon's laugh. She rubbed her clothes putting them in place and glared at him, wishing this look would kill him. He had taken surprisingly well the idea that Klaus was "waiting for them", especially for someone who did not want to go on a "suicide mission" at first. She could'nt help but feel that he was hiding something from her.

"Why are you here?" she suddenly screamed at him.

He turned at her, raising an eyebrow. He was probably thinking she was crazy by now, she was kind of hysteric.

"What made you change your mind ?"

"Why does it suddenly matter?"

"Tell me now."

She took a few steps closer to him until her body was inches from his, and she plunged her gaze into his eyes. But she immediately regretted it. At this game she had no chance to win, she could not bear the storm in his eyes, as he was suddenly even more closer to her. She could feel his cold breath on her skin and her traitorous hands shake.

"I don't take orders." he said dangerously, and she heard clearly the unsaid threat behind it. This man was a real lunatic. You're the one saying this right now. The two of them were standing in front of each other, probably too close, tension floating around them.

Elena finally gave up, she sighed in defeat and sat on a tree stump, putting her head into her hands as her eyes filled with water. It was one of the most persistent figure of the new Elena she hated so much. She was laughing a second, determined the other, now she was crying. Damon hesitantly sat behind her, his back on her back.

"I think you're bi-polar."

Elena laughed bitterly, still hiding her face in her head.

"I warned you. You did not wanted me with you."

"So you really are hiding something?" She felt tears in her eyes again. She was really on nerves. She was stuck with god only knows who, walking right to her biggest enemy. How could she ever get Jeremy back ? She just wanted to sleep now. She was overwhelmed by too much emotions right now, she did not even know how she was still here.

She raised her head, and looked determinely away as she wiped away the mud that was still on the back of her hand. She did not want Damon to go but he wasn't telling her everything. At first she did not mind what were his reasons as long as he didn't interfer with her plan, but she had been screwed over too many times and she had too much to lose.

"Do you trust me?" he suddenly asked.

He just made very clear that he was hiding something, something that could be crucial to her and her brother, but still, he did not feel insecure to be here with him.

"No." she answered sharply.

He changed his position, and she followed his moves such as they were now sitting side to side. Damon leaned towards Elena and added while shrugging his shoulders "Neither do I."

Elena looked up at him with an offended look. He didn't trust her ? She didn't make anything to make him worried about her. People always trust Elena. She was about to protest but he did not let her the time to do so.

"I can only tell you I don't have any intentions with your brother."

She examined him. She was taking the bad habit to look into his eyes everytime she could, and each time she found it harder to left them. She could feel his eyes were telling a story but she was not successful in reading it. They were fascinating.

"I just said I did not trust you."

"Do as you wish. I'm going anyway now, so I take back what I said. You're better with me than alone."

She was going to kill Alaric next time she sees him. Why did he have to involve Damon in all of this ? Well, on the other hand she was the only one who put herself in that position.

"Do you even think it's still a good idea to go ?", she said.

"You decided to come here."

"It's not the question." They were whispering to each other, clearly conscient that if Klaus wanted to here their conversation, it wouldn't change anything.

"I think it's too late to walk away. But if you knew me, you would take that as an invitation to reverse." He said mimicking his words, a smile on his face.

Elena smiled back at is when she realised their proximity was not natural.

"We still have an advantage." he said. But she had stopped listenning. Her eyes fell slowly in his lips as he was talking. God, how could he be so hot ? She shook her head and detached her gaze from his lips to meet his, playful and self-sufficient ones.

"What is it ?" she asked, her voice slightly trembling.

"Are you sure you're still interested?" he whispered raising an eyebrow at her. She poked him, trying to hide her blushing cheeks.

"She probably doesn't know who I am." And by who he was, she understood clearly he was talking about what he was. However it seemed uncertain to her that Klaus wouldn't know about Damon. Tens of years with Stefan and he wouldn't know he had a brother ? Besides, Klaus knew everything about everyone.

"Klaus could know."

"He could. But he is not the one who came to spy on us, is he ?" It was true. If this girl did not know who he was then, Klaus wouldn't know. She was not an idiot, they were not as strong as Klaus, but that doesn't mean they could not be smarter. She suddenly realized that Damon had not denied the fact that Klaus could somehow recognized him.

"Did you ever met an Original ?"she asked him, trying to look as innocent as she could.

He glanced at her with a suspicious look before replying, "Yep."

"Elijah?"

"I guess this one is coming from Alaric" he said playfully.

"I'm not getting anything from you right now, am I ?"

"Nope."

She sighed and turned around. The night was starting to fall but they coul easily continue for an hour. It wasn't as if they had anything else to do. She stood up, sighing heavily.

"We should continue." she said.

She grabbed her bottle of water and drunk it thinking about a plan when they would get to their destination. She used the water to wash her hands, and this is when she noted she hadn't heard any comments from Damon. That's odd. She turned around ready to tease him but there was no one anymore behind her. She looked everywhere around her but she was alone.

"Damon?" He could not have let her here alone. He couldn't. She was starting to panick a little when she heard a gunshot resounded away. She quickly grabbed her stuff and ran to the direction of it. What the hell was happening ?

Suddenly she collided with a body and was pushed hard on the ground. When she raised her head she saw a black man standing in front of her, but he wasn't looking at her, he was looking right in front of him with a murderous glare and an even more murderous weapon into his hands. Elena's eyes widened as she realised from where the gunshot had come. He finally seemed to relax and took a glance at her, she did not dare to make a move but his eyes softened.

"I'm sorry, I did not mean to ... you know. You shouldn't stay here, there is bad things hanging out there. Go." He said. Is he talking about Damon? She felt her muscles tense, at least it means he had not been killed. This man apparently did not realised she was with the "bad things" here. She decided it was more safe to go away as he said, Damon would just have to ran.

Simple. So of course it did not happen that way.

Damon appeared and in a few seconds him and the other were figthing hard. The man's force was not natural. He was tall and very muscular but still, he should not be able to avoid or stop Damon's vampire strenght. Something was wrong. Not so rare.

"Damon, stop!" she screamed at him, attracting the attention of both of them. The hunter took advantage of the distraction to stab Damon with a stake. Elena saw him trying to reached his gun, probably full of wooded balls as Damon was pulling the arrow out, she grabbed the first thing she touched in her bag and throw it at the unknown one.

Damon used his vampire skills to get away from the vervain bomb. The other had not been harmed by it but it had been enough to disorient him and leave enough time to Damon the to get back at him, with the advantage that time.

"Don't kill him! He's a hunter!"

He looked at her as the other was trying to crawl out of his grip.

"He shot me!" he complained. Elena glared at him and he rolled his eyes in response. The blond man spit on the ground contemptuously. So what now ? Damon was staring at her and she suddenly realised what he was waiting for. If he couldn't kill him he expected her to do it herself. She breathed heavily. It couldn't be a coincidence.

"What are you doing here ?" she tried to ask, but he laughed provoking Damon to kick him on the back. This one shot her a glance trying to know what she was doing. It was clearly not his thing to talk with people before doing anything you could regret after.

"Are you here for Klaus ? Or the other hunter, Jeremy ? Or something like that ? Because we're here for that too." She had the impression to make absolutely no sense. She should have take persuasion lesson from Stefan or Alaric.

"Elena" started Damon.

"How do you know about that ? Klaus never talked to his "slaves", he said with a grave voice. Elena noticed the disgust in his statements.

"He is my brother" she replied hopefully.

"Yeah, and this one is your father ?" he said looking at Damon.

"Ugh" Damon grimaced at the idea and let go of him pushing him away. This one fell to the ground and put a hand around his neck as to make sure it was still in place. Elena walked to Damon and took his arms between her hands, not really sure if she was trying to calm him or her.

The hunter stood up, looking scornfully at them but he wasn't making any attempt to attack them. He must have realised that if they were with Klaus they wouldn't be just looking at him.

"I just want my friend back. And eventually the other one. Klaus took her." He announced defiantly. Elena tried to smile a little to make him a little more trustful but he only glared back.

"Maybe, you could help us" Damon was the first to react, he turned abruptly to her incomprehension and accusation all over his face. She could read that he was trying hard to retained himself from objecting. She looked back at the hunter shrugging. The other seemed more amused by his effect than anything else.

"Why would I ever help you ?" he replied his eyes fixed on Damon.

"We both want to get to someone. It could be easier." He raised en eyebrow at her. She wasn't sure what she was proposing, especially to a men who tried to kill Damon a few minutes ago, but now she did not know how any situation could be worse than this one.

"And what are the two of you going to do anyway? "

Elena opened her mouth to replied but realised she had no answer to this. She bit her lips and crossed her arms. She heard Damon chuckling at her side. She knew she could always count on him to support her in awkward situation.

"We … should probably think about that."

Silence fell on them. They were all examining each other.

"My name is Connor. If you ever, think about something, let me know." He said in a mocking tone, before turning away. Neither Damon or Elena reacted, they were too busy trying to understand what just happened. Elena's eyes were wide as Damon was nodding in approval.

"Did he just .. left ?" she said trying to sound the more neutral possible. Let me know ? How the hell are they supposed to let him know ? Were they supposed to think he was going to help them or not ? She hated all of those arrogant type of person, she did not need him, they were going to make their way alone. She glanced at Damon. Okay, maybe not all. She was a little worried about him causing trouble again. He is here for someone too. But then why did he just go without anything else than a let me know ? Besides he didn't seemed like the kind of guy convinced so easily.

"Are you okay?"

"Aw I'm fine. But I would be better if I was able to rip his head off" he answered with a weird smile on his face.

She chuckled. Damon looked good with blood on him. "I thought hunters were supposed to be extremely rare?"

"How do you think I react when of all the person on the planet, my brother must be one of them, when I found myself surrounded by vampires."

He laughed and she smile before realising they had left all their stuff god know where.

"I will get them back" he said as if he was reading into her mind. Was she that easy to read ?

"No, it could be dangerous, this guy could be waiting for you."

"Are you worrying about me ?" he asked leaning into her.

She ignored him, and put her hands on her hips. She couldn't let him go alone anywhere, she needed him and anyway she did not wanted him hurt. But if going to Klaus was risky, going without protection was even worse. Besides, she was starting to feel hungry.

"I can propose you something, but I'm not sure you're going to like it."

She turned to him with a frustrating face. "How did you do that ?" she asked accusingly.

"What are you talking about ?"

"You read mind ? Is this a vampire thing ? Cause I'm pretty sure none of those I know can do that."

"Cause we can't … Your stomach was growling."

Elena proudly torn her gaze away from his. She was getting completely crazy in this forest. She just wanted to get over with this, go back home with her brother.

"What do we do ?" she asked hoping Damon would have a better idea that all she could think of.

"I think you're tired, and that we should stop here."

She looked around her. Here ? Thinking about it no matter where they stopped it was going to look like that.

"Maybe we should walk a little … I'm not comfortable staying where he knows we are."

"Technically, he will knows where we are no matter where … we are."

"Very smart" She send him a fake smile before turning around and stubbornly walking away. She find herself thinking of all her friends. She wasn't even sure what was the last thing she had say to them. Probably nothing. Who knows if she was ever going to see them again ? She was regretting not saying to them how sorry she was, saying to Boonie how much she loved her grumpy side, how much she misses Caroline's gossips, how much she cherished Matt's sincerity, how much she loved Stefan no matter what happened.

She made herself the promise that things will change when she get back. If she does. She let herself look at Damon, walking right behind her and she felt a gentle smile spread on her face. She was not sure what he was still doing here, but he was.

Night had fell on them more quickly than she had expected. They were both sitting on the ground around a fire. No matter how hard she tried to convince him fire was a stupid idea she realised she had finally found someone more stubborn than her. Flames were dancing on his face as he was staring at her wearing an arrogant smile. Actually, she was pretty sure she was making the same face right know.

"What do you know about hunters, exactly ?"

"They hunt vampires ?"

She raised an eyebrow as her smile stretched on her face. He was not capable of being serious for five minutes.

"I saved you earlier." she reminded him.

"I know" he whispered.

"You still don't trust me?"

He shrugged with a playing smile.

"Okay, if you don't want to talk about this, can you tell me more about Stefan?" She couldn't help the curiosity

There was this weird thing between the two of them. They were examining each other with no shame of being caught. They were not talking, just looking at each other, daring the other to say a word. which glowed in her, she wanted nothing more than to chip his shell. She was both afraid and impatient about what she could discover. What scared her the most was to find out he has been playing them. But he is friend with Alaric.

"Do you know what they say about curiosity?"

"What bring you two apart ?"

He did not answer immediately but she was surprised when he did. "A girl." A girl ? Classic tragic brother story. She did not remind Stefan talking of any other girl exept ... Her eyes grew wide as her brain added two plus two. Katherine. Katherine ? She got up fast and pointed a finger at him but nothing came out of her mouth. He stood up too not bothering by his revelation.

"Katherine ?" she checked.

He knew Katherine. No, he did not just knew her, he must have been involved with her. Every men Katherine knew had been involved with her. The same Katherine who looks exactly like her. The same egocentric and psycotic bitch who made her life a living hell for weeks. The absence of Damon in Stefan's vocabulary became suddenly very clear. And Katherine attitude too.

"Then you know that I'm – she …". She clenched her fists and she bit her lips. She was mad right now, she did not even know what to say with all the questions that were running through her mind. She started walking in circle without even realising it, and he only followed her moves. She closed her eyes. Did he helped her only because she looked like her? She put her hands on her forehead. "You remind me of someone". She remembered the look on his face when he said this.

"Oh wait, is this not precious enough for you, Mr. Salvatore ?" She saw something in his eyes immediately after she uttered the sentence which left her speechless. A glimmer of realisation in his eyes, they darkened and a life suddenly seemed to overwhelm him. She instantly understood she had put her finger on something. But it only lasted a second, the smile came back on his face and he took a step closer.

She turned to him and detailing him as if she was seeing him for the first time. "She hurt you too ?" she whispered., more like an affirmation than a question. He finally looked at her, and she saw the eyes she had met the first time. Those fabulous sad and burning eyes. She hated this woman so much. She had hurt Stefan in so many ways and she could see in Damon's eyes she had done the same. But something was different about him. All the anger she had felt a second ago vanished when she crossed his gaze.

"Everything is not black and white, Elena."

That is not an answer. She took a few steps closer to him and could see he was trying hard to keep his perfect face in place. She knew this look. She had seen it too many times. Suddenly, on impulsion she finished the distance to encircling her arms around him. She rested her head on his shoulder. She was not sure why she had done this but she couldn't bear to see his face so torn, she rather see him mock her. And honestly, she did not see the point in fighting him now, she didn't have the courage to. First, the compassion, then the discussion.

She felt hesitants arms returning the embrace and at this instant she made herslef another promise. She wasn't going to let him down. She was going to help him, and at the end of the day, he was going to trust her enough to tell her everything.

Count on Damon to break her new altruistic mood.

"If I had knew, I would have tell you that sooner"

She only laughed.

"When people are vulnerable, they believe almost anything"