Chapter Seven: I Wanna Go

"Good. I want you to make a phone call. To your agent. John Gilbert. Tell him you want to quit; that you don't want to do this anymore." Damon stared at her intently, his eyes serious and his words rehearsed. The shirt he had taken off earlier lay across one of the chairs in his bedroom, and Elena stared at it stupidly.

She was dumfounded. She couldn't do what he wanted. If she made that phone call, everyone would stop looking for her! The media would just write her off as another mental runaway child star overwhelmed with her responsibilities and looking for a way out. And then... then.. she would be stuck here with this crazy man forever! How did she ever somehow accumulate a vampire fan? How many vampires existed? What did he do to her aunt? What would people think of her if she told them she was just quitting?

"I... I can't do that. Think of all the people I would be letting down. They rely on my work to feed their families! Please, just think about it! The backstage set up crew, dancers, producers, they'll all be out of a job! I can't..."

"Be quiet. This is your only opportunity. Say that you ran away. Tell him that everyone should stop looking for you because you don't want to be found. Do that, and I'll release Jenna."

"But.."

"This is your only chance. I'll leave you to the decision." Damon stood up and crossed the room quickly, sliding open a drawer in his armoire. Elena's mind was spinning with a million different thoughts, but out of the corner of her eye she saw what Damon had pulled out from the drawer. Swim suit trunks.

Why did he grab a swim suit? Was he going to strangle her with it? Or smother her perhaps? Maybe he would light it on fire and throw it at her.

'Oh stop, Elena. You're being paranoid. You can't give up yet. Your priorities are Jenna and yourself. Don't think of anything else.'

Elena focused on that mantra even when Damon stepped out from the closet where he had been changing and revealed his crimson red swim trunks. He grabbed the shirt from before off the floor and slid that on, too, before walking out the door of the bedroom without giving her a second glance. Elena deciphered that when she had first run into the room to hide from him, he had already begun changing, and that was why he wasn't wearing a shirt. She let out an sigh of relief. At least she knew he wasn't going to rape her. Yet.

Suddenly, Elena got a an idea. Unless Damon just felt like lounging around in his swim trunks for the rest of the day, he had to be going to a pool somewhere, right? And since pools are not typically present in the middle of apartment suites, expensive penthouse ones or not, he must have gone downstairs to swim in the building's pool. Maybe he had left her all alone here, and now she could search for some answers. Just in case, she tried the door to the bedroom one more time, but just as she had suspected it was locked. Next, she scanned the bedroom and looked for a place to search first. It was intimidating being in his room alone. She was scared that she might find human blood in the drawers or body parts stacked in the closet. Maybe he had a thing for keeping his victim's skulls, like in some horror movie she seen about serial killers.

'Focus, Elena. Focus,' she thought.

Her eyes fell to the long shaggy black rug in the front of the room, and she turned around to look at the metal side tables detailed with pitch black painted cherry wood. They each had a little pull out drawer, and Elena approached them cautiously, slowly opening the one on the left side of the bed. The only things inside were a notepad and pen and some trivial little knickknacks. To reach the next one, Elena jumped across the dark colored birch wood panel platform bed, but her foot caught in the edge between the mattress and the bed frame and she tripped and slammed her knee into the floor. Falling forward, her elbow caught against the edge of the silk curtains and pulled it away to reveal an inch of a window.

'That's right!' Elena thought. 'When I first woke up in this horrible place, there were windows wall to ceiling all over the penthouse. He must have closed the drapes so I couldn't guess where he was keeping me!'

Rubbing her wounds with a wince, she pulled the curtains all the way back and stared straight ahead to see a beautiful view of the most orderly city she had ever seen. She had overlooked the view the last night when she had woken up in here, but there were tall buildings parted in the middle as far as the eye could see. The modern looking clear glass wall was very hotel-esque, and Elena suddenly thought of an idea that might help her.

She could try to break the glass, or at least look for billboards that might tell her where she was. She could even signal to the people below and maybe someone would recognize her. After all, in conjunction with her mega-star success, she had also had to have been declared a missing person by now. So even if people didn't recognize her for being the multi-millionaire 17 year old pop singer, they would know her face from the various new stations and papers that must be running her story worldwide. Elena immediately abandoned her snooping and began to wave her hands back and forth in front of the wall-to-ceiling window. She began to get so excited, thinking about her rescue, that she didn't think of one minor detail.

Elena scanned the crowds below and realized that she was way to far up for anyone to see her. She was on the upmost top floor for crying out loud! it wasn't as though people walked around with telescopes peering into people's windows!

Sighing in defeat, Elena moved away from the window and searched for the restroom. She had to go badly! She couldn't remember going since she was kidnapped! How long ago was that? Could her organs burst?

'Ick.'

She knew that one of the doors on the left side of the room lead to his gigantic walk-in closet, the other to the hallway, and the last one must be his in-suite restroom. After using the bathroom, she went to the counter to wash her hands. That was when she caught sight of her reflection in the mirror. Her mascara had run horribly down her face from the tears, and her eyeliner was smudged up to her eyebrows. She looked like she had been in a train wreck. In a way, she sort of had been. She was wearing the same outfit from the day of the crash.

The bubblegum pink fitted top with puffed sleeves that she had gotten from Saks the week before was stained with some sort of liquid in the back. Her Lilly Pulitzer sandals didn't look too shabby, but her feet looked swollen and unkept. Her 7 for all Mankind jean skirt was torn down the seam and nearly falling from her waist, and her ponytail had fallen a long time ago, revealing her matted hair. How had she gotten so flithy? Had some sort of mud tree fallen through her bus and onto her during the crash? It was a mystery to her. All she knew was that she looked like a ghost of herself, and she needed to fix that or she wouldn't be able to do anything else.

How had she not noticed before that she was in such bad shape? Why didn't her dirt clad clothing leave marks where she sat down? Maybe they had, and she had been to preoccupied with her current situation to notice. It was certainly forgivable. It wasn't every day that she was kidnapped by a vampire and forced to resign from her job, in addition to worrying about Jenna's life.

Jenna. Was Damon feeding her? How come she had looked so still when Elena had seen her in the closet? Could it have been just a mannequin? Elena hadn't gotten such a great look at her face; it could have been some sort of doll. On the other hand, it could truly be her aunt, and if Elena didn't make that phone call and give up her career, Jenna would be killed.

Elena put her worrying aside. The next time she saw Damon she would tell him that she accepted his terms, and she was ready to call it quits. But she also wanted him to explain every last thing that Jenna encountered during her "stay" with him and to make sure she was in the same 100% healthy and safe condition as when he, er, acquired her.

Elena sat down on the bathroom floor and covered her face with her hands. How had things gotten so bad so quickly?

Suddenly, she was broken from her thoughts by the sound of the bathroom door opening. She hadn't even heard anyone's footsteps. She looked up to see Damon, as dry as he was when he left standing in the doorway staring at her. Elena took a deep breath and noticed that he was holding some sort of metal part in his hands.

"I brought you this. It's for m shower. I had to get it out of the closet in the hall, and after I found it I figured you could use some more time." He wore a grim expression, as if he knew she had seen her reflection and he was sympathetic.

Elena licked her lower lip and smoothed her clothing the best she could before replying uncertainly. She certainly didn't want to set him off. It seemed even the littlest thing she said made him go crazy! What was wrong with him? She took a deep breath.

"Why are you in your swim trunks?"

Damon smirked. "Because... I'm going to give you a bath of sorts. You look horrible, if you haven't noticed." He started walking towards her and Elena felt herself take a step back. How could she get herself out of this mess?

"I'm not going to hurt you. You can come here," he whispered, beckoning her to his side.

Elena carefully approached him, not knowing what else she could do without making him foam at the mouth with anger. What was she going to do! Waiting for any signal that might tell her that he was lying, she walked forward.

Damon smiled at her strangely. It was almost innocent really, but Elena knew better than to believe that. She stared at the contraption in his hand and then lifted her gaze to look at him warily.

"Uh, thank you?" Elena watched him like a hawk, ready to run at any moment. She continued "Yeah. Thanks, really. Except, I can't shower. When you, uh, borrowed me from my bus, I sort of left all of my clothes there. So, I don't have anything else to wear. Sorry, I guess I'll just have to stay like this. I mean thanks, though, it was nice of you to offer." She set her mouth in a straight line and watched for a reaction. She had tried to phrase that as kindly as she could, given the situation. The truth was, obviously Elena didn't really want to stay in these horrible clothes. But it was better than him bathing her. What was she, a cat? Elena waited for him to answer. She really wanted to ask about her aunt. Considering it hadn't worked out so well the hour before, though, she was willing to wait. At least a couple minutes anyway.

Damon just kept on staring at her for a few more seconds. Elena twitched uncomfortably. Finally, he answered her.

"Don't worry. It's not what you think. You need my help though, trust me. I have a very high tech water system. And about the clothing, I brought your things from the bus. Didn't I tell you? I guess you were too busy thinking about your little relative to listen." Damon stepped towards her until she was about two feet away. He showed no malice in his tone, just honesty.

Elena didn't have a choice. Plus, this would be the perfect opportunity to try to convince him to give her information. She nodded her head.

"Okay. Okay, I'll make the phone call to John. If it means my aunt is safe, I officially quit."

Damon grinned widely; creepily, and handed her a two piece deep blue cutout bikini from her bus wardrobe. It wasn't exactly modest, but she knew she had skimpier suits. And at least he was going to let her wear a suit.

Elena reached her hand out to take the bathing suit, and watched as he respectfully left the room for her to change.

The shower/bath tub that required two people to work was the least of Elena's worries. This was only her second day "here", but one specific question was already lingering in her mind.

What was he going to do to her?

"I want her found, now!" Alaric screamed into his iPhone as men and women scurried behind him on the "Good Morning America" set.

He had just finished filming another shout out about Elena's disappearance, and he had been encouraging stupid little kids that he would find her all morning long.

Despite recent events, the previous night's concert had actually turned out okay. Once people in the audience found out that Elena Gilbert, America's Angel was missing, everyone immediately volunteered to search for her and spread the news. Hopefully, she would be tracked down in no time. Better yet, not one person had asked for a refund!

Even so, this whole "missing" thing could only hold up for so much longer. Alaric knew very well it was nearly impossible to find someone once they've been gone for more than 72 hours. He needed to push harder if he was going to locate his missing superstar.

Additionally, he knew very well that the news programs would eventually move on from Elena's story. Even though she was an international superstar with plenty of fans, money, power and recognition, people would give up hope someday. It may take a few long months, even a year, but it was inevitable that if they didn't find their client soon, Alaric and John wouldn't be able to ride her money train for much longer.

He sighed and started ranting even louder. The incompetent USA Watch Team captain on the other end of the phone muttered out a few non-distinct words in reply before agreeing to send out more search parties and hanging up. Alaric rolled his eyes and angrily shook his head.

"I swear, if it was up to me, I would whip these fools periodically to keep up their motivation," Alaric grumbled to himself. He pocketed his cell phone and stalked out of the building, taking the short cut out the side to the parking lot where his car was stationed. He headed for P2 and squinted up at harsh sun.

It was a nice day, blue skies and sunny atmosphere, as was the norm in California. Somehow, though, Alaric felt as though there were storm clouds lined up all around him, because he was starting to get a very bad feeling about this day.

First, the men he hired to look for a missing person for goodness sakes were being snotty to him. They were just SO lazy! They kept yapping about how they were thirsty... WAH, WAH! Then they started spouting out stuff about needing to take a break to eat. Right! Well, those slackers could take as many breaks as they wanted to. After they found Elena.

Secondly, Alaric's phone kept ringing. RING, RING RING. All freaking day long. It was just so annoying. Everyone felt like they needed to call him and "give their condolences." As if he wanted to talk to useless people that were just holding up his telephone line! What if someone needed to contact him about his missing money bag, duh!

Alaric shook his head bitterly in disgust. People could be so stupid.

At that moment, he heard the familiar chirping of his cell phone. Another call? His point exactly! It was probably another idiotic..

Alaric's eyes flickered to the caller I.D. It was John calling. Alaric knew John like the back of his hand. Was the that saying? Anyway, John mostly only talked about important things. Maybe it would be good news about Elena.

He pressed talk and brought the device to his ear.

"Hello? Any news?"

He didn't get the reply he was expecting. John was in hysterics.

"News? I've got some damn news! I just got a phone call from Elena! She said she ran away on purpose to QUIT!"

Alaric froze, not sure he was hearing correctly. "WHAT? But her cell phone was at the scene of the crime! Are we supposed to believe she just faked her death and those of her guards and driver?

John continued, unaffected. "Look Alaric, I have no idea man. All I know is, we need to keep this quiet and keep looking while we try to convince her otherwise. If word gets out about this.. this QUITTING, the news will flock all over it. Everything we've worked so hard for... and she kinda danced a lot, too... will mean NOTHING."

Alaric nodded, listening. "I get it. No longer will she be "Miss American Dream." She'll be the little devil who got the nation in utter chaos and managed to run off with lots of other people, too!"

John paused on the other end of the telephone. He had just realized something. "Alaric, you just brought up an amazing point." John scratched his head for a moment. Maybe Alaric wasn't such an idiot after all.

"Elena couldn't have just run away to quit. There are lots of other missing people, too. Not that we care about them, obviously, but they had to have been abducted with Elena! Someone coerced her into making that call to me! We can trace it and figure out where she's being kept!"

The two men smiled. "Of course, that's the only explanation that fits the scene of the crime. Looks like we're one step closer to finding our girl, John."

The green eyed citizen smiled knowingly.

Little did those men know, there was someone listening in on that call. Someone who happens to be the head of Elena security team. Someone who had known Elena Gilbert since he had gone to school with her. This someone was going to find the little missing Elena before anyone else did, and reclaim her for himself from his evil, blue eyed brother.

Stefan...

was obsessed.

But there was no one to blame but little Elena, I'm afraid. Everyone knows the dangers of fame.

A/N:

SURPRISED? I think so. I bet a lot of you thought it was Damon who was the creep behind the scenes, huh?

"But wait a second.." You might ask yourselves. "Why was Damon the one to kidnap her then, and he said werido things to her, too! Plus he gets really mad for no reason."

Well. That will all be answered. Soon.

By the way! SO many fabulous people read and favorited my story! Thank you so much! :D

BUT! Out of like, say.. TWO AND A HALF THOUSAND PEOPLE, only a couple of people reviewed! Please do take the time to write a review. I work really hard and spend lots of time on this and I really appreciate when people leave feedback so I know how to adjust my story where it needs it. Plus, it gives me smiles and inspiration for future chapters!

Maybe.. If I get lots of love, every chapter here on out will be this long!

LOVVEEY DOVE-DOVE

~KaterinaPetrova