A/N: yay thanks for all the reviews- glad to see so many people liked the darker version of Damon last chapter (setting inspired by Buffy episode 5x10)! speaking of which, this chapter's Buffy reference is dedicated to aj81writing. Anyone that follows her on twitter will know why ;)

LUST: PART II

Elena did the math in her head quickly; if her calculations were correct, then that meant there were only two trials left: lust and wrath…and Damon didn't seem particularly angry about anything, so that meant—

"No!" she exclaimed, shoving a hand against his chest and skidding backwards, "I can't kiss you!"

Damon stared at her in complete bewilderment.

It was abundantly clear that no girl had ever turned him down before.

"You can't kiss me?" he repeated incredulously, his eyes narrowing as she skirted around him, "Why not?"

Elena ran her fingers through her hair, unnerved to see that she was shaking. "I just can't, okay?" She tried to move towards the door, but Damon instantly blocked her path.

"Actually," he said to her in a deceptively calm voice, "That's not okay." She felt herself grow cold as he began circling her, much in the manner of a predator stalking its prey. "You expect me to believe that an unmarked human just happened to stumble in my house?" He glowered, "Do you take me for a fool, Elena?"

It was the second time that night that she had been referred to in this way—she shivered at the vivid memory of Matt sneering at her (What's this? An unmarked human?)— and then she scowled at Damon, "Everyone keeps calling me that! What does it mean? Unmarked?"

He looked briefly confused at the fact that she didn't know this information, but then he smirked and made a show of eyeing her over. His gaze was so blatant that Elena suddenly felt very exposed and she instinctively crossed her arms around herself. Damon raised an eyebrow at this gesture, but didn't comment. Instead, he slowly knelt down in front of her, his gaze fixed on hers as he reached out to trail his fingers along her legs.

She jerked back immediately, her eyes widening, "W-what are you doing?"

"Be still," he murmured, moving his fingers onto her dress and continuing his journey upwards past her waist, lightly caressing her curves. Damon could feel her tensing under his touch as he slid his hands down her bare arms and then back up again, and he felt an odd sense of pleasure when she shivered involuntarily. Keeping their eyes locked, he then let his fingers brush her throat and skitter across her face. "See?" he said in a low voice, "Unmarked."

It took Elena a second to realize that he had finished his exploration of her body, and she snapped out of her trance at once. "What the hell was that?"

Damon sharpened his tone, "You're unbitten, Elena! You have no marks anywhere on you, there are no signs that a vampire has ever drunk from you—someone like you doesn't just wander into a place like this! The only people that know where to find this place are vampires and the humans that those vampires brings here." His jaw clenched, "You are neither."

"Oh..." That explained a lot. "I see."

"Yeah," he mocked, stepping closer so that he could cup her face, "Which is why I need you to kiss me."

He lowered his head to hers but paused when she whispered, "But you already believe that I'm not Katherine."

"Humor me," Damon breathed, and she felt her lips part in spite of herself. Just as his mouth brushed against hers, a low beep resounded in the room and he drew back, cursing under his breath.

Dazed, Elena opened her eyes to see Damon slide a cell phone out of his pocket and hold it up to his ear angrily. "What?" he growled into it, "This better be fucking important, Matt—what? Are you sure?"

He blurred across the room to look out the window, leaving Elena to stand there in utter disbelief. Did I really just stand there and almost let the kiss happen? What's wrong with me? She shook her head and backed out of the room silently, desperate for some air. She tiptoed down the hallway and took one step at a time down the stairs, looking back frequently to make sure that Damon was still occupied.

She was only halfway down the staircase when the front door suddenly flew open, the padlock on the inside breaking in half and falling uselessly to the ground. Elena gaped in shock as Stefan and Caroline waltzed in, both looking drunk out of their minds. "I'm home!" Stefan crowed, his arm thrown haphazardly around Caroline's shoulders as they both stumbled in. "Did ya miss me?"

"Shh," Caroline giggled, adding in a loud whisper, "He'll hear you!"

"We wouldn't want that," Stefan put on a mock serious face before he also doubled over in drunken laughter. With clumsy movements, he grabbed Caroline's shoulders and spun her around, kicking the door shut behind him. Then he shoved her roughly against the banister, his hands fisting into her hair as he pressed a hard kiss onto her mouth before sinking his fangs into her throat.

"No!" Elena cried out, shaken out of her reverie at the sight of her friend's blood pooling onto the floor, "Stop!"

Stefan looked up the staircase, the expression on his face becoming almost comical. "Katherine?" He pushed Caroline aside without a second thought and blurred up the stairs. He tripped slightly but managed to regain his balance as he stared at Elena in pure wonder. "My god," he reached out to touch her face, "You're even more beautiful than I remember...I've missed you so much, Katherine..."

"I—"

"Are you kidding?" Caroline hissed, clutching a hand to her neck as she glared at Stefan. "That's not your precious Katherine, you moron! Even I can tell that she's not a vampire! For starters, look at what she's wearing!"

Stefan let his hand drop to his side as he took a step away from Elena. "Not Katherine?" he repeated, sounding disappointed as he stared up at her, "You're only human?" Before she could answer, a look of rage crossed his features and he lunged at her. Elena screamed as he sent them both hurtling over the banister, and she squeezed her eyes shut to brace herself for the ten foot drop.

But it never happened.

There was a sudden whoosh of air as Damon appeared below her, catching her easily in his arms. He tightened his grip on her possessively as he stared daggers at Stefan. "This one is mine, brother," Damon said in a cool voice, "You know how I feel about sharing."

Stefan was breathing hard, already crouched into an attacking stance. "She's unmarked," he hissed, "How can she be yours?"

"She just is," Damon retorted, "Go play with your other toys, Stefan." He jerked his head in Caroline's direction, "Your girlfriend's getting blood on the carpet." With that, Damon whirled out the front door.

.

They were sitting on opposite ends of a park bench. Elena opened her mouth for the umpteenth time to say something, but couldn't figure out what to say, so she shut it again.

"I made la casa de Salvatore because of my brother," Damon said after the silence had stretched for far too long. "In there we can be as true to our nature as we like. We have no inhibitions, no rules, no ties to humanity." He glanced at her, "We present a different facade to the real world, but that's just how it works."

Elena chewed on her lip, "Has Stefan always been so..."

"Intense? Psychotic?" Damon shrugged, "Only when he's drunk. The girl he was with, Caroline...she's usually a good influence on him. Calms him down when he goes off on benders."

"She's human?"

He nodded, "She's Stefan's girlfriend for the most part. He might feed on other girls, but she's the only one that he takes to bed."

Elena looked up at this to see Damon gazing at her so intensely that she immediately looked away again. She cleared her throat uncomfortably, "Um, so how did they meet?"

Damon responded casually, "He was stalking her."

"Excuse me?"

He grinned at her expression, "Stefan met her one day at the local bar. He pretended to be human and they went on a few dates until one day he decided to bring her to the house and tell her the truth. She, naturally, ran off." Damon shook his head, "Stefan was a nightmare to live with that week. He did everything imaginable to get her back before he resorted to scare tactics."

Elena didn't want to know, but morbid curiosity had her asking, "What did he do?"

Damon shifted closer to her on the bench, the corners of his mouth turning up mischievously. "Well," he began, "Stefan had already been invited into her house...or more accurately, mansion." At Elena's look of confusion, he elaborated. "Caroline's family comes from money. They're probably the third or fourth richest family in town." He shrugged indifferently, making it clear that the Salvatores were first on the list.

"Anyway, there's this huge fish tank in that house...one of those wall-to-wall contraptions," Damon smiled darkly then, and Elena suddenly had serious misgivings about this story. "One day when Caroline came home, she saw a large white box lying in the middle of the floor. And so she knelt down to open it—"

"Forget I asked!" Elena leapt to her feet, but Damon followed suit and grabbed her arm to stop her from walking away.

"Oh come on," he teased in a low voice as he leaned forward to whisper in her ear, "Don't you want to hear how it all turned out?" She stiffened when she felt him lightly push her hair to the side so that he could brush his lips against the back of her neck. "So, she opened the box," Damon whispered, "And found four of her prized piranhas- now dead- all strung together on this rope, and there was a little note from Stefan that said—"

Elena spun on her heel, turning to glare at the smug expression on Damon's face, "You're lying."

"I'm not," Damon disagreed, "I'm just showing you how easy it is for vampires to get what they want." He held her gaze for a moment before lowering his head to place a kiss on the hollow of her throat. Her pulse jumped erratically as he continued to trail a path of kisses along her jawline until he reached her lips. "So just give me what I want," he murmured, his tone wavering between seduction and desire. "Elena..."

Before she could react or even make a conscious decision, Damon had closed the distance between them, his mouth moving expertly against hers. As their tongues danced around one another, they both staggered backwards until Elena's back hit a stone wall. She gasped for air as Damon took this opportunity to lift her so that her legs wrapped around his waist. "Better," was all he muttered before his lips covered hers again, his hands moving to tug down the loose straps of her dress.

As he turned to kiss the newly exposed skin, Elena had a sudden unobstructed view of the large water fountain in the middle of the park. It was probably beautiful in the sunlight, but it was difficult to see the stream of water at night.

This was not, however, what caught her eye.

Bonnie's face was reflected in the cascading water, her expression disapproving. Her lips moved, and Elena could hear the words as clearly as if Bonnie was standing right next to her. "You're failing the trial."

*this is the first time in all the trials that real-world-Bonnie had to interfere! Part 3 coming soon ;)